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!

State Rep Announcement, Road Commission, Parks Hardship Passes, Parks Free Days, Contracts

First, my exciting news. After looking at the possibility for a few months, I have formally announced that I will be running for the State House of Representatives next year. With Rep. Joan Bauer unable to run again due to term limits, I will be seeking to represent most of Lansing and all of Lansing Township. You can see the announcement and other information at www.andyschor.com. The campaign has already knocked hundreds of doors and raised over $45,000, and will continue pushing forward until the August Democratic primary! This also means it is now official that this will be my last term on the County Board of Commissioners. More on that in the future.

On to county business...County Services this week continued talking about the Road Commission. I was unable to be at the committee meeting due to a death in the family and funeral being held that day. My understanding is that they discussed the various options, including my proposal to disband the Road Commission when state law allows us to do so. The committee directed our Administrator/Controller to provide a document with the pros and cons of such a move. The County Services will again take up the road commission issue on November 29th in a special meeting. My hope is for some movement to me made at that point.

They also discussed a resolution that was brought to committee from the Parks Board which would restructure the County policy on hardship admissions to the parks. Currently, if someone cannot afford to pay the car entrance fee they simply state that they need a hardship waiver and are allowed admittance for free. They fill out a form and can be mailed a free parking pass. While this is done for those that cannot afford to pay, the Parks Department is seeing a lot of abuse of this system. They presented a new system where people would fill out a form and provide proof of hardship in order to receive the yearly pass. They would also have to pay a $1 fee for the processing of the free pass to offset money spent on staff time and postage to mail the free passes. Oh, and folks not from Ingham County would no longer be eligible for the waiver. The County Services committee had lots of discussion about this proposal, and tabled it because several were uncomfortable with it.

They did pass one piece of the proposal, though, which would change the weekly free park day from Monday to Wednesday. This would save about $10,000, mostly because Mondays have a lot of holidays and people take Mondays off as part of an extended weekend. The Finance committee also debated this resolution (both the table part and the passed part), and I was there for that meeting. Commissioner Nolan commented that she does not want to see fee increases outside of the normal county budget and fee process. I agreed with that and said that we should deal with all fees at the same time. She also commented that she doesn't like the vehicle adn entrance fees for the zoo because people already pay the millage. She also said that the parks will make a lot of money off of the new tubing and snowboarding hills and shouldn't need the revenue. Commissioner Bahar-Cook agreed that non-county people should not be given a waiver, but expressed problems with the $1 fee and said that seniors should receive parks discounts. Commissoner McGrain suggested that we look at driver's licenses in order to decide who gets the waiver. This is not currently done becuase some people have addresses in Lansing and East Lansing but are not in Ingham County, and it is hard for the young people at the ticket booths to differentiate.
charging for weekdays. He also pointed out that we just started charging for weekdays, so changing from Mondays to Wednesdays should not be a big problem. The resolution passed with Commissioner Nolan voting no (because she likes having the free day on Mondays, and wants to send a message to the Parks Board to do the fees on an annual basis).

We also approved contracts for the 2012 budget. Mostly they were noncontroversial, but a few questions were raised about the appraisals for equalization, tree trimming at zoo and whether or not Lansing City Forestry can do it (which is unlikely becayuse they are overworked now), why Animal Control spay/neutering is going down $8,000 (answer - because we hired a veterinarian), and questions about the Sheriff's secondary road patrol being down 40,000 (answer - the general fund picking this up to ensure the deputy will not be laid off).

That's it for this week!

Road Commission Public Comment, Ingham Maintaining Lansing Parks

This the Board of Commissioners meeting was mostly about an item that was not on the agenda!

We spent an hour and a half hearing from folks about the road commission. About 70 people came to the Board meeting to complain about the Road Commission members and to support certain senior members of the staff. We clearly heard one side of the story, and the large number of people was set up by someone. At the end of the meeting, during Commissioner announcements, the issue came up again when a few Commissioners commented on their opinions.

