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!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
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.)
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.)
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
PLA, Community Agencies, Commissioners Bupp and Tsernoglou, and the Start of Election Season
The Board of Commissioners took up the resolution to create a Project Labor Agreement for the Rhino exhibit at the Zoo. If you are a faithful reader of my blog (and I hope you are!) then you already know what a PLA. We had public testimony from the Associated Builders and Contractors saying that PLA’s are for union-only shops and are unfair. Several Commissioners during debate rebutted this assertion, though, reminding that our policy is unique and makes it specifically possible for non-union contractors to bid on projects. Non-union shops would not be disadvantaged, and would only have to allow union level benefits and pay for employees working only on that project. The PLA was passed on a 13-3 vote, and the project can now begin.
We also considered the community agency funding. This was a very tough vote for everyone. As discussed in my blog last week, we have a small pot of money that we give to community agencies in Ingham County who do non-profit work. They help out those in need. Unfortunately, the money that we have available is continuously reducing. We need to pay our own employees without laying them off and reducing benefits, so it is hard to give money away to others. In the past, this money has been $300,000 or so, This year, though, it is anticipated to be about $100,000.
We had a proposal before us to instead send any money available to the Power of We for community agency building (which recently lost a federal grant). After discussing this with the Power of We director and some constituents in my district who contact me about the proposal, I decided that it would maximize the dollars more to ensure that the community agency building program kept on running. Sending few dollars to over 30 agencies would not be as effective as ensureing that the groups are doing their work most efficiently. This was a very tough decision, but I believe that it was the best one. We will try this for a year and see what happens. Next year we will review this and see if it still makes the most sense. We will also have a chance to review the program before we actually send the money (when we do our budget later in the year). The proposal passed on a 9-7 vote.
Finally, we said goodbye to Commissioner Shelby Bupp (D-East Lansing). When Commissioner Marc Thomas (D-East Lansing) resigned, Shelby was appointed to the Board. She held that seat until a special election was held. She did an excellent job and we all appreciate her work. Thanks Shelby!!!
We also will welcome new Commissioner Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) to the Board at our next meeting. Congratulations, and welcome Penelope!
On the political front…filing deadline has passed. I have a primary opponent in the Democratic primary on August 3rd. He has been aggressively campaigning and has been very critical of my leadership for our district. I will continue to work on behalf of the citizens of my district and all of Ingham County, and will continue to talk to my constituents and get the message out about the important issues. If I am successful in the primary, then I will take on a Republican who filed in November. If you are reading this blog and are a constituent, I hope I have earned your vote for another term. Please feel free to email (aschor@yahoo.com) or call me (485-0926) any time!
That’s it for this week.
Andy
We also considered the community agency funding. This was a very tough vote for everyone. As discussed in my blog last week, we have a small pot of money that we give to community agencies in Ingham County who do non-profit work. They help out those in need. Unfortunately, the money that we have available is continuously reducing. We need to pay our own employees without laying them off and reducing benefits, so it is hard to give money away to others. In the past, this money has been $300,000 or so, This year, though, it is anticipated to be about $100,000.
We had a proposal before us to instead send any money available to the Power of We for community agency building (which recently lost a federal grant). After discussing this with the Power of We director and some constituents in my district who contact me about the proposal, I decided that it would maximize the dollars more to ensure that the community agency building program kept on running. Sending few dollars to over 30 agencies would not be as effective as ensureing that the groups are doing their work most efficiently. This was a very tough decision, but I believe that it was the best one. We will try this for a year and see what happens. Next year we will review this and see if it still makes the most sense. We will also have a chance to review the program before we actually send the money (when we do our budget later in the year). The proposal passed on a 9-7 vote.
Finally, we said goodbye to Commissioner Shelby Bupp (D-East Lansing). When Commissioner Marc Thomas (D-East Lansing) resigned, Shelby was appointed to the Board. She held that seat until a special election was held. She did an excellent job and we all appreciate her work. Thanks Shelby!!!
