July 14, 2025 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 ladies and gentlemen, it’s 7 o’clock. I’m calling the meeting to order.

Agenda Item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (Video time mark 0:00:05):

Wylie said if everybody would please rise, we’ll say the Pledge of Allegiance.

(Pledge said.)

Wylie said thank you.

Wylie said call to order and the Pledge of Allegiance were the first and second items on our agenda.

Agenda Item #3, Roll Call (Video time mark 0:00:25):

Wylie said and the third item on our agenda is a roll call. And Angie’s [Angie Guillen, city clerk] doing it? Angie? Clerk, would you please take the roll call?

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

Ted Quisenberry was absent.

Wylie said OK, thank you.

Agenda Item #4, Approval of Agenda – Motion (Video time mark 0:00:48):

Wylie said Item #4 is approval of the agenda. And we do have some seats up here, those of you who are standing in the back.

Wylie said I need a motion to approve the agenda.

Motion by Avery; second Casey.

Wylie said any discussion from council.

No discussion.

Wylie said comments or conversation about this 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 0:01:28):

[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 and with that, does anybody have public comments.

Wylie recognized Chet Pardee for a public comment. Pardee said good evening and provided his address.

Chet Pardee:

I look forward to an explanation of what has happened to the assessment capability of Independence Township and its relevance to the City of Clarkston.

My next comments, for the most part, are directed to city council members.

I do not believe city council is fulfilling its commitment to the residents of the city by establishing priorities for the city and for the city manager. Do you agree that council members are responsible for setting the priorities for the city and the (unintelligible) and the city manager and measuring the performance of the city manager based on his accomplishing his objectives in line with the city’s priorities? If not, who is responsible for these critical activities?

I would appreciate anyone explaining to me why you think the city is on a good trajectory. What will it take for the city to change its financial direction, which currently appears dire, one more year and then what? What will cause the financials for 2026 and ‘27 to be significantly different than current?

In last meeting’s public comments, I suggested a list of objectives. I believe I may have gotten ahead of myself. I believe that city council should establish the priorities for the city and from those priorities, objectives should follow. So, what should be the process for council to establish the city’s priorities? I believe Julie Meredith [Director, Clarkston Independence District Library] and her facilitation process leadership – this is Julie who is responsible for the Clarkston Library – would permit council members to express their thoughts in a process separate from a council meeting setting. Julie has done that for the city in the past.

Wylie thanked Pardee.

Wylie said anybody else have public comments.

Wylie said we can’t have our door blocked, so those of you who are standing back there, there are still at least two seats I see up here. If you would maybe move a little closer, move a little back, and there are two seats up here. I see somebody else perhaps is coming in.

Wylie said anybody else have public comments for items not on the agenda. It can’t be anything on the agenda. (A woman walked up to the podium.) Wylie said if you’re talking about traffic, it’s on the agenda. The woman said oh, OK and left the podium.

Wylie said there’s a seat right up here.

Wylie said anybody else with public comments.

No comments.

Wylie said OK, we’ll close public comments.

Agenda Item #6 – FYI: (Video time mark 0:04:43):

Item #6A – Clarkston Garden Walk & Artisan Market (Video time mark 0:04:43)

• • Clarkston Garden Walk & Artisan Market Flyer (page 3/33 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #6 is FYI. This is the Clarkston Garden Walk and Artisan Market. It’s July 16th from 11 a.m. to 7 a.m. [7 p.m.], and there are six gardens. They have artists and musicians, programs and maps, restaurant specials. It begins at the grounds of the Clarkston Independence District Library on Clarkston Road. Tickets are $15, and you can purchase them online at www.clarkstongardenclub.org. You can also buy them at Bordines, the Clarkston Library, the Gateway. Tickets on the day of the walk are $20, and they’re only available at the ticket tent on the library grounds. It’s always a lovely event.

Wylie said anything else on FYI that I’m missing.

No comments.

Agenda Item #7 – City Manager’s Report (Video time mark 0:05:28):

• • July 14, 2025, City Manager Report (page 4/33 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #7 is the city manager’s report, and we have it included in our packet. [To city manager Jonathan Smith], Wylie said did you have anything you wanted to discuss or highlight.

Smith said just probably to highlight the interactive forms on the city website. We talked about this as it came to council a while back in April, I think it was, about what we did with the fact that interactive forms were not included in the website launch, and that to develop those forms is going to be $2,500 plus $500 a year for an annual hosting fee. The good news this week is that in looking further into the original agreement, I found that, in fact, this was included in our contract, so they are now going to provide that. They still need help with the design phase of it. Amanda’s [councilmember Amanda Forte’s] done such beautiful work designing the forms. I love the forms that she’s put together. So, we’re hoping to put the two together. So, your form template plus their ability to do this at no charge to the city, I think it’s going to be a perfect match here when we get it all done. So that was really good news there. And I guess that’s it. Nothing else is urgent.

Wylie said OK. Any comments or questions from members of council on the city manager’s report?

No comments.

Wylie said anything from the public on the city manager’s report.

No comments.

Wylie said ladies and gentlemen who just walked in. I’m asking people to not block the door. There’s still one seat up here. If you would move up along the sides. I don’t know if there’s much room left along the back. If you try not to, please try not to block the doorway. An unidentified woman said OK. Wylie said people coming in, when you come in, do not block the doorway. Thank you.

Agenda Item #8 – Oakland County Sheriff’s Report (Video time mark 0:07:26):

• • Oakland County Sheriff Department Cumulative Monthly Report for July 2025 (page 5/33 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #8 is the Sheriff’s report. And we have a report included, and Sergeant Ashley is present. Any comments or questions?

