On Tuesday, Sept. 17, the Ypsilanti City Council met for their second of two monthly meetings. The City Hall was lively with chatter beforehand, despite only about 10 people in total attending. Several people were also present via Zoom.
A big decision of the night was when the council unanimously approved Molly Boudreau to be hired as a contract employee for elections. Molly Boudreau is the daughter of City Clerk Tracey Boudreau.
This resolution was put forward by Clerk Boudreau. She says the two current election staff members will not have enough availability in the coming months to properly help her with fulfilling all the duties an election requires. She adds that the current political climate does not help, such as in the event of a recount, she may not have enough staff to recount effectively.
Several council members were hesitant and had questions. Notably Councilwoman Desirae Simmons raised questions about the length of the contracting period and how long the position would take to fill if it was posted as a regular position.
City Manager Andrew Hellenga explained that this is a limited position with an end date. City Attorney John Barr adds that if Bourdeau would want to contract her daughter again in the future, it would need to come before the council again. Bourdeau and Hellenga agreed that the position would be difficult to fill if regularly posted with the experience needed and time before the person would need to start.
According to the Code of Ordinances for the city of Ypsilanti, MI, article 11.05, a unanimous vote is needed to approve the employment of a relative of a current elective or appointive officer, city manager, or department head. This unanimous decision was made by the city council last night.
City Attorney Barr further clarified that he is the one who will be writing the contract for Molly Boudreau. This will be signed for approval by Clerk Boudreau. All timesheets are first signed by the clerk’s deputy, then the clerk herself. This contract may look different from the previous two because the Clerk changed, noted Mayor Brown.
A resolution to extend the contract with Governmental Consulting Services, Inc. (GCSI) was debated as well. The Associative Vice President of GCSI Dwayne Gill advocated for the extension. He cited several instances of GCSI effectively lobbying for Ypsilanti. Gill said much of what they do is a team effort with other members of the council, however, they managed to get $1.5 million to fix the Cross St. bridge and got up to $3 million for infrastructure projects.
Mayor Brown also advocated for their services by saying she has heard Ypsilanti being talked about more since they started working together.
According to the City of Ypsilanti Regular Council Meeting agenda posted on Ypsilanti City’s website, this extension is from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025. This document states there is a $3,000 per month retainer. However, council members looked around in confusion when Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Wilcoxen pointed out that the actual contract was not in the agenda packet.
City Manager Hellenga stated, “It’s exactly the same stipulations of the previous contract, so a year at $3,000.”
At the request of Mayor Brown, Hellenga forwarded the contract to all the council members.
Despite the confusion, the contract was unanimously approved to be extended.
Also unanimously passed was the Adaptive Reuse Planned Unit Development (PUD) for HighScope Child Care. This PUD takes existing, out-of-use buildings and adapts them to be put to new uses.
In the case of HighScope Child Care, they will be adapting single-family homes 202 and 206 E. Forest Ave. and vacant church 218 E. Forest Ave. There are three phases to this plan, however, they are only acting on phase one at this time.
Phase one will cost $1 million, which will be paid for by the grant received by HighScope Child Care from the state of Michigan.
202 and 206 E. Forest Ave. are currently being used as childcare centers, according to City Planner Josh Burns. He added that the 218 E. Forest Ave. building will build on them, becoming a community center where HighScope will provide things such as meals, child care training, community outreach sessions, etc.
According to the HighScope Child Care representative, this community center at 218 E. Forest will be free for users. Additionally, the next phases would come within the next five years, however, that will depend on funding and the grants that they can get from the state.
Electronic Messaging Board regulation changes were unanimously approved, as well. These are small wording changes that restrict EMBs from being active from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and from being placed in certain areas of Ypsilanti. It also updates the sizes, and maximum number that may be present in a district, limiting text to only be monochromatic and that the text on them may not change more than once every two minutes.
These updates come from a review of other cities and township’s policies and what is the most common practice among them, says City Planner Burns.
The delegates for the Oct. 10 and 11 Municipal Employees’ Retirement System annual meeting were unanimously agreed upon, as well. Tom Koch will be the employee delegate with Delonzo Weaver as an alternate. Tracey Boudreau will be the officer delegate with Bonnie Wessler as an alternate.
The resolution to transfer $1.2 million from the general fund into the budget stabilization, or rainy day, fund was postponed to Oct. 15. This decision was made 6-1 with Councilwoman Simmons voting no. She originally proposed to postpone it to Nov. 12, but the rest of the council felt that was too long to wait. This postponement is so the council can first be briefed on the fiscal year, then make a more educated vote, said council member Patrick McLean.
Postponed, as well, was the request from the Sustainability Commission to allocate $3,000 for the Earth Day event. This is due to no paperwork being filed on how the money would go to use. According to Commission Liaison Simmons, this is double the amount approved last year. The council will have them fill out the proper paperwork and revisit this issue at the Nov. 12 council meeting. This was a unanimous decision.
To close out the meeting several council members spoke on their positive experience attending the Michigan Municipal League (MML) conference. Mayor Brown specifically spoke about learning about processes and protocols for school lockdowns and shootings. She said she has received several complaints and worries following an Ypsilanti elementary school’s delayed dismissal. Attending the MML conference has given her ideas on how to address these concerns. More information on this should be coming soon, potentially at the next city council meeting on Oct. 1.
