Well, this will most definitely be my final blog post of the year. Well, sort of. It isn’t my blog post…it is a blog post from Debbie DeLeon, the outgoing Chair of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners. A little background – Commissioner DeLeon (serving North Lansing) first became Board chair in 2009. She faced probably the most serious budget deficits as Board chair that anyone had faced in many, many years (Commissioner Grebner will probably know the last time it was this bad!). She did a great job steering the direction of the County and the Board of Commissioners in 2009. As a reward for her hard work and stress, we elected her Chair once again (note that it is rare for a Board Chair to receive back-to-back terms). Again 2010 was a very tough year. We had many reforms and big budget problems. And again, Chair DeLeon was great. She pushed the Commissioners and staff into facing and making tough decisions. The final blog of the year goes to Commissioner DeLeon. Below is her final statement that she gave to the Board in 2010. Thanks, Deb, for all your hard work for Ingham County.
The Board of Commissioners will have our first meeting of 2011 on January 3rd for swearing in and leadership elections. For now, I wish everyone happy holidays! Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Festivus (sorry if I missed anyone)…and have a great New Year!
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Well, this is the final meeting of the year and my final meeting as board chair. It has been a distinct honor and a privilege for me to serve my colleagues and this county as chair for the last two years.
Personally, it is also a special mark of distinction being the first American Indian not only to serve as a Commissioner, but the first native to serve as the Board Chair.
It is my hope that my time as chair has served my colleagues, my constituents, county residents and my community well and with honor.
I sincerely appreciate the confidence, support, assistance, collaboration, and quite an education in the process that I have received from everyone…my colleagues, our staff, especially Becky Bennett our board coordinator—and just in case anyone didn’t know…she is the one who keeps us all inline!—our controller Mary Lannoye, our deputy controller John Neilson, and our county attorney Peter Cohl, just to name a few, but not to minimize anyone else’s importance on this very long list such as my vice chair Victor Celentino and committee chairs, Dale Copedge, Mark Grebner, Brian McGrain, Deb Nolan and Dianne Holman. And, of course the list was different for the previous year---my 2009 leadership team included vice-chair Dale Copedge with committee chairs Victor Celentino, Mark Grebner, Todd Tennis, Rebecca Bahar-Cook and Andy Schor.
Ingham County has certainly seen some unprecedented times in recent years with all the budget shortfalls growing with each passing year making it harder and harder to balance a budget without enduring a painful process.
We have seen the general fund—that’s our discretionary dollars—shrink by more than $20m in the last 4 years due to revenue losses and declining property taxes. We know these cuts are being felt across the board to one degree or another. However, even in light of $5.7m reduction in the 2010 budget, we have all worked very hard to find ways to minimize the impact on direct services and to void layoffs by eliminating vacant positions first wherever possible…and that is something we should all be proud of in these difficult times.
One of the reasons for Ingham County’s accomplishments in this area is because of the great working relationship we have between our board, our management and our unions. This year, employees are taking 3 furlough days which will be taken during the Christmas holiday closing non-mandated county offices December 27, 28 & 29th. We are, indeed, all in this together and the only way to survive it, is together! A special thank you to all for your good work and sharing in the pain.
We have also seen the transition of three controllers in the past 4 years or so. And i worked through each of them in one capacity or another, but the last one as chair. Today, in case you didn’t know it—for the first time in the history of this county, we have sort of a dream team having an all female county leadership team which includes:
• Controller Mary Lannoye
• Budget director Teri Morton
• Finance director Jill Rhode
• Board coordinator Becky Bennett
• And of course myself as chair
Sorry guys, i just had to point this history in the making event out! Who knows, with this is an absolute first for the county, it may never happen again!!
Anyway, one of the things that i have tried to push as chair has been to get departments heads as well as elected countywides and judges to understand the depth of the budget shortfalls and how we were not seeing any improvement indicators for the near future…urging them to look at restructuring their management teams to eliminate management positions. If I count correctly, only 3 have done this to date and I want to give them special recognition for stepping up and taking a leadership role. Clerk Mike Bryanton was the first to take this initiative. Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings and health administrator Dr. Dean Sienko have also accomplished this for a combined total budget savings of nearly $300k! It all adds up…a special thank you to them for their courage and leadership.
