January 12, 2026 City Council Meeting

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, so I’m calling the meeting to order.

Agenda Item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (video time mark 0:00:07):

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

(Pledge said.)

Wylie said thank you. Quisenberry said so, we’ve got a big crowd today. Wylie said yeah. Everybody’s here for the block grant stuff.

Agenda Item #3, Roll Call (video time mark 0:00:37):

Wylie said OK, Item #3 is a roll call, so Jonathan [Smith, city manager], I guess you are acting as our clerk. Would you do that, please?

Sue Wylie, Laura Rodgers, Al Avery, Gary Casey, Amanda Forte, Erica Jones, and Ted Quisenberry were present.

Wylie said everybody’s here, it might be the first time, you know, it seems like it’s the first time in a while. Quisenberry said first time this year. Wylie said good point.

Agenda Item #4, Approval of Agenda – Motion (video time mark 0:01:02):

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

Motion by Jones; second Avery.

Wylie said any discussion.

[Casey and Avery had an unintelligible discussion.]

Wylie said questions.

No questions.

Motion to approve the agenda passed by unanimous voice vote.

Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (video time mark 0:01:21):

[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. I guess I’ll read it.

(Wylie read the rules for public comments.)

Wylie said anybody have any public comments. I mean, somebody on council or Evelyn [Bihl, assistant treasurer/deputy clerk/administrative assistant], did you have a public comment? Or maybe there’s somebody online? Chet Pardee just called in.

(To Pardee), Smith said did you have any public comments? Pardee said I’m sorry. Smith said did you have any public comments? Casey said apparently not. (To Pardee), Jones said we can hear you. Can you hear us? Wylie said apparently not.

Pardee said yes. I do have a couple of comments. Based on not being on the agenda, I have a question, please, about the clerk’s resignation. And I’m wondering if, in fact, we’ve had an opportunity to do an exit interview. Those are usually very beneficial to get some idea of what were the issues. And also, I was wondering what her new salary was and benefits that came with that and what municipality. Smith said I did have an exit interview with Angela [Guillen, former clerk]. We did not talk about her new role, her new salary, certainly. She did not want to disclose that information of where she was going. But suffice it to say, her salary would be going up somewhat significantly. She had experienced some high expenses here in her home and her health care. So, it just wasn’t conducive for her to stay here. Beyond that, there wasn’t a lot. She had no complaints about the city or the staff or working with anybody, working here in the office. She loves the residents. No issues whatsoever in that regard. So, there were no red flags, no reason for her to leave in that regard. So that’s all I know.

Pardee said OK, staying within my three minutes, I believe we ought to be understanding what is the timing required for us to either get approval for a bond issue or increased millage. I’m sure there’s a timeline of required events that would lead to a November ballot if, in fact, council decided to do that. But my feeling is that we need to have some idea of what needs to occur when, if, in fact, we decided to bring millage increase or bonds to the city. Casey said for what purpose? Smith said so, who’s our expert? Who becomes our expert in that area? One of the attorneys? (To Pardee), Smith said well, certainly one of the attorneys would have to investigate the legal matters. I would ask that Greg Coté, my treasurer, that he lead up this investigation to find out the answer to your question. But we’ll find out. We have a finance committee meeting tomorrow where we’re talking about, as you know, revenue opportunities. So, I think we can go into more detail maybe in that meeting. Pardee said OK. Thank you.

Wylie said anybody else with public comments.

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said I just have an update from the planning commission. We’ve been working on the master plan like we’ve talked about in the past. But just to give you guys an update, we’re getting all of our information back from SEMCOG [Southeast Michigan Council of Governments] this month, which is all of our metrics and stuff that’s in the master plan. It has to do with our demographics and so on and so forth. We should get that back mid-month. And then my plan is to schedule public engagement after that. And then once we get those two components, we can update the master plan based on what those two components are. Wylie said great. Thank you.

Wylie said anybody else.

No comments.

Wylie said thank you.

Agenda Item #6 – FYI: (video time mark 0:06:01):

Item #5 [#6] is FYI. There is nothing in the packet for FYI.

