Written by the reviewer from the ASR + docket; [verbatim-ASR] = quoted machine transcript; [paraphrase] = reviewer's wording, not a quote.
0:00 who the folks that are here that are going to be here I'll go ahead and on
0:04 time call the July 6, 2026 Finance Committee to order. Councilman Bullock
0:12 is coming back from a family vacation so he'll be here later this evening but
0:17 not for this meeting but myself and Councilperson Striebig I think
0:20 represent the forum. We're going to move on. The first item up for business is the
0:27 review and approval of the June 29, 2026 Finance Committee meeting minutes. I will
0:32 go ahead and move approval. Second. There's a first and a second. Any
0:37 discussion? It's passed because we're the two so your second got it got us
0:42 there. And as we discussed at the end of the last committee meeting we're
0:49 going to kind of try to keep it tight to a half hour because there's a
0:51 committee meeting after this some very important issues but wanted to see
0:56 how much we could accomplish in the half hour that we have and see whether we
0:59 need to come back in the next week or two to finish out some of these
1:03 budget priorities and talk about process. So rather than me continuing
1:07 to talk I will go ahead and we have three left so we'll see if we can
1:12 get through them. I do not want to shortchange them so if we need more
1:16 time we will schedule more time. The first one is the implementation of
1:21 the racial equity plan and I believe that is Councilperson Hamilton-Steiner or
1:26 yes okay so I guess the floor is yours. Thank you Chair Baker. So the City of
1:33 Lakewood via resolution created the anti-racism task force to advise and
1:37 work with administration to ensure the value of anti-racism is foundational
1:40 and unambiguously expressed and also the objectives involving safety,
1:44 housing, education, culture, and community wellness. It was in
1:49 direct response to the George Floyd protest in 2020 and is intended to
1:52 ensure that Lakewood lives up to its values of being an inclusive and
1:56 welcoming community. So to just talk through a little bit so the desired
2:03 outcome is for implementation of recommendations from the racial equity
2:07 plan. The racial equity plan will present an opportunity for a public
2:12 discussion of what an inclusive Lakewood looks like and how to
2:16 achieve it. While racial is in the name it is not only about inclusivity for
2:21 race, it will involve inclusivity for race, gender, sexuality, sex, religious
2:25 affiliation, belief, association, disability, and other identities from
2:29 historically marginalized groups and lesser-heard voices. It is a
2:33 recognition of the necessity to deconstruct institutional oppression
2:37 that harms not just racial groups but is harmful to all demographics and
2:41 counterproductive to a democratic society. Progress will be demonstrated by
2:45 steps taken to address the recommendation of the racial equity plan.
2:48 So I did reach out to Director Berry to just get a status update on where
2:53 things are and the consultant is finishing up the racial equity plan and
3:00 will provide that to the anti-risis task force and the anti-risk ARTF
3:06 will review the plan and either you know approve it and then once
3:11 they've approved that Director Berry plans to put together a communication
3:18 and refer that to council and then I'm assuming the next step would be a
3:23 referral and we will you know discuss that and my thought of
3:28 everything is that it would mirror other plans that had been approved by
3:34 this body and we go from there. Thank you anything from the council
3:42 president or Councilperson Striebig as I know you're kind of co-workers on this.
