Residents raise EMS availability, deer and fence problems and beautification concerns during public comment

Several residents used the public-comment period to raise neighborhood and city-program concerns.

An emailed comment from Charles Blackwell asked Fire Chief Unruh to explain how many EMS units are typically available and what procedures apply when no EMS unit is immediately available after he experienced a medical emergency that required stretcher transport. The mayor asked staff to follow up with the chief.

Stephen Ludwig asked about a large project at the 12 Mile corridor and said he had not seen project details; he requested information on construction timing. Pamela Santo described repeated deer damage—saying her daughter took photos and that deer had eaten about $9,000 of plants over 15 years—raised ongoing rodent trapping and an overgrown fence placed years earlier next to a mosque property, and asked the city to consider installing a masonry wall and to have code enforcement follow up.

Michael (Dr.) Harris, speaking about the community beautification committee, expressed concern that the awards ceremony has poor attendance and high per-person cost (he said last year’s ceremony cost over $2,700 for 27 attendees) and said the program appears to favor landscape companies rather than homeowners; he said he would return next month with suggested solutions.

City staff and the mayor directed code-enforcement and the acting city manager to follow up on Santo’s concerns about the fence and deer; staff also said they would provide EMS availability information to the resident who raised it.