We also will welcome new Commissioner Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) to the Board at our next meeting. Congratulations, and welcome Penelope!
On the political front…filing deadline has passed. I have a primary opponent in the Democratic primary on August 3rd. He has been aggressively campaigning and has been very critical of my leadership for our district. I will continue to work on behalf of the citizens of my district and all of Ingham County, and will continue to talk to my constituents and get the message out about the important issues. If I am successful in the primary, then I will take on a Republican who filed in November. If you are reading this blog and are a constituent, I hope I have earned your vote for another term. Please feel free to email (aschor@yahoo.com) or call me (485-0926) any time!
That’s it for this week.
Andy
Thursday, May 6, 2010
PLA, Saving County $, Community Agencies (and a little campaign info)
On Tuesday, we also considered our first contract proposal under our Project Labor Agreement (PLA) policy. In case you haven’t heard, last year the county created a policy requiring PLA’s for bigger construction projects (anything over $100,000). It was highly controversial and the County Services held many meetings on it and worked with both business and labor to create the final product. I was not on the committee at the time, but worked on this when it came up on the Board floor. The County is planning to do an expansion of the Rhino exhibit at Potter Park Zoo and it will be the first PLA project. This is being done with dedicated zoo millage funds, so don’t worry about general fund dollars being used for this instead of deputies or health department or
anything else.
The controversy came, though, in the way our staff wants to do the PLA. There were two options presented: (1) have the county directly negotiation a PLA with one or more labor organizations, or (2) condition the award of a contract to a construction manager/general contractor. All other PLA’s – Sparrow, MSU, others – have the construction manager or general contactor negotiate with the union. Our staff wanted to negotiate directly for the first project because they wanted to set the first PLA as a basis for all future ones in case there is not the ability for future contract managers or general contractors to negotiate. The problem with that, though, was that this project is big enough to have a general contractor that is able to negotiate. I argued that we should take this on a case-by-case basis because each project has to come to the Board. I pushed for “option 2” to be adopted. In the end, that is exactly what happened. If there are future projects that need to have the county staff negotiate directly, then we can consider it at that time.
In other news, the Drain Commissioner came to County Services and Finance with a plan to save money for him and earn money for the county. How? Well….the Drain Commissioner borrows money for projects from banks and pays a certain interest rate (5% or so). The County invests its short-term tax collections in banks and receives a small interest on that money (1% or so) until it is needed for spending. So, why not combine the two? Why not have the
Drain Commissioner borrow it from the County and pay 3% interest or so? Then the county gains an extra 1% or 2% on interest on the short-term dollars, while the Drain Commissioner saves 1% or 2% on interest. So, we passed a resolution that would do this one time for a limited amount of money. I asked several questions about cash flow and ensuring that this won’t jeopardize county dollars or collections. Both County Treasurer Eric Schertzing and County Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann ensured the committee that this work just fine, and that it will save money for the Drain Commissioner while earning a little more money for the County general fund. Now that’s government efficiency in motion! Thanks to Drain Commissioner Lindemann and Treasurer Schertzing!
In Finance, we considered how we fund our community agencies. Community agencies are the various groups in the community that do good work. Examples are the Lansing Community Gardens (which provide food for the poor) or the Lansing Area Aids Network or about 30 others. In the past, the county has given a few dollars to each of these organizations to do good work in the community. We cannot be everything to everyone, but we can support these groups to help those in need. The allocation in past years has been about $300,000. Last year that was cut to $200,000. This year, that is expected to eb cut to $100,000. While I have tremendous respect for the work they do, I have concerns about giving this money to outside agencies when we are cutting our own county employees and services. $100,000 is a deputy, or money for a park, or other key services. While I would consider supporting moving community agency dollars to other areas within the county, there doesn't seem to be support for that.
Instead, Commissioner Brian McGrain proposed to send the $100,000 to the Power of We consortium. The Power of We work with these non-profit organizations and show them how to be better at what they do. The concept is...if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; if you teach a man to fish he eats forever. Instead of funding the programs each year with a very little amount of money from the county, the Power of We can use the money to teach them how to run better.
