001[Music] Okay, we'll call this meeting to order. Please rise. 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. Lfor here. Mavich. Ricks here. Schultz here. Warren here. Yellen here. Motion to excuse councelor Mr. for being out of town would be in order. I'll make motion. Support. Postman may in support. Any discussion? This was with notice. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I against. Motion does pass. Approval of minutes from
002the regular meeting of April 7th. Motion be in order. Motion. Must have been made and supported. Any discussion? 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. Hometown heroes introduction. You guys got the floor. All right. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council, city manager. Um, my name is David Chum. I'm the president of newly formed Richmond Hometown Heroes, formerly known as the RPOA. Uh, we're a nonprofit organization created by members of Richmond's finest, the police department, fire department, and Richmond EMS. Our mission in partnership is to help the members of our community recover after devastating events and to give during the holiday season. I'd like to introduce our board members if I can. myself, President David
003Schman from the PD. Uh, Vice President Delini France from the PD. Uh, Secretary Drew Randall from the fire department. He couldn't be here. Uh, treasurers Joe Binky from the PD. Our sergeant-at-arms is Steve Aken from the fire department. Our first chair is Alex Williams from the fire department. And our second chair is Courtney Olsen from Richmond Lennox EMS. Um, thank you for having letting us have a few minutes of your time tonight. Uh, I wanted to kind of turn it over to Delaney and she can kind of give you a rundown of some of our events that we have planned already this year. Very good. Turn that mic over. Yeah. Thank you. I'm sorry. Good evening. Um, like Dave was saying with the RPOA, what we saw a lot was volunteers from fire and EMS
004more than our own police department. We had the help of MSP as well. So opening this up to all three first responders in our city was big deal for us and we have a lot of support behind us. In the next few months we have a couple events planned. Right now we have a shoe drive that we have just launched and the flyers can be found up by dispatch. We are also posting it on our Facebook page. We also have the third grade pizza lunchon happening at the school and we have MSP, Richmond Fire Department, Richmond Linux EMS and our police permit attending. Um, we all agreed our main goal for the end of the year is we want to do a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway for families in need. Same as Shop with a Hero.
005Our goal is to sponsor 20 kids this year. And we know it's going to be a rough start since we are just starting, but um, we look forward to everyone's support. Thank you. Very good. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Absolutely. Good luck. All right. Have a good night, guys. You too. Moving on. Adoption of agenda. Mr. City Manager. Any changes? No changes. City council. Any changes? Being none. A motion to accept the agenda as presented be in order. Motion. Support. Pot made and supported. Any discussion? Being not. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. I. against motion does pass. Is there a motion for the consent agenda? Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Supportion been made in support according to our rules. There's no discussion.
006All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Against. Motion does pass. We move on to items for consideration. We have four this evening. The first first one being consideration of veteran banners. Mr. City Manager. City Council is scheduled to consider a a request from Jim Wilton of the Veteran Banner Project to hang banners with the names and photos of the veterans listed on our Veterans Memorial on the banner arms of the light poles along Main Street from Monroe to Water for the two weeks leading up to Memorial Day and the two weeks after. Uh this is the same banner request that came before you uh last year. It's all the same banners uh with the exception of one. He was able to find uh a new photo of one of the existing
007veterans. The original banner had the photo was of the veteran in civilian clothes and he was able to find a photo of him in his uniform. So he swapped that banner out, but other than that it's uh the same as last year. Good. Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the use of the light pole banner arms for water to Monroe Streets to hang veteran banners near the Veterans Park to the two weeks prior to Memorial Day and the two weeks following May 13th and June 10th. Support made and supported. Any discussion on this? I'd like to thank Jim uh for all the work that he does on this. appreciate it and uh hope that he continues to find some of those pictures. I know it was very difficult when
