001at 7:00. [music] We'll call this meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance and the invocation following. Pledge algiance 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. [snorts] >> Roll call, please. Allen here, [clears throat] Lafur >> here, >> Mr. Ravich >> here, >> Ricks >> here, >> Schultz >> here, >> Warren >> here, >> Yelanich >> here. Good to see everybody here tonight. Approval of minutes for the last council meeting held on November 17th. Motion be in order. >> I'll make the motion. >> Support.
002>> Motion been made and supported. Any discussion on those minutes? Being not. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Against. >> Motion does pass. We move on to audience comments on any non-aggenda items. Uh [clears throat] if you're not on the agenda and would like to speak to city council, >> I welcome. >> Come on up. State your name and address, please. >> I'm going to hold you to about 3 minutes. [laughter] >> Greg Wyrock 68777 Howard, Richmond, Michigan. First of all, Tim, been many years since I've uh been in here talked to you. The last time I told you that I'd tell you good or bad of the sidewalk you put down. Excellent. Now that I'm retired, I appreciate sidewalks so much more. >> Um, and I was
003wondering, see, it's a still with the agenda. >> I've got pictures of you. You also at the same time, my question was then was how to stop the flooding that cuz you raised the road. You put a catch basin in my yard that's still filling. I know I'm not supposed to talk about the agenda that's coming, but is this part of what it's because I've got pictures of my whole yard flooding. >> More than likely, it would storm drain >> boring. And >> yeah. >> Um, but that was it. I just want to thank you. I do appreciate the sidewalk now. >> Yeah. Yeah, I know. >> You thought it was going to be trouble, didn't you? >> Yeah, I know. [laughter] >> Anybody else like to address council at this time? And we will
004touch on uh >> Go ahead, Eugene. How you doing? Eugene meet 68811 Howard. Most a lot of you guys know >> for for the television if you speak into the mic. >> Uh Eugene meet 68811 Howard. A lot of you guys know me. The only issue I got I walk my dog a couple times a day and uh the by the tracks it's horrible. What are you going to do about the speed limit for the guys going eastbound? I see trucks going 45 50. They speed up right in front of the police department and uh that it's it's horrible. Um I got to wait at Howard before I can cross because if you look at the debris, there's nuts, bolts, there's debris. I don't want to get hit in the head. And uh yeah, it
005needs to be looked at >> at the tracks basically. >> Yeah. Right in front of the police department forward. Actually, they start about weeks road it and they're going 50 55 over the tracks. And the tracks are great. I mean, glad they were redone >> and it helps, but the drivers don't slow down and it's mostly these big trucks. >> Mhm. >> You know what I mean? So, that's all I got. Thank you very much for what you do. Appreciate it. >> Yep. >> Thank you, Eugene. Anybody else like to address council at this time? >> If not, when we get to uh items for consideration, council will first deliberate and then we'll go to comments from the uh public. Mr. City manager, any changes in the agenda? >> No changes. >> City council, any
006changes? Motion to accept the agenda as presented would be in order. >> I'll make the motion. >> Support. >> Motion made and supported. Any discussion? >> Being not. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Against. Motion does pass. Do we have a motion for the consent agenda? >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Support. >> Motion been made and supported according to our rules. There no discussion on the motion. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Against. Motion does pass. We move on into items for consideration which we have seven this evening. The first one being consideration of special request wellhouse roof. Mr. City Manager. Council scheduled to consider approving a quote for roof replacement and building repairs
007at the city's wellhouses and arsenic removal plants associated with our water system. The 2526 budget includes 50,000 for roofing and building repairs at five of the seven wellhouses and the two arsenic removal plants. Uh two of the wellhouses have concrete roofs and uh will not be a part of the project. Uh R&J Seamless uh was the low bidder. Uh the project was quoted for reattachment of existing gutters. Uh the recommended award does include the cost of the gutter uh replacement. Thank you. Jim is here to answer any questions you may have. >> Jim, do you have anything you'd like to add to that? >> Uh, just that the buildings are all kind of similar, but they have slight differences. Some have wooden gable ends that aren't aren't covered with anything, and they're certainly rotten. They've