This proposal to move the money to the Power of We instead of directly allocating it to community agencies passed the Human Services committee on a 3-2 vote. I was not there but I understand that there was significant debate on the pros and cons. The Finance Committee defeated it on a 3-3 vote. The resolution will go to the Board for consideration on Tuesday, and it should be a very interesting debate and vote.
Well...that's it.
Actually, I will tell you one other thing. This week officially starts my re-election campaign. I have a challenger in the Democratic primary this year, and he has been bashing me left and right. Although he just moved into the district, he is telling anyone that will listen what a terrible job I have been doing for my district. I am taking this very seriously and will rise to the challenge. While this blog is usually dedicated to issue work (which my challenger will undoubtedly benefit from), I will also spend some time talking about my re-election. As always, I welcome any support folks can give (contributions, door knocking, etc.). And I look forward to the vote on August 3rd!
Andy
anything else.
The controversy came, though, in the way our staff wants to do the PLA. There were two options presented: (1) have the county directly negotiation a PLA with one or more labor organizations, or (2) condition the award of a contract to a construction manager/general contractor. All other PLA’s – Sparrow, MSU, others – have the construction manager or general contactor negotiate with the union. Our staff wanted to negotiate directly for the first project because they wanted to set the first PLA as a basis for all future ones in case there is not the ability for future contract managers or general contractors to negotiate. The problem with that, though, was that this project is big enough to have a general contractor that is able to negotiate. I argued that we should take this on a case-by-case basis because each project has to come to the Board. I pushed for “option 2” to be adopted. In the end, that is exactly what happened. If there are future projects that need to have the county staff negotiate directly, then we can consider it at that time.
In other news, the Drain Commissioner came to County Services and Finance with a plan to save money for him and earn money for the county. How? Well….the Drain Commissioner borrows money for projects from banks and pays a certain interest rate (5% or so). The County invests its short-term tax collections in banks and receives a small interest on that money (1% or so) until it is needed for spending. So, why not combine the two? Why not have the
Drain Commissioner borrow it from the County and pay 3% interest or so? Then the county gains an extra 1% or 2% on interest on the short-term dollars, while the Drain Commissioner saves 1% or 2% on interest. So, we passed a resolution that would do this one time for a limited amount of money. I asked several questions about cash flow and ensuring that this won’t jeopardize county dollars or collections. Both County Treasurer Eric Schertzing and County Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann ensured the committee that this work just fine, and that it will save money for the Drain Commissioner while earning a little more money for the County general fund. Now that’s government efficiency in motion! Thanks to Drain Commissioner Lindemann and Treasurer Schertzing!
In Finance, we considered how we fund our community agencies. Community agencies are the various groups in the community that do good work. Examples are the Lansing Community Gardens (which provide food for the poor) or the Lansing Area Aids Network or about 30 others. In the past, the county has given a few dollars to each of these organizations to do good work in the community. We cannot be everything to everyone, but we can support these groups to help those in need. The allocation in past years has been about $300,000. Last year that was cut to $200,000. This year, that is expected to eb cut to $100,000. While I have tremendous respect for the work they do, I have concerns about giving this money to outside agencies when we are cutting our own county employees and services. $100,000 is a deputy, or money for a park, or other key services. While I would consider supporting moving community agency dollars to other areas within the county, there doesn't seem to be support for that.
Instead, Commissioner Brian McGrain proposed to send the $100,000 to the Power of We consortium. The Power of We work with these non-profit organizations and show them how to be better at what they do. The concept is...if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; if you teach a man to fish he eats forever. Instead of funding the programs each year with a very little amount of money from the county, the Power of We can use the money to teach them how to run better.
This proposal to move the money to the Power of We instead of directly allocating it to community agencies passed the Human Services committee on a 3-2 vote. I was not there but I understand that there was significant debate on the pros and cons. The Finance Committee defeated it on a 3-3 vote. The resolution will go to the Board for consideration on Tuesday, and it should be a very interesting debate and vote.
