I have finally managed to do it! Work all day, attended two events, home to get the kids to bed, and this blog done before Thursday. I am getting better at this!
This week, we had our final Board of Commissioners meeting of the year. I guess it is fitting that we spent so much time on the Road Commission, and that was the central issue of our last meeting.
The resolution of intent to disband the Ingham County Road Commission and instead create a Department of Transportation and Roads was taken up on the Board floor. I have gone through the arguments several times, so I will just go through the debate. Several Commissioners weighed in with important debate. Commissioner Todd Tennis led off, and said that he believes there are many questions still to answer. He also said he has concerns that the county will be pressured to use general fund dollars on roads if we deal absorb the road commission. He said that he is not necessarily against merging the operation, but that he has unanswered questions and is not ready to support the resolution at this time. I respect that, and appreciate his thoughts on the issue.
Commissioner Dianne Holman said that while she didn't think the language was perfect, she supports the concept and said that we are ready and willing to take action. Commissioner Celentino said basically everything I wanted to say. He said that we have a lot more to do in terms of details, and that we support the employees and will not let them be negatively effective in this whole process. Commissioners Dougan and Schafer and Vickers said that they support the resolution. Schafer said there have been problems with the road commission for years, and Vickers said that the Board doesn't work. Commissioner Rebecca Bahar Cook agreed that this is not targeted at employees, and is is targeted at a broken system. I then weighed in and said that this will be a long implementation process, but that we have done it before with the zoo which was more complex. I also pointed out that we can supplement road funding with county dollars now, so it makes no difference whether or not we have a Road Commission or internal department. Commissioner Vince Dragonetti said that this is a resolution of intent and an option, and said that we can re-establish the Board if needed. Board Chair Grebner said that this communicates to the Road Commission and their upper staff our intentions, and that they should take short term actions and avoid commitments that we will have to deal with later. After this debate, the resolution passed on a roll-call vote 15-1 with Commissioner Tennis voting no. I am sure their will be more on this early next year!
Last week, I wrote about the Fair Director position. That came up tonight. A substitute was introduced that re-inserted performance incentives for the position (reminder - the position will be staffed by a person as part of a company) in addition to the $80,000 salary. It was once again mentioned that there will be no benefits and this will be cheaper than a full time employee. Several people raised the point that we need to have an official policy on incentives. Commissioners Deb Nolan and Rebecca Bahar Cook specifically requested that the County Services committee discuss this at the first meeting next year. That being said, commissioner agreed to allow for it for this one position which is unique. The incentives were listed in the resolution, which said that the factors would be based on fair gate admissions, off-season revenues, and total revenues, benchmarked against a rolling average of the three previous fiscal years' data. I raised my concern that I had in County Services that this really didn't clarify the factors enough. Commissioner Carol Koenig, our Fair Board representative, said that they still needed to work out the details and that it would all be in the contract. I offered an amendment adding language ensuring that these three factors are not the only ones, and that there must be improvement in each of these factors. That way we are ensured that the incentives are significant and are met before incentives are granted. The amendment passed unanimously, then the resolution passed unanimously.
We also considered a resolution that will create a season rate for usage of the tubing hill and snow board hill. We already had daily pass rates, but this created season rates. We amended the resolution to reduce the seasonal rate from $150 to $99 for adults and from $75 to $59 for children. This passed unanimously.
I also sponsored a late resolution opposing the closure of the Collins Road Post Office. The postal service is consolidating nationwide and closing branch office. On their list of potential closures is the Collins Road post office, which is the processing facility for the mid-Michigan area. If this closes, the mail for our area will go through Grand Rapids. It is crazy to me that the Capitol area not have a postal facility for mail processing. The resolution passed unanimously, and we are now on record against this. We will be joining LEAP and others who will be actively fighting this closure and pushing Congressman Mike Rogers to get involved against this closure.