I won’t go into the comments because there were a lot of accusations and innuendo made that don’t really need repeating. The one thing I do want to repeat are the comments that were made by Commissioner Carol Koenig. She said what I was thinking, which is that the County Board of Commissioners has ABSOLUTELY NO POWER in regards to the inner workings of the Road Commission. We appoint the Road Commissioners, and we don’t have appointments up again until the end of next year. We can also remove a road commissioner if there is malfeasance in office. If someone commits a crime or something egregious, we could take action to remove a commissioner. To date, no one has brought us any evidence of malfeasance. As such, under state law, there is nothing that we can do. Complaints can and should be made to the Road Commission members, who are the ones that govern the Road Commission operations. If people want a change in Road Commission members, they can make that request when Road Commission appointments are again considered next year. I honestly feel that all these 70 or so people were tricked a bit because they were told that they should come to the Board of Commissioners to make their comments. Unless it was a media ploy…which I guess is possible.

The actual Board meeting lasted about 20 minutes. There was one resolution that had dissenting votes – the resolution amending the agreement between Ingham County and the City of Lansing for the County to maintain certain City parks (and be compensated by the City). The vote was 12-3, with 3 of the Republicans opposing the resolution (and the 4^th being absent). There was no explanation given for the opposition votes. My only assumption, based on what was said in committee, is that the Republicans don’t want the County to assist the City of Lansing even though the County is being fully compensated for all its expenses. This was actually said in committee, when one of the Repubvlican Commissioners said that after the zoo and now this, he didn’t want to keep helping the City of Lansing. That is tremendously disappoinbting to me. This resolution is about regionalism and government efficiency, and the Republicans voted against it because they don’t want to help Lansing. They donb’t want to help the central city of the region, which is nothing but short-sighted. I would have voted for this resolution had it been for Lansing, East Lansing, Leslie or Mason. If we can help any of our local governments and get paid fully for our expenses, then that is just good government. I am disappointed that the Repiublicans didn’t explain themselves at the Board and that they have purposely voted against the resolution because it assists the City of Lansing. Very upsetting.

Well, that’s it for me. I hope everyone has a great week and weekend. And Happy New Year to those of the Jewish faith!

Housing Commission, Ingham County Takes Over Lansing Parks, CATA Special Millage, Campaign Update

This week I had both County Services and Finance committees. In both committees, we spent significant time talking about the Ingham County Housing Commission. For the first time, they were short for a year and requested general fund dollars ($40,000) to backfill the deficit. I had concerns about this, especially because the Housing Commission does projects in Grand Ledge and Eaton Rapids (both outside the county). We had a good discussion. The Director of the Housing Commission explained that in other counties, the county government puts in money to their Housing Commision in addition to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money that they receive from the Michigan State Housing and Development Authority (MSHDA). Apparently, Ingham County is one of the few Housing Commissions that is able to self-fund their staff – one full-time person and a half-time person. We are able to do this because we charge an administrative fee for all projects. The Housing Commisison expected to once again make enough through administrative fees, but had a last minute bank loan fall through for a housing project that they were assisting (due to an accident that happened to the individual that applied) and we were unable to recover the administrative fee for that project. They also explained that the projects in Grand Ledge and Eaton Rapids help to ensure that county general funds are not needed. If they don’t do those projects, the county would have to put in money. That explanation satisfied us, along with the commitment from the Housing Commission that they are wodking on a plan to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. Commissioner Grebner also suggested that they build contingencies into their budget. The resolution passed County Services and Finance unanimously.

We also passed several Parks resolutions. One resolution finalizes the deal between the City of Lansing and Ingham County for the county to take over mowing and plowing a series of city parks (as previously reported). We added Reola, Kimberly and Sunset parks to the list we will maintain, and removed Wentworth Park, the Gardens at Cooley and Parcel B from the list. The final number of parks is the same, and it will still be $236,000 that the City will pay the County for the maintenance. The contract will go from October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2011 and can be renewed yearly with new compensation amounts. We also created rental fees for the disc golf at Burchfield Park ($1 rental). Now residents can play horseshoes, volleyball, pedal boats, and disc golf in the summer. We also created discounted fees (half) for service dogs at the Soldan Dog Park at Hawk Island.