Agenda Item #7 – City Manager’s Report (video time mark 0:06:07):

• • 01-12-2026 – City Manager report (page 3/41 of the council packet)
  • City Clerk – Job Description (page 4/41 of the council packet)
  • City Clerk – Job Responsibilities (page 5/41 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #7 is the city manager’s report, which is included in the packet. (To Smith), Wylie said did you want to go into anything on this?

Smith said I don’t think so. We’ve talked about Angela’s resignation. Secondly, we are looking for people, residents, to serve on the board of review three-member panel. Two of the three have decided to step down this year. They’re not leaving us in a lurch if it takes a little bit of time to find somebody okay with that. But these are all long-standing members of the board of review, and they’re just looking to do some other things. That’s pretty much it.

Wylie said the board of review, do they get paid for that. Smith said no, they do not. Wylie said and that needs to be on the webpage. We still are looking for a historic district commissioner, and now we need to add this position. Smith said yes. I did get an email from somebody interested, a resident interested in being on the HDC [Historic District Commission]. Wylie said OK, good. Smith said so, I’ll forward that individual on to the commission to look at.

Wylie said OK. Anybody have questions or comments on the city manager’s report?

No comments.

Jones said sorry to hear about your ankle. Smith said yeah, me too. Jones said I will say just the one thing I learned from breaking a bone around the same time, vitamin D is very important to help the rebirth, so yeah. Smtih said already on it. (Laughter.) Wylie said and if anybody listening or reading this is interested, there is a job description and responsibilities for the city clerk job that Smith has included in the packet.

Agenda Item #8 – Oakland County Sheriff’s Report for December (video time mark 0:08:01):

• • Oakland County Sheriff Report (page 6/41 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #8 is the Oakland County Sheriff’s report for December. Anybody have any comments or questions for Smith to pass on from this report? Casey said no. Wylie said OK.

Smith said so, this is a year-end review, obviously, so it tracks or compares nicely with the 2024 number, just slightly higher than the 2024 number. So, I don’t think there’s any too alarming here. Individual scores might vary a little bit, but overall, it’s pretty close. Wylie said OK.

Agenda Item #9 – Consent Agenda (video time mark 0:08:42):

• • 11-24-2025 – Final Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 7/41 of the council packet)
  • 12-08-2025 – Draft Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 9/41 of the council packet)
  • 12-22-2025 – Treasurer’s Report (page 11/41 and 30/41 of the council packet)
  • 01-12-2026 – Revenue and Expenditure Report for the Period Ending 11-30-2025 (page 12/41 and 31/41 of the council packet)
  • Hubbell, Roth & Clark, November invoices (page 22/41 of the council packet)
  • Rosati, Schultz, Joppich & Amtsbuechler, P.C. November invoices (page 24/41 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #9 is the consent agenda. This includes the final minutes of the November 24, 2025, regular meeting; the draft minutes of the December 8, 2025, regular meeting; treasurer’s report from December 22; and treasurer’s report from January 12. And we need a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda.

Motion by Jones; second Rodgers.

Wylie said OK. Any questions or comments from members of the council about the consent agenda?

No comments.

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

Wylie said the consent agenda is approved.

Agenda Item #10, Unfinished Business (video time mark 0:09:33):

Wylie said and our next item #10 is unfinished business.

[There were no additional comments regarding this agenda item, not even to say there were no items under unfinished business.]

Agenda Item #11, New Business:

Item #11A – Public Hearing on the 2026 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program (video time mark 0:09:38; page 40/41 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #11A, public hearing on the 2026 community development block grant, CDBG. And we have the notice. Should I open the meeting before – I think I need to open the meeting before reading all this.

• • Open Public Hearing (video time mark 0:09:38):

Wylie said so, the meeting for the, the public meeting for the 2026 community development block grant program is opened now. It is 7:10, 7:10 p.m. And we have, the notice was –

(Wylie read the public notice.)

Wylie said and this was from Jonathan Smith, city manager.

Wylie said the resolution states – is this Resolution 2026, Community Development – (interrupting Wylie) Smith said wait a minute. Before you go into the resolution, we need to actually just – (interrupting Smith), Wylie said oh, open it up to public comment. Sorry. Smith said open it up to public comments and receive comments. Wylie said OK.

