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 seven o’clock, I’m calling the meeting to order.
Agenda Item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (video time mark 0:00:03):
Wylie said if everybody would please rise, we will say the Pledge of Allegiance.
(Pledge said.)
Wylie said thank you.
Agenda Item #3, Roll Call (video time mark 0:00:24):
Wylie said second item, or I’m sorry, third item on the agenda is a roll call. (To Angela Guillen, clerk), Wylie said would you please take the roll call.
Sue Wylie, Laura Rodgers, Al Avery, Amanda Forte, and Erica Jones were present.
Gary Casey and Quisenberry were absent.
Wylie said okay, did we know they were not gonna be here, or? Smith said Quisenberry came in today to give his (unintelligible), there he is. (Laughter.) Wylie said he got held up by traffic. Forte said perfect timing. (Unintelligible comments.)
(Quisenberry took a seat at council table.)
Smith said we just called Casey and no answer. Wylie said okay. Well maybe he’s on his way (unintelligible).
Agenda Item #4, Approval of Agenda – Motion (video time mark 0:01:02):
Wylie said okay, Item #4 is approval of the agenda. I need a motion to approve of the agenda as it’s printed, as it’s published.
Motion by Jones; second Rodgers.
Wylie said questions or discussion from council.
No discussion.
Wylie said questions or discussion from the public.
Motion to approve the agenda passed by unanimous voice vote.
Wylie said we are approved.
Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (video time mark 0:01:35):
[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 comment.)
Wylie said would anybody like to make a public comment.
(No comments.)
Agenda Item #6 – FYI: (video time mark 0:02:04):
Wylie said then we’ll move on to Item #6, which is FYI.
Item #6A – Clarkston Garden Club – 2025 Holiday Greens Sale (video time mark 0:02:05)
-
- Clarkston Garden Club Flyer (page 3/78 of the council packet)
Wylie said and we have included in our packet something from the Clarkston Garden Club. Their 2025 holiday green sale will be held starting online Wednesday, November 10th. Pick up is local, Saturday, November 22nd. You can go to their website, www.ClarkstonGardenClub, that’s one word, .org for details and a link to the online packet. And here in our packet, we’ve got some wreaths, some garland, and looks like something else. Cemetery blankets, oh, it says that, cemetery blankets, pillows, and blankets.
Wylie said okay, anything else for FYI?
Rodgers said I do. I just want to mention that the Christmas Market is scheduled for December 13th down here in Depot Park, and so, if anybody is interested in volunteering or helping out with it, let me know, or if, of course, we’re still taking any kind of donations or contributions. We use the money to pay for the ponies, and for games, and prizes, and things like that, so if you know of anybody that would like to donate or help out, let me know. Thank you.
Wylie said it the same day again as the Christmas light parade? Rodgers said I believe it’s the same day as the parade, but we have to run from 4:00 to 8:00, the parade is at 6:00, and the market continues through it, but, yeah. Wylie said okay, December 13th. Rodgers said December 13th, Saturday. The second Saturday. Wylie said okay.
Wylie said anybody else have anything for FYI.
(No comments.)
Wylie said thank you.
Agenda Item #7 – City Manager’s Report (video time mark 0:03:37):
-
- October 27, 2025 City Manager Report (page 4/78)
Wylie said next item on our agenda is Item #7. We have a city manager’s report, and it’s included in the package. (To Jonathan Smith, city manager), Wylie said did you have anything to elaborate on.
Smith said nothing on the finance committee. Our next meeting is Wednesday, November 5th.
Smith said status of the road striping, we did complete most of it over the weekend, not all of it. The Miller Road, not the Miller Road, the Holcomb Road work was not completed. It was just way too busy with all the traffic on Holcomb, as you can imagine. So, it was to be re-striping on Holcomb and Washington and Holcomb and Miller. Those were not done. If after I-75 reopens, which I’ll talk about next, if we can get this done, if we have a warm day yet this fall, in November or something, if we can get that done, we will. But it’s probably 80% done.
Smith said so, speaking of the reopening of I-75, at this time, the plan is still, they haven’t changed it, that they will reopen this weekend. We will see if there’s something, but if you’ve driven by it, you see that all the work is done, the paving is done, the striping is done, they’re working on some shoulder work right now, but it’s 99% done, so we fully anticipate that it will reopen this weekend unless some other issue comes up. As soon as they do that, we are planning to move the barricades on Miller Road and reopen that the same day if we can. We don’t wanna push this off any longer. So that is the plan at this time. We’ll see, we’ll just continue to listen to MDOT [Michigan Department of Transportation], what they have to tell us on updates, and we’ll react to that.
Wylie said okay, thank you. Did you have more?
Smith said the two other quick items that are not on there, some good news. One is General Motors is looking to do another print ad in Clarkston, maybe, I think it’s a print ad, but it might be a TV ad too, I’m not sure. So, they are walking around town, they were walking around today, as a matter of fact, taking pictures of the houses. So, if you saw a young woman, professionally dressed, taking photos of houses downtown, that’s what she was doing. She will take some pictures, representative of what the GM executives are looking for, and then she’ll take it back to them for approval. So that’s, that’s in process. I think if, you know, they did one earlier this summer, the GM pickup truck ad right in downtown Clarkston, and they liked the results of that, so now they’re looking at doing another one. So, the General Motors executives are sending some work our way. The one this summer was a little congested with all the I-75 traffic, but this one will be done, I think, probably later in November sometime. So hopefully all the traffic is back to normal.
