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On March 18, 2020, Governor Whitmer signed Executive Order No. 2020-15, which temporarily suspends the Michigan Open Meetings Act (OMA) rules requiring meetings of public bodies to be held at a physical place with a physical presence at the meeting. This Order, under the Michigan Constitution of 1963 and Michigan law, was issued to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and protect public health while providing for the general public to continue to be able to participate in government decision-making.

On March 23, 2020, the Governor signed Executive Order No. 2020-21, designed to enforce social distancing to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Accordingly, the Ferndale City Council, in compliance with this Executive Order No.2020-21, has decided to hold the Monday, April 13 Council Meeting electronically.

As always, the public is invited to participate in City Council’s April 13 electronic meeting. The procedures are as follows:

Electronic Council Meeting Access

Access the electronic meeting in one of the following three ways:

1. Via online video conference on your computer, tablet, or smartphone at: https://zoom.us/j/172174765‍
2. Via phone at the following toll-free number: 877-853-5247 (Meeting ID: 172 174 765)
3. Watch the City Council meeting cablecast on cable WFRN or YouTube

Please do NOT access the meeting using both video conference and phone—it creates significant noise feedback.

Electronic Council Meeting Participation

The following are the procedures by which persons may contact members of the public body to provide input or ask questions about any business that will come before it at its April 13, 2020 meeting.

• To help meeting flow and organization, all public comment—general Call to Audience matters as well as comment on all Agenda items—will be taken at once, during the Call to Audience.
• Video conferencing audience: To make a comment, use the “raise your hand” feature or state your name and express your interest when called upon to do so.
• Phone-in audience: To make a public comment, state your name and express your interest when called upon to do so.
• The time limit for an individual’s public comments shall remain 3 minutes.

If you would like to contact City Council about any matter, on the Monday, April 13 agenda or otherwise, please do so via the email addresses below:

• Mayor Melanie Piana: mpiana@ferndalemi.gov
• Mayor Pro Tem Raylon: Leaks-May: rleaksmay@ferndalemi.gov
• Councilmember Greg Pawlica: gpawlica@ferndalemi.gov
• Councilmember Kat Bruner James: kjames@ferndalemi.gov
• Councilmember Laura Mikulski: lmikulski@ferndalemi.gov

The Zoom meeting has a chat feature. Chat is considered unofficial comment—it will not be reviewed by City Council, nor will it be entered into official minutes. The City will follow the same rules as they do for social media commentary.

Access & Participation for Persons with Disabilities

For persons with disabilities who wish to participate in City of Ferndale Council’s April 13 meeting:

• Keeping with general practice, the meeting will be streamed via YouTube with Closed Captioning (please not that there may be up to a minute lag-time between the live digital meeting and the YouTube stream).
• For personal assistance accessing and/or making public comment during the meeting, our City Clerk’s Office can provide assistive technology/support; please reach out to them at 248-546-2525, ext. 5, or by email at mmcgrath@ferndalemi.gov.

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