No comments.

Wylie said Sergeant Ashley, did you have anything you wanted to say about the report.

Sergeant Ashley said well, obviously the tickets are up for June. And since July 1st until today, I know there’s probably been close to 80 tickets written on Miller Road already. So, we’re trying to have people come out there and just let everybody in here know we’re going to have our traffic unit out there for at least a week. Solid. Hopefully both shifts. But at least on day shift, I know for sure. So, there’ll probably be more than, probably more than two cars at least out there just taking care of Miller Road alone. So that’s what we’re trying to do to help with all this.

Sergeant Ashley said unfortunately, what I’m seeing is everybody gets pulled over. Not personally, but they’re telling me all this, is everybody says, well, my GPS told me to go this way. I know that when the [Oakland County] Road Commission put in the request to all these people to have that road blocked, I think the only one that answered them was Waze. As far as I know, they have not gotten any responses back from Google Maps or any other mapping program. So, that, when you talk about the root of the problem, that is a big root of the problem, telling them to go this way. Even though everything else is marked and no roads and everything else. Everybody says, but they told me to go this way. So, we always say so, if there was a bridge out, would you keep going. That’s follow the leader. People are unfortunately sheep, and they go with what the car in front of them. When they closed off Bluegrass, we even had somebody went around the cement barricades and drive on somebody’s lawn. So, people are kind of doing it. We can’t be everywhere at once, and we have other calls we have to take too. So sometimes we get tied up, but we’re doing the best we can to get out of there. Wylie thanked Sergeant Ashley.

Wylie said comments or questions about the sheriff’s department report from council.

No comments.

Wylie said anything from the public.

No comments.

Wylie said OK. Thank you, Sergeant Ashley.

Agenda Item #9 – Consent Agenda (Video time mark 0:09:30):

• • 06-09-25 – Final Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 6/33 of the council packet)
  • 06-23-2025 – Draft Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 8/33 of the council packet)
  • 07-14-2025 – Treasurer’s Report (page 10/33 of the council packet)
  • 07-02-2025 – Check Disbursement Report for the period 06-01-2025 – 06-30-2025 (page 11/33 of the council packet)
  • Thomas J. Ryan, P.C., June 2025 invoices (page 15/33 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #9 is consent agenda, which includes final minutes of the June 9, 2025, regular meeting; draft minutes of the June 23 regular meeting; the treasurer’s report from July 14, 2025. And I will need a motion and a second to accept the consent agenda as presented.

Motion by Jones; second Forte.

Wylie said and any discussion and comments from council members.

No comments.

Wylie said from the public.

Wylie recognized Pardee for a comment.

Pardee said I’m wondering when the June 30 financial report is available to the public. Smith said that should be available soon. Greg [Coté, city treasurer] is still processing charges that have come through in the – they’re coming through in July for June activity. So, he likes to get all those processed and paid before he publishes that final report.

Wylie said anything else from the public on consent agenda.

No comments.

Wylie said OK.

The motion to approve the consent agenda passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said the consent agenda is approved as presented.

Agenda Item #10, Unfinished Business (Video time mark 0:10:51):

Wylie said Item #10 is unfinished business. We have no unfinished business.

Agenda Item #11, New Business (Video time mark 0:10:59):

Wylie said and we have Item #11 is new business.

Item #11A – Discussion: Traffic Congestion in the City (Video time mark 0:11:01)

Wylie said and #11A is Discussion – Traffic Congestion in the City. (To Smith), Wylie said I assume you put this on the agenda? Smith said yes. Wylie said OK.

Smith said just to talk about the status of things. So. just to refresh your memory, in the map here that’s shown on the screen, so Bluegrass is now a hard stop. That was the township. As you know, Bluegrass is not in the city. We have no control over that. That’s in the township. They have opted to completely close Bluegrass after a number of complaints from their residents. And so, Bluegrass is closed at Holcomb with cement barriers. And then at 10:15 they just still have the sign saying road closed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say anything about it being a hard stop at Holcomb, so people are getting up to, when I watched it for a little bit today, people are getting up to the barricades and having to make a U-turn and go back out. So, it’s created some temporary traffic issues there.

Smith said but Miller Road, we installed the barricades there about a week and a half ago at both ends. They’re what I call a soft close. They’re not a hard close like Bluegrass and Holcomb. Soft close. Notifying the drivers that this is open to local traffic only. No through traffic. So local traffic is defined as Miller, Bluegrass, Glenburnie. Those are local citizens that need to use Miller to get to their house. The church on Bluegrass, extensive discussions with the church, Calvary Lutheran. So, their parishioners can use these roads, use Miller. I think the sheriff would be understanding of that. That is, it’s a church but it’s still a local destination. So, people having to go through Miller to get to their church on Bluegrass, that would be acceptable.

(Referring to a series of photos on the monitor), Smith said so, just to refresh your memory, here’s the way that Bluegrass looks today. Cement barriers across the road plus the barricades. They have also put up signage that we have not done. This would probably be somewhat helpful. Bluegrass, completely closed to Holcomb, see alternative routes. They’ve also put up signage that says no left turn. So, if you’re going south on Holcomb, which is where I was when I took this picture, no left turn onto Bluegrass. We could get similar signage for Miller. That might help make it very clear that that is not to be, not to be turning left there. And this is the way Miller looks today. It’s just a barricade, easily driven around if somebody wants to. We hope that people will honor the signage, but putting cement barriers across this road I think is only going to make the situation worse. Watching this traffic and just seeing all that being pushed down to Washington is just going to exasperate [exacerbate?] the situation in Washington and Holcomb. Put more traffic on Holcomb, more traffic on Washington for sure. I know that this doesn’t completely close off Miller, but in my estimation, it reduces the congestion on Miller by 30 to 40%. So, it’s somewhat thinning the herd, if you will, on Miller.

