This week, we had a very busy committee in County Services. We led off with discussion about the resolution to contract with legal aid of central Michigan to take client referrals from the Ingham County Register of Deeds and Ingham County Treasurer. Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel, Jr. presented about the importance of the program. Ingham County and its residents have been hit especially hard by the foreclosure crisis and Register of Deeds Hertel has uncovered potential fraudulent documents that call into question the legality of thousands of foreclosures in his office. The foreclosure crisis has directly impacted the county budget by lowering property values across the county and increased the counties tax foreclosure costs. Last year, Ingham County contracted with Legal Aid of South Central Michigan, who has served over 130 Ingham County Residents in the last year based on the county’s funding. There are 39 active cases being adjudicated using Ingham County Grant dollars currently. Legal Aid and the Register of Deeds Office have held a dozen town halls across the County, helping to explain the problem foreclosures present to our communities, and to find victims of illegal foreclosures. Legal Aid has helped uncover cases of notary and foreclosure fraud that have been referred to the Attorney General’s office and FBI for investigation. This resolution continue the county’s contract with Legal Aid of South Central Michigan to refer clients who have been effected by this crisis in the amount of 60,000 dollars to be taken from the delinquent tax fund. Additionally, we were told that 145 people were helped since July 1 of last year. These people have no help, and this program provides a unique opportunity for reliable and accessible help. These people have no resources and this is one of the few resources available. The resolution passed unanimously.
The second big resolution that we considered was a bit more controversial. It was a resolution to change the 2012 managerial and confidential personnel manual to match changes negotiated in collective bargaining agreements with the managers. The changes proposed included:
- recognition of the earlier implementation of the 1.8% increase in employee’s pension contribution.
- change in employee contribution toward retirement: Employees hired prior to the effective date of this agreement would contribute an additional 1.8% of gross wages to the employee retirement, increasing the total contribution for Managerial employees to 8.19% and Confidential employees to 7.16%
- add a new retirement plan: Employees hired on or after the effective date of this agreement would be covered by the Municipal Employees’ Retirement System’s Hybrid Plan - consisting of a Defined Benefit (DB) component with a 1.0% Benefit Multiplier and a Defined Contribution (DC) component with an employer match of the Employee’s contribution in an amount up to 2.5% of the employee’s payroll.
- change in the language under Compensation Plan: 2. Step increases would be subject only to the approval of the immediate supervisor with the exception of those positions reporting directly to the Board of Commissioners or Judges. Those positions include but may not be limited to the Health Officer, Animal Control Director, Veterans Affairs Director, Friend of the Court, Circuit Court Administrator, District Court Administrator and Magistrate, Probate Court Administrator, and the Controller, and must be approved by the appropriate presiding Judge or liaison committee Chairperson of the Board of Commissioners.
- Change in the language under Compensation Plan: upon justification by the department and approval of the Human Resources Director, a new employee would be able to be started at step 2. At the discretion of the Ingham County Health Department and with the approval of the Human Resources Director, Primary Care Physicians and Dentists may be started at step 5 based on applicable experience.
- Employees hired after the effective date of this agreement would not be eligible to receive longevity bonus.
- decrease sick time accruals for employees hired on or after the effective date of this agreement as follows: Each full-time employee hired on or after the effective date of this agreement would earn 3.69 hours per pay period. Three quarter-time and part-time employees shall earn 75% and 50% of that amount, respectively.
- change the donation of sick time to read: A total of 16 sick hours may be donated by an employee under this manual in any department, irrespective of the employee group affiliation or bargaining unit membership.
- change to Section J (2) regarding if the request for donated sick time is approved by the County Services Committee under the 6 step procedure outlined in the agreement and that the Sick Leave Donation Policy may be terminated by County Services Committee, in its discretion, after the expiration of this manual: New language - Any decision by the County Services Committee shall not be subject to the Complaint Procedure.
- change in Retiree Health Insurance: Employee hired on or after the effective date of the agreement shall not be eligible for single retiree health insurance coverage until after they reach 60 years of age, subject to the scale based on years of service. Retirees that purchase dental and vision insurance at group rates and subsequently choose to discontinue the coverage, may not re-enroll.
- change in vacation leave earned: New employees hired on or after the effective date of this agreement shall be subject to the reduced accrual of vacation based on years of service.
- change in Other Specific Managerial Benefits (Appendix A): Elimination of dry cleaning and laundering allowance and elimination of clothing reimbursement. Addition of “on-call” language: In accordance with Ingham County Board of Commissioners Resolution #03-042, physicians employed by the County under the Managerial and Confidential Employee Personnel Manual would participate in “on-call” coverage and shall be paid an “on-call” bonus. The “oncall” bonus shall be paid on quarterly.
- provide salary increases as follows: There will be no change in the compensation levels reflected in Appendix D for the duration of this agreement.
This resolution was proposed to be effective only until the end of the year (December 31, 2012). We had a very lively debate. These terms were agreed to by the managerial staff, but many of the labor unions were upset with it because they believe that it would create terms that they would have to abide by as well. Our unions are now in negotiations, though, and collective bargaining sessions are still happening.
In discussion, I expressed opposition to the automatic Step 5 provision. I also expressed concerns about creating all of these conditions without having all bargaining units involved. Our Controller said that the managers feel they should provide leadership in agreeing to these conditions. They also specified that these conditions are only until the end of the year, so any changes with the employees can be reflected with the managers next year. Commissioner Grebner expressed what he thought are the positives of the hybrid defined contribution plan, including eliminating the corruption possibilities of the defined benefit program. We had a long discussion and, ultimately, the resolution was defeated 3-3. The same resolution came up in Finance, though, and but I am not on that committee and don’t know if it passed that committee.
We next had a long conversation about our first ever resolution consideration actions regarding the Department of Roads and Transportation. We approved permits that were presented to us. These are regular permits that were routinely approved by the Road Commission. Because the County Commission is now the Road Commission, we approved these permits. There were long discussions, though, about the processes and questions to the Executive Director of the Road Commission about how things work. We will definitely have more discussion and training about how to be road commissioners! We then talked about the conversations that the townships had regarding creating an advisory committee that will recommend which road projects are done. The townships seem skeptical of their role, but they proposed a 16 member Advisory Board that would meet four times per year.
We had a few things left on the agenda at that time, but I had to leave because it was my daughter’s birthday that day. The meeting had gone 2 ½ hours and I needed to get home to wish her a happy birthday before she went to bed. The most important resolution to be considered was a discussion about how our Information Systems department accidentally deleted all of the clerk data and information. My understanding is that there was an attempt to delete old Register of Deeds data, but this inadvertently deleted all the Clerk data as well. They are trying to re-create that information. I am very upset that there were not backup protocols and redundancies, and plan to discuss this with our staff. I am also disappointed to have missed this discussion after 2 ½ hours of meeting, but my daughter had to come first.
