Detroit City Council Formal Session
Detroit City Council
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
10:00 a.m. — 2:00 p.m. EDT
2 Woodward Ave Detroit, MI 48226 (Directions)
ERMA L. HENDERSON AUDITORIUM, Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Detroit - MI Documenters Team
City Council amended the animal keeping ordinance to clarify requirements for certificates and licensing. Angry public commenters spoke against property tax overassessment, delays in implementing the property tax reform ordinance, and evictions—especially in solar neighborhoods.
Greetings Detroit! I will be live-posting the City Council Formal Session today at 10 am for #DetDocumenters
08:59 AM Mar 25, 2025 CDT
We are meeting on the 13th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building. Meeting agenda can be found here https://pub-detroitmi.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=9091dd02-d2d2-4d9f-a122-3726959fe323&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English
The meeting room is fairly empty, only 7 people in the audience, and 3 council members thus far. To give #publiccomment
raise your hand in Zoom
Telephone: Raise your hand by pressing #9
Web: Raise your hand by clicking raise hand
Public Comment can be emailed CCPublicComment@detroitmi.gov.
Benson, Johnson, Waters, Whitfield Calloway, Tate, and Sheffield are present for quorum
Roughly 15 members of the public are present now.
Councilmember Waters is giving a presentation with Dr. Erica Robertson of the Adult Literacy Task Force https://michiganchronicle.com/dr-erica-robertson-transforms-youth-education-by-harnessing-the-power-of-superhero-stories/
Dr. Katrina Kelly is also on the task force, along with Dr. Leah Van Belle
I apologize - the prior link to the agenda was incorrect! his is the correct #agenda https://detroitmi.gov/government/city-clerk/city-council-agendas-documents
Dr. Robertson is outlining the goals of the task force and some of their obstacles.
Dr. Katrina Kelly Wicker is referencing a program in Minnesota that has been around for 50 years as a model. https://www.literacymn.org/
Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City have other models to look to:
Dr. Van Belle says that people exist that are doing this (literacy improvement) work but they need more resources and capacity.
In year 2 of the task force, they need to establish reliable funding, and build stronger partnerships with existing programs and orgs. Connect for Care is one that exists for kids that could be helpful if expanded for adults. https://unitedwaysem.org/resources/connect4care/
Dr. Kelly Wicker is highlighting that we have top-tier universities in this state that could help with collecting the data needed. And this is what is needed from City Council:
The Literacy Task Force has paused their meetings until they get direction and support from the City Council. Dr. Van Belle highlighted the urgency of moving forward with support. She says only 5% of 4th graders in Detroit were reading at their grade level when tested last year.
Member Durhal has arrived and is strongly in support of the task force, especially for workforce strengthening.
Dr. Robertson thanked him and referenced the school to prison pipeline. She says 70% of incarcerated individuals have below a 3rd grade reading level.
Members Johnson and Benson also gave strong support for the task force.
Member Santiago-Romero also arrived a few minutes ago.
Member Coleman Young just arrived.
The report from the Literacy Task Force has been “accepted” by the Council with no objections.
Agenda items 4-12 were referred to appropriate committees. Public Comment is beginning.
There were some disparaging comments about immigrants by a commenter. President Sheffield reiterated that comments must be respectful of everyone.
A man said a bus operator on DDOT recently skipped over picking up an individual because she doesn’t like the way he smells. He also touched on the Detroit Landbank and their questionable processes. He says peoples rights are being infringed on.
Some people are upset that the city is giving 8 million dollars to Southwest Detroit following the floods. One commenter is very upset and may be removed because she is yelling and will not stop. She seems to be willing to leave without incident. A large group of security is escorting her out.
Meeting is being called back to order following the disruption. All are present aside from Member Benson.
President Mary Sheffield says they have offered Ms. Logan (the woman removed) time and direct help and support in the past, but she did not want to talk.
A man is talking about the Solar Neighborhood proposals. He says the proposal is 400 pages long, being presented to neighborhood citizens and they are difficult to understand. To learn more about this issue from his perspective, visit https://www.detroitsolarscam.com/
One man says that business development in the city is useless when social conditions are not being addressed.
