REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NOVI
MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2009 AT 7:00 P.M.
COUNCIL CHAMBERS – NOVI CIVIC CENTER – 45175 W. TEN MILE ROAD

Mayor Landry called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Junior Girl Scout Troop 306, Novi Meadows 6^th Graders

Leader: Karen Maxton Co-Leader: Jolee Hart

ROLL CALL: Mayor Landry, Mayor Pro Tem Gatt, Council Members Burke, Crawford, Margolis, Mutch, Staudt

ALSO PRESENT: Clay Pearson, City Manager

Pamela Antil, Assistant City Manager

Tom Schultz, City Attorney

Wendy DuVall, Recreation Supervisor

Mayor Landry recognized the Arbor Day Celebration and presented a proclamation to Wendy DuVall, Recreation Supervisor. Ms. DuVall asked that everyone come out and join them as they plant a lot of trees.

Mayor Landry presented a proclamation to a member of the Novi Post Office recognizing Letter Carriers Food Drive Day on May 9, 2009. The recipient of the proclamation said the need was greater than they had realized and asked that everyone participate in the can drive.

Jason Murray, 30425 Norwich Dr., was present on behalf of the current Novi Youth Council to inform Council that they had put the Signature Park issue to a vote and they thought it would be a great asset to the community.

MaryEllen Mulcrone, Assistant Director of the Novi Public Library, was present on behalf of the Friends of the Novi Library. She said they would like to invite Council and the entire community to a fund raising event, which was a concert with the Saline Fiddlers. The concert was on Sunday, May 3rd at 3:00 P.M. at the Novi Middle School. The tickets were available at the Novi Library and were $5 each or 5 for $20.

Laura Lorenzo, 45995 Galway, said last year during budget time she strongly cautioned the Council about future budget deficits and over spending. Ms. Lorenzo said now the City had a $2 million operational deficit that would come out of the Rainy Day Fund this year. She commented that was after several reductions in personnel that appeared to include 2 police officers, 1 code compliance officer and one heavy equipment operator, which could impact public safety. She said next year the City was estimating $500,000 to $1 million less revenue. She noted those figures might double if, as the City Assessor said in January, the Oakland County figures were correct and his were wrong and the taxable value was reduced closer to 6%. Ms. Lorenzo questioned what operational deficit might they have next year, $4 million, $6 million? She said to those who say "the sky isn’t falling", when the sky is falling it’s too late, like on Wall Street. She said if the City tumbled, unfortunately, it would be this City Council that would be remembered for the fall.

A. Approve Minutes of:

April 6, 2009 – Regular meeting

B. Approval of request from Leo's Bar and Grill, Inc. to transfer ownership of 2008 Resort Class C licensed business (MCL 436.1531(2) with dance permit, located in escrow at 7759 Auburn, Utica, MI 48317, Macomb County, from Auburn, Inc. to Leo's Bar and Grill, Inc.; and transfer location (governmental unit) to 40380 Grand River, Novi, MI 48375, Oakland County.

C. Approval of request from Ruchi LLC (dba Mirchi Indian Cuisine) to transfer ownership of 2008 Class C licensed business, with dance-entertainment permit, located at 43317 Grand River, Novi, MI 48375, Oakland County, from Taste of Bangkok Cuisine, Inc. to Ruchi LLC.

D. Approval of the Storm Drainage Facility Maintenance Easement Agreement for City Center Plaza – Phases 3, 4 & 5A, located on parcel no. 22-15-477-011 and 22-22-227-029, along the south side of Grand River Avenue,　west of Novi Road.

E. Approval of an engineering contract amendment to URS Michigan, Inc. to provide additional construction engineering services for the Beck Road and Ten Mile Road Intersection Reconstruction project in the amount of $16,180.

F. Approval of the Termination of Easements associated with the realignment of water mains for the City Center Plaza development, located on parcel no. 22-15-477-011 and 22-22-227-029, along the south side of Grand River Avenue, west of Novi Road.

G. Approval of Hold Harmless Agreement for methane gas ventilation system at the Vantage Pointe (f/k/a Terrapin Crossing) development, located on parcel no. 22-23-351-063 & 064 at the northeast corner of Novi Road and Ten Mile Road.

H. Approval of the Storm Drainage Facility Maintenance Easement Agreement for the Corrigan Warehouse Addition site, located on parcel no. 22-15-301-007 at the north side of Grand River Avenue, just east of Taft Road.

I. Approval to award a two year Aggregate Materials Contact, with a one year renewable option, to the low bidder, based on unit pricing for each material, for a total estimated amount of $97,040.

J. Approval of the Storm Drainage Facility Maintenance Easement Agreement for the Speedway Rebuild site, located on parcel no. 22-04-100-028 at the southwest corner of Beck Road and Pontiac Trail.

K. Approval to award the Moveable Wall Track Replacement Contract, a One-Year Maintenance Agreement (Alternate #1), and Additional Services (Alternate #2) to AFC, Inc., the low qualified bidder, in the amount of $23,518.

L. Approval of the request of Novi Town Center Investors, LLC, for approval of a Section 9 Façade Waiver.　 The subject property is located east of Novi Road, north of Grand River Avenue, in the TC, Town Center District.　 The applicant is proposing to redesign a portion of the facades of Buildings A1, C, C1, D, F, G, J and N.　

M. Approval of the request of Crown Plaza for a Section 9 Façade Waiver.　 The subject property is located in Section 14, west of Novi Road between I-96 and Twelve Mile Road in the C, Conference District.　 The applicant is proposing to redesign a portion of the existing eastern façade on the Crown Plaza Hotel at 27000 Sheraton Drive, to accommodate the proposed Deli Unique restaurant.

N. Approval of Claim and Accounts – Warrant No. 791

Mr. Pearson said Council had suggested they come forward and put on record that from Novi’s perspective the concept had regional benefits. He said it was in keeping with the adopted Economic Development Goals to support the initiative, which was really a concept and developing idea at this time. He said there would be strategies and implementation measures that would come forward as part of this. He said from his perspective and Mr. Topouzian’s and everything they had learned, they thought it was something that held true promise for the entire region. Mr. Pearson said he believed Novi would get its fair share of developments and had a strategic advantage with Novi’s location and proximity to the airport. He thought it would be a nice fit and they would probably get more of the logistic organizations like the Ryder Systems that were in Novi. He didn’t believe it would take away from other kinds of facilities that wanted to be right next to the airport. Mr. Pearson said they thought it would be a win-win situation and something they were suggesting Council consider endorsing.

Member Margolis said she had added this to Mayor and Council Issues a couple of weeks ago and thanked Council for supporting staff coming up with the resolution. As she said at that time, she thought that the idea of using the knowledge that the auto industry had brought to this area in terms of logistics and supply chain and supporting the Aerotropolis concept for Novi. She echoed Mr. Pearson that the benefit for Novi in terms of economic development had to do with the knowledge work that had to be done around supply chain and their position at the 275 and I-96 corridor really allowed them to take advantage of this concept. Member Margolis commented the resolution was just supporting and putting our name out there as someone who was involved and interested encouraging businesses who were involved in Aerotroplis. She, also, thought it would be a win-win for the City in getting economic development.

Member Mutch said he had looked into the Aerotropolis concepts and read the documents that were provided from Wayne and Washtenaw Counties. He said the only concern he had was that back in November, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson raised some concerns about some of the legislation associated with the Aerotropolis concept. Mr. Patterson had stated in Crain’s that he was not really happy with the Aerotropolis proposal with the renaissance zones that were proposed in legislation. Mr. Patterson said "that puts Oakland County and Macomb County at a definite disadvantage when competing for new business." He said some of the concerns that were raised by Dennis Toffolo, Deputy County Executive from Oakland County were that the proposed legislation lacked oversight and approval mechanisms and had few restrictions on use of tax revenue captured by the incentive zones.