Smith said some people, the rule followers, tend to go down, follow the detour, which really is Dixie Highway, is what they want, what MDOT [Michigan Department of Transportation] wants people to do. Or if they just were to go to Washington, that would be better than using Miller.

Smith said now I want to reiterate to all those in the room how we got here. So MDOT closed, in their decision, they decided to close all the entrance ramps and exit ramps between M-15 and Grand Blanc. Grange Hall Road was open for a while, but I understand that’s closed now as well. So there’s, the last place to get on 75 is M-15, and the first place to get onto I-75 is at M-15, so all the congestion is here. Talking to MDOT, they just absolutely refused to help. They listened and said, OK, we’ll look into that, we’ll look into that. They never did a single thing. I’m not trying to pick a fight with MDOT. They’ve been very supportive in years past, but in this case they did absolutely nothing. We talked about many possible options, and they chose to do nothing.

Smith said we then turned to the Oakland County Road Commission. They made it clear this is not, while Holcomb is an Oakland County road, Miller is not. They have no control over that.

Smith said we turned to the Oakland County Sheriff. Sergeant Ashley has pointed out that he does have some officers that he’s going to dedicate to this road, and that’s music to my ears. But I know he’s short-staffed. He’s challenged by, like many businesses, they’re challenged by a shortage of employees. So, he’s no different, and so he doesn’t necessarily have the officers to dedicate to this.

Smith said we turned to the mapping systems. He said Google and Waze and some of these other mapping GPS apps, and they have, even MDOT, I’m told, this is one thing that MDOT has told me they did do, is they reached out to Google, and Google said for a temporary closing, no, we won’t do it. So, they have changed, so nothing has happened there.

Smith said so, at one point we tried all these various venues, MDOT, Road Commission, Sergeant Ashley, Road Commission, and the Google apps. We tried all these, and we’re at the point where nothing is really helping the situation, and I have Bluegrass, I’m sorry, I have Miller Road residents that are telling me that they are getting threatening complaints from drivers in front of their house. They’re just trying to get out of their driveway, and I’ve had residents tell me that people are yelling, screaming, swearing at them, threatening them. So, I do feel it’s necessary we do something on Miller, and this is what we’ve done.

Smith said to go beyond this, again, it’s not my recommendation. I know council authorized me to do that if need be, I could put up the cement barriers. I have chosen not to do that, chosen not to do that to this point, because I think it’s only going to exasperate [exacerbate?] the traffic backups on Holcomb and Washington. It’s just pushing it downstream. If we can thin the herd somewhat on Miller, then I think we call that a success and try to get by here for the next month or so, because in a month or so what’s going to happen is MDOT is going to close one or both of the entrances to I-75 southbound. That meaning that you have to go to Sashabaw to get on I-75 south. So, everybody trying to get to work in the morning is going to have to go to Sashabaw. That’s supposed to happen between August 15th and August 30th. So that’s going to change the dynamics of this whole congestion. People aren’t going to be necessarily coming into town. They’re going to be trying to get down to Sashabaw, whether they go up Maybee or they go across Waldon, I don’t know, but it’s going to change the dynamics.

Smith said so, again, my thought process is let’s leave Miller the way it is, partially closed, and with the sergeant’s help, with the county sheriff’s help, try to enforce that to the best of our abilities, but not go to a full cement barrier closing. Wylie said thank you.

Wylie said comments or questions from council members on this topic.

Avery said I think you’re doing the best you can. I mean, nobody likes the fact that the roads are closed. Nobody likes, I live on Holcomb. I have traffic sitting in front of my house for four, five hours a day. I’m not a big fan of it either. You just have to deal with it.

(To Smith), Rodgers said do you know, something that I didn’t even think about when those roads started closing is now trying to get out of your driveway on Main Street, typically if we can’t get across, we’ll go right, and then go down Holcomb, or go down Miller or Bluegrass to get to Holcomb and go out left, like to make a circle around. We can’t do that now. So now, literally, it’s like you edge out and hope that this person stops, and then they stop, and then you’ve got to wait until the traffic goes all the way down so the person that is flying down the other way finally realizes that, oh, you’d like to get out, because it’s like playing chicken on that street. So, it affects every dynamic in the whole city, you know, and I agree. I just hope I don’t get smashed before it’s all over, because in the morning, people are super sweet. In the afternoon, you’re taking your life in your hands. I think everybody’s just so done with it, and it’s so frustrating. I’m sure for everyone here and everybody that is on social media that there was no thought. One thing that you didn’t say is that we weren’t even given a heads-up that any of this was happening. Things just closed. Smith said they didn’t ask us for approval. Rodgers said so, it’s just a very frustrating thing. Like Avery said, it’s affecting all of us in some way. Smith said a common phrase from MDOT is, it is what it is.

Wylie recognized Jones for a comment.