Finally, we allocated the dollars to CATA from the special transportation millage. The County Board of Commissioners controls the allocation and distribution of the funds for CATA. The Ingham County Special Transportation Millage was reauthorized at 48/100 (.48) of one mill, $.48 per thousand dollars of state taxable valuation for a period of five years (2011-2015) in the August 3, 2010 election. Under the agreement, CATA will continue to utilize special transportation millage funds to operate service for persons with disabilities, known as CATA Spec-Tran. It will also provide CATA Rural Services (CRS), providing a minimum of 79 hours per day of service to the residents of Ingham County who reside outside of the boundaries of the urbanized area. A maximum of $2,590,451 will be used to pay the actual expenses of operating, administrating and marketing Spec-Tran. A maximum of $625,000 of the funds will be used to pay for the actual expenses of operating, administering and marketing CATA Rural Services. The amount of $108,436 will be retained by the County for the operation of a vehicle used to transport area veterans to VA Hospitals in the region in the County’s 2012 Fiscal Year.

On the Andy Schor for State Representative campaign trail, we are now over 600 doors knocked, several neighborhood associations attended where I have spoken with residents, and have raised over $40,000. I will be holding a fundraiser on Monday in Oak Park. If you are in the area, I hope you will be able to attend. You can see all the details, and sign up to contribute or volunteer, at www.andyschor.com!

County to Maintain City of Lansing Parks, Hawk Island Tubing Hill, 911 Center, County Budget

After taking a week off, the Schor County blog is back.

In County Services and Finance, we finalized the resolution to take over maintenance of many of the City of Lansing Parks. The City has not been able to afford to mow or maintain several parks. They approached the County and asked us to maintain and mow the lawn. Our Parks Director gave an estimate on the amount that it will take to do this, and a contract was negotiated. Once all the issues that were raised by the County Commissioners were resolved, this was brought back to us for our consideration. All of the changes we requested were adopted, and the resolution passed both committees. We also added a provision that the City has until November 1 to sign the contract. We do not want to have this hanging out for a while, as was done with the dog park and zoo. One commissioner opposed this in County Services (Dragonetti) and one in Finance (Dougan). Both indicated that they thought that this would lead to the City expecting us to do more things for them. After changes were made, I was happy to vote for this as a good regional effort. Ingham County is very efficient and well run, and we can ensure that these parks are mowed and maintained. As such, we are stepping up by accepting the request of the City of Lansing.

The parks included are:
5 acres or under:
Barb Dean, Bassett, Bluebell, Everett, Glen Eden, Hillsdale, Holly, Horsebrook, Jones, Lake, Kay North, Marscot H. Moore, Osborne, Regent, Reutter, Seventh, Stabler, Tammany, Walsh, Waldo, Caesar Donora, Greencroft, Parcel B, Hull Court, Wilson

Parks on the river trail:
Dietrich, Edmore, Dodge, Burchard-East, Burchard-West, Wentworth, Cherry Hill, Kalamazoo Plaza, Cooley, Scott Center, Crego, Trager, Elm, River Point, Maguire

We also passed a resolution adjusting the budget for the Hawk Island snow tubing hill. This was a project that was started about 6 years ago, and is now being finalized. Unfortunately, there were several expenses that have risen and need to be paid for. Although we got the dirt for free, we need to purchase the snow making machine and lifts. Also, the City of Lansing has a very expensive Soil Erosion Permit. Our staff had hoped that the City would reduce the price for the permit or allow us to have our own Drain Commissioner certify the soil erosion issues, but the City would not agree to that. Fortunately, our excellent Parks staff was able to find the dollars to pay for these final pieces. We unanimously approved transfers of $62,558. This will make the total budget of the project a maximum of $289,548 but could be $12,000 less if we are able to get a cheaper lift. We also expect the snow boarding portion to have equipment donated to reduce the cost. The transferred money comes from the Parks Capital Improvement fund and was previously budgeted, so there is no new general fund dollars to be used.

