Category: Rental Housing

Introduction:

Links to the video recording and the council packet are at the bottom of this post. Please note any errors or omissions in the comments. Anything noted in brackets was inserted by Clarkston Sunshine.

Agenda Item #1, Call to Order (video time mark 0:00:00):

Sue Wylie said it’s 7:00, if everybody would please, I’m calling the meeting to order.

Agenda Item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (video time mark 0:00:04):

Wylie said if everybody would please rise, and we will say the Pledge of Allegiance.

(Pledge said.)

Wylie said thank you.

Agenda Item #3, Roll Call (video time mark 0:00:30):

Wylie said our third item on the agenda is our roll call. (To Angela Guillen, clerk), Wylie said if you would take the roll call, please.

Sue Wylie, Laura Rodgers, Al Avery, Gary Casey, and Angela Forte were present.

Wylie said thank you. Ted Quisenberry and Erica Jones are both absent.

Agenda Item #4, Approval of Agenda – Motion (video time mark 0:00:47):

Wylie said Item #4 is approval of the agenda. I’ll need a motion and a second to approve the agenda.

Motion by Avery; second Rodgers.

Wylie said discussion or comments from council members?

No comments.

Wylie said from the public?

No comments.

Motion to approve the agenda passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said the agenda is approved.

Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (video time mark 0:01:06):

[Though public comments can sometimes irritate the city council, there is value to both the council and the public in hearing them. While they can’t eliminate public comments entirely without violating the Open Meetings Act, your city council has occasionally decided not to acknowledge public comments during a city council meeting unless the person submitting the comments also appears at the meeting (in-person or electronically) to personally read them. In the past, members of the public have been cut off for exceeding the city council’s arbitrary three-minute time limit (it’s arbitrary because no time limits are required by the Open Meetings Act).

If your public comments were submitted to the council but not read, or if you tried to make public comments but your comments were cut short, please email them to clarkstonsunshine@gmail.com and I will include them in my informal meeting summaries either under public comments or under the specific agenda item that you want to speak to.]

Wylie said Item #5 is public comments.

(Wylie read the rules for public comments.)

Wylie said would anybody like to make a public comment?

Wylie recognized Steve Hargis for a comment and said if you’d step to the podium, please.

Steve Hargis:

Hargis said good evening and provided his name and address.

My comments have to do with an item that I read in the paper regarding potentially we may owe some money for police coverage to the township because of whatever reason. My comment is more about what I feel is that we don’t really owe any more to the police department for coverage, I should say, than we’re already paying because I don’t feel they’re really doing their job in our city as well as they could be doing. The reason I say that is living on Main Street, there’s a tremendous amount of traffic noise and it has a lot to do with motorcycle and automobile. But it seems like with the success of our downtown, which is really great, it has drawn in a lot of people from outside. And along with that, there are people that seem to want to draw attention to themselves. And so, they go through town with open exhaust and they like to rack everything when they go by. And it’s not just motorcycles; it’s cars as well. And I feel that our presence of our police coverage has been curtailed or reduced or inadequate for one reason or another and I don’t understand why. And I don’t have facts in order to back up what I’m saying other than the fact that I’ve lived here a long time, and I’ve observed this firsthand because I walk the streets a lot. And I don’t know if anything will come from what I say one way or another, but I just felt that I wanted to get it off my, my chest, so to speak. And maybe you can think on this a bit, that we need to emphasize to our police force that we need, we need help out here. There’s a lot of, I think, anarchist driving, you know, going through stop signs and speeding and doing a lot of things that they ought not be doing. So, these are my comments. Thank you.

Wylie thanked Hargis.

Wylie said would anybody else like to make a public comment?

Wylie recognized Cara Catallo for a comment.

