$25k awarded to James E. Kennedy Family Life Center at special Flint City Council meeting

Flint, MI – Flint City Council approved a number of items during its Feb. 19 special City Council meeting, including hiring a parliamentarian, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding proposals, and two appointments.  

The council voted 5-0 without discussion to hire Maurice S. Henderson, a professional registered parliamentarian, to provide training and assist the council with order and procedures during its meetings.

“The city council wishes to enter into an agreement with Maurice S. Henderson to provide training to the council in parliamentary procedures and rules of order, as well as to work as a parliamentarian during city council meetings,” the resolution language states.

The agreement includes a four-hour training date and parliamentarian services for three city council meeting dates for four hours per meeting. Henderson’s hourly rate is $175, making the total agreement roughly $2,800.

Flint City Council President Ladel Lewis, Vice President Candice Mushatt, Councilmembers Quincy Murphy, Judy Preistley, and Eva Worthing all voted to hire the parliamentarian. Councilwoman Tonya Burns abstained. Councilmembers Jerri Winfrey-Carter and Dennis Pfeiffer were absent. Councilman Eric Mays is currently on a 90-day suspension.

ARPA

Council voted 6-0 to award $25,000 in ARPA funds to the James E. Kennedy Family Life Center for its Chalets Village project.

According to resolution language, the project aims to repurpose vacant land acquired by the center to “become an economic development and entrepreneur hub for the city.” It will include chalets where kids and adults could sell their products, a food truck area, a pavilion, walking track, and playground with a life-size chess court.

Raphael Read, executive director of the James E. Kennedy Family Life Center, spoke to the council about the project.

“Chalets are just going to be a place where our vendors from the community can come in,” Read explained. “We’re really trying to combat the crime and other things and create possible places for all types of vendors to come and create.”

Read said the center plans to put four or five chalets on the property.

Council also voted to award the center $50,000 in ARPA funding for its Kennedy Center Cleaners project, a project to provide lawn care for seniors. It will provide services including branch removal, garbage removal, lawn mowing, and snow removal.

The council voted on multiple other ARPA funding proposals with little discussion.

Those items include:

• $25,000 to Safe & Just Michigan. Council voted 6-0.
• $50,000 to Metro Community Development to provide gap financing for a residential and mixed use project. Council voted 5-0, with Burns leaving before the vote.
• $50,000 to Communities First for gap financing.
• $17,315 to Flint Innovative Solutions serving as the fiduciary for Friends of Hasselbring Volunteer Group for the purchase of a utility vehicle. The vehicle will be used to assist with park clean-ups and events.
• $50,000 to Neighborhood Engagement Hub serving as the fiduciary for Southside Neighborhood Coalition for neighborhood beautification projects in the southside of Flint.

Council also voted 5-0 to award ARPA funds to Neighborhood Engagement Hub to serve as the fiduciary for Sarvis Park Neighborhood Association and Communities First. This item was among others added to the agenda and further information on the resolution, such as the funding amount or project details, were not available in the council’s public documents.

Voting results from two resolutions regarding setting a public hearing to amend council rules, and approving a brownfield plan for the Carriage Town neighborhood are pending.

Appointments

In addition to ARPA expenditures, the council voted to approve two appointments.

Councilmembers voted 6-0 to appoint Carol-Anne Blower to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a one-year term, expiring Feb. 19, 2025.

Council then voted 5-0 to appoint Christopher Frye to the Human Relations Commission for the remainder of a three-year term beginning immediately and expiring Oct. 28, 2025. Burns abstained from the vote.

Before receiving the appointment, Frye, who was present at the meeting, was called up for questioning by Burns. She said she had received calls from people who were concerned about some of Frye’s posts on Facebook.

“You are very engaging in person, you are,” Burns began. “But when we get on Facebook, some of your posts are very troublesome.”

Burns said she was particularly concerned when Frye “weighed in on the ‘monkey comment,’” referring to Pfeiffer calling Lewis the “monkey in the room” during a past meeting.

Frye said he was against the comment. However Burns said she interpreted a Facebook comment he made, saying “What if Tonya Burns was called a monkey?” as racist and concerning.

Other council members spoke in favor of Frye and the work he does for the community.

Mushatt said no one in the room was “dense enough to believe” Frye’s comment was referring to Burns in the way she interpreted it.

Shortly after the appointment was made, Burns left the meeting, calling the other council members “crooks and criminals.” She then watched the meeting from the audience and was asked to leave by Lewis after she began calling things out from the audience.

Lewis said her behavior was “unbecoming of a councilwoman.”