Some of the more significant or notable issues that came before the board in 2010 were not only controversial but also ground breaking kind of issues:
County services highlights
• Authorized a reorganization within the Ingham county clerk’s office—eliminated 1 deputy and converted 1 chief deputy to a supervisor level—increasing efficiencies and an annual savings of more than $70k.
• Approved the first beer tent at the fair—which worked out as expected without any problems;
• Approved the first project labor agreement – the rhino project at the zoo
• Amended the local purchasing preference policy to provide an opportunity to increase more local vendor participation
• Transferred Rayner Park to the city of mason in an effort to keep the park open
Law enforcement highlights
• Eliminated primary law enforcement services for rural townships ultimately transferring responsibility to each of those jurisdictions
• Authorized the closing of a post at the jail
• Authorized the building authority to proceed with the Ingham county consolidated 911 dispatch center and as a project labor agreement. This particular issue gives me some personal pride in that as chair of the law enforcement committee in 2005, i pushed to initiate the first meeting between the county and the cities of Lansing and East Lansing that started us down this road. And here were are 5 years later finally authorizing the construction of the $6.4m (building and equipment costs combined) facility. We hit some bumpy roads along the way, but thanks to the voters of ingham county for their ongoing support of the 911 millage, this consolidation will ultimately provide a cost savings and be a more efficient operation.
• Authorized entering into an intergovernmental cost sharing agreement with Eaton, Clinton and Livingston counties for a new 911 phone system that would develop virtual backup capabilities for the 911 system – another cost saving measure
• Authorized an imaging project resulting in a reorganization within the prosecutor’s office that eliminated vacant positions no longer needed when the office went paperless. Resulting in a savings of $190k. Because of the success in the prosecutor’s office, more county offices are looking at going paperless.
Human services highlights
• Authorized a realignment of the health department programs and administrative structure—eliminated a deputy position going from 3 divisions to 2 divisions for a total cost reduction of $88k.
• Expansion of the health clinics continues due to the fqhc—federally qualified health care center—status thanks to our health department staff who works so diligently to apply for any and all federal dollars available.
• Authorized an agreement, tonight actually, with sparrow hospital for medical examiner services that will keep all autopsies in Ingham county.
Judiciary highlights
• Authorized expansion of an additional class (10 more students) to the very successful Ingham academy high school program. Graduation of our first class took place this year, which was quite moving and impressive. Programs like this happen because of the juvenile justice millage and the ability to match those funds with state dollars.
• Authorized a contract with luminosity solutions to review certain aspects of the Ingham county criminal justice system & provide recommendations to responsibly manage the reduced jail population while maintaining public safety and the integrity of the judicial process in preparation for the closing of post 3 (64 bed reduction).
• Requested the JUCC—jail utilization coordinating committee—to review the luminosity report entitled “jail & justice system assessment” & forward their recommended strategies to adopt to the board.
• Adopted JUCC recommendations for implementation, which were
1. Add 1 FTE pre-trial investigator position;
2. Increase electronic monitoring—a grant was also obtained to offset costs for the indigent, as the cost is paid by the person monitored.
Finance highlights
• Of course, we all know that all resolutions dealing with money go through the finance committee, as well...and, sometimes they actually get to tweak a resolution or two before it goes to the full board.
• This committee’s most difficult issue comes with the passing of a balanced budget -- deciding which priorities on the z-list from all the other committees survive the process or face getting cut.
Most of the work throughout the year has focused around the budget in one way or another...this speaks volumes in regards to the size of the budget problems this county has been and will continue to face…at least until 2014 is what is currently being projected. 2012 is anticipated to be worse than anything we have seen to date—especially if the legislature does anything negative to revenue sharing. Given the “fun” we have had with the budget the last two years, I am more than happy to take a break and looking forward to it!!
In closing, thank you, again, to everyone and anyone who helped me in any way during my tenure as board chair. It has really been very much appreciated. It has indeed been an honor and i have enjoyed this awesome opportunity.
And, thank you for your indulgence in allowing me this moment to share some of the highlights of this past year only…and now for the highlights of 2009!!!
Just kidding…one last word—best wishes to the incoming 2011 chair. And best wishes to everyone for a safe and happy holiday season.
