Sorry for the late posting of the blog this week. As you know, though, there was an election on Tuesday and life has been very busy. I am happy to announce that I won another term! Thanks to my wife and family, my honorable opponent Chris Christensen, and all of my supporters for all the help and support! All commissioners were re-elected, and the Democrats were able to hold a 12-4 majority. The one empty seat went from a Democrat to a Republican. While I was happy to win, several of my friends will be out of a job due to the Republican victories and they will be in my thoughts. If you know of any jobs, please let me know and I will pass them on to those who are looking!
Now on to the County News for the week…
The Finance Committee this week passed a new Pollution Prevention Regulation. The Ingham County Health Department currently does a variety of inspection and reporting on businesses that store, process, use, and manufacture polluting materials. We do this both as a requirement of federal law, and also as an issue of public safety.
Up until now, this has been done administratively and using general fund dollars (taxpayer dollars). The Health Department and the Human Services Committee have spend the last few months crafting an ordinance to officially address this, and to have the businesses who handle these materials pay the fees for pollution prevention instead of the taxpayers. They crafted language on what will be required by the businesses, and they settled on a fee of 75% to start (so that businesses are not hit with 100% of the fee in the first year). The Health Department is working through what businesses will need to pay the fee, and will be notifying businesses after the ordinance passes. Those who believe they should not be responsible for the fee can work with the Health Department. Commissioner Don Vickers has already worked with the Health Department to eliminate some who should not be on the list.
In addition to committee meetings on the ordinance, the Human Services committee conducted a public hearing and heard no opposition to the proposed ordinance. I am not on the committee so I learned much of this at the Finance Committee. When this was considered in Finance, I raised questions about having appeals go to the Board of Health instead of the elected Board of Commissioners. I was told that all health ordinance appeals go to the Board of Health, and I was satisfied with this answer after the Health Department accepted that they need to report the number and status of appeals to the Board of Commissioners. The resolution passed Finance 4-1 and will be considered by the full Board on Tuesday.
The Finance committee this week also took up the resolution to fund community agencies, as passed by the Human Services committee. For 2011, 35 agencies submitted applications totaling $248,084.50. The 2011 budget contains $187,261 available for community agencies. The Human Services committee funded the requests of the 19 agencies that “meet basic needs.” The remaining agencies were funded at 50% of their 2010 allocation or 50% of their 2011 request, whichever was lower. This resulted in 33 total agencies receiving funding. The Finance Committee did not change this allocation.
After a lengthy discussion last meeting, the Finance Committee passed a resolution amending the County Local Preference policy regarding contracts. We increased the preference threshold from the current 5% to a 10% local purchasing preference. As such, local registered vendors will have a greater opportunity to be awarded County contracts by being able to match other non-local bidders if within 10% of the lowest bid. Hopefully, this will help to keep county tax dollars in the county and help our local unemployment rates.
Finally, the committee began discussions of providing transition dollars for the one township that passed the police assessment. As you recall, the County Board of Commissioners eliminated funding for Road Patrol in the townships. I won’t go into the reasoning…you can look up previous versions of this blog for that! But we committed that any township that passed the special millage would receive dollars from us as they transition into their own funded police. Williamstown Township was the only township of the 13 to pass this millage (although several townships that defeated the millage actually voted for the zoo, which was a surprise to me). Commissioner Grebner introduced a resolution to give them $100,000 for any purpose (create their own police department, contract with another municipality, contract with the county) as long as any laid off sheriff deputies are hired first. The resolution was then referred to the Law Enforcement Committee to discuss. We also encouraged the Law Enforcement Committee to hold a committee meeting earlier than it is currently scheduled, but that will be up to the Chair of that committee. Time is definitely of the essence, and there are many things to do (contracts, details, etc) before January 1.
So, that’s it for this week. I hope everyone is over the election and glad that all the commercials are done!
Showing posts with label Community Agencies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Community Agencies. Show all posts
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Community Agency Rankings, Teresa Borsuk, Budget Hearings Begin, and Personal and Campaign Notes
Compared to previous weeks, this week was a quieter week on the Board floor. We passed a variety of important resolutions, but none were controversial.
