001Council and order, please rise for the pledge of allegiance and the invocation following. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Dear God, please bless our elected officials. Grant them the wisdom to know and the courage to do what is right for all citizens. Amen. Amen. Roll call, please. Allen? Here. [clears throat] LaFour? Here. Misteravich? Here. Ricks? >> Here. Schultz? >> Here. Warren? Here. Yellenich? Here. Good to see everybody here tonight. Uh we've been in the budget workshop for the last hour and a half and we'll be going back there after this meeting is over with. Uh we move on to audience comments on any non-agenda items. Everybody's here for on the
002agenda. Uh very good. We'll move on. Mister City Manager, any changes in the agenda? No changes. City Council, any changes? Motion to accept the agenda as presented would be in order. I'll make a motion. Support. Motion been made and supported. Any discussion? Being that, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Against? Motion does pass. Do we have a motion for the consent agenda? I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Support. Motion been made and supported. Any There is no discussion on the consent agenda according to our rules. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Against? Motion does pass. We move on to >> Mayor. Uh what did I miss? Uh approval of the minutes. Approval of minutes. I'm sorry. I marked it out
003already. Is there a motion [clears throat] for the approval of the minutes of the City Council meeting of May 4th? I'll make that motion. Support. Motion's been made and supported. Any discussion? Being that, all in favor say aye. Aye. Against? Motion does pass. We also have the City Council budget meeting minutes from May 4th. Is there a motion? I'll make the motion. Support. Motion's been made and supported. Any discussion on those minutes? Being that, all in favor of the motion signified by saying aye. Aye. Against? Motion does pass. We have one more set of minutes from the special meeting held on May 11th. Is there a motion? >> I'll make the motion. Support. Motion's been made and supported. Any discussion on those minutes? Being that, all in favor of the motion signified by saying aye.
004Aye. Against? Motion does pass. Sorry, I missed that. Uh we move on now to items for consideration. We have seven this evening. The first one being consideration of special event request from the Richmond Area Historical Society. Mr. City Manager? City Council is scheduled to consider a special event request for a mobile food vendor from Rags at their 7th annual Heritage Festival scheduled for Saturday, June 27th from 10:00 to 4:00 and Sunday, June 28th from noon to 4:00. Uh Rags is requesting a second mobile food vendor uh named Your Mom's Kitchen to be present at the Heritage Days Festival. Uh the vendor would offer simple gluten-free sandwiches and comfort food. Uh Don Graham, uh who is the coordinator for the Heritage Festival for Rags, uh is here tonight if you have any questions. Thank you, sir.
005Don, is there anything you'd like to add to that? No, I Can you use the mic so they can hear you on the television at home? Yep. Yeah, we >> [clears throat] >> we've had a couple of requests and suggestions that we add some healthier food options for our Heritage Festival and a couple of our committee members are knowledgeable about Amy Schmidt in this particular food truck. And so it was a decision of the committee that we approach City Council to see if you'd approve the inclusion of this food trailer for this year's event. Thank you, sir. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the special event request for mobile food vendor Your Mom's House for the Rags Heritage Festival on Saturday, June 27th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday,
006June 28th from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. Support. Motion made and supported. Is there any discussion? Any audience comments on this item? Being none, back to the table. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. >> I. Against? Motion does pass. Thank you, Don. Item number two is consideration special event request Autumn Nights Market, Mr. City Manager. City Council is scheduled to consider a special event request from Flora's Trash to Treasure and Main Street Mercantile to hold an Autumn Nights Market and More event on Saturday, September 26th from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the grass lot adjacent to the municipal North Forest parking lot at the corner of Forest and Monroe streets. Setup would begin at noon and take down would be at 9:00. There'd be vendors, music would all be