Smith said and then secondly, some good news that I just received Friday is our MDOT Category B grant application for repaving of East Church Street, from Main Street all the way to the city border, where the church and the Renaissance borderline is. That was approved. So, we got a grant for $117,700. That’s a 50-50 match grant. So, this is a huge shot in the arm. We’re very excited about that. So, it’s a $234,000, and we’re gonna do exactly half with the state and half on us. And you say, well, do we have funds to do that? And yes, we do. Greg [Coté, treasurer] is here and tells you, we can tell you that our local road fund, as well as our parking fund, have plenty of money in them right now to fund our match, the $117 that we would match. So, none of this will come out of the 101 general fund. This would all come out of either parking or our local road fund. This would be
has to be done in the 2026 calendar year. And meetings will start on this almost immediately.
Smith said a huge thanks to Fleiss and Vandenbrink that helped prepare this. We did not use HRC [Hubbell, Roth & Clark] for this. We used Fleiss and Vandenbrink. They’re a well-known engineering firm. They approached me, and I’ve seen them at multiple conferences and talked to them at multiple conferences now. And they volunteered to help write this grant. And the previous two grant applications were unsuccessful, but this one was. So, I have to give them a nod. And they’ve actually volunteered to help us with the next round of the Congressional Directed Spending Grant application that I applied for last year and did not get for $1.7 million. That’s to repair the aprons downtown, the driveway aprons, the paver aprons, as well as fix any sidewalks that are not ADA compliant. So that, they volunteered to help write that grant. So that wouldn’t get submitted until the spring, but they’ve already volunteered to help me to do that.
Smith said in the case of the Category B grant, they are paid nothing by the city. They will get all their funds through the grant funding. So, this is really free to us. And I don’t know if we structure the other grant applications the same way, but very thankful to Chris and his team at F&B. So really excited about this. This is really good news. And we’re looking forward to get started on this next year.
Smith said the good thing is that, you know, Chet [Pardee, resident], if he was here, he would be asking about how are you going to fund Miller Road? That road needs to be, this was obviously not the year to do it with all the traffic on it. But the good news is by getting this grant, now that frees up remaining monies that are in our parking fund and our local road fund to be deployed to Miller Road. So, it looks very good at getting Miller Road paved in 2026 as well. So, I know we didn’t do any road paving this summer, but with all the construction in town, it would have been virtually impossible to be paving a road in downtown Clarkston this summer. So, it made sense, and the timing is good that we’ll be able to do a lot of road work next summer. So, I’m very happy about that news. So that’s all I have for the city manager report.
Wylie said questions or comments from council members for the city manager.
Wylie said I just have one question. Those engineers, Fleiss and Vandenbrink, are they, you applied for, I think a congressional or senate grant before, did they help you with those grants? Smith said somewhat. They just – Wylie said they directed you towards it? Smith said yeah, yes. But I did most of the work on that. They’re much better at doing this than I am, so I welcome their involvement. Wylie said okay.
Wylie said anybody else.
No comments.
Wylie said anybody in the public questions for about city management report.
Wylie recognized Cara Catallo for a comment.
Catallo said I was contacted by Miriam Moore, who’s the assistant director at the conservatory, and she asked me if I knew anything about the diagonal lines and the elimination of the parking spot, and I was pretty unhappy about it. She said I have never seen a danger there. I’m very concerned about handicapped folks trying to get to the dentist or the conservatory. I’ve seen so many people dropped off with walkers to go to the dentist, and high school kids with casts or crutches. Also, do we make a change based on 10,000 vehicles per day for one summer of construction two weeks before the project closes? And I just thought, I told her that I would share the information with you because she asked me who to complain to, and I think, too, in the future, it’s good to maybe alert the businesses about changes like this before they happen because I know Kevin Harrison also didn’t know.
Wylie said Smith did talk about it at a previous meeting (unintelligible). Smith said we have talked about it several times. (To Smith), Wylie said do you want to talk about it?
Smith said there’s really nothing to add. We’ve talked about it. Yes, it’s true. We have not reached out to the individual business owners to let them know that this was happening, but it’s all in the name of safety. She cited safety as a concern of hers that, handicapped, that’s really not a place for a handicapped person to be parking. There are other places designated for that, but it’s just because there’s traffic, even during normal times, there’s traffic coming over, and the turn lane for Waldon has started, and people are trying to squeeze in there. It’s just a little too dangerous. We all agreed on a council when we talked about this sort of thing.
Catallo said yeah, and I wasn’t referencing that because I was at the meeting, so I know that it was discussed, but like in my mind, it might have been more palatable if an expert had reached that conclusion, and that was just the one thing that, and I was just sharing what somebody at the, like, the conservatory was saying, and it wasn’t so much that it’s for handicapped vehicles, but somebody dropping somebody off, so they would be, it would be somebody on the safer side getting off and having just a few feet to walk. Wylie thanked Catallo.
Wylie said anybody else for the public.
Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.
Forte said it’s pretty standard to have a 25 foot visibility triangle for intersections like that, so nowadays, if this was a planned city, we wouldn’t be able to put those spots in because of safety, because of visibility triangles, which we don’t have everywhere, but it’s something that, you’re right, is a safety concern, but they would never put a handicap spot in that spot.
Catallo said and I wasn’t saying that people use the spot, and I was just hoping that maybe the city offices could reach out to the businesses, and maybe this is because of my relationship with Main Street Clarkston and just trying to make a smoother relationship with our businesses and nonprofits so that it doesn’t seem like, you know, they lost a spot and they’re unhappy about it. Wylie thanked Catallo.
Wylie recognized Jones for a comment.
