Neighborhood Planning Council 2 - North Central

Monday, January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes NORTHCENTRAL NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #2 Washington Heights – Hub of Hope, 153 N. Wood St. 1. Call to Order & Welcome: 6pm. Pastor French welcomes. Introductions and everyone states what they look forward to this year. 2. Attendance: NPC 2 Members (E = Excused - notified an officer/member, X = Present, O = Absent): X Mary Bourgeois X Church of Scientology (Jeff Breedlove – Secretary) O Frank Drury O Faith Temple COGIC (Joe Hooper) X Monique French - Chair O Grace Health (Jessica Gerteisen) X Lynn Ward Gray O Samuel Gray X Larz Martin-Bey - Vice Chair O Larry Martin X Patricia Martin X Neighborhoods Inc. of Battle Creek/NIBC (Whitney Wardell) O Bettie Robertson X Springview Tower (Brent Heuss) O Ron Sweet O Prentice Thompson O Karen Todd X Cynthia Wyatt Guests: X Bill Batie X Aprille Vaughn City Representation: X Cpl. Brad Gentry X Helen H. Guzzo X Quincy Jones X Yolanda Johson X Chief Beaty 3. Adoption of the Agenda: Moved by Gray and supported by Breedlove to adopt the January 8, 2024 agenda. Motion Carried Unanimously. 9 votes for, 0 against. 4. Approval / Amendment of Minutes: Moved by Gray and supported by Heus to approve the Nov 13, 2023 minutes as presented. Motion Carried Unanimously. 9 votes for, 0 against. 5. Correspondence (sent/received) & Announcements: Gray: This weekend two events happening: MLK and National Day for Racial Healing. Get emails from Lynn for Keeping YOU Informed. a) Hill Harper in town for prayer brunch, Jan 13th at 10am at First Presbyterian. b) Ecumenical service on the 14th at 3pm at First Presbyterian church. That one is free and the Saturday one is sold out. c) Deltas and NAACP hosting workshop on civic engagement and voting on Monday, Jan 15th, 1-2 pm at Second Missionary Baptist Church. Stand Up – Speak Up d) MLK Emergent Leaders Think Tank and Listening Session, January 15, 6-8PM, Free and open to the public. e) 2024 National Day of Racial Healing. Jan 16th 2-330pm. The Link Community Center. Families with children ages 0-4 in Calhoun County are invited. f) Battle Creek in 100 years without Racism. Jan 16th 6-9pm at the Record Box French thanks everyone who attending annual event. It was a success. (Please submit all correspondence/announcements in writing whenever possible) 6. Committee & City Staff Reports: a. Police Department/Fire Department: • Cpl. Gentry gives report from crime stat sheet. Month of Dec 23. Part 1 and 2, out of 9 reporting. We are number 4. Number 4 in arrests. Number 4 in total events of 9. Will Mailing Address: City Hall, 10 N. Division St., Room 104, Battle Creek, MI 49014 Phone: (269) 966-3315 Fax: (269) 441-0380 Web: www.battlecreekmi.gov  Monday, January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes NORTHCENTRAL NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #2 Washington Heights – Hub of Hope, 153 N. Wood St. try to catch more accurate data regarding foot patrols. • Cpl. O’Bryant announced the Citizens Police Academy starts up two days from now. Wed. Sat. • Hopefully Corp of O’Bryant be here in a couple weeks. b. Elected Officials: County Commissioner Monique French: No report. c. Neighborhood Services: Y. Johnson shares report. Getting more Beautiful Battle Creek awards. Hotel/motel inspection about to start. Gray: asks if sister Vaughn has a concern? Problem that has been existing with dumping and trash. Mrs. Vaughn has questions. She lives on Wilds St, has pictures. She has called and talked to code compliance. Looking for solutions on what can do. It is getting worse and spreading. Homes that are troublesome and abandoned. What can I do as a resident? Hilldale and Coolidge also. Yolanda: it is problem. Some lots owned by county. County cleans, city cleans, then they come out and dump again. Talk to elected official for solution. Johnson has a solution but is costly. Would include PD. It would have to be a buy-in from different agencies. It has gotten worse. If you call non emergency there are other priorities. A task force, pilot project, should be looked into. One particular house. Just got into vacant and abandoned. As soon as Johnson put it in, it has gotten worse. Johnson put in the complaint. We have to go through the formalities. It’s out of her hands but is in support. French: it’s a lot that is being dumped on? Yes, it’s owned by the county and city. DPW and private contractor have come out and cleaned. Emailed Amy and she takes care of it. Wyatt: fencing on northside drive. Johnson: He has to have permit. Eric Morris handles permits for fencing. He