In Human Services the day before, we talked at length of co-locating a Health Department clinic within the Community Mental Health building. CMH and the Health Department both said that this would be a great thing for the county and our services. This is a way to help people get access to those that can provide the health care. Health care access is a growing challenge, especially for the seriously mentally ill. Coordination of these services will allow for each to bring assets to the table that have not been available previously. There is a 25% less life expectancy for those with mental illness. The mentally ill face depression, which results in higher blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, stroke, etc. They also cost society more money because they are more likely to use the emergency room (46.7% vs 30.5% for others) and to be hospitalized (20.4% vs 11.6% for others). The seriously mentally ill usually don’t seek care and are a disenfranchised population. The Health department can’t do the full range of services for the mentally impaired, and the co-location brings in level of resources that are needed to have proper patient services and keep federal funds – psychiatric, residential, other pieces. We expressed support of the concept. There were details that needed to be worked out, though. The Health Department proposed to have a new provide hired, but wants to move support staff from other facilities. I expressed concern that this will reduce service and care in those facilities, and will result in other workers having to pickup more of those duties. There were other questions about startup costs, which will be paid for by a federal grant, and operational costs which the Health Department will pick up. We were also told that CMH is an at-risk provider, so they get paid as if they are an insurance company and can spread the money around for services. Other details, like hours of operation, will be worked out as the plan is moved forward. But because there are a lot of approvals that are still needed, we agreed to move this forward for now with the details still needing to be worked out.
As for my campaign for State Representative, it continues to go very well! If you are in Lansing or Lansing Township and you vote, you have probably received a knock on your door and have spoken to someone from my campaign or had a piece of literature left at your door. I have done a few thousand doors myself, and my campaign team have covered the district and start over on Monday! Fundraising also continues to go well, and we will have our next event on June 19th. You can go to www.andyschor.com to volunteer or to contribute. Thanks everyone for all your help. Two more months until Primary Election day!
Showing posts with label Health Department. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Department. Show all posts
Friday, June 8, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
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!
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!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Dental Director, Future Health Services Issues, Employee Negotiations, Alcohol Tent at Fair, Road Commission, Sun Country Landing Rights in DC
What started out as an easy week was not as easy as I thought! The Human Services Committee met on Monday. We revisited the re-creation of a Dental Director position. After reviewing the scoring of the position by our HR, and re-reviewing the benefit in terms of dollars and service, we all agreed that this was a wise move. Commissioner Vickers asked for language in the resolution specifying this is a 20% administrative position and 80% dental position. The amendment and resolution both passed unanimously. It also passed the County Services committee unanimously on Tuesday. The other major item on the agenda was a presentation on the Transformation of Health Care Delivery by the Health Department. It was interesting. Lots of new regulations and codes and things as a result of the national health care law. We also learned of the increased need, which has led to increased hours and weekend hours for health department staff. We also heard that we will need to look at capacity issue that are coming as soon as 2014, and we heard that federal funds for the Ingham Health Plan will be ending by 2016 with medicaid picking up the slack, and we will need to figure out how to pay for this program. The Ingham County Commission will have lots of outstanding health care issues to solve for our residents!
The County Services meeting was much more controversial. We lead off with a quick review of the language that we passed last week dealing with employee negotiations. The language said, "TO GIVE THE CONTROLLER THE AUTHORITY TO CONTINUE TO PROPOSE TO THE BARGAINING UNITS A HYBRID RETIREMENT PLAN FOR EMPLOYEES HIRED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 12, 2012 AND UNDERSTANDING THAT THE CONTRIBUTION RATES AND MULTIPLIER ARE SUBJECT TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING." Commissioner Holman (the Chair) clarified that this language is intended to allow for all options to be discussed [previous blog language deleted because of differing interpretations]. Several of the unions expressed appreciation of this clarification, including the UAW, the Michigan Association of Police, the Ingham County Employees Association, and the Michigan Nurses Association.
We then passed a resolution to make the beer/alcohol tent permanent at the County Fair (as long as the Fair Board wants it). The Adult Refreshment Tent was open from 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and 3:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturdays during Fair Week in 2010 and 2011. The 4-H council liaison raised opposition to this because the Fair is integral part of 4-H, and 4-H is a youth development program. He also questioned the income that they county has realized and said that it has only been a few thousand dollars when it was projected to be $50,000. He argued that it is not worth the risk for the low revenue, and that the Fair will lose money because people are not coming due to the alcohol. Commissioner Grebner pointed out that when we first passed this, we were told that there would be drunks and animals let out of cages and accidents and many other disasters. None of these happened. I pointed out that many people have told me that they attend the fair because they can see the show and have a beer or glass of wine. I also pointed out that there is alcohol in other fairs and art festivals and a variety of child-friendly settings. I said that this attracts people to our fair. The Fair Manager agreed that it is not making enough money, but that he will be changing that. He also said that he will put it in a more confined place away from the 4-H and children. Commissioner Vickers said that he does not think that a youth event should have alcohol. The resolution passed 4-2, with Commissioners Vickers and Celentino voting against it.
We had a scheduled presentation from the Road Commission Board. In an interesting coincidence, that afternoon the Michigan House passed the bill allowing County Commissions to eliminate Road Commission Boards and bring the operations in-house. The new Road Commission Chair - Jim Dravenstatt-Moceri - talked about the potential hiring of an HR person in coordination with the county HR staff, and how an HR person will help to prevent the internal problems that exist by meeting with staff confidentially and identifying the problems. He also said that the Road Commission is doing good job with roads. His foal is for the Road Commission to be a good place for employees. He also said that the HR director would meet with union leadership to build a relationship for creditability and trust, which is not existent now. And, he said that the HR director will result in savings by certain things in-house that they now pay lawyers to do. He finally said that they are looking to revamp employee policies and procedures, that they Board has unanimously approved the managing director (Bill Conklin) for another year, and are looking to fill the finance director position in conjunction with the county HR director. Road Commissioner Norm Gear sad that they don't want to undermine the system, want a safe environment, and want efficient work for the constituents of Ingham County. Commissioner Milton Scales said that he supports the Chair and what he wants to accomplish. Road Commissioner Marc Thomas was also in attendance.
Commissioner Mark Grebner forcefully stated that the plan presented by the road commission was unnecessary and irrelevant because the County Commission passed a resolution to disband the Road Commission Board on a 15-1 vote, and that the Road Commission Board should simply talk about how they will assist the transition. Committee Chair Holman said that the Road Commission could present ideas and options, but Grebner pushed back that the County Commission didn't want ideas because we are on record eliminating the Board. Road Commission Chair asked for a year until the County Commission implemented that takeover resolution, but Grebner said that dissolving the Road Commission was the way the County Commission is going until a resolution is passed otherwise. He also told the Road Commission members to stop the hiring process, and that any new staff would be decided by the County Commissioners and County Controller once the Board is dissolved. The County Controller indicated that she is pulling together recommendations to move the operations to the County, including recommendations on benefits and retirement plans and al other factors that need to be figured out. No timeline was given, but indicated that with the imminent signing of the bills, the recommendations will need to be considered soon. With that, the discussion was ended.
Finally, I would point out that we unanimously passed a resolution in support of sun country airlines having landing rights at Reagan National Airport. Sun Country has two inside perimeter slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Sun Country has used these slots for daily roundtrip service between Reagan and Lansing since April of 2011. This service has proven to be popular, with the Sun Country airlines experiencing a 156% increase in daily passengers in the third quarter of 2011 from the year earlier. If Lansing loses this service, it would be one of the few state capitals without non-stop service to Washington, DC. The resolution supports Sun Country Airlines' appeal to retain landing rights and slot exemptions at Reagan airport, and was forwarded to the US Department of Transportation, the Capital Region Airport Authority, Congressman Mike Rogers, Senator Debbie Stabenow, and Senator Carl Levin.