Jones said I agree. Maybe the communication could have been handled better, but I would say that in terms of the decision being made was at the recommendation of, coming off of the traffic study, because we had like 15 different options in terms of what we were doing for pedestrians, and that was like the only one that we could do, so that was recommended per professional. It wasn’t just us Googling pedestrian safety stuff, but I hear what you’re saying in terms of we could have done a better job, so that’s just something for us to think of for next time.
Avery said well, I want to make sure I understand, you’re talking about the spot that’s across from the Union, or are you talking about the ones that were at the corner? Catallo said she referenced one that was, she just said that was in front of the conservatory, and I kind of wondered if it was maybe closer to the dentist office. Wylie said it is in front of the conservatory, I just, I spotted it this morning, and I was like, oh, it’s done. (Unintelligible comment.) Wylie said it’s right where you’re heading south on Main Street, where the left turn lane opens up. Avery said right, that’s the one that’s kitty corner, or no, it’s right across from the Union. I’ve parked there many times, and it’s easy to cross the street. (Unintelligible comment.) Avery said go eat.
Wylie said anything else. Avery said it kind of sits out on its own, it’s kind of a long walk.
Agenda Item #8 – Consent Agenda (video time mark 0:16:18):
-
- 09-22-2025 Final Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 5/78 of the council packet)
- 10-06-2025 Final Minutes, Special City Council Meeting (page 7/78 of the council packet)
- 10-13-2025 Draft Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 9/78)
- 10-27-2025 Treasurer’s Report (page 12/78 of the council packet)
- 10-13-2025 Revenue and Expenditure Report for the Period Ending 09-30-2025 (page 13/78 of the council packet)
- Rosati, Schultz, Joppich & Amtsbuechler, P.C. Billing, August and September (page 24/78 of the council packet)
Wylie said okay, moving on to the consent agenda, which is Item #8, and we’ve got the final minutes of the September 22, 2025 regular meeting, final minutes of the October 6th special meeting, draft minutes of the October 13th regular meeting, and the treasurer’s report from October 27th, and I will need a motion and a second to approve of the consent agenda.
Motion by Jones; second Avery.
Wylie said discussion or comments from council members.
Wylie said I actually have a question. There was a lot of legal bills on there, so (to Gerry Fisher, city attorney), I guess this is gonna be directed to you. I don’t have a page on, sorry. Fisher said yeah, I think these are Kristen’s (Kolb, city attorney) bills. Wylie said oh, I think they all are, so you don’t know. Fisher said I don’t know. Wylie said okay, okay. Fisher said I’m sorry. Wylie said that’s okay. Yeah, she’s, her initials, and I have a question about, just there was a couple things, like there’s the word page-freezer. (To Smith), maybe you know. Multiple correspondence with J. Smith regarding page-freezer demand for payment.
Smith said right. We are trying to cancel our page-freezer agreement. Wylie said what’s a page-freezer? Smith said it’s a software application – Wylie said oh, okay – (continuing), Smith said that we installed last year, and we find no value from it, so we did ask, with Kolb’s help, to help void the contract and get out of it. It’s a three-year contract, so that’s what that’s referring to.
Wylie said okay, and then the next one was review of city charter and ordinances regarding requirement to take the oath of office. That really puzzled me. Did somebody question? Review of city charter and ordinances regarding the requirement to take oath of office. And it says, well, multiple correspondence with J. Smith regarding the same. Smith said so, this is for the building officials. Wylie said the building official, okay. Smith said so, the building officials had to be sworn in with the oath of office, so, yeah. Wylie said okay.
Okay, and the other thing, I’ll just say, there was some stuff about Bisio lawsuits, and lots of prosecutions. I just wondered, and it’s more than I have ever seen, it was page after page. I wondered, is it traffic? I was hoping it was all traffic cases, and they didn’t mean. Avery said I would imagine, since they wrote all those tickets, that it would probably come to them. Wylie said that’s what I was trying to figure out. Fisher said I think they were traffic. Wylie said you think they were traffic? Okay. Coté said they are traffic. Wylie said okay. Oh, Coté says they are traffic. Okay, thank you.
Wylie said anybody else have any questions or comments on the consent agenda.
Quisenberry said so, if somebody gets a ticket on Holcomb Road, or whatever, and they contest it, then our city attorney acts as the prosecutor in that, either formal or informal hearing? Fisher said if the ticket is written under the city ordinance, where we adopt the traffic code, sometimes, for whatever reason, depending upon what the nature of the offense is, it can be written under state law, in which case, the county prosecutor does it. But if the county prosecutor does it, they get the money. It’s written under our ordinance, we get some of the money. Wylie said okay.
(To Forte), Wylie said you had something.
Forte said I was looking through these bills, and I had a question. So, what is typical, in terms of like, hearing, I guess, there’s always lawsuits, and some of them I know what they’re referred to, and some of them I don’t. Wylie said some of them we vote for. Forte said the lawsuits, or like, do we get a report, ever, of like? Wylie said you’re talking about the prosecutions? Forte said yeah. About what’s going on, like? Smith said so, what’s one you’re referring to? Is it – Forte said yeah. Wylie said there’s several pages of them. Forte said it’s page two, and on September 12th. Jones said okay, those are probably the traffic tickets. Wylie said yeah, they’re probably the traffic tickets. Forte said those are the ones I was questioning. Smith said the lawsuits, they just (uinintelligible).
Wylie said anything else from council members.
No comments.
Wylie said anything from the public.
No comments.
Wylie said okay, so we had a motion from Jones, a second from Avery, to approve the consent agenda as presented.
Motion to accept the consent agenda was approved by unanimous voice vote.
Wylie said the consent agenda is approved.
