Flint, MI — Flint City Council approved 26 resolutions and appointments, including thousands of dollars of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies for homeowner education and home repair efforts.
Here’s a wrap-up of what happened at the council’s Special Affairs Committee and Flint City Council meetings on Aug. 14, 2023:
ARPA home repair
In July, the city shared a plan to use $5 million of Flint’s ARPA “community grants” funding on home repair, releasing information outlining which local organizations should receive funding and what each would do with it.
At council’s Aug. 14 meeting, multiple resolutions reflecting that plan were before the body.
Council voted 6-0 to approve using up to $10,000 in ARPA funds for homeowner education classes through Mott Community College, with Councilwomen Jerri Winfrey-Carter and Tonya Burns abstaining.
During the special affairs committee meeting, Burns and Winfrey-Carter expressed that they would be abstaining from votes related to ARPA funds because they disagreed with the allocation process.
Burns cited her ongoing lawsuit, filed by herself, Councilman Eric Mays and other Flint residents in July 2023, claiming that the city’s ARPA Community Advisory Committee, tasked with helping evaluate certain ARPA grant proposals, had not been legally appointed or operating.
“I too will be abstaining from any other resolutions that deal with ARPA. I feel that the process was not transparent,” Winfrey-Carter added.
Council Vice President Ladel Lewis responded to Burns and Winfrey-Carter, saying that the ARPA Advisory Committee was not illegal.
“We received the legal opinion by our legal department back in January and they advised us about the ARPA committee . . . and they said that it was not illegal,” Lewis said.
Council also approved a resolution 6-0 that will give $250,000 in ARPA funds to the Disability Network to continue providing accessibility modification home improvement resources to residents.
Winfrey-Carter and Burns also abstained from this vote.
Council also voted to send three ARPA home repair-related resolutions back its finance committee:
- A resolution that would provide $25,000 in ARPA funds to Habitat for Humanity for downpayment assistance for Flint residents.
- A resolution that would provide $200,000 in ARPA funds to Court Street Village for home repair.
- Another resolution would provide $225,000 in ARPA funds to Court Street Village for painting.
The downpayment assistance resolution was sent to finance after Flint’s Planning and Development Director Emily Doerr said that about $5,000 would go to each resident involved, meaning the resolution would help five total residents with downpayment assistance.
While Councilwoman Judy Priestley said it should go back to the finance committee because the category of home education was not designed for downpayment assistance, Lewis said it should go back to the committee because the resolution should include more money.
Councilman Dennis Pfeiffer said that he wanted to abstain from the vote if Councilman Quincy Murphy didn’t abstain because of Murphy’s connections to Habitat for Humanity.
As for the potential funding going toward Court Street Village, Councilwoman Candice Mushatt talked about the work that the organization does in her ward, which includes some of Flint’s southeastern neighborhoods such as Central Park, Fairfield Village and College Cultural.
“Another thing that’s very unique about this area is, as we talked about, residents needing money for home repairs and we want the money to go there, that’s exactly what this is,” she said. “It’s going toward fixing roofs, it’s going toward painting houses.”
However, other councilmembers were not convinced that Court Street Village was the best organization to get ARPA funds for home repair.
Winfrey-Carter said she hoped there would be more funds going toward the north side of the city, which Murphy echoed.
He said Flint’s north side had some of the “hardest hit communities” and “it was because of the hardest hit communities” that Flint was even eligible for so much ARPA funding.
“At the end of the day, I so hope we don’t end with our legacy being the north side and urban communities getting crumbs of the ARPA funds,” Murphy said.
Everything else
Council also voted on the following at its Aug. 14 meeting:
- Council approved the appointment of Joseph King to the Ethics and Accountability Board for the remainder of a six-year term, expiring on June 25, 2028.
- Council approved the appointment of Jeffrey Curtis Horton to the Flint Planning Commission for the remainder of a three-year term, expiring on March 31, 2026.
- Council approved the appointment of Martin J. Banks to the Local Officers Compensation Commission for the remainder of a seven-year term, expiring on August 7, 2026.
- Council approved the appointment of Wendell Jackson to the Board of Review for a three-year term, expiring December 31, 2024.
- Council approved the appointment of Michael J. Harris to serve the remainder of a seven-year term on the Local Officers Compensation Commission, expiring on August 7, 2027.
- Council approved a resolution that initiates the process of appointing a parliamentarian for a three-month period to assist with rules and decorum at all city council and committee meetings.
- Council approved a change order that allocates an additional $15,300 to Seven Brothers Painting, Inc. for the Elevated Water Tower Program, bringing the total to $554,800.
- Council approved a $75,000 purchase of sodium hydroxide from JCI Jones Chemicals for water treatment.
- Council approved a $105,000 purchase of sodium hypochlorite from JCI Jones Chemicals for water treatment.
- Council approved a $114,924 agreement with Onix Networking Corporation for Gmail and Google Applications for the city.
- Council approved a $118,687.48 purchase to Deere Credit, Inc. for fleet leased heavy equipment.
- Council approved a $140,000 purchase of phosphoric acid from Shannon Chemical Corporation for water treatment.
- Council approved a $272,943.79 purchase order from Lease Servicing Center, Inc. to provide seven leased 2019 international plow trucks.
- Council approved a $146,979.74 purchase from Navstar Capital for the lease-purchase of four international plow trucks.
- Council approved a three-year contract with Duke’s Root Control for sewer line chemical root control services and chemical degreaser, in the yearly amount of $356,720.
- Council approved a $1,593,890 purchase from MacQueen Equipment for four street sweepers.
- Council approved a resolution that enacts a performance resolution that allows the Michigan Department of Transportation to issue permits.
- Council approved a resolution that requests solicitation of proposals for air quality monitoring on the north side of Flint.
- Council voted to send to finance a resolution that would authorize a contract with Priority Waste, LLC. that would end June 30, 2028. The contract total for a fiscal year would be $6,722,407.80.
- Council approved a resolution that would purchase 37 additional speed humps for the city for $125,430
- Council approved a $45,147.50 change order for the police department’s towing and storage services, bringing the total amount to $330,147.50.
- Council voted to accept a $120,000 grant from the C.S. Mott foundation for the purpose of event policing and public safety.
- Council approved a $13,838 change order with Trio Paint for flooring, painting, window treatments and abatement services with the Flint Police Department, bringing the total to $738,838.
- Council approved Ashley Capital’s brownfield redevelopment plan.
- Council approved a resolution to grant lump sum payments to Flint Police Department Sergeants. Terrance Walker gets $1,675, Nick White gets $1,005, Warren Williams gets $1,005 and Noah Pillsbury gets $1,005.