Road Commission Board Issue Completed, and a Campaign Update

This week was it...the week everyone has been waiting for. The week that we had final consideration of the resolution to dissolve the Road Commission Board and have the County Commission take over the operations of the Road Commission. We had public comment from some employees and two of the Road Commissioners. When debate began, Commissioner Victor Celentino moved a substitute that would have the county take over finance, human resources, and information technology from the road commission. It would then give the Road Commission until late November to operate. At the second meeting in November, the County Commission would once again review the Road Commission and could take it over with the same conditions proposed by the Controller for the current resolution. Commissioner Todd Tennis spoke in support of the substitute. He said that we, the County Commissioners, created this problem because we appointed these folks. He said that we have not had proper communications with the Road Commission Board, and he said that we are a political board and will make these political decisions even if we are in charge of the roads. He also said that this will be a tremendous burden for County Commissioners, who will now take all the complaints that the Road Commission Board usually hears. I spoke next. To be honest, I gave this a lot of thought over the weekend before the vote. I was the person who originally proposed eliminating the road commission when the Governor signed the bills because I did not think that they were accountable to the county commissioners or to the residents. But I also have spoken with several people (employees, residents, road commission members, etc) and recognize that in the four months since the legislation passed, the road commission board has been nothing but accountable and have done everything we think is needed for success. When I speak in debate, I speak from the heart and don't use a script, to I can't say exactly what I said...by my arguments went something like this. I said that in my nine years on the County Board, the road commission has always been a problem because they never listen to us, the elected officials. That always caused problems. But once we had leverage over them - once we could eliminate the Road Commission Board at any time - they became 100% accountable to us. We asked them to give up finance and HR and IT, and they did it. We asked them to give control of employee relations, including hiring and firing, to their managing director and they did that too. With three years available to eliminate the road commission, I decided that we didn't need to do it four months into the three year period. I decided that the road commission board may actually have other ideas that they could implement, including ideas that would be good for the roads! And with three years available, we don't necessarily need to rush into this decision. So I said that I would support this substitute and re-evaluate the Road Commission Board in late November. Commissioner Grebner took the other side. He said that the County Commission is political and will continue to be political and make political appointments. He said that the Road Commission Board continues to mettle in employee matters and not correctly utilize their managing director. He argued that the Board of Commissioners is not political with its employees such as the health department, equalization, 911, etc. He said that the Road Commission may change to be more non-political now, it will become political once again. Commissioner Holman followed up and said that abolishing the Road Commission Board is a good government decision. She said that it is an old system and needs to be updated, and having the County Commission in charge is a better system for road service delivery. She said that the substitute would create a mixed system and would be worse than taking over the road commission. She argued that no one would know who is in charge and who makes what decisions. Commissioner Dougan and Schafer also weighed in. Dougan said that it is a simple nature of governmental bodies to be predictable, and that we always know who is really going to get appointed to positions. He said that the structure will continue because politically elected boards will have the same appointments and traditions. Abolishing the Board would end that pattern. Schafer said this would not be a hassle for commissioners and that he takes complaints now and sends them to the staff. He said that the 911 advisory board took the politics out of the 911 centers, and that an advisory board of township supervisors (stakeholders) would take the politics out of the roads. He also said that the Road Commission Board is costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits and studies, and that there will be more meddling and politics in future. Commissioner Koenig asked if there is any legal reason that we couldn't make this change, in response to testimony from the County Road Commission Association about some technical pieces. Our attorney assured us that we can, in fact, pass the resolution that was in front of us. She said that assimilation is a healthier and more stable culture, and that culture change needs a massive action . Honestly, this was some of the best debate and discussion that I have heard in a long time. People were passionate and open minded, and really took this discussion seriously. The Celentino substitute failed on a 6-10 vote (SUB SUPPORTERS: Bahar-Cook, Celentino, Copedge, De Leon, Schor, Tennis; all others opposed). Commissioner Holman then offered amendments to change the language from stating that we are doing this because of past problems with the road commission to language saying that we are doing this because we are modernizing the county road system. These amendments passed unanimously. Commissioner McGrain spoke during general debate and said that over time it became more and more clear to him that this is an important thing to do. He said that the system and structure appear to be broken. The residents want a professional, capable body. He also said that he talked to the township residents in his district and they are supportive (he represents eastern Lansing Twp). Commissioner Celentino also weighed in and said the his township supervisor said that he has a good relationship with the road commission and chair (he represents western Lansing Twp). After all the debate, the resolution was voted on and passed 10-6 (with all of the substitute supporters now opposing the resolution). It will take effect June 1st, and the Road Commission Board members and managing director all indicated that there will be a smooth transition. I expect that we will now have follow-up resolutions to create an advisory committee consisting of the township supervisors. I would like to take this opportunity to specifically thank Road Commission members Jim Dravenstatt-Moceri and Milton Scales, who attended the meeting and spoke from the heart. Also, I owe great thanks to Marc Thomas, who agreed to seek a road commission position when there was a great need and who constantly kept me informed of his thoughts. I did not work closely with Norm Gear or Shirley Johnson, but also appreciate their work on the Road Commission Board. I believe we are the first county to do this since the legisaliton passed. We will be a test case and will see how it goes. I can honestly say that at the end of the night Tuesday, I was mentally exhausted. This was definitely one of the toughest issues we have faced in a few years. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and comments on this issue. I heard a lot, and am glad that it is over and we can move on to other issues (employee negotiations, budget, millages, etc.). On the campaign trail, this week I announced two endorsements from labor unions and workers - the Plumbers and Pipefitters and the Operating Engineers. I thank both of these unions and their members. We will have more announcements in the coming weeks as the endorsements continue to pile up. Door-to-door continues to go very well and I have covered much of the district. Response has been overwhelmingly good. People are disappointed that Reps Bauer and Byrum are term-limited out of office, but are very supportive of my issues and experience. Fundraising also continues to go well, and we will have another event coming up soon in addition to volunteer opportunities to announce. If you are interested in volunteering or contributing, please go to www.andyschor.com and you can fill out the form. Thanks everyone for all your support!