• • Receive Public Comments (video time mark 0:11:30):

Wylie said does anybody have any comments on – or would like to make a comment about the 2026 CDBG grants?

Wylie recognized Quisenberry for a comment.

Quisenberry said first off, I’d like to just ask, when was the public notice put out? Smith said the notice that she just read? Quisenberry said yes. Smith said December 10th, I believe it was. Quisenberry said OK. All right. So any people, any other entities that were interested in it, they’ve had a month to make their interest known? Smith said yes. Quisenberry said OK.

Casey said how many applicants do we have? Wylie said I don’t know. Smith said the only two that have expressed interest are the traditional ones that have been for the last couple of years, and that’s CAYA, Clarkston Area Youth Assistance, and the Senior Center Bus Transportation Program. Both of them expressed interest. As I said, both of them would like the full $7,000 that’s made available to us. In the interest of trying to make both operations function, in the last couple of years now, two years in a row, we split it $3,500/$3,500. And so that’s the kind of going-in assumption, as you’ll see in the resolution, what we’ll get to next after we close the public hearing, but that’s the general assumption is that we would do that again. Nobody else has come forward and expressed or requested access to our funds.

Wylie said when the CAYA people were here, they did the last meeting? Smith said a couple of meetings ago, yes. Wylie said they spoke briefly on it, mostly just making us familiar with what they do. Smith said they, as you recall, were also asking for potentially funds from our operational budget – Wylie said yes – (continuing), Smith said which is something we have to talk about as part of the budget approval process, is that something that we think we could fund. But definitely they’re interested in the CDBG monies.

Wylie said anybody else like to make a public comment.

No comments.

• • Adjourn Public Hearing (video time mark 0:13:42):

Wylie said OK, then I’m going to adjourn the public hearing at 7:13, close the meeting? Close the public hearing at 7:13 p.m.

Item #11B – Resolution – Allocation of the 2026 CDBG Funds (video time mark 0:14:03):

• • Resolution – 2026 Community Development Block Grant Funding Allocation (page 41/41 of the council packet)

Wylie said OK. Item #B is Resolution, Allocation of the 2026 CDBG Funds.

(Wylie read the resolution.)

Wylie said and we’ll need somebody to make a resolution on this, to make this resolution, and somebody else to support or second this.

Motion by Quisenberry; second Casey.

Wylie said and is there any discussion.

Rodgers said just a question. Legally, we can do this to these two groups, right? There’s nothing that — something is in my mind that there was — (interrupting Rodgers), Jones said we had this conversation last year. We can do it between the two. If we’re going to split it, it has to be equally between two groups. Rodgers said OK. So that’s why we do it this way.

Forte said but isn’t there a thing, like, we can’t donate just, like, to, like, individually? Like, we can’t just donate the city’s funds? Wylie said this is not in our funds, though. Forte said no, no, no, I know. But is that what you’re referring to? Rodgers said yeah, I just remember something after we went down, and it might not have been in relationship to this, but it was in relationship to something like this. And the knock on it was that we could not donate to special somethings. I don’t know where I’m coming with this, but — Wylie said yeah, charitable organizations. Smith said nonprofits. Rodgers said yeah. Smith said and that’s, if we were to explore that, if the finance committee were to explore the possibility of supporting CAYA, for example, above and beyond CDBG, that is something we would have to investigate very carefully with our city attorney. Rodgers said but this particular thing is OK. Smith said these aren’t really even our funds. They just come in, go out immediately.

Avery said oh, I remember. It was the parking. Jones said yeah, the parking. Avery said (unintelligible) the parking. Jones said and we can’t do that because that’s considered a donation. Avery said that donation, too, because they were holding something. Jones said it was for the SCAMP House Tour. Avery said SCAMP House Tour. Rodgers said OK. Avery said (unintelligible) I think it was Tom [Ryan, former city attorney] who told us that, too.

Wylie said has it been confirmed it is $7,000 this year? Smith said that’s what I’m told, yes. Wylie said you’re told, OK.