Chi megwetch!!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
LEAP, Outside Counsel for Judge, Police Services Money
This week, the Board of Commissioner had our final meeting of the year…and it was a long one!
First, we dealt with our membership to the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP). You may recall that the resolution to pay our $35,000 LEAP membership for 2010 failed at out Board meeting 2 weeks ago. We had two people testify in public comment that LEAP was necessary and very important for the region – Steve Alexander from PNC Bank and Ingham County Treasurer Eric Schertzing. When the resolution came up, Commissioner Holman offered an amendment to reduce the amount paid to LEAP from $35,000 to $15,000. I was among the people voting against this. I believe that we sat at the table and made decisions with the rest of the LEAP membership (public and private) and we should pay the same as the others. That amount is $35,000. Next year the cost is reduced to $15,000, and LEAP recognizes that governments are short in funding and having a hard time. Commissioner Holman’s amendment failed, and the resolution passed this time.
We also dealt with a resolution requested by Judge Giddings to pay off legal bills that he faces. Because of a certain situation where he was being sued by another county entity, he was forced to retain outside counsel. According to state law, the County is responsible for paying that. In short, he has a disagreement over whether he can sit as judge in a case involving a former judge. He thinks he can but the Chief Judge thinks he can’t. The Prosecutor has filed a motion to change the venue of the case with the Appeals Court, and Judge Giddings is fighting it. Because the Prosecutor is using the County Attorney, Judge Giddings needs an outside counsel. The one catch is that Judge Giddings is no longer a judge as of the end of December. So, the County Board agreed to pay the costs already occurred (no more than $7,000), but indicated we will not pay anything further and would like to see the case dropped. This was a tough one. Personally, I don’t like it when one agency of the county sues another and doesn’t consult with the Board of Commissioners, then expects us to pay. I will be drafting a policy to require prior approval of the Board before one entity sues another. But, because we have to follow state law and this expense is necessary for the Judge in his official capacity, I voted to pay this but specify that we won’t pay anything further because the case should be over.
The final controversial resolution that we considered, which took a long time, was the resolution to give money to Williamstown for their police services (using assessment money) and to give money to Alaiedon Twp if they decide to contract with the county for police services (using general fund dollars). A resolution we passed last month specified that we would only give money to Williamstown if they contracted with the county. They decided, though, to contract with Meridian Twp for police services. While many of think this is unfortunate, it seems that Meridian gave a lower bid for the services. I am not sure how this is possible and it has been suggested to me that Meridian is paying less that it will actually cost (which means the Meridian taxpayers are actually subsidizing the service), but the fact remains that Williamstown went with the lowest bidder.
According to what we passed last month, this would mean that we will not give Williamstown any county money for transition. Commissioner Randy Schafer proposed a resolution that would change our past resolution and grant Williamstown $122,000 for any purpose. This is something that Commissioner Grebner has been proposing and he incorporated this into a resolution that we already had on the Board floor. This was a very tough decision for everyone. The Board committed to give money to any township that passed a millage or assessment, but it was unclear if we had actually stated in any of our policies earlier in the year that the community had to contract with the county. I expressed that I would not support changing direction unless the county dollars are specifically used to re-hire deputies that are laid-off. In the end, in my mind, I had to balance the need to have the township use our money to contract with the Sheriff versus the need to have the township use our money to hire the deputies that we have to lay off as a result of the townships voting down the assessments for road patrol and the county eliminating road patrol.
After great discussion, Commissioner Grebner proposed language requiring Williamstown to use the county money to hire deputies that were laid off from the county. He also said that the deputies have to be “qualified” so that there aren’t people doing other jobs that are demanding the money. This word, though, is now causing some problems as there could be some shenanigans occurring in saying that the deputies laid off from the county may not be qualified because of minor details. I am going to keep a close eye on this, and have made my opinions clear that we should not approve moving the money if the township is not hiring our deputies. I also am willing to come back and re-define the work “qualified” in our resolution if necessary.
There were also concerns that the resolution allows Williamstown to use the money for contracting outside or with the county, while Alaiedon has to contract with the county (which they have said they would do). Some are concerned that there will not be a unified police force throughout the county. My response to that was that the voters decided on November 2nd that they do not want a unified police force when they turned down the assessments and millages. At this point, the Board will deal with each interested township individually and according to the situation that they are in when they talk to us about county money for their police force (until the end of 2011).