Jones said well, no, I was just going to say along the lines of it is what it is and having to become very zen about a lot of things real quick, we cannot sit here and think that this is all going to go away August 30th, because they’ve already put the detour signs up on Waldon. So all of that traffic that has been going there is going to be shuttled down to, like you said, Waldon and Maybee. So, this is going to continue. However, now it’s going to be a different set of residents that are going to be having the exact same complaints. So, I, like, I’m not naïve to that fact, like this is going to still be continuing until November. And, again, like, I don’t have a good answer because every time we propose a suggestion, there’s something that stops us from doing it or someone’s short-staffed or there’s not enough budget for something. So, yeah, I’m sorry that we don’t have anything better because it’s really flipping annoying because I also, you know, live on Main Street. It is. It’s like a three-part process. This person stops, your car gets out, then you have to put enough of the nose out so that this oncoming traffic knows and it’s, yeah. Yeah, I don’t like feeling helpless. Sorry, I don’t like that. I don’t have a better solution or option to provide or suggestion.

Wylie said so, those of you who don’t actually live in the City of The Village of Clarkston and who are here tonight are going to hear this over and over again. You may be running into frustrations getting to certain locations. Many people, maybe most of the people living in Clarkston are dealing with it all day, every day. I’ve got to see people nodding their heads in the back of the room. Constant traffic parked in front of their house all the time. And I know you have some frustrations, and you’d like to comment on that. Unless anybody else on council has something to comment on this right now.

No comments.

Wylie said so, normally we have very small meetings. You can see it’s a small hall, and we’re normally fairly casual. But because there is such a large crowd, I, we always have a three-minute time limit. And I’m going to reread what was read earlier about public comments.

(Wylie read the rules for public comments again.)

Wylie said and we do have a podium. I’d appreciate if you’d come up to the podium. You don’t have to say your name. I think it’s helpful if you say your name. You are not required to say your address. That’s entirely up to you. So, try to be orderly, and whoever wants to come up first may come up first.

Denise Elias (no spelling provided) walked up to the podium.

Elias identified herself and said I live in the Deer Lake Farm subdivision, and the closure of all the roads has been enormously hard on all of us. We have a situation where Deer Hill is shut down due to a bridge closure, which we believe was caused by all the excess traffic due to the I-75 shutdown last year. We had a tremendous amount of traffic going over that road. Trucks, people flying down the road 40, 50 miles an hour because it goes from Dixie all the way down to Holcomb. So, we were the cut through last year, got it. This year, we’re very frustrated, and we’ve been vocal about the situation with Bluegrass. That was our township decision, poor decision on their part. But kudos to the people at Bluegrass. They organized, and they got the road closed. We understand that Miller is a situation with this particular council. The issue that we have with Miller being closed to through traffic is because Miller, once you cross over Holcomb, turns into Valley Park, it becomes our subdivision. So, we are neighbors. I know that people who live in our subdivision and who live on Valley Park, which is a door or two down, have already been written tickets. And the request is for this council to consider your neighbors in the Deer Hill Farm subdivision as local traffic with the ability to access Miller Road. We understand that you don’t want a significant amount of excess traffic on Miller. We appreciate that. We all know if you live back there, your only options are Bluegrass, that’s closed, Miller, that’s closed, Washington. We have Church Street, which unfortunately with the Bluegrass shutdown, we’ll probably be seeing excess traffic now as well because that’s an exit way to avoid the Washington traffic. So, we’re trying to be good neighbors. We hope you will consider being good neighbors as well by giving some consideration to the folks who are your neighbors who live there. Elias said thank you. Wylie sand thank you.

Wylie said and anybody else like to speak.

Wylie recognized Robert (no last name) for a comment. Wylie said I know you usually speak if you don’t mind coming up.

Robert walked up to the podium and said just what’s the plan on concert days. Because usually it’s after 6 o’clock. Are we going to have a dedicated patrol officer out there on concert days? Because it’s backed up to Holcomb. It’s for four or five hours plus throughout the day. It’s gotten a lot better recently. There’s no semi-trucks, no tankers, oil tankers. So, I mean, it’s gotten a little bit quieter. But as stated on concert days, it’s just don’t even leave your house.

Sergeant Ashley said concert days, we don’t have the extra personnel to put out there. Robert said right, I figured that. Sergeant Ashley said because they still have to, and then the cars that we have in the township, most of the time we’re running minimum staffing for the whole township. Robert said that’s my only concern is concert days. And then, you know, once you see one person go through, then next thing you know, it’s just like you said earlier. So, I mean, it’s a tough position to be in. But it’s just, you know, I’ve heard from other neighbors on the street, like Smith mentioned, getting threats. You’ll hear the horns honking all night just because they’re upset. So, I mean, everyone’s in the same situation. So, that’s it. Wyllie thanked Robert.

Wylie said anybody else.

Jeff Smolik (no spelling provided) walked up to the podium for a comment.

Smolik said good evening, council. Thank you for the time. I’m Jeff Smolik. I also live in Deer Lake Farms. And I would just reiterate what she said. Some consideration to having the Deer Lake Farms residents be considered local traffic would be gratefully helpful to us. It’s a, I acknowledge that there’s issues with traffic. And I think the city manager mentioned, I mean, it sounds like you want to create a little bit of a chokehold, but not too much of a chokehold, but people are still getting tickets. So, it’s kind of like you don’t want to force traffic onto Washington and Holcomb for more, but you kind of do because you’re writing tickets to everybody, or at least those that you can, 80 so far. Deer Lake Farms residents really should be able to use that road. Like my fellow neighbor just said, I mean, it’s almost, it’s literally part of almost the same street. It just changes names when you cross over Holcomb. I think that’s a big part of it. And, frankly, I’ve always been confused, even on Bluegrass, which I know is in your jurisdiction, but as well as Miller Road, really what’s wrong with westbound traffic going up those roads. I’ve gone up and down those streets. I’ve been a resident here for a long time. There’s never any traffic issues going westbound on those streets. So, coming from 75 and getting up to our sub, it’s a, there’s never any traffic. There’s never any backups going westbound. Now, at eastbound, there are cars there. There always has been some cars there. But that’s what those streets are. They are somewhat of a thorough way street, and that’s just the way those streets are. So, to close them down to the people who locally live here, I think it’s excessive is what it comes down to. And it just creates a lot of traffic problems for all of us back in the south. So, I appreciate it.

