Detroit City Council Committee Meeting Summary — June 10, 2026
Detroit City Council Committee Meeting Summary — June 10, 2026
The committee convened on June 10, 2026, with Councilmember Letitia Johnson and Councilmember Mary Waters present, and a quorum was declared. The meeting covered approval of minutes, public comments, unfinished business including a payroll performance audit and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) proposal for the City Club Apartments CBD, and new business including MRO supply contracts, an ARPA budget transfer, and a neighborhood enterprise zone (NEZ) housing project.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (June 3, 2026): Motion approved without objection.
- Item 5.1 (Resolution on Center Bill 559-560 on 561): Brought back to a future date to be determined (TBD).
- Item 5.4 (Public Safety Fees for Large Events): Received and filed.
- Items 5.5 and 5.6 (Media Services Budget Memos): Received and filed.
- Item 5.7 (Building Free Fair Pilot): Received and filed.
- Item 6.6 (Cost Benefit Analysis Report for City Club Apartments PILOT): Received and filed.
- Member Reports: Suspended.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jadante Smith expressed concerns about a relative receiving an absentee ballot despite being registered in South Carolina, alleging election fraud. He also raised issues about a contaminated dirt lot on Elgin Street and criticized the 35-year solar farm plan, arguing it contributes to blight and poses public safety risks.
- William M. Davis (Commissioner) reminded City Retirees of an upcoming task force meeting and argued that the city gives too many tax abatements while neglecting retiree pension losses and supporting existing residents and businesses.
- Owner Papa criticized the delayed citywide payroll performance audit and the PILOT program, blamed the city for creating contaminated dirt and failing to address blight, and noted the lack of cooling centers in District 7.
- Betty A. Varner (President, Soda Else World Black Association) announced a Rise Detroit event on August 1, 2026, seeking vendors and volunteers for free services including haircuts and bike giveaways.
- Denzel McCambra alleged election fraud involving specific officials and demanded accountability for a ballot counted in the 2024 presidential election. He also complained about drug houses and a lack of action on a child's request.
- D Dot Mobility Access Ambassador Cunningham requested prayer for a community gathering and called for free People Mover and reduced paratransit fares.
- Chanel Manis expressed full support for the City Club Apartments CBD project, stating that such affordable, modern housing is needed to retain young professionals in Detroit.
- Shirley Winfield (Detroit retiree) thanked council members for the retiree task force and supported the City Club Apartments project, saying affordable housing is critical for seniors facing pension cuts.
- Cliff Manis (40-year DTE Energy retiree) also supported the City Club Apartments project, urging safe and affordable housing for senior citizens and ordinary residents.
- Mr. Foster called for auditing bonds and holding officials accountable, and criticized high HOA fees in downtown condos.
Discussion Items
- Citywide Payroll Performance Audit (Item 5.2): The Office of the Auditor General (Laura Goodspeed) and Stout (Ray Roth) presented findings. The OCFO (Regina Greer) and HR (Kimberly Hall Wagner) reported that they have begun implementing recommendations, with immediate changes to reporting and system checks. Discussions noted that DPD sworn officers still use manual payroll, but a contract amendment for UKG software is forthcoming to integrate DPD into the electronic time-and-attendance system. The Auditor General requested faster documentation of corrective actions. Vice Chair Johnson stressed the need for uniform payroll oversight across departments. The item was received and filed.
- City Club Apartments CBD PILOT (Item 5.8): Rebecca Labov (HRD) presented a cost-benefit analysis showing a net benefit of $4.5 million over 15 years ($3 million net present value). Developer representatives (Matt Walters, Jordan Sasson, Liz Rogers, Tas Tinius, Jake Ostring) outlined plans to preserve the building as workforce housing for households earning 80-120% of area median income (AMI). Councilmembers Waters and Johnson raised concerns about precedent, displacement, and the relationship with the original developer’s management company (Village Green). The developer committed to a tenant retention plan with 3% annual rent increases for low-income legacy residents, no displacement, and 83 qualifying low-income units. Councilmember Corley highlighted that the project would create 28 new jobs and that the developer’s rate of return without the abatement would be negative. A motion to send the item to formal with a recommendation to approve passed without objection, meaning the full council will vote on the PILOT.
- ARPA Fiscal Recovery Funds Budget Transfer (Item 6.4): Donnie Johnson (Budget Director) and Terry Daniels (Deputy CFO) explained that $3.7 million in reassigned ARPA funds are available: $1 million recommended for Wayne Metro for Detroit Housing Services (hotline and direct services), and $2.7 million to be distributed among councilmembers ($300,000 each) for existing ARPA projects. The item was sent to formal with no recommendation, pending an internal council decision on allocation.