Road Commission, Mowing Lansing Parks, Health Care Millage Proposal

Another busy week for the Ingham County Commission!

After many months of discussion and consideration, the County Services committee considered the resolution to dissolve the Road Commission Board and have the Ingham County Commission take over the powers of the Road Commission. Commissioner Celentino lead off the discussion and talked about the December Dec 15-1 vote of intention to take over the road commission. He said that the 15-1 vote was a vote of no confidence in the road commission and leadership at that time. Since that time, though, a new chair was installed and there is a new direction and restored relationships. Also, the road commission board is dealing with the problems and bad decisions that have occurred in the past. He said that the first phase to solving the problems at the Road Commission was for the county to absorb the Information Technology (IT), Finance, and Human Resources (HR) operations. This has been done with passage of resolutions by the Road Commission Board. Celentino argued that we need to give Chairman Dravenstatt-Moceri a chance to reach his goal s. His proposal was to pass amendments saying that the County Commission would take over these operations and give the Road Commission Board 6 months to show that they have fixed things. At that time, the County Commission would re-assess the situation and decide what needs to be done.

Commissioner Grebner argued against any such amendments or plan. He said that the Road Commission Board is guilty of meddling with employees and that they should not make decisions for anyone other than managing director. He said that the managing director currently doesn’t have the authority to hire his own employees. He can’t hire an operating director, and can’t get rid of an assistant that disagrees with his decisions. Grenber said that as long as the managing director doesn’t have control over subordinate positions, there is a problem with the Board.

I asked Chair Dravenstatt-Moceri if this is still the case and he said that the Road Commission Board gave the power of hiring and firing to the managing director though a resolution passed on March 19th. And he mentioned that the meeting before that, the Road Commission Board passed a resolution to contract with the county for IT, Finance, and HR. There is now a contract in place between the County and the Road Commission for the County to provide HR services. The county HR division does the scoring and recommendations for positions, class and pay analysis, recruiting , complaint resolution, etc. and the managing director does the actual hiring and firing. The Road Commission Board has been removed from the process and simply deals with roads.

