Here’s what happened at the Flint City Council meeting on Nov. 27

Flint, MI — At its first meeting back since Thanksgiving, Flint City Council approved a host of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding proposals, multiple appointments, and the demolition of a blighted downtown building among many other resolutions.

Here’s what happened at city council’s Monday, Nov. 27, 2023 meeting:

New Housing Developments

Through its consent agenda, the council approved two payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements for a new mixed-use, mixed-income development at the north edge of downtown Flint. 

The project is spearheaded by local nonprofit developer Communities First, Inc. (CFI), which was represented by Joel Arnold, CFI’s planning and advocacy manager, at the Nov. 27 meeting.

Arnold explained that part of the project includes relocating Flint Odyssey House, which is the current tenant of Marian Hall, an existing building being repurposed in the development.

Then CFI will combine Marian Hall with new construction to create a single, 133-unit mixed-use structure with ground-floor retail and housing above.

“Marian Hall … will be 43 brand new, affordable apartments,” Arnold said to council. “And adjacent to it, [we will] construct a new five-story building that’ll be 90 apartments.”

He noted that adding new construction while working to preserve Marian Hall, a former hotel and historic property, is why CFI submitted two PILOT requests to the city — “one pertaining to the historic building, one to the new addition.”

Arnold further noted that the planned design will create 44 market rate rental apartments and 89 affordable apartments, the latter of which he defined as rentable by those making 0% to 80% of Genesee County’s area median income.

Councilman Quincy Murphy asked about the funding structure for the overall development, which is expected to cost around $45 million. 

Arnold told Murphy CFI had already raised around $15 million and planned to apply for Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSDHA) support and other state-level funding sources, as well.

Should everything go to plan, Arnold said CFI would ideally break ground on the mixed-use development at 529 Martin Luther King Avenue in 2025.

Aside from the two PILOT approvals, council also approved a brownfield plan for a 16-unit condominium development by the Genesee County Land Bank Authority (GCLBA).

The development, featuring for-sale condos, would be located on West Fifth Avenue in Flint’s Carriage Town neighborhood and constructed on currently-vacant lots owned by the GCLBA.

Though councilmembers gave the plan a green light on Monday, Flint City Clerk Davina Donahue said it still requires a public hearing. 

That hearing is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 18 at 5:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers at Flint City Hall.

American Rescue Plan Act Funding

Along with housing developments, city council also approved a host of ARPA spending through its Nov. 27 consent agenda, which passed 6-0.

Council President Ladel Lewis, Vice President Candice Mushatt, and Councilmembers Murphy, Judy Priestley, Tonya Burns, and Eva Worthing all voted in favor. Councilmembers Eric Mays, Jerri Winfrey-Carter, and Dennis Pfeiffer were absent.

Those approvals were:

• $36,000 to Flint Odyssey House, Inc. for peer recovery coach services.
• $25,000 to Active Boys in Christ to develop a “youth training center for ages 7-17” at 2901 Branch Rd. The resolution language notes the group intends to develop the vacant lot into a community garden, outdoor play area, and full basketball court.
• $25,000 to the Latinx Technology and Community Center to add a shelter, picnic tables, and community grill to their recently-completed playground.
• Another $150,000 to the Latinx Technology and Community Center for its coming bilingual early childhood education center.
• $22,000 to the Franklin Avenue Mission for increased food access through its Client Choice Pantry.
• $25,000 to the Neighborhood Engagement Hub as fiduciary to the Historic Carriage Town Neighborhood Association. The association plans to use the funds to install a playground on a vacant lot within the neighborhood.
• $50,000 to the Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village for its “Fighting Litter in Neighborhoods Together” Project.
• $300,000 to McFarlen Villages to expand access to quality, affordable housing for older adults in Flint through improvements to its properties at 700 E. Court St. and 800 E. Court St. The funding was allocated as $150,000 to each site.
• $200,000 to the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Flint for the ongoing development of a mixed-use housing and community center project at the corner of Third and Harrison Streets in downtown Flint.
• $125,000 to Communities First, Inc. for the renovation of a five-unit residence at 716 S. Grand Traverse for affordable housing.
• $150,000 to Genesee County Habitat for Humanity for its “Sylvan Court Almost Home Project.” According to associated resolution documents, Sylvan Court is an eight-unit housing development of four townhomes and two duplexes, with the duplexes still in development and to be sold as individual units.

While there was also a resolution outlining roughly another $4.3 million in ARPA-related project spending, Priestley made a motion to table it indefinitely and voiced frustration with city administration.

“It seems to me that the only way we can get it through the administration’s heads that this should be separate resolutions is to table it indefinitely so it can come back again,” she said.

Priestley noted that the resolution’s documentation included a table of proposed spending in ARPA-budget approved categories like neighborhood improvement, economic development, and administrative expenses. However, she told a city official during the meeting that she wanted those requests sent to council as separate, detailed resolutions or she would not vote for them.