3:48 I'm happy to join this effort to bring more inclusion across our
3:55 community and I'm looking very much forward seeing the plans from the
4:01 consultant and helping to implement those across our city so that we can
4:06 get more involvement and more participation from everyone in town and
4:10 not just some of those people that have the privilege of paying attention
4:17 because they have additional time. Thank you. Council President Couple. Thanks and
4:24 I'll just follow up this was a few years ago a couple budget priority
4:29 processes in a row were put in money for us to do this plan essentially
4:36 because we had the anti-racism task force and without having you know a
4:41 consultant and some guidance to figure out you know it's not really fair to
4:46 just put in a group of volunteers like how should we solve you know hundreds
4:50 of years of racism in our city so and how we do this so it's there the
4:57 anti-racism task force was charged with being unambiguously expressed in
5:03 all of our city services and policies and those sorts of things so without
5:08 seeing what the racial equity plan is yet I don't know quite what
5:12 implementation looks like but I think like before where it was important to
5:16 put a few some dollars towards this work you know I think it will be
5:21 important to have some funds because unlike you know we've done other we
5:25 do you know active transportation and we do climate action and all these
5:31 other things without some some money and depending on you know what all the
5:37 aspects of this are we don't quite know what that will hit some of it will be
5:41 carried forth by staff but there may be additional consultant work or
5:46 additional outreach pieces or those sorts of things so not quite sure
5:52 what the dollar amount should be though without seeing the the plan
5:55 finished and what's included well I think what might be helpful is it
5:58 sounds like there is some funds that the three of you would like to see in
6:03 the 2027 budget so perhaps if between now and the end of the month we can
6:08 come up with kind of what that number is based on consultation with
6:12 director Barry and whomever else and then that's what goes in kind of our
6:16 report out as a priority I think maybe that would be a good process if
6:22 yeah I think that's good I I will probably look into and dig into what we
6:30 did with the community health needs assessment because I know after that
6:34 process there was an additional layer where there was some community
6:39 engagement work that I I am not sure was built into the initial scope of
6:44 work I would have to reach out to assistant director boss and he may
6:47 know more about that and maybe reach out and see how that process played
6:50 out because I would I would see us mirroring that very similar to the
6:55 community how we did the community health needs assessment
6:59 anything from the administration okay well thank you the next one is the
7:08 community circulator that I used to ride as a kid I assume this is
7:13 conspiration handled center as well yes thank you chair Baker so in 2009 due
7:20 to low ridership and high cost Lakewood's community circulator was
7:23 disbanded this elimination of a publicly popular service has left a void in
7:28 the community despite this the service remains in public conversations and has
7:32 high public support an opportunity exists to tackle the challenge of low
7:37 ridership cost and high public support and deep dive into the transit
7:41 feasibility study report from 2024 and work on implementing the
7:45 recommendations from I interest so you know I I in community conversations that
7:54 I have with people whenever this is brought up or they mention it there
7:57 they get excited about it the possibility of it and if I had to be
8:01 careful because they're like you're bringing back the circulator I'm like
8:03 no no we're gonna talk about it we're gonna we're gonna see if it's
8:06 you know truly possible and I really dig into you know the study I mean we we
8:13 we hired a consultant to do this work and it's sitting there and I think it
8:18 would be a waste of public dollars not to dig into it we may come out of
8:25 that process like this isn't feasible right now at this time or we may come
8:31 out of that process with some sort of lower level type of service that we
8:37 could provide residents I I don't know what the outcome would be but I think
8:44 we should put something forth we should make some sort of effort so
8:49 what I would like to see is putting forth a long-term plan with some
8:53 short-term outcomes to implement a new version of the Lakewood Community
8:57 Circulator to address the gap in transportation services and improve
9:00 mobility for more Lakewood residents and non residents within our community and
9:05 I think it's in line with our active transportation safe streets complete
9:10 streets the ADA transition plan our climate action plan and really our
9:16 overall community vision of making sure that people are able to get in and
9:20 around our community no matter what type of mode of transportation that
9:26 they're using so I think I would love to convene a working group to deep dive