Agenda Item #9, Unfinished Business (video time mark 0:20:48):
Item #9A – Discussion: Clarkston-Independence Township Agreements (video time mark 0:20:50):
Wylie said Item #9 is unfinished business. We’ve got a discussion. Clarkson Independence Township Agreements. (To Smith), Wylie said and I assume you’re going to talk about that.
Smith said so, Fisher and I talked about this. We’re just going to do a quick update. The council was not intending to do a big in-depth discussion. Fisher and I have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow to meet with the [Independence Township] supervisor, Chuck Phyle, and Township Attorney, Dan Kelly. We’re going to be meeting with them to see what the latest is, and see what they have to say, if there’s been any update. And it’s actually our hope that the discussion will look beyond the cancellation of the contracts and take up some positive dialogue for implementation of the agreements going forward.
Smith said there have been no discussions with the supervisor or attorney following the October 13th, our last city council meeting. And the Township Board did not have this on any of their agendas. I went to the last Township Board meeting. This was not on their agenda, but I went anyways with the possibility that they might amend the agenda at the last minute. They did not. So, this has not been talked about in any of their open or closed meetings. They are canceling their next meeting for early November because it falls on election day. So, their next meeting is not until, I think, the 18th or something like that of November. So, at this time we have not heard anything more from the Township. Fisher and I, as I said, will be meeting with them tomorrow and hopefully once more about the new status. Wylie said thank you.
Wylie said questions or comments from council members.
Wylie said one question. Is this absorbing a lot of your time? I mean, I assume maybe you’re looking at other communities for, potentially for police and fire contracts. Smith said we haven’t actually started that. I’ll be honest, we’re just, we are looking at possibilities, but I have not reached out to anyone. Wylie said I didn’t actually mean to going that far, but doing a little research. Smith said want to get a sense tomorrow, if this looks like it’s a possibility, then yes, that would be the next step is start actually reaching out and making some contacts and starting the RFQ [Request for Quotation] process, essentially. But none of that has been started yet.
Smith said just been talking about possibilities for police, fire, probably be different. And as well as building services and anything else. Water and sewer, I don’t see any options for that. We can’t shop around water and sewer service. That is what it is. We’ll have to find a way to work with the Township on water and sewer at a minimum. But it is, been time consuming. So, it’s, I’m estimating about 25%, maybe 30% of my time has been over the last two to three weeks working on various aspects of this issue. Wylie said okay, thank you.
Rodgers said I have a question. So, we don’t really know what the grounds are for stopping or reneging on the contracts that we signed four months ago, other than the text message that you got. Short of that, there’s no real solid, nothing that says that we didn’t enter into good faith with those contracts, and those contracts were signed by them in June, right? It was June of 2020. Smith said right, June of 2024. Rodgers said so, like – Smith said ’25 Rodgers said so, June, July, August, September, three months. Smith said right. Rodgers said so, we don’t really have any grounds to why we’ve been spending 25% to 30% of our time on this when it’s just one person’s desire to get rid of the contracts, from what we can see.
Fisher said and the Township board has not been discussing this yet. Rodgers said publicly. Fisher said publicly, yeah, and as far as I know, well, they can’t discuss it as a group, privately, so. We don’t believe that that kind of discussion has occurred with the board, and the board must take the action.
Avery said right, but to your question about Smith, and I mean, I think it’s a good idea, that, you know, it’s unfortunate, but we’ve got to plan ahead. So, he’s got to spend his time. Rodgers said oh, I know. I agree. Avery said right, so – Rodgers said I just wondered if there was anything that we missed as far as the basis to why they wouldn’t want to honor the contract that they signed. Smith said not to our knowledge, no. We’re not aware of anything that we could have done that would have resulted in a breach of contract. Rodgers said okay. Smith said the payments, it’s still very early in the contract process, but all the payments have been made in a timely manner, so we’re not – Rodgers said and they told you what they wanted payment-wise, right? Smith said yeah. Rodgers said we didn’t even really negotiate on that. They told us that was what they wanted. Smith said that was a part of the contract.
(To Quisenberry), Wylie said do you have something.
Quisenberry said I did, to continue on this, as I recall, the last time we discussed this, we did realize there was a get-out clause for them, that they have the ability, either party has the ability, within a certain amount of months, to say, as of this date, we want to cancel it. That’s in the contract, correct? Fisher said that is in the contract. There are legal grounds for questioning whether that would apply here. Without going into a lot of legal details, I don’t know.
(Casey walked into the room and sat at council table).
Jones said I mean, essentially, we’re more or less in the same spot we were the last time we met, because you all have not had your second meeting, so there’s not really anything new for us to cover here, or to go over and say the meeting is tomorrow.
Wylie said anybody else on council.
Wylie recognized Quisenberry for a comment.
Quisenberry said on a different contract, or agreement, last meeting, we talked a little bit about this Deer Lake one, and I don’t know much about that. It’s my understanding, correct me if I’m wrong, we have a contract with the Township where they lease the Deer Lake property from us for a dollar a year, and then they run it. They do everything with it, they observe all the costs, they set up all the programs and whatever. We don’t do anything, but we also don’t get any bit of any of the revenue that they recover from it. But then we also don’t share in the costs of anything in that, correct? Fisher said correct. That’s a standard lease, because when we have a lease, the tenant takes exclusive possession, and that’s what this would be. Quisenberry said is there an expectation that the Township has that we should pony up for a portion of the expenses of running that? Fisher said we have not been given that request. Quisenberry said okay.
Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.
Forte said were you able to look into if there’s a deed restriction for that property. Fisher said for the beach. Forte said yeah. Fisher said no, I have not. Forte said okay. Fisher said yeah (unintelligible). Forte said okay.