Whew...lots done for the residents of Ingham County this week!
The County Services meeting was much more controversial. We lead off with a quick review of the language that we passed last week dealing with employee negotiations. The language said, "TO GIVE THE CONTROLLER THE AUTHORITY TO CONTINUE TO PROPOSE TO THE BARGAINING UNITS A HYBRID RETIREMENT PLAN FOR EMPLOYEES HIRED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 12, 2012 AND UNDERSTANDING THAT THE CONTRIBUTION RATES AND MULTIPLIER ARE SUBJECT TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING." Commissioner Holman (the Chair) clarified that this language is intended to allow for all options to be discussed [previous blog language deleted because of differing interpretations]. Several of the unions expressed appreciation of this clarification, including the UAW, the Michigan Association of Police, the Ingham County Employees Association, and the Michigan Nurses Association.
We then passed a resolution to make the beer/alcohol tent permanent at the County Fair (as long as the Fair Board wants it). The Adult Refreshment Tent was open from 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and 3:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturdays during Fair Week in 2010 and 2011. The 4-H council liaison raised opposition to this because the Fair is integral part of 4-H, and 4-H is a youth development program. He also questioned the income that they county has realized and said that it has only been a few thousand dollars when it was projected to be $50,000. He argued that it is not worth the risk for the low revenue, and that the Fair will lose money because people are not coming due to the alcohol. Commissioner Grebner pointed out that when we first passed this, we were told that there would be drunks and animals let out of cages and accidents and many other disasters. None of these happened. I pointed out that many people have told me that they attend the fair because they can see the show and have a beer or glass of wine. I also pointed out that there is alcohol in other fairs and art festivals and a variety of child-friendly settings. I said that this attracts people to our fair. The Fair Manager agreed that it is not making enough money, but that he will be changing that. He also said that he will put it in a more confined place away from the 4-H and children. Commissioner Vickers said that he does not think that a youth event should have alcohol. The resolution passed 4-2, with Commissioners Vickers and Celentino voting against it.
We had a scheduled presentation from the Road Commission Board. In an interesting coincidence, that afternoon the Michigan House passed the bill allowing County Commissions to eliminate Road Commission Boards and bring the operations in-house. The new Road Commission Chair - Jim Dravenstatt-Moceri - talked about the potential hiring of an HR person in coordination with the county HR staff, and how an HR person will help to prevent the internal problems that exist by meeting with staff confidentially and identifying the problems. He also said that the Road Commission is doing good job with roads. His foal is for the Road Commission to be a good place for employees. He also said that the HR director would meet with union leadership to build a relationship for creditability and trust, which is not existent now. And, he said that the HR director will result in savings by certain things in-house that they now pay lawyers to do. He finally said that they are looking to revamp employee policies and procedures, that they Board has unanimously approved the managing director (Bill Conklin) for another year, and are looking to fill the finance director position in conjunction with the county HR director. Road Commissioner Norm Gear sad that they don't want to undermine the system, want a safe environment, and want efficient work for the constituents of Ingham County. Commissioner Milton Scales said that he supports the Chair and what he wants to accomplish. Road Commissioner Marc Thomas was also in attendance.
Commissioner Mark Grebner forcefully stated that the plan presented by the road commission was unnecessary and irrelevant because the County Commission passed a resolution to disband the Road Commission Board on a 15-1 vote, and that the Road Commission Board should simply talk about how they will assist the transition. Committee Chair Holman said that the Road Commission could present ideas and options, but Grebner pushed back that the County Commission didn't want ideas because we are on record eliminating the Board. Road Commission Chair asked for a year until the County Commission implemented that takeover resolution, but Grebner said that dissolving the Road Commission was the way the County Commission is going until a resolution is passed otherwise. He also told the Road Commission members to stop the hiring process, and that any new staff would be decided by the County Commissioners and County Controller once the Board is dissolved. The County Controller indicated that she is pulling together recommendations to move the operations to the County, including recommendations on benefits and retirement plans and al other factors that need to be figured out. No timeline was given, but indicated that with the imminent signing of the bills, the recommendations will need to be considered soon. With that, the discussion was ended.
Finally, I would point out that we unanimously passed a resolution in support of sun country airlines having landing rights at Reagan National Airport. Sun Country has two inside perimeter slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Sun Country has used these slots for daily roundtrip service between Reagan and Lansing since April of 2011. This service has proven to be popular, with the Sun Country airlines experiencing a 156% increase in daily passengers in the third quarter of 2011 from the year earlier. If Lansing loses this service, it would be one of the few state capitals without non-stop service to Washington, DC. The resolution supports Sun Country Airlines' appeal to retain landing rights and slot exemptions at Reagan airport, and was forwarded to the US Department of Transportation, the Capital Region Airport Authority, Congressman Mike Rogers, Senator Debbie Stabenow, and Senator Carl Levin.
Whew...lots done for the residents of Ingham County this week!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Road Commission Resolution Referred to Committee, Health Director Appointed, Medical Officer Re-Created, Dentists Hired
To begin my blog this week, I would like to welcome a variety of new readers of my blog. We once again heard from those unhappy with the Road Commission Board, and this time my blog was read during public comment. As the only person that writes a weekly blog on the County Board, I am happy that people are reading it!
As assumed in my blog last week, we again had a personal resolution introduced calling for Road Commissioner Shirley Rodgers to resign. Before I get into that, I would like to address some confusion with what I have written in my blog.
The Road Commission and its employees are not a “Democrat or Republican” issue. I never meant to insinuate that they are. The Ingham County Road Commission employees do a great job getting the roads fixed and cleared, and I am proud of the work they do. But it is a fact that the late resolutions were introduced by the four Republicans on the County Board. In committee last week and on the Board floor, the late and personal resolutions were introduce by Commissioners Dragonetti,Vickers, Schafer, and Dougan. As far as I know, no Democrats were even talked to about these resolutions before they were introduced. So…it is true that the Republicans introducved these resolutions. As for the motivations of the public that show up, I take them at their word that they are not there because someone asked them to be. It is odd, though, that we had no public coming to committee about the Road Commission problems until the late resolution (introduced by the four Republicans) was sprung on us without any notice. But whatever.
At the Board meeting, we heard significant public testimony from several Road Commission employees and from friends and family of Mr. Jim Benjamin, who was fired from the Road Commission. We then had the resolution calling for Shirley Rodgers to resign or face removal proceedings moved for immediate consideration. Board Chair Grebner explained the Board policy that all personal and late resolutions are automatically referred to committee unless they have already been considered at committee or the Board votes to overrule the rules on a 2/3 vote. This is to ensure that the public has the appropriate notice of the resolution because it is on the official agenda, ensure that the attorney can review it and comment on the legality, and to ensure that committee work (language details) can be done in committee. The motion was made to have the resolution not be referred to committee, but it was defeated 5-11. 4 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted to keep the resolution on the Board floor. Personally, I voted against it because I think that this needs to be worked on in committee. I read the resolution. It said a lot of bad things about Shirley Rodgers, but included not one thing that she did wrong. I would like for some of those things to be included so we can at least have the allegations written down before, and any accompanying proof given to us, before considering something like this on the Board floor. I also am not comfortable calling for a resignation. That does nothing and is a waste of everyone’s time. If there is proof of malfeasance or misfeasance of any Road Commissioner, I am willing to consider that. This is the role of the County Commission. Under state law, we cannot overrule decisions made by the Road Commission nor can we reinstate any employees such as Mr. Benjamin. We can take written proof given to us and decide if a Road Commissioner has committed malfeasance or misfeasance in office as according to the conditions in the law and case law.