Council voted 5-0 to table the resolution indefinitely. Lewis, Mushatt, Murphy, Priestley, and Worthing all voted in favor. Burns, Mays, Winfrey-Carter, and Pfeiffer were absent for the vote.

Appointments

Council was presented with five appointments and one reappointment during the meeting. The council voted 6-0 to:

• Appoint Freda Williams to the Ethics and Accountability Board to fill the remainder of a six-year term ending on June 26, 2026.
• Appoint Pastor Jeffery Hawkins to the Local Officers Compensation Commission to fill the remainder of a seven-year term ending on June 30, 2023.
• Appoint Moses Timlin to the City Wide Advisory Council to fill a three-year term starting immediately and expiring on May 1, 2025.
• Appoint Willie Buford to the Zoning Board of Appeals to fill a three-year term starting immediately and expiring on Aug. 31, 2024.
• Appoint Peggy Stribling to the City Wide Advisory Council to fill a three-year term starting immediately and expiring on May 1, 2024.
• Reappoint Holly Wilson to the Human Relations Commission to fill a two-year term starting immediately and expiring on Oct. 28, 2024.

Everything Else

Aside from approving multiple housing developments, ARPA expenditures, and appointments, the council also reviewed nearly 20 more items at Monday’s meeting.

For those items, council voted to:

• Enter a $37,244 change order to a contract with Weinstein Electric for audio/visual improvements to City Council Chambers. The aggregate total of that contract, according to council’s agenda, is now $148,605.
• Allocate $50,000 of the city’s opioid settlement funds to Donations with Love Foundation for providing programs “that educate the community on the effects of opioids, e-cigarettes, CBD, addiction prevention and recovery, harm reduction and the overall impact of trauma on adolescents and families.”
• Enter a contract with Sonitrol Great Lakes for the second phase of interior camera installation at Flint City Hall and the Flint Police Department. The project amount is “not to exceed $336,484.53” for FY24.
• Authorize the purchase of six 2024 pick-up trucks for the Flint Water and Sewer Departments from LaFontaine Automotive Group at a total cost of $315,308.
• Enter a memorandum of understanding with the State of Michigan Department of Treasury to administer income taxes for the City of Flint beginning with tax year 2024 through Dec. 31, 2032.
• Approve text and map amendments to the city’s Zoning Ordinance.
• Enter a $139,000 agreement with Bolle Contracting LLC to demolish a building located at 641 S. Saginaw Street. The vacant downtown structure partially collapsed in July 2023 and has caused the continued closure of Brush Alley, into which it fell, since.
• Send a resolution repealing a city ordinance that prohibits the sale of alcohol between 7 a.m. and noon on Sundays back to its Special Affairs committee.
• Allocate $200,000 of the city’s opioid settlement funds to Insight Medical Psychiatric Healthcare Services and Hospital to support its first phase of opening in 2024.
• Enter an additional $22,864 purchase order with William E. Walter Inc. for boiler upgrades and repairs at the city’s water plant.
• Enter a contract with Lighthouse Group to provide the city with property and terrorism insurance coverage at a total premium not to exceed $748,953.75 from Nov. 30, 2023, to Nov. 30, 2024.
• Enter a contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) for overpass lighting installation work on Interstate 475 at Stewart Avenue, Horton Avenue. The project work will be done by MDOT at no cost to the city, but the city is responsible for electrical service, operation, and maintenance upon completion of the work.
• Enter a $325,394 contract with Siemens Industry, Inc. for a new fire alarm system at Flint City Hall, with $20,000 to cover unexpected problems with system migration.
• Approve a $285,000 change order with Industrial Applied Technologies for cleaning the east tank at the city’s water pollution control facility. The revised final contract is now not to exceed the amount of $1,205,000.
• Approve a contract with LakeStar Construction Services for lead abatement services and Healthy Homes repairs for “11 units within the city” in an amount not to exceed $197,480.

Lewis, Murphy, Priestley, Mushatt, and Worthing also voted 5-0 to censure Burns in an add-on resolution during Monday’s meeting, which cited that Burns was being censured for “conduct unbecoming a City Councilmember.”

Burns spoke against the censure ahead of the vote, alleging that other councilmembers have also conducted themselves in the ways she was being accused of. However, she left the meeting before the vote.

Although the five remaining members agreed on all other agenda items, they failed to get a majority vote on approving a proposed city ordinance amendment that would have prohibited the illegal use of controlled substances by elected officials. Lewis, Mushatt, and Worthing voted in favor, while Priestley and Murphy voted against.

Of his vote, Murphy said that while he doesn’t do drugs, he believes the amendment is “overreaching” and wants evidence that other municipalities have also made such a measure part of their rules.

Priestley said the amendment would give city administration “too much control” to “use against specific people,” and there are already laws “on the books” that cover illegal drug use, otherwise.