Wylie said anybody else on council.
(To Smith) said do you know if there’s anything? Smith said whether there’s a deed restriction? Avery said right, because my understanding is the property was donated to the city. Forte said yeah, that’s what I’ve heard, but – Avery said many years ago. Forte said that’s anecdotal, I don’t know. Smith said yeah, I don’t know. Forte said if this all goes terrible, can we get copies of those contracts? Smith said of each contract? Forte said yeah, like in advance of the next meeting.
Wylie said anybody in the public have questions or comments on this topic.
No comments.
Wylie said okay.
Agenda Item #10, New Business (video time mark (0:28:59):
Item #10A – Resolution: Presentation and Acceptance of the ‘24/’25 Fiscal Year Financial audit (video time mark 0:29:02)
-
- Resolution – Acceptance of the 24/25 FY Financial Audit (page 37/78 of the council packet)
- Audited Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2025 (page 38/78 of the council packet)
Wylie said let’s move to Item #10A, Resolution, Presentation and Acceptance of the ‘24-‘25 Fiscal Year Financial Audit. And we have a resolution, and I’ll read that resolution before we get started.
(Wylie read the resolution.)
Wylie said and we’ll need to have something to resolve and then support that, and then Rayna’s [Rayna Emmons, PLLZ, city auditor] gonna talk to us.
Resolved, Rodgers; second Jones.
Wylie said and we’ll go ahead and let Emmons talk. Thank you, Emmons, for coming.
Rayna Emmons:
Emmons said nice to see everyone. It’s my pleasure this evening to present to you the City of the Village of Clarkston’s Annual Audited Financial Statements for your fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025.
That once again, the city did receive the highest level of audit opinion possible, which is an unmodified opinion. So, no exceptions, disclaimers, except fors, anything like that to report. In layman’s terms, a clean audit opinion.
Just starting off with a few highlights, and then I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.
Largest revenue source, of course, that the city has is the property tax revenues. They were up 3.9% this year, which is a nice, healthy number. The year before, it was way up, almost 7%. If you remember the year before, we had high inflation numbers, and that was impacting the assessments. So, we’re back down to a more normal number. The year before, like two years ago, you were at 3.8%. So, again, nice, healthy. It netted close to about $24,000 more in property tax revenues, that 3.9% this year.
You did add $43,140 to the general fund, fund balance. You had projected to dip into the fund balance this year, but fortunately, that didn’t happen. And that was similar to the year before. Prior year, it was about $45,000 you added to the general fund balance, so you’re consistent.
Also, you transferred on the general fund about $65,000 for capital projects to the capital project fund. Ultimately, general fund, fund balance ended at $311,000.
A couple of the nuances, I’d like to tell you about building permit revenues. That kind of gives you an idea of the activity within the city. It was down a little bit this year. It looks like it’s down, but actually, again, this looks like the normal year. Last year looked like an unusually large increase in the revenues. So, this year and two years ago are very comparative. So, you do have plenty of activity on the building permits this year.
State shared revenue, pretty much flat from the year before. In fact, there’s a tiny bit of a decrease. I don’t have good news on that for projections going forward, given that this new state budget is dipping into your constitutional state shared revenue amounts. They’re going to use some of that for the growth, so. They’re just now coming out with the projections on how that’s going to impact your numbers for the next year.
Interest earnings, however, you’re up on the investment earnings. And so, nice job, Treasurer Coté.
Sewer fund is, the last couple years, you’ve had like a $12,000 loss, but this year we had a $29,000 increase, which, you know, we like to keep an eye on that. You don’t want to consistently have losses in there. So, a positive number this year. So, I just wanted to report on that.
And the parking fund, also a number. You’re up this year from the year before the revenues is about $18,000 more than the previous year on the parking fund.
Capital outlay, the major projects, as you all know, the Mill Pond Dam project, and also quite a bit of sidewalk work going on there. And the best news I can give you is that all the debt was paid off in the previous year, so I have no new debt this year, no debt to report on.
So, with that, I’m going, if anyone has any questions, I’m happy to address them.
Wylie said let’s start with council members. Anybody have questions for Emmons? Or comments?
No comments.
Wylie said anybody in the public.
No comments.
Wylie said I guess that’s it. Emmons said thank you. Wylie said thank you for coming for presenting.
Emmons said thank you to everyone at the city. Everyone’s, you know, very cooperative, very helpful, and a fun year to work with. And nice to meet our new attorney as well. Thank you. Wylie thanked Emmons.
Wylie said okay, we have next on our agenda. Oh, I’m sorry. Yeah, the resolution. Okay, so we had resolved by Rodgers, supported by Jones, and (to Guillen), Wylie said we need a roll call vote.
Jones, Quisenberry, Rodgers, Wylie, Avery, Casey, and Forte voted yes.
Wylie said and the resolution’s adopted. Thank you (unintelligible).
Item #10B – Motion: Halloween Trick-or-Treat Hours in the City (video time mark 0:35:13):
-
- Motion – Halloween Hours in the City (page 77/79 of the council packet)
Wylie said next on our agenda is Item #10B, Motion, Halloween Trick-or-Treat hours in the city. And this stage, we have a motion. As usual, this will be simply because this is always a good discussion item.
(Wylie read the motion.)
Wylie said and we need a motion and a second to set the annual Halloween Trick-or-Treating hours in the city to be from, and we will fill in that time. Maybe we want to have a discussion before we make a motion because I think people have something to say, and the discussion may change somebody’s mind. Anybody want to start? (To Avery), Wylie said you want to start?