The resolution was referred to County Services, where it is on the agenda for Tuesday. So I will report more on this next week. Personally, I look forward to actually seeing the evidence that is out there in support of malfeasance. Instead of hearing about police reports and secret investigations, I hope that information is given to us proving these and all other accusations so we can find finality on this resolution. Again, we can’t re-hire Mr. Benjamin. He was terminated with a majority vote by the Road Commission (EDITORS'S NOTE...In the original blog posting, I said that it was ironic that Shirley Rodgers voted against it. That was incorrect and was brought to my attention by a member of the public. Milton Scales voted against it and the other 4 Commissioners voted for it. I confused this vote with another voted taken by the by the road commission. My apologies) and we have no say over their management employees. I have no opinion on whether he should or should not have been terminated. I don’t know him and have never met him. I don’t know if he is a good or bad manager . He clearly has many supporters. He also has some detractors. He has filed a complaint and we will look at it and deem if county policies were violated or not and act accordingly.
In other business, we bid farewell to our Health Director, Dean Sienko. He has been an incredible Health Director for Ingham County, and is a state and national leader. We also welcomed Dr. Renee Canady, who will be our new Health Department Director. Dr. Sienko had been serving as the Health Officer/Medical Director/Medical Examiner in his role as Director. We recently discovered that we re-created the Health Officer position, as needed, and appointed Dr. Canady to that position. We neglected, though, to re-establish an independent Medical Director position. This needs to be done immediately as we need to have one as soon as Dr. Sienko is retired. We had a late resolution to re-establish this position. Again, because it is a late resolution, we needed a 2/3 vote to consider it that night. Commissioners Vickers and Dragonetti voted against consideration and passage of this resolution because they were upset that this was considered immediately but the Road Commission resolution was not. It did pass, though, on a bi-partisan 14-2 vote (with bi-partisan support).
Well, that's about it. I hope you are having a great weekend and I will report back again at the end of the week!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Parks Incentive Programs, Medical Director, Fees, Fundraiser Thank-you
I hope everyone had a great week. I apologize for this blog being so late. The week just got ahead of me!
Usually the Board of Commissioners committee process has liaison committees working on resolutions then the Finance committee changing them. In this case, it worked almost in reverse. The County Services committee this week considered a resolution dealing with approvals for discount incentive programs at the zoo. Last year, the county offered free zoo entrance for moms on Mothers Day, dads on Fathers Day, and grandparents on Grandparents day. The Parks department brought us a resolution that would extend that to every year. The resolution, though, did not specify that it was only for these days and that it was only for Ingham County residents. I raised concerns in committee that the resolution would allow the appointed Parks Commission to waive entrance fees at the zoo whenever they wanted, and that would be an inappropriate power. Only the elected Commissioners should have that power in my opinion. The Parks Director testified that the intention was only for the resolution affect those three days, so we unanimously amended it to reflect that.
In Finance, though, the resolution was amended back to the original language. First, Commissioner Bahar-Cook argued that the resolution shouldn't just be for Ingham County residents. She argued that if moms came on Mothers Day and got in free, even from other counties, the moms would also come with children and other adults who would still pay the entrance fee. It would attract more money to the zoo, while also bringing more people to the zoo on these three days. Her amendment passed unanimously. Commissioner Nolan then said that the zoo board and Parks Commission should have the power to waive fees whenever they want and that she believed that the resolution should be expansive. I argued that I thought it was too much power in non-elected hands and that the elected Commissioners should be the ones to approve waivers of fees. I lost. The amendment passed 4-2. The final resolution also passed committee 4-2. I opposed the resolution because I remember previous years when the Parks Commission waived fees for parks that we didn't agree with, and we had to go back and amend their authority so that the Commission had the final say. I am afraid this will be the same situation. We will see what happens on Tuesday.
We also considered another resolution that would hire a medical director needed for our Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC's). The Health Director requested that the new medical director be hired in at Step 5 (the highest pay step) and several Commissioners took issue with the continual practice of hiring people in at the highest pay level. The Health Director, Dr. Sienko, explained that this position was needed as a result of an audit of the FQHC program. The federal government highly recommended that we have a medical director with clinical and administrative experience. The individual that the Health Director has recommended has over 20 years experience in pediatrics and was the best candidate in terms of administrative and clinical experience. The position will be ½ time in administrative and ½ time in patient care at St Lawrence or Sparrow (helping citizens and generating county revenues). We now only have an internist in that position, but that doctor does clinical rather than administrative work. While I understand the concern about hiring in at the top level, it seems that the real issue is that it is very difficult to get quality doctors in at our pay levels. The doctor we are hiring is taking a pay cut, and we need to be competitive...especially to ensure that we receive the millions of federal dollars associate with our FQHC's. The few thousand dollars that we are going to spend to bring someone in at Step 5 instead of a lower step will be leveraged by about $900,000 that we are getting from the federal government which could be at risk. After a lot of discussion, the resolution passed.
Finally, we began our discussion of fees. Both the County Services and Finance Committees focused on the Parks Department fees. The shelters at the parks are each going up about 50%. They haven't gone up in 10 or 15 years, so this is catching it up with where it should be. I pointed out that there is always significant demand for these shelters and, while people won't love the increase, this is probably warranted. I argued strongly, though, against increasing the entrance fees for the parks. These fees just went up last year, and I have heard from my constituents the unhappiness about the fees at Hawk Island going up two years in a row. While the Budget Department requested an entrance fee increase, the Controller did not recommend it and I argued against an entrance fee at Hawk Island and Lake Lansing and Burchfield. So far, those fees are not being raised. The Human Services committee had several questions about the Pollution Prevention resolution fees, and other fees were discussed in other committees. We did not vote on this resolution, and will discuss it again at the next round of committee meetings.
On a personal note, thank you so much for everyone who contributed to my first fundraiser for State Representative. Thanks also for those who attended. We had over 60 people there, and raised more than $10,000. Checks are still coming in, we are finalizing the next fundraiser in a month or so. I am excited and humbled by the tremendous support I am receiving and look forward to the campaign next year.
Have a great Mothers Day to all the moms out there...
Andy
Usually the Board of Commissioners committee process has liaison committees working on resolutions then the Finance committee changing them. In this case, it worked almost in reverse. The County Services committee this week considered a resolution dealing with approvals for discount incentive programs at the zoo. Last year, the county offered free zoo entrance for moms on Mothers Day, dads on Fathers Day, and grandparents on Grandparents day. The Parks department brought us a resolution that would extend that to every year. The resolution, though, did not specify that it was only for these days and that it was only for Ingham County residents. I raised concerns in committee that the resolution would allow the appointed Parks Commission to waive entrance fees at the zoo whenever they wanted, and that would be an inappropriate power. Only the elected Commissioners should have that power in my opinion. The Parks Director testified that the intention was only for the resolution affect those three days, so we unanimously amended it to reflect that.