So that’s it for this week. I am not sure if I will blog next week…depends on what is going on and if there is enough to talk about. If I don’t blog, I hope everyone has a happy holiday and great New Year!
First, we dealt with our membership to the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP). You may recall that the resolution to pay our $35,000 LEAP membership for 2010 failed at out Board meeting 2 weeks ago. We had two people testify in public comment that LEAP was necessary and very important for the region – Steve Alexander from PNC Bank and Ingham County Treasurer Eric Schertzing. When the resolution came up, Commissioner Holman offered an amendment to reduce the amount paid to LEAP from $35,000 to $15,000. I was among the people voting against this. I believe that we sat at the table and made decisions with the rest of the LEAP membership (public and private) and we should pay the same as the others. That amount is $35,000. Next year the cost is reduced to $15,000, and LEAP recognizes that governments are short in funding and having a hard time. Commissioner Holman’s amendment failed, and the resolution passed this time.
We also dealt with a resolution requested by Judge Giddings to pay off legal bills that he faces. Because of a certain situation where he was being sued by another county entity, he was forced to retain outside counsel. According to state law, the County is responsible for paying that. In short, he has a disagreement over whether he can sit as judge in a case involving a former judge. He thinks he can but the Chief Judge thinks he can’t. The Prosecutor has filed a motion to change the venue of the case with the Appeals Court, and Judge Giddings is fighting it. Because the Prosecutor is using the County Attorney, Judge Giddings needs an outside counsel. The one catch is that Judge Giddings is no longer a judge as of the end of December. So, the County Board agreed to pay the costs already occurred (no more than $7,000), but indicated we will not pay anything further and would like to see the case dropped. This was a tough one. Personally, I don’t like it when one agency of the county sues another and doesn’t consult with the Board of Commissioners, then expects us to pay. I will be drafting a policy to require prior approval of the Board before one entity sues another. But, because we have to follow state law and this expense is necessary for the Judge in his official capacity, I voted to pay this but specify that we won’t pay anything further because the case should be over.
The final controversial resolution that we considered, which took a long time, was the resolution to give money to Williamstown for their police services (using assessment money) and to give money to Alaiedon Twp if they decide to contract with the county for police services (using general fund dollars). A resolution we passed last month specified that we would only give money to Williamstown if they contracted with the county. They decided, though, to contract with Meridian Twp for police services. While many of think this is unfortunate, it seems that Meridian gave a lower bid for the services. I am not sure how this is possible and it has been suggested to me that Meridian is paying less that it will actually cost (which means the Meridian taxpayers are actually subsidizing the service), but the fact remains that Williamstown went with the lowest bidder.
According to what we passed last month, this would mean that we will not give Williamstown any county money for transition. Commissioner Randy Schafer proposed a resolution that would change our past resolution and grant Williamstown $122,000 for any purpose. This is something that Commissioner Grebner has been proposing and he incorporated this into a resolution that we already had on the Board floor. This was a very tough decision for everyone. The Board committed to give money to any township that passed a millage or assessment, but it was unclear if we had actually stated in any of our policies earlier in the year that the community had to contract with the county. I expressed that I would not support changing direction unless the county dollars are specifically used to re-hire deputies that are laid-off. In the end, in my mind, I had to balance the need to have the township use our money to contract with the Sheriff versus the need to have the township use our money to hire the deputies that we have to lay off as a result of the townships voting down the assessments for road patrol and the county eliminating road patrol.
After great discussion, Commissioner Grebner proposed language requiring Williamstown to use the county money to hire deputies that were laid off from the county. He also said that the deputies have to be “qualified” so that there aren’t people doing other jobs that are demanding the money. This word, though, is now causing some problems as there could be some shenanigans occurring in saying that the deputies laid off from the county may not be qualified because of minor details. I am going to keep a close eye on this, and have made my opinions clear that we should not approve moving the money if the township is not hiring our deputies. I also am willing to come back and re-define the work “qualified” in our resolution if necessary.
There were also concerns that the resolution allows Williamstown to use the money for contracting outside or with the county, while Alaiedon has to contract with the county (which they have said they would do). Some are concerned that there will not be a unified police force throughout the county. My response to that was that the voters decided on November 2nd that they do not want a unified police force when they turned down the assessments and millages. At this point, the Board will deal with each interested township individually and according to the situation that they are in when they talk to us about county money for their police force (until the end of 2011).