Well...that's it.
Actually, I will tell you one other thing. This week officially starts my re-election campaign. I have a challenger in the Democratic primary this year, and he has been bashing me left and right. Although he just moved into the district, he is telling anyone that will listen what a terrible job I have been doing for my district. I am taking this very seriously and will rise to the challenge. While this blog is usually dedicated to issue work (which my challenger will undoubtedly benefit from), I will also spend some time talking about my re-election. As always, I welcome any support folks can give (contributions, door knocking, etc.). And I look forward to the vote on August 3rd!
Andy
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Road Patrol Revisited (Again), Smoking Ban Enforcement and New Controller
Well, the trend of calm County Commission meetings has come to an end. Today we took up an issue that has created the most controversy among county commissioners over the last few years. But…I will get to that in a minute.
First, welcome Mary Lannoye! She is the new Ingham County Controller. We approved her appointment today, and she starts in about two weeks. I served on the Controller Search Committee (for the second time in about 5 years) and we interviewed several very qualified candidates. Mary, though, started in Ingham County and had the most knowledge about how we work. Also, for those that don’t recognize the name, she was the State Budget Director for Governor John Engler and for Governor Jennifer Granholm. She also served as Chief of Staff for Governor Granholm. We are all very excited about having her running Ingham County government!
We also passed a resolution directing our Health Department to enforce the statewide smoking ban. The legislation has the Department of Community Health (DCH) enforcing the ban, and DCH will have local public health agencies enforcing it. This usually means counties. Other counties (Kent and Oakland) have said that they will not enforce the smoking ban because it is an unfunded mandate. Ingham County, on the other hand, is vigorous in protecting the health of its citizens. We already have restaurant inspections to ensure public health safety, and this will be included in those inspections. Yes it will cost a bit more, but we are willing to pay that to enforce this important law. Ingham County was the first county to prohibit smoking in public outdoor spaces, but we could not pass a ban on smoking in restaurants (due to state law). We did, though, pass a resolution about two years ago to ensure that non-smoking sections are smoke-free. Now, we have directed our staff to enforce the smoking ban. If other counties don’t want to enforce this ban and their citizens want to come to Ingham, then we will take them! Our Board passed this unanimously.
Finally, the controversial item. I haven’t blogged about it much yet, but it dominated my county life last year. The issue is road patrol police service for the rural townships. In a nutshell, the cities and urban townships (Lansing, East Lansing, Lansing Twp, Meridian Twp, Delhi Twp) provide police and charge their citizens for it. Those citizens, though, also pay taxes to the county. Citizens who live in the rural areas (the 13 rural townships outside of the communities already mentioned) receive police road patrol services from the county, but do not provide their own police. So urban residents (my constituents in Lansing) pay for their own police and someone else’s police, whereas rural residents don’t. And, to make matters worse, road patrol only covers the rural areas. Yes, the road patrol officers sometimes come into the urban areas to make arrests, and yes the road patrol officers are sometimes leaned on for things like prisoner transit… but in the end road patrol is still a service paid for by all county taxpayers solely for 20% of the residents in the rural areas. The rural 20% will say that they only get this service and that the jails and other county services are dominated by Lansing, but the fact remains that road patrol is the only county service that is solely for the rural area. Rural residents get married (county clerk), buy land (register of deeds), have meth labs (sheriff and jail), etc. Those services may be used more by the urban population of the county (80%), but are still available to the rural (20%).