We once again had to consider the 911 consolidated center. If you are a faithful reader of this blog (and I know you are!), then you know that we combined the Lansing and East Lansing 911 centers and are about to break ground on a new center. Well, the bids for the new center were expected to come in a little higher than expected (about $800,000 higher). Staff went to work and revised the bid documents and we now expect the cost overrun to be about $200,000 higher. Staff asked for us to approve a $400,000, just in case the bids are higher than expected. I was not interested in approving double the amount needed, so I offered an amendment in County Services to allow a transfer of $200,000 and the ability of staff to approve up to another $200,000 if the Controller and Board Chair approve. I would have required staff to come back to the Board, but that could push back breaking ground into the winter and there are many more costs associated with building in the winter. I was comfortable with the Board chair and Controller reviewing anything over $200,000 and approving what may be necessary. My amendment passed in County Services, and was further amended in Finance to ensure that all Commissioners receive notice of anything over $200,000.

In Finance, we approved a resolution accepting a Child & Adolescent Health Center grant award from the Michigan Department of Community Health to continue funding Willow Health Center, Otto Health Center and the School Wellness Program at Gardner Middle School. The Health Department also proposed the addition of a new school-based health center at a high school in the Lansing School District, and the Michigan Department of Community Health awarded the grant for the maximum award period of five years. These awards will provide a total of $3.4 million over five years. One hundred thousand per year will support the continued operations of the School Wellness Program at Gardner Middle School; $175,000 per year will support the continued operations at Otto Community Health Center; $225,000 will support the continued operations at Willow Health Center, and $175,000 will start a new school-based health center and fund its operations at a Lansing School District High School. These awards will fund seven new positions, which are essential to the operations of these Health Centers. As a condition of these awards, the Health Department is required to establish a local community advisory committee. The advisory committee must be representative of the community and include a
broad range of stakeholders and school staff. One-third of the committee members must be parents of school-aged youth. The committee must approve certain policies related to the health center. In order to establish and maintain this required committee, the ICHD proposes to enter into an agreement with the School-Community Health Alliance of Michigan (SCHA-MI). SCHA-MI will provide support and assist in parent and youth engagement to the committee as required. The budgeted amount for this agreement will not exceed $25,000. Both County Services and Finance approved these unanimously, and in Finance we learned that if a school closes, the money can go to another school.

In Finance, we also went over our annual county audit, our general fund reserves, our Budget Stabilization Plan, and the upcoming budget deficit of $5.5 million. Our Controller will be coming up with recommended possibilities that she will present to us to consider to close the budget hole. Because this is already long enough, I will report on this in a future blog.

I hope everyone is staying cool! And don't forget to visit my Andy Schor for State Representative page at www.andyschor.com and to check out my facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/andyschor !

Andy

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!

Snowboarding Hill, Point-of-Sale Fees, New Commissioner Maps and Districts

At the County Board meeting this week, we went through the same issues that I reported on last week. We had two resolutions pulled from the consent agenda and debated.

The first issue was the snowboarding hill. As a refresher, we considered a resolution returning money from the Parks Department to the county general fund. In that resolution, we allowed for $35,000 to be spent on a snowboarding hill. We are already building a sledding hill, and had a bunch of dirt donated. We were approached by a conglomerate that wanted Ingham County to create the second public snowboarding hill in the nation. We will have user fees that will generate significant revenue and expect to recoup the dollars in two years or so. We also will have much of the equipment donated. There will be a snow making machine so that there will always be snow, and security and parks staff to assist users. Because of the concern that we were putting money into this instead of police or health department or employees, we added language to the resolution that require the Controller to ensure that the county is repaid this money. That amendment, offered by Commissioner DeLeon, was passed unanimously as was the final resolution.

We also considered the point-of-sale portion of the fees resolution. We created a program a few years ago that requires septic fields to be inspected when a house on a septic field (mostly in the out-county) is sold. I voted for that at the time because the fee is way less than what we in Lansing pay for municipal sewer and water. The folks on private septic systems should also be paying to ensure that those fields are not leaking (which many were) and contaminating the county water supply. Because we keep most fees at 100% of the cost of that fee (to ensure that county taxpayers are not paying for these things), this fee was raised. The fee resolution passed on a 10-5 vote. Commissioner Dianne Holman spoke against it saying that it was still a relatively new fee and should not go up.