Wylie said any other discussion.

Forte said the only other thing I have to say, I think it’s great that we’re splitting this 50-50. They’re just both great organizations. We’re so lucky to have them in Clarkston. Smith said yeah, agreed.

Wylie said anything else or anybody else.

No comments.

Wylie said OK, we’ll need a roll call on this.

Jones, Quisenberry, Rodgers, Wylie, Avery, Casey and Forte voted yes.

Wylie said and the resolution is adopted. Thank you, everybody.

Item #11C – Discussion: Holiday Market (video time mark 0:18:24):

Wylie said and Item #11C, (to Rodgers), Wylie said you’re closing up real soon. Wylie said we’ve got a discussion on the holiday market.

Rodgers said I think Smith put that on there just to kind of give a recap of what happened and what we’re looking towards for next year.

Rodgers said so, this year was our fourth year. Smith said fourth, yes, of correct. Rodgers said and, you know, so much of it seemingly just goes the same pretty much now every year. However, this year it was so cold and we had so much snow that we have never had before. And so that kind of threw a little bit of a wrench into the pre-holiday market planning. When there was 12 inches of snow in the park. And so, you can’t really have vendors and kids and all of that in the park. And so, the DPW [Department of Public Works] had to really work their behinds off. In fact, everybody really worked their behinds off.

Rodgers said Evelyn [Bihl, assistant clerk/assistant treasurer/administrative assistant] was here Saturday morning of the market shoveling the snow off of the playground. She got three young boys to come and help us or help her shovel all of that. And so, it was a bigger thing this year than it had been in the past. Amy Wilson, who is my partner in crime with it, and I have always kind of handled most of it. Of course, the DPW always goes above and beyond where they should be. But this year they had been out till 3 in the morning the whole week before with roads and ice and snow removal and all of that kind of stuff. So we really pushed them to their max.

Rodgers said all this being said, everything went swimmingly well, I believe. I did not get, besides it being too cold, which I can’t control, everybody seemed to have, like, a great time at it. It was probably the same amount of people up until maybe 6:00 or 6:15. What we saw was that the coming back after the parade didn’t happen to the degree that it usually does. And from talking to young parents, they kind of chose between going to the market and going home, going to the parade and going home. Very few of the young moms that I know did both, including my own grandbabies. They watched the parade from my house. So, it was just very (unintelligible) for them. So again, we can’t really control that.

Rodgers said what we can control is increasing maybe our committee. Amy and I usually start with a committee of four or five in June when we start planning this, and we end up with a committee of, you know, Amy and I. So, we’re really hoping for more volunteers that, not volunteers for the thing. (Gesturing toward council), Rodgers said you guys always pitch in. The community, of course, financially always supports us. We have the same number of different sponsors every year, but they always kick in. You know, community support has been amazing. But what I’m going to try to do is get a committee together so that when, if the same elements are here next year, second week in December, that maybe we have more than Bihl and, you know, three young boys out there shoveling and the DPW. Because they’re working down here, and they’re also working for the parade, too. So, it’s like, and that particular week, it was exhausting for them. So, we just need to look at kind of beefing up that kind of thing, or having somebody on reserve that we would pay financially to come and remove partial of that snow, if that would happen again. And who knows? It might. You know, the second year we had it, it was 55 degrees and balmy. So, you know, we don’t know. But you would have to have somebody maybe on standby. And part of that committee that starts in the summer might be able to get, you know, some of the suggestions where maybe, you know, some of the high school students, football players, National Honor Society. There’s two young gals that help clean up at the end, the last two years, that are National Honor Society gals. And they bring all the stuff to the house here.

Rodgers said so, we’re going to look at all of that. We’re going to sit down with Jimi [Turner, DPW supervisor] from the DPW and kind of do a debrief here, probably end of January, sometime February, and get our bearings around what we need to do differently. But from a community standpoint, I didn’t hear any negatives. I heard only positives again. There was no arguing in the park. The vendors, although some of them that I talked to said that they didn’t sell as much as they usually do, all of them signed up for next year. So, they’re not worried about it.