Finally, Ingham County was approved as a “Storm Ready County” by the National Weather Service and received a seal and commendation for this. The Local
Planning Team (LPT) has expanded outdoor warning sirens in the County using grant funds, distributed weather alert radios to residents and businesses, hosted weather spotter seminars, and expanded warning notification using the CodeRED system.
As this was the last meeting, congratulations are in order for several commissioners. Congratulations and thanks to the committee chairs - Commissioner Todd Tennis (Human Services), Rebecca Bahar Cook (Judiciary), Debbie DeLeon (County Services), and Celentino (Law Enforcement). Finally, a special congratulations to Commissioner Mark Grebner, who was Chair of the Board of Commissioners for the last time. He has served as a Commissioner for over 35 years, and this was the last time he will serve as Chair of our Board. Thanks for everything, Mark!
Happy holidays and a happy new year to all!
Showing posts with label tubing hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tubing hill. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
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
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
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Fill Dirt, Condolences
So sorry for the really late post!
This week, we had our full Board of Commissioners meeting. There was not much controversial on the agenda, and most of the things I reported on last week passed on our consent agenda.
We did have one late item added to our agenda. As you may remember, the county is creating a snow tubing hill at Hawk Island (funded years ago). We had a request from our parks department to allow for the purchase of some extra fill dirt for the hill construction. A company was doing another digging project and had excess fill dirt. They basically charged us the price to move the dirt from the project in Delta Twp to Hawk Island. The construction of the snow tubing hill requires a large amount of fill dirt - essentially doubling the size of the hill. The company will deliver between 15,000 and 20,000 cubic yards of fill dirt at a total cost not to exceed $30,000. The current going rate for fill dirt in the area is around $8 per cubic yard, undelivered. The $30,000 will basically cover the cost of transporting the dirt and comes to about $2 per cubic yard delivered. This money will come from the Parks budget. This was a great opportunity to save some money in the long term.
Otherwise, the Board meeting was non-controversial. Several people passed away recently, and they were recognized. In my district, Ann Spencer passed away. She was the Treasurer for the Old Everett Neighborhood Association and was a tremendous woman. She will be greatly missed in our community. I also indicated my condolences to Dalia Harris, who was the teacher of both my children at their day care. She lost her son, Anthony, in the tragic car crash involving the Holt students. Also lost in the car crash was Holly Bossenberry, niece of constituent and friend and CADL Board Member Marge Bossenberry. My heart goes out to all of these families.
Until next week...
This week, we had our full Board of Commissioners meeting. There was not much controversial on the agenda, and most of the things I reported on last week passed on our consent agenda.
We did have one late item added to our agenda. As you may remember, the county is creating a snow tubing hill at Hawk Island (funded years ago). We had a request from our parks department to allow for the purchase of some extra fill dirt for the hill construction. A company was doing another digging project and had excess fill dirt. They basically charged us the price to move the dirt from the project in Delta Twp to Hawk Island. The construction of the snow tubing hill requires a large amount of fill dirt - essentially doubling the size of the hill. The company will deliver between 15,000 and 20,000 cubic yards of fill dirt at a total cost not to exceed $30,000. The current going rate for fill dirt in the area is around $8 per cubic yard, undelivered. The $30,000 will basically cover the cost of transporting the dirt and comes to about $2 per cubic yard delivered. This money will come from the Parks budget. This was a great opportunity to save some money in the long term.
Otherwise, the Board meeting was non-controversial. Several people passed away recently, and they were recognized. In my district, Ann Spencer passed away. She was the Treasurer for the Old Everett Neighborhood Association and was a tremendous woman. She will be greatly missed in our community. I also indicated my condolences to Dalia Harris, who was the teacher of both my children at their day care. She lost her son, Anthony, in the tragic car crash involving the Holt students. Also lost in the car crash was Holly Bossenberry, niece of constituent and friend and CADL Board Member Marge Bossenberry. My heart goes out to all of these families.
Until next week...
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