After hearing all of this, I offered to draft language for a substitute that could be offered to do what Commissioner Celentino recommended. I did not have the time to draft it that night and doing amendments one-by-one wouldn’t make sense because of the many changes that needed to be made. A motion to table the resolution until the next meeting was offered so a substitute could be drafted. That motion was defeated 3-3. The resolution then was voted on, and it passed 4-2. Commissioner Todd Tennis offered the substitute that I worked on when the Finance committee met the next night. My understanding is that the substitute failed 5-1, and the resolution passed Finance 5-1 as well. The substitute will be offered on the Board floor when the resolution comes up on Tuesday.

The County Services Committee also again discussed the contract for mowing of small parks in the City of Lansing and the Lansing River Trail. The City of Lansing Parks Director attended the meeting and gave some good answers to our questions. He said that City seasonal employees are not being called back because of budget difficulties and not because of the contract with the County. While I appreciate his attendance and his answers, several questions were not really answered. I asked how many seasonals were called back in previous years and how many are being called back this year. He didn’t have the numbers, but said it was at least 17 or so. Knowing that the City has had budget difficulties the last few years, it is hard for me to believe that the County contract is not contributing to the lack of call-backs. I also could not get past the commitments made to us when we passed the contract that seasonal employees would be moved to other departments . That did not happen either. When asked what would happen if the County cancels the contract, the Lansing Parks Director said that either another public entity would contract with them to do the services, or they would call back more employees. It would depend on which is more cost efficient. As I said to Mlive, this was never a question about service. The County Parks Department does a terrific job. But I do not want to County to be the reason that Lansing seasonal employees are not called back and not making a living. As such, I voted to end the contract. First, Commissioner Grebner offered a motion for the resolution to be delayed until the end of the summer so that the contract could just end and not be renewed. That died without support. The resolution was then considered and passed 4-2.

In the Human Services committee, the Ingham Health Plan (note: this originally said Ingham Health Department, which was an error) made the case for a Health Care Millage to be put on the November ballot. The gave us a powerpoint talking about the Ingham Health Plan and how they are providing local solutions to local problems – specifically access to health care for low income folks. There are over 11,500 plan B members (which is the primary program). There are over 32,000 uninsured Ingham County adults. They said that the limitations on the program without more funding are lack of providers, access to timely care (people are seen in 6 weeks for new patients, or in 2-3 weeks for existing patients). Our Federally Qualified Health Centers are at capacity which cause these delays. Additionally, the IHP Board is looking at freezing or limiting enrollment. Hospital Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) ceilings are dropping so there is less hospital funding. DSH funding is based on uncompensated care, so when ceilings drop the federal DSH funding goes down. What we need are more providers, and the only way to get those is with higher reimbursement rates. There are questions that will only be answered when the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the Affordable Care Act in June. IHP costs will continue to rise, though, and with more members comes more assistance needed. Even if the ACA is not struck down by the courts, there are still 18,000 residents that remain uninsured . 40% of these people will receive Medicaid, but 60% will not realize that they are Medicaid eligible and will need the IHP to help them find that out. They said that with a millage, they can expand infrastructure and access, increase reimbursement rates for providers, help people navigate the system for services, etc. They are asking for .61 mills, which would be $4 million. The average household of $75,000 taxable value would pay $45.75 per year. We had a lot of questions for them. I reminded them that about five years ago, we had a glidepath towards 100% coverage, but hit a point where we just couldn’t find more people to be enrolled. Some people just don’t trust government and we hit a plateau. There were also other questions about the campaign and process, and about how this will relate with the other ballot initiatives on the November ballot. Personally, I am still not convinced that we should go to the ballot with this but I am open to the discussions which will continue throughout the summer.

We also considered lots of other issues, but this blog is long enough as it is. See you next week!

Hotel/Motel Money to Fair, Road Commission, Public Health Programs, Neighborhood Meeting on Saturday for Campaign