008needed work for a few years. The roofs are in various kind of stages, various ages, and and need work, but we felt it was cost effective to do all of them. Now, even if there's there's one, they're not terri some are not terrible, but most are. So, we thought, let's just tackle them all at once and be done with that. >> Thank you. Is there a motion before discussion? >> I'll make a motion to authorize the award of Wellhouse roof replacement project to R&J Seamless Metal Products in the amount of $36,500 with expenses charged to the appropriate line item in the water fund. >> Support motion been made and support. Is there any discussion on this? All metal roofs, >> correct? >> Will be here way after our time, right? >> That's the intention. >>
009Even your time, probably. >> Hopefully. >> Are they all going to be the same color or >> Yes. >> Are they? And what color would that be? >> Uh, well, we haven't finalized that yet. Certainly. Right now, the intention is the ones at DPW to be s match the buildings at DPW and then we would carry that color throughout. >> Okay, good. Great. >> Yeah. >> Got a qu one question. Yep. >> Uh up where you got the RGA seamless metal products, it says 31,500. >> And down at the bottom, it's 36,500. >> The estimate. >> That's the That's the 5,000 if we choose to put new down new gutters. >> That's enough. All right. Good. [snorts] >> Anything else on this? Any public comments on this item? Back to the table. If there's nothing
010else, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Against. Motion does pass. Is that a spring job? >> Yes. >> Item number two is consideration of special request well number nine cleaning. Mr. City Manager, council scheduled to consider approving the cost to clean well 9ine uh on Skinner Drive behind city hall. Uh $40,000 was budgeted for inspection and cleaning and an additional 15,000 budgeted for well repairs. Uh Peerless Midwest was the low bidder on the project and we're recommending uh that uh we award the cleaning to them. Uh until we do the cleaning, we wouldn't know what repairs are made will be needed. Rebuilding or replacement of a motor, pump, drop pipe, or related components is typical following the cleaning and inspection. Uh the nature of that work and associated
011costs will not be known until the inspection is completed. Rather than have to come back to the board, we're asking for approval for both. >> Very good. Jim, anything to add to this? >> Uh, no. Thank you. >> Is there a motion before discussion? >> [snorts] >> I'll make a motion to authorize Peerless Midwest to clean and inspect well number 9 for the amount of $27,532 with total authorized cleaning and repair expense not to exceed $47,474. The expense will be charged the appropriate line item water fund >> support made and support. Any discussion on this? Okay. So, evidently we budgeted 55,000 for this, >> correct? >> Okay. So, I understand awarding the expense to the low bidder here. >> Uh-huh. >> But why is it coming back for the 47474 when it's still under budget?
012I'm not quite sure. the um the cost to do the actual cleaning and inspection is is less than 47 of 20. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I understand that that's 27,000. >> Okay. So, the >> where we budget here's my point is such a definitive number 47474. We budgeted 50. Council said you can go up to 55,000. >> Where did you come up with the 44474? Maybe that's my better question >> there. So their uh their quote included some estimates for repairs and so I just thought it was appropriate to be consistent with the estimate which totals at 47 that that number. >> Okay. So it's a guesstimate. >> It that's correct. >> Okay. Okay. Cuz in one breath it's we won't know until we get there >> and yet we have a definitive number here
013and it just it was confusing to me that we already knew we were going to spend 50 possibly 55k. I got you. >> Sorry about that. Yeah. >> I got you. Any other discussion on this? Any public comments on this item? Back to the table. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Against. Motion does pass. >> Item number three is consideration of special request Howard Street storm sewer soil borings. Mr. City Manager. Power Street from Division Road to Grand Trunk is a gravel shoulder with generally ine adequate shallow storm sewer system. The city's been working with Mcome County Public Works to secure a permit to add a new storm sewer outlet to the Richmond relief and branches number two drain uh which is the drain that is on
014this side of the railroad tracks running north from City Hall uh at Division Road. The new outlet will have capacity to handle the storm runoff from Howard Street and deep enough to allow for the installation of curbon gutter. The project would require uh jack and boring a pipe under the railroad. Uh the city has secured approval from McGome County Public Works for the storm outlet and needs a permit for CN to do the work uh in the spring. Again, this would just be setting the uh storm sewer in place for a future road project. We uh don't anticipate that road project being for the next at least five years or or more. Um but we would like to get the kind of the setup done uh this coming spring and is in the budget to