So that’s it for this week. I am not sure if I will blog next week…depends on what is going on and if there is enough to talk about. If I don’t blog, I hope everyone has a happy holiday and great New Year!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Last Round of Committees, Road Patrol, Autopsies,
This week we had our final round of committee meetings for the year. I had County Services and Finance. First, let me thank the Chairs of those committees. Dale Copedge did a great job running the County Services in an expedient and effective manner, and Mark Grebner was a fair and effective Finance Committee Chair. We had a busy yet great year.
In Finance, we dealt with the ongoing road patrol and police services issue. We passed a resolution allowing for a contract with Williamstown and/or Alaedon Township to retain 5 deputies and provide the townships money for police services (up to $220,571) if they contract with the Sheriff (County). Ironically, we also found out that Williamstown Twp passed a resolution to contract with Meridian Township for police, which means that they are turning down the county dollars. We were told that the Township Board said they didn't want to contract with the county because they don't like the Board of Commissioners. In doing so, they rejected $124,000 offered by the county. Meridian's offer was less expensive than the County's (not including the $124,000) and the Sheriff’s staff are checking to see how that is possible because Meridian police officers make more in salary than the county deputies make. The Williamstown-Meridian contract apparently contracted for 80-100 hours of service per week, and a pro-rated rate after that.
Also, as you may recall, a few weeks ago the County heard from several parties about the dollars that we were being expected to pay for autopsies. To briefly summarize, Sparrow planned to charge us a lot more than they are currently charging. The Health Department found another person to do the autopsies in Genesee county who would charge a lot less. As a result, though, the Prosecutor and City of Lansing said that using Genesee county would increase their costs because they would have to travel to Genesee county with the bodies. After that, our staff went into negotiations.
Well, I am happy to report that there is a resolution to this issue. Our Health Director and Controller met with the various parties involved. The result is a resolution that passed Human Services and Finance which will approve a contract with Sparrow Hospital for services to support the Medical Examiner’s office for the next 4 years (starting in March). Under the current system, the Medical Examiner utilizes Health Department staff and contracted physicians, through appointments as Deputy Medical Examiners, to perform many of these functions, and contracts with local pathologists for autopsy services. The proposed agreement with Sparrow, though, is all inclusive and eliminates the need for the current arrangement. The services to be performed by Sparrow include all postmortem examinations, records management, death certificates, cremation permit authorizations, and death investigations.
Under the current arrangement, the actual expenditures for Medical Examiner services are approximately $350,000 per year. The cost to the County under the negotiated terms will be up to $320,000 per year and will not change during the next four years. This price includes 160 autopsies. If Sparrow performs more than 160 autopsies in a given year, there will be an additional charge of $1,200 per autopsy for the first ten cases, the next ten would be $1,400, and all autopsies over a caseload of 180 will be $1,600. If Sparrow performs less then 160 autopsies in a given year, the County would be similarly credited. We have been told by our staff that they do not expect more than 160 autopsies to happen in any given year. So, this will very likely be a savings to the county, will ensure that we are using a local hospital for these services, and will prevent the Lansing Police and the Prosecutor from having to expend additional dollars. Overall, this is a win-win-win for all parties!
That’s it for now!
In Finance, we dealt with the ongoing road patrol and police services issue. We passed a resolution allowing for a contract with Williamstown and/or Alaedon Township to retain 5 deputies and provide the townships money for police services (up to $220,571) if they contract with the Sheriff (County). Ironically, we also found out that Williamstown Twp passed a resolution to contract with Meridian Township for police, which means that they are turning down the county dollars. We were told that the Township Board said they didn't want to contract with the county because they don't like the Board of Commissioners. In doing so, they rejected $124,000 offered by the county. Meridian's offer was less expensive than the County's (not including the $124,000) and the Sheriff’s staff are checking to see how that is possible because Meridian police officers make more in salary than the county deputies make. The Williamstown-Meridian contract apparently contracted for 80-100 hours of service per week, and a pro-rated rate after that.