Call-in Public Comments are beginning.
District 5 says Property Tax Over-assessment needs to be addressed. He says the university of Chicago found that the City of Detroit continues to illegally inflate property values and taxes. He may be referencing this report form 2020 https://harris.uchicago.edu/news-events/news/center-municipal-finance-finds-inequities-detroit-property-taxes-persist-after
A caller says a transcript of these meetings would be useful instead of watching long hours of hearings to stay informed. I hope he finds out about #DetDocumenters! https://outliermedia.org/detroit-documenters/ has open source notes of all public meetings!
There have been multiple comments about the lack of affordable housing. One woman says the shelters here are one step up from being incarcerated.
A woman say Mayor Duggan has been dragging his feet on the Property Tax Reform Ordinance which was passed in 2023.
A caller mentioned that Mayor Duggan’s final State of the City address is tonight https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2025/03/25/mike-duggan-2025-state-of-the-city-hudsons-detroit/82640584007/
On the topic of the Property Tax Over-Assessment: There is a memo in committee for a public report on the status of an independent study. The council will receive a copy of the report and proceed from there.
A caller spoke in support of US Postal Workers and rallies that happened country-wide this past weekend. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/03/24/heres-why-hundreds-of-postal-workers-rallied-illinois-chicago-rockford-springfield-peoria/82633978007/
Overall there continue to be many comments about housing, evictions, the solar farms, gentrification, and property taxes.
A caller is asking for assistance with their local Cannabis business which also supports the community with clean-ups and other offerings. It’s called Granny Farms https://www.grannyfarms.com/
Public comment has ended. Proceeding back to the agenda Line item 15
Line items 18.1-18.2 were approved. Line items 18.3-18.5 were approved.
Motor City Mitten will take on after hours call center for transportation and outreach for homeless folks. Outreach teams visit transit centers etc.
After some discussion 19.1-19.2 are approved.
CORRECTION: I apologize again - this is the proper agenda for todays meeting on March 25, 2025 https://pub-detroitmi.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=82af490f-8077-4877-8617-c58c00572448&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English
Line items 19.3-19.6 have been approved
Line item 20.4 approved. 20.3 will be brought back in one week.
Line items 21.1 and 21.2 approved.
Line item 17.2 ($40 annual licensing fees for ducks and chickens) was amended.
There is a discussion on the procurement of “certificates of health” of fowl (of special interest due to the spread of bird flu). Director Perkins is responding that veterinarian must give this certificate annually.
Line items 22-27 have been referred to the proper committees. There is nothing in the consent agenda.
Member reports:
-April 11 2024 11am-1pm at Good Cakes and Bakes: Coffee with Coleman.
- Monthly office hours district 6 April 7th 4-6pm in Patton park.
- April 2nd 6pm Detroit Reparations task force on Zoom.
- March 29th 9am-3pm Millwrights center: Community Leadership Conference
Member Reports Cont.:
- Energy Zone on Livernois is the feature business of the month
- monthly coffee hour with Member Waters April 14th 8am-9am at Butzel Complex
- Virtual office hours on steer vendors and ordinances April 14th 4pm-5pm
IMPORTANT: if you believe anything in the coverage today is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@outliermedia.org with”Correction Request” in the subject line
This concludes my live coverage of this City Council Formal Session. learn about our coverage of local meetings here: docuhttps://documented.org
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Agency Information
Detroit City Council
The Detroit City Council is the legislative body of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The Council is responsible for the creation of local laws—called ordinances. Additionally they pass resolutions, motions, and the proposed city budget. The full-time council is required to meet every business day for at least 10 months of the year, with at least eight of these meetings occurring at a location besides city hall. The council may convene for special meetings at the call of the mayor or at least four members of council. Areas of responsibility for the Budget, Finance and Audit Committee include, Budget, Finance and the Auditor General.
City Council members are elected on the same cycle as the Mayor and will be elected in 2021. Seven members represent the seven council districts, while two members are elected at-large.