Cara Catallo:

Catallo said yes, actually, it’s a two-parter. One is to agree with Mr. Hargis and say that, like, I don’t know, I was just talking with somebody about Mr. Paterczak coming in here from Holcomb and where he complained about something very similar and the noise. And I’ve been noticing, and unfortunately, I’ve been told that it’s somebody who actually lives in the community, but just like that sort of the bass sound that’s coming from some cars. And I don’t know how to create sort of like a to-do list for the city about things where people come in and share concerns. And how do we make sure that they’re followed up on and just sort of check on them at council meetings, such as what Mr. Paterczak said, because my actual comment that I was going to say was I go to the HDC [Historic District Commission] meetings, I go to all the meetings. I don’t know why I’m a glutton for punishment, but like repeatedly at every HDC meeting, an applicant talks about the flaws of our website and that they couldn’t attach the documents that they need to attach. And so, I just want to suggest that we have some sort of system, a process put in place to address that so that it can be rectified, because nobody wants to go to those meetings. We should make it as painless as possible and allow them to be able to submit all of the information that they want to submit. Otherwise, they might hear like your application wasn’t complete and it’s through no fault of their own. So, I know Forte’s working on a fillable PDF, which is great. And I just hope that the city staff will work on getting that in place or creating even something separate where it just goes into an email to the HDC and a city representative, just to make sure that it’s as painless as possible. It shouldn’t be that hard. Thank you.

(To Forte), Wylie said you have a follow up on that?

Forte said yeah, just a follow up. After the last HDC meeting, not the one I was at, or the one that I was at, the HDC did get copies of those. So, they just have to approve that form. And then me and Jonathan [Smith, city manager] just have to handle it on our end. But Smith and I said we need to get it after the election. So that’s on the docket, at least internally. Catallo said all right, good. (To Forte), Wylie said thanks for taking care of that.

Wylie said anybody else have public comments?

Wylie recognized Ezra Steele and said why don’t you come up to the podium, please.

Ezra Steele:

Hello, my name is Ezra Steele, and I would just like to agree with what people have, with the two people that have come up here and have said previously. I agree, there is a lot of noise going down the road. We live on Waldon Road. So, there’s a lot of noise, especially very early in the morning. And I and my entire family agrees that it’s very loud and loud and annoying. And I think that something should be done about it. Forte said what grade are you? Steele said six. Forte said did you ever walk to school? Steele said I’m homeschooled. Forte said OK. Steele said but I do hear, like, sometimes 3:00 in the morning, it’s really bad. Forte said OK, because I was wondering, like, how safe it is for kids and stuff with all that. Steele said I have a lot of friends that go to school. They haven’t said much about it. Forte said OK, just curious. Steel said yeah. Wylie said do you mind repeating your first name, please? Steele said Ezra. Wylie said Ezra, thank you.

Rodgers said I do have to say, to piggyback onto these guys. It has, I don’t know why this summer, it just seems so much worse. And the bass that Catallo is talking about, I’ve never been able to hear the traffic inside my house. Forte said oh, yeah. Rogers said and I can hear it clear as day. And that bass will, like, just hit our homes, like, and I don’t know, is there anything that they’ll do about that? I mean, is there a noise? Smith said there is a decibel level that they’re not supposed to exceed. It was mainly geared towards construction activity, but maybe it could be applied to vehicles as well. We hear the bass, too. We hear it during the day. We hear it at night. So, it’s a noticeable problem. It’s, again, it all becomes, the question becomes, is it enforceable? Is there a sheriff available to enforce it? And does he have a decibel meter, you know, or what he has that can be used to validate the ticket if he does authorize the ticket?

Rodgers said when does our guy, our guy come back? Smith said he’s, he should be here tonight, but I know he’s not available tonight, but he tried it at the first meeting of the month. So, I can ask that he attend an upcoming meeting to address this issue. Wylie said I think that would be helpful.

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said yeah, where do we stand on the township regarding everything? Smith said I requested today, at Jerry’s [Jerry Fisher, city attorney] recommendation, I requested copies of all the signed agreements for police, fire, and building. I had sent over to them signed copies from the city council back in June of ‘25. Today I got from Cari Neubeck, their clerk, signed copies of the fire and building. The police was signed by them, but it was not the one that I sent over to them, that we approved. So now I need to go through and analyze what changes, if any, were made to the copy that they signed. Because apparently, they didn’t sign the one we sent over to them. So, I’ll do that research. I just got that this afternoon from Neubeck. It, you know, took a lot of time to get these, but I do have them now.

Wylie said OK, anybody else on public comments or anybody else wanna make a public comment?

No comments.

Wylie said thank you.

Agenda Item #6 – FYI: (video time mark 0:10:21):

Wylie said Item #6 is FYI.