Member Mutch said his understanding was that legislation that was proposed last fall was not adopted by the State Legislature, and they were working on new legislation trying to address those concerns. He said he wanted to make a friendly amendment to the resolution to add one word to the last paragraph. Instead of it saying that "the Council of the City of Novi supports the advancement of the Detroit Region Aerotropolis" that it stated "they support the advancement of the concept of the Detroit Region Aerotropolis." He thought that clarified they were behind it as a concept but he didn’t want the resolution used by others to indicate that Novi had already signed off on some of these legislative proposals, which he wasn’t sure met the economic development goals of Novi. Member Mutch said with that friendly amendment he would be willing to support the resolution. Then, that would leave Oakland County and some of the other parties looking at this from a broader viewpoint, an opportunity to address some of those concerns. He thought that would clarify Council’s level of support versus a full scale embrace of what had been put out there in past legislation.

Member Margolis accepted the friendly amendment and said the bottom line was that this resolution did not state any support for any specific legislation or any specific renaissance zones. She said it really said they were supporting the idea.

Mr. Pearson said the project was one of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and they use tax increment financing for the project to recoup their ordinary/extraordinary clean up costs on this particular parcel. He said Brownfields had generally been something that Council had taken a hard look at, they had a briefing about this and had some speakers come in. Mr. Pearson said his sense was that the Council had been very open to this as one specific development tool for these kinds of unique situations. He said this project had come forward and an area developer had been working on this. Mr. Pearson thought it held a lot of merit and they were recommending Council’s strong consideration of this project. He said basically the tax increment capture would be towards the clean up costs and the advantage of this with the Brownfield and the redevelopment plan was that there were known quantities going into it for a known period of time. He noted if there were changes that had to be made as they went forward and found something different, they would have to come back and amend the plan. He commented to get this piece of parcel where there was a strong case that it would not be finished, but for this incentive, made it worthy of Council’s consideration.

Member Mutch noted this was a relatively new development and new building and he assumed that most of the environmental standards that were in place today were in place at the point that this initial development was improved. He asked how they got to the point that they’re dealing with a relatively new building and a Brownfield site. He said typically Brownfields were orphan site or sites that historically had been contaminated. He asked why they were in this position today. Mr. Pearson responded that regulations had changed and so it would be a different clean up standard. Also, with the diligence that was required now and the attorneys that would be involved, they would require a higher level of clean-up.

Anne Jamison, AKT Peerless Environmental Services, said she worked in the Incentives Division of their company. She said the Brownfield Financing Act was created for projects like these where they had not a super fun site cleanup on their hands but basically certain levels of "due care" that had to be met for the occupancy of the building. In this case, the building was built as a spec building in 2004 and had never been occupied. Ms. Jamison said there were four other buildings on the site in addition to this one and three had been occupied and this building had stayed vacant since its construction. She said the interior of the building was not finished and was basically a bare floor, no underground connections, etc. So, to bring in the appropriate electrical, water lines and that type of thing, they would have to trench under the building and in doing so they would encounter some of the contaminated soil that existed there. She said it exceeded direct contact for lead and some other constituents such as drinking water protection, etc. However, because the trenching had to take place and the flooring had to go in, appropriate due care measures had to be taken, in other words, if the soil came out of the ground it had to be appropriately disposed of. She said it also had to be disposed of in an appropriate landfill, which would be a Type 2 Landfill. Ms. Jamison said since there had been no occupation of the building so the appropriate measures to take care of what had to be done to finish the building were never completed. She said that was why, in this case, they were seeking support for that.

Member Mutch asked if there were other uses that could go in there that wouldn’t require that or would, whatever went into that site, require remediation. Ms. Jamison said it was Commercial Office/Industrial and whatever went in would require remediation because of the fact that they had to remove the soil from the site because of the additional utilities that had to go in. She said the disposal of that soil would have to be done regardless and handled appropriately regardless of the end use. Member Mutch asked if this was unusual. He said this was a fairly new site and he would assume that the property owner would have done a certain level of due diligence and environmental assessment. He asked if it would be a one time situation or would they be dealing with multiple Brownfield sites in this development. Ms. Jamison responded that this was a site specific Brownfield plan and didn’t address any other property within this area of Novi. She said it was limited to the parcel and to the eligible activities that would take place on the parcel. So, to answer Member Mutch’s question, it would not affect any of the additional projects that might be taken into consideration at a future date. She said a separate Brownfield plan would have to be created for those projects. She said this was not an unusual situation because most of the properties that they dealt with had a certain level of contamination on them. She said a BEA was put in place to create a baseline for reference of any future potential contamination that might occur on the property. She said they know the contaminates were on site, if the new property owner creates more contamination they had a way of determining what the existing contamination, was versus what the new contamination might be. She said the baseline was just a baseline and they had every property owner that had a BEA done on a property had certain due care responsibilities associated with that BEA. So, it didn’t just stop at the BEA level but went beyond that and basically was a catch all to prevent any exposure to workers on site and direct contact issues. Also, for example, if there was a building that had more severe contamination on it, it would protect the health and safety of the workers and the environment. Ms. Jamison said every property owner who owned a property that had even nominal amount of contamination, if it exceeded what the DEQ determined, in this case to be a facility there was additional activities, that had to be addressed. Member Mutch asked when the property was purchased and Ms. Jamison said within the last year. Member Mutch said then there was no historical connection where a property owner had some involvement with the contamination on the property. Ms. Jamison said absolutely not. Member Mutch said in terms of the financing, it was explained to him that the property owner would pay the cost upfront and then the tax increment financing process would then pay the property owner back. Ms. Jamison said he was correct. Member Mutch said it would reimburse them as the property increased and the tax capture took place. Ms. Jamison agreed. Member Mutch said that property was separate from Oxid and they would be leasing the building and the finances went back to the property owner. Ms. Jamison agreed. Member Mutch appreciated the detail because he thought it got at one of the concerns he had with this specific proposal. He said they were taking a private liability, which while the property owner wasn’t the cause of the environmental activity in the past that created the environmental condition that existed now, that liability would now be transferred to onto the public through the use of the tax capture. So, the property owner would have to pay for the environmental remediation up front but would be paid back in full through the tax capture process for the costs that were associated with the Brownfield. Member Mutch said, from the City’s viewpoint, they were foregoing $62,000 in tax revenues that would otherwise come from the property. So, the question to the Council was why was the City and other taxing authorities absorbing the cost that the private property owner should absorb. He said he understood the legal authority existed and the process was in place to address Brownfield sites, but that was what they, as a City, had to weigh. He said if other businesses were coming forward asking for a $62,000 contribution over a seven year period for any other expenses related to development costs, he didn’t know if they would make that level of contribution. He said that was something they had to weigh as well. He said he was trying to weigh why the City was absorbing that liability and cost versus the property owner.

Ms. Jamison responded it was a very good means of using an available economic development tool and it’s also absorbed, not just by the City, but by the county and other taxing jurisdictions. Member Mutch said she was correct that everybody was contributing, but it also meant that those were dollars that those authorities didn’t have. Member Mutch said he was concerned about the precedent too because there were other Brownfield sites in the City and might have some in this particular development. He said it became a question of how much the City gave up over the long term to bring these businesses in and to get these properties developed. He thought the property owners had an obligation to contribute towards that process as well and hoped whatever side of the deal Council wasn’t seeing that was going on between Oxid and the property owner, there was some reflection that there was some benefit there as well.

