The City Council will meet by telephone and video conference tonight in a regular meeting. The City Council has been meeting by telephone/video conference since March when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer put in place a Stay Safe, Stay Home order to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Chief on the agenda will be a return to discussion of the proposed city budget, which is supposed to be adopted by the council by the first Monday in June.
How the public and press can participate tonight:
The public may participate in the council meeting by emailing comments to CouncilPublicComment@cityofflint.com no later than 10 minutes prior to the start of the meeting at 5:30 p.m. The emailed comments will be read by the City Clerk.
The public and members of the press may listen to the meeting online by live stream at www.youtube.com/user/spectacletv or through Start Meeting Solution by dialing 617-944-8177.
Those with disabilities may participate in the meeting by the above mentioned means and by emailing a request for an accommodation to CouncilPublicComment@cityofflint.com with the subject line Request for Accommodation.
Anyone with further questions about participating in the council meeting may call the City Clerk’s office at 810-766-7418.
On tonight’s agenda: the 21/22 budget, a special order to discuss past meetings, and resolutions for contracts
At the top of the agenda tonight are two special orders by Council President Monica Galloway (7th Ward). One Special Order is to discuss the city budget “session” chaired last Tuesday by Kate Fields (4th Ward), Finance Committee Chairperson.
Both Councilpersons Galloway and Eric Mays (1st Ward) were muted almost immediately at the beginning of that meeting and never rejoined the session. Galloway explained in her phone call to EVM that she believed Fields’ actions were “illegal” yet did not explain specifics. Galloway said she is concerned about where Fields obtained her authority to run Tuesday’s session. She pointed out that Fields said, “there are no rules” but made rules up as the meeting proceeded.
The other special order is to discuss the 2021/2022 city budget. The city’s charter requires that the city council adopt a budget by the first Monday in June.
There is one special hearing on the agenda tonight. The public, property owners or any tax payer in the City of Flint are invited to make comments about the establishment of an obsolete property rehabilitation at 3701 Lapeer Road.
There are several resolutions on the agenda to be discussed. One resolution is to authorized city officials to enter into a contract with Spaulding DeDecker for engineering services to rehabilitate a portion of Miller Road from Hammerburg Road to Ballenger Hwy. This is the same contractor currently coordinating rehab and water line replacement on East Court Street.
Other resolutions also call for city officials to enter into contract with DTS Contracting for the renovation of the McKinley Community Center.
Tonight’s complete agenda can be viewed at the bottom of this article.
Telephone/video council meetings due to Stay Safe, Stay Home Order
The council voted in April to hold only regular city council meetings and not to hold council committee meetings during the Stay Safe, Stay Home order. The council usually meetings on Monday’s but tonight’s Tuesday meeting is due to the Memorial Day holiday.
City Council Agenda May 26, 2020–EVM Staff