Finally, we learned what the new county commission districts would look like. The Ingham County Apportionment Committee considers maps submitted to them and votes on those maps. The Committee is made up of the County Prosecutor, County Clerk, County Treasurer, and Democratic and Republican Party Chairs. Prosecutor Dunnings submitted a map that follows election law. It was one of three maps submitted and received enough votes to pass. The map creates 14 County Commission districts (reduced from the current 16). If you want to see the new maps, click here.

Due to the the fact that there is a fifth week in May, we do not have any meetings next week. So, I will probably skip next week for the blog (unless I find a guest blogger).

I hope everyone has a happy and health Memorial Day weekend, and spends some time remembering all of those who sacrificed so that we can all live free lives in our Democracy!

Andy

Parks Money to GF, Snowboard Hill, CATA Stop, 457 Plans, Masonic Lodge

So sorry that this is so late! This is the blog from last week. Technical problems stopped this from going out last week...

Last week, we considered two resolutions returning money to the general fund. Imagine that...money being returned for not being used by one of our departments! The first resolution returned $62,500 that had been approved for the Heart of Michigan trail funding in the 2008 Capital Improvement Budget. Delhi Township opted to become the project leader on the Jolly Road to Hope Soccer Complex trail segment and an alternative route was plotted for this segment which did not include the use of Ingham County funds as a part of the alternate route project budget.

Also as part of this resolution, we approved an expenditure for a snowboarding hill (mentioned previously). In March a representative of Landscape Architects and Planners, a member of the community, and a representative of Modern Skate & Surf approached the Parks & Recreation Commission with a proposal to incorporate a snowboard hill that would meet the current trends associated with this winter sport in conjunction with the current snow tubing hill being constructed. It has been determined a beginner, intermediate, and advanced snow board run with a tow rope system could be incorporated into the snow tubing hill for approximately $35,000. It is anticipated donations for such “tricks” as such as grind rails, fun boxes, flat rails, round rails, and hips would be sought and not included in the cos0t of construction. This proposal was approved by the Parks & Recreation Commission. It is expected the costs of construction will be recouped as this would be a revenue generating activity. Both the snowboard hill and snow tubing hill could be open most of the winter season as snowmaking equipment will be used to manufacture snow.

In the County Services committee, this resolution passed 5-1. One Commissioner, Don Vickers, expressed that he wants the Parks Department to repay the county dollars that are expended in order to support this. He put up an amendment in committee to require repayment over 7 years, and it failed 2-4. I expect that his amendment will be offered again on the Board floor. During debate, I pointed out that 3 years is a very conservative estimate for total return of the dollars as this only takes into account user fees and doesn't count parking fees. I also argued that this is a quality of life resource that will be invaluable for Ingham County, and will be a revenue generator quickly. Our Parks Director, Willis Bennett, ensured us that there will be full time staff on site (and seasonal staff) at all times for safety and for maintenance of the equipment (tow ropes, snow machines, etc). Commissioner Grebner argued that the goal of having Hawk Island is to provide recreation for the center of population of the county by being in the heart of the county in Lansing. He also said that, despite objections from the Republicans, this has been highly successful. The intention is not to be a revenue generator, but to be a recreational facility and payback should not be a prime consideration.

In Finance, the resolution passed unanimously. Commissioner Tsernoglou pointed out that she hopes that MSU (snowboarding clubs) will collaborate with us on this. Deb Nolan also said that she hopes it will draw MSU students to Lansing and maybe to the zoo.

Oh, and during the discussion it was pointed out that CATA will be adding a bus stop within Hawk Island this year. That will ensure the snow tubing and snow board hills will be very accessible to the residents of Lansing and Ingham County. It also will be welcome to the young campers of EC3, who take the bus to Hawk Island and use to have to walk to the park and back to the bus stop (my son would be exhausted on Fridays!).


We also had a good discusision in Finance about the county 457 plan (deferred compensation plan) offered for employees. Although we approved three plan, only two are actually providing plans. There was discussion about the possibility of Jackson National providing insurance. We also said we would review any RFP's that precluded Jackson National or anyone else.