9:34 into this into the transit feasibility study yeah so because I'm my mind is
9:45 already racing because I while I'm not a sponsor of this particularly in
9:49 the relation to this I have high interest in this subject I also think
9:52 it ties into like micro mobility issues accessible stuff where you know
9:59 it's like kind of supplementing services that our TA already provides we
10:01 provide through our human research department I even think about like when
10:06 I was at Ohio State you know I got a code of pass free because I was a
10:11 student is there a way we can study models with RTA you know with like
10:16 if you're a Lakewood resident you get RTA you know like so then you can
10:20 ride that for free right so but is that enough right and so I think so
10:25 what do we think for the 2027 budget and what do we think beyond that is
10:29 this more policy at this point than budget or I guess yeah sure I'm happy
10:38 to weigh in thanks chair I'm in agreement with everything council
10:42 person Hamilton's designer had to say we have a study it's kind of
10:46 sitting there on the shelf but I do feel we owe it to the community to
10:49 have a bigger conversation about this I too hear constantly from folks about
10:55 how great it was having the circulator I also understand that that's a great
10:59 big expensive project and there's a reason why we don't have any more
11:02 because it's it just is it's a tough financial thing to work around but I'm
11:08 willing to have that happy to have that conversation and willing to work
11:11 with everybody to see if there are steps we can take to because I agree
11:16 with you as well Councilman Baker this is there's so many things this
11:20 this plugs into that could make life a heck of a lot better for a lot
11:24 of Lakewood residents so I'm happy to work on it yeah and I almost think
11:27 because I I mean this is a was a me problem when I was 17 years old but I
11:31 lived as far west as you could live in Lakewood and my dad left for work
11:36 at 630 a.m. to go to the job site and I was expected to get the Buntz
11:39 Road every day and I was with it to get back from Buntz Road to my home I
11:44 think I live closer to Rocky River High School at the time so I think
11:49 there's really it's a ripe area for partnership and for communication with
11:52 the schools about what this looks like so I'm excited to help that
11:59 conversation and so I think it's more policy and and I mean we can convene a
12:04 working group like because the the report while I appreciate the
12:09 administration's efforts get the kind of push it forward it was more so
12:14 of like a data collection on what you could do and what it would cost it
12:18 wasn't what maybe the need is amongst the community and how we can interplay
12:23 folks and kind of have interlapping interests met and maybe come up with a
12:29 model for cost sharing. Thank you and you know I'm also not a
12:37 member of this group because we're limited to three certainly something
12:41 interested in and when as I recall when we went through the
12:46 feasibility study that was report that was done in 2024 you know it wasn't
12:52 didn't explore every possible option and you know some of the challenges if
12:58 we think about when we talk about bring back community circulator whether
13:02 we're talking about bringing it back as it was or are we what are we
13:07 trying to accomplish and are there other creative solutions because for
13:12 instance you know we have the senior transportation vans and that was
13:17 talked about some during that that study and some of the funding streams's that go towards those are restricted but then are
13:25 there other ways to use those at other times so they're not just
13:30 sitting at Cove you know I'm going to going to Kent State was we had the
13:35 the campus loop you know every seven minutes and it's free to get on and
13:39 often people use all the time because you don't have that barrier and so like
13:44 what would be some of the barriers so I think you know having a working group
13:48 looking at this maybe it's you know when we look at the the potential of
13:55 whether it's specifically having RTA run a thing or are there other
13:59 creative solutions and what do those look like and are they you know folks
14:06 we hear nostalgia and people remember fondly about it and but then now there's
14:11 also different solutions that didn't exist then to like you know uber and
14:16 you know all those sorts of things too so I think it's you know worth
14:20 discussing what is the problem we're trying to solve and what's the best
14:24 way to solve it thank you I agree with what you're saying I hadn't
14:30 considered partnering with the school so that's an interesting idea and I'm
14:35 sure very useful for for the students so thank you for bringing that to my
14:40 attention and I agree with President Keppel on the use of other alternative
14:45 types of transportation including lift and I know the YMCA has a van that
14:50 they've talked about you know using there's there's other ways instead of
14:54 just a bus that goes around and around and around and hopefully
14:58 somebody's waiting there for them to pick up I think that that's where that