008we initially did the uh study on that and uh I'm surprised that he found that. That's good for him that because it's been very tough to get those pictures. So, any other discussion? There's a lot of good comments every year on Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. The banners and the poles and the flowers around them, everything. Yeah. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I against. Motion does pass. Item number two is consideration of special event request Richmond Little League MFV. City Council is scheduled to consider approving a special event request for a mobile food vendor from Richmond Little League to have a one mobile food vendor uh Kona Ice for their Blue Devil Invitational baseball tournament on Saturday, June 7th and Sunday, June 8th. Uh council had approved the usage of food trucks
009at the Blue Devil tournament last year or for the last couple years. Uh this year they are only having the Kona ice uh truck, but other than that it's the same as previous years. Very good. Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve a special event request from Richmond Little League to have one mobile food vendor, Kona Ice, for their Blue Devil State Tournament from Saturday, June 7th through Sunday, June 8th. Support made and support. Any discussion on this item? They do have a ton of people over there and I understand the need for uh this. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Motion does pass. Item number three, consideration approval of architect proposal from Lois Wner for the Lois Wner Memorial Library. Mr. City Manager council
010is scheduled to consider approving a proposal from Anderson Xin and Wester, commonly known as AW to complete a feasibility study for the Lois Wagner Memorial Library. The library design committee interviewed three of the six architectural firms that submitted proposals for the architectural design services RFP that we put out. Uh the purpose of the RFP was to find an architectural firm that could examine the existing library, give recommendations on the best way to add on to the building if possible, and provide cost estimates for the addition. Uh this would provide the committee, the library board, and the city council with a more accurate picture of what is feasible. Uh in 2022, the Lois Wagner Memorial Library uh received a memorial uh from the uh Eugene Menchella uh who was a longtime patron. And uh with that
011memorial uh in addition may be feasible. And so uh previously the city council had formed a committee that was made up of administration, city council, and the public library board to develop the RFP and interview the candidates. and they'll be working that committee will be working with the uh architectural firm as they go through this process. The firm will also be working with staff and reviewing other documents that we've prepared leading up to this point. So, uh the committee selected AW based on their experience, the range of professionals that they employ such as in-house engineers and designers as well as subconultants in IT, mechanical and electrical engineering and estimating. Uh, and so, uh, the committee, uh, as I mentioned, interviewed three of the six firms and, uh, is recommending that council approve the AEW contract.
012Thank you. Julian, would you like to add anything to that? Uh, really just those of us, um, that were on the committee, felt very comfortable with them. They've worked in the area before. Um, had very good recommendations from those who have worked with them, uh, including the director of the Shelby Township Library who I was able to speak with. So, uh, we're just looking forward to see what they think is possible for us. Very good. Okay. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the architectural service proposal from AEW in amount of $45,000 to complete the feasibility study for the Lois Wagner Memorial Library. Support. Motion made and support. Is there any discussion on this? Well, it was agonizing, I think, for some people. Um it was very hard to to look especially
013at three of the six. Uh I would put them I think we all agreed they were all very very good companies. Um I think the one difference uh that I personally saw in this um and I think others uh saw it too was the fact that these people this company can take us all the way to the end in-house people. they don't have to subcontract other individuals to get us to where we want to go. And uh I believe this company can also they they were the ones who built the EMS uh and also the Henry Ford uh clinic down in the south end of town there and they oversaw that build also. So that this company could take us all the way uh to the very end with their own people. So that to