will take care of you. 265 holland. He is in contempt. He may end up behind bars. 270 Holland. Prosecutor had Johnson go out. It is still not in compliance. New junk but still junk. P. Martin: lot on north Washington. Sold to lady. They said Jan 8 supposed to be out. Allows a lady to live in a tent. It’s not right. Johnson: Mr. Morris is on top of it. He, who owns the lot, has to go after her. We can’t stop people from purchasing lots. Have seen people living in tents and campers in yards. Owner may have to evict person off land. Gray: is it a health issue? Have an ordinance that you are not safely housed in property. Pass inspections to reside. Should be code violation. That is what Eric is coming up with. Dog is starving too. Eating out of same can. Johnson: Can always call animal control. Quincy Jones: Could be an area where social works would step in. If had a fire incident. Concerning the welfare of individuals. Yolanda: will follow up. Ordinance calls for certain amount of time to get done. Further enforcement against owner. Owner is responsible for land and could be liable. Gray: Wilds and dumping. Can they put up cement barriers? Has that been tried. To help keep them from rolling in. Line property with those. Yolanda: no one mentioned that. Take away easy access. Will write that down. Quincy: mom lives on Wilds. Had conversation with landbank more than one area. Land right next to her. Did clean it up. Mixture of county and city and residence. Heuss: cheaper option barriers filled with water or sand. d. Beautiful battle creek awards. Patricia Martin thanked members. Met four good couples. Gray: And under membership. Community Development Department to make us whole on BBCA and memberships. Put it in minutes, memberships. Gray: next agenda will have Washington Heights. Didn’t have quorum before. e. Membership: Gray: Makes motion to accept Cynthia Wyatt, Patricia Matin and Mary Bourgeois as members. Mailing Address: City Hall, 10 N. Division St., Room 104, Battle Creek, MI 49014 Phone: (269) 966-3315 Fax: (269) 441-0380 Web: www.battlecreekmi.gov  Monday, January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes NORTHCENTRAL NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #2 Washington Heights – Hub of Hope, 153 N. Wood St. Larz supports. Voted unanimously (9). Non against. Motion passed f. Committees: Gray, no report on bylaws committee. There is a boiler plate for bylaws that have to put in. g. Battle Creek Public Schools: None present, no report. 7. Helen Guzzo. 2014-1017 City of Battle Creek. Then worked for Calhoun County. Started Sept for city as manager of Community Development. Minor home repair. 210k to aid code officers. Helping home owners. Did over 100 houses. Do 30-100 roofs per year. Not emergency repair but can get to it. Do a lot of roofs. Have home program rental assistance for homeless people. Great program to support down payment assistance. Working with Fair Housing center. Also have lead remediation program. Did 42 houses, in conjunction with CA. Those are the main. Getting ready for needs assessment. Dumping is a problem. Martin: Historic renovation. Getting three sets of letters. Who do we talk? MI Hope. Land bank working with Washington heights for MI Hope. Up to 15k. Wyatt: why did they stop the advisory committee. Guzzo: Proposal next year to take 190k. Will be annual action plan. New year starts in July. During covid fund share center. Gave 1 mil to shelters. Home ARPA dollars. Haven. BC shelter. Now going forward cannot fund unless we have citizen advisory group to make those decisions. Venessa Hernandez works for me. There are some reorganizing. She is the support person. Beautiful Battle Creek and memberships will get better. 8. Presentation: Quincy Jones. First joyous proclamation. Received grant from FEMA. Goes along with program. Live in city and outside city. Smoke alarm installation program. Would like to see them in every home. Over 3 decades have had program. Grant amount. $89,765. It’s a big thing for us. Install allowance. 2 year campaign. Divided it for each year. 500 smoke alarms installed per year. Get units for deaf and hard of hearing. 