Item #11a – Art in the Village – September 18^th and 19^th (video time mark 0:10:23):

• • Art in the Village Flyer (page 3/24 of the council packet)

Wylie said we have Art in the Village coming September 18th and 19th. And we have a flyer in our packet. Clarkson Community Historical Society, September 19th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., September 20th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. There’s art, music, vintage market, antiques, food trucks, and kids and crafts, and a vintage market pop up and shops. That will be at Depot Park. Free admission.

Item #11b – Taste of Clarkston – September 27^th (video time mark 0:10:49):

• • Taste of Clarkston Flyer (page 4/24 of the council packet)

Wylie said and we have on September 27th from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., this is Taste of Clarkston, which was established in 1998. Culinary journey through community, embark on a journey of taste exploration while enjoying a day filled with entertainment and camaraderie. It’s a foodie festival and sponsored by the Clark-, put on by the Clarkston Area Chamber of Commerce. We also have the City of the Village of Clarkston and Independence Township are partaking in this event.

Item #11c – Public Information Session on Millage Proposal – September 24^th (video time mark 0:11:18):

• • Public Information Session – Police, Fire, and Emergency Services Millage (page 5/24 of the council packet)

Wylie said and the last FYI is public information session on millage proposal, September 24th. This is a public information session to discuss a proposed police, fire, and emergency services millage. The city will be hosting a public information session to discuss the police, fire, and emergency services millage proposal that will be on the city’s November 2026 general election ballot. Residents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the proposal and ask questions. It will be Thursday, September 24th at 7:00 p.m. here in Village Hall at 375 Depot Park Road, Clarkston. And residents who are unable to attend may submit their questions and/or comments to Jonathan Smith, city manager at 375 Depot Road, Clarkston, Michigan 48346 or email smithj@villageofclarkston.org up to September 24th at 5 p.m. Arrangements to accommodate special needs, including handicap accessibility will be made upon receiving 72-hour advance notice. Please contact the city office at 248-625-1559 with any questions.

Wylie said does anybody else have anything else for FYI?

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said I was wondering for the Taste of Clarkston, I know we talked about the financials of that event previously. Where did that end up? Smith said we did increase it this year. Our out-of-pocket expenses, we did a deep investigation into what our out-of-pocket expenses are. And we updated that. And it was included in a new memorandum of understanding with the Chamber. So, they did increase that, it more than doubled from last year. I also inquired about a profit formula that the township received the last couple of years and we have not. And I asked the Chamber to investigate that. I didn’t think that was fair. If they’re gonna get a profit, we should as well. Instead, they eliminated the profit for the township. So at least now we’re on even keel with the township. So, we both get reimbursed for our out-of-pocket expenses. And there’s no profit sharing anymore. Wylie said thank you for taking care of that. Thanks for asking.

Wylie said anything else on FYI?

Chet Pardee said I asked a question about Art in the Park. And I believe the profits go to the Historical Association. Smith said Historical Society, yes. Pardee said Historical Society. And I’m wondering, has there been an analysis about what the city’s costs are? And the other thing that I had suggested in the budget preparation time was that there’d be a fee to vendors that comes to the city. Smith said OK, there’s not a fee to the vendors that comes to the city, but the Historical Society does pay the city for all of Jimi [Turner, Department of Public Works (DPW) supervisor] and Carson’s [Danis, DPW laborer] time. It’s primarily on Friday and Saturday morning. And so, they do work, but they do get paid for, by, through the Historical Society. So, the city is not out-of-pocket any money as a result of that donation. Pardee said do the vendors pay the Historical Association? Smith said well, they do as part of the (unintelligible) fee. Yes, they do. Pardee said I see that as a potential source of funds for the city. Wylie said thank you.

Agenda Item #7 – City Manager’s Report (video time mark 0:15:04):

• • 09-14-2026 – City Manager Report (page 6/24 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #7 is a city manager’s report. And Smith has a report and, on status of brick wall repair, status of e-bike ordinance and public information session. (To Smith), Wylie said did you wanna talk about any of these items?

Smith said just that the brick wall is taking longer than we thought. The contractor has been kind of a no-show. So unfortunately, it looks like I’m gonna have to re-quote that with other contractors. So, we haven’t paid him anything, so it’s not like we’re out-of-pocket any money or anything. So that’s just a status update there.