014me was said a lot there the there was no disconnect there. It was there with us from the beginning and hopefully to the end. But that will come back to council for further uh review when we get to the that point where we have to go out uh for the uh the build if there's a build. Uh we will find out. That's our next thing, whether or not we have enough finances to uh put us uh an addition on and renovate what we already have cuz it's was it the first part's what 1970 74 74 1974. So that would be the bathrooms, would it? Yeah. So they're they're uh not compliant right now. And uh that's one of the things that the library uh board uh really wanted to see happen was to get those
015uh bathrooms uh up to date and compliant. And uh there's other issues there for a building uh that's that old. And um so we'll have to find out. That will be the next step once we get with these people. They said about 10 to 12 weeks uh to get us to the plans and give us an idea what it's going to cost. So, the committee will be working with them. I'm assuming, John, the committee will be working with them to kind of massage that into the amount of money that we have to determine what it is that we can do. Yep. Okay. Yes. I'm sure along the way, like I said, there'll be portions of the time period that they'll be working more with staff and then portions of the time period where they've started
016to develop and and are getting to a point where they need feedback from us. And so that committee will be kind of that steering committee to work with the consultant to make sure they're headed in the right direction that we want them to go in. Very good. Very good. Any other discussion? Uh we'd like to thank the committee too uh for getting us to this point. Um it was not easy uh to to change uh you know between the especially the last two firms that we had come down to. Um it was very hard to um determine which way to go there, but uh I think the the they made the right decision and prove that your uh library board also approved uh the recommendation from the committee. So it's a big thing. It's it's
017going to be a great thing uh that we're going to see our library expand and it's it's one of the one of the great things we have in this community that we can be proud of and uh this will make it even better uh and bring us up to you know this uh this decade at least uh we should be good for a few years. So any other discussion on this? If not, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Motion does pass. And our final item is consideration of approving award contract for the ADA ramps. Mr. City Manager, council is scheduled to consider awarding the Oak and Howard Street ADA ramp upgrade project for construction to begin this spring. The project is being funded through CDBG funds approved by Mcome County.
018Uh this particular project in its form that's before you tonight is a revised scope of work. Uh you may recall the Oak Street portion of the project was originally approved by Mcome County uh during their CDBG funding last year uh bid out o over the winter and awarded uh by council. The the project was awarded by council in the February of 2025 for Oak Street. uh the bids came in much lower than what we had uh projected and so the county uh looked at the project that we had submitted for construction next year which was Oak Street uh or I'm sorry Howard and asked Jim to take that project they kind of preemptively funded it and move that forward and rebid the project and so to get some economies of scale um on having a
019contractor come out. Sometimes when you have a small project, costs kind of increase based on such a small project. So, uh Jim did do that. Uh spent a lot of time to go go back through uh readvertise everything, get new bids. Uh and we've done that. And so now what's before you tonight is kind of a this year project and a next year project all rolled into one. Uh which would be Oak and Howard. And Jim's here to answer any technical questions. Okay. Jim, anything to add to this? Uh, only that. So, the county was forward thinking. They they were trying to save some time and money by doing they have to do environmental assessments for every project that we were to submit. So, they had asked us, "What projects do you anticipate doing the
020next couple years?" And Howard Street was one of them. So, because they'd already done that uh early work, they were allowed or they allowed us to add that roll that in as the city manager said due to funding. So, very good. Is there a motion before discussion? I'll make a motion to award the Oak and Howard Street ADA ramp upgrade project to Santos Cement in the amount of $54,87.50 with the expenses charged to appropriate light items within the HUD fund. Motion been made and supported. Any discussion, questions? Okay. So, who got the bid that we awarded in February of 25? It's not this same company, is it? No, unfortunat Well, unfortunately for them, they were the third low bidder when we rebid the project. Okay. Okay. I couldn't remember the name of the company from