Rodgers said thing that would be nice is some electricity in the park so that heaters and things like that could be more accessible to the vendors, the people, everybody. But that’s how we’re going to do it.

Wylie said I heard the keyboard person doing the, I think it was a child, he or she, fingers froze. An unidentified persona said the computer froze. Rodgers said the computer froze. It was so cold. And he had on, you know, like fingerless gloves and we’re like, it’s just frozen, yeah. So even Santa this year said that typically – Quisenberry said if he’s cold, that’s – (continuing), Rodgers said the cold doesn’t bother him, just like Elsa. And he said that his feet were starting to get cold in his Santa boots. Wylie said wow, he’s sitting there. He’s pretty tough. Rodgers said yeah. Yeah. And he usually like when that day, that year there was like 55, he was miserable because it was so hot. Like he said, can’t you just get like a nice 32 degree night? So that’s what we’re ordering up for next year.

Jones said just to chime in, for Turner and the boys of DPW, I would just like to say that I think they have been doing tremendous work in terms of keeping the roads clear and the work on the streets. My bedroom window sits, you know, right on Main Street. And so, I hear and I can see the lights when they go by. And I mean, that one week that we got that seven inches that we know was expecting, really, they did a tremendous job keeping those roads clear because you can tell the difference between here and going over on Sashabaw. Wylie said oh yeah. Jones said and I just like I just I just want them to know that it is not unappreciated that they they’re doing tremendous work. Just those two guys like so. Thank you so much for being here. Forte said seriously, yeah. Jones said I read one of them was I can’t I don’t know which was Turner, which was the other, but I ran into him at the tent when he was because they were putting in lights for the Santa letter. And I was like, you guys are killing it out there.

Forte said yeah, and the park looks amazing. And like the building looks amazing. I don’t know if they do that, but it looks phenomenal. Smith said every year they come up with ideas of things they can improve upon next year. And so, they always are doing a little bit new thing every year. So I give them a lot of credit. (Unintelligible crosstalk.) Smith said yeah. Yeah. Avery said I mean, just the regular lights are off. Smith said oh, the regular lights are off.

Quisenberry said we used to have Johnny Carson. We have Jimi Carson. Jimi. Avery said OK. I always think of the hockey player, Jimmy Carson.

(To Bihl), Wylie said you want to say something? Bihl said oh, I can’t remember. (Laughter.) Wylie said I thought I heard you say something. Bihl said I was going to, but I can’t remember what it was. But it was great. I didn’t hear any complaints or anything. No kids crying. The hot chocolate was great. It was just perfect as far as hotness for anybody. Rodgers said and he still handed out 800 cups of hot chocolate.

Jones said I was still very impressed by the number of people that showed up. Bihl said me too. Jones said we talk about the weather. It was still a very, I was very impressed by the steady stream.

Rodgers said and I left here after 8:00 or after 8:30, whatever time it was that I left. There were still families sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows. Wylie said really. Oh. Jones said the fire ring was very popular. Smith said yes. Jones said yes, indeed.

Bihl said the mailman, he’s always great. The whole thing was nice. Rodgers said yeah, he’s actually the postmaster that comes here with his little truck and takes all our letters. Bihl said and he said that when he brings back the letters, that his staff can’t wait to get them to respond back, that they can’t wait for him to come back so they can write a letter for him. Wylie said oh, they do that? Jones said yes. They fill out a return address so they can get a response from Santa. Bihl said so there’s more to it, not just there (unintelligible).

Jones said and so I’ll throw in my, how cold was it? The ink pens were not working. And so, I was telling them, I was like, use the colored pencils, the crayons, and the markers. And I was trying to keep the pens like in my pocket, like wrapped in my hands to try and, but yeah, I was like, use the markers. You can’t, the ink pens won’t work. Rodgers said well, I would give him kudos. My granddaughter thought that Jones was, that lady in there, she’s very nice. Jones said have her tell everyone. (Laughter.) Forte said good press is good press.