In Finance, though, the resolution was amended back to the original language. First, Commissioner Bahar-Cook argued that the resolution shouldn't just be for Ingham County residents. She argued that if moms came on Mothers Day and got in free, even from other counties, the moms would also come with children and other adults who would still pay the entrance fee. It would attract more money to the zoo, while also bringing more people to the zoo on these three days. Her amendment passed unanimously. Commissioner Nolan then said that the zoo board and Parks Commission should have the power to waive fees whenever they want and that she believed that the resolution should be expansive. I argued that I thought it was too much power in non-elected hands and that the elected Commissioners should be the ones to approve waivers of fees. I lost. The amendment passed 4-2. The final resolution also passed committee 4-2. I opposed the resolution because I remember previous years when the Parks Commission waived fees for parks that we didn't agree with, and we had to go back and amend their authority so that the Commission had the final say. I am afraid this will be the same situation. We will see what happens on Tuesday.
We also considered another resolution that would hire a medical director needed for our Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC's). The Health Director requested that the new medical director be hired in at Step 5 (the highest pay step) and several Commissioners took issue with the continual practice of hiring people in at the highest pay level. The Health Director, Dr. Sienko, explained that this position was needed as a result of an audit of the FQHC program. The federal government highly recommended that we have a medical director with clinical and administrative experience. The individual that the Health Director has recommended has over 20 years experience in pediatrics and was the best candidate in terms of administrative and clinical experience. The position will be ½ time in administrative and ½ time in patient care at St Lawrence or Sparrow (helping citizens and generating county revenues). We now only have an internist in that position, but that doctor does clinical rather than administrative work. While I understand the concern about hiring in at the top level, it seems that the real issue is that it is very difficult to get quality doctors in at our pay levels. The doctor we are hiring is taking a pay cut, and we need to be competitive...especially to ensure that we receive the millions of federal dollars associate with our FQHC's. The few thousand dollars that we are going to spend to bring someone in at Step 5 instead of a lower step will be leveraged by about $900,000 that we are getting from the federal government which could be at risk. After a lot of discussion, the resolution passed.
Finally, we began our discussion of fees. Both the County Services and Finance Committees focused on the Parks Department fees. The shelters at the parks are each going up about 50%. They haven't gone up in 10 or 15 years, so this is catching it up with where it should be. I pointed out that there is always significant demand for these shelters and, while people won't love the increase, this is probably warranted. I argued strongly, though, against increasing the entrance fees for the parks. These fees just went up last year, and I have heard from my constituents the unhappiness about the fees at Hawk Island going up two years in a row. While the Budget Department requested an entrance fee increase, the Controller did not recommend it and I argued against an entrance fee at Hawk Island and Lake Lansing and Burchfield. So far, those fees are not being raised. The Human Services committee had several questions about the Pollution Prevention resolution fees, and other fees were discussed in other committees. We did not vote on this resolution, and will discuss it again at the next round of committee meetings.
On a personal note, thank you so much for everyone who contributed to my first fundraiser for State Representative. Thanks also for those who attended. We had over 60 people there, and raised more than $10,000. Checks are still coming in, we are finalizing the next fundraiser in a month or so. I am excited and humbled by the tremendous support I am receiving and look forward to the campaign next year.
Have a great Mothers Day to all the moms out there...
Andy
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Guest Blogger: Commissioner Todd Tennis (Health Dep't Review, FQHC Funding, and Road Patrol)
This week, I have once again asked a fellow County Commissioner to "guest blog" for me. This week, you get to hear from Commissioner Todd Tennis. Todd is the Chair of the county Human Services committee and has been an excellent representative of his constituents on the south part of Lansing. He is one of the people that I use as a sounding board on issues, and I trust and value his opinions greatly. Thanks, Todd, for providing your views this week!
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Greetings readers! Andy has asked me to step in and write a guest blog this week, so please pardon the interruption from your normal dose of Schor goodness. As chair of the Ingham County Human Services Committee, this week’s blog will be more health department-based than normal. Please bear with me.
First some good news. Every three years, the Michigan Department of Community Health reviews our Ingham County Health Department’s organizational plan to ensure that we possess the administrative capacity to perform our required duties. In March we received word that, once again, our Ingham County Health Department has been approved for another three years by the state. Our Ingham County Health Department is run so well that this comes as no surprise to me and my fellow Commissioners. Nonetheless, I want to give credit to Health Department Director Dean Sienko and his outstanding staff for making this process smooth and uneventful.
Now for some bad news. The budget wrangling in Washington could have a huge negative impact on the Ingham County Health Department’s status as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). The county health department was granted this status in 2009, which allows us to receive a greater share of federal dollars to provide primary care services to Ingham County Residents who are on Medicaid. These extra dollars help us provide increased capacity for Ingham County residents who do not have access to health insurance.
Some of the massive federal spending cuts being considered could wipe out our FQHC status, potentially causing the Ingham County Health Department to lose out on millions in grants and reimbursement for the provision of primary health care. I encourage everyone who wants our county health department to continue to be a national leader in the provision of services to contact Congressman Mike Rogers, Senator Debbie Stabenow and Senator Carl Levin and urge them to ensure that funding will continue to support our FQHC status.
And what would good and bad be without ugly? Many of you may have seen our favorite onlooker John Schneider’s column recently about the lack of police protection in rural townships after the county cut funding to the Sheriff’s Office for rural road patrol. It told of the experience of an Alaiedon Township business owner who, after a burglary, received less response from the Sheriff than he expected. Sheriff Wriggelsworth suggested that he contact the County Commission, since we were the ones who cut his funding.
I do not blame the business owner or the Sheriff for being upset that funding for road patrol was cut. However, the vast majority of county residents pay taxes for police services over and above their county tax rate. As Mr. Schneider pointed out, Alaiedon Township residents narrowly defeated a millage question last year for police services. Also, as the article stated, the Sheriff would have investigated the incident, just not as rapidly as the business owner would have liked. With reduced capacity, the Sheriff must reserve his officers for immediate response to the most serious calls, and burglaries are not going to rise to that level. When my house was burglarized several years ago in Lansing, an officer was dispatched to take a report that same day. However, in hindsight, I would have gotten the same result if I was asked to file the complaint online (as the business owner in the Schneider article was asked to do).
The bottom line is that the county budget is not improving as fast as our economy. Until housing prices start to rise again, the County Commission will have to make more and more difficult and often unpopular decisions on county services. Some of these will include shifting costs (like we did by implementing a fee for hazardous material storage inspections), raising fees, or reducing or eliminating county programs. Our fiscal situation is further complicated by potential reductions in funding from the federal government (see above) and the state government (e.g. the Governor’s proposal to cut our Revenue Sharing funding by $2 million). There may be light at the end of the tunnel, but it is still a ways off for Ingham County.
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Greetings readers! Andy has asked me to step in and write a guest blog this week, so please pardon the interruption from your normal dose of Schor goodness. As chair of the Ingham County Human Services Committee, this week’s blog will be more health department-based than normal. Please bear with me.