Why did I just tell you that? Well, the townships officials and residents understand that the county has budget problems and is slowly reducing financial resources for road patrol. The townships are forming an authority and asking their citizens for funding for appropriate policing. I applaud them for this. Today, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners passed a budget priority resolution where we included language saying that we will eliminate funding for road patrol and will work with the townships to create an authority to fund this with township resident millage dollars. This passed 11-3, and was bipartisan (10 Democrats and 1 Republican supported, with 1 Democrat and 2 Republicans opposing) . I spoke in support of the resolution as it will provide the appropriate service to the township residents who want better service, and road patrol will no longer get picked apart at our budget time. Commissioner Randy Schafer, who is a tremendous supporter of road patrol, supported this because he agreed with township residents who said that they need the county to make a decision before their voters do. After hours and hours of testimony and consideration last year, we have now taken the first step towards tax fairness and properly funding the road patrol police services for the rural residents and their safety.
That’s it. We also did a bunch more, and you can see our agenda online at www.ingham.org.
Until next week (or the week after)…
First, welcome Mary Lannoye! She is the new Ingham County Controller. We approved her appointment today, and she starts in about two weeks. I served on the Controller Search Committee (for the second time in about 5 years) and we interviewed several very qualified candidates. Mary, though, started in Ingham County and had the most knowledge about how we work. Also, for those that don’t recognize the name, she was the State Budget Director for Governor John Engler and for Governor Jennifer Granholm. She also served as Chief of Staff for Governor Granholm. We are all very excited about having her running Ingham County government!
We also passed a resolution directing our Health Department to enforce the statewide smoking ban. The legislation has the Department of Community Health (DCH) enforcing the ban, and DCH will have local public health agencies enforcing it. This usually means counties. Other counties (Kent and Oakland) have said that they will not enforce the smoking ban because it is an unfunded mandate. Ingham County, on the other hand, is vigorous in protecting the health of its citizens. We already have restaurant inspections to ensure public health safety, and this will be included in those inspections. Yes it will cost a bit more, but we are willing to pay that to enforce this important law. Ingham County was the first county to prohibit smoking in public outdoor spaces, but we could not pass a ban on smoking in restaurants (due to state law). We did, though, pass a resolution about two years ago to ensure that non-smoking sections are smoke-free. Now, we have directed our staff to enforce the smoking ban. If other counties don’t want to enforce this ban and their citizens want to come to Ingham, then we will take them! Our Board passed this unanimously.
Finally, the controversial item. I haven’t blogged about it much yet, but it dominated my county life last year. The issue is road patrol police service for the rural townships. In a nutshell, the cities and urban townships (Lansing, East Lansing, Lansing Twp, Meridian Twp, Delhi Twp) provide police and charge their citizens for it. Those citizens, though, also pay taxes to the county. Citizens who live in the rural areas (the 13 rural townships outside of the communities already mentioned) receive police road patrol services from the county, but do not provide their own police. So urban residents (my constituents in Lansing) pay for their own police and someone else’s police, whereas rural residents don’t. And, to make matters worse, road patrol only covers the rural areas. Yes, the road patrol officers sometimes come into the urban areas to make arrests, and yes the road patrol officers are sometimes leaned on for things like prisoner transit… but in the end road patrol is still a service paid for by all county taxpayers solely for 20% of the residents in the rural areas. The rural 20% will say that they only get this service and that the jails and other county services are dominated by Lansing, but the fact remains that road patrol is the only county service that is solely for the rural area. Rural residents get married (county clerk), buy land (register of deeds), have meth labs (sheriff and jail), etc. Those services may be used more by the urban population of the county (80%), but are still available to the rural (20%).
Why did I just tell you that? Well, the townships officials and residents understand that the county has budget problems and is slowly reducing financial resources for road patrol. The townships are forming an authority and asking their citizens for funding for appropriate policing. I applaud them for this. Today, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners passed a budget priority resolution where we included language saying that we will eliminate funding for road patrol and will work with the townships to create an authority to fund this with township resident millage dollars. This passed 11-3, and was bipartisan (10 Democrats and 1 Republican supported, with 1 Democrat and 2 Republicans opposing) . I spoke in support of the resolution as it will provide the appropriate service to the township residents who want better service, and road patrol will no longer get picked apart at our budget time. Commissioner Randy Schafer, who is a tremendous supporter of road patrol, supported this because he agreed with township residents who said that they need the county to make a decision before their voters do. After hours and hours of testimony and consideration last year, we have now taken the first step towards tax fairness and properly funding the road patrol police services for the rural residents and their safety.