The Board of Commissioners passed the resolution creating the Community Agency ranking system. I mentioned this last week, but thought I would provide more information. The 2011 Community Agency ranking criteria is as follows, in order of importance:
This week also started the important process of the budget for 2011. As I have mentioned in the past, the Controller first asks Department heads for budgets. In that request, she asks what each Department head can do to cut their budget because we will have a significant ($7-8 million) shortfall next year. After the Controller requests these documents, each Department head provides the information to the Controller. They then have an opportunity to come and discuss this with the committee chairs, members, controller, and budget director. The Law Enforcement committee has already held this meeting, and the other committees (County Services, Human Services, Judiciary) will be doing them next week. After that, the Controller puts together a recommended budget for the Commissioners which is presented to us in August. We then start budget hearings in committees in September and finalize the budget in October or November. We also sometimes have Board Leadership meetings (which are special meetings of the full Board for a specific purpose) to discuss the budget. These are meetings that are more like work-groups with discussion about the specifics. These are meetings where we give direction to the Controller and budget staff on what we think are priorities for her to recommend to us. These meetings, of course, are publicly noticed and open to the public.
On a personal note, I was interviewed this week on the budget situation by Channel 6 news. They focused on the importance to the citizens of Hawk Island county park, and my efforts to ensure that it is not closed or severely cut. You can see the story here. Nice job, Stacia!
On the campaign front, my opponent continued the weekly litany of attacks on me. He said in a letter to the editor that I don't attend neighborhood meetings, and when I do it is only for 15 minutes. To rebut this newest claim, I would first point out that he doesn't know that I do attend neighborhood meetings (I have several in my district) as often as my county commission meeting schedule allows because, as he said in the letter to the editor, he has only lived in the district for 6 months. What he also fails to mention is that he is referencing a meeting I recently had to leave early in order to attend a county commission meeting! So he attacks me because he thinks I don't do my job, then attacks me for doing my job. Of course, he knew why I left early because he was there and heard me tell the neighbors at the meeting that I was going to a county commisison meeting, yet he purposely omitted it in his letter. Interesting. He also says that I have never faced an opponent in any of my elections. Again, he has only been here 6 months so he doesn't know that I faced a very tough primary in my first election. The difference, though, is that my opponent and I ran positive campaigns that year. Jim Kirsch ran a great race and I have tremendous respect for Jim, We both worked very hard in that election and I was priveledged enough to be victorious. This year is the first race, though, that I have faced an opponent using negative campaign tactics against me. Thankfully, it isn't working and the voters are seeing right through it!
The Board of Commissioners passed the resolution creating the Community Agency ranking system. I mentioned this last week, but thought I would provide more information. The 2011 Community Agency ranking criteria is as follows, in order of importance:
- The extent to which the proposal directly contributes to addressing the County’s long-term priority of “Meeting Basic Needs”. Does the proposal provide basic necessities for those in need, such as food, clothing, and shelter or help to provide assistance in obtaining such things as household utilities that are needed by families and individuals?
- The extent to which the proposal leverages other sources of funding. What other funding sources are being leveraged, including state, federal, other non-profit and private sources? Will this funding be used as match for a larger grant or to leverage other funding?
- The degree to which the proposal demonstrates collaborative approaches to program and service delivery. What other agencies and organizations are participating in the proposed project?
- The extent to which the proposal demonstrates creativity and innovation. Does this proposal represent proven “best practices” in its particular subject? Does the program produce measurable results? Has this proposal ever been tried before? If the proposal is not new, then what is the track record of success, has there been a positive impact on the community?
- The number of years the agency has received County funding (fewer years = higher rating).
- Timeliness in submitting the proposal. Were deadlines to submit the proposal met to a reasonable standard? Was the proposal complete when submitted?
This week also started the important process of the budget for 2011. As I have mentioned in the past, the Controller first asks Department heads for budgets. In that request, she asks what each Department head can do to cut their budget because we will have a significant ($7-8 million) shortfall next year. After the Controller requests these documents, each Department head provides the information to the Controller. They then have an opportunity to come and discuss this with the committee chairs, members, controller, and budget director. The Law Enforcement committee has already held this meeting, and the other committees (County Services, Human Services, Judiciary) will be doing them next week. After that, the Controller puts together a recommended budget for the Commissioners which is presented to us in August. We then start budget hearings in committees in September and finalize the budget in October or November. We also sometimes have Board Leadership meetings (which are special meetings of the full Board for a specific purpose) to discuss the budget. These are meetings that are more like work-groups with discussion about the specifics. These are meetings where we give direction to the Controller and budget staff on what we think are priorities for her to recommend to us. These meetings, of course, are publicly noticed and open to the public.