First some good news. Every three years, the Michigan Department of Community Health reviews our Ingham County Health Department’s organizational plan to ensure that we possess the administrative capacity to perform our required duties. In March we received word that, once again, our Ingham County Health Department has been approved for another three years by the state. Our Ingham County Health Department is run so well that this comes as no surprise to me and my fellow Commissioners. Nonetheless, I want to give credit to Health Department Director Dean Sienko and his outstanding staff for making this process smooth and uneventful.
Now for some bad news. The budget wrangling in Washington could have a huge negative impact on the Ingham County Health Department’s status as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). The county health department was granted this status in 2009, which allows us to receive a greater share of federal dollars to provide primary care services to Ingham County Residents who are on Medicaid. These extra dollars help us provide increased capacity for Ingham County residents who do not have access to health insurance.
Some of the massive federal spending cuts being considered could wipe out our FQHC status, potentially causing the Ingham County Health Department to lose out on millions in grants and reimbursement for the provision of primary health care. I encourage everyone who wants our county health department to continue to be a national leader in the provision of services to contact Congressman Mike Rogers, Senator Debbie Stabenow and Senator Carl Levin and urge them to ensure that funding will continue to support our FQHC status.
And what would good and bad be without ugly? Many of you may have seen our favorite onlooker John Schneider’s column recently about the lack of police protection in rural townships after the county cut funding to the Sheriff’s Office for rural road patrol. It told of the experience of an Alaiedon Township business owner who, after a burglary, received less response from the Sheriff than he expected. Sheriff Wriggelsworth suggested that he contact the County Commission, since we were the ones who cut his funding.
I do not blame the business owner or the Sheriff for being upset that funding for road patrol was cut. However, the vast majority of county residents pay taxes for police services over and above their county tax rate. As Mr. Schneider pointed out, Alaiedon Township residents narrowly defeated a millage question last year for police services. Also, as the article stated, the Sheriff would have investigated the incident, just not as rapidly as the business owner would have liked. With reduced capacity, the Sheriff must reserve his officers for immediate response to the most serious calls, and burglaries are not going to rise to that level. When my house was burglarized several years ago in Lansing, an officer was dispatched to take a report that same day. However, in hindsight, I would have gotten the same result if I was asked to file the complaint online (as the business owner in the Schneider article was asked to do).
The bottom line is that the county budget is not improving as fast as our economy. Until housing prices start to rise again, the County Commission will have to make more and more difficult and often unpopular decisions on county services. Some of these will include shifting costs (like we did by implementing a fee for hazardous material storage inspections), raising fees, or reducing or eliminating county programs. Our fiscal situation is further complicated by potential reductions in funding from the federal government (see above) and the state government (e.g. the Governor’s proposal to cut our Revenue Sharing funding by $2 million). There may be light at the end of the tunnel, but it is still a ways off for Ingham County.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Committees Begin Meeting, River Trail Dollars, Curbing Teen Smoking
Committees for the Ingham County Commission start meeting tonight, with the Law Enforcement and Judiciary Committees meeting. My committees start next week (County Services and Finance) and we already have a bunch on the agenda. If you want to see the agendas, you can go to www.ingham.org. In the meantime, I have a few other exciting things to report this week.
Over the last week, the Lansing State Journal has reported on Ingham County's youth smoking prevention policy. This was created before I was on the Board, but we have made improvements and updates. We have been criticized in the past for being one of the few counties to have such a policy, but these articles show that we are making great strides in curbing teen smoking. I am proud that we have taken this initiative, and it is working out! Check out the article here, and check out the LSJ op-ed discussing how good this policy is here.
And now, a shameless plug for Lansing and the River Trail...
Keep Learning, a local coalition of schools, universities, and businesses, is in the running to win $50K to create more learning opportunities along mid-Michigan's awesome River Trail. It's a competition in which you can vote DAILY in multiple fashions. Please vote as well as help spread the word to your friends!
There are three ways TO VOTE:
1. Go to http://www.refresheverything.com/keeplearning and login.
2. TEXT 105421 to the word Pepsi (73774).
3. Use the Pepsi Refresh Voting App on Facebook to search "Keep Learning" and vote.
Thanks, Jen, for sending this my way and for advocating on behalf of Lansing. Winning this grant will be one more way to show that Lansing is awesome and that we Love Lansing!
I know this blog is short, but I am at gymnastics with my daughter and am enjoying watching her! Next week, I will have lots to report on. This is just the beginning of a very busy year!
Andy
Reminder: if you receive notification of my blog through my facebook group "Andy Schor, Ingham County Commissioner," you should sign up for my facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/andyschor.
Over the last week, the Lansing State Journal has reported on Ingham County's youth smoking prevention policy. This was created before I was on the Board, but we have made improvements and updates. We have been criticized in the past for being one of the few counties to have such a policy, but these articles show that we are making great strides in curbing teen smoking. I am proud that we have taken this initiative, and it is working out! Check out the article here, and check out the LSJ op-ed discussing how good this policy is here.
And now, a shameless plug for Lansing and the River Trail...
Keep Learning, a local coalition of schools, universities, and businesses, is in the running to win $50K to create more learning opportunities along mid-Michigan's awesome River Trail. It's a competition in which you can vote DAILY in multiple fashions. Please vote as well as help spread the word to your friends!
There are three ways TO VOTE:
1. Go to http://www.refresheverything.com/keeplearning and login.
2. TEXT 105421 to the word Pepsi (73774).
3. Use the Pepsi Refresh Voting App on Facebook to search "Keep Learning" and vote.
Thanks, Jen, for sending this my way and for advocating on behalf of Lansing. Winning this grant will be one more way to show that Lansing is awesome and that we Love Lansing!
I know this blog is short, but I am at gymnastics with my daughter and am enjoying watching her! Next week, I will have lots to report on. This is just the beginning of a very busy year!
Andy
Reminder: if you receive notification of my blog through my facebook group "Andy Schor, Ingham County Commissioner," you should sign up for my facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/andyschor.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Dog Park Fees, Clerk Reorganization, Health Department Services
Another busy week at the county. Long meetings Tuesday and Wednesday night for me.
First, an update on an old issue…the Soldan Dog Park. As you may recall, the Friends of the Dog Park came to the county and the city and asked for a gate to be installed. People would have to pay yearly fees for fobs or cards to get into the gate. This would ensure that (1) there is better security, (2) dogs are licensed, (3) attacks by dogs on other dogs or on people can be investigated, and has a variety of other benefits. Currently, there is no way to police these things because nether the county or the city (which owns the park) provides security, and there is no way to determine who is there and when.
The original proposal would have set the yearly pass rate at $40. After talking to several dog park users, I realized a few things – this fee is supported by people but is too high, and people do not know that the dog park can be accessed on the north side without having to pay for the Hawk Island parking. In County Services committee, I supported an amendment preventing Ingham County from contributing to the Dog Park gate unless the fee is set at $30 instead of $40. This would match the fee of the dog park to the fee of Hawk Island (both are $30). The amendment passed and was retained in the Finance Committee. I also asked the Parks Director to have the signage announcing the new fee to also include language alerting people that they can park in the Ingham Regional Medical lot for free and not have to pay the Hawk Island charge just to use the dog park. So, anyone using only the dog park will not have to may a new fee next year. Instead of paying the $30 for the Hawk Island yearly pass, they can pay $30 for the Soldan Dog Park yearly pass and park at Ingham Regional. Of course, anyone who wants to use Hawk Island Park as well as the Soldan Dog Park will have to pay for both. Users of the dog park can expect the gate to be up in January, assuming the full Board passes the resolution on Tuesday, and the City of Lansing and the Friends of the Dog Park agree with the reduced rate.