Member Margolis said she would absolutely support this. She noted she was on record that she thought the way they encouraged economic development in the community was by developing the infrastructure. So, she had taken the position that they don’t give tax abatements to attract businesses to Novi, but might build a road to incent businesses to come to Novi. She said the reason for that was that the road stayed in the community no matter

what happened to the business and it benefitted the community while attracting business and Michigan needed to attract diverse businesses. She said that was what this was all about and it was a company that worked in medical laser beam delivery, defense contracting, etc. She said what they got from this process was the clean up of a property in the community that stayed cleaned up. Member Margolis thought it was important that they were not subsidizing; the only subsidization was that the increase in taxable value that came from having this business in the community was put towards the clean up. So, the idea that the $62,000 would remain if this wasn’t done was not true because that land had been sitting vacant since it was built in 2004. She said this was tax money that the City had not received and the idea was that over time some of that increase in taxable value would be to pay the developer back for the clean up. She thought it was a win-win especially when talking about the kind of high tech jobs it would bring in.

Mayor Pro Tem Gatt stated he wholeheartedly support this. He said they had studied Brownfields and this would be the City’s first venture into the Brownfield arena. He commented they wanted to attract businesses to the community and to have economic development as priority number one. He said businesses still want to come to Novi and Council wanted to do everything they could to keep them coming.

Member Staudt said he was very pleased to see that they finally found a project worthy of a Brownfield. He commented in really tough economic times someone was coming into Novi to invest in a project that was bogged down because of circumstances that they didn’t anticipate. He said they were making an investment in Novi and Council had to use economic development tools now, if there was any better time to do it, it’s today. He might take a different position five years from now and think the builder should take on that liability themselves. Member Staudt said he would fully support this particular project and anticipated that they would see several more over the next few years.

Mayor Landry said he also wholeheartedly supported this and said the City lost nothing with this. He said right now there was a piece of property that was contaminated and it rendered development not practical because it was too expensive. He said the City was getting a certain modicum of taxes on an undeveloped piece of property and using tax increment financing the City lost nothing. It didn’t lose the existing tax revenue it was getting; it only foregoes the increment financing and it was only for nine years. He said the City got a cleaned up piece of property, a new business, direct jobs from the business, indirect jobs from the business and the Novi School District was not affected by this tax increment financing. Mayor Landry said as Member Margolis said, the City would get infrastructure and in the long run it increased the tax base of the City. He agreed with the comments of the three previous speakers.

Mike McCormick, Executive Director at Fox Run Retirement Community, was present and said he was before Council in 2003 requesting a Class C Liquor License for the residents of the Fox Run community, but there no Class C Licenses available. However, they were approved for a Club Liquor License for their first club house and it had been very successful. In 2007 they opened a second club house and the Liquor Commission said they were not going to extend liquor services to the second club house but could retain them for the first club house. Mr. McCormick said they opened up a brand new building with a beautiful pub and wonderful restaurant and for the last couple of years they could not serve beer, wine or cocktails to the residents in the club house. He said the 900 residents of the community would like to have the availability to an amenity and service that they would enjoy. Mr. McCormick said they were asking Council to consider allowing Fox Run to have a Class C Liquor License to be able to serve the residents of their community. He said they currently have 900 residents in the community and the development was a little less than half way completed. So, for many years in the future senior citizens would come to Fox Run and asked that Council consider this. He said Fox Run was a non-profit organization and would be a pillar of the community for many years to come and it would provide a great service to their seniors. He said Fox Run had been a great partner with the City since 2003 when they opened up and many years before that. He said they employed 500 people for the community including 150 high school students.

Mr. Pearson said staff reported they found no objections or reasons from their perspective from a technical standpoint. He said it was a Quota License so there was the ordinance criteria in which to evaluate and decide this discretionary action.

Mayor Pro Tem Gatt said Fox Run was a unique community and unique to all other senior communities in Novi and had demonstrated their need and a good partnership with the community. He said the difference between now and then was that they had established themselves longer and he thought they would be there for many years. He asked Mr. Schultz what the criteria was that had to be met. Mr. Schultz said if the comments that were made were incorporated into a motion that would be fine.

1. Rahul Ahluwalia

Mr. Ahluwalia thought the Novi Youth Council (NYC) was the voice of the youth and a voice he felt he could fulfill. He said he was a sophomore in high school and had benefitted as well as contributed to the Novi community. He noted he had served as a referee for Novi Parks and Recreation. He said he was an active member of FIRST Robotics and learned to work with adults, other peers, new ideas a lot of stress and fun; and led new members through a build season, which was quite tough. Mr. Ahluwalia commented he also completed a year of track and field, volunteered in the National Honor Society, (NHS), and was involved in several other clubs. He said this went to show his hard work and dedication. He felt he was determined to pursue a job completely. He thought he could help excel the Novi community as a NYC member. He said he would help to build new ideas such as a music night for the community or kids. Mr. Ahluwalia felt that with his learning all traits had helped him prepare for NYC and he thought he would be a great candidate. He said his goals were to bring his diverse skill set, to the NYC. He said he helped build sets through dramatic arts, engineering from robotics and innovation from years of experience working with people and new ideas; as well as hours of volunteer services and the rewards of helping the community. Mr. Ahluwalia said as a member of NYC he hoped to gain fond memories and help plan and execute events such as a movie night. He said along with a sense of leadership inspired from running these events, and with the rest of NYC, he wanted to help create and bring these things to life. He noted he wanted to take away the knowledge that he contributed to a better Novi and NYC.

2. Adam Awdish

Mr. Awdish believed he would be a good candidate for the NYC because he had been very involved with the community. He said he had played sports, played on the hockey team and had lived in Novi his whole life. He commented he had done a lot of volunteer work and had

helped at the library for the past two years. He had also volunteered at his church and helped the South Oakland Shelter give the needy food and shelter, clothing etc. Mr. Awdish said he would like to help the community in any way he could to improve the community. He said he hoped to take away all leadership skills possible and anything for college that would help him and would like to be more a part of the community.

3. Emily Bank

Ms. Bank thought she would be a great candidate to continue her role as student representative on the Novi Library Board. She noted she was a student leader at Novi High School and active on the Student Council where it was easy to get student input on issues that affect the library. Ms. Bank said she was a member of the Team Advisory Board and worked at the library for six months last year and knew what a valuable resource the library was to the community. She noted her strengths included communication, creative ideas and getting people involved in her projects. She said the new library would be an outstanding resource for high school students and she wanted to continue to be a voice for teens. Ms. Bank was hoping to get more teens involved in using the library web site, homework help site and participating in special programs offered in the library. She wanted to participate in publicity activities and polling teens on what they would like the library to do for them. She said being on the Library Board gave her an opportunity to give back to the community. Ms. Bank said the library helped her become an avid reader along with great teachers at Novi Woods Elementary. She commented that the Novi Library would be a showpiece for the City and a valuable resource for all who live in Novi. She asked Council to consider continuing her term on the Novi Library Board.

4. Marianne Caddy

Ms. Caddy felt she would be a good candidate for the NYC because she was a good representation of the teenagers of Novi. She said when she saw something that needed to be done in the community she took action as she didn’t like sitting around watching things happen without getting involved. Ms. Caddy said she volunteered a lot at her church, Holy Family and enjoyed it and felt this position on the NYC would be the next step in her career. She noted she was on the Forensics team, played field hockey, International Club, Habitat for Humanity and theater. She felt obligated to help her community and thought she could contribute to making it a better City and help it move along. Ms. Caddy said she would like to leave a lasting impression to the citizens and would like to learn how City government worked.