This week was relatively quiet in terms of action at the full Board of Commissioners meeting. We had just one item pulled from the consent agenda, and it was to transfer $110,000 from hotel/motel fund balance to the Fair capital improvement account for maintenance and exhibits. Commissioner Nolan mentioned that we do not have a fair director and wanted to know where this money would go. She wants the incoming interim fair director to make the decisions and indicated this could be \premature. She also indicated an interest in Commissioners having a strategic plan on facility upgrades. Commissioner Koenig, who serves on the Fair Board, said that the original amount was three times the $110,000 and that the Fair Board reduced it in order to only deal with the necessities. She said that she doesn’t want to prevent the money from going to the fair because the money is needed August is coming up quickly. Commissioner Grenbner pointed out that the new interim fair director will be able to veto this as needed. Commissioner Bahar-Cook said that we need to approve the transfer to ensure time for competitive bids. I asked if this money will affect the hotel/motel fund, and was assured that we have significant dollars in that fund. During public comment, a member of the Fair Board indicated that this money is needed for rabbit cages and sheep pens and other things need to be fixed, and said that this is about animal safety and youth safety (petting zoos). We approved the movement of the money unanimously.

We also held our second public comment period on the Road Commission Board transfer of powers. Our Controller first went through the proposed summary of transition plan, which can be viewed at www.ingham.org. She explained that existing contracts and benefits stay intact until expiration; the County Commission would create a budget and make employees and assets part of the county (they are on the financial statement currently); central services, finance, and purchasing would become part of the county; nothing would change for the public and the day to day operations would stay the same; federal dollars would continue through tri-county planning; staff would work with the townships for priorities and with citizens for complaints; and strategic planning would either happen through an independent board or by the County Commission.

Labor testified opposed to the dissolution of the road commission, including OPEIU 512 which has 2 road commission units and the AFL-CIO (and the UAW by proxy). They said that the knowledge and experience of the road commissions would go away. They asked for one year for the Road Commission to show that it has fixed the internal problems and to implement their new plan. A few employees upset about the firing of the former operations manager continued to complain about what they said was corruption on the existing board and asked to get rid of the existing board. The new Chair of the Road Commission, Jim Dravenstatt-Moceri, explained his new plan. He said that the Road Commission this year has passed resolutions asking the county to take over the HR, Finance, and IT functions of the road commission. They also passed a resolution to empower the managing director to do hiring and firing of employees. That leaves the roads up to the Road Commission Board. He asked for a year to implement this and see how it is going, and said he wants to work collaboratively for the future for the benefit of the county residents. Delhi Township testified that if there is a new consulting Board regarding roads, they want representation on the advisory board to reflect their population size and the number of roads. Another employee mentioned that a positive to elimination of the Road Commission Board would be that drain assessments, which have gone to litigation in the past to the chagrin of the County Commission, would no longer be a problem because the County Commission will be in charge. Finally, the County Road Association of Michigan testified and offered to be a resource for the County Commission either way. They pointed out that Ingham County will be a member regardless. They also said that we may want to delay a decision until July, when the liability pool will change its policies to allow for road agencies to participate. We will now start taking up the resolutions for this in County Services, which should be interesting!

On the Consent Agenda, we passed a resolution to amend our 2011-2012 Comprehensive
Planning, Budgeting and Contracting (CPBC) Agreement with the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH). The CPBC Agreement is the annual process whereby MDCH transmits State and Federal funds to Ingham County to support public health programs. The Amendment makes the following specific changes in the budget:
1. Increases support for Highly Targeted HIV Prevention by $52,968 - increasing the total amount to
$105,936.
2. Increases funding for HIV/AIDS Care by $137,500 – increasing the total amount to $275,000.
3. Raises funding for HIV Prevention by $87,190 – increasing the total amount to $174,380.
4. Increases funding for STD Control by $20,342 - increasing the total amount to $44,998.
5. Increases support for TB Control by $2,111 – increasing the total amount to $21,973.
6. Raises funding for WIC Resident Services by $21,300 – increasing the total amount to $1,195,132.
7. Adds new funding for the Nurse Family Partnership Services in the amount of $245,000.
8. Adds new funding for the Michigan Climate and Health Adaptation Program in the amount of $15,000.
9. Adds new funding for the PRIME Local Learning Collaborative in the amount of $5,200.
10. Adds new funding for the Asthma Control through Education and Environment project in the amount of $12,495.

On the campaign trail, things are going very well! Fundraising donations continue to come in, I am having great response at doors and neighborhood meetings, and I am happy to announce my first Neighborhood Meeting this Saturday at the home of Monica Zuchowski in downtown Lansing (320 North Walnut Road in Lansing) from 10-12. I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts about the important issues facing our area and all of Michigan, and I want to hear from Lansing and Lansing Township residents about priorities for moving us forward! I hope to see you there, and ask you to please RSVP at rsvp@andyschor.com so we can have an approximate count for food.