Avery said yeah, I mean, we talked about it briefly before the meeting. I mean, I’m a fan of the 6:00-7:00. That’s been, we’ve had that consistently through the years. I know a couple of years ago, we tried the two-hour one, and that’s miserable. Jones said we never did a two-hour. Wylie said well, was that the COVID year? I remember when it was COVID wearing a mask, and it was dangerous. Avery said yeah, we tried it one time, and – Wylie said I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. Avery said I mean, we could turn our light off, I guess, but, you know, we always had that option. I have found that people have been kind of cheating the system a little bit anyways, starting at like quarter to six, and then sometimes coming after 7:00, but it’s up to homeowners. Obviously, they can turn the light off if they want, and it’s no big deal. Wylie said it probably depends on the area. Avery said I don’t know why it would be urgency is to give that extra half hour. I’m sure I’m being grinchy about that.
Jones said I mean, not grinchy, but I would just say for, you know, parents and things like that, that are getting kids and all that, I would just say that doing it at 5.30, I think that just kind of puts more stress, like in terms of other people doing the things. I mean, people are gonna show up early.
Avery said well, but I will add one more thing, with the traffic like it is, especially in the downtown, until 5.30, it’s miserable. It’s backed up. So, to add the extra traffic, this year probably isn’t gonna – Jones said and people drive, have driven recklessly during Halloween years past. I’ve seen them pass some, like do an actual, from the right-hand lane to the left-hand lane, pass someone on Main Street. Avery said oh, that’s a Halloween tradition. Jones said yeah, yeah. So, so I think. Quisenberry said you’re supposed to be scared. Jones said yeah. Wylie said it’s a supernatural scary. Jones said I think 6:00 to 7:00 would make it easier for families and parents and that kind of thing, people trying to get home from work and all that stuff. Wylie said that’s true. My dad was rear-ended once by people with somebody running home to take their kids out.
Wylie recognized Casey for a comment.
Casey said it ought to be 7:00 to 8:00. Jones said 7:00 to 8:00. (Laughter.)
Wylie asked Jones if she had anything to add. (No additional comment.)
Wylie asked Quisenberry if he had any comments. You always have something to say. Quisenberry said I’m sorry (unintelligible). Wylie said okay. I, oh, go ahead. I’ll jump right in.
Wylie said I kind of like the 5:30 only because, first of all, I don’t live on Main Street or Holcomb, so that gives me a little bit different perspective. I don’t live in the downtown area. So, I do have a different perspective, but it’s nice when it’s daylight hours. Little kids, it’s kind of nice that parents can take them out to their three, five, ten houses and maybe go home. So that’s my perspective. Casey said that’s part of Halloween. Wylie said I know, but for five-year-olds, three-year-olds, I don’t know if it’s scary.
Wylie asked Rodgers if she had anything to add.
Rodgers said I agree with Avery. 6:00 to 7:00, they started 5:30 anyhow. And I am really worried about – Wylie said that’s a good point. Avery said the traffic is gonna be awful this year. Rodgers said I mean, it’s like that ‘til 7:00. So, I just worry about, hopefully, the traffic will be less because all those people that normally sit on Main Street and be home with their kids trick-or-treating, but. Wylie said or be getting their can of candy. Rodgers said yes. Wylie said hopefully they’ll be people who work early – Rodgers said and go trick-or-treating right from Main Street. But yeah, I think they start earlier anyhow, so I don’t think, on average, 6:00 to 7:00.
Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.
Forte said yeah, I like the earlier times because I have an earlier kid, you know what I mean? So, 8:00 is bed time, but I think we can say whatever we want. People will do whatever they want. So, whatever.
Wylie said comments from the public.
Wylie recognized Guillen for a comment.
Guillen said yes, yeah. I just wanted to share that when I did post the hours on our city Facebook page, that there was displeasure from residents that it was only an hour. Wylie said every year they do it. Guillen said yep, and I just wanted to mention, too, that Smith said parking is free that evening, so I didn’t want everybody to think they were getting ticketed if they’re in the city trick-or-treating.
Avery said well, let me ask you, are we sure that the people that were not happy about it were city residents or were they township residents? Guillen said I did not inquire into their, like, where they live, but I was also gonna say – Avery said 95% of the people that come here are township residents. Jones said they wanna come to the city. So, we only got, how many kids do we have in the city? Probably less than 50. Jones said I also, I’m an outlier here, I don’t have children, but I mean, I didn’t actually realize that there were official hours for trick-or-treating. I thought it was just like, if the house has a porch light on, you can knock for candy. If they don’t have a light on, you don’t go. I mean, like, that’s the, yeah, 6:00 to 7:00, we are official, and either the porch lights, the, you know, the rule is found. So, yeah, yeah.
Wylie said anybody, oh, I’m sorry. Wylie recognized Catallo for a comment.
Catallo said no, actually, Avery asked my question that I would, I’d be surprised if they were residents because it gets expensive, like, to try to entertain that many visitors. And it gets cold, frankly. And I would say anybody who has younger children, take them to your neighbors early. Like, that’s what I did when my child was significantly younger than she is now. Like, I just, I would take her to the special neighbors. We can do that again this year if you want. But yeah, like, I can’t imagine having to make it longer. And from when I worked in Detroit, that race home to get back in time for 6:00 is a tricky one, so. Jones said it’s also, it’s Friday, it’s Friday, so it’s gonna be Friday traffic. Rodgers said true.
Wylie said anybody else.
Jones said the children of Clarkston will get their candy, though. Yeah. Wylie said well, I think they’re, I bought my candy today. It’s expensive. Avery said yeah, it is. Wylie said man. Avery said just go to Costco to get those. Wylie said I did go to Costco. Avery said 20 dollars (unintelligible).