Smith said the e-bike ordinance, my recommendation there is that we wait. I mean, the summer season is almost over here anyways. It’s my recommendation after going to a SEMCOG [Southeast Michigan Council of Governments] session that we just wait for a little bit longer. There’s a lot of activity going on relative to e-bike regulation, both at the state level and at other municipalities. So, it’s my thought that let’s just wait until this settles down a little bit, and then we’ll have some good examples in other municipalities that we can pattern ours after. I think we do definitely need some revisions to our ordinance, but I’d say let’s wait ‘til this winter when it’s all kind of settled down and we can make a good, informed decision on this.

Smith said and then the last thing was the public information session that we’ve already talked about.

Wylie said OK, thank you. I know Quisenberry sent, both to you, me, I’m not sure who else, an example of a city, another city’s ordinance so it’s probably better to gather more information. Smith said yes, oh, we have lots of examples. Wylie said you have lots of them, OK. Smith said SEMCOG has been sharing those as well. Wylie said OK.

Wylie said OK, any questions from council members on the city manager’s report?

No comments.

Wylie said all right.

Agenda Item #8 – Oakland County Sheriff’s Report for August (video time mark 17:01):

• • Oakland County Sheriff Department Monthly Report for August (page 7/24 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #8 is Oakland County Sheriff’s Report for August. We have the spreadsheet, I guess you’d call it, included. Anybody on council have questions or comments on the Sheriff’s Department report?

Wylie recognized Casey for a comment.

Casey said building on what some of, some of the citizens have said to the effect that we’re not getting our money’s worth, I’m looking at the monthly citations under traffic, first item under traffic. In August, there were only four tickets. And the ‘25, the ‘26 total is 28 so far. We’re halfway through September so we don’t have all that much of the year to go. Contrasted with ‘25 when there were 485 tickets. So, what the heck is going on here?

Avery said again, we brought this up before, but 90% of that 480 came on one day when they sat on Miller and ticketed everybody that was not local driving through that street. That’s, so, the number’s skewed. You want to go back and look at previous years other than 2025, I think you can find a difference. Casey said all right. Avery said but, and we’ve talked about this before, which is we don’t really have a lot of options when it comes to police service. We can complain to the deputy, the sergeant when he comes to the meetings and he can give us his excuses that he always does. But unless communities band together and come up with their own police force, we have to use the sheriff. That’s just how it is. Otherwise, we could go and not have the sheriff and we can use the state police. And I would suspect we’d see even less of them. So, I don’t know how that really benefits us. We got to do the best we can. We have to complain when we can complain. But he’s been here, that’s probably why he’s not here tonight because the last time he was here, he got it for about 45 minutes from everybody, about all the noise, the traffic, the e-bikes, all that stuff. And he just kept saying, well, we don’t have the manpower, which is a cop-out because we paid to have the manpower and they’re not providing it. So, it’s frustrating – Wylie said right, right – (continuing), Avery said for sure.

Wylie said anybody else?

No comments.

Wylie said in the public? I think we’ve had a lot already.

No comments.

Agenda Item #9 – Consent Agenda (video time mark 0:19:30):

• • 08-10-2026 – Final Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 8/24 of the council packet)
  • 08-24-2026 – Draft Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 10/24 of the council packet)
  • 09-14-2026 – Treasurer’s Report (page 12/24 of the council packet)
  • 08-26-2026 – Check Disbursement Report for the Period 08-01-2026 – 08-31-2026 (page 13/24 of the council packet)
  • 08-14-2026 – Rosati, Schultz, Joppich & Amtsbuechler, P.C., July invoice (page 19/24 of the council packet)

Wylie said OK, Item #9 nine is consent agenda. And we’ve got the final minutes of the August 10th regular meeting, draft minutes of the August 24th regular meeting, and the treasurer’s report for September 14th. And I want to get a motion and a second to accept the consent agenda.

Motion by Rodgers; second Forte.

Wylie said any comments or questions from council members?

No comments.

Wylie said from the public?

Wylie recognized Pardee for a comment.