15:02 expense comes in of fuel and maintenance of vehicles so yes I'm very interested
15:09 I'm very interested and anxious to hear what comes out of this committee thank
15:14 you yeah and that's where I think you know it's ripe with the
15:19 conversation I think the schools are having with the transition plan for
15:21 elementary kids but you know we and this is where you kind of get left
15:26 if you're from 14 to you know and you haven't quite got a driver's
15:29 license or your family can't buy a car and you live in Lakewood and you happen
15:34 to live not near the center of town it does create challenges for you to get
15:38 to school every day so there may be ways you can collaborate with the
15:43 schools on that and I'd be happy to join that conversation but it sounds
15:46 like this is more policy than budget for 2027 and then thank you vice
15:52 president Baker and I can crew with my colleagues I'm excited to explore
15:57 in some ways I see the circulator even if it took on a different iteration you
16:03 know all these years later it sort of has that feeling of connective tissue
16:06 the same way that block club program does where you have all these issues
16:10 in the community traffic and parking and mobility and senior mobility and
16:17 small business community and all these all these potential issues that could
16:22 this could help alleviate in some form of fashion and and I realize
16:25 there are certainly hurdles I never immediately I never got to ride the
16:29 circulator I arrived in Lakewood the same year that it closed down but I'm
16:34 happy to explore the possibility and be able to tell tell community members
16:38 I had someone even today unprovoked just ask me hey whatever happened to
16:41 the circulator but be able to tell folks regardless of the outcome that
16:45 that we did explore the feasibility of this thank you so I think unless we
16:55 have any other comments on that one we actually may get through all these
16:59 tonight so we'll see we have 13 minutes we'll see how goes expansion of winter
17:03 sidewalk maintenance in the winter who is kind of the initial spokesperson
17:08 spokesperson Hamilton Simon all right thank you chair Baker so winter 2025
17:16 2026 seems to be a particularly tough winter as it seemed there are periods
17:21 without a break in the weather providing for time to clear not only
17:23 roads but sidewalks due to the effects of climate change we can expect that
17:27 winter weather will continue to be brutal harsh and long this presents a
17:31 perfect opportunity to prepare a community be ready for the harsh
17:34 winter maintain safe and accessible sidewalks and so we all you know
17:38 benefit obviously from sidewalks that are clear of snow and ice which make
17:42 it make for unsafe terrain for those walking biking children and younger
17:46 youth and those utilizing wheelchair or other mobility devices the desired
17:51 outcome is the pilot a city run snow clearing service focusing on high need
17:55 areas based on certain criteria such as areas with high populations of seniors
17:59 those with mobility issues young children including high walking area
18:03 areas used by students so this really came out of just a lot of community
18:13 feedback and emails that were sent I mean we all were received a lot of
18:18 and I do recall that this conversation had come up maybe a few years ago even
18:23 before I got in council and I had just started looking just out of
18:26 curiosity because there was a resident that I come to a meeting and after a
18:30 meeting was talking to Councilman Bullock in particular and and just
18:37 talking you know like hey this city does that in this city does it and
18:41 so as and this was really one of those last I wasn't even sure I was
18:45 going to put this forward because I know that it's a lot of work and I have
18:48 a lot of you know items already that I meet our code you know leading or
18:53 helping but I do think that this one is important and it's in line with our
19:00 climate action plan and active transportation plan and complete
19:04 streets and the ADA transition plan and our community vision I mean even
19:09 a racial equity plan and I think that it is something that is important
19:12 that we should look at to see what would a beefed up sidewalk maintenance
19:20 program look like and when I just did some quick research Chicago Illinois
19:26 has rolled out a pilot program and so I did model some of the language that
19:33 I talked about having a pilot program they they're doing a pilot program
19:37 that is focusing on high-need areas so I know this would be a heavy lift to to
19:44 do it and I know it would be a high dollar amount but I do think that if
19:50 we're going to talk about being a community that is walkable we need to
19:55 live up to those walkability standards otherwise we need to stop
19:59 saying that we're walkable community if we're not going to live up to it
20:02 so I do think that it is important and I would love to see us pursue pursue
20:09 this and we may decide that this is you know policy for 2027 and shoot for
20:14 2028 for an actual budget item.
20:18 Councilman Bixenstein.
20:20 Thank you Council President Baker and Council President Hamilton Steiner.
20:26 I'm happy to support.