That’s it. We also did a bunch more, and you can see our agenda online at www.ingham.org.
Until next week (or the week after)…
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Anti-Sprawl, Lake Lansig Band Shell, Alternative Sentencing, and Road Patrol...
For this week’s blog, I will hit on a few issues that have been big in the past and came up this week.
If you have been in Ingham County for a few years, you know that we have a dedicated millage (passed a few years ago) for the purchase of development rights (PDR) for farmland and open space. Recently, the Agriculture and Open Space Preservation Board created new rules and selection criteria. Unfortunately, when they did that, they made it almost completely specific to farmland. At the time, I complained to the Board members and our consultant that they ignored the fact that the PDR program is good for urban areas because it ensures that development and redevelopment happens in places with infrastructure instead of in sprawling areas and greenfields. So, this week we rectified that. The Farmland and Open Space Board brought us new language on this which added in criteria including urban areas, and we passed it. I was very happy to see this done. We also passed an updated policy with selection criteria. After a healthy discussion to ensure that there are propert safeguards against fraud, we passed that as well.
On the Parks front, we passed a resolution that deals with improvements for the Lake Lansing band shell. We are taking money from the Friends of Lake Lansing group and combining it with a few remaining dollars in the Parks Department equipment fund in order to fix the light fixtures. If you haven’t been there, the Lake Lansing Band Shell is awesome. It draws excellent performers, and lots of residents who sit on the lawn and watch. It also attracts families with young children (mine included) where the parents listen to the music and the kids play at the park or on the donated inflatable rides (moon bounce, maze). This money will add to the important quality of life component that Ingham County residents expect and deserve.
Another important resolution passed allowed those who have not paid child-support to serve their sentence doing community service at our parks. We need parks improtvement projects done, and new boardwalks at Hawk Island and Lake Lansing, as well as parks and zoo maintenance are a good way to appropriately punish these offenders without putting them behind bars. Jailing people who don’t provide child support only clogs jails and ensures that the children will continue to not receive the child support because the parent isn’t working to make the money that they owe. This is an excellent jail alternative sentencing program.
Finally, in an interesting twist, the County Board received a letter from the 11 out-county rural townships. Anyone paying attention to Ingham County over the last few years knows that the County Board considered road patrol funding. I first led the effort to have the out-county townships pay some portion of the road patrol costs because road patrol is a service that only the out-county receives. Urban areas (Lansing, East Lansing, Lansing Twp, Meridian Twp, and Delhi) all pay for their own police and don’t receive road patrol assistance. The out-county receive road patrol but don’t hve to pay any more. So I led the effort to have them either 1) pay more to receive the safety that they want and believe they deserve or 2) receive less service. I will get into this more in future blogs, I’m sure. Anyway, that was defeated. Next the County Board considered a millage increase (.65) dedicated to the Sheriff’s office for patrols and other specific services (Metro Squad, investigations, dive team, etc). That also was soundly defeated by the Board. At the time, I said that if we do nothing, Road Patrol would be reduced to nothing in a few years anyway. Well, that seems to be coming to pass.
The out-county 11 townships are looking to form a police authority which will create police protection for their residents. I think that is a great idea. The letter they sent us, though, asks for $2.4 million in start-up funding. I am very curious about this request and look forward to the discussions that will be had around this request. I have many questions. If the county has a $5 million deficit for next year, where will this money come from? Will there be an equivalent reduction in road patrol to pay for this? There are lots of questions that need to be explored by our staff and in consultation with the Sheriff before we can commit to anything like this. I am not on the Law Enforcement Committee this year, though, so my part in this issue will come when it gets to the Finance Committee.
That’s it for this week. After taking an initial peek at the County Services and Finance agendas, next week should be another exciting week of Ingham County issues!