Pardee said yes, on page one of six of the check disbursement report, there appear to be about 10 different checks that were disbursed, $300 or $400. Wylie said I’m sorry, could you start, you’re on page one of six and what? Pardee said OK, this is the check disbursement report. Wylie said oh, yeah. Pardee said and so, there are $300 and $400 checks on that page and then on the succeeding change page, there are like $2,500 or $3,000 because of the number of people that are being reimbursed. And it says professional and contractual services. How do I get more detail as it relates to those issues? Because of the large number. So, who’s Jim Degen?

(To Pardee), Smith said so, these are all election workers. They are paid for the election, and all these wages will be reimbursed to us from the state. Well, the nine days of early voting, I should say that piece is reimbursed to us from the state. So, there’s nine days of early voting in here and then there’s also actual election day workers. Pardee said OK. Smith said and so that is the prevailing wage for election workers. Pardee said how much per hour? Smith said some of this will be reimbursed to us. Pardee said how much per hour?

Guillen said it’s not a per hour, it’s a daily rate plus election training. So, this depends on if they’re taking the training and then their daily rate, depending on if they’re a chairperson or a regular election inspector. Pardee said OK, so can you give me a dollar amount please for a daily rate? Guillen said for an election inspector or? Pardee said for the reimbursement. I’m just trying to figure out, are these $100 a day people? Guillen said they are not. You’ll never keep a worker paying $100 a day. So, the chairperson would be $300. The assistant chair would be $275. If you take your training, it’s $25. And if you work on the nine days of early voting, it’s $25 an hour. Pardee said thank you. Wylie said thank you.

Wylie said anybody, so we have any other discussion on consent agenda?

No comments.

Motion to accept the consent agenda passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said the consent agenda is approved.

Agenda Item #10, Unfinished Business (video time mark 0:22:36):

Wylie said Item #10 is unfinished business, which there is none.

Agenda Item #11, New Business (video time mark 0:22:40):

Wylie said Item #11 is new business.

Item #11a – Discussion: 100 People Who Care Program (video time mark 22:41):

• • 100 People Who Care Flyer (page 21/24 of the council packet)

Wylie said we have a Discussion, 100 People Who Care Program. And we have several people who I believe would like to talk to us about this. You can stand at your seats. You can do the podium. You can do whatever you want to do.

Katie Hess walked toward the podium and said we’re good at the podium (unintelligible) official. Wylie said OK. You’re official either way.

Katie Hess and Chris Rodgers:

Hess said OK. So, I had stopped in the other day. Rodgers said this is Katie Hess. Hess said yeah, I’m Katie Hess. Rogers said and I’m Chris Rogers. Hess said Chris Rogers. Do you need our addresses? Wylie said no, you don’t. It’s just nice that everybody’s got a name and a face.

Hess said so, I had stopped into city hall the other day to drop off flyers to Smith to see if there was any way that they could help us spread the news about a new community group that we’re starting. So, there are eight of us, eight community members that have come together to start a new group called 100 People Who Care Clarkston Area. It is a local giving circle. Today, there are about 900 of these that have popped up. And we decided that Clarkston needed one. So, I will let Rogers explain how the group is gonna work.

Rogers said a little background on it. It was a woman in Jackson, Michigan who started it in 2006. And she was working with a hospital that needed cribs, safe cribs. And there was no funding. And she realized she could reach 100 people. And if everyone brought $100, she could get that $10,000 in one night. And they ended up having a meeting. More than 100 people came, and they raised $12,000 in a one-hour session. So, everyone gave a little and they were able to lift big. I worked with a charity that has received a $20,000 donation from the Rochester 100 Women Who Care. I know SCAMP got $10,000, $12,000 from 100 Women Who Care Troy.

Hess said so, quite a few of these groups have been women-based. But we decided our group was gonna be anyone. We feel like Clarkston/Independence Township, this area has a lot of very generous men. And a lot of groups that are very heavy on the women. So, we’re hoping to pull everyone in.

Rogers said so, it just was an idea that had been in the air. Amy Darnell benefited from it. The group that I worked with benefited from it. We mentioned it to Hess. And knowing Hess, within about a day, she’s like, let’s do this. So, she pulled together Julie Meredith [Director, Clarkston/Independence District Library], Russ Milano, me, Hess, (unintelligible), Andrea Smith-Kniper at Social Medium. Wylie said oh, OK. Rogers said she’s fantastic. Wylie said yes.