015do so. Um and then uh but to do work in the railroad rightway, they're asking us to do soil borings uh around the railroad tracks in that area. So, that's what's on your agenda tonight is a proposal from G2 Consulting for uh soil borings and a geo uh soils report. Uh and Jim can go into more detail if you have questions. >> Okay, Jim, anything to add at this point? >> Uh just to clarify a little bit, the project the road project definitely won't be in the next say two two or three years. Five years is kind of where we anticipate the project, the the road project would be done. Certainly there's uh a lot of advanced work involved. We've been working with DTE and Frontier to remove utility poles that are in the way
016of the utility work that would the public utility work that would be required for the Howard Street reconstruction. This is another uh big portion of that. So we took quite some time to work with the county to get approval on the permit because the drain permit because we are essentially redirecting flow now. It runs east down 32 or division road towards Grashet which is deep not deep enough and inadequate and we were required to kind of redirect it. So we've got through that hurdle now obviously we need to get a permit from the railroad to cross under the railroad again that'll be a jack and bore casing pipe you know and storm sewer inside the casing pipe. So by this project is really in the approval tonight is for the soil borings but the intention
017is to bid out for for spring or summer construction. The actual installation of the storm sewer outlet so the drain tap and then it would the pipe itself would end at at the intersection of Howard Street and division and that that would be the limits of this project for they were anticipating in the spring. The reconstruction is not for a few more years. So >> but we would connect into that when we do the reconstruction. >> Right. Thank you. Is there a motion [clears throat] before discussion? >> I make a motion to award the Howard Street Storm Sewer Outlet Geotechnical Investigation Project to G2 Consulting in the amount of $7,650 with expenses charged to the appropriate line item and major street fund. >> Support motion been made and supported. Any discussion on this item? It's
018a ongoing project. Uh, a lot of people, I'm sure, don't realize that this has been going on since I was a little kid. We've wanted to do this. Um, we were always told for many, many years that it is so flat out there, there's no place for the water to run. And, uh, I owned a home on Howard Street for a number of years. And, uh, I was the second lowest. uh in my backyard once there was a derailment and we couldn't run the water into the train uh uh ditch any longer and which never got fixed by the uh train company. Um we flooded every year and uh I'm not sure if it's uh still that bad. We did do a little bit of work, not as bad as it used to be. >>
019Last big storm. >> Okay. So um you know that has a lot to do with you know trying to drain some of those properties but also for the road itself. if it is high that road we've added on to that road and add added on and added on and added on for so many years that water just gets trapped and we all know that. So this is nothing new. We've already spent some money to open up the ditch uh the county's drain which is the ditch along the railroad track on this side of division on the north side of division. Um we've invested in that already and in some other plans that we've invested in. So, this we're not in the middle of the project by any uh stretch of the imagination, but it's something
020the city has wanted to do for many many years. And um I think is it's going to really really clean up uh what is usually a mess in the spring uh with all the mud and everything else that we have. Uh and but that would be dealt at a different time. This is strictly as stated just for the boring to make sure that uh we appease the uh railroad company. Now, if they they work as fast as we work for them, that would be great. You know, anyhow, any other comments on this item? Okay, now we'll go in any comments. If you have a comment or question, please come up to the podium so the people at home can hear uh your comments and the answers hopefully. >> Yeah. >> John Hafner, 68481 Howard. So,
021I'm right where DAO comes in. If you We've had one drunk through the years run right through the stop sign and park in our yard. Is this going to improve when it is hooked in? Will it improve the drainage for me? Cuz you've been out. Jim and and city manager have been out like it literally runs down my neighbor's sidewalk. It comes off the >> the road. [snorts] It continues down the road, but then it comes onto my neighbor's sidewalk. Rain drain drainage and then comes out through my driveway. And my other neighbor on the other side of me has it worse. I'm sure you see it every morning on your way to work. She's got a pool and we have a pool because it can't handle the drainage. So, you're saying this would improve