We also approved a reorganization of the County Clerk’s office this week. This resolution, submitted to us by Clerk Bryanton, reclassifies a Chief Deputy /Interdepartmental Relations position to a Clerical Services Supervisor position. It also eliminates a Deputy Clerk position. The move would increase office efficiency and saves the county approximately $75,000 per year through decreased salaries and fringe benefits. This will not result in a layoff because it will become effective on the date of retirement of the current Chief Deputy /Interdepartmental Relations.
Finally, I will report on a resolution that we passed dealing with health services for county residents. It is very common for people to ask me what a County Commissioner does. One of things I tell people is that we set policy for various departments, including the Health Department. Our Health Department is one of the best in the country. The resolution that we passed this week outlines many of the activities of the Health Department.
Under the Public Health Code, the State of Michigan and the 83 counties share responsibility for the protection of the public health of the citizens of Michigan. Ingham County has a Comprehensive Planning, Budgeting and Contracting (CPBC) process, and every year we authorize the Health Department to enter into an agreement with the Michigan Department of Community Health for the delivery of public health services under this process. The agreement serves as the vehicle for the county accepting almost $5 million in state and federal grant and formula funding to support a number of public
health services.
This year, the agreement includes the following local public health operations, community health assessment activities and categorical programs:
- AIDS/HIV Prevention and Care
- Lead Safe Homes
- Bioterrorism Emergency Preparedness
- Breast and Cervical Cancer Control
- Building Healthy Communities
- Children’s Special Health Care Services
- Family Planning Vision and Hearing Screening
- Food Vendor and Restaurant Inspection
- Immunizations
- Local Tobacco Reduction
- Maternal and Child Health Programs
- Tuberculosis Control
- Sexually Transmitted Disease Control
- Well and Septic Inspection
- The Women, Infant, Children (WIC) Program
The resolution also authorizes subcontracts in the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program. Additionally, it creates a new full-time Breast Feeding Consultant in the Health Department. These all consist of state and federal funds.
Service contracts are also authorized in the resolution, with the following list of providers to support outreach activities to potential and current Medicaid beneficiaries in the following categories:
- Medicaid Outreach and Public Awareness
- Facilitating Medicaid Eligibility Determination
- Program Planning, Policy Development and Interagency Coordination Related to Medicaid Services
- Referral, Coordination and Monitoring of Medicaid Services
- Medicaid-Specific Training on Outreach Eligibility and Services
- Arranging for Medicaid-related Transportation and Provision of Medicaid-related Translation
These service contracts braid together requirements and funds from multiple sources including the County, W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Medicaid Administration (Federal Share). The braided service contracts are authorized for the next year up to the amounts listed:
• Allen Neighborhood Center $115,487 ($102,987 for outreach; $12,500 for Planning/Coordination to strengthen social safety net in the community)
• NorthWest Initiative $115,487 ($102,987 for outreach; $12,500 for Planning/Coordination to strengthen social safety net in the community)
• Carefree Medical Clinic $10,800
• South Lansing Community Development Association $24,952
• South Side Community Coalition $103,086
• Capital Area Community Services $4,000
• Child Abuse Prevention Services $52,250
• Catholic Charities St. Vincent Home $128,250
• Cristo Rey $61,750
• Family and Community Development Services $105,000
• Greater Lansing African American Health Institute $77,904
• School Community Health Alliance of Michigan $539,006
First, an update on an old issue…the Soldan Dog Park. As you may recall, the Friends of the Dog Park came to the county and the city and asked for a gate to be installed. People would have to pay yearly fees for fobs or cards to get into the gate. This would ensure that (1) there is better security, (2) dogs are licensed, (3) attacks by dogs on other dogs or on people can be investigated, and has a variety of other benefits. Currently, there is no way to police these things because nether the county or the city (which owns the park) provides security, and there is no way to determine who is there and when.
The original proposal would have set the yearly pass rate at $40. After talking to several dog park users, I realized a few things – this fee is supported by people but is too high, and people do not know that the dog park can be accessed on the north side without having to pay for the Hawk Island parking. In County Services committee, I supported an amendment preventing Ingham County from contributing to the Dog Park gate unless the fee is set at $30 instead of $40. This would match the fee of the dog park to the fee of Hawk Island (both are $30). The amendment passed and was retained in the Finance Committee. I also asked the Parks Director to have the signage announcing the new fee to also include language alerting people that they can park in the Ingham Regional Medical lot for free and not have to pay the Hawk Island charge just to use the dog park. So, anyone using only the dog park will not have to may a new fee next year. Instead of paying the $30 for the Hawk Island yearly pass, they can pay $30 for the Soldan Dog Park yearly pass and park at Ingham Regional. Of course, anyone who wants to use Hawk Island Park as well as the Soldan Dog Park will have to pay for both. Users of the dog park can expect the gate to be up in January, assuming the full Board passes the resolution on Tuesday, and the City of Lansing and the Friends of the Dog Park agree with the reduced rate.
We also approved a reorganization of the County Clerk’s office this week. This resolution, submitted to us by Clerk Bryanton, reclassifies a Chief Deputy /Interdepartmental Relations position to a Clerical Services Supervisor position. It also eliminates a Deputy Clerk position. The move would increase office efficiency and saves the county approximately $75,000 per year through decreased salaries and fringe benefits. This will not result in a layoff because it will become effective on the date of retirement of the current Chief Deputy /Interdepartmental Relations.
Finally, I will report on a resolution that we passed dealing with health services for county residents. It is very common for people to ask me what a County Commissioner does. One of things I tell people is that we set policy for various departments, including the Health Department. Our Health Department is one of the best in the country. The resolution that we passed this week outlines many of the activities of the Health Department.
Under the Public Health Code, the State of Michigan and the 83 counties share responsibility for the protection of the public health of the citizens of Michigan. Ingham County has a Comprehensive Planning, Budgeting and Contracting (CPBC) process, and every year we authorize the Health Department to enter into an agreement with the Michigan Department of Community Health for the delivery of public health services under this process. The agreement serves as the vehicle for the county accepting almost $5 million in state and federal grant and formula funding to support a number of public
health services.
This year, the agreement includes the following local public health operations, community health assessment activities and categorical programs:
- AIDS/HIV Prevention and Care
- Lead Safe Homes
- Bioterrorism Emergency Preparedness
- Breast and Cervical Cancer Control
- Building Healthy Communities
- Children’s Special Health Care Services
- Family Planning Vision and Hearing Screening
- Food Vendor and Restaurant Inspection
- Immunizations
- Local Tobacco Reduction
- Maternal and Child Health Programs
- Tuberculosis Control
- Sexually Transmitted Disease Control
- Well and Septic Inspection
- The Women, Infant, Children (WIC) Program
The resolution also authorizes subcontracts in the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program. Additionally, it creates a new full-time Breast Feeding Consultant in the Health Department. These all consist of state and federal funds.
