Accomplishments

Thank you to State Senator Klinefelt, State Representative Kimberly Edwards, Governor Whitmer, and the Legislature, Eastpointe was awarded $10 million to replace lead service lines. This funding will cover a majority of the remaining lead service line replacements. The City will most likely need to set aside a few million dollars after this funding to finish up the project, but we will reassess when we get closer to that point.

This project was covered in the Macomb Daily and also The Eastsider.

The City was allocated $3,371,351.19 in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). It was City Council's perogative to allocate the funds, after a recommendation from City Administration. Our City Admin recommended spending the money on street repair and lighting. I was against spending this money on street repair and lighting, because that was not the intention of the US Congress when allocating the funds. The only reason we were able to spend the money in this fashion, was because we accepted the funds as "revenue replacement". I suggested we use $500,000 of the allocation on replacing lead service lines. At that point there were still roughly a couple thousand lead service lines to replace in the City. Fortunately, the City Council allocated the funding.

The police department is now equipped with body-worn cameras! I believe that this change will not only help with transparency with the City and police department, but also help to ensure more civil interaction of residents and our police officers. The Eastpointe Police Department employees are there to serve and protect the residents, and their authority is granted by the residents of Eastpointe. I am glad to see this positive stride in our police force.

On June 6, a rally for police reform was held in Macomb County, attracting thousands of participants. Three young women, calling themselves AMA, hosted the rally. This rally inspired me to improve policing in our community. It seemed that the best foot forward at the time was body-worn cameras for our officers.

On June 16, I added a discussion to our agenda regarding body-worn cameras. And then on August 11, the City Council voted to move forward with a bid process for the cameras.

The Eastsider covered this initiative! 

I am hoping that the cameras are adopted and implemented before the start of 2021!