022that, >> Jim? >> Yes. Anytime we do a project, we certainly intend to address all the collect all the drainage within the rightway. So, in this case, if we're adding curb and gutter, which is not there now, generally speaking, the road will drop at least 6 in so that the the sidewalks drain are positive drainage into the road. So you'd see maybe slightly more than 6 in there if you're getting water. If the road's higher now, we got to lower it enough that the water that's on the sidewalks can make it into the road and and additional. So yes, the simple answer is we do intend to fix. >> That's a couple years out. Was it on the but planning earlier? Cuz I thought I'd rent on a plan that it was in 26 or
02327 that Howard Street was going to be redone. >> You might have saw that 5 years ago because we have the the plan that we have, the capital outlay plan >> had to get pushed out. It usually gets pushed back because that's going to be a huge cost, the biggest cost that we're going to have probably in years. >> Yeah. And and again, there was other utility work, other approvals that we needed the county to be able to take the water that currently runs east down division, redirect it underneath the railroad tracks in north. So, that's no small feat to get all those approvals and so >> Okay. Yep. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Yep. Anybody else like to address council on this issue? Okay, we'll move on back to the table. Any other
024discussion on this item? Being not, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> Against. Motion does pass. >> Item number four, introduction and first reading text amendment 156-35, dimensional standards. Mr. City Manager Council is scheduled to give introduction and first reading to ordinance 156-35, which amends section 5101, dimensional standards of the Richmond zoning ordinance by reducing the minimum gross floor area requirements for principal dwellings within single family and two family residential uh districts. Uh kind of the long and short of it is uh we did a review uh during our last update to the community master plan and we're looking at ways uh that we could help with uh developers being able to build uh more affordable uh houses for new and and younger families or or seniors uh really for anyone.
025So in reviewing our dimensional standards against other communities in our area, we had higher dimensional requirements than than most communities around us. So we were dropping uh the average square foot requirements uh by about 16.6% or roughly uh in some cases 300 to 200 feet uh per zoning class. So, uh, probably the prime example, uh, there was a lot on Grove Street that was the house was torn down. It was split into two lots and due to the dimensional standards, they had to build houses that were a little bigger than than they could have uh, and you could have maybe fit uh, have had an easier time fitting those two lots on two new houses on Howard. So, while this could be utilized in in new subdivision, >> excuse me, Mr. measure, but on Grove
026Street. You just said Howard Street. >> I'm sorry. Grove. Yep. Yep. There a house on Grove just kind of north on the uh west side there. Yeah. Sorry. Um while it could be used for new subs, it's is more likely to be used in infill houses like that. So, um and when we looked at our uh houses around town, there were many houses uh in in some of the older neighborhoods that couldn't be built today given our standards. though, uh, there's a lot of a big push in in planning to kind of reduce the square footage of the of the minimum house size. And so, we're kind of bringing our ordinance into more modern uh, planning practices. And the city planner is here tonight to answer questions if you have them. >> Thank you. Troy,
027got anything you'd like to answer to on this? Uh just as uh just as John mentioned, this probably will not change any largecale subdivisions that are driven by market forces, but it should make infill development or if a house were to burn down in an older area of town, it would make it easier for them to rebuild. Uh we did do with the planning commission a small survey of an area. uh that was developed in the you know earlier 1900s and 80% of the lots or 80% of the homes were smaller than what we allow and could not be rebuilt to their current standards. So >> thank you. Is there a motion before discussion? I'll make a motion to introduce and give first reading of ordinance 156-35, which amends section 5.101 dimensional standards of the
028Richmond zoning ordinance to reduce the minimum gross floor area requirements for principal dwellings within a single family and two family residential districts. >> Support made and support. Any discussion on this item? Uh as noted in your background, uh uh planning commission has uh gone over this uh a few times just to make absolutely sure that we were making the right decision for our community. And uh I truly believe as a plan commissioner we did and appreciate all the information that was gathered for us to make a good decision on this. >> [snorts] >> Um, and it's uh Troy's just said it, you couldn't rebuild some of the home, many of the homes I think in our community if they were to burn down, blow down, or otherwise. They'd have to get special permission from uh