(To Smolik), Rodgers said can I ask you a question? Does that bridge that’s out, does that prohibit your subdivision from getting to Dixie Highway? Smolik (and others in the audience) said yes, yes, 100%. Rodgers said until, like, November of next year? (Loud, unintelligible crosstalk.) An unidentified woman said no emergency vehicles can come in off of Dixie. Rodgers said correct. The unidentified woman said to get to our homes. Casey said when’s that supposed to open up? Smolik said there’s rumors of 2027. An unidentified person said maybe 2027. An unidentified woman said 2027 or 2028 is what they say. An unidentified man said it depends on when they have the money. (An unidentified woman made an unintelligible comment.)

(To Smolik), Casey said can you tell me how many residents are in? 170 homes. 170 homes. Wylie said that’s at Deer Lake Farms? Smolik said yes. Smolik said thank you.

(To Sergeant Ashley), Forte said so, what do we do to change that. Wylie said which, the culvert. Forte said no, we’re not going to build a culvert. But, like, to change it to, for them to be local traffic, do they just identify themselves? Sergeant Ashley said well, I mean, there is ways to identify yourselves that I just don’t. An unidentified woman said can we get a pass. Like some kind of colored pass thing that we could put in there? Wylie said excuse me, I’m sorry, I’m really going to ask people to, you know, if you want to come up and make that your topic, you can do that.

Avery said can I ask just real quick? Wylie said sure.

Avery said your alternate route at the moment, because it’s closed, is you have to go down to Washington, which is, what, about a half a block? You have to turn right, go down a block, and then turn right again. Am I on that? Smolik said it’s longer than that. An unidentified man said no, Dixie. Avery said do you have to go all the way to Dixie to get, because Miller’s closed? An unidentified man said well, you can do Washington, or you can turn right and go all the way to Dixie. Avery said well, that seems like a good spot. An unidentified man said it’s always back-to-back. An unidentified woman said yeah, you can’t turn. Avery said you can’t turn on Washington. An unidentified woman said it’s hard. It’s very difficult. An unidentified man said it’s almost always back-to-back from Main Street to Holcomb. It’s almost always. I’m sure there are open times, but every time I drive past it, it’s bumper-to-bumper from street to street, so Dixie’s the other alternative for us. Avery said right.

Wylie said anybody else like to come up and speak. Wylie recognized Lori Afterlomi (spelling not provided) for a comment. Afterlomi walked up to the podium.

Afterlomi provided her name and said I am a resident of Deer Lake Farms, and I came here to just support what Elias and our, my other neighbors have already said, so I won’t repeat that. I just want to say that I’ve been a resident and a homeowner for 31 years in Clarkston, and I feel that I am a local resident and should be able to cut through that. But now that they have said it very, very accurately, I just want to make another comment, which is that what I’ve noticed being here is that when you shut down Bluegrass and Miller, you’re obviously creating a problem at Washington, and the problem I think is going to be in the future is with pedestrians. So, at Bluegrass and at Miller, you don’t see a lot of pedestrians, but there’s a lot of pedestrians crossing those streets at Washington and Main Street, and I think that was short-sighted to close those two roads, and I think we’re going to have a problem in the future with pedestrians. School starts in September, and I think that it would be better to keep those roads open. I know it’s a short-term solution to close Bluegrass and Miller, but it’s created way more problems. Thank you. Wylie thanked Afterlomi.

Jones said to the point about pedestrians, pedestrian safety has been a recurring issue in these meetings, particularly here at Washington and Main, and I believe Smith can back me up that the response MDOT gave us was that until we have a fatality incident, they’re not going to do anything about it. AFterlomi said yes, I did read that in the paper. But it just made it worse by closing the other two roads, and that was a decision of the community’s township and this council. Jones said so, again, saying we’ve literally been telling them, and when that’s the response from MDOT, how much help can we really expect from them when that’s the flippant response that we’re getting back from them?

An unidentified woman at the podium said I’m Jill. Wylie said I’ve got somebody else with one. No, you can stay there.

Rodgers said I just had a quick question for Smith. So, whenever they close both the east and west exits to 75 south here, you said sometime mid to late August, are, is Miller and Bluegrass going to open again? Are we going to see how traffic patterns go? Because it sounds like everything’s just going to shift away from us. Not that I’m happy that it’s going to somewhere else, but part of me is. You know, if we see that lightening up, will we open those again? Is that? Smith said hypothetically, we could. We could reevaluate at that time and see is it warranted now to reopen it. I can’t speak to Bluegrass. Obviously, that’s a township issue, and I would hope that all of you who have talked with your township representatives, that’s Bluegrass. Bluegrass is closer to your road, and it’s probably the more preferred road that you use. So, I’m hopeful that you are talking to the township and making your wishes and concerns known to them as well.