021February. So, they were the third. Okay. And we've dealt with this company before, I believe. So, Santos Cement has, at least uh in my experience, has not been a prime contractor, but they have worked as a subcontractor in the city. Okay. Okay. No problems, no issues. Okay. Great. Any other questions, comments? No. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Against. Motion does pass. Miscellaneous matters from the city manager. Sir, uh, as many people who have been down on Grashet may have noticed, uh, MD DOT will begin resurfacing Grashit between New Haven and Richmond or more appropriately 31 mile road in Richmond. Uh, they'll be doing that under flag control. Um, that project does begin uh, Monday, April 28th. Uh, so on our city website, we do have a link to all
022the information from MDOT. Uh, and um, so people can go there. It went out uh today by email and text for those that have signed up through the notify me. Did you see the detour yet or either one of you see the detour? It looks like the signs are pointing to Muttonville Lane to Grass. There's at a certain point they will be not allowing left turns from Grashet onto 31 in either direction. So there'll be a detour for that. So, okay, if you're coming up northbound on Grasset and you're just heading up Main Street, you'll stay the normal course. It would be if you were going from northbound Grasset to turn and head west on 31. Uhhuh. You would need to kind of come circle around Muttonville Lane back down to County. West or east
023to go east off of Gratchet. If you're heading northbound, if you're heading towards Port Hernand and you want to turn left and head towards Yeah. Yeah. They're not allowing left turns from Grashett, either heading north or south on Grashet. Yeah. Okay. And so at a certain point they will have a detour for those turn movements. Okay. So the intersection of uh 31 is being somewhat redone also. Yeah. There's some drainage issues. Drainage issues and curb lines and and different things that they need to do there. Uh there's like the chiropractor uh there on the right hand side. if you're heading towards Port Heron, you know, those driveways will be reconfigured down to one. Um, but the curb line will be redone there. Um, and some other things. I think Jim might be able to better
024answer that. Pretty much said it. There are there's ponding issues. There are ponding issues currently there. This is intended to fix that. They're installing some storm sewer for that. And then obviously the curb grades need to adjust. And with the reconfiguration of the driveway entrances, all all that will be reconstructed. So allow to allow them room to work. That's what's causing the this detour that because they're going to shift traffic kind of around them. So, okay, last year we had a heck of a rain and it was the opposite side from uh Vargo Chiropractic, the west, I call it the west side of crash. Um that was completely flooded and it was flooded for quite a while. Do you know if they're addressing storm drain on that side of the road? Uh well, under this
025project, no, they are not. I don't recall when, but the county Mcome County did ditch further uh south on Grashet on that side of the road and I don't recall if that was before or after that rain, but there is there are there is storm sewer and it heads south and becomes an open ditch south of town and so they have been working to improve that because the culverts are all different elevations and we did have some issues in the past. So that may have been resolved since then, but I don't recall the timeline. Okay, it makes sense. But yeah, they did. They ditched that all the way down. Okay. I hope that takes care of it because that was quite a flood down there. Pretty bad. Okay. Um, council comments. Jonis, nothing. Nick? No.
026John? Nothing. Emily? Nothing. Thank you, Jimmy. Too bad that they couldn't finish 19, you know, finish one project before they start another one. It just Yeah. kind of grinds me. It's two years now we've got been screwing around with this and I haven't heard anymore of when they're going to finish going up to Memphis. Uh well, so we we it's not 100% but we believe they have funding to actually do that. This this year they may be milling and resurfacing M19 from 32 north or technically from Memphis south to 32. If they have the funds, they will go all the way to 32. Don't hold your breath, but Oh, no. No, don't. probably during that. Is that something? Did I hear something about that? That that that is if there's funds towards the end of
027the state fiscal year. Yeah. Well, I think what Jim's referring to is they have it in the works to do like Memphis and start heading south. Okay. They were hoping to be able to extend those funds to get all the way to 32, but that's the kind of the question. That's where the question is. Yeah. Yeah, I knew I heard something because if you get north of town, like in town's not great, but you go the further north you go, the worse it gets. And so they're definitely doing north, but they're hoping that the funds will extend down. One of the other projects we should start mentioning uh and get it out there is that uh Mcome County uh has received funding through MDOT to replace the railroad tracks here at 32 Mile. Um that