20:28 Give me a promotion thanks.
20:30 Excuse me Council Vice President Baker.
20:33 Very unintentional Council President Cuffell happy to support this
20:38 initiative you know every winner is different this this past winner started
20:44 on Thanksgiving Day and continued through the end of March so that was
20:47 that was four months that's a third of the year and if we're going to be
20:52 a walkable community I'd prefer to be walk a community year-round not two
20:56 thirds of the year and you know obviously I realize there's you know
21:01 we have to be realistic and about what we can accomplish you know we have 180
21:05 miles of sidewalk is director Gordon here you know watches for my reaction
21:11 on this and I realize you know the likelihood of clearing 180 miles a
21:17 sidewalk is is not high whatsoever but if we can make incremental progress
21:23 in having more of our city cleared during winter I would consider that a
21:28 win and I'm happy to explore that possibility.
21:35 I certainly have thoughts but I would like to and I know you know I know we have a plow plan you
21:42 know kind of a cold weather plan about priority streets and secondary streets
21:45 and safety routes and I know that we do some sidewalk clearing
21:50 particularly in the parks and then along the marginals and the school
21:55 does some can you kind of walk us through that director Gordon.
21:59 Sure thank you Vice President Baker that is correct
22:03 obviously you know we're going to start with the main roads go to the seconds
22:07 go to the sides bike lanes are done after that as well intersections things
22:12 of that nature and then along with that we do do the sidewalks in the
22:17 parks any city-owned properties bridges some certain high-volume areas
22:24 things like that recently we started doing when we can and when the
22:30 resources are available we are starting to help assist clearing where school
22:35 crossing guards are as priority and again I mean this winter was brutal
22:42 let's all be honest and you know along with all of that we also have
22:50 to work with the building department for when businesses don't clear their
22:55 sidewalks then we go and clear it for them and then they are charged
23:00 accordingly so I I think there's a lot of work that goes into the wintertime
23:04 that maybe a lot of folks aren't aware of and I have to tread very very
23:09 lightly with okay we'll do all that and then we'll do even more and again
23:16 not not that I'm against sidewalk clearing and that see that I came
23:19 from we did perform it there and there were a lot of obstacles that I
23:24 went through with that program that I am very well aware of that I think
23:28 others should be made aware of as well it's easy to say oh just start in
23:32 these areas and it could get very dicey very quickly in regards to where
23:38 you start where you finish the next time where you start where you finish
23:42 and things of that nature you it has to be very well thought out and it
23:47 takes time to get to that point so I think it's something that that
23:51 everybody needs to consider I do have experience with this which is good so
23:56 if it is something that that council wants to move forward with it's gonna
24:00 take some time thank you director Gordon and maybe it's good or bad you
24:05 have experience with it because it doesn't sound like your experience is
24:07 that great but I do think that there is that so this interplays is even
24:13 just from it's not something you mentioned but I think about it you
24:15 know I walk up spring garden and the sidewalks are 36 inches and then I walk
24:21 up another street and the sidewalks are you know four feet or five feet
24:25 right so so finding that right equipment that can do all of them and
24:29 not hit sprinkler heads or have disputes with property owners about
24:34 turfing your lawn or whatever so this is it's it's it is complicated but
24:38 but what I will say is this should be viewed and I'm willing to help
24:43 because I think it's a plan right a plan almost as detailed as our
24:48 street clearing plan if not more if you really want to do it I think what you
24:52 have to do is for example Buntz Road up by the Metro parks on Detroit has
24:57 shared use path those are 10 feet wide it's easy to get equipment that can
25:01 clear snow off a 10-foot wide path it's hard to get equipment that clear
25:05 can clear snow off a 36 inches path right so you have to think about what
25:08 streets can allow that and then certain priority corridors for either
25:12 kids walking but when you have bunts in place you have a north-south all the way
25:15 from Clifton all the way to Lakewood Heights so you kind of have that
25:19 north-south route and then if you think about east-west route so it's
25:22 kind of like look at our active transportation plan look at the