(To Rodgers), Smith said but back to your point, is we need to just evaluate that when it happens. I’ve heard that they might close both the entrances to southbound off of, whether you’re on northbound or southbound M-15, to get on southbound 75. I’m told that they’re literally going to close both, but now they’re considering the possibility of just closing one side or the other. And the other side that is closed, they’re going to allow people to make a left turn and get on to the entrance ramp. So they are, it’s, I guess in some regards, it’s some positive news coming out of MDOT that they’re actually considering people’s needs, and they’re considering just closing one ramp at a time, not doing both the southbound entrances at the same time. We’ll see. It could change. Wylie said and ultimately, it’s up to council.

Wylie recognized Jill Heist (no spelling provided) who’d been standing at the podium for a comment.

Heist said I’m a Deer Lake Farms resident. As far as pedestrians and my concern, overall, we’re all dealing with this. It’s very stressful. My husband was actually hit by a car at Clarkston and Main Street. So, it’s very difficult for me to sit here and hear that, that we have to wait for a fatality. I’ve heard the same thing. I guess I’m very frustrated hearing that MDOT is not doing anything, and I feel like we should have more power than what we have. I’m guessing you guys have discussed that, and I don’t know if that’s even an appropriate thing to discuss and further discuss. It just seems like we should be able to implement some type of change at that level, and if there is a way, we should figure out what that way could be, because, I mean, we have these people in this room, but I know we have many more people who would want that to happen. My biggest concern is that we’re going to start seeing some very significant road rage, aside from people swearing at people and getting upset, because, you know, we’re dealing with it every day, and the world is just not as friendly as we would like it to be. So, I guess if there’s something more that we could do, not wait for that fatality, because that could be one of us or our children. So, thank you. Wylie said thank you.

Wylie said anybody else.

Kristen Sherrill (no spelling provided) walked up to the podium for a comment.

Sherrill said I’m Kristen Sherrill, also of Deer Lake Farms. I also have my daughter here, Cardi (no spelling provided). She’s a middle schooler at Sashabaw Middle School, and she could be one of those fatalities. Her bus, how long did it take you this year, baby? Like an hour, when it normally takes half an hour to get home. The bus drivers, God bless their souls, they’re amazing people, but they don’t always know how to control a bus, and with all these road closures, they have no idea what they’re doing when they have substitute bus drivers. We were blessed with a very wonderful driver who got her home safely every day when he was driving, but she’s had several substitute bus drivers that tried to just drop her off wherever they could because they couldn’t figure out how to get to our house safely. So, again, think of the kids. (Tearfully), Sherrill said they’re going back to school very soon, and I (unintelligible). That’s a ridiculous answer for my daughter. I mean, you can’t do that to our kids. Wylie thanked Sherrill.

Elias walked back up to the podium and said OK, I don’t want to hog anything, but I just did want to respond to the city manager’s discussion regarding unblocking Bluegrass. Wylie said you’ve got 30 seconds left. Elias said potentially Miller. So, when I spoke with Chuck Phyle just last week, he said once that I-75 closes at M-15 that he doesn’t see any reason for Bluegrass to remain closed. I’m not speaking on his behalf. I’m just saying what he communicated to me. Wylie said thank you. Elias said yes.

Wylie said anybody else.

An unidentified person said yes, I was just going to mention Independence Township did a traffic update on July 3rd that Bluegrass is going to be closed at Holcomb, permanently closed for the duration of the I-75 construction project. So that’s on their Township Facebook page. Wylie said thank you.

Wylie said we’ve got somebody coming up.

Kristen Small (no spelling provided) walked to the podium for a comment.

Small said good evening. I also live in Deer Lake Farms and I’m not going to reiterate some of my residents’ local feelings and so forth, but the mom, bless her soul. It’s for the little kids, too, here. So, I think the issue here is safety, obviously. We’re all very frustrated. The road rage is obviously going very crazy around here. We walk into town, honestly, because it takes too long to drive sometimes, honestly. But some of the thoughts of safety in particular, maybe not ticketing, you know, necessarily as much on Miller Road, but perhaps helping directing traffic during peak times of rush hour, and maybe we can use resources in different ways with the police officers. I know you’re short-staffed, but just rethinking the way in which we’re doing things, peak times, rush hours, times of school, making sure, especially in times where Main Street and Washington, that’s really dangerous. People are very frustrated turning left onto that road, perhaps not having pedestrians, you know, cross right there to block traffic. Just thinking from a safety perspective, can we think outside the box and use the police officers in different ways to, you know, appease some of the feelings that are going on in the community? MDOT’s response is ridiculous. We’re still going to get sued on that comment, right, on the notice or lack of notice until there’s a death. It’s absolutely absurd, but that’s my final thoughts. But thank you for your time. Wylie thanked Small.

Wylie recognized Pardee for a comment and said he had to come up to the podium. And then this gentleman will be next.

Pardee provided his name and said I suggested before that we close Holcomb at Dixie in order to get the traffic going the way MDOT wants it to go. I haven’t heard anybody say that’s a dumb idea. An unidentified person said we can’t. We can’t close Holcomb at Dixie. Pardee said there are MDOT and Oakland County people involved in this thing. If we ask them, in order to do the MDOT preferred, stay on Dixie, turn left on Main Street, and retime the light, have we talked with them about that? Smith said we’ve talked to them about encouraging the traffic to go to M-15 by lengthening the light. That’s the extent that they don’t want to close White Lake Road. Pardee said OK. Smith said they would rather encourage, they even talked about possibly shortening the left-hand turn light onto White Lake Road and lengthening the left-hand turn light onto M-15, thereby discouraging White Lake Road, encouraging Main Street. Whether they do that is out of my control, but we’ve asked.