Have a great week!

Health Department Restructuring, County Mowing Contract with Lansing, Substance Abuse and CMH Merger, Campaign Update

This week we had a very busy week. In County Services and Human Services, we took up a resolution to realign the administrative structure of the Health Department. Under former director Dr. Dean Sienko, we were in a unique situation where three positions were combined as one because Dr. Sienko could act as the Health Officer, Chief Medical Officer, and Health Department Director. The proposal is to go back to the old system of having three positions as required by law. We already have a Health Director, so it creates the other two positions. Because that would be a high budget impact on the county, the Health Director (Dr. Renee Canady) crafted a proposal to restructure much of the department. She was able to eliminate some management positions and combine positions to achieve significant savings for the county. When considered a few weeks ago, there was confusion in the numbers, but this week it was all made more clear. The realignment will result in the elimination of a total of five managerial positions, the establishment of one new managerial position, and the reallocation of managerial duties across existing staff. Positions proposed for elimination involve vacancies, thus avoiding negative effects to any incumbent employees. The proposal creates $24,836 in cost savings and creates additional provider capacity to serve clients in the Community Health Center Network, which in turn, will generate addition revenue for the department.

An issue that came up late dealt with the the contract between the county and the City of Lansing regarding mowing certain city parks. As you may recall, last year the County agreed to mow certain parks and the City would compensate. At the time, I had asked whether this contract would result in layoffs at the City. We were told that this would not create such a situation and the employees would be moved to other City operations. This week, we learned that the City announced that it would not bring back many of the seasonal employees that were laid off at the end of last season (they are laid off at the end of the summer and re-hired at the beginning). There were claims that this was due, in part, to the contract with the County. We added this as a discussion item to the County Services agenda and considered the possibiity of ending the contract with the City (we have to give 30 days notice). We were told by the UAW president that the layoffs are happening as a result of mowing. They said that there are 39 employees out of work, and some of these are due to contract between city and county. The UAW has submitted a proposal to the City to have their employees hired back. The City apparently has agreed not to privatize the services and that will bring back 17 of the employees.

The City was not represented at the committee meeting, as this was a late item and they could not have anyone there. Our county staff spoke with city staff and relayed to the committee the City's contention that the layoffs were normal and just would not be recalled. There were questions about what happens to the equipment that the county purchased for the mowing. It seems that if the contract is broken, the City doesn't have to buy the equipment back and the County would own it. If the contact goes to term but is not renewed, the City would have to purchase the equipment. I also asked questions about what happens to the parks if the contract is broken. I had previously heard that the contract would be part of the privatized contract. The UAW member indicated that because there will be no privatizations, breaking the contract will result in UAW employees being recalled for the work and the parks will still be mowed. Also, it was rasied that the City may have violated their contract with the UAW, which says that no employee can be displaced by a subcontracted employee. The UAW may go to arbitration on this.

Because most of the questions are for the City, it was moved that the City be requested to have someone at the next County Services meeting to answer the questions that were for them. Hopefully, someone will be able to attend.

In the Human Services Committee, we passed a resolution asking the state Department of Community Health to allow for the integration of the management of this region’s public substance abuse disorder prevention and treatment services (currently carried out by the Mid South Substance Abuse Commission) into the operations of the Community Mental Health Authority of Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham Counties. CMH would become the Coordinating Agency for administering Substance Use Disorder services, effective October 1, 2012. We had a good discussion about substance abuse services and how Mid South and CMH are ahead of the curve in initiating this merger. The Legislature is considering legislation to require these mergers, and our agencies are getting in front of the coming legislation by working on this now and making sure it is done right.

On the political front, the campaign continues to go very well. I am having tremendous response with voters and have picked up a few more endorsements. And fundraising continues to go very well! The field in the Democratic Primary is now more crowded, and we will be ramping up opportunities for volunteers. Please go to www.andyschor.com and sign up to volunteer or to contribute to the campaign. August 7th is just four months away, and is coming fast! Thanks everyone for all your support!