029probably ZBA uh to get, you know, that costs a lot of money in itself to just to uh get the appeal. Um, but it didn't make any sense that uh we were uh doing that. And as he stated, we [snorts] were concerned about maybe it would it'd be too small of housing. Uh maybe it would be uh you know some of us felt that maybe it could even be um trailers that could you know fit into this category and and um nothing against trailers they have a they have their their place their zoning but in this case this you wouldn't want a trailer put in between homes and so the square footage is large enough that it still requires a fully built home uh on a uh on a piece of property. The other thing
030is is you know you have setbacks. So you have to have so many feet on either side in the front and in the back and you can't do that on some of these properties under the present ordinance. And that's what this is going to change. It's going to allow some homes and what is it uh,000 foot rather than 1,200 square foot uh homes to be built uh in those lots. And that's I think it's a great thing. I you know I've got a daughter right now just sold her home there's no place now possibly a th00andt home would be a more affordable home by today's standards rather than 1,200 foot home that are quite often in the larger uh parcel areas. Um, as we talked about infiltration, there are some small lots in between homes
031that can't be sold because we expect a 1,200 ft home and we expect the same setbacks and you can't fit that 1,200 foot home in that setback. So, um, a lot of discussion on this and I think the end result is is the right result for for Richmond. So, any other discussion on this? Questions of Troy or John? No. Any comments from the public? Okay. Back to the table. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Against. >> Motion does pass. That that is a first reading. We will have a second reading at the next meeting. Uh item number five is introduction and first reading text amendment 167-1 civil infractions. Mr. City Manager. Council is scheduled to give introduction and first reading of ordinance 167, an ordinance which to make
032certain sections of the city of Richmond code of ordinances civil infractions versus misdemeanors. In 2011, the city council approved ordinance 160 that first changed nuisance, blight, snow weeds, and zoning violations from misdemeanors to civil infractions. Uh much easier to enforce uh than the misdemeanors. Um uh since then the council uh reviewed the main remaining code of ordinances and directed administration to work with the city attorney to draft an ordinance which would switch certain other areas uh to the civil infractions versus the 90-day misdemeanors. Uh so there's kind of four sections. We did it this way so that by approving this one ordinance, it kind of changes four different areas of the ordinance. Uh the first one that it changes are animals. So kind of the more simple animals running at large or number of animals
033in the home. Uh those sorts of things are going to be civil infractions versus misdemeanors. We will keep the animal cruelty, vicious dogs and wild and ferocious animals as misdemeanors. Uh but the more common routine uh animal issues uh will be civil infractions. And then the second part of the uh animal ordinances relates to the pet cemetery that we have that will change the majority of the ordinances in the pet cemetery to civil infractions. We will keep uh defacing and damaging uh cemetery markers as a misdemeanor. Uh the third section uh will be our our general cemetery ordinance. So again, if you're in the cemetery after hours or or dur you know Many of the minor violations would be civil infractions, but we would keep the defacing a cemetery headstone as a misdemeanor. Uh and
034then uh when we were doing some code enforcement this year on some uh garage sales, uh we noticed that uh we had not changed our secondhand goods ordinance to uh change the kind of we have regulations on the number of garage sales you can have, the duration, that sort of thing. Right now, they're 90-day mis misdemeanor. So, uh we're recommending that we include that as part of this change and that those would also become civil infractions. >> Thank you, sir. Chief, you're here tonight for other reasons, but do you have any comment on this? >> Um, I think the city manager said everything correctly. Uh, it makes it administratively easier, I guess, is a better way to say it. And also it goes in line with Michigan laws that have recently looked at their penalties