Pardee said the next question I ask is what have we done with the politicians above us to try to create some pressure? An unidentified man said there we go. Pardee said Mike Harris, are you here. No. I’m just surprised. The other thing that I do is I get some damn articles in the newspaper saying how upset the people are about this situation. So, we are even using the newspaper to spread the word. Now, if in fact we need some people to do a demonstration, then we can do that. I have the attorney looking at me. City attorney Gerry Fisher said he’s just an observer. Pardee said anyhow, I don’t think we’ve escalated this very well.

(To Pardee), Avery said well, I would disagree with you on that, because Smith has been dealing with MDOT. He has been dealing with it. We had the county commissioner in here. She knew about it. I don’t see her changing things. We’re stuck. So as soon as we accept that and figure out ways to make it palatable, as much as we can, that’s what we’re trying to do.

Rodgers said I guess should everybody consider writing letters to your representative, writing letters to, I mean, five of us aren’t going to make an impact, but 500 of us could. Pardee said we can get Channel 4 here, we can get Channel 7 here. Rodgers said we sure can. Jones said nobody’s stopping you. Like, you can. You can do all these things because we— Pardee said I’ll call, okay? I mean, I did with our senator in a meeting here, and you know what she did to me two years ago? Jones said and I can’t control what the senators say back to you, and I’m sorry that they’re disrespecting you. Pardee said I don’t have a problem with Mike Harris. I think we need to involve him.

Jones said for those that are interested, MDOT, if they wanted to contact them, 517-241— an unidentified woman said hold on one sec. Jones said yeah. The unidentified woman said thank you. Jones said all right, so I’ll start again. MDOT, area code 517-241-2400, or you can email mdot@michigan.gov. An unidentified woman said one more time. Jones said OK, MDOT, area code 517-241-2400, or you can email them at MDOT, M-D-O-T, at michigan.gov, G-O-V. And then for direct contact information for your senators, I can read it all, or I can give, Mike Harris, 517-373-0828. The rest are website addresses. You can use fivecalls.org, type in your zip code, and it’ll give you direct contact information via phone and email to your elected representatives. Wylie thanked Jones. Pardee said could you put that information on the city’s website so that more people can have access to it. Wylie thanked Pardee.

Wylie said and we’ve got a gentleman who’s ready.

Wylie recognized Norm Folesky (no spelling provided).

Folesky provided his name and said I’m also of Deer Lake Farms. I want to highlight his points. That’s why I came up here. But I think one of the points I wanted to make is that how much time Deer Lake Farms actually spends in the Village of Clarkston. We’re right next door. We walk through the town all the time with our dogs. We’re right there. I mean, we’re one block away. Hi, there. But so I just want to reiterate that we are a part of the village. We spend a lot of time there, a lot of money. And so, I just want to make that point. I spearheaded the thing on the closure of our culvert on Deer Hill Drive, both RCOC [Road Commission of Oakland County] and MDOT. And that was a learning experience. That’s why I did it. And I’m not sure it was a lot of fun. But MDOT is the one that came in and said, okay, the bridge is not safe. You must close it. That was the message to RCOC, that they had to close it. They came and they put up barriers. Folks were just driving around the barriers, similar to what they did at Bluegrass. And so, they came and they put all the concrete there. I was trying to plead with MDOT that they would leave a space for bikers in the middle of the barriers, that the bikes could at least go through the barrier, because that’s my biking route. I love to bike in the neighborhood. And also to have walkers be able to walk through that culvert, which obviously is not falling down because the barriers are putting pressure on the culvert. And so, in that process, it came out that, no, if it’s unsafe, it would be a liability issue for us to put a four-foot gap in the middle of the concrete slabs in order to have bikers and walkers be able to cross it. It split our neighborhood in half. It’s really a sad story, if you really think about it. No notice, of course, no nothing. Now they’re saying that the funding of around $2.5 million, because they have to make it a cement structure, they can’t put a culvert in anymore, which would be $300,000. And so, I’m not sure about the number. An unidentified man (Sergeant Ashley?) said we’re about five seconds, sir. Folesky said sorry. The unidentified man said about five seconds, sir. Folesky said so a couple other things I want to talk about. Here’s a point. TV, media, Slotkin, up to the state, we need to be putting pressure on. And the issue is when citizens like us call – Wylie said wrap up your point – (continuing), Folesky said when citizens like us call, they don’t listen. When the township and the village calls – Wylie said thank you very much – (continuing), Folesky said they listen. Wylie said thank you. Folesky said thank you.

Wylie said and is there anybody else who would like to speak?

Wylie recognized Julie Chamberlain (no spelling provided) for a comment.

Chamberlain said I’m a resident in Deer Lake Farms. I’m on Langle. Actually, so, we have a lot of traffic going by our home, you know, to kind of pass the Holcomb, right? So, they go up Church and they go through Langle and then they come down. I just want to piggyback to our appreciation for you sharing the information and all that you’ve done. We really appreciate that. There is a lot out on Facebook, and some incorrect information is out on Facebook. So, it’s nice to be here to get clarification about all of that. But just circling back for your consideration to have us be considered local. That would be very, very helpful for our neighborhood. So, I just want to circle back to that. Thank you. Wylie thanked Chamberlain.

Wylie said anybody else.

Wylie recognized Toni (no last name provided) for a comment.