Wylie said anybody else have comments or questions
Guillen said yes, I’m sorry. My last thing is I’ll be here handing out candy. I thought I wanted to. Wylie said here. Guillen said I wanted to steal some fun in the city, so I’ll be here in my kitty cat costume, handing out candy from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., so come and see me. Wylie said are you gonna have a costume on? Guillen I’m gonna have a kitty cat costume on, yes, I am.
Wylie said anybody else before we, so we do need, if nobody else has questions or comments, so we do need somebody to make a motion and a second.
(To Guillen), Quisenberry said do you need donations for candy donations? Guillen said I mean, I would absolutely take them. I got a basket full of candy on my desk right now, so I gotta keep you guys fed just like last time. But yes, I do have candy on my desk, but of course, I would definitely take that. Forte said I have so much, I will give you some.
Wylie said okay, so I need somebody to make a motion. Avery said I’ll make a motion that the hours remain between 6:00 to 7:00. Wylie said between 6:00 to 7:00, and I need a second. Second, Jones.
Wylie said and do we have any other questions or comments from council members or the public before we have a vote?
No comments.
Wylie said I’m gonna do a roll call. Guillen said sure.
Quisenberry, Rodgers, Casey, Avery, Wylie, Forte, and Jones voted yes.
Wylie said okay, so that’s your resolution adopted. Thank you very much for those comments.
Item #10C – Discussion: Sanitary Sewer Maintenance Plan (video time mark 0:42:56):
-
- Sanitary Sewer Maintenance Plan (page 78/78 of the council packet)
Wylie said and now we have a Discussion, Sanitary Sewer Maintenance plan. This is Item #10C, and we’ve got some information I assume supplied by Smith, maybe (unintelligible), too? Smith said no. Wylie said about the sewer. Smith said yes, no, this is my update.
Smith said so, there has been some question as we talked with Independence Township about the question, have we stayed up with our maintenance plan? And as you recall, I want to refresh your memory that last year, last fall, about this time, we had to dig up the East Alley, I’m sorry, the West Alley, behind Rudy’s and the Fed. So that was done in two different spots. This was after a camera survey had been completed and identified two completely collapsed sections of the sewer. Water was still getting through, but as shown in these two pictures, might look like a colonoscopy, but in reality, this is a collapsed sewer.
Smith said and what I want to emphasize is that the city (pounding desk) has done maintenance work. So, it’s not to say that we are completely negligent in staying up with our sewer maintenance, but we did spend $194,000 on this repair last fall. And in fact, we are currently billing the residents $43 a quarter for that, for eight quarterly reimbursements. So that is completed.
Smith said now, the next step is to look at the next highest priority. And the pipeline management company that did the camera work, they have identified about, I guess I don’t know the exact number, it’s a dozen or so pipes that need to be rehabilitated is the term they use. Rehabilitated meaning that they need to be lined. Either that or they do grout, grouting between the pipes. Most of these are cement pipes that need to be grouted between the pipes. And you might say, well, their main concern is about water exiting, sewage water exiting into the groundwater. That is certainly a high priority, but they’re almost equally concerned about groundwater coming into the pipes. So, if you have pipes that are in a wetland area, going through water areas, a lot of water can be coming into the pipe and then on its way down to the Great Lakes Water Authority for a cleansing. It’s very expensive process of cleansing that water so they don’t want extra water that doesn’t need cleansing. In other words, it’s not sewage water, it’s just groundwater that made its way into the pipe. So, for both reasons, they recommend grouting and/or sealing the pipe. And so, we are looking at the next step.
Smith said looks like it’s gonna be right around $100 to $125,000 to do the next highest, the fours and fives they call them. I’m gonna work on that, I’m gonna bring that plan to you. We can break this up into smaller installments. We can look at what we have in the sewer fund. With Coté’s help, we can get those numbers. And so, I don’t have those to present to you tonight.
What are the fours and fives that should be our next focus after fixing the West Alley, what would be our next focus? Smith said so, in a future council meeting, possibly in the next council meeting, I’ll have that list and that projected expense for repairing those. So, I just wanna reiterate, work has been done. It’s not like we haven’t done anything. Work has been done, but we now need to be thinking about the next level. And then once we get rid of the fours and fives, we look at the threes and the twos and the ones. In the interest of staying up on the maintenance so we don’t have collapses in the future. Wylie said thank you.
Wylie said but the collapse really had nothing to do with the condition of the sewer pipes from what they told you. I thought they said it was perhaps vibrations from truck traffic. Smith said it is, it was. So that was up in the West Alley, but they repaired two sections at both ends. There’s still a big section in the middle that could be, maybe it’s different soils, maybe it’s more stable. The camera did not show any issue in between the two repairs, but that might be something we have to do in the future. We hope it can be done robotically with this sealing, the grouting, the spraying of the liner inside. All that done robotically without any digging. That’s the beauty of it. Still expensive, but not near as expensive as it would be if you had to dig up the pipes.
Wylie recognized Avery for a question.
Avery said yeah, I have a couple of questions. One, the grout, are we going to get an estimate for both, for either grout and or the sleeves? Smith said yes. Avery said okay, so they’ll do one or both, one or the other.