007contained on on the the grass lot. It'd be very similar, kind of a smaller version of what Melissa, who's here tonight to answer any questions, did back uh with her Vintage Road Trip Markets in 2021 and 22. Also, Hummingbird Home when they were located on Gleason Street had kind of more this scale of a event at their at their location. So, they're kind of recreating that here in the social district on that grass lot. And most of us are here to answer any questions. Melissa, would you like to add to that? Just that um Diana Menachi is now it at Main Street Mercantile and Company. So, we kind of came up with the idea of continuing it at kind of our location down at our end of town so that we can utilize the social
008district at the north end. We thought it might be a really nice evening event for the community so people could walk down, play some light music so that you kind of create that atmosphere for people to kind of linger in that area, eat at the restaurants, kind of take in the local feeling or what we're trying to create back there with our social district. So. Very good. Okay. Uh is there a motion before discussion? I'll make a motion to approve the special event request from Flora's Trash to Treasure and Main Street Mercantile to hold an Autumn Nights Market and More event on Saturday, September 26th, 2026 from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. in the grass lot at the southwest corner of Forest and Monroe streets with set up to begin at noon and tear down
009by 9:00 p.m. Support. Motion's been made and supported. Is there any discussion on this? I just looked at the city calendar. There's a lot of stuff going on that day but not at night. Well, good. Uh We'll keep them in town. Yeah, absolutely. That's uh Reg Cemetery Walk is that day, too. Uh the big puzzle sale at the uh library and also the kids craft show uh at the odds. So, there's a lot going on. So, people can spend the whole day in town and end up over there for a nice evening of uh uh music and vendors. So, that'll be nice. Good. Uh any other discussion on this item? Any audience participation on this item? Back to the table. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Against? Motion does pass.
010Good luck. Thank you. Thank you. Item number three, consideration of memorial donation request for the Odd. City manager? City Council is scheduled to consider a memorial gift agreement submitted on behalf of the Ricks and Gillis families for two benches, a light, and a tree and landscaping at the Odd. The proposed benches, tree, and light would go to the north of the double sidewalk that leads to the front door of the Odd in the general vicinity of an electrical box that feeds the main sign out front. Uh Tim Ricks has been coordinating the memorial proposal on behalf of his parents Leroy and Barbara Ricks. His family has also donated a tree in honor of Mayor Ricks's 70th birthday. And then John and Sarah Gillis have agreed to split the cost of the benches in memory of
011John's mother Becky Gillis who worked at the Odd while employed at Richmond Community Schools. Uh also uh the Ricks family has indicated they would uh do the ongoing maintenance of the landscaping beds and we we would uh water uh when we water the plant materials uh that are in between the double sidewalk. So, uh this did go in front of the uh recreation board. Uh they approved it at their last meeting and approved forwarding it to Council for your consideration. Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the memorial donation agreement submitted on behalf of the Ricks and Gillis family in honor of Leroy and Barbara Ricks, Tim Ricks, and Becky Gillis for benches, a light, a tree, and landscaping. Support. Motion has been made and supported. Is there any discussion?
012That tree is 3 years old already, so >> [laughter] >> But anyhow, we appreciate the support of the council on this. As you all know, my mother and father are very influential in the growth of our community for many, many decades. And we've always wanted to do something for them. They've been now gone for little over 20 years, and um we thought it was a good spot. Both of them were very involved with the Odd back in the day and actually went to high school in in those classes that were held at the Odd also. Becky, actually the years I was on school board, Becky was working upstairs in the Odd with the administration in bookkeeping. Her mother was our financial director. And they did an outstanding job some very tough years in school finance.