On a personal note, I was interviewed this week on the budget situation by Channel 6 news. They focused on the importance to the citizens of Hawk Island county park, and my efforts to ensure that it is not closed or severely cut. You can see the story here. Nice job, Stacia!
On the campaign front, my opponent continued the weekly litany of attacks on me. He said in a letter to the editor that I don't attend neighborhood meetings, and when I do it is only for 15 minutes. To rebut this newest claim, I would first point out that he doesn't know that I do attend neighborhood meetings (I have several in my district) as often as my county commission meeting schedule allows because, as he said in the letter to the editor, he has only lived in the district for 6 months. What he also fails to mention is that he is referencing a meeting I recently had to leave early in order to attend a county commission meeting! So he attacks me because he thinks I don't do my job, then attacks me for doing my job. Of course, he knew why I left early because he was there and heard me tell the neighbors at the meeting that I was going to a county commisison meeting, yet he purposely omitted it in his letter. Interesting. He also says that I have never faced an opponent in any of my elections. Again, he has only been here 6 months so he doesn't know that I faced a very tough primary in my first election. The difference, though, is that my opponent and I ran positive campaigns that year. Jim Kirsch ran a great race and I have tremendous respect for Jim, We both worked very hard in that election and I was priveledged enough to be victorious. This year is the first race, though, that I have faced an opponent using negative campaign tactics against me. Thankfully, it isn't working and the voters are seeing right through it!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Budget Deficit Worsens, Zoo Renewal Begins, Community Agency Process Begins, I am endorsed by the Democratic Party, and My Opponent Slings More Mud!
While we had a busy week in committee, the most important thing that we learned this week is that our budget next year will be worse off than was originally projected. While we had originally been projecting a $5 million budget deficit for the 2011 fiscal year, it seems that is actually going to be $7-8 million.
Our Controller has collected the service base requests from our departments, taxable values, and other revenue projections for the 2011 fiscal year general fund. Based on the new taxable values provided from our Equalization Director, property tax collections are projected to decline by over $2.5 million. So calculating these all together, the deficit is $7-8 million. The Controller is assuming recommending using $1 million from the unreserved fund balance (rainy day fund), so we will be looking at having to solve a $6-7 million problem when we do the budget in August.
In County Services, we began looking at a ballot question for a renewal of the Zoo millage at .41 mills. As you probably know, a few years ago the voters overwhelmingly passed a millage for the zoo and it was moved from city control to county control. I was on the special committee that drew up the contract between the city and the county and developed the structure of the new management. There were many issues we had to work out, including how to move employees from the city to the county and still preserve their wages and benefits, retirement for employees, who owned the equipment, etc. But after many hours of hard work, we resolved all these issues. It was a great cooperative effort and a success for keeping the zoo open and alive in Lansing. We were able to maintain a great regional asset which draws people to our area. The millage would renew the funding for the zoo. We had a few legal questions about the language so we referred them to the County Attorney. I expect the language to be finalized at the next County Services and Finance committee meetings so we can get this on the ballot for the November general election.
In Finance, we took up a resolution that would fund community agencies and allow our staff to rank the incoming requests. We had about $300,000 for this last year, but are expecting much less this year. The Finance committee agreed with the Human Services committee that the rankings need to include a variety of factors, including basic needs that include food, shelter, etc. Once this resolution passes the Board on Tuesday, the information packet will go out to community agencies on Wednesday and they will be able to apply for the limited funding that we will have. The requests will be scored by our Controller and staff, and the recommendations will be made as part of the budget process in October.
Campaign Update: I am honored to have received the unanimous endorsement yesterday of the Ingham County Democratic Party. I am running for the Democratic nomination on August 3rd, and the county Democratic Party has recognized my positive record for my constituents. This is an unusual honor, as it takes ¾ of the voting members to secure an endorsement. I have also been endorsed by every Democratic member of the County Commission, every Countywide official (Sheriff, Prosecutor, Drain Commissioner, Clerk, Register of Deeds, Treasurer), State Reps Bauer, Byrum and Meadows, and Sen. Whitmer. My opponent, on the other hand, is being supported by Republican County Commissioner Steve Dougan. That is an interesting twist, especially as my opponent is running against me in the Democratic primary and claiming to be a Democrat.