100 per year. Potential over 1800 deaf or hard of hearing in our area. CO devices, 250 per year. Educational material also included. Some of the features. Smoke alarms are 10 year sealed battery devices. Concept is without malfunction. Once the battery goes bad, it’s time to replace device. Deaf or hard of hearing place on night stand. Had a bed shaking device. Whenever recognizes smoke, shakes the bed to notify them. Those are not cheap. Something is better than nothing . Doing outreach. Install target date166 home installations per year. Max 3 smoke alarms per household. A new policy is being reviewed for smoke alarm. One CO per home. Outside of campaign. CO feature is based on availability. Will not include install at rental properties. Those smoke alarms should already be in those homes before occupancy. Will replace alarms over 5 years. Had 174 fires, in fire category. The areas where we saw to give priority to, NPC 3 and 2. NPC3 May 4th, 9-12 pm and May 11th 9-12. NPC 2 date Sept 21st and sept 28th. 9-12. Participation: collaborated. Good fun time. Interacting for neighbors. BCFD involved. Also want to have additives to other individuals. Code compliance. Inspectors will assist. You all. We are looking for involvement of NPC. Getting chance to knock on doors. Help to assist us in representing. Asking at least commitment 12 individuals to help with installs. Get a preview to know what direction, as relates to install and involvement. Start thinking. Other individuals who are not here. Pass outlines. Spread word. Continue to make community safe. Wyatt: as home owner how do you get involved? Quincy: that is the part we are working on. Radius area. We do know NPC2 and 3 areas looking for. As progress more will have more data. P. Martin: Will you pick the area? Quincy: yes. Open for input. Main objective to get devices in homes. At least do most can do. Can’t tell you exact addresses. Can you clarify, overview what that day looks? Quincy: Divide there may be firefighter, NPC. Three people go to home, team effort. Looks like that. Putting people in teams. Gray: in those 4 days do 166? Quincy: hope to. This will give you hands on and self- gratification. Part of such a meaningful program. Wanted true community involvement. That means you. Give you opportunity to be part of it. Have 12- 15 members. Bring your husband, bring people you trust. Nephews, cousins . We are using that as guideline. Will look at other avenues.. Please call and ask if any questions. Chief will be here in support. Mailing Address: City Hall, 10 N. Division St., Room 104, Battle Creek, MI 49014 Phone: (269) 966-3315 Fax: (269) 441-0380 Web: www.battlecreekmi.gov  Monday, January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes NORTHCENTRAL NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #2 Washington Heights – Hub of Hope, 153 N. Wood St. Chief Beaty. Not expecting all the people attending this to be there. Maybe out of your organization to find other people to help. Split crews up to with people of community. Everybody knows somebody, everybody is part of a group. Will have maps, will know which are rentals. Have those places identified to have maximum effect to have smoke alarms installed. 9. Old Business: Hauss: Those that have been nominated or approved. To get email. Gray: you should be getting emailed. 10. New Business: Gray: is this something that can emailed to members who are not here. Quincy: will leave copies here and email. If you could email to Jeff and have copy attached to minutes. I have an email associated with each NPC. Email to each of those contacts French: email to myself or jeff to attach to minutes. 11. Public Comments/Member Comments: • Heuss: love to see how people in battle creek decorate for holidays. It’s nice to see. 12. Next Meeting: Monday, February 12th, 2024 at 6:00 PM @ Washington Heights UMC. 13. Adjournment: Moved and supported to adjourn. Motion Carried Unanimously. 8 votes for, 0 against. Meeting adjourned at approximately 7:26 PM by Monique French, Chair. Minutes recorded and submitted by: Jeff Breedlove NPC2 Secretary NPC 2 Mission: To improve the quality of life by listening and engaging residents. NPC 2 Vision: A safe, friendly, family-driven neighborhood where everyone wants to live. The City of Battle Creek will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for the hearing impaired and audiotapes of printed materials being considered in the meeting upon reasonable notice to the City of Battle Creek. Individuals with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services should contact the City of Battle Creek by writing or calling the following: City Clerk Office (269) 966-3348/TDD Mailing Address: City Hall, 10 N. Division St., Room 104, Battle Creek, MI 49014 Phone: (269) 966-3315 Fax: (269) 441-0380 Web: www.battlecreekmi.gov  Monday, January 8, 2024 Meeting Minutes NORTHCENTRAL NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #2 Washington Heights – Hub of Hope, 153 N. Wood St. Mailing Address: City Hall, 10 N. Division St., Room 104, Battle Creek, MI 49014 Phone: (269) 966-3315 Fax: (269) 441-0380 Web: www.battlecreekmi.gov