Forte said but pertaining to the electricity in the park, is there a way we could kind of plan, like, over the next few years, I know that’s not like immediate, but we obviously do so many events in the park. Could we kind of come up in the finance committee meeting to kind of have a separate plan for how to kind of fundraise across those events? I mean, even if we get a quote for how much of the electricity would be in the park, and then say over the next five years, we just charge X amount more in like our park fees, you know what I mean? Just to make up that difference. I think everyone would end up benefiting from it, like Art in the Park. Like there’s not any event that wouldn’t understand that this is why we’re upping the charge. I don’t know. Avery said but we need electricity. Smith said we do. It’s just all at the gazebo. Avery said yes, I don’t know where else you would put it, though. Smith said well, there’s talk about running some underground and put satellite up, just a post. Avery said yeah, I know there’s one that they did run where they ran it back to the bridge. Smith said so, the thought was do more of those satellite posts with a four-plug box on it.

Rodgers said you have extension cords running from all the vendors to that. And it’s kind of dangerous. (Unintelligible crosstalk on council while Rodgers was speaking.) Rodgers said and so, I know that the one that ran, one of them, one of the guys had like a little trench in the snow so that the snow was over top of it. And they put tape down on it. Yeah, it works, but – (interrupting Rodgers), Bihl said plus all the heaters this time, too, are blowing things out because there’s a lot of smaller heaters that really would overload the one. Jones said would that be something for the master plan to include for electricity? Avery said no. Forte said it’s too ancillary. Smith said yeah.

Bihl said do we have any residents that would do it – Forte said pro bono. Smith said yeah. It’s definitely something we can look into. We’ve talked about it before. Avery said then we can have Hutchinson give us a quote. Smith said I think that’s the first step, is to get Hutchinson, our dedicated electrician, and just give us a quote on, you know, four or five different satellite poles. Wylie said actually, a guy in the street just (unintelligible). Forte said and you organizing the event in the park, and then you sometimes don’t know what needs to be out there. Smith said yeah. Forte said right. Smith said yeah.

(To Rodgers), Smith said so, I think one of the things that we were hoping to accomplish was to just, we don’t have a motion or resolution on it in general. It’s just to look around and talk to the council members and say, first of all, and foremost, do you support this? Do you want us to continue doing this? Do we want to own this event? Because it’s, when it gets down to the 11th hour, so many of these events, these nonprofit events, you get down to the 11th hour, and people are just gone. They’ve disappeared. And I think some recognition that we’re going to actually own this. I went back and looked at the original resolution from June of 2022, and it was just implied that this was almost just a one-time event, that we would set budget aside. But I don’t think that was the intent. The intent was that this, especially after it was such a successful event that first year. And so, again, no resolution, I don’t think, needed on this, just looking for guidance from council. I think it’s a wonderful event for a small community like this. I love it. Just the look on people’s faces when they come out to the event. It’s really amazing to see how excited they are to be here with their family and their kids.

Rodgers said just so you all know, my intent wasn’t ever, I told you one year. My intent is to, you know, keep it until we, and like I said, we get the amount that council gives, which I think is $1,000, but you’ll probably recognize the fact that it costs a lot more than $1,000 to put this thing on. And the community support has always been there. Always been huge. Avery said I wonder if we go to, like, the Optimists or the Rotary Club and partner with them. Because at least you get maybe get some bodies there. Rodger said well, the Optimists do donate. They’re one of the donators. But, and, you know, every year it’s somebody else that donates largely. And that’s, that’s always just worked. The other marketplace has been huge. Avery said I’m not talking about funding, bodies. Rodgers said oh, manpower. Avery said yeah. I mean, if we make it part of, I mean, I used to be part of the Rotary for a number of years. And, you know, they throw their own events. But, you know, if they had, if we partnered with them and they got some sort of love for it, I think you could get seven, eight, nine, ten of them to come down here to help. Wylie said might be tough to get the Optimists back for a while.

