City of Davison, Michigan

The Federal Clean Water Act of 1972 created National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The major focus of this was to control discharges from industrial and large municipal wastewater treatment plants. Once these problems areas were addressed and mostly brought under control the focus changed to various smaller widespread (non-point) pollution sources such as failing septic systems, illegal dumping, storm water run-off from parking lots, roads, agricultural fields, construction sites, etc…

Within Michigan, the Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) manages this Federal mandate. The MDEQ is allowing local governments to establish goals and improve surface water by implementation of a watershed management plan. In Genessee County, the local governments have decided to group together to work through this process. Streams, rivers and drains don’t stay with in the dotted lines we have drawn to identify communities.

We have all signed a contract with the Genessee County Drain Commissioner to work through the County office to meat the Federal and State requirements. A lot of communities are paying around $10.00 per parcel to comply with this mandate. By combining resource with other communities our cost is around $4.00 per parcel.

One of the additional cost is the time it takes to fill out all the paper work that is required. We actually have to attend workshops to understand what is being asked and what our plans could include.

We will comply, in the City of Davison, but we are hearing more and more small communities cry out that they can hardly afford to keep up with the old regulations, let alone take on new projects without any funding to accomplish the new task.

If anyone is interested in more information, the Drain Commissioner’s office has compiled a good NPDES phase II web page that might be worth a peek.

Trickle down effect is in action with the cost of gas. Last year we stretched our budget with gas price creep and a normal Michigan winter. Truth is, we were spoiled with a few mild winters (snow accumulation), and then got hit with a Michigan snow season like I remember growing up.

Now Summer is winding down and I’m already thinking about the blown gas budget and the cost of doing business. We have two areas that use a lot of gasoline; Public Safety (police & fire) and Department of Public Works (DPW).

During the summer months I think people are aware of the police and fire equipment that are working 24/7, but The DPW equipment has a gasoline budget the same size as the Police Department. Think about everything that a city does that requires gasoline:

• lawn mowers
• grass trimming weed whips
• chainsaws
• compactors
• generators
• street sweeping equipment
• pumps
• sidewalk grinder
• power washer
• sewer cleaning Vactor
• about 3 different types of tractors

And we haven’t listed any of the pick-up trucks or dump trucks. So, when gas is already twenty cents highrer than when we put the budget together and rumored to go even highrer by winter, you may see why we are anxious at city hall about the price of fuel and how it effects city services.

What may be a routine watermain break uses multible vehicles, like the tractor and dump truck seen here. What is not here that is normally on such a sight is the water department van with all the equipment needed for the fix.

The State of Michigan has even started keeping track of cheapest and most expenses places to purchase gas and listing it on the State’s web-site.

What is an AED? You never heard of them? Well I’m here to tell you. If you look north west on a clear night approximately 6 days prior to a full moon… Naw just kidding.

An AED is actually short for an Automatic External Difibulator. These portable little devices can be a real life saver. I think back to the old TV show of Emergency, where Squad 51 and the firefighters/paramedic call Rampart Hospital to get permission to shock a victim back to life with the two electronic pads that they just smeared with some sort of jelly “CLEAR”, then wamo they bring a heart attack victim back to life.

Well about 17 years ago I got my first experience with AED’s while a Police Officer with the City of Auburn Hills. We were one of the first Police departments to put AED’s on the street as a part of standard equipment. Well technology is changing and the AED’s are getting simpler to use and more affordable also. Each unit now cost around $1,500.

Thanks to Oxford Bank, the Davison Area Chamber of Commerce and the “Tippy Open” Golf tournament, the Davison Police Department will be purchasing two new, state of the art AED’s.

According to Chief Brandon, one unit will be on the road with a duty car everyday and the other unit will be in our municipal complex. Since our police officers are already trained and certified first aid they will just need a short training course on operation of the units. The rest of city hall will half to take a four hour first aid class to get certified in using the new equipment.

A slight breeze made the eighty degree temperature near perfect for the ninth annual “Tippy Open”. This event, which was named in honor and memory of the former City Clerk Rosemary Simpson, has blossomed into an event that is looked forward to every year.