Finally, we considered a resolution to update the county fees. I went through this last week in detail. Commissioner Dougan opposed the point of sale fees in Finance. Other than that, this was fairly non-controversial.


In other news, I have a constituent who is very involved with trying to save the Lansing Masonic Temple. I am not a Mason myself, but I wanted to help him spread the word. Anyone interested in supporting this effort can send donations anywhere from $100 - $1000 (which is the max for the donation to remain tax deductible). Checks would need to be made out to Lansing Masonic Temple Association, and sent to 1125 Weber Dr, Lansing Michigan 48912.

Sorry again for the delay. You will hear from me again later this week after our Board meeting!

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

Parks Fees, Well-Water Fees, RIP Calvin Lynch, and Campaign Update

This week was interesting for county business. First, the issues...

As I reported last week,we passed our fees resolution. This is the resolution where we set our fees for the year (2011). Most of them passed without objection. I once again raised the parks fee increase issue. The proposal was to raise the fee from $2 to $3 for a daily pass, and from $20 to $30 for a yearly pass. My argument was that we just increased the number of days that we charge from 2 days to 6 days, and we shouldn't raise the fees once again. It fell on deaf ears this time, though. Staff made the argument that the extra dollars are needed for the upcoming budget discussions. Arguments were also made that people can take the waiver if they don't want to pay the fee. While I agree that people can take the waiver, I still think they shouldn't have to. They should pay, as they want to, but should not see prices rise again so soon. I also argued that this isn't about the budget, as we haven't even started considering it yet, and I argued that the county went from collecting $100,000 to $200,000 when we went from 2 days to 6 days so we shouldn't need to raise yet another $80,000 from our parks visitors so soon. But, you win some and you lose some. This wasn't my day, and the parking fees for Hawk Island, Burchfield, Lake Lansing, and the Zoo will go up next year.

The only other fee which was challenged was the Point of Sale fee. A little background...homes with well water (and not on municipal water and sewer systems) are charged an inspection fee when the home is sold. This is to ensure that there is not leakage or contamination into the septic field that pollutes the environment. The price is usually rolled into the mortgage sale of the home. Some people (mostly realtors) opposed this policy when we created it about 5 or 6 years ago, and they continue to oppose the fees. The fee is at 100% of the cost of the program. An amendment was made to oppose the fee increase for this program, with the argument that this this fee shouldn't be increased because it increases the cost of home sales. Supporters of increasing the fee, though, said that increasing to 100% would result in the County general fund (and all citizens) subsidizing the inspection program for these few people that are selling their homes. I voted with the supporters of increasing the fee. I believe that those of us on municipal water/sewer pay lots for that service to protects the environment and public health, and those on well water should pay as well to ensure that the septic fields and environment are not polluted. This amendment failed and the fee increase passed.

You also may recall that a two weeks ago the county passed a resolution moving the community agency money to the Power of We. This was undone last night when the Board voted to reconsider the resolution. It was then sent back to committee, where we will have the discussion all over again at the committee and Board level. So stay tuned...

Finally, sad news. Two Saturdays ago, the County lost a leader. Former Commissioner and Board Chair Calvin Lynch passed away. He was only in his late 50's, but had severe cancer. I attended the funeral on Saturday and it was moving. The family and his fraternity did a wonderful job. Ingham County also passed a resolution to honor his memory, and that was presented to Calvin's lovely wife Cathy and beautiful daughter Danielle. We passed that resolution on Tuesday, and many memories were shared. Personally, I recall serving with Calvin. He was loud and obnoxious, but he was honest and very caring. I learned so much from him as leader of our Board. He did not mince words and said exactly what he thought...and provided strong leadership. I also remember he and his wife being very gracious to me and my wife when we were together at the Counties conference and many other times. The County has lost a dedicated servant, and I will miss him. Cathy and Danielle and the entire Lynch family are in my thoughts and prayers.