Also, as you may recall, a few weeks ago the County heard from several parties about the dollars that we were being expected to pay for autopsies. To briefly summarize, Sparrow planned to charge us a lot more than they are currently charging. The Health Department found another person to do the autopsies in Genesee county who would charge a lot less. As a result, though, the Prosecutor and City of Lansing said that using Genesee county would increase their costs because they would have to travel to Genesee county with the bodies. After that, our staff went into negotiations.
Well, I am happy to report that there is a resolution to this issue. Our Health Director and Controller met with the various parties involved. The result is a resolution that passed Human Services and Finance which will approve a contract with Sparrow Hospital for services to support the Medical Examiner’s office for the next 4 years (starting in March). Under the current system, the Medical Examiner utilizes Health Department staff and contracted physicians, through appointments as Deputy Medical Examiners, to perform many of these functions, and contracts with local pathologists for autopsy services. The proposed agreement with Sparrow, though, is all inclusive and eliminates the need for the current arrangement. The services to be performed by Sparrow include all postmortem examinations, records management, death certificates, cremation permit authorizations, and death investigations.
Under the current arrangement, the actual expenditures for Medical Examiner services are approximately $350,000 per year. The cost to the County under the negotiated terms will be up to $320,000 per year and will not change during the next four years. This price includes 160 autopsies. If Sparrow performs more than 160 autopsies in a given year, there will be an additional charge of $1,200 per autopsy for the first ten cases, the next ten would be $1,400, and all autopsies over a caseload of 180 will be $1,600. If Sparrow performs less then 160 autopsies in a given year, the County would be similarly credited. We have been told by our staff that they do not expect more than 160 autopsies to happen in any given year. So, this will very likely be a savings to the county, will ensure that we are using a local hospital for these services, and will prevent the Lansing Police and the Prosecutor from having to expend additional dollars. Overall, this is a win-win-win for all parties!
That’s it for now!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
CATA Elderly and Disabled Service, SeeClickFix
This week is an unusual week in that there were no Ingham County meetings. Because we meet twice a month, and because there were five weeks in November this year, the last week (Nov 30 - Dec 2nd) didn't have any meetings. As such, I am going to take this opportunity to report on one of the important services that Ingham County residents pay for and that we provide to our residents - the Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA) special services serving elderly and disabled residents of Ingham County.
In November, voters renewed the millage for this special service. About a month ago, the Board finalized our contract with CATA to fund and provide this service. This is in addition to the line-haul service provided with CATA (which is the dedicated bus lines that the citizens of Lansing, East Lansing, Delhi, Meridian and Lansing Township pay).
From January1, 2011 through December 31, 2015, CATA will carry out the following activities with respect to small bus transportation primarily serving elderly and disabled residents of Ingham County:
1. Take all reasonable steps to improve the quality of small bus service primarily
serving the elderly and residents with disabilities of Ingham County. CATA shall
constantly strive to develop methods to provide such services in more cost efficient
ways.
2. Continue to operate service for persons with disabilities, known as CATA Spec-
Tran, providing at a minimum the level of service in effect on October 1, 1988, to
residents of Ingham County who reside within the boundaries of the urbanized area
and who further qualify for this specialized service by nature of their mobilityrelated
disabilities. Services shall be provided in conformity with state and federal
requirements and grants received for the operation of the service. A maximum of
$1,942,212 of the funds received under this Agreement shall be used to pay the
actual expenses of operating, administrating and marketing Spec-Tran.
3. The amount of $105,873.00 shall be retained by the County for the operation of a
vehicle used to transport area veterans to VA Hospitals in the region in the
County’s 2011 Fiscal Year. CATA has no responsibility for this service and does
not participate in its operation or funding.
Also, dollars from this millage will be used to manage and operate the small bus system commonly known as CATA Rural Services (CRS), providing a minimum of 79 hours per day of service to the residents of Ingham County who reside outside of the boundaries of the urbanized area. Service shall be provided in conformity with the requirements of the state and federal grants received for the operation of the service. A maximum of $468,750 of the funds received under this agreement shall be used to pay for the actual expenses of operating, administering and marketing CATA Rural Services. While I am not thrilled that dollars from this millage will be used for rural services instead of just elderly and disabled service, I have been told that the percentage of dollars going to rural service matches the percentage of dollars being supplied by the rural areas. I guess that makes me feel a little better. And for all the attorney's, this is legal because the ballot language said the millage is "primarily" for elderly and disabled, so less than 50% can be used for rural services. Again, I am not happy that it seems that the voters were not wholly informed on this, but it has passed twice and the voters have not complained.