The Tippy Open is held at Brookwood Golf Course, but it’s really not about golf. This is the time for City Council members to interact with city staff and visa versa. Then you throw into the mix members of the Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, Downtown Development Authority, Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Local Development Finance Authority, Chamber of Commerce and local business owners you have quite a mix of people and personalities with one thing in common…They care about Davison.

Mayor Fred Rappuhn took time away from his business Garrett Photographic to encourage the Davison Teamwork. Rumor has it that the Mayor was a non-golfer until 3 years ago when he came out to a Tippy Open

This has worked well to bring us closer as a team. Department of Public Works employees mixing with Police Officers, mixing with office staff goes along way to knock down artificial barriers that some times get placed in the work environment. We can get so focused on task we sometimes miss the human element of interaction.

When I say it’s not about the golf we mean it. There is no declared winner like most golf outings. We have contest such as; Who can guess how many golf balls will be lost (150 this year). One year you were not aloud to pick your foursome, only a partner, this way people were matched differently than they may have chosen.

The few hours of competition was then followed up by another great dinner, catered by Brookwood, and prizes that were donated by sponsors and merchants were then given out.

Proceeds from this year’s event are being donated for AED’s (more on this in a future Blog).

For those golfers out there, Brookwood is in very good shape, a user friendly public course that has just added some improvements. One of the improvements you may not notice are cart paths. An improvement you may notice is the pond that was added on the ninth hole that was placed right in my safe landing area for my patent slice. The pond, which has a continuous fountain adds a lot of character as you make the turn.

The days seem to be getting shorter. The nights are definitely cooler. People in Davison are freeing up their Friday nights.

For many in Michigan, this season is added to our normal five seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall Winter, and Road Construction). The Davison Cardinals have a new twist to this year’s season. Literally kicking off a new era of football in a state of the art new facility. For 50 years the Cardinals dominated opponents and Collins Field which is located about 1/2 mile east of the new Cardinal Stadium on Clark Street.

The Cardinals open up this grid iron season tonight on the road at Kearsly, but buckle up next Thursday night when Oxford comes to town for what has turned into some awesome football contest over the past 4 years. A couple of the Davison/Oxford match ups have ended up in overtime or right down to the final minutes deciding the victor.

So when that fall breeze in blowing the flag at the south end of the stadium and the lights come on at dusk you know where a lot of our community will be….

GO CARDS !

The names of Ralph Arceo an Kevin McKague might not be house hold names (yet), but at least one and maybe both will be a new comer to our City Council following our next election. We have two incumbents (Don Csutoras and Pat Conley) also running and Jack Somers decided not to run for another two year term. That makes 4 people running for 3 positions and we could end up with one or two new comers.

Getting new people involved in local government is energizing. One great thing is we have to explain how we do things in the City of Davison. This process in it self makes us look at our operation and can produces savings and efficiencies. The people running for City Council in Davison get Council Packets delivered just like the elected officials. We have been doing that for selfish reasons. Once elected we want the new people to understand some of the things they may have to vote on that have been discussed at other council meetings prior to their arrival. We also want them to be comfortable to ask questions of me, staff or other council members.

It is also good sometimes to look at the changes we have made in local government due to our local officials persistently keeping on us to improve. One of those “things” is changing from two council meetings to one workshop and one council meeting.

The Council Meeting is the “official” meeting of record (and required by our City Charter). This is where we pay our bills, pass Ordinances, make budgetary decisions etc…

Chief Brandon has Council’s attention during a workshop

The Council Workshop is less formal. Council sits around a table with staff and citizens and they discuss items in details. Sometimes staff floats an idea we are working on but don’t have finalized so we can get City Council input as we develop it. Other times City Council comes up with an idea staff will research.

This process has really developed into a teamwork mentality and I think has given Council more input during the development stages of a project and not just input at the end.

We had our first official workshop on Design Standards and Davison’s Hybrid Zoning Model early in August. You may have read about it in one of the local papers or even on this Blog.

At the beginning of the meeting you could feel the tenseness and apprehension from some of the participants. It gets that way when you do something that is cutting edge. But after a few good questions, like; “How did we get from developing design standards to revamping the way we look at our commercial zoning?” the questions, comments and feedback flowed.

