It's been a year! Time for an update on the proposed medical marijuana ordinance. (I am going to use the "j" spelling of marijuana for my own consistency, while State Law uses the "h" spelling)

• Decemeber 4, 2018: There was a Public Hearing at the City Council meeting. Many residents spoke at hearing.
• May 28, 2019: A Joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting was held to discuss a potential medical marijuana ordinance.
• June 18, 2019: City Council voted to direct the City Attorney to draft a medical marijuana ordinance.
• August 6, 2019: City Council discusses proposed medical marijuana ordinance with input from joint meeting.
• February 13, 2020: Planning Commission holds Special Meeting to continue discussing proposed medical marijuana ordinance. 

Recently, the Ford Fund and Macomb County Habitat for Humanity announced they were looking for a City to work with on a potential container home project in Macomb county. The Ford Fund is providing $100,000 in grant assistance. The City Council showed support for the project at their December 17, 2019, meeting (see motion language below), our Economic Development Manager Kim Homan produced and submitted an application on December 30, 2019, and City Council set a public hearing with the Planning Commission to potentially modify the appropriate ordinances to build the container homes:

While most roads in Eastpointe are in good (or fair) condition, some are in poor condition. We need to explore all options to fix these roads in poor condition. I have posted about roads before. Also, I have created a Google Map with what I have perceived as the changes since 2017, only including the roads that were PASER ratings of 2 or 3 in 2017. The map is intended to be a rough reference going into a discussion about fixing the roads in poor condition in Eastpointe. It is not meant to be perfect, as I am not a civil engineer or DPW employee. The City's professional employees and contractors would eventually review the roads (and most likely in the spring/summer when there is no snow hindering observation) and make a professional opinion, if City Council takes steps in that direction. At our last City Council meeting, we passed a motion asking our Finance Director Randy Blum to come up with different options on fixing this problem. It is expected that at our next Council meeting, which includes goal setting, that we will be provided these options.

Last night I introduced proposed changes to the City of Eastpointe ethics policy. Eastpointe’s ethics policy needs to be updated to further define what its elected officials are and are not allowed to do. The adoption of a stronger ethics policy will show our residents that we take our role seriously and that we want to avoid any possible conflicts of interest.

I'd love to hear your thoughts as we go forward in this process.

Please take a moment to review the City of Eastpointe's map Snow Removal Priorities map.

The City in 2001 adopted a Living Wage ordinance. The purpose of the ordinance is to improve working people's lives by guaranteeing a better, livable wage than the minimum wage. for those that do business with the City. The Living Wage in 2019 means:

• 125% of the 2019 federal poverty level for a family of four: $32,187.50, or $16.09/hour based on a 2,000 hour work-year.
• 100% of the 2019 federal poverty level for a family or four, with healthcare benefits provided: $25,750, or $12.88/hour based on a 2,000 hour work-year.

The cities of Eastpointe, Roseville, and St. Clair Shores are beginning today a program to help prevent fatal fires. The group MI Prevention, formerly known as the Michigan Community Risk Reduction Task Force, is offering up to six smoke detectors and one carbon monoxide detectors to be installed in an applicant's home. Click here for more information about the program, and click here to apply!

There have been four fatal fires in the City in just the last few years. Let's work together and prevent fatal fires.

Make your first stop the Eastpointe-Roseville Chamber of Commerce when trying to find a good or service. Utilize a local business and keep your money in the area. Click here to take a look at the Chamber's directory.

Part of the Budget process each year is determining the rates that are seen on the water bill. The City has a July to June fiscal year, and typically the vote to approve the Budget and set the water bill rates is done at the second meeting in June. Having the vote at the last City Council meeting before the new year gives us the most amount of time to plan, estimate dollars coming into the City, and get everything into the Budget that we would like to see.

Last year, as usual, the City Administration (City Manager, Finance Director, etc.) proposed new rates for the water bill. Typically these rates increase by a few percent each year due to inflation or some increased costs with our water or sewer providers. These proposed rates were instead a 30%+ average increase to the typical resident's water bill. In many cases it was even higher, surpassing 36%, depending on the size of the Ready-to-Serve pipe and how many units of water were used that month. Obviously, this proposed increase immediately troubled me. Were we really under-charging for years (a suggestion from the Finance Director)? Was there some increase from the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) or Southeast Macomb Sanitary District (SMSD) that I had not heard about? Well, I began investigating, and well, setting water and sewer rates is complicated.