028project is currently tenatively set for July 14th through the 18th. Um and uh that is a a county project. That crossing is within the county's road jurisdiction, but uh we do anticipate that that will be done uh this year as one of two uh crossings that were I think they submitted several uh to MDOT for consideration and that was one of two in Mcome County that did get funding. So, uh, unfortunately with the state of that crossing, uh, you may recall like last week, I think there was a shutdown on Division Road because of some ties. Again, we will probably see that between happen more times between now and when the crossing is completely replaced in in July 14th through the 18th. Yeah. Just because it's really starting to come apart. They when I spoke
029to the railroad crews that were out there the other day, we uh Senator Kazinowski and I walked out there and talked to them and they understand that the fix that they did the other day is just temporary to try and get us to July, but it may not make it. Well, hopefully they, you know, there's maintenance there where they're looking at it maybe once a week they could stop by and look cuz this last time a board popped up again, didn't it? Did it do damage to a car this time? No, not was the last time that it got three cars. Uh in the fall it got three cards. Yeah. Okay. So, well hopefully they're aware of it and it's just Yes. Frustrating for all of us, but uh there is light at the end
030of the tunnel. Yeah. No, I think we were lucky. Wasn't there a number of them uh that they uh looked at in Mcome County? And I I think they submitted eight and got funding for two. Yeah. Yeah. From my memory. I could be off, but it was something like that. Yeah. Yeah. No, we we appreciate that. There's no doubt about that. It's it's high time. No doubt about it. So, okay. Uh the calendar, see, we have a TIFFA meeting on the 23rd at 7:00 here at city hall. We have uh the Richmond Little League opening day is going on this Saturday, the 26th. City Council will have a 5:30 budget meeting a week from tonight, the 28th, right here at city hall. We have National Day of Prayer will be held on Thursday, May 1st.
031Uh there will be uh uh prayers going out from 12:20 to 12:40. And there will be a lunchon uh here in city hall uh provided by the good old days festival uh immediately following. And then uh two weeks from tonight again there will be another 5:30 workshop. It's a budget workshop and a regular city council meeting will be held at 7 and if needed the workshop will continue after the regular city council meeting. That is on Monday the 5th. And that is it for the calendar. We have uh two announcements. Spring book sale uh by the Lois Wgner Memorial Library Friends Group will be had on April 24th, 25th and 26th. Um Thursday from 4 to 6:00 p.m. is the early bird night. Uh it's $5 to enter and free refreshments and you get first
032crack at all the uh mini many books that they have. How many boxes of books do you think you have over there? Is there 30 or 40? Um, I would I would guesstimate we probably have about over 3,000 books total. We've unpacked most of it. So, well over 50 boxes. Yeah, 50 boxes. Okay. So, there's a lot there for everybody. And that will be held uh Friday 9:00 to 5:00 and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. And uh Saturday it's the annual bag sale day. It's $3 a bag. And I my understanding is you give them the bag and for three bucks they as many books as they can stick in there. Yes. And carry Kroger size bag, not garbage bag. Okay. Kroger size. Okay. Um I hate to say it, but you have on
033here donations accepted that the library 3,000 might be enough books for your sale this year. So, uh that is the 24th, 25th, and 26th. We also have something new that uh I believe is Yeah, it's going to be held at the auditorium on Main Street. It's called the teento teen resale event uh at the odd. This is a great time to purge your closets. Uh any type of uh clothing, hoodies, jeans, uh sneakers, backpacks, jewelry, anything uh on that order. Um the admission is free. If you would like to sell, it's $10 a table. Uh there is of course limited tables and uh that is going to be held on Saturday, May 3rd from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. And any questions you can call 5864304950 which will take you right into the Aud itself.
034Um or is it 7273064 for parks and recreation? You can call there also. Um I'm I'm sure that's probably on our website. Yes, I it's also on the city of Richmond website. Um, is there anything else for the calendar? Okay, we move on. Is there any other business to the city council this evening? If not, motion be in order to adjurnn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Support. Motion been made and supported. There is no discussion on the adjournment motion. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Against. Motion pass. Thanks for being with us. Heat. Heat. [Music]