5. Shital Chauhan

Ms. Chauhan said she was a sophomore at Novi High School. She thought what made her a good candidate for NYC was her passion to help others and how she challenged herself to be the best she could be. She said Novi had contributed and shaped who she was and she felt that being a part of the younger generation of Novi it was their duty to serve and have a voice in the government. She knew that her hard work, dedication and commitment in every thing she did would help Novi be a better place. Ms. Chauhan said she had acquired leadership skills over the years and currently held three officer positions in Art Club, Science Club and Bridge Point. She said Bridge Point was a non-profit student run organization that helped less fortunate kids in Detroit by providing them with essential necessities and helping them find a

positive outlook in their community so they could grow up and make it a better place. She said through this she had developed her passion for public service and realized the potential youth had. She noted she had volunteered over 100 hours at The Manor of Novi and continues to go there each week. Ms. Chauhan said, at the Manor, it was necessary to take everyone’s individual opinions and look at situations through their perspective and come up with solutions for the betterment of everyone. She said she had earned her way into the National Honor Society at Novi High and enjoyed watching the news every night and looking up articles. She commented that being on NYC she could advocate change and encourage peers to speak out. She hoped to learn more skills and find a broader perspective and gain more knowledge about Novi. Ms. Chauhan wanted to represent the young generation of Novi and help the City Council by promoting its schools, taking initiative, action and change.

6. Robert Hsu

Mr. Hsu stated he was in the 10th grade at Novi High School. He said he loved to meet new people and treasured the connections that he made with people every day. Mr. Hsu said he worked with kids at library, stocked shelves at Northville Civic Concern, volunteered at Independence Village and other nursing homes. He felt a passion to get to know people, make their day better and put a smile on their face. Mr. Hsu said he had great leadership experience and had started the Northville Awareness Society at his school, which aimed to raise awareness of heart disease and cancer. He said they had raised $2,000 so far this year. He said he had also brought Hoops for Heart to his school, which was a basketball tournament. He said they had raised $1,000 from that last week. He said even though he had a couple of activities, he showed great commitment to them and hoped the NYC would be the next he could put a full effort into. He said he knew how to work with others and always put others first. As a leader, he tried to lower himself to other people’s level because everyone deserved the same responsibility, even as a leader, and that was so everyone felt comfortable. Mr. Hsu thought it was important to craft a sense of equality and as a leader he tried not to dominate but tried to guide, inspire and motivate others. He said since he went to Northville High School, but lived in Novi, he thought it could bring a different perspective to NYC because most candidates attended Novi High School. He said he loved meeting new people and developing new skills. He said he liked to make an impact on society because in school with the Administrators his opportunities were limited and he felt the NYC would help him broaden his opportunities so he could make a greater impact. He thought he could bring new ideas and said he was a 15 year old leader ready to take on the challenges of tomorrow.

7. Ayushi Jain

Ms. Jain believed she would be a good candidate due to previous volunteer experiences that had made her love helping her community. She said through opportunities such as working in nursing homes she had learned to be patient and persistent. The senior citizens didn’t always understand what she was saying but remaining positive and being determined helped her a lot. She said this was not only useful for them but for young children at fun fairs and teacher aiding. She said working with them taught her to stay in charge and become more responsible. She also realized she loved working with kids, which was one of the reasons she was interested in NYC. Ms. Jain said she liked helping the community as she loved making flyers for upcoming events at the library. She said she had an optimistic outlook and felt it would be useful if she was a part of the NYC; she understood it was a group effort. She said she had done well in school and had been able to keep up her grades, which had helped her set up her priorities. Therefore, she would be able to give her all to the NYC and would try to excel in whatever she was assigned. Ms. Jain said they had been learning about drugs and alcohol since elementary school and had been shocked to learn the unfortunate incidents that related to it. She said through the NYC, she hoped to make a difference by helping others become aware of such issues. She commented that the Sticker Shock and Addicted to Drugs activities were things she was extremely interested in and hoped to become a part of, as she wanted to be able to assist in educating others. Ms. Jain would also like to better the lives of senior citizens and frequently volunteer at nursing homes and had come to love working at them and would love to make more of a difference through a platform such as NYC. Ms. Jain said she would like to take away a sense of pride and accomplishment in the fact that she had been able to make a positive difference in the community. She commented that through her entire life the community had helped her and through NYC she would be able to give back. She noted that because she had over 100 hours of volunteer work she had been recognized by the Novi Youth Assistance and she believed it would help her to help the NYC.

8. Zoe Jenkins

Ms. Jenkins said she was in the ninth grade at Novi High School. She said she loved Novi and that was why she wanted to be a part of the NYC. She commented she was a hard worker and had creative ideas that she felt would broaden NYC’s ability to help. Ms. Jenkins said she was a great leader, volunteered a lot and was a team worker. She felt that being on many clubs and three sports made her a team worker, a leader. She noted she was a great student and felt she could improve communication between teens and the community. Ms. Jenkins said she wanted to participate in the NYC Project Sticker Shock because she believed that drunk driving was very bad and teens could do many things to help prevent many deaths each year.

9. Meng Meng Jie

Ms. Jie said she was a sophomore at Novi High School. She felt that she would be a good candidate for the NYC because she had a lot of experience with helping communities. She noted that last summer she went with her church on a mission trip to Oceana, W. Virginia and helped the neighbors around Oceana fix their houses. She said she would use that experience to help improve the City of Novi. Ms. Jie said she didn’t have room in her schedule to take AP Calculus; so she decided to self study the course, which was difficult but with her hard work and dedication she managed to make it through. Ms. Jie said she would work just as hard for the City of Novi. She commented one of her goals was to make more events to help elementary school students learn to enjoy learning. She felt it was important for anyone to know the joys of gaining knowledge at a young age. Ms. Jie said she would like to do what she could to help this wonderful City and would do this by participating in many events such as Project Sticker Shock. She said it would be a great accomplishment to know that she helped save Novi from even just one accident.

10. Katelyn Kerbrat

Ms. Kerbrat said she was a freshman at Novi High School. She hoped to work on NYC because she believed it would give her many good qualities such as leadership and also how to work with a group. She felt, in today’s world, it was important to be able to work in a group. Ms. Kerbrat said since she was six years old she had been a swimmer and it helped teach her individualism as well as personal dedication and perseverance. She noted she also played volleyball for years, which taught her about working with a group and that she had to give more to others than she gave to herself. She said she had helped the community in many ways through Girl Scouts, such as last summer when she collected 50,000 band aids for Children’s Hospital. Ms. Kerbrat noted she personally gave them to the hospital with thanks for helping her with personal diseases she had in childhood. She commented she did as much as she could and was very dedicated and tried very hard to persevere so she could get into the best college she could. Ms. Kerbrat believed she would be good on NYC because she set goals for herself and did everything she could to see them through. She said she helped other people reach their goals as well. She believed in helping others more than yourself and thought it would be an important quality to bring to the NYC.

11. Derek Kim

Mr. Kim stated he was the President of the Class of 2012. He said his father asked him before applying for the NYC why he wanted to become a part of the NYC team. Mr. Kim responded it was because he loved Novi. He said he had one of the greatest times at the Novi High School and Novi Middle School and he wanted to be able to continue this to newcomers and in coming freshman. He said he wanted to create events such as Addicted to Movies not Drugs so that kids would go home and tell their parents that they were proud to be a resident of Novi. Mr. Kim said he was honest and loyal and wanted to be able to know that he had the skills to take what the majority of the student body would like and mediate that and create it so that it was successful for the entire student body. Mr. Kim said he would like to take away from the experience of the NYC was that he hoped he could lead the way with the knowledge of being able to handle large scale events that produced creativity, thought and pride in the community.