- MRO and Safety Supply Contracts (Items 6.1-6.3): Arnita Clark (OCP) presented three citywide contracts for maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supplies: Granger (Detroit-based, $6.75M), MSC Industrial Supply ($6M), and Fastenal ($2M). Councilmembers Waters and Johnson questioned why Granger could not handle the entire volume and pressed for Detroit-based vendor participation and hiring. A motion to bring the items back in one week passed without objection, allowing time for additional data on past spending and pricing comparisons.
- NEZ Certificate Applications for New Houses (Item 6.5): Chris Gulach (LPD) presented a request for seven new single-family homes on Holcomb and Belvedere Streets in the East Village NEZ. Developer Matt Temkin described four design options with estimated sale prices of $350,000–$550,000 (corrected from a higher figure in the presentation). He noted efforts to build a prototype house at $250,000 to make homeownership accessible. The item was approved and sent to formal.
Key Outcomes
- Payroll Performance Audit: Received and filed; OCFO to provide quarterly updates on implementation of recommendations; DPD payroll integration plan to be submitted to council for approval.
- City Club Apartments PILOT: Recommended for approval by the full council; tenant protections and affordability restrictions are included.
- ARPA Budget Transfer: Sent to formal with no recommendation; council will need to decide distribution of $2.7 million among members within a week to meet the December 31, 2026 spending deadline.
- MRO Contracts: Held for one week; OCP to supply historical spending percentages and sample price comparisons.
- NEZ Housing: Approved for formal council vote; developer encourages council to visit completed homes and plans a future affordable prototype.
Meeting Transcript
Councilmember Letitia Johnson present council member Mary Waters present. Mr. Chair, we have quorum. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. That'll move us on to the approval of the minutes. Um from our June 3rd, 2026 meeting. Members of the committee should have received a copy. With that, is there a motion to approve the minutes? Motion. There's been a motion to approve the minutes on the June 3rd, 2026 meeting. See no objections, the action shall be taken. I know today and tomorrow the heat index is supposed to be over 100 degrees. And also at the Detroit Library branches. So if you know someone who may not have um access to shelter or uh cooling systems in their home and need a reprieve, please do share that information. Um with that, that'll take us on to public comment. Uh public comment. The request for public comment will close at 119. Um folks will have two minutes. We'll start with folks in the room and then move to folks virtually joining us via Zoom. If you are on Zoom, please use the raise hand feature to indicate that you are wanting to give public comment. Uh saying that there are no folks currently in person for public comment, we'll move on virtually. And who is our first speaker? How many folks do we have so far? Uh good afternoon, Mr. Chair. We have 10 hands raised as of now, and our first speaker is Jadante Smith. Thank you so much, Mr. Smith. Good afternoon. Um, you have two minutes. Good afternoon. I want to say I appreciate you, Chair, for reaching out about my issue uh with this not necessarily my issue, but it's an issue with uh our voting system and how um my sister-in-law has been canceled at the state level, but she still received an absentee ballot um application form, which doesn't make sense to me because that means that anyone in this household or anybody at the city or the county level could use this person who doesn't live in the state of Michigan who hasn't live who hasn't lived in state of Michigan for the last 20 years, who is registered to vote in the state of South Carolina and has had a driver's license there for 20 years almost my entire life. Actually, 25 years, 25 years to be exact. Um I think that that is fraudulent, and I think that Giannis Winfrey um and at the county level, uh Kathy Garrett are both committing fraud uh in their in their handling of our ballots and our systems. Also, I just spent some time in district three, didn't even want to do it, but I was riding down Van Dyke and I saw uh one of those orange coned off areas of a lot. And I feel like whenever you see one of those in C V tray, you know there's contaminated dirt. So I it was on Elgin Street, so I'm thinking, you know, this is odd to see one of those lots right by the solar farms. So I go down the street and I see not only uh contaminated lot hole is a hole in the ground, just like we've seen in district four, we're gonna see in district six, we're gonna see all across the city. Uh the sidewalk was not replaced as well, and there's a giant hole in it in the ground, and there's a house that has kids a block away. So not only do residents have to contend with this 35-year plan for um DTE to have these solar farms there, which is continuing to blight their neighborhood because these things aren't pretty, and people are going to scrap them. They're not going to be protected. The city of Detroit Police Department is not going to be able to protect these solar farms, especially not over people. And then they have these contaminated dirt lots. So in Eldrin, in between Castle and Van Dyke, there are three lots. So one is got the dirt removed already, and so there are two other lots, and there are sure multiple other lots that have this contaminated dirt. We need to do something about that. Nobody should have to pay taxes to have to live around contaminated dirt and solar farms. We didn't ask for. Thank you, Mr. Smith.
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