25:26 priority corridors we have where we're thinking about getting shared
25:29 use pass because that's the the most ripe place to have us clear is
25:33 shared use pass because they even have something that can be patched more
25:39 than like a sidewalk can right and so is it am I going no you're you're you're a
25:45 hundred percent right perfect example is the Buntz Road shared use path will be
25:48 maintained by the city in the winter for snow clearance so that will be
25:52 getting done we're also going to be taking on the Lake Clifton connector
25:55 shared use path as well so now I'm adding two more things to the yearly
26:00 snow clearing priority list and Councilman Baker hit it right on the
26:04 head you know when you look at Lakewood and you look at equipment and
26:08 you look okay how wide do we want to go how small do you want to go with
26:12 sidewalk clearing it there's just so many areas where credit to Councilman
26:17 Baker again you go from 4 foot to 3 foot till in some cases really even
26:23 smaller than 3 foot plus you have you know utilities to worry about I mean I
26:29 just think about the Detroit corridor as an example you know if you were to
26:33 put a sidewalk plow going down the Detroit or excuse me down yeah the
26:37 Detroit corridor from Sloan all the way down that that that's a tight fit
26:42 that's a tight fit with with people that's a tight fit with businesses you
26:48 know when you get on some of the side streets as Councilman Baker said you
26:51 are using snow clearing equipment you got to be really really careful to not
26:56 you know be digging up people's yards and things of that nature so it it
27:02 can be done would be my word it just takes it's gonna take a lot of
27:06 effort a lot of planning and it and if it were to be done it it's gonna need
27:12 to be done the right way and that's that's gonna take some some research
27:16 and again you know I'm just reiterating it's gonna it's gonna take
27:19 some time now I don't want to speak for my my colleagues that are because
27:25 I also like this is an interest of mine as well but I'm not listed
27:29 because we can only have three do you think that's something that would
27:36 benefit from some funds for a engineer to help put together some sort of plan
27:40 or analysis or do you think that that is something that over time because
27:44 what I'm here I'm hearing that we already might be getting some budget
27:48 requests for more FTEs and public works for some of the things that you're
27:51 already talking about that the that the city's already going to take on
27:54 maybe some more equipment I know these things aren't cheap I do know
27:59 that for example the Metro parks and I live near there and in the
28:03 wintertime I'm a winter runner and I appreciate that I know that those paths
28:07 are gonna be cleared don't salt right so you might still slip on some ice but
28:11 at least the snow is gonna be gone and so is that something that you think
28:16 this year you know a some engineering firm for 20 grand can help us look at
28:22 it or would you prefer that that be something that is like staff-driven
28:26 I'll be honest that we've already began looking into this a little bit
28:30 further after last winter internally I took a very hard look at last winter and
28:37 in potential areas that I felt we could get better on and we you know we
28:42 have those meetings at the end and beginning of every year and there are
28:46 certain areas that that we could get better with and I know that and we
28:48 will but we've already began looking into it looking at whether
28:52 cities were using for sidewalk clearing and things of that nature so
28:57 we've slowly would be the word I would use started to have the discussions on
29:02 it and you know I also have to look at you know take a hard look at staff as
29:08 well because in the wintertime just so everybody knows it's all hands on deck
29:13 in public works I mean we are pulling people from every department to assist
29:18 with snow removal and that includes the wastewater treatment plant so
29:22 again you know when when certain things happen and you're floating
29:26 people around whether it's a water break you know and I'm sending a bunch of
29:30 guys a water break and then we're back filling what they were doing there
29:33 there's a lot of there's a lot of factors that consider but I would say
29:36 at this time right now we're beginning to have discussions on it I'm more
29:41 than willing to meet with counsel to kind of kind of talk through what would
29:45 I know in my experience with it and I'm sure you know for at least this
29:49 year we could probably start working on a policy and then take a little
29:55 harder look beyond this year as to whether we could if that's doable
29:58 moving forward. Now do you think that so this is good there's some shared
