Land Bank properties, County Maintaining City of Lansing Parks, Juvenile Justice Agencies, Hertel Sues for Taxes, State Rep Campaign Raises 35k

This week was very busy for the County Commission. As I have said before, we do much of our work in committees, and we spent considerable time on several items this week.

In County Services, we started out with about an hour discussing the Land Bank. Treasurer Schertzing presented us with about 130 tax foreclosed properties for the county to acquire. When a property goes into tax foreclosure, the county acquires it and, in our case, decides how that property is disposed of. Some are auctioned off, some are demolished, and some are purchased by the Land Bank to be redeveloped and resold. Some commissioners are concerned that our Land Bank has too many properties as it is and do not want us to take on any further burden. Schertzing explained that many of the properties are bundled and sold at auction, and only some are retained by the Land Bank. And those that are retained are redeveloped and sold to go back on the tax rolls. The Land Bank has been doing an excellent job getting properties back in shape, especially with the current state of the economy leading to so many tax foreclosed properties. This includes both residential and commercial properties. In County Services, the resolution passed 4-2, and in Finance it passed 6-0.

A resolution was put before us that would have the County maintain several City of Lansing parks. The Mayor has apparently requested that the County maintain 25 city parks of 5 acres or less, and 15 parks on the river trail. The language provided by the Mayor’s office, though, was greatly concerning to many of us. We discussed this with our Parks Director. The resolution itself listed several think that the County would do. The primary function would be mowing, with specific conditions listed. These include mowing to a certain height, pick up grass clippings, trimming all vegetation around obstacles (fences, signs, posts, curbs, sidewalks, etc), removal of branches and leaves on trails, snow removal, removal of all litter and trash debris on the lawn, and emptying trash barrels daily. Also listed was signs to be installed by County staff and graffiti removal, but we rejected those two conditions because they would take significantly more manpower and time. It requires that the county do a thorough clean up before the first mowing in the spring, compliance of the Snow Removal Ordinance regarding sidewalks, and other things. In exchange for all this and more, the City will pay the County $236,000. While many Commissioners had some initial doubts, our Parks Director assured us that we could accomplish the needs for this amount. Questions were raised, though, if our actions here would result in layoffs at the city or have other labor implications. We are looking into those questions. We also heard that the Mayor sent this to us without discussing it with Council. Many of us Commissioners are hesitant to get in the middle of another fight between the Mayor and Council (as we did with the zoo), so we wanted to be sure that all parties at the City are aware of this request from the Mayor. We have sent this to our City Attorney for review, and will start negotiations with the appropriate City entities.

In Finance, we had a very active discussion about the Juvenile Justice millage. This is the millage that was approved twice by Ingham County residents. Every year we approve a certain amount of money from the millage to go towards community agencies that assist youths that are at-risk and have not yet gone through the courts (pre-adjudicated). This amount now is $100,000, and Commissioner Nolan expressed that she would like to see more money going towards these prevention efforts when possible. Commissioner Bahar-Cook also discussed the makeup of those that have applied in the past and how they can use the money. The committee had a good discussion of the dollars available, the amount matched by the state through the Child Care fund, and the importance of prevention. We will move forward with the $100,000 amount, but several of us (including me) expressed that we would like to see more for prevention if there are enough agencies applying.

Finally, if you haven’t seen the Lansing State Journal or national news, Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel, Jr filed a personal lawsuit against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for not paying taxes owed. The County Services and Finance committees passed a resolution to have the County enter into an agreement with the Home Defense League to represent the County and file suit to recapture these fees. In essence, we would replace Hertel as the plaintiff in the lawsuit. Hertel is the statewide leader in this effort (once again) and filed the suit himself because time was of the essence. With passage of this resolution, the County will officially take on the lawsuit, as is appropriate. We expect to receive tens of millions of dollars that are owed to the County by Freddie Mac and Fannie May, who chose not to pay the county and state taxes that are owed. Read here for more information!

