Did anyone see the priority setting special council meeting?
I watched the meeting expecting to see the beginning of a concrete plan to accomplish key priorities—or at least a serious strategy to address our community’s disastrous financial situation. Instead, what I observed was a group of poorly prepared trustees who appeared unfamiliar with effective goal-setting and, more concerningly, lacked a basic understanding of how local governments actually function and fund projects.
Connectivity (particularly sidewalks and safe pedestrian access) was listed as the top priority for every single trustee. Yet they demonstrated no ability to develop a realistic plan to advance it. This is the same goal the council has claimed since 2021, when $25,000 was allocated specifically for planning the 13 Mile Road connectivity improvements.
Trustee Angelina Sulaka piggybacked on Trustee Abby Gates idea and proposed identifying cost savings elsewhere and setting aside roughly $50,000 annually to fund these projects over time. Let’s examine that idea in the context of a project that enjoys unanimous support among the trustees: sidewalks along 13 Mile Road from Inkster to Telegraph.
- Estimated cost: $4.6 million (4M based funded 2021 estimate)
- Proposed approach: Save $40,000–$50,000 per year from efficiencies
- Timeline under this plan: At the proposed rate, the project would take approximately 80–100 years to fund
This is clearly not a viable path forward. Accounting for inflation, the annual savings would need to exceed $120,000 just to keep pace—making the 80-100 year timeline effectively never.
This kind of incremental, unrealistic approach fails residents who want tangible progress on long-standing priorities like safe sidewalks and better connectivity. The connect franklin cabal is 100% in power now but is petrified to move forward with their plans out of fear that residents won’t fund it for them, so instead they plan shady illegal funding tactics to bypass voters as promoted by Trustee Angelina Sulaka and Abby Gates.
Franklin Villagers 