In addition to CATA, I wanted to share one other thing for Lansing area residents. I am on the Active Neighboring News email list from Joan Nelson of the Allen Street community and love it. Here is one tip she points out in this week’s email…
SeeClickFix is a wonderful new tool that enables neighbors to report non-emergency problems to the City of Lansing and the Board of Water and Light, e.g., traffic light or street light outage, stretch of sidewalk that is in such poor condition that it is downright dangerous, a ‘permanent’ dumpster in front of a home on your block, etc. Go to the website, www.seeclickfix.com. The “prompts” allow you to create an account. Then, when you observe the problem, go into the website, type in your remarks in the “Report an issue!” box. Good luck.
I am also on the South Lansing email list from Kathie Dunbar and have learned lots of good information from that. I will pass that on as well when I receive it.
Next week should be another busy week, and I will have a report for you on Thursday!
In November, voters renewed the millage for this special service. About a month ago, the Board finalized our contract with CATA to fund and provide this service. This is in addition to the line-haul service provided with CATA (which is the dedicated bus lines that the citizens of Lansing, East Lansing, Delhi, Meridian and Lansing Township pay).
From January1, 2011 through December 31, 2015, CATA will carry out the following activities with respect to small bus transportation primarily serving elderly and disabled residents of Ingham County:
1. Take all reasonable steps to improve the quality of small bus service primarily
serving the elderly and residents with disabilities of Ingham County. CATA shall
constantly strive to develop methods to provide such services in more cost efficient
ways.
2. Continue to operate service for persons with disabilities, known as CATA Spec-
Tran, providing at a minimum the level of service in effect on October 1, 1988, to
residents of Ingham County who reside within the boundaries of the urbanized area
and who further qualify for this specialized service by nature of their mobilityrelated
disabilities. Services shall be provided in conformity with state and federal
requirements and grants received for the operation of the service. A maximum of
$1,942,212 of the funds received under this Agreement shall be used to pay the
actual expenses of operating, administrating and marketing Spec-Tran.
3. The amount of $105,873.00 shall be retained by the County for the operation of a
vehicle used to transport area veterans to VA Hospitals in the region in the
County’s 2011 Fiscal Year. CATA has no responsibility for this service and does
not participate in its operation or funding.
Also, dollars from this millage will be used to manage and operate the small bus system commonly known as CATA Rural Services (CRS), providing a minimum of 79 hours per day of service to the residents of Ingham County who reside outside of the boundaries of the urbanized area. Service shall be provided in conformity with the requirements of the state and federal grants received for the operation of the service. A maximum of $468,750 of the funds received under this agreement shall be used to pay for the actual expenses of operating, administering and marketing CATA Rural Services. While I am not thrilled that dollars from this millage will be used for rural services instead of just elderly and disabled service, I have been told that the percentage of dollars going to rural service matches the percentage of dollars being supplied by the rural areas. I guess that makes me feel a little better. And for all the attorney's, this is legal because the ballot language said the millage is "primarily" for elderly and disabled, so less than 50% can be used for rural services. Again, I am not happy that it seems that the voters were not wholly informed on this, but it has passed twice and the voters have not complained.
In addition to CATA, I wanted to share one other thing for Lansing area residents. I am on the Active Neighboring News email list from Joan Nelson of the Allen Street community and love it. Here is one tip she points out in this week’s email…
SeeClickFix is a wonderful new tool that enables neighbors to report non-emergency problems to the City of Lansing and the Board of Water and Light, e.g., traffic light or street light outage, stretch of sidewalk that is in such poor condition that it is downright dangerous, a ‘permanent’ dumpster in front of a home on your block, etc. Go to the website, www.seeclickfix.com. The “prompts” allow you to create an account. Then, when you observe the problem, go into the website, type in your remarks in the “Report an issue!” box. Good luck.
I am also on the South Lansing email list from Kathie Dunbar and have learned lots of good information from that. I will pass that on as well when I receive it.
Next week should be another busy week, and I will have a report for you on Thursday!
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