Andy
If you have been in Ingham County for a few years, you know that we have a dedicated millage (passed a few years ago) for the purchase of development rights (PDR) for farmland and open space. Recently, the Agriculture and Open Space Preservation Board created new rules and selection criteria. Unfortunately, when they did that, they made it almost completely specific to farmland. At the time, I complained to the Board members and our consultant that they ignored the fact that the PDR program is good for urban areas because it ensures that development and redevelopment happens in places with infrastructure instead of in sprawling areas and greenfields. So, this week we rectified that. The Farmland and Open Space Board brought us new language on this which added in criteria including urban areas, and we passed it. I was very happy to see this done. We also passed an updated policy with selection criteria. After a healthy discussion to ensure that there are propert safeguards against fraud, we passed that as well.
On the Parks front, we passed a resolution that deals with improvements for the Lake Lansing band shell. We are taking money from the Friends of Lake Lansing group and combining it with a few remaining dollars in the Parks Department equipment fund in order to fix the light fixtures. If you haven’t been there, the Lake Lansing Band Shell is awesome. It draws excellent performers, and lots of residents who sit on the lawn and watch. It also attracts families with young children (mine included) where the parents listen to the music and the kids play at the park or on the donated inflatable rides (moon bounce, maze). This money will add to the important quality of life component that Ingham County residents expect and deserve.
Another important resolution passed allowed those who have not paid child-support to serve their sentence doing community service at our parks. We need parks improtvement projects done, and new boardwalks at Hawk Island and Lake Lansing, as well as parks and zoo maintenance are a good way to appropriately punish these offenders without putting them behind bars. Jailing people who don’t provide child support only clogs jails and ensures that the children will continue to not receive the child support because the parent isn’t working to make the money that they owe. This is an excellent jail alternative sentencing program.
Finally, in an interesting twist, the County Board received a letter from the 11 out-county rural townships. Anyone paying attention to Ingham County over the last few years knows that the County Board considered road patrol funding. I first led the effort to have the out-county townships pay some portion of the road patrol costs because road patrol is a service that only the out-county receives. Urban areas (Lansing, East Lansing, Lansing Twp, Meridian Twp, and Delhi) all pay for their own police and don’t receive road patrol assistance. The out-county receive road patrol but don’t hve to pay any more. So I led the effort to have them either 1) pay more to receive the safety that they want and believe they deserve or 2) receive less service. I will get into this more in future blogs, I’m sure. Anyway, that was defeated. Next the County Board considered a millage increase (.65) dedicated to the Sheriff’s office for patrols and other specific services (Metro Squad, investigations, dive team, etc). That also was soundly defeated by the Board. At the time, I said that if we do nothing, Road Patrol would be reduced to nothing in a few years anyway. Well, that seems to be coming to pass.
The out-county 11 townships are looking to form a police authority which will create police protection for their residents. I think that is a great idea. The letter they sent us, though, asks for $2.4 million in start-up funding. I am very curious about this request and look forward to the discussions that will be had around this request. I have many questions. If the county has a $5 million deficit for next year, where will this money come from? Will there be an equivalent reduction in road patrol to pay for this? There are lots of questions that need to be explored by our staff and in consultation with the Sheriff before we can commit to anything like this. I am not on the Law Enforcement Committee this year, though, so my part in this issue will come when it gets to the Finance Committee.
That’s it for this week. After taking an initial peek at the County Services and Finance agendas, next week should be another exciting week of Ingham County issues!
Andy
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Emergency 911 Issues, Google Fiber and other County Board action
I feel like I created this blog at the calmest time for Ingham County in a while! Over the last 6 months, we have resolved severe budget deficits and had many cuts. We don’t start considering our next budget, though, until late summer. For now, life on the Boards is a little less crazy.
This week, our full Board of Commissioners met. We had very little controversial on the agenda. We do most of our major work (amendments, debate, etc) in committees and our Board meetings are normally calm and cordial.