Hess said and then we have a couple of local store owners. So, Areej Almeri and then Gina Lester from Inscribe Books. [Name spelling was not provided and may be inaccurate.] So, the eight of us have come together. And we’ve planned our first meeting. It’s gonna be October 19th at 7:00 p.m. at the library. Hess said I know Rogers mentioned it’s a one-hour meeting. That’s part of the beauty of this, is it’s a very low commitment time. Start at 7:00, end at 8:00. Members that join are committing to giving $100 quarterly, ideally attending the meeting, because then you can have a vote in which nonprofit would get the money. But people can join the group and donate the money without voting if they’re unable to attend meetings.

Rogers said so, at this point, we have 105 interested parties. And we still have another month before the meeting. So, we’re hoping to grow the number of interest. And then pretty soon, we’ll be sending out a follow-up email to have everyone sign the commitment form. So, 100 is a number we’re hoping for, but we hope we eclipse that and go even bigger.

Hess said so, part of the way that the group is set up is that in order for a nonprofit to be presented to the group, so during meetings, three nonprofits will be presented about. But you have to be a committed member to the group to present about the nonprofit. So, a nonprofit can’t just show up and try to present. One of the group members has to present. And it has to be a 501(c)(3). So then once the three nonprofits present, they each get a five-minute presentation with time for Q&As afterwards. And then from there, everybody in the group votes. Whichever nonprofit gets the most votes, everybody in the group writes their $100 check directly to the nonprofit. Wylie said oh. Hess said so, we’re not actually forming any sort of formalized group. There are no fees. There’s no where did the money go. It’s very transparent. It’s very efficient, very impactful. So, we wanted to just come and share about it. We’d love anyone to join us. We’re just trying to get the word out to the community.

Wylie said does it have to be a check? Can’t be a credit card? I guess (unintelligible). Rogers said we have found that there is Grapevine. So, Grapevine is an online platform that is specifically designed to help giving circles like this. And anyone can sign up. And you can either set up your payment to go, like you tell it to go out after the meeting, or you can set it out to go out on the days that you know we’re gonna meet. And if you’re in Florida and you can’t make the meeting, your $100 will still go to the charity that is selected. So even less difficult is that you can sign up, set it, and forget it, and still be a part of this big group that could, over the course of the year, do $40,000 donations to different groups.

Hess said it’s also set up, too, when you’re sending your check to the nonprofit, they are going to probably send you a thank you, and then also a receipt for your donation. However, they’re not allowed to contact you after that. So, you’re not gonna end up on emails for every nonprofit in our local community. Wylie said that’s nice. Hess said unless you wanna be on their email chain.

Hess said and then one other thing that we’re working on right now is during the week of our meetings, we’ll have a restaurant give back opportunity where the community, if they dine at certain restaurants, the restaurant will give a portion of sales to that nonprofit also. So right now, on that first Monday, Hamlin Pub is going to take that day. So, I believe from 6:00 to 10:00, if you dine at Hamlin Pub, it’ll donate 10% of sales. Rogers said and we’re also hoping that after the meeting, when it ends at 8:00, we could all continue the camaraderie at Hamlin Pub. Hess said if you would like, or you can go home. And then Tuesday will be Crave pizza. So, for the entire day of October 20th, any sales 10% will be donated to the nonprofit. And we’re still figuring out our Wednesday and Thursday restaurants. Wylie said wow. Hess said so. Wylie said that’s quite a lot already into this. Hess said yeah.

Wylie said anybody have any questions? I’m sorry, did anybody else have questions or comments? Or did you guys have more to say? Hess said no, that was it. Wylie said OK. Hess said we do have flyers. If we can maybe just leave some up here if anybody wants one. Wylie said probably best, Smith or Guillen will probably put it back by the – Smith said we have some on the front counter. Wylie said oh, you do already. Oh, you mean for this meeting today. Hess said yes. Wylie said I’m sorry. OK.

Hess said thank you guys. Wylie said thank you very much for coming. Avery said thank you.

Item #11b – Discussion: Rental Inspection Program (video time mark 29:50):

• • 02-23-2023 – Carlisle/Wortman, Rental Housing Certification Program (page 22/24 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #11b is Discussion, Rental Inspection Program. (To Smith), Wylie said are you gonna do this? Smith said yeah, I’ll start it up.