12. Andrew Lee

Mr. Lee, junior at Novi High School, believed that Novi Youth Council was more than a just a student position but was also a leadership position. He said last year he was selected to attend a National Young Leaders Conference that was recognized by colleges. Mr. Lee said it was a summer program to learn experiences in government that invited over 200 students to participate in Washington D.C. He believed those experiences would help him do the best job in NYC. He said he also applied for three military service academy summer seminars, which were for students to gain knowledge. He said they didn’t guarantee an appointment to the service academies but they demonstrated he would be a more valuable candidate for an appointment. Mr. Lee said he would be attending two service academies, West Point and the Air Force. He thought his selection to those seminars demonstrated he would be a good candidate for the NYC. Mr. Lee said he wanted to pursue a career in military or politics and hoped to take away from the NYC experience for a career in Congress or the military. Mr. Lee said even in this small setting in Council Chambers he was awed and humbled by all that the Council did for the City.

13. Samantha Macy

Ms. Macy stated she was qualified to be on the NYC because of the volunteer work she had done. She said for the past two years she had volunteered with a Girl Scout troop. Ms. Macy commented last summer she went on a mission trip to Kentucky in a county that much of the population lived below the poverty line. There she help fix someone’s house and learned what it felt like to help people and to know that she was really making a difference in someone’s life. She said that was what she wanted to get out of the NYC was that she could change the world in a small way and would like to do that in her own community. She said her dream was to change the world and this would be an opportunity to help people around her and see the effects of that change.

14. Krithika Mahesh

Ms. Mahesh believed serving on the NYC was a great opportunity to help her be an effective and active member of the community, and help make a difference. She said being a member would expose her to new experiences and build her leadership skills and confidence. She said she had served as a representative on her school student council, and was a part of the National High School Scholars. Ms. Mahesh said it had always been her passion to help the environment and had worked in the River Rouge project to help clean the surrounding areas and noting changes in animal populations. She said she spent her summers volunteering at the library and enjoyed promoting reading to younger children and wanted to advertise reading even more.

15. Dayana Mosallam was not present

16. Ekene Mozie

Ms. Mozie, junior at Novi High School, said she moved to Novi in 2008 and was so scared. However, as she got to know Novi more, especially the opportunities as great as this one, she loved it. She said there wasn’t one thing that she could say was fun at the high school and heard students say there was nothing to do in Novi. Ms. Mozie said she wanted to change that. She said she wanted Novi to be a place to have fun and learn at the same time. She felt she would be a great candidate because she was a great leader, an excellent role model to peers, especially ones in her ethnicity, and she loved to get the job done in an organized and smooth fashion while having fun with her creative skills. Ms. Mozie said she had dealt with all kinds of people from all different backgrounds as being president of her Bible Club in her old school and currently planning an elementary class reunion. She said her goal was to make the high school years more fun with unique fund raisers like food throw downs, dinner giveaways, senior trips and school theme dances that wouldn’t get canceled. Ms. Mozie wanted to take away the experience of new friends and enhance her leadership role for children of all ages and give Novi some spunk. She said everything she would do would involve food because food attracted people.

17. Sai Mulakala

Ms. Mulakala, sophomore at Novi High School, said she would like to be a part of the NYC because she would like to step up and make a difference in the community. She noted she had lived in Novi for nine years and she wanted to do something great for the community. She thought she would be a good candidate for the NYC because Novi’s was a very diverse community and she would like to bring diversity to the NYC by being a part of the council. She said she wanted to help others in the community and volunteered for many organizations talking with adults and kid. She said she learned a lot with them.

18. Janani Naidu

Ms. Naidu, junior at Novi High School, said she had served on the NYC for the past two years and served as secretary this past year. She said ever since second grade, Novi had given her so much and NYC had provided with the opportunity to finally give back. She believed she had represented Novi well and would continue to do so. Ms. Naidu said she enjoyed every activity that the NYC presented, such as Addicted to Movies not Drugs, Senior to Senior Prom, Addicted to Games not Drugs and Youth Hope Convention. She commented she enjoyed the fact that the NYC interacted with and spoke out for every age group. She said they help lead

middle school students as youth ambassadors in the Memorial Day Parade and have an Addicted to Games not Drugs program for them. They also have Addicted to Movies and Youth Hope Convention for high school students. She said the Youth Hope Convention also provided NYC an opportunity to interact with adults and local businesses. She said the Senior to Senior Prom gave them a chance to work with the elderly. She said last summer their advisor, Sheryl Walsh, challenged the NYC by asking if they were capable of placing a mark on the map. She believed this past year that the NYC had done just that through being Channel 4 News to Addicted to Games not Drugs and Detroit Lions ex-quarterback Eric Hipple speak at the Youth Hope Convention, which she believed was very effective. Ms. Naidu stated she would like to see more of NYC members interact with the City Council, as she didn’t think there was enough interaction. She said she was a part of the Varsity Swim Team, Debate Team and National Honor Society and through these clubs she learned commitment, leadership and dedication. Ms. Naidu said she had also served as vice president of Michigan Association Youth Committee where she promoted cultural diversity. She stated she had always volunteered and while in high school volunteered for the Red Cross and Providence Hospital. She said one thing she really liked about NYC was they interacted with all parts of the community and she also served on the Teen Advisory Board at the Library. Ms. Naidu said the NYC had provided her with such an amazing opportunity and she would love to continue to serve.

19. Rubini Naidu

Ms. Naidu, freshman from Novi High School, said she would be an eligible representative for the NYC. She said her originality, participation and various experiences had taught her how to be a leader, communicator, speaker, listener and volunteer. She said these qualities would allow her to represent and benefit Novi. She said she learned through cross country, team work and the importance of dedication and commitment to a team. She noted she had been a cross country runner since seventh grade and had been able to achieve her varsity letter as a freshman this year. Ms. Naidu commented that cross country had taught her what it felt like to be a part of a team with everything from sleepovers at the coach’s house to motivating one another at tough work outs. She said she learned what it was like to work towards a common goal with a team and that she could apply these skills by being an active and dedicated team member. Ms. Naidu noted she had also experienced being a communicator and leader starting in middle school she was selected to be on the student achievement team, which was a group of two students, parents and administration. She was also on student council and her student body viewed her as a leader. She said through these experiences, she learned what it was like to communicate ideas between the student body and school administration and if she was on the NYC, she would speak up at meetings and share her thoughts and creative ideas. She commented she was the team captain for the Relay for Life team and it taught her how to advocate for common cause and had given her the experience of interacting with local businesses. Ms. Naidu stated she also volunteered for the American Red Cross on Saturdays and it had been a rewarding experience. Also, she and her family travelled to India and stayed in a rural area for a week and volunteered there and that experience taught her what real people went through in real situations and it helped her communicate and interact with different people. Ms. Naidu said, if chosen, she was more than willing to make the NYC a top priority and commitment, and hoped she could take away leadership and communication skills that she could apply throughout her life. She said for two years she had watched her sister be involved and desired to serve Novi and give back to the community that had given her so much. She said she was dedicated and consistent and would most definitely do the same if given the opportunity to be a NYC member.

20. Matthew Nicholas

Mr. Nicholas, Junior at Catholic Central, said he had always been interested in government and especially local government, because at the Federal level people were in Washington making decisions on things that impact people many miles away. However, on the local level he could see the benefits of the decisions he would make because he lived in the community. Mr. Nicholas believed that his school was underrepresented in the Novi government. He said Catholic Central brought more than 1,000 students from all over Michigan to Novi. He said they not only spent their time in Novi but also spent their money in Novi. He stated he had lived in Novi his entire life and his mother owned a business in Novi. Mr. Nicholas said he wanted to take a greater part in Novi government. He noted he volunteered at his church and had leadership experience. He said he was captain of his Quizbowl team, which just won a State championship last week and was part of the National Honor Society. He commented he was trying to be editor-in-chief of a newspaper that he recently founded and had his own editorial members and staff. He said the main reason he wanted to become a member of the NYC was that he was hoping to have more insight on local news that pertained to high school students in the Novi area. He hoped that even if he wasn’t chosen, they could remain in contact so that he could advance his newspaper.