035and have reduced them to civil. >> Very good. Thank you, sir. Is there a motion? >> I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance 167, an ordinance to make violations of provisions of the city of Richmond code of ordinances civil infractions. >> Movement made and supported. discussion long time coming. You know, I think the chief said it too. Um it uh 90-day misdemeanor for your dog being loose. You know, it's like, you know, the first time, not not after warnings the first time, you spend 93 days in jail. Um and it's on your record for life, more than likely. That doesn't make any sense. Um, but we still if we have a vicious dog or repeated, we could still >> Yeah. >> go with the misdemeanor route. So, I think this is a good thing. It's
036been on council's uh agenda for the administration to look into and happy that it's come back. Any other discussion on this item? Any comments from the public on this item? Back to the table. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. against. Motion does pass. Item number six, consideration of board resignation from the EDC. Mr. City Manager, city [snorts] council is scheduled to consider accepting the resignation of Chrissy Wald from the EDC as indicated in her resignation letter. Uh, Miss Wald's schedule no longer allows her to commit the time uh required for the board. >> Thank you. Is there a motion? >> I'll make a motion to accept the resignation letter from Chrissy Wald from the EDC. >> Support. Motion made and supported. Any discussion on this item? Thank her for her
037time on the uh EDC there and completely understand uh her reasons to uh remove herself from that board. Any any other comments? Any public comments on this item? Back to the table. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Against. >> Motion does pass. Our final item for consideration is a board appointment to the EDC. Mr. City Manager, >> council is scheduled to consider confirming the mayor's appointment of Jessica Johnson to the EDC. There are currently two vacancies on the board, which includes the recent resignation of Miss Walt. >> Thank you. I would ask uh city council to uh confirm my appointment of Jessica Johnson to the EDC for uh 6 years. Sounds like a sentence, doesn't it? Till 2031. [laughter] Is there a motion? >> I'll make a motion
038to confirm the mayor's appointment of Jessica Johnson to the EDC for a six-year term with an expiration date of July 1st, 2031. support been made and supported. Any discussion at the table? [snorts] Jessica, I've asked Jessica if she'd come up and introduce herself to the council. >> Do I have to state my address? >> Yeah, you do. >> I can. [laughter] >> Jessica Johnson, 35630 Church Hill. Um, for those of you that don't know me again, Jessica Johnson, born and raised Richmond. Um, I look forward to working with everybody on the EDC. >> Thank you. >> Would anybody else from the public like to address this? Any comment >> back to the table? >> U, Mr. Mayor, I'm just glad to see uh Jessica come forward and fill that role. I >> I grew up
039Well, she grew up kind of kitty corner from behind in the neighborhood in Canterbury and >> Ah, okay. >> And her father used to be on city council at one time, too. So, yep. >> Kind of nice to see. Thank you. John, did he serve at You guys served at the same time. >> Yeah. Okay. I see the big smile over there. It's like little girl probably back in those days, huh? [laughter] >> I was I was sitting here Facebooking to see that [laughter] when I saw the >> uh any other comments on this? I thank Emily [snorts] for uh recommending her to me also. And uh again, thank you very much. I think she'll be a a great addition to the EDC. >> I agree. >> If there's no other comments, questions, all in
040favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Against. Motion does pass. Thank you very much. >> The clerk will be contacting you for your sentence. [laughter] Miss Lease Matters from the city manager. Sir, >> uh, I'd just like to thank Active Tree and Johnny Meyer for, uh, transporting and setting the Christmas tree up. Uh, we'll be decorating that, I believe, tomorrow. Um, also thanks to Sue and Bob Ke for donated it. I think it's the fourth tree out of their yard that we've used up up there. So, >> beautiful tree. >> Yeah. Yeah, it is. It looks really good. And uh they did a nice job setting it in there and getting the trunk kind of shaved down so that it's >> it's pretty pretty straight. So uh they did a good
041job. Jim's guys assisted as well uh the DPW. So thanks to that and thanks to all the uh community volunteers that came out on Sunday uh with equipment and and bodies to uh put up the city Christmas decorations uh that are out on the street. We will be having DPW tomorrow go through and reset all the GFIs. >> It looked like uh I was told uh last night there's only a couple that uh this person drove from one end to the other and saw two of them that were drove >> last night. Have you two? >> There was handful maybe not as >> probably the best it's been in years, you know, as far as they did a lot of work this summer, didn't they, on those GFIs? >> Did they replace some of those?