On the political front, you may have noticed (if you live in the Lansing area) that I have gone up with my lawn signs. Although the City doesn't allow political yard signs to go up until July 1, my opponent started putting his signs up two weeks ago. So I have responded in kind. After putting up a few signs in supporters yards, I have been inundated with requests for yard signs. I am getting them out as fast as I can (so if you requested one, I will be there shortly with the sign). I am overwhelmed with support from my district, and am very appreciative. My opponent has talked about no county issues and has attacked me every chance he could, and people are not responding well to that. I will continue to run on my record, and hope that people will support that when they go to the polls instead of the distortions of my opponent!

County Fair, Parks Fees, and Setting the Record Straight on My Votes!

County Services committee interviewed three very good candidates for our Fair Board. The County has had a fair for 155 years, and it is a great event for Ingham County families. Rural residents can utilize the fair for agricultural interests, animals, and 4-H activities. Urban residents can learn about agricultural parts of the county, and can have lots of fun with rides and other fun attractions. I have been to the Fair with my family and enjoy it, and look forward to it every year. We need to keep the Fair Board and Fair Director’s feet to the fire to not have deficits at the Fair, as we cannot afford to subsidize them with General Fund money. But we need to give them the tools to better raise money, including concerts and well-regulated and policed beer tents and other money-makers. And we need to pray for no rain during fair week!

We also considered a variety of county fees. We usually aim to recapture 100% of the cost to provide services so that the users of the service are paying rather than county taxpayers. This includes services like immunization record copying fees, public pool inspections, fees for tobacco sales retailers, and other inspections. One fee increase recommendation from our county staff that concerned me, though, was to increase parks fees for residents. Current parks fees for county residents (who also pay county taxes) are $2 daily and $20 annual. Our staff recommended increasing daily entrance fees to $3 and annual fees to $30.

I was able to prevent this fee increase when it was considered in the County Services committee. During debate, I indicated opposition to this county fee increase. In talking to constituents, the county service I hear more than anything other is Hawk Island County Park which is in my district. This park is a jewel in south Lansing and is used by people in the summer and winter. It is the one real get-away and quality of life asset that the County provides for my constituents. Up until this year, the county charged parking fees for parks only on weekends. Due to budget constraints, this was changed to being charged daily. That took effect on January 1st.

I raised the objection that we just added daily fees and I did not think it would be appropriate to raise these fees so quickly after making people pay daily. This is also a service that we can provide to our constituents, especially for those out of work who need to get out of the house. Increasing these fees at this time is simply wrong. After making this case in committee, I was able to garner the support of my colleagues. When these fees were separated out from the rest of the fees, they were turned down on a 1-5 vote.

Unfortunately, the Finance committee disagreed. Information from staff was presented saying that this would reduce our budget by about $80,000, and that there are plenty of ways to receive a waiver if people can't pay. While I understand these arguments, I responded saying that we haven't even started looking at our budget yet. When we went from charging 2 days per week to 6 days per week, we increased revenues from $97,000 per year to $200,000 per year. That means we doubled what we took in last year. It is too soon to once again increase that. And, I argued that these fees are not budgetary considerations. If we really want to maximize our budget, we would make fees $4 or $5 daily and make lots more money. But to me, parks fees are not about solidifying our budget - they are what we think the community members should pay. We will always put in money from the county general fund for parks as they are an important part of quality of life for our residents.

With the County Services and Finance Committees disagreeing, this will be decided on Tuesday at the Board level. I will let you know what happens on Wednesday or Thursday!

On the campaign front, everything continues to go well. I have been knocking doors and discussing issues with constituents. I am receiving tremendous support and encouragement. While my opponent continues to distort my record, I will continue to talk about the important issues for southeast Lansing residents at the County Commission!

(As a note...my opponent says I supported a pay raise for myself in bad budget times. The reality is that on November 27, 2007, I voted for a resolution that ELIMINATED the pay raise
for 2009 and reduced the pay raise for 2010. And in 2010, I have contributed the pay raise back to the county, which I did before I knew that I would have a primary. We asked for 3 furlough days for employees, and I believed I needed to give back to the general fund from my pay as well. My opponent either is purposely distorting my record, or truly doesn't understand how county government works.)