Avery said and then I guess my other question was more general. Was there anything that the township put us on notice for in the last, say, two or three years of a problem that we didn’t address? Smith said no. Avery said okay. Smith said no. Avery said and I know we – (interrupting Avery), Smith said in fact, we just had this camera done last year, camera work, it was done last year. It had been ten years from the previous one. It’s supposed to be done every five years. So, it was a long time since the previous one. Avery said yeah, but shouldn’t the township, I mean, they’re the experts here, right? They run the sewer system. So, if they felt that we needed to do inspections and work, shouldn’t they have provided you to do that? And they didn’t say anything. Wylie said well, the township does it. The township sets it all up. Smith said they do it at their expense. That is part of the contract, is that the township will, every five years, camera inspect the – Avery said so they fell down on the job, quote/unquote. I don’t want to point the finger at him, but I find it interesting that he’s took his points of finger back to us, saying we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing when they were the ones that were really, because had they done it earlier, maybe we’d catch the problem in West Alley and get it fixed before we had to – Smith said before it had the full collapse. Avery said yeah.
Quisenberry said so, I understand what you’re saying is the township is obligated to do the inspections every five years. And based upon what they find, they then let us know and we have to then go ahead and do it. And they didn’t do an inspection for 10 years. Smith said correct. Quisenberry said okay.
Quisenberry said is there, does the township have an expectation that we will have sufficient funds to fix what they tell us need to be fixed? Smith said yes. Now, does it have to be all the way down to a level one? Not necessarily, but levels of fours and fives, the expectation is that we’d be able to repair those in a reasonable amount of time, maybe a year or so. But you’re right, it was like not going to the dentist for ten years, and then you go and you realize, oh boy, I got six cavities and a root canal that are needed. Avery said right, blaming the dentist because you’ve got the cavities, when it was your obligation to – Quisenberry said it was their job to inspect and determine what needed maintenance, and they didn’t do it, and then they expect us, what, just, we can’t crawl into the sewers and inspect them.
Smith said right, well, I think their expectation is that we should have been building up a maintenance plan fund, which we haven’t been. We’ve come to council with some sewage rate increase proposals, and we’ve said in the past, we’re not charging a lot over what we pay out, in other words, to build up a rainy-day fund. Avery said well, that’s something that we probably should discuss as a council going forward, is that the need to start establishing, having a bigger fund, rainy-day fund, because obviously the sewers are all older, we’re going to have to replace them and repair them through the years, so I don’t think that’s unreasonable to raise the rates a little bit. Wylie said frankly, I don’t think it’s a township business. As long as we can come up with the money to pay for it, it doesn’t matter if we have a huge rainy-day fund or a little rainy-day fund. We’re coming up with the money so far to pay for our obligations and taking care of it. Smith said in this case, we did a special assessment – Wylie said yes – (continuing), Smith said and that’s a lever we can pull again. (To Avery), Wylie said and I agree with you, we should have a bigger, work on getting a bigger (unintelligible), but I don’t think that’s the township’s business. Smith said no, that’s our responsibility.
Wylie said anybody else on council have questions or comments.
No comments.
Wylie said in the public.
No comments.
Wylie said thank you very much.
An unidentified woman said I have a question. Wylie said yes, I’m sorry, Janet [last name not provided].
Janet said if they would have done the investigation in five years and say, caught it and said you have a two and a three, is it more expensive now, or is it the same cost if they would have done it? Do they have any responsibility for it becoming, now we have fours and fives? Smith said the only ones would have been these two where it was a full collapse. Smith said if, let’s say they had done that at year five and identified that it was kind of cracking, but not a full collapse yet, we could have lined the pipes and the liner is, believe it or not, is so strong that it would prevent a collapse from occurring. Janet said so, it wouldn’t have been less expensive. Smith said it wouldn’t have been less expensive. If we had, let’s say, hypothetically, if five years ago they had done a camera inspection and said, you better line this right away, and we did, we could have avoided a considerable cost. It wouldn’t have been $194,000. It might have been $30,000 or $40,000.
(To Fisher), Janet said so, are they responsible for any of that cost because they neglected to do what they were supposed to do? Fisher said well, it’s a governmental function. And so that, I don’t think they’re gonna, it’s not a breach of contract with us, correct. Wylie said good point, though, Janet. Fisher said yeah, thank you.
Forte said do we have the footage from ten years ago of these locations. Smith said I don’t here in the city. I can ask if they’re available to see how they’ve changed. Forte said yeah, I think that would be worth asking.
Rodgers said so, in our contract with them, there is no thing that says they have to do it every five years. Smith said it’s suggested that it’s done every five years. Rodgers said so, it kind of is a breach of contract. Fisher said well, it’s a suggestion, it’s not something you can (unintelligible). Rodgers said oh, it’s suggested, it’s not written in there. Fisher said it’s a policy sort of thing.
(To Quisenberry), Wylie said you had something.
Avery said right, I mean, if we were there, then we probably should be going forward, other than just sign, did we just sign the sewer contract? Because we could have put something in there saying requiring them to do it every five years. Fisher said yeah. Avery said then if they didn’t do it, then we could have said hey.
(To Quisenberry), Wylie said go ahead.
Quisenberry said hypothetically, a line could have been damaged that may have showed up as a category three or something like that. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that in a year it’s now gonna be a four. It could have occurred as a three, and stabilized to stay a three for twenty more years. So, it would be hard to project what expenses we are incurring because they didn’t do something at an earlier time, right? Smith and Fisher agreed.
Wylie said anybody else on council or the public.
No comments.
Wylie said okay, thank you very much again for bringing that to our attention. Lots of good comments.
Agenda Item #11, Adjourn Meeting (video time mark 0:55:44):
Wylie said Item #11 is adjourn the meeting. I need a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Motion by Jones; second Rodgers.
Motion to adjourn the meeting passed by unanimous voice vote.
Wylie said and now we are adjourned at 7:56 p.m.
Resources:
-
- Link to video recording here
- 10-27-2025 city council packet