On the negative side, this week my opponent put up a website accusing me and my Democratic colleagues on the County Commission of “seeking retaliation and intimidation of employees who speak up”. This is just the latest in his long list of blatant lies and distortions of me and my record. It is also a ruthless attack on the entire Democratic Caucus.
The TRUTH is that employees come to me regularly to discuss issues and for help, and I invite this dialogue. I have had county deputies, health department employees and other employees come to me for assistance with problems. As County Services Chair, Human Services Chair and Law Enforcement Chair I have always invited the opinions of our county employees. I invited in for testimony numerous county deputies on the road patrol issue, many UAW employees on health care issues, etc and I have NEVER sought punishment or retribution on any of them for speaking up. This is just another attempt by my opponent to confuse and anger voters when no actual issue exists. After knocking hundreds of doors, though, I am convinced that the voters won’t be fooled and are insulted by his campaign.
Our Controller has collected the service base requests from our departments, taxable values, and other revenue projections for the 2011 fiscal year general fund. Based on the new taxable values provided from our Equalization Director, property tax collections are projected to decline by over $2.5 million. So calculating these all together, the deficit is $7-8 million. The Controller is assuming recommending using $1 million from the unreserved fund balance (rainy day fund), so we will be looking at having to solve a $6-7 million problem when we do the budget in August.
In County Services, we began looking at a ballot question for a renewal of the Zoo millage at .41 mills. As you probably know, a few years ago the voters overwhelmingly passed a millage for the zoo and it was moved from city control to county control. I was on the special committee that drew up the contract between the city and the county and developed the structure of the new management. There were many issues we had to work out, including how to move employees from the city to the county and still preserve their wages and benefits, retirement for employees, who owned the equipment, etc. But after many hours of hard work, we resolved all these issues. It was a great cooperative effort and a success for keeping the zoo open and alive in Lansing. We were able to maintain a great regional asset which draws people to our area. The millage would renew the funding for the zoo. We had a few legal questions about the language so we referred them to the County Attorney. I expect the language to be finalized at the next County Services and Finance committee meetings so we can get this on the ballot for the November general election.
In Finance, we took up a resolution that would fund community agencies and allow our staff to rank the incoming requests. We had about $300,000 for this last year, but are expecting much less this year. The Finance committee agreed with the Human Services committee that the rankings need to include a variety of factors, including basic needs that include food, shelter, etc. Once this resolution passes the Board on Tuesday, the information packet will go out to community agencies on Wednesday and they will be able to apply for the limited funding that we will have. The requests will be scored by our Controller and staff, and the recommendations will be made as part of the budget process in October.
Campaign Update: I am honored to have received the unanimous endorsement yesterday of the Ingham County Democratic Party. I am running for the Democratic nomination on August 3rd, and the county Democratic Party has recognized my positive record for my constituents. This is an unusual honor, as it takes ¾ of the voting members to secure an endorsement. I have also been endorsed by every Democratic member of the County Commission, every Countywide official (Sheriff, Prosecutor, Drain Commissioner, Clerk, Register of Deeds, Treasurer), State Reps Bauer, Byrum and Meadows, and Sen. Whitmer. My opponent, on the other hand, is being supported by Republican County Commissioner Steve Dougan. That is an interesting twist, especially as my opponent is running against me in the Democratic primary and claiming to be a Democrat.
On the negative side, this week my opponent put up a website accusing me and my Democratic colleagues on the County Commission of “seeking retaliation and intimidation of employees who speak up”. This is just the latest in his long list of blatant lies and distortions of me and my record. It is also a ruthless attack on the entire Democratic Caucus.