21. Suzana Pratt

Ms. Pratt said she attended the Youth Hope Convention that was hosted by the NYC. She said as she learned more about what the council did and the skills required to be successful on the NYC, she quickly realized that this was the organization for her. She said she was a sophomore at Northville High School and was running for the NYC because she believed she had the experience, skills and dedication necessary to make a difference with this awesome organization. She said she knew that her experiences and talents had given her a lot to contribute to the NYC. As a tuba player she had worked extremely hard to catch up to her peers, gain their respect and motivate them as a leader. She commented hard work made it possible for her to join the upper classman band although she began studying the tuba three years later than the other students. Ms. Pratt looked forward to bring her dedicated work ethic, to the NYC. She said through her work experiences she had learned to follow directions and think creatively for herself. She said she had held a steady job cleaning houses since she was eleven years old and during the fall she worked at Parmenter’s Cider Mill. She said as a student run organization, the NYC needed to uphold certain traditions but also expand to meet future community demands. Mr. Pratt said she knew that her talents, brainstorming, initiating action and following through would come in handy during these situations. However, she felt that the job that had best prepared her to become a member of the NYC was her role as a chairman of her church’s youth group fundraising committee. She said through trial and error, she had learned the ins and outs of leading a group. She said raising enough money for a mission trip to Ohio had required constant goal setting, progress, evaluation, group communication and tremendous responsibility. She said NYC depended on skills like these to succeed and she knew she could provide them. Ms. Pratt said she knew youth council was for her when she learned about the amazing events they took part in. She said she loved interacting with senior citizens at the Senior to Senior Prom. She hoped to raise drug awareness through events like Project Sticker Shock and Addicted to Movies. Ms. Pratt couldn’t wait to get involved with the community through special programs like the Youth Hope Convention. Most importantly, she said she was excited about impacting the community, working with her peers and giving Northville High School students a chance to become aware of the awesome opportunities Novi had to offer. She said she hoped she was given the opportunity to prove herself as a member of the NYC next year.

22. Jay Raina

Mr. Raina, sophomore in Novi High School, said he would love to be on the NYC. He said he enjoyed working with others and loved helping out and volunteering. He commented the NYC was about volunteering and giving back to the community and he believed he had already shown that capability. He noted he partnered with the Novi Public Library and collected hundreds of books, which were donated for building libraries in Africa. He said this was done through a non-profit organization called Books for Africa of which he was the Novi Chapter representative. Mr. Raina noted he participated annually in the Rouge River cleanup and Rotary Park. He also volunteered over 100 hours for the American Red Cross, which he really loved doing. He said, besides volunteering, he was honored to represent Novi High School at the Chemistry Olympiad and was recently inducted into the National Honor Society. Mr. Raina said he was a well rounded student and was involved in many activities at school. He said he was very impressed by what the NYC did and believed he could contribute even more. Mr. Raina said with the new library coming up, it gave the NYC an opportunity to give ideas about how to better utilize the library for kids and youth. He noted he had lived in Novi for most of his life and believed being a part of the NYC would give him the opportunity to give back to the community he had gained so much from. He thought the experience of being a part of the NYC would be a tremendous benefit to him, as he would be a part of a unique group that would make decisions about the directions the NYC should go and the things that they should do. He said that, in itself, would provide opportunities to work with other people, build partnerships and friendships besides providing leadership qualities. He thought being a part of the City government and working with the representatives of Novi would enhance his understanding of City government, which would be helpful in the future. Mr. Raina thought being a part of the NYC would give him experiences and opportunities that he would carry with him for the rest of his life.

23. Anwesha Ray

Ms. Ray said her past experience in working for various social causes such as becoming a regular volunteer and interning at Next Generation Community (NGCO) left her eager to stay engaged with the Novi community as an active citizen of the youth. She felt it was her moral responsibility to be a voice for the often voiceless youth by making changes and solving problems so the youth could be heard. Ms. Ray said she could confidently say that her experiential background and natural leadership attributes fit the positions description. She said she would be able to fulfill all responsibilities demanded of a NYC representative and most would say she was a very cooperative team member, as she was open to ideas of others. Ms. Ray said it would be her responsibility to work hard to meet the standards of what NYC was all about. She said she maintained a high GPA and participated in seven extracurricular activities. She commented that she was an everyday teenage girl but with high aspirations but what set her apart was when she saw a challenge she was not afraid to take it. Ms. Ray said she wanted to pursue a career in journalism and felt it was important to be well acquainted with society and its problems. This position created opportunities to meet new people, learn new things but most importantly apply her given potential to be a young leader. She felt the experience of the NYC would greatly help her in the future. Ms. Ray said the City of Novi should select her to be a representative because she would give 110% in all her work.

24. Madhu Sanam

Ms. Sanam, sophomore at Novi High School, said she was applying for a position on the NYC. She believed she would make a great representative because of her creativity and desire to make a difference in this world. Ms. Sanam said she came from a household where creativity was strongly encouraged. She noted she was part of Model UN and the Teen Destination Imagination that requests and forced her to take a problem and approach it with a completely alternative path. She said out of the box thinking was a way of life for her. She said she also had a passion to make a huge impact on the world starting from her community. She said she founded a charity project about a year and a half ago, which fund raised money and clothes for a school for the deaf that housed 127 children in India. She said they had raised $5,000 so far and there was a huge dance program coming up in June. Ms. Sanam said she was also involved in library activities and was a part of the Teen Advisory Board where she helped and gave input to new activities that came up and had also volunteered her time over the summer for the past three years. Ms. Sanam said she was also a part of the Detroit Telugu Youth Committee and was their cultural secretary where she helped to keep tradition alive along with inputting American values and day to day values. Ms. Sanam said she was an officer in the Science Club and a member of the Honor Society. She said she learned an Indian form of dance and continued to teach it to little kids and she donated that money toward her charity. Ms. Sanam said in all her 15 years she had always been a part of the audience. She said she sat endlessly in class and it struck her one day that she never realized the work that went on behind. She said she was always the end result and never the beginning; she now wants to be a part of the crew and not the audience anymore. She said she would love to broaden her horizons and this is what she would like to take back, if she were to become a part of the NYC. She commented that at the end of the day the main thing she would like to accomplish was to make a difference and make Novi a sort of family. She said she was born and raised, half her life, in New Zealand where the cities were small and it was like a village and everyone knew each other. She said she was used to the life that as she saw people walk down the hallway she would wave and smile even though she had never seen their face, ever. Ms. Sanam said although she tried to as much as possible for Novi, she would still love to see Novi as a huge family and being a part of the NYC would help her and the rest of the council do the same.

25. Jessica Saraan

Ms. Saraan said she was a passionate, positive and proactive individual who could bring forth new and creative ideas. She said working in groups she could emerge as a leader and hear what everyone else had envisioned. She said in addition to excelling in academics and being a representative officer for French Club and Novi High School, she had proven to be successful with her volunteer work. She said she had actively worked for Providence Hospital, religious organizations and Novi Community Schools. Ms. Saraan said she had worked with all ages and groups of people and it had given her the ability to commune easily with others. She felt she could relate to people with big and small issues and whenever someone needed help she was there for them. She stated she was easy to confront and was always trying to help others. She commented she had lived in Novi for 12 years and was always looking for ways to give back and this board seemed like a great way to contribute to the City’s wellbeing. She thought the youth being well educated and aware of important issues ensured a positive future. Ms. Saraan wanted to come up with innovative ideas that got the younger people up and going and more involved and aware of issues. She also wanted to promote ways to have fun without abusing drugs and alcohol and be aware of serious problems in Novi and the world that often were overlooked and the value of performing civic duties. She stated she wanted to make the people in Novi pleased, educated and proud so that maybe one day Novi would rise from number 48 to number one for the best City to live in. She hoped that being on the board she would have a mutually beneficial relationship where she could give back to Novi with her innovative ideas and gain confidence and leadership skills that she could carry on in the future.