013And um when John heard about this, he he said, "Boy, I I was wondering if maybe my mom could be you know memorialized there also." And we said, "Absolutely." Uh So, um again, that's that's what's going on. And my kids bought me a a tree 3 years ago. And uh so he said, "Maybe it's time that we buy that actually find a tree for you and plant it." I thought this be a good background for the the benches there. So, my son-in-law Dan is a landscaper on the side. He does have a business. He has the insurance and everything else. And of course, my daughter-in-law is uh uh works for Ray Wiggins Nurseries. So, all the everything will come from Ray Ray's Wiggins Nursery. And also, I'm hoping that I can get the benches from
014backyard living. Mhm. Backyard Living. I'm hoping to get it from them. So, um and anything else that we can do if we can do it local, we'll be be doing it local. And then again, as John mentioned, we will maintain it ourselves. Got a couple of couple of good people there that uh they haven't volunteered yet, but I'm sure they will. >> [laughter] >> So, that's it. Is there any other discussion on this item? Is there any uh audience [clears throat] comments on this? Being not, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. >> I. Against? Motion does pass. Thank you. Item number four is consideration of special event request, BB Street Park rental. Mr. City Manager. This is the council scheduled to consider a special event request for a mobile food
015vendor application. >> Mhm. Uh Takira Martinez in conjunction with a surprise retirement party uh as part of a rental of our pavilion. Uh the party scheduled for Sunday, August 16th from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. And the applicant would like to have the food truck from 3:00 to 6:00 to provide food for their guests. Uh at the last recreation board, the uh board approved this uh sending this and voting this to council for approval. Uh we have done a similar uh child's birthday party uh food truck uh that was a I think in conjunction with a community center rental uh back in 2024. Uh we also have done various public events uh with food trucks. Uh the recreation board just requested that we uh now that we have those orange signs that have the document holders
016on that we put out at some of our events, putting out a sign saying, you know, food truck is only for guests of the party. Um, just to kind of clarify that. Um, but with that, uh, we're here to answer any questions. Very good. Margo, you got anything to add to this? Um, no, I don't. She had just stated that the food truck would probably be there from like 3:00 to 6:00. She's going to limit the time that they're going to be there. And as John said, then we'll put up our sandwich board sign and state that it's only for private party. Very good. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve and forward to city council a special event request food for a mobile food vendor for retirement party scheduled for Saturday,
017August 16th, 2026 with the food truck Taqueria Martinez from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the BB Street Pavilion with the following conditions: no sales will occur to the general public and signs will be placed near the food truck indicating this. Support. Motion made and supported. Is there any discussion on this item? Follows our policy as we've written it. Any audience comments on this item? Back to the table. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. >> Aye. Against? Motion does pass. Item number five is consideration of contract award Gratiot Overlay Project. Mr. City Manager. The 2025-2026 budget includes funds for a mill and overlay of Gratiot Avenue, um, more specifically the city's portion, uh, from Main Street up through, uh, county line. Um, the low bidder was, uh, Proline Asphalt in
018the amount of $135,977. Uh, Proline has worked on several projects successfully in the city. Um, most recently they completed the Karen Street Overlay Project. Um, this project, due to, uh, uh, the majority being paid through the, uh, federal funds that are divided up by the Macomb County Federal Aid Committee. Um, uh, was bid out by the by MDOT. We're approving uh, it as well just as we have our local match. Um, the local match did uh, we had budgeted 26. Uh, the our local match is 27 195. So, the additional funds will come out of the uh, major street fund. Thank you, Jim. Anything to add? Uh, nothing. Just clarifying it's tip tip funds are we've used this funding uh, grant funds for uh, Ridge Street recently, Division Road. It's the same process. It gets
019bid through MDOT. And obviously as the city manager said, there is a local match component to that. Very good. Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to authorize the expense of $27,195 for the mill and overlay of Gratiot Avenue to Proline asphalt with the expenses charged to the major street fund capital improvements. Support. Motion made and supported. Is there any discussion on this item? Nice to see that uh, grant money come through. Yeah, $135,000. Almost $136,000 and we pick up 27 of it. Very nice. Hopefully they're putting extra heavy uh, asphalt in there for all the Canadian trash trucks that uh, come through that little stretch right there. The mix does meet MDOT spec based on the traffic load that's on Gratiot. Very good. Very good. Any other discussion on this item?