The TRUTH is that employees come to me regularly to discuss issues and for help, and I invite this dialogue. I have had county deputies, health department employees and other employees come to me for assistance with problems. As County Services Chair, Human Services Chair and Law Enforcement Chair I have always invited the opinions of our county employees. I invited in for testimony numerous county deputies on the road patrol issue, many UAW employees on health care issues, etc and I have NEVER sought punishment or retribution on any of them for speaking up. This is just another attempt by my opponent to confuse and anger voters when no actual issue exists. After knocking hundreds of doors, though, I am convinced that the voters won’t be fooled and are insulted by his campaign.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
PLA, Community Agencies, Commissioners Bupp and Tsernoglou, and the Start of Election Season
The Board of Commissioners took up the resolution to create a Project Labor Agreement for the Rhino exhibit at the Zoo. If you are a faithful reader of my blog (and I hope you are!) then you already know what a PLA. We had public testimony from the Associated Builders and Contractors saying that PLA’s are for union-only shops and are unfair. Several Commissioners during debate rebutted this assertion, though, reminding that our policy is unique and makes it specifically possible for non-union contractors to bid on projects. Non-union shops would not be disadvantaged, and would only have to allow union level benefits and pay for employees working only on that project. The PLA was passed on a 13-3 vote, and the project can now begin.
We also considered the community agency funding. This was a very tough vote for everyone. As discussed in my blog last week, we have a small pot of money that we give to community agencies in Ingham County who do non-profit work. They help out those in need. Unfortunately, the money that we have available is continuously reducing. We need to pay our own employees without laying them off and reducing benefits, so it is hard to give money away to others. In the past, this money has been $300,000 or so, This year, though, it is anticipated to be about $100,000.
We had a proposal before us to instead send any money available to the Power of We for community agency building (which recently lost a federal grant). After discussing this with the Power of We director and some constituents in my district who contact me about the proposal, I decided that it would maximize the dollars more to ensure that the community agency building program kept on running. Sending few dollars to over 30 agencies would not be as effective as ensureing that the groups are doing their work most efficiently. This was a very tough decision, but I believe that it was the best one. We will try this for a year and see what happens. Next year we will review this and see if it still makes the most sense. We will also have a chance to review the program before we actually send the money (when we do our budget later in the year). The proposal passed on a 9-7 vote.
Finally, we said goodbye to Commissioner Shelby Bupp (D-East Lansing). When Commissioner Marc Thomas (D-East Lansing) resigned, Shelby was appointed to the Board. She held that seat until a special election was held. She did an excellent job and we all appreciate her work. Thanks Shelby!!!
We also will welcome new Commissioner Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) to the Board at our next meeting. Congratulations, and welcome Penelope!
On the political front…filing deadline has passed. I have a primary opponent in the Democratic primary on August 3rd. He has been aggressively campaigning and has been very critical of my leadership for our district. I will continue to work on behalf of the citizens of my district and all of Ingham County, and will continue to talk to my constituents and get the message out about the important issues. If I am successful in the primary, then I will take on a Republican who filed in November. If you are reading this blog and are a constituent, I hope I have earned your vote for another term. Please feel free to email (aschor@yahoo.com) or call me (485-0926) any time!
That’s it for this week.
Andy
We also considered the community agency funding. This was a very tough vote for everyone. As discussed in my blog last week, we have a small pot of money that we give to community agencies in Ingham County who do non-profit work. They help out those in need. Unfortunately, the money that we have available is continuously reducing. We need to pay our own employees without laying them off and reducing benefits, so it is hard to give money away to others. In the past, this money has been $300,000 or so, This year, though, it is anticipated to be about $100,000.
We had a proposal before us to instead send any money available to the Power of We for community agency building (which recently lost a federal grant). After discussing this with the Power of We director and some constituents in my district who contact me about the proposal, I decided that it would maximize the dollars more to ensure that the community agency building program kept on running. Sending few dollars to over 30 agencies would not be as effective as ensureing that the groups are doing their work most efficiently. This was a very tough decision, but I believe that it was the best one. We will try this for a year and see what happens. Next year we will review this and see if it still makes the most sense. We will also have a chance to review the program before we actually send the money (when we do our budget later in the year). The proposal passed on a 9-7 vote.
Finally, we said goodbye to Commissioner Shelby Bupp (D-East Lansing). When Commissioner Marc Thomas (D-East Lansing) resigned, Shelby was appointed to the Board. She held that seat until a special election was held. She did an excellent job and we all appreciate her work. Thanks Shelby!!!
We also will welcome new Commissioner Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) to the Board at our next meeting. Congratulations, and welcome Penelope!