Service contracts are also authorized in the resolution, with the following list of providers to support outreach activities to potential and current Medicaid beneficiaries in the following categories:
- Medicaid Outreach and Public Awareness
- Facilitating Medicaid Eligibility Determination
- Program Planning, Policy Development and Interagency Coordination Related to Medicaid Services
- Referral, Coordination and Monitoring of Medicaid Services
- Medicaid-Specific Training on Outreach Eligibility and Services
- Arranging for Medicaid-related Transportation and Provision of Medicaid-related Translation
These service contracts braid together requirements and funds from multiple sources including the County, W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Medicaid Administration (Federal Share). The braided service contracts are authorized for the next year up to the amounts listed:
• Allen Neighborhood Center $115,487 ($102,987 for outreach; $12,500 for Planning/Coordination to strengthen social safety net in the community)
• NorthWest Initiative $115,487 ($102,987 for outreach; $12,500 for Planning/Coordination to strengthen social safety net in the community)
• Carefree Medical Clinic $10,800
• South Lansing Community Development Association $24,952
• South Side Community Coalition $103,086
• Capital Area Community Services $4,000
• Child Abuse Prevention Services $52,250
• Catholic Charities St. Vincent Home $128,250
• Cristo Rey $61,750
• Family and Community Development Services $105,000
• Greater Lansing African American Health Institute $77,904
• School Community Health Alliance of Michigan $539,006
Friday, July 2, 2010
County Advertising, Health Department Restructuring, Land Bank Update, and Campaign Update
This week was relatively quiet in terms of issues for the Commission. There was some controversy on whether or not we should spend about $10,000 on yellow pages advertisements. While several of us were very uncomfortable with this expenditure, we were told that four departments (Health, Animal Control, Parks, and Clerk) advertise in the yellow pages. It seems that the Health Department advertises for their clinics, which is a public service and also brings in revenues to the county. The Clerk also advertises under "Passports" for passport photos and application processing. The Clerk collects over $60,000 per year in Passport photos and processing fees as compared to their advertising costs of $1740, so this may be a worthwhile expense.This expense will be approved this year, and we plan to look into all of these expenditures to ensure that there are efficiencies.
Another issue that is worth reporting on is the reorganization in the County Health Department. There have been some questions, so it is worth explaining what is going on. First, let me point out that our Health Department is nationally recognized as one of the best in the country. We are the model for other counties. The recent retirement of a Deputy Health Officer triggered a look into a realignment by our Health Department Director. The Director and the retiring Deputy Health Director both thought the county could save money if we didn't fill her position. In looking into a reorganization, the priorities for the Director (who is one of the best in the nation!) were to be sure that the Health Department is positioned for the future, to continue to work well with county labor, and to ensure any change is budget negative. The world of health care, and especially of Federally Qualified Health Center operations, is changing dramatically, and the Health Department Director believes we will be better positioned with this realignment. While the county could have hired someone to fill the deputy Health Officer position and no one would have complained, the County Health Director and the Board of Commissioners decided instead to be dynamic and flexible in this changing health care world. Instead of filling the position, it was eliminated and current employees received more responsibility and more pay to compensate for the added responsibilities. All unions were informed and supported the changes. Human resources vetted the positions and recommended the re-classifications. This saved the county close to $70,000 in General Fund.
Finally, an here is update on what the Land Bank has accomplished for Ingham County. Ingham County Treasurer Eric Schertzing and the Land Bank Board have done a great job revitalizing properties in Ingham County. I previously served on this Board and saw first-hand the tremendous impact that the Land Bank has for the county. Ingham County is truly a leader in the Land Bank movement. Here are the highlights:
If you are interested in receiving monthly updates about Land Bank activities, you can email County Treasurer Eric Schertzing at eschertzing@ingham.org.
On the campaign trail, all is going VERY well. Response at doors has been exceptional with people supporting my record and agenda moving forward. People are not buying into the negative attacks of my opponent and are carefully reviewing the specifics of the materials provided to them from both candidates. Voters cast votes on the issues, and I have presented them with a past record and proactive agenda that they agree with. With 30 days to go, I am more and more optimistic that the voters won't be fooled by negative attacks and will vote based on the important Ingham County issues of today and the future. Thanks to all who have helped by contributing, knocking doors with me, putting up lawn signs, and everything else! We are in the home stretch!
Another issue that is worth reporting on is the reorganization in the County Health Department. There have been some questions, so it is worth explaining what is going on. First, let me point out that our Health Department is nationally recognized as one of the best in the country. We are the model for other counties. The recent retirement of a Deputy Health Officer triggered a look into a realignment by our Health Department Director. The Director and the retiring Deputy Health Director both thought the county could save money if we didn't fill her position. In looking into a reorganization, the priorities for the Director (who is one of the best in the nation!) were to be sure that the Health Department is positioned for the future, to continue to work well with county labor, and to ensure any change is budget negative. The world of health care, and especially of Federally Qualified Health Center operations, is changing dramatically, and the Health Department Director believes we will be better positioned with this realignment. While the county could have hired someone to fill the deputy Health Officer position and no one would have complained, the County Health Director and the Board of Commissioners decided instead to be dynamic and flexible in this changing health care world. Instead of filling the position, it was eliminated and current employees received more responsibility and more pay to compensate for the added responsibilities. All unions were informed and supported the changes. Human resources vetted the positions and recommended the re-classifications. This saved the county close to $70,000 in General Fund.
Finally, an here is update on what the Land Bank has accomplished for Ingham County. Ingham County Treasurer Eric Schertzing and the Land Bank Board have done a great job revitalizing properties in Ingham County. I previously served on this Board and saw first-hand the tremendous impact that the Land Bank has for the county. Ingham County is truly a leader in the Land Bank movement. Here are the highlights:
- The Ingham County Land Bank Board accepted a proposal from Kincaid Henry to redevelop a commercial property at 934 Clark. The due diligence process will take place over the next few months. This is the 2nd major commercial redevelopment proposal in discussion this year.They have also updated their listing of high quality, energy efficient homes can be found at www.inghamlandbank.org. Click on the featured property link for pictures.
- The 5th Annual Land Bank Conference in early June brought over 200 folks from around Michigan to learn more about Land Banks and see our beautiful Capital City.
- The Land Bank is sponsoring a 2 week window restoration training with the Michigan Historic Preservation Network. Selected applicants will finish the class with the training and tools to start a business in mid-Michigan.
- The 2010 tax foreclosure auction will take place on July 23rd at 10 a.m. in the Board of Commissioners Chamber in Mason. Registration begins at 9 a.m. A Land Bank auction will follow at approximately 11 a.m. The auction list and rules will be posted on the treasurer's web sit after the holiday.
If you are interested in receiving monthly updates about Land Bank activities, you can email County Treasurer Eric Schertzing at eschertzing@ingham.org.
On the campaign trail, all is going VERY well. Response at doors has been exceptional with people supporting my record and agenda moving forward. People are not buying into the negative attacks of my opponent and are carefully reviewing the specifics of the materials provided to them from both candidates. Voters cast votes on the issues, and I have presented them with a past record and proactive agenda that they agree with. With 30 days to go, I am more and more optimistic that the voters won't be fooled by negative attacks and will vote based on the important Ingham County issues of today and the future. Thanks to all who have helped by contributing, knocking doors with me, putting up lawn signs, and everything else! We are in the home stretch!
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