042>> It was two years. >> Well, we put a lot of rain covers on. And I wonder if that was part of but they certainly have had a lot of >> Yeah. >> work they've done >> in the last couple years. They have they've been some responsive to Jim kind of works with their DTE subcontractor to >> give them the list and poll numbers that when we have issues. >> Good. Good. Okay. Very good. Moving on to council comments. Michael. Uh >> nothing more tonight. Thank you. >> Nothing. >> Jimmy. >> Nothing. Lame. Mayor. >> Nothing. Thank you. >> Nothing. Nick. All set. >> I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. Um we have a lot to be thankful for uh in our community and uh throughout the our country. Um I do have a
043few things here that I'm sure Parks and Recck wants announced again. Uh of course this this Saturday uh December 6th is our our big uh Santa parade and tree lighting. Uh the parade will run from uh the United Church of Christ uh right there at South Forest on Main Street. It will run from there down to uh basically the town clock. The uh tree lighting of course is is going to be uh in our park between Maniachi's Hall and uh Jay's Silkcreen in the municipal parking lot. So everything gets rolling at about 5:30, doesn't it, John? >> Yes. The parade. Yeah. parade and and and whatnot. But starting at 2:00 uh at uh Miniac's uh banquet center and and uh uh that's from 2 to 7, they will be having vendors indoors. Uh but they
044will also have vendors outside. >> Uh I just was informed if I crossed that out. >> I was wondering who crossed that out. >> That would be uh Teresa called me this morning and and some of the people that had signed up for outside backed out. Okay. And so >> So everything's going to be indoors. >> Everything will be inside. Okay. Okay. So, and then we will have uh uh trolley rides from 2:00 to 8 also with multiple stops. Uh the historical village will open over in Bailey Park. They will be open uh all their buildings will be open from 3:30 to 5. This is all on Saturday, December 6th. And then of course the parade starts at 5:30 along with Santa. Uh there's the Christmas cash drawing uh is going on also. You come
045up, get a ticket. uh or if you buy the Christmas cash, what's the rules on that? >> Yeah, so uh there's uh posters uptown and on our website. Uh if you go to a participating merchant and buy $50 worth of merchandise or a meal at some of the restaurants that are participating, you get five 50/50 tickets. They would go into the hopper. Uh we will give away a $500 cash prize and a $250 cash prize given by uh TIFFA and the uh Richmond Good Days Festival. Um, you must be present to win. So, uh, you need to be up there. Uh, when right after the mayor gives Santa the key to the city and little Miss Richmond lights the tree, we will hand out those two cash awards. Uh, new this year, uh, we have
046been working with the Richmond Community Theater. And so, immediately following the uh, giving away of the Christmas cash, they will do a performance uh, from their Christmas play uh, Scrooged, I believe. Uh they'll do uh I think four different numbers out in the street in Main Street right in front of where the tree lighting happens. So >> in and our main street will stay closed as long as people want to be out there. >> Yep. >> Pretty much for at least an hour after everything is over with. >> Correct. Correct. And so >> people downtown. >> Yep. This will give more people a reason to stay and and watch the performance there. Uh so they're they're excited to participate. >> Very good. So it should be a great time. Uh some people have said it's
047like a Norman Rockwell uh picture. uh from uh years, you know, ago. And uh it is it's nice to see everybody out and there's hundreds of people that uh show up to that and there's plenty of room for everybody. Uh the odd uh is holding a volleyball skills and development uh with coach Piper. That's for grades 6 through 8. Uh there is a cost to that. Um that is going that started November 26th. Uh the next uh session will start December 22nd. So, there's still plenty of time. Any questions on that, you can call the AUD at 586-4304950. Uh, also, the AUD is presenting a a preschool sports sampler, they're calling it. It's called Squeaky Sneakers. Um, it's for preschool kindergarten that starts on December 22nd, uh, Mondays and Tuesdays only. So, the 22nd, 23rd,
048and the 29th and the 30th. There is a cost to that. Again, questions, contact the Odd uh at 586-4304950. And that covers that. We go to the our calendar today being the 1st of December. The recreation board will meet tomorrow right here at city hall at 7:00. Um again, we have our annual Santa Parade uh and tree lighting on Saturday the 6th. A week from tonight, the library board will be meeting at 5:30 at the library. Uh the board review will be meeting on the 9th and the planning commission meeting that was uh scheduled for the 11th has been cancelled uh for uh this month. The next regular city council meeting uh will be held right here at city hall on the 15th. That's two weeks from tonight. Is there anything else that we need
049to put on the calendar? If not, we move on to close session. We need a [snorts] motion to go into close session. I'll >> make a motion to convene into close session in accordance with section 8C of the Michigan Open Meetings Act, public act 267 of 1976 as amended for strategy and negotiation sessions connected with the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement as requested by administration. >> Motion made and support. Is there any discussion on the motion? >> Be not. Roll call, please. Yellenich, >> yes. >> Leaf, >> yes. >> Schultz, >> yes. >> Stravich, >> yes. >> Allen, >> yes. Warren, >> yes. >> Ricks, >> yes. Motion does pass. We will go into close session. Let's take a 5m minute break. Before we do that, please [music]