020I just want to have Jim clarify this isn't part of any other paving projects in the city. So, this is completely separate. Exactly. And it seems like they started on the other ones, the other paving projects. The patching. The patching. Yeah. We're We are patching this week. It's a separate contract. >> Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, we had last week the water main contractor was in patching. This week I think both M. are patching around some of their uh water or Manholes and water boxes. >> Manholes and water boxes and then we also have our patching contractor in starting this week. So, yeah, it's a lot of patching going on on Main. Three different crews, I believe. Correct. Yep. Very good. Yeah, the one I saw today wasn't any name that I'd ever seen. [clears throat]
021So, that must be the state. That's M. contractor, yeah. Yeah, okay. I didn't realize they were coming in there. Wow, that's great. Yeah, some of those especially southbound lane of Main Street right there just north of Division. They had some pretty bad uh dips there. Yeah. And that's in response to the milling that they did milling and paving they did last year. The city had requested M. to make a few adjustments where there was the manholes were low and they did they actually adjusted some last year and now they're coming back to do a few more and working with the city on some water box issues. So. I wonder if they that wet spot that's in front of Tom McGovern's >> Not part of this contract. I'm going to be working with Jim and them.
022Yeah, that definitely needs to be milled to get that water off the road. We did attempt to improve that when they did a couple years ago milling surface. Unfortunately, didn't fully correct that. So, we're we're aware of that. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Any audience comments on this one? Back to the table. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Against? Motion does pass. Item number seven, selection uh consider of selection of two members for the mural committee. Well, I'm sorry. I I jumped one too many here. Consideration of scheduling the fourth budget workshop meeting date. Mr. City Manager? Council is being requested to consider scheduling a fourth budget meeting budget workshop meeting date to re- review and continue work on the 26-27 budget. Uh Council previously scheduled the first three workshops, but has
023discussed setting a fourth uh just to review some additional changes that may need to be made to the budget. Um in the background brief I had mentioned that possibly doing it next week uh instead of doing it in conjunction with the first meeting in June. However, uh the City Clerk and I looked at like our notice requirements to have the adoption of the city budget on that second meeting in June and uh we could make it work uh even given this first week. Thank you, sir. Is Council ready to make a motion? Sure. Yeah, I'll make a motion to schedule budget workshop meeting date to review the proposed fiscal year 2026-2027 city budget on Monday, June 1st beginning at 6:00 p.m. Support. Motion has been made and supported. Is there any discussion on this item?
024Any audience comments on this item? Back to the table. All in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Against? Motion does pass. Our final item is consideration of selection of two members for the mural committee. Mr. City Manager? Council is scheduled to appoint two members of the mural commi- to a mural committee being formed by the City of Richmond Economic Development Corporation. Uh the City Council, TIFFA, and EDC held a special meeting on May 11th to review documents uh for a potential mural program and request for proposals. Uh and uh while a lot of good work was done at that meeting, there was also uh an acknowledgement that there was still more work to be done, uh especially when looking at uh the kind of the nuts and bolts of the RFP, uh
025potential buildings, and and potential guidelines on on what types of murals we're looking for. Uh so, both uh the EDC, uh TIFA, and and also City Council are being asked to appoint two members to a committee. Thank you, sir. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to appoint Mayor Tim Rix and Mayor Pro Tem Michael Mustravich to serve on an EDC Mural Committee for a period of 1 year. Support. Motion has been made and supported. Any discussion on this item? Any audience comments on this item? Back to the table. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. >> Aye. Against? Motion does pass. Miscellaneous matters from the city manager, sir. Uh just I had the opportunity today to go with the Richmond Hometown Heroes nonprofit to the Will L. Lee School.