Smith said so, the question in the last council meeting was, could we reconsider the rental inspection program? And it’s something that we brought to council back in 2021 and again in 2023. And both times it was voted down. So, but in 2023, Carlisle/Wortman, our city planner at the time, did a pretty robust proposal identifying how the inspection program would work. So, I’ve included that here just for kind of historical sake.

Smith said but I also received today, I had a good discussion today with Independence Township Building Inspector, Dave Moran, a building official, you know, it’s his title. I spoke with him about how their program works. So, they have implemented earlier this year, actually in January, I think it was, they implemented a rental inspection program township-wide. So, these are apartments, but they can also be single-family homes that are being rented out, not short-term rentals. I don’t think they allow short-term rentals in the township. I’m not sure about that, but I don’t think they do. And it could be long-term rentals in the township, but I’ve given you a copy of what Quisenberry made available to me today. It is a copy of what Independence Township does, and it shows you kind of a sampling of the things they look for. It’s all the basic stuff, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, forms of egress. They don’t want bars over the windows that will prevent somebody from exiting the building in the case of an emergency. They look at other things like carbon monoxide coming from an old or faulty furnace. There’s a whole host of things you can see on this checklist of things that they look for.

Smith said the way the township has been doing this, they implemented in January of this year, it was approved, and they hired a manager and an inspector. The inspector, I’m told, does anywhere from 30 to 40 units. I think these are primarily apartment buildings, per day. So, he’s a busy guy, and he just goes around from apartment building to apartment building. And I think they have a way of getting access to the unit so that they can inspect for these issues, potential issues.

Smith said so, it is something that Moran says, his words were it’s a very heavy lift to get this started. It’s a three-year, I should say it’s a two-year certification in the township. So, if you get approved this year, you’re good for two years. And then if at the end of that, well, I think if their inspection comes back with a really high score, they can be eligible for a free third year. So, they only charge you every third year. That’s about $150 a unit. And again, that is not intended to be a profit center for the township, nor could it be for us either. It would just be to cover the wages of the inspector and the manager.

Smith said so, Moran says he wasn’t sure how this was all gonna work. It’s very labor intensive, but he says it’s going very, very well. They have made in the first 10 months of the 9 months of 2026, they’ve got about a third, a little bit more than a third of the rentals in the township now inspected.

Smith said so, they have had some issues where the landlord or the building owner, it refuses access to the building. And they have the authority to take them to court. And they have, they are in the process of taking some of these building owners to court to ensure that they get access. Moran’s point is that this is a liability. If you don’t do this, it’s a liability waiting to happen. If somebody were to be injured or worse yet die in say a fire, and there were no smoke detectors or no working smoke detectors or there were bars over the windows or there was a carbon monoxide failure because of the furnace unit for that apartment. Yes, the building owner would be sued, but the municipality will be sued as well. Why didn’t you step in and correct this? Smith said so, they have looked into the legalities of this and feel that it is a liability and that it is something that the township is responsible for doing.

[Clarkston Sunshine comment: We disagree. There is no requirement for a municipality to inspect rental units. It could possibly be liable if it did not respond to complaints received of ordinance violations, but, in the absence of any inspection program, there is no city liability to affirmatively inspect and no liability for violations that the city is not aware of. The government – and government employees – are generally immune from lawsuits unless a narrow exception applies (and none applies here).]

Smith said so, I share all that with you because I think it is important that you understand that the liability aspect of this, we previously voted it down, but I don’t know that at that time we did discuss the liability aspect of it. We just thought at that time, the comment made was that it’s government overreach and we shouldn’t be embarking on such a program. But when you look at the liability and you’ll recall some of you will recall the complaints that we received from the apartment building on Madison Court and that there was mold in the buildings and there was a lack of maintenance and upkeep work. And it is, we got some pretty loud complaints from the residents at the time. We acted not to act on it, but it is something I think we need to consider.

Smith said I asked Moran, could he replicate basically for the same fee structure? So, we’re not making a profit, we’re not losing money on it either. It’s just a neutral thing. I said, could we replicate what you’ve done in the township here in the city? And he said, absolutely. I said, would you have the bandwidth? Would your inspector, your one manager and inspector have the bandwidth, the capacity to take us on? He said, well, about how many units do you have? I estimated 200. I’m not sure, that might be a little on the high side, might be more like 150. So, these are long-term rental homes plus apartments, not the apartment buildings, the actual number of apartments. I estimate that at 200 and he says, yes. I could pretty much tell you that we could have those 200 units inspected and up in the cadence of inspections within about six months. We have over 3,000 to do in the township. So, your 200 would be a fairly small, easy task for them to take on.