The City of Lansing sent us a letter requesting that the county take legal action against M/A-Com. The background on this….About 7 years ago, the county revamped its emergency 911 dispatch system. If you live in Ingham County, you pay a dedicated millage for 911 service, and that money was used for the new 911 system. We had two major bidders – M/A-Com and Motorola. The State Police came in late with a bid as well, but it was way too expensive. After many meetings and much debate, the County Board of Commissioners voted to accept the M/A-Com proposal, which was the recommendation from the to us by our 911 Advisory Committee (made up of fire and police chiefs from the communities in the county, as well as our Sheriff).
The system was put into place and all was seemingly well. Officers throughout the county (community and county) were given new digital dispatch radios to call in emergencies (replacing the old analog ones), and the dispatch centers in Lansing and East Lansing had upgraded equipment. About 2 or 3 years later, though, we found out that officers using these new digital radios in the southwest area of Lansing were having problems. Calls were not going through and were being dropped. They complained to us and we complained to M/A-Com. We found out that several buildings in the area were not allowing for signal penetration. The contract required that 95% or so of the calls made on the radios had to go through, and this was happening county-wide. It was not happening in the southwest Lansing area, though.
So after extreme tensions and negotiations, the County Board negotiated a settlement where we paid for special devices to boost the signal in the buildings in the southwest Lansing area, and M/A-Com agreed to provide certain services for free.
The City of Lansing is upset that they had to dedicate additional staff and resources to this area because the radios weren’t working. They have requested that the County take legal action against M/A-Com. Our Controller and Board Chair and Law Enforcement committee will review our options.
Otherwise, we passed a resolution supporting the Google Fiber effort. Google is offering a super high-speed product called Google Fiber to a few communities throughout the country. Lansing/East Lansing is trying to become one of those served communities. Ingham County, of course, supports this effort.
We also accepted several Homeland Security funds from the federal government for equipment and training.
To see the full agenda, click here.
This week, our full Board of Commissioners met. We had very little controversial on the agenda. We do most of our major work (amendments, debate, etc) in committees and our Board meetings are normally calm and cordial.
The City of Lansing sent us a letter requesting that the county take legal action against M/A-Com. The background on this….About 7 years ago, the county revamped its emergency 911 dispatch system. If you live in Ingham County, you pay a dedicated millage for 911 service, and that money was used for the new 911 system. We had two major bidders – M/A-Com and Motorola. The State Police came in late with a bid as well, but it was way too expensive. After many meetings and much debate, the County Board of Commissioners voted to accept the M/A-Com proposal, which was the recommendation from the to us by our 911 Advisory Committee (made up of fire and police chiefs from the communities in the county, as well as our Sheriff).
The system was put into place and all was seemingly well. Officers throughout the county (community and county) were given new digital dispatch radios to call in emergencies (replacing the old analog ones), and the dispatch centers in Lansing and East Lansing had upgraded equipment. About 2 or 3 years later, though, we found out that officers using these new digital radios in the southwest area of Lansing were having problems. Calls were not going through and were being dropped. They complained to us and we complained to M/A-Com. We found out that several buildings in the area were not allowing for signal penetration. The contract required that 95% or so of the calls made on the radios had to go through, and this was happening county-wide. It was not happening in the southwest Lansing area, though.
So after extreme tensions and negotiations, the County Board negotiated a settlement where we paid for special devices to boost the signal in the buildings in the southwest Lansing area, and M/A-Com agreed to provide certain services for free.
The City of Lansing is upset that they had to dedicate additional staff and resources to this area because the radios weren’t working. They have requested that the County take legal action against M/A-Com. Our Controller and Board Chair and Law Enforcement committee will review our options.
Otherwise, we passed a resolution supporting the Google Fiber effort. Google is offering a super high-speed product called Google Fiber to a few communities throughout the country. Lansing/East Lansing is trying to become one of those served communities. Ingham County, of course, supports this effort.
We also accepted several Homeland Security funds from the federal government for equipment and training.
To see the full agenda, click here.
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