To answer the above question, design standards take into concern items such as set backs, parking, and different uses of property. All of these (and more) are addressed in our Zoning Ordinance. A lot of times, we in municipal work patch things together. In this example of Design Standards some communities add another layer of Ordinance to what already exists. It then becomes a real science flipping from ordinance section to ordinance section to figure what is required, allowed and or preferred by the city of Davison. What we are attempting to do here is stream line the process and make it a more user friendly system.

On a side note; Dennis Miller (Director of our Building Department) and Scott Yaklin (Director of Department of Public Works) are working on a similar project with our construction codes.

We are looking at defining our three commercial districts as:

• Traditional Neighborhood Commercial
• Downtown Commercial
• General Commercial

Rob Eggers from Spicer Group kept prodding participants through out this process. He would keep us focused by saying “Take a minute and think about what you notice when you drive or walk through town. What do you like? What don’t you like?”

What we kept in mind was that we wanted to get the purpose and intent in each of the areas and how that works for the City of Davison. What do you like best?

Rob had some great slides that coincided with what people were saying. Some things that people wanted more of were landscape and people space.

These efforts highlight two of Davison’s finest and show that their quick actions at a moments notice do make a difference.

Office Harris and the Chief

Friday was a typical Michigan August day, very warm and lots of sunshine. We were grateful for that nice breeze. Late in the afternoon I had the privilege to participate in a flag folding ceremony with representatives of the VFW disabled veterans from Burton, Michigan. The ceremony was narrated by Davison’s own Betsy Ross (Rachel Haneline) and followed by the VFW bugler playing of Taps.

The American Flag is traditionally folded into a triangle. I had remembered this from my days in the Military Police Corps. We had the honor of raising the flag and retiring the flag on a daily basis when I was stationed in Vicenzia, Italy. Both rituals are very solemn and ritualistically. But what I never knew was the reason for the thirteen folds that puts the final triangle shape into a folded flag.

I was able to get a copy of the narrative Betsy (Rachel) read at the ceremony. The 13 folds are as follows:

1. The symbol of life.
2. The belief in eternal life.
3. In honor and remembrance of the Veteran being commemorated.
4. For divine guidance.
5. In tribute of our country.
6. Our Pledge to the Flag.
7. Tribute to our Armed Forces.
8. To honor the mothers of veterans.
9. Tribute to womanhood for their faith, love, loyalty and devotion to veterans.
10. Tribute to the fathers who gave their sons and daughters to the Armed Forces.
11. In the eyes of Hebrew citizens, the seals of Kings Davis and Solomon.
12. In the eyes of Christian citizens, it represents the Emblem of Eternity.
13. When the Flag is completely folded, the stars are up most, reminding us of our National Motto, “In God We Trust.”

Some traditions are passed down from generation to generation, others get codified ( made into law). The Flag has a lot of traditions that were actually made into law. For more on Flag etiquette you may want to check out this web site.

If you are interested in more details of what you should or should not do with our flag, I found this web site very informative. If you visit this site, scroll down to the question answer section.

A warm thick air met me as I went out to follow up on a tree trimming complaint at one of our rail road crossings and check on the progress of a couple projects we have going. Yes, a muggy Michigan day, if it wasn’t for the strong breeze it would be unpleasant to be outside.

Yet the action around the city occurs at a hectic pace. I’m not talking about city projects here. Its kids. Its moms. Its kids and moms. Everywhere I looked there were people outside enjoying the fresh air.

Even though the weather man called for storm showers today people are making the best out of the last Friday before school starts. Ah, that’s it isn’t it? Today is the start of the last weekend before school starts.

Where has summer gone? Seems like yesterday we were dealing with our snow removal and salt budget during a heavy snow season.

Now might be a good time to remind yourself that kids will be hitting the sidewalks and streets again as they gleefully trek to and from school, okay I added the gleefully. But as school starts up keep your eyes out for those kids. And for all you stay at home moms, congratulations, you made it through another summer.

Ah, but wait, that means its Fall and in my house that leads us to football. With Davison opening our new stadium this year it should be a great season to watch our High School Cardinals. If your a State fan…ah…okay, for the rest of you Go Blue.