Toni said can I stand here for a second. Wylie said go ahead. Toni said I just, the only logistics that I have. Wylie said Toni, I can’t hear you. Toni said OK. I know everybody is upset, and in Deer Lake Farms, I understand. I live on Holcomb. So, I understand that there’s been a lot of traffic to deal with. But how do we, how would the city issue passes to you, but not Bridge Valley, but not the people off Amy Drive? I mean, if you’re considered local, how would they possibly do that? I mean, I’m right off Holcomb, but I still have a little street to get on Holcomb, and I can’t make a right or a left. Do I get a pass now if I go through there? I mean, it’s just where, and I’m not criticizing it. I’m just saying, logistically, how would they do that and then not tell the people on the other side of Church Street, who are just out of the village, that they can’t have passes. They can’t, because I used to use Miller to get to Holcomb, to get to my house. Now I have to go all the way around and come in White Lake Road. It is the way it is right now. So, I mean, though it might be a great idea, but you need to come up with a plan as to how that could be implemented. So, times up. Wylie said thank you.

Wylie said anybody else.

No comments.

Item#11B – Resolution: FOIA Fee Refund (Video time mark 0:52:55):

• • Resolution – FOIA Cost Refund (page 19/33 of the council packet)
  • Freedom of Information Act Request Itemized Cost Worksheet (page 20/33 of the council packet)

Wylie said OK, we are moving on to a, next item on our agenda. This is #11B, Resolution FOIA Fee Refund, and I’m going to read the resolution.

(Wylie read the resolution.)

Wylie said and before we get into a discussion on this item, I’d like to get someone to resolve and then support that resolution.

Motion by Avery; second Jones.

Wylie said and now is there any discussion or comments from council members.

Jones said do we know what caused, did we discover what we had the (unintelligible)? Was it just like an accounting error? Smith said so, it was pertaining to the two grant applications that I applied for, one through Lisa McLain’s office and one through Elissa Slotkin’s office. When I did Lisa McLain’s, when I got to the end, there was a print feature, and I printed it, and I had a copy in my records. When I got to the Elissa Slotkin one, I assumed when I got to the end, I wasn’t making print screens as I went, it’s all online. And I got to the end and there was no print feature. And so, I submitted it. Then when I got this FOIA, I thought, I’ll do the right thing and try, I thought, go back and try to get into Elissa Slotkin’s website and see if I can print my application. I spent an hour and a half doing that, and in the end I was unsuccessful. But I was working technically on this FOIA, so I included that in my cost estimate. But in the end, Susan [Bisio] was correct and Kristen Kolb [city attorney] was correct. I didn’t have that document, and therefore I can’t charge them for that time. Wylie said OK, thanks.

Wylie said anybody else on council have questions or comments on this resolution.

No comments.

Wylie said anybody in the public.

No comments.

(To Guillen), Wylie said we will need to do a roll call.

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

Forte voted no.

Wylie said and Quisenberry’s absent, so the motion is adopted. Thank you.

Item #11C – Resolution: Purchase of City Sign Replacement and Parts (Video time mark 0:56:29):

• • Resolution – Purchase of City Sign Replacement and Parts (page 27/33 of the council packet)
  • Quote, ASI Signage Innovation (page 28/33 of the council packet)
  • 07-03-2025 – Jonathan Smith email to John Watkins, ASI Signage, Requesting an Estimate (page 30/33 of the council packet)
  • Street Sign Photo (page 31/33 of the council packet)

Wylie said the next item, #11C, is Resolution, Purchase of City Sign Replacement and parts. In one moment, while I get to this resolution. I do better when I look through all this stuff. Oh, here it is. I’m still missing it. Forte said here, hang on. Wylie said got it, thank you.

(Wylie read the resolution.)

(To Forte), Wylie said thanks. And I’ll need somebody to resolve, and then I’ll need –

Motion by Jones; second Forte.

Wylie said any discussion or comments from council members.

No comments.

Wylie said any comments or questions from the public.

No comments.

(To Guillen) Wylie said once again, we will need a roll call vote.

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

Wylie said and the resolution is adopted. Thank you. OK, and now I’ve messed up all my paperwork. Thank you.

Item #11D – Resolution: 24/25 FY Budget Amendment (Video time mark 0:58:50):

• • Resolution – 24/25 FY Budget Amendment (page 32/33 of the council packet)
  • 07-14-2025 – Detailed Budget Amendment Requests (page 33/33 of the council packet)

Wylie said OK, and I think we’re on #11D. That’s where I messed up my paperwork. We’ve got another resolution, ‘24-‘25-FY budget amendment.

(Wylie read the resolution.)

Wylie said and once again, I will need a resolution by somebody on council, and then a second.

Motion by Rodgers; second Jones.

Wylie said is there any comments or questions from anybody on council.

No comments.

Wylie said any comments or questions from anybody in the public.

No comments.

(To Guillen) Wylie said OK, we need a, once again, we need a roll call.

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

Wylie said and Quisenberry’s absent, so the resolution is adopted. Thank you.

Agenda Item #12, Adjourn Meeting (Video time mark 1:00:14):

Wylie said and our, once again, I have, oh, here we go. Item #12 is to adjourn the meeting. I need a resolution to adjourn the meeting.

Motion by Jones; second Forte.

Wylie said any discussion.

No discussion.

Motion to adjourn the meeting passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said the meeting is adjourned at 8 o’clock. Thank you very much. Thank you all for attending and for your kind attention.

Resources:

• • Link to video recording here
  • 07-14-2025 city council packet