Rodgers said it’s interesting. I know Coté said, like, oh, you know, you should get the kids from Leadership and Honor Society. They have to get hours. And we do touch base with them. The problem is that it’s tiny here. You know? To give up an entire, not only just the four hours before or two hours split at the time is enough. But to be invested in time, like in preparation for it, is also hard. I’m not saying that’s not a great idea. I think that’s a fantastic idea to touch base with them. And I can. But just some of the roadblocks that we’ve met. And I’m not me saying it. I would do it all over again. I will do it all over again every year until I’m 90. But as long as everybody still wants it to happen. So, my intent was not for it to just be a year. Because of what I hear when I’m down there. I was telling Smith, one family said to my daughter while she was waiting in line, like, they were grandparents of a friend of hers, and said, like, no city does this anymore. Where? What city, like, gives somebody, like, hands them Christmas spirit. You know, from the ponies. Like, the ponies are free? Really? You know? And that all comes from not only the city itself, and the money that we get from them, but also because I think our community really supports it, too.

Forte said so, do we donate, like also, the time for, like, Turner and Danis and stuff? Smith said yes. Forte said OK. So, like, my only thing, honestly, I love this event. I’m a young parent. I donate. I will donate for the rest of my life. I obviously want this to continue. I have also heard some residents say they don’t want the city to be subsidizing events, which is a valid concern when we look at our budget. So, my question is, like, on events like this, like, what is our standard? Like, obviously I want this event to keep going. Like, I’m trying to be honest. Like, I want this to continue. Like, if we didn’t give you guys $1,000 as a city, could you make that up? Like, how does it, like, work financially? You know what I mean?

Rodgers said yeah, well, a big part of it is the DPW, and as far as I know, the city doesn’t put on any event for the city. Not that the city doesn’t do things for the city. The city does a lot for our residents. More than I think most people realize. But as far as an event, this is the only event. Everything else is for, you know, the Art in the Park is for the historical society [Clarkston Community Historical Society – Smith is the president and treasurer]. The movies are for something else. Like, the city proper, us, ourselves, this is the only thing that we do for the city as an event.

Jones said and I would just counterpoint to that that as a city, we’re responsible to the community in making this an attractive place, like, for people that want to come and be, and we have a responsibility. And I think that at some point, like, donating hours or the city, I don’t look at this as subsidizing. I look at this as, this is the city investing in the community in a third space, which are so important right now. Like, you know, getting people out, like, and saying other communities don’t do it. So, this is, I think, this is something that, yes, our budget is an issue, but, like, I don’t think that this is, this isn’t where, this isn’t breaking the bank. This is what we should be, these are the things we should be doing. So I will, I would continue to support this, regardless.

Smith said it’s really not that different than placemaking events where you make a little pocket park or something, and it’s about placemaking it so people think of downtown Clarkston, and they think of that when they think of the holidays. Avery said right, it’s like the Fourth of July parade. Oh yeah, they’ve got a parade downtown. Smith said and that all contributes, in different ways, but it all contributes to the community, a sense of community and a sense of people wanting to buy a house here and invest in our community. So, it all, it all kind of contributes to the bottom line.

Bihl said I kind of remember what I was going to say. (Laughter.) It’s not 3 o’clock in the morning yet. But, you know, during that time, I just wanted the council to know that Turner was dealing with his dog dying. Wylie said oh, that’s right. Bihl, said so I know that doesn’t mean anything to everybody, but he would bring the dog and stay there and then walk around. Even I’d help with the dog. Coté helped with the dog. Guillen helped with the dog. The dog did pass away on Christmas Day. However, you know, he was busy working 12- and 14-hour days, plus helping, plus the 15 inches of snow, trying to scrape it, plus everything else that goes on behind the scenes. So, I just want you to know he and Danis were taking care of his dog. Plus all of us here. So just wanted to let you know he was dealing with that. Rodgers said they were huge this year. I mean, they’re always huge. Let’s face it. They’re priceless. But this year, they were beyond that. Bihl said it was tough this year with that snow.

Wylie said anybody have anything else to say.

No comments.

Agenda Item #12, Adjourn Meeting (video time mark 0:38:37):

Wylie said OK, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Motion by Jones; second Rodgers.

Motion to adjourn passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said we are adjourned at 7:38. Thank you.

Resources:

• • Link to video recording here
  • 01-12-2026 – City council packet