On the political front…filing deadline has passed. I have a primary opponent in the Democratic primary on August 3rd. He has been aggressively campaigning and has been very critical of my leadership for our district. I will continue to work on behalf of the citizens of my district and all of Ingham County, and will continue to talk to my constituents and get the message out about the important issues. If I am successful in the primary, then I will take on a Republican who filed in November. If you are reading this blog and are a constituent, I hope I have earned your vote for another term. Please feel free to email (aschor@yahoo.com) or call me (485-0926) any time!
That’s it for this week.
Andy
Thursday, May 6, 2010
PLA, Saving County $, Community Agencies (and a little campaign info)
On Tuesday, we also considered our first contract proposal under our Project Labor Agreement (PLA) policy. In case you haven’t heard, last year the county created a policy requiring PLA’s for bigger construction projects (anything over $100,000). It was highly controversial and the County Services held many meetings on it and worked with both business and labor to create the final product. I was not on the committee at the time, but worked on this when it came up on the Board floor. The County is planning to do an expansion of the Rhino exhibit at Potter Park Zoo and it will be the first PLA project. This is being done with dedicated zoo millage funds, so don’t worry about general fund dollars being used for this instead of deputies or health department or
anything else.
The controversy came, though, in the way our staff wants to do the PLA. There were two options presented: (1) have the county directly negotiation a PLA with one or more labor organizations, or (2) condition the award of a contract to a construction manager/general contractor. All other PLA’s – Sparrow, MSU, others – have the construction manager or general contactor negotiate with the union. Our staff wanted to negotiate directly for the first project because they wanted to set the first PLA as a basis for all future ones in case there is not the ability for future contract managers or general contractors to negotiate. The problem with that, though, was that this project is big enough to have a general contractor that is able to negotiate. I argued that we should take this on a case-by-case basis because each project has to come to the Board. I pushed for “option 2” to be adopted. In the end, that is exactly what happened. If there are future projects that need to have the county staff negotiate directly, then we can consider it at that time.
In other news, the Drain Commissioner came to County Services and Finance with a plan to save money for him and earn money for the county. How? Well….the Drain Commissioner borrows money for projects from banks and pays a certain interest rate (5% or so). The County invests its short-term tax collections in banks and receives a small interest on that money (1% or so) until it is needed for spending. So, why not combine the two? Why not have the
Drain Commissioner borrow it from the County and pay 3% interest or so? Then the county gains an extra 1% or 2% on interest on the short-term dollars, while the Drain Commissioner saves 1% or 2% on interest. So, we passed a resolution that would do this one time for a limited amount of money. I asked several questions about cash flow and ensuring that this won’t jeopardize county dollars or collections. Both County Treasurer Eric Schertzing and County Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann ensured the committee that this work just fine, and that it will save money for the Drain Commissioner while earning a little more money for the County general fund. Now that’s government efficiency in motion! Thanks to Drain Commissioner Lindemann and Treasurer Schertzing!
In Finance, we considered how we fund our community agencies. Community agencies are the various groups in the community that do good work. Examples are the Lansing Community Gardens (which provide food for the poor) or the Lansing Area Aids Network or about 30 others. In the past, the county has given a few dollars to each of these organizations to do good work in the community. We cannot be everything to everyone, but we can support these groups to help those in need. The allocation in past years has been about $300,000. Last year that was cut to $200,000. This year, that is expected to eb cut to $100,000. While I have tremendous respect for the work they do, I have concerns about giving this money to outside agencies when we are cutting our own county employees and services. $100,000 is a deputy, or money for a park, or other key services. While I would consider supporting moving community agency dollars to other areas within the county, there doesn't seem to be support for that.
Instead, Commissioner Brian McGrain proposed to send the $100,000 to the Power of We consortium. The Power of We work with these non-profit organizations and show them how to be better at what they do. The concept is...if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; if you teach a man to fish he eats forever. Instead of funding the programs each year with a very little amount of money from the county, the Power of We can use the money to teach them how to run better.
This proposal to move the money to the Power of We instead of directly allocating it to community agencies passed the Human Services committee on a 3-2 vote. I was not there but I understand that there was significant debate on the pros and cons. The Finance Committee defeated it on a 3-3 vote. The resolution will go to the Board for consideration on Tuesday, and it should be a very interesting debate and vote.