026Uh they did a as they usually do each year a pizza party for the third grade. Uh the um students were very happy to get pizza and Timbits. Uh I think Tim Hortons donated all of the Timbits for the kids, and I think uh Jets Pizza gave them half price on all of their pizzas. So, uh nice support from the business community as well. Very nice. Nice. We'll move on to uh council comments. Michael? Uh nothing today, thank you. >> Dennis? Nothing. Timmy? Just that uh while there's nice and warm and Motor City Speedway again on Main Street. >> Yeah. These semis that come into there. It's ridiculous. Yeah. It really is. Mhm. That's it. Um That's interesting. Um being that's a state highway, could we possibly contact state police and inform them that it
027seems as though we are seeing more and more of that. I've heard the same thing from uh somebody uh who works up on Main Street all day. He said the same thing. It seems like >> going faster. >> talk to the chief about, you know, would they be willing to help come in. Yeah. Yeah. Uh Yeah. Good thing to bring up, Jimmy. Emily? Nothing, thank you. John? Nothing. All set. You're all set. Okay. Well, we have lifeguard classes put on by the Parks and Recreation Department. Um those classes are going to be held Friday, May 29th, Saturday, May 30th, and Sunday, May 31st. Uh there is a cost uh for that, but we are looking for lifeguards for our pool. The number to call is 727-3064 to get more information on that. We look at
028our calendar uh tonight. Uh we have uh the EDC meeting is happening on the 20th at 7:00 here at City Hall. Uh we are approaching the more the Memorial Day weekend. Our library will be closed on Saturday. Uh Memorial Day, we will be hosting our 10:00 a.m. parade that starts at the north end of town at Washington and Main and and comes down uh to uh Water Street. Uh and uh we will have the uh observance uh following the parade right there uh at the um uh Veterans Memorial >> pocket park. The Veterans Memorial. Thank you, John. Uh and this year will be one of our own speaking, uh, Jeff Yellenich. So, uh, we're looking forward, uh, to, uh, his speech this year. Uh, the, of course, the band will be there and and, uh,
029our state rep's going to be there to, uh, get us to, uh, all sing God Bless America and, uh, it's a very traditional, um, Memorial Day. We invite all those, uh, the kids, uh, with the Richmond Little League pledge this year, but we also invite kids to come, uh, decorate their bicycles and people with golf carts, uh, we invite them also. Uh, and we'd appreciate if they would, um, again, um, cover their golf carts in in some patriotic, uh, way. I have to skip two things tonight on the agenda and I have I never have a hard time speaking that. >> [laughter] >> But, anyhow, tongue-tied tonight. Um, so, that's Memorial Day itself, the 25th at 10:00 a.m. It'll be at the pocket park. Uh, at our, uh, municipal parking lot next to Maniaci's Hall.
030Uh, the TIFFA will be meeting on the 27th at 7:00 right here at City Hall. And it's also Richmond Little League Grandparents Day on the 30th. And that takes us into June already, which is our next regular City Council meeting. As you heard earlier, we will be meeting at 6:00, uh, to wrap up, uh, all of our budget discussions and 7:00 will be our regular City Council meeting. Is there anything else that we need to add to the calendar at this time? Uh, Mr. Mayor, I apologize if the flyer wasn't there, but, um, this Saturday, I think is the 23rd, we'll be having our sports card and memorabilia show at the Odd. I believe it begins at 9:00 in the morning, uh, or thereabouts. Uh, all the information is on our recreation department's Facebook page
031as well as, uh, uh the city website. You can find it under the news flash section of the city website. So, I know this Saturday they have about 11 vendors that'll have sports cards and different sports memorabilia for sale in the odd. Yeah, very good. Yes, that should be a good good show that they have there. Um okay, uh the only thing that I would have was would be uh how impressed I was um at the uh awards banquet at the high school this year. It was amazing how many of the senior class received uh awards. Um the the 4.0's plus they call it now, how many there were uh this year at Richmond Community Schools. Uh it was it was amazing um just how much these kids are doing today. Uh it just you
032know, hats off to uh everyone over at the schools getting those kids to where they are ready to go out and meet the world, I guess, uh here real soon. Uh graduation is uh Wednesday night uh down at the uh Macomb uh theater. Um I probably said that wrong. Macomb theater is uh downtown. >> Center for Performing Arts. Center for Performing Arts, thank you, John. You're welcome. Um that's on Wednesday and uh then our kids don't get out of school until uh what do we have? Last day of school is June 5th, Friday. So, they'll be out and about. Keep your eyes open when you're driving around town uh this summer. And that's about it. Um is there any other business of the city council at this time? If not, adjournment would be in order.
033>> I'll make a motion to adjourn. Support. Motion made and supported. There is no discussion on the motion. All in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Against? Motion does pass. Thanks for being here. And we're going back into workshop on the budget one.