26. Roxane Sedghi

Ms. Sedghi, junior at Novi High School, thought she would be a good candidate because she was diligent and didn’t believe in procrastinating. She said she was involved in many activities in high school such as Interact, Relay for Life, SADD, Drama Club and she was also a freshman mentor. She said she attended the Hope Convention that was hosted by the NYC and was very impressed and would love to be a part of that. Ms. Sedghi commented, if appointed to NYC, she hoped to give back to the community and serve Novi in any way possible because it was her home and had given her so much. She said she would be honored help improve the community any way she could.

27. Eugene Song

Mr. Song, freshman at Novi High School, said he moved to Novi about three years ago and came to appreciate the City and schools for the opportunities they had given him. He wanted to give back by helping his peers and the future generation realize these opportunities and use them to their advantage. Mr. Song said through volunteer activities at church and teacher aiding, he had learned to assume a modest position while working with others. He said his parents pushed him to excel in his studies and it had affected his daily life style and had made him a hard worker who knew what to do and got it done. He commented he was concerned about under age drinking and drug abuse and would hate to imagine a peer of his being affected by such vices. He thought that concern would help him become more motivated to contribute to society. He said he didn’t have much experience in government positions but he was willing to learn. He said he had been told by some of his peers that he had a quiet demeanor but that could change through this experience by exchanging ideas with others and learning to communicate with them. Mr. Song said by participating in NYC, he wished to pave the path that would lead him to become an influential leader.

28. Rachel Staudt

Ms. Staudt, sophomore at Novi High School, said she was in the volleyball, basketball and track programs. She felt she would be an excellent volunteer in the community because she had volunteered at many of the local places including Village Oaks Elementary, Orchard Hills and her local church. She said some of the activities she had been included in were a homeless shelter, teacher aid and children’s plays. She commented a City could not survive without the help of volunteers and she had learned that volunteering helped with hard work, ethics and responsibility. Ms. Staudt said the skills she had gained would help her to be a better volunteer in the City and hopefully on the NYC. She noted she was committed to working hard as a member on the NYC and hoped to represent her family and City with honor. She said she would also like to inspire other people to volunteer and said some citizens didn’t realize how important volunteering was to the City and if there were more volunteers, the City could be stronger and better than it already was. Ms. Staudt stated she would like to represent all the kids who don’t get noticed for all the volunteer work they do and she would like to help them get all the recognition they need.

29. Brahadheeshwar Sundararaju

Mr. Sundararaju said he would love to be a part of the NYC. He said he was hard working and organized and committed to being an integral part of the NYC. He noted he had many school activities that set him a part of others. He said he was a part of the Quizbowl team, which came in first in their JV Division this year and he was a part of the roller hockey team last year when they won the State championship. He noted he was a part of the National Honor Society this year. Mr. Sundararaju said mathematics was one of his favorite subjects and he continued to excel in competitions such as the Michigan Math Prize competition where he qualified for the top 200 in the State. He noted he also qualified for the American Invitational Math Examination, which was the top 1% of contesters in the entire nation. However, it wasn’t as important to him as volunteering with a kid named DJ at a Detroit City Mission. He said DJ attends the Detroit Public Schools and the school system there obviously isn’t as up to par as Novi. He said he found that DJ as a freshman could not do basic arithmetic and algebra. He said as they worked hard together, they became really good friends and he found that he could really help him and one day when they were working he said he aced his test. Mr. Sundararaju said that was a great feeling for him to know that he really helped someone become a better person and succeed. He said seeing how he could help DJ in such a simple way showed him that he could really make a difference and being a part of the NYC would give him this opportunity and he would really love to serve on the NYC.

30. Debnita Talapatra

Ms. Talapatra, junior at Novi High School, felt she was suitable for the NYC position because she had experience working with various people, organizations and events. She said she volunteers and participates in community events. Ms. Talapatra said she volunteered at Providence, Toys for Tots and the Library. She commented, because of her volunteering at the Library she would be a good representative for the Library Commission. She said she was friendly and worked well with others and had demonstrated this by being a part of several clubs at school and working collaboratively with her peers. Ms. Talapatra said she was very organized and disciplined and if selected for NYC, she would be fully dedicated. She said she had leadership qualities and taken the initiative, along with fellow students, and by a charity organization called Bridge Point to Novi High School they had successfully raised funds and provided various schools in Detroit with supplies and books. She said she enjoyed helping others and believed that the NYC would give her an opportunity to give back to her community.  She believed that it was her responsibility, as a resident of Novi and a part of the future generation, to support and help preserve the City in which she lived and loved.

31. Monica Thipparthi

Ms. Tipparthi, junior at Novi High School, said she had lived in Novi for seven years and had received so much from the community. She said Novi had a great education system and recreation centers and Novi was one of the top 50 cities in the U.S. Ms. Tipparthi said now it was her turn to give back to the community that gave her so much. She said she would like to be a part of the NYC. She stated she wanted to contribute and set an example to positively impact society. She believed she would be a asset to the 2009 NYC because she had fresh ideas, volunteer experience and several leadership qualities. She said throughout her high school years she had volunteered at Karmanos Cancer Institute, was the secretary of Science Club, youth member of Detroit Telugu Youth Association, Treasurer of the Indian American Association, Historian of Model UN and a freshman mentor. Ms. Tipparthi said volunteering at a hospital had given her a chance to directly impact the community and had made her realize that one person could make a huge impact on society. She said her leadership positions had allowed her to interact with several people within her school and provide them with inspiration. She commented Model UN had improved her ability to understand international issues and communicate with other more effectively. As the secretary of the Science Club, she said she had taken over major responsibilities organizing club meetings, fund raisers and field trips. She said she learned about the responsibilities and dedications required in order to make an influence through both Science Club and Model UN. She said she was also involved in cultural clubs facilitating communication. Ms. Tipparthi stated she wanted to become a doctor.

Ms. Tipparthi, junior at Novi High School, said she had lived in Novi for seven years and had received so much from the community through the great education system and recreation centers and Novi was one of the top 50 cities in the U.S. Ms. Tipparthi said being part of Novi Youth Council was a prestigious opportunity that she would like to be a part of. She said she wanted to contribute to the community and set an example for those who wanted to be future leaders, positively impacting the society they live in. She believed that she would be an asset to the 2009 committee because she had fresh ideas, past volunteer experience, and several leadership qualities. She said throughout her high school career, she had volunteered at Karmano's Cancer Institute, been secretary of Science Club, youth member of the Detroit Telugu Association (OTA), treasurer of the Indian American Student Association (IASA), and historian of Model United Nations (MUN). Ms. Tipparthi commented that volunteering at a hospital had given her a chance to directly impact the community and had provided her with insight into the role that doctors had in society. She said her leadership positions in Science Club, IASA and MUN had allowed her to interact with several people within her school and provide them with inspiration. She said MUN, specifically, had improved her ability to understand international issues and communicate with others more effectively. She said as secretary of Science Club, she had taken over major responsibilities organizing club meetings, fundraisers, and fieldtrips. She learned about the responsibility and dedication required in order to make an influence through both Science Club and MUN. She said apart from academically oriented clubs, she was also involved in cultural associations. Ms. Tipparthi commented that IASA and OTA were both organizations that promoted Indian culture by facilitating communication within the Indian community and other communities as well. These associations have provided her with the opportunity of keeping in touch with her cultural background, while also teaching others about her nationality. She said these activities had made her an exemplary candidate for the 2009 Youth Council team. She quoted the one quote that to her exemplified the meaning of helping out in a community and said by Booker T.