Smith said so, this is an example from the township. Moran says, we’re welcome to cut and paste from their ordinance. And I can bring, this is just the wording that gets actually handed out to the property owner, but I can get their ordinance and look at it. The other thing I’ll add, Fisher’s not here tonight, but what Moran told me is they cloned their ordinance off of the Waterford Township ordinance that Fisher wrote. So, we have an in, in that regard, we could consult with Fisher. Maybe there’s some aspects of the township ordinance that wouldn’t apply to our whole city, but we can work with Fisher to customize it for us. I think pretty efficiently and inexpensively, Fisher knows it very well, so.

Wylie said thank you.

Wylie said did Moran say how they came to the realization that it was a prop, could potentially be a liability? Smith said no, he didn’t. Wylie said and what is it that brought it up to them? Smith said yeah, he didn’t say that there had been a lawsuit, but I kind of gathered that maybe there had been. Wylie said oh, OK. Smith said and that’s what kind of opened their eyes for the need for this. Wylie said OK.

Wylie said anybody else, questions, comments?

Forte said what’s the next step? Smith said I’ll get a copy of the ordinance from Fisher and or from Independence Township. They cloned theirs pretty much verbatim and made a couple of refinements, but, so I can easily get that ordinance and bring it to the next council meeting.

Wylie said I assume at some point it has to go to the planning commission again, but I think we need council, (to Forte) if you’re shaking your head, no. But I think no matter what council has to decide, if we want that to, do we want that to happen?

Forte said I think this is pretty straightforward. Smith said it is, and if you don’t have any refinements, I think the fact that Fisher wrote it for Waterford and it’s been cloned by the Township, I think I can ask Fisher, but it may be very straightforward and just bring it right to council.

Wylie said was he ever the attorney for Waterford? I don’t remember that. I thought they had like a law director. Smith said I don’t know what his relationship is.

Rodgers said I don’t know that it matters, but it would be good to know before we make like this decision to do this, since it has been voted down twice. Like historically, what happened that made this a liability issue? Because I’m not following that, but I’m not a legal person. You know, that’s not my occupation. So just to understand – (interrupting Rodgers), Wylie said you mean why council said no? Rodgers said no, no, no, why liability is now an issue. Like what, what happened so that we’re just not like doing something because somebody thinks we should, you know, without any background. Smith said Fisher may have that insight. Rodgers said yeah. Smith said if there have been legal cases where municipalities have been sued. Rodgers said OK, it just would be good to know.

Wylie said anything else from council members?

Avery said that is my occupation and I don’t know that. So, I don’t do government – Wylie said so, we can use – (continuing), Avery said immunity stuff. So yeah, I’d be curious. Obviously, Fisher knows. He deals with this stuff every day, so.

Wylie said questions or comments from the public?

Wylie recognized Pardee for a comment.

Pardee said a question about really population. I was thinking that the village’s population was like 840, and I thought we had 300 plus renters. Wylie said that’s what I thought it was. That’s what I was under the impression for. And that’s based on running for council positions and trying to get signatures. Smith said those are people or buildings? Pardee said I had believed – Wylie said oh, that would be people. Yeah, you’re right. That’s people. Because it was – (Pardee made an unintelligible comment). (To Smith), Wylie said yeah, you’re right. It was people.

Wylie said anything else from the public?

Pardee said still a third of the residents. Wylie said yeah, yeah.

(To Smith), Wylie said you had something else? Smith said no, sorry.

Wylie said anybody else?

No comments.

Wylie said hey, anybody have anything else for this meeting?

No comments.

Agenda Item #12, Adjourn Meeting (video time mark 41:29):

Wylie said Item #12 is adjourn the meeting. I’ll take a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Motion by Avery; second Casey.

(No discussion offered.)

Motion to adjourn the meeting passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said we are adjourned at 7:41. Thank you everybody for coming.

Resources:

• • Link to video recording here
  • 09-14-2026 city council packet