30:05 shared interests and shared priority now what primarily this is a budgetary
30:11 discussion right and so is there funds that you think would be helpful to you
30:16 like I know that when and this is just me being a staff at a public
30:21 there's a thousand needs and you do what you can and then you get to the
30:25 other stuff right I'm sure that's how the planning department feels all the
30:28 time I'm sure your department feels the same way too. Would it benefit from
30:33 having a little bit of money for an engineer to kind of put together the
30:37 high level of what it could look like kind of like a prioritization
30:40 based upon widths of sidewalks or walking routes or is that something
30:44 that in this budget you don't think would be helpful to you? I mean I
30:48 don't think it would be helpful at this time I do I would be willing to talk
30:53 further about that again after after this time but I think I think there's
31:03 a lot a lot to talk about especially after this winter on exactly what what
31:09 everybody is looking for it's easy to say oh we just want all the
31:11 sidewalks cleared and here's where we want you to start okay great. Well
31:17 just like anything else I think it needs it needs what's your guiding principle
31:20 what are you trying to do what are you trying to accomplish what's most
31:23 important right? Correct so I mean I personally I think it would be best if
31:28 we could meet and discuss and then I could probably answer that question a
31:32 little bit further after that time because then I would have a little bit
31:34 more I think we would all have a general understanding of where we
31:37 stand and then I could certainly answer that question after that but
31:43 all right well I guess for our purposes we have a few more days for folks to
31:47 meet with Director Gordon to see if there's some money we could think
31:52 about in the 2027 budget. We're two minutes over so I apologize although I
31:58 think is that everything on winter clearing? Councilperson. Thank you I
32:03 wanted to say thank you to Director Gordon for the Public Works Department
32:07 and the job that they do on the streets and sidewalks and I do think
32:10 that there is room in whatever this policy becomes is to check in with
32:15 private businesses and also landlords LCC's that own businesses to find out
32:22 what their winter snow removal plan is that simple question what is your
32:26 plan for snow removal this year? I know when it snows my tenants
32:31 understand that as soon as we dig ourselves out we will be over to dig
32:35 you out. I don't know that all landlords maintain their sidewalks in the city
32:42 but I would like to see an emphasis either either through the landlord
32:46 education program or however else the city is is communicating with small
32:53 businesses to find out what their actual plan is. So thank you Councilwoman
33:01 Striebig just so you're aware the building department does around the
33:05 second week of October they do send inspectors out to try to hit all the
33:10 commercial storefronts down Madison Detroit to remind the shop
33:15 owners to shovel their walks the morning of a snow event and then
33:20 therefore if the snow has not been removed they place a blue snow
33:24 violation on the building and obviously their focus initially is on
33:30 the commercial corridors and properties that surround schools that's directly
33:34 from the building department and at the end of the day if they're not
33:39 compliant then they reach out to us to help on you know those corridors and
33:46 we we go and do it and then they are served with that nuisance get the
33:51 pickaxes out yeah it's it's not the most pleasant experience but we do
33:59 it so so I think this is right for more discussion for the people that
34:03 really want to see this with director Gordon sounds like there's already good
34:07 work being done but whatever council can do to help supplement we want to do
34:10 it. Thank you. Anything else? Councilperson Striebig. I'm sorry not on this
34:16 topic did you want to say something? No I was going to say thank you
34:19 Chair Baker and Director Gordon I will be following up and send you an
34:23 email and we can get those discussions started. I just one final comment from
34:30 me the six pages of my priorities are not attached to this document I know I'm
34:36 alphabetically the next one here I'm just I'm kidding you all of course
34:39 everything that I had on my list including inclusion block clubs mental
34:45 health safety and recreation were all included in all of your priorities so
34:48 I thank you all for being so on top of the ball that I didn't even have to
34:52 bring a priority to this list so thank you very much. You actually made
34:55 me very nervous I was like man we got it done yeah well without objection we
35:04 are adjourned sorry Councilman Evans for taking five minutes your time.