Washington. The quote was "living is the art of loving, loving is the art of caring, caring is the art of sharing, sharing is the art of living, if you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else."

32. Pallavi Vadapalli

Ms. Vadapalli, freshman at Novi High School, said she volunteered as a tutor everyday and volunteered on the weekends but felt it was not enough. She believed in getting involved in the community and school. She said she had participated in drama plays, Model UN, Interact, Science Club and participated in swim and diving sports. She said she believed that dedication and perseverance was the key to being successful at anything. She thought she would be an asset to NYC because from her interaction with many people through her clubs and volunteering, she believed that she could bring new and fresh ideas to what other people wanted. She believed that the youth of Novi should be brought closer to the Council and realized that every person made a difference and everyone’s ideas could be changed into new rules that could be enforced. Ms. Vadapalli said she hoped to take any leadership qualities or any self satisfaction in helping anyone else from this opportunity.

33. Vishnu Venugopal

Mr. Venugopal, junior at Novi High School, thought he would be a good candidate for NYC because he was well rounded and would bring different perspectives to the position and to the position. He said he was an active member in theatre and was in the social issue theatre troupe. Mr. Venugopal said he was also in the journalism program, which were two of the four organizations at his school in which students were able to speak directly to the students. He felt being involved in these two organizations put him in a position to be able to guide and lead other people to help them become what they wanted to be. He noted he had been a member of the varsity tennis team since his freshman year. He said his academic work load had increased every year as he had been taking honors courses, and AP’s, etc. He commented he had been able to maintain a 4.0 GPA. Mr. Venugopal said he was beginning to do some neurological research at Henry Ford in W. Bloomfield and he volunteered at Red Cross regularly. Mr. Venugopal said if selected, he would like to have more interaction with City Council and Board of Education because of the proposed budget cuts in the arts programs. He said it really put a sense of urgency in him and within three or four days they organized a little movement and had about 100 students at the board meeting. He said ten of them spoke and it was a great experience and it was nice to see everyone come together. He commented he would also like to see a green initiative come about in Novi because there was no place to dispose of computers in Novi, but there was one farther away. He thought if they could set up a small volunteer position once a month to do that he thought it would help the community. Mr. Venugopal said he would really want to be able to say that he left his mark and was able to help people excel in events in their lives as member of the community.

34. Anirudh Vinnakota

Mr. Vinnakota said after being here in Novi for so many years and now ready to enter his senior in Novi High School, he felt the community had offered him so much and that now was the time to return the favor by serving in the NYC. He said he was strongly dedicated, to the community and had shown this with 200 hours of volunteer work at Providence Hospital of which he was elected the Service Team Chair of the Pediatrics Department. He said he also volunteered at the library, through mentoring his Local Battle of the Books teams and several other volunteer activities that showed his commitment to society. He said the ability to show and apply leadership and analytical thinking was imperative in today’s society. Mr. Vinnakota said in today’s rough economic times as well as social times someone needed to take charge and look at things in a broad perspective and see things through the big picture in order to make a bigger impact. He said as captain of the Novi High School’s Forensics Team, member of the varsity Quizbowl team, member of National Honor Society and the tenth best debater in Michigan, he felt that these assets of leadership and analytical thinking were things that set him a part from other candidates and allowed him to make a more positive contribution to this society. If selected, there were several goals he wanted to bring to the NYC and they all involved bring optimism to each Novi resident in these hard economic times. As well as representing his constituents, the youth, to the best of his ability. Mr. Vinnakota said he knew to set anything into action required a pragmatic approach. He commented that the ability to take a problem and break it down one at a time and piece by piece was one of the assets he truly treasured ,and believed could contribute positively to the NYC. He said by encountering real world problems and applying his prior knowledge through extensive AP courses and other involvement with government activities, he felt he could lead Novi as not only a better leader but also with the tools to confront problems at a local and national level effectively.

35. Alison Widner

Ms. Widner, freshman an A student at Novi High School, said she was a member of the Freshman Dance Company. She said she lived in Novi for nine years and it would be an honor to serve the City of Novi and represent the young citizens. She commented the City had so much to offer such as great schools, wonderful parks, shopping and a strong sense of community. However, a City only became a community through the act of involvement of its citizens and was why she wanted to be a part of the NYC. Ms. Widner believed she would be a good candidate because she cared for the City, was respected by her peers and adults, and always treated others with respect even while having a different opinion. She said she was an excellent leader and listener, which she believed was very important to be a good leader and finally, she was a quick learner. She said she was also an independent thinker and was willing to share her views. She hoped to take away a learning experience that would show her the inner-workings of how city government operated and governed a city. Ms. Widner believed this would be a hands-on experience and she would be able to relate this to future classes. She also hoped to take away an experience that she could apply to her future plans of running for the high school student government as well as later in her life.

36. (Lily) Xiac Zhang

Ms. Zhang said being a resident and student in Novi High School, she had heard many suggestions that would make Novi a better place to live. She said she would like to propose ideas and not only have her voice heard but also the voice of fellow teens as well. Ms. Zhang said she wanted to make a difference and joining the NYC was the perfect opportunity to make this difference. She commented that this year she had taken two AP classes and had learned that the result from her work reflected how much effort she put into it. She said hard work was

very important to her and she put 100% into everything that she did. Ms. Zhang said academics were important but thought fine arts was another way to express ones self. She stated she had been enrolled in the band program for six years and it taught her that they had to act like a family, and family always came before anything else. She thought that concept could be applied to Novi itself and said they should look at Novi citizens as a family and always put them first. Ms. Zhang said all the decisions she would make would be in the best interest of the citizens of Novi. She said the band was very time consuming, so time management and organization was of the essence. She said it also took a lot of dedication because it took so much time she had learned to be selfless and to put petty things aside and focus on things that would be more valuable in the long run. Ms. Zhang said she would put as much effort into the Novi Youth Council as possible and would be an excellent addition to an already extraordinary Novi Youth Council.

Mayor Landry thanked everyone for participating and being as prepared and timely as they all had been.

Member Staudt said they had a very good Walkable Novi Committee meeting the other day with a tremendous amount of feedback. He said people were starting to join them because they were starting to see this as an opportunity to get involved in a committee that was really trying to achieve something. He said they were encouraged with the quality of the ideas that were coming in and thought as they brought forward new proposals, Council would be surprised at the thought and work that had gone into it. Member Mutch agreed it was a productive meeting and they had an opportunity to review several of the City’s ongoing initiatives including the Parks and Recreation Master Plan and the Planning Commissions Master Plan for Land Use. He said they shared their thoughts about those and it looked like they were incorporating a lot of excellent ideas that would have long term impact for the City. Member Mutch said they also talked about opportunities that were coming forward that the City might explore in terms of funding. These were opportunities that they might be able to leverage or activities related to walking, biking and related uses in the City. Member Staudt said they spent an extensive amount of time discussing the non-motorized master plan for the City. He commented there were a lot of them going on in the region and there had been some available funding to do some of these things. He said it might be an addendum to the existing Master Plan or it might be something on its own. He noted having seen what they were doing in Birmingham, Royal Oak, Troy and some of these other communities, it was a very interesting concept. He said it was not a greenways type of thing but a way of looking at the entire City and planning for the long haul for non-motorized transportation. Member Staudt noted he was sure they would be bringing comments and initiatives forward but he thought this was something that might be of great interest to Council in the long haul.

There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9:01 P.M.

_______________________________ _______________________________

David Landry, Mayor                                   Maryanne Cornelius, City Clerk

_______________________________ Date approved: May 18, 2009

Transcribed by Charlene Mc Lean