Well...that's it.
Actually, I will tell you one other thing. This week officially starts my re-election campaign. I have a challenger in the Democratic primary this year, and he has been bashing me left and right. Although he just moved into the district, he is telling anyone that will listen what a terrible job I have been doing for my district. I am taking this very seriously and will rise to the challenge. While this blog is usually dedicated to issue work (which my challenger will undoubtedly benefit from), I will also spend some time talking about my re-election. As always, I welcome any support folks can give (contributions, door knocking, etc.). And I look forward to the vote on August 3rd!
Andy
anything else.
The controversy came, though, in the way our staff wants to do the PLA. There were two options presented: (1) have the county directly negotiation a PLA with one or more labor organizations, or (2) condition the award of a contract to a construction manager/general contractor. All other PLA’s – Sparrow, MSU, others – have the construction manager or general contactor negotiate with the union. Our staff wanted to negotiate directly for the first project because they wanted to set the first PLA as a basis for all future ones in case there is not the ability for future contract managers or general contractors to negotiate. The problem with that, though, was that this project is big enough to have a general contractor that is able to negotiate. I argued that we should take this on a case-by-case basis because each project has to come to the Board. I pushed for “option 2” to be adopted. In the end, that is exactly what happened. If there are future projects that need to have the county staff negotiate directly, then we can consider it at that time.
In other news, the Drain Commissioner came to County Services and Finance with a plan to save money for him and earn money for the county. How? Well….the Drain Commissioner borrows money for projects from banks and pays a certain interest rate (5% or so). The County invests its short-term tax collections in banks and receives a small interest on that money (1% or so) until it is needed for spending. So, why not combine the two? Why not have the
Drain Commissioner borrow it from the County and pay 3% interest or so? Then the county gains an extra 1% or 2% on interest on the short-term dollars, while the Drain Commissioner saves 1% or 2% on interest. So, we passed a resolution that would do this one time for a limited amount of money. I asked several questions about cash flow and ensuring that this won’t jeopardize county dollars or collections. Both County Treasurer Eric Schertzing and County Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann ensured the committee that this work just fine, and that it will save money for the Drain Commissioner while earning a little more money for the County general fund. Now that’s government efficiency in motion! Thanks to Drain Commissioner Lindemann and Treasurer Schertzing!
In Finance, we considered how we fund our community agencies. Community agencies are the various groups in the community that do good work. Examples are the Lansing Community Gardens (which provide food for the poor) or the Lansing Area Aids Network or about 30 others. In the past, the county has given a few dollars to each of these organizations to do good work in the community. We cannot be everything to everyone, but we can support these groups to help those in need. The allocation in past years has been about $300,000. Last year that was cut to $200,000. This year, that is expected to eb cut to $100,000. While I have tremendous respect for the work they do, I have concerns about giving this money to outside agencies when we are cutting our own county employees and services. $100,000 is a deputy, or money for a park, or other key services. While I would consider supporting moving community agency dollars to other areas within the county, there doesn't seem to be support for that.
Instead, Commissioner Brian McGrain proposed to send the $100,000 to the Power of We consortium. The Power of We work with these non-profit organizations and show them how to be better at what they do. The concept is...if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; if you teach a man to fish he eats forever. Instead of funding the programs each year with a very little amount of money from the county, the Power of We can use the money to teach them how to run better.
This proposal to move the money to the Power of We instead of directly allocating it to community agencies passed the Human Services committee on a 3-2 vote. I was not there but I understand that there was significant debate on the pros and cons. The Finance Committee defeated it on a 3-3 vote. The resolution will go to the Board for consideration on Tuesday, and it should be a very interesting debate and vote.
Well...that's it.
Actually, I will tell you one other thing. This week officially starts my re-election campaign. I have a challenger in the Democratic primary this year, and he has been bashing me left and right. Although he just moved into the district, he is telling anyone that will listen what a terrible job I have been doing for my district. I am taking this very seriously and will rise to the challenge. While this blog is usually dedicated to issue work (which my challenger will undoubtedly benefit from), I will also spend some time talking about my re-election. As always, I welcome any support folks can give (contributions, door knocking, etc.). And I look forward to the vote on August 3rd!
Andy
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