NILES — The Apple Festival Committee’s request to conduct the 52nd annual Four Flags Area Apple Festival from Thursday, Sept. 26 through Sunday, Sept. 29 was approved 5-1 during Monday’s Niles City Council meeting.

The four-day event will ring in the fall season with all kinds of entertainment, activities and treats. Councilmembers Amanda Dunnem and John DiCostanzo were absent.

The city will contribute $7,410 in-kind donations to support the festival, which will cover the cost of barricade setup and removal, policing and utility and street costs. The list of requests also included permission to conduct the annual Apple Festival Grand Parade scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28 as well as the Youth Day Parade set for Saturday, Sept. 21.

Fourth ward councilmember Michael Thompson cast the lone dissenting vote because he does not believe the city should contribute funds toward events.

“Regardless of how much my family and I enjoy the festival, paying for parties is not a role of the government,” he said. “I might add that this is why the founders of this country, with the exception of (Founding Father Alexander Hamilton) and his ilk, wanted little to no government to begin with.”

Council also moved to designate Public Safety Director James Millin as the administration delegate to the MERS Annual Convention and Wendy Schirripa as the employee delegate, with Daniel Tackett as the alternate employee delegate.

While Thompson supported the designations, he said he would like to see the administrators of the MERS fund go on record stating they have removed all commercial real estate loan investments from their portfolios.

“It is being said that regulators are looking the other way as banks offload their dead or dying the CRA loan books onto portfolios of insurance companies and pension funds,” he said. “On Wall Street, pension funds are referred to as ‘the place where money goes to die,’ so keep that in mind when dealing with these people. The reason regulators are allowing this, by the way, is because it is realized in Washington, that stealing currency from taxpayers to bail out your grandparents’ pensions will be easier to sell than bailing out mega banks.”

Thompson then encouraged those in attendance to watch the film “The Big Short” to illustrate his point.

“This is yet another in an endless list of examples showing how government is simply a tool of the powerful for exploiting the lesser,” he said.

In further business, council: 

• Adopted a resolution to approve the City of Niles Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Budget by Funds.
• Accepted the bid from Pelley Excavating of Niles, Michigan in the amount of $29,930 for the demolition of a residential structure at 1009 N. 6th Street, with the entire expense to be paid for with CDBG Funds.
• Approved the CDBG PY2024 Annual Action Plan.
• Authorized the purchase of a four-ton Hot Box from Alta Equipment Company of Byron Center, Michigan at a cost of $34,733.92 for use by the Department of Public Works, and charged the expense to the DPW Vehicle Capitol Equipment Outlay account.
• Accepted the bid from Wightman and Associates in the amount of 58,490 for professional services associated with Sycamore Street improvements, charging the expense to the Major Street fund.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the City Clerk and Mayor to execute necessary documents with MDOT relating to the relocation of utility lines at the M-51 and Fort Street intersection.
• Approved the Fiscal Agent Agreement between enFocus and the City of Niles related to Corewell Health Foundation’s grant for home improvements in Niles.

MORE: Councilmember reports from the Aug. 12 meeting