And for those following my political State House campaign, I sent out an email this week to supporters indicating that we have raised more than $35,000 in 4 months and have received tremendous support from elected and neighborhood leaders. The momentum has been tremendous, and continues to grow. Stay tuned!

That’s it for this week. That is just a snapshot of everything that we have done, but I think it is long enough!

Special Guest Blogger: Commissioner Bahar-Cook on Judicial and Juvenile Justice Issues

This week, I have as a special guest blogger Commissioner Rebecca Bahar-Cook. I have known her for many years and treasure her as a colleague and as a friend. She is one of the brightest people I know, especially in the areas of the judiciary and juvenile justice needs in Ingham County, and her constituents in downtown and NW Lansing are lucky to have her service. So without further ado, I give you Ingham County Commissioner Rebecca Baher-Cook!

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Hello all! My name is Rebecca Bahar-Cook and I have the pleasure of being the second guest blogger for Commissioner Schor. I too, serve on the County Commission and have the privilege of representing the 4^th District, which covers NW Lansing including our downtown.

Commissioner McGrain filled you in what is going on in the County’s Human Services Department. I’d like to let you know a little bit more about our Judiciary and some amazing programs Ingham County has developed to better handle our at-risk and adjudicated juvenile population.

When I was 15-years-old my father was shot and killed by two youth under the age of 18 – the only things they took were his watch and his wallet. As you can imagine, that was a terrible tragedy for my family.

But, my family wasn’t the only one affected by this crime – so were the families of the two young boys who committed the crime. Neither of them were first offenders and I imagine neither of them thought they had very many options open to them.

I strongly believe that the citizens of Ingham County would want to prevent such a crime from taking place here. And that is exactly the purpose of the Juvenile Justice Millage (JJM) the voters of Ingham County have twice passed. All too often children who show at-risk behavior, such as truancy, end up getting into more and more trouble as they get older. Programs funded by the JJM do more than just lock-up our youth and forget about them. We offer these kids the opportunity to change their lives by taking real responsibility for themselves and their behavior.

For example, the Ingham Academy offers adjudicated youth who have been suspended or expelled from school a chance to earn their high school diploma. If so determined by the court, students are picked up from their homes each morning, driven to the Academy, where they spend a full day in school and are then driven home. Many of these youth are also involved in the PRIDE Program that offers after-school tutoring and activities. Students at the Academy have started an urban farm with fruits and vegetable planted right outside their classrooms. Chickens have been added to our urban farm and bee keeping is next on the agenda. These children are court ordered to attend school. If they misbehave or are not ready for school in the morning they will appear before the Court immediately. The youth agree to these terms and are held responsible for their actions moving forward.

The Academy offers these students the opportunity to learn first-hand about capitalism and free market enterprises. They are also learning about nutrition and ways to prepare healthy foods. Last year they bottled salsa made out of items from the garden and I’m told selling honey is next! These kids are learning that they do have options. Those options might not always be easy, and there are repercussions if they don’t hold up their end of the bargain, but these children are productive and learning to be proud of their abilities. The Academy is also partnering with Lansing Community College to offer our graduates additional opportunities to improve their lives by improving their education.

Members of the Ingham County Bench, Court Staff and Ingham County Commissioners have all come together to examine the way we treat our youth. In addition to the Ingham Academy I encourage all readers to find out more about Project Impact (also partially funded with JJM funds). Project Impact is a partnership with Mental Health and the Courts to look at the root causes of difficult behavior, many of which include mental health issues. Teen Court, Child and Family Services and the Dispute Resolution Center of Central Michigan all received grants to service youth in our county from the millage to evaluate and offer solutions to problem behaviors that keep our children out of the court system.

There is still much work to be done, but I am so proud of what Ingham County is doing for our youth. I often wonder if my father would still be alive if his murderers, those children, had been given other options. If they had been involved in Project Impact or the Ingham Academy three families might not have suffered the pain of what happened to me in 1985.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you would like to learn more.

And, just because Andy is such a Michigan fan and Ingham County is the home of MSU . . . GO STATE!