City of Davison, Michigan

I heard a lot more people start converting to those global warming theories as we rode into January with unseasonably warm weather in Michigan.

Our snow removal and salt budgets were looking good for a change.

Well mother nature is back (or at least the cold air and a little snow). One of the things we have to remind people of is making sure their sidewalks are cleared of snow.

The City of Davison Ordinance # 1024.10 explains the guidelines for keeping sidewalks safe.

1024.10 SNOW AND ICE ON STREETS AND SIDEWALKS.
(a) No person in possession of any premises which abut or are adjacent to a public sidewalk shall fail to remove all snow and ice from such public sidewalk within a reasonable time after a snowfall or the formation of ice.
(b) No person shall, by any act or omission, allow water or any liquid capable of freezing to drain onto any public sidewalk, street, alley or parking area during the months of November, December, January, February and March.
(c) No person shall pile, dump or place snow, ice or any other material on any sidewalk or public street in the City, or in such other place or manner so as to create a safety hazard to the people of the City

An additional note: We do not wait until you clear your drive way and then run the plow trucks down to fill in the driveway openings. We do understand what an inconvenience this is, but it is not done to frustrate you.

You may notice a new look and feel to my blog. I have been working with my blog Coach (Griff Wigley) to help me improve this site. I am using different software that will take some time to get to know, so I hope you will be patient.

The long term improvements should become more apparent as I figure the new system out.

One of the things that we strive for here in Davison is continued improvement, and I attempt to lead by improving the things I do also (as compared to wanting all our staff to improve and remain stagnant myself). “Good enough” is a culture that allows others to pass us by.

We don’t want to just survive; we want to thrive in all we do. This desire to be the best doesn’t always sit well with everyone. There are a lot of people who are content with “It was good enough for my grandparents and parents, its good enough for me”. But where would we be without people attempting to become better?

I, for one am glad that after may years of work, indoor toilets were improved with proper venting around 1874. Only because people were not satisfied with outhouses, stench and diseases that were the norm.

Henry Ford didn’t invent the automobile, but he did figure out a way to mass produce them and pay enough in wages that his employees could afford to buy the product. Or, how about Mr. Edison who did not give up on his research for a better lighting system?

Now, I do not compare myself with those great minds, but I do employee staff that I have seen some brilliance in.

So it is in that vane that I will continue to improve myself, even in the blog world.

I’ve converted Pete’s blog from Blogger to WordPress. The new web address for his blog is www.cityofdavisonweblogs.org/peterauger. The old addresses redirect here. More customization to come!

Let me know if you discover any glitches. - Griff Wigley, Wigley and Associates and Leadership Blogging.

One of the managers who I had not seen for along time ask me how our joint venture running recreation programming is working. As managers, we are always comparing notes and programs to see if we can bring something back to our community.

I explained that I though our Davison Community Enrichment and Recreation (DCER) is rolling strong. Of course managers love proof, so I thought you might be interested in some DCER statistics.

Total people participating:

• 2005/2006 4,982
• 2004/2005 3,261
• 2003/2004 2,723

We can also look at Total Programs:

• 2005/2006 371
• 2004/2005 244
• 2003/2004 226

Participation by Residence (Fall 2006 programs) breaks down like this.

• City of Davison 21.6%
• Davison Township 28.3%
• Richfield Township 9.5%
• Other 40.6%

By every measure we think that DCER continues to be a huge success!

I had the pleasure of moderating a session yesterday on Emerging technology Trends and Tools. It was good to see the session was standing room only.

As manager’s, we are a skeptical group and a lot of time we rely on what we know works. This can create conflict with technology. In today’s world technology speeds are changing every 18 months.

There was a lot of good information in this session. I was able to inform some fellow manager’s that they should not blog. Of course, I was being selfish (and kidding), I don’t mind being only a handful of manager’s who blogs.

I did share how I got into blogging and recommended getting a blog coach to walk them through the process. I used Griff Wigley when I got started and I am going back for more help this year as I attempt to update our blog.

It would be great if more managers started to blog. I think it would be good for our profession and good for the community they manage.

I am posting from abroad.

Well actually not that far away, we are having our annual Winter Institute in Frankenmuth this year. You might remember that I am chairing this event and this has been a different task than what I am used to. A lot of phone calls and emails because everyone involved is in different locations across this great State of ours.

I think we have gotten our mittens around this thing (pun intended) and hopefully this conference will be full of information that I, along with a couple of hundred other City Managers and assistant Managers can take back to our communities.

Today we will be looking at what strengths managers in the 21st century will need, looking at technology in a more “flat world”, and doing some emergency management training. There will also be a session on some items that are looming with employee retirement planning.

So please be patient if I do not get back to you with emails or phone calls, I’m attempting to sharpen the saw this week (thank you Steven Covey).

At last nights Council Workshop we discussed the plans for the new Davison Municipal Center. Tom and Dan from FTC&H did a great job presenting a PowerPoint presentation.

We had about 40 people to give input and ask questions.

Over all I think the session went very well.

Our architects did a good job of explaining how we got this far and informing people we have a ways to go.

The public questions, concerns and comments were very informative. As you look throughout some of the details I think you might have some comments. Please get those comments to us, you can email me through this blog. This is not your typical government process. We are seeking all input now as we develop the program.

We do have to improve on what we have, but I think after last nights meeting we have a very solid foundation.

Hopefully you can view some of our progress from the sketches below.

A term that was thrown around a lot in the 1990’s was “community policing”.

Neat buzz word, but what does it mean.

In a nut shell it means doing more than Police Officers riding along in their police cars giving out tickets and responding to calls.

You have seen on an earlier blog about how we helped reinstate the AAA Safety Patrol in Davison. We are also active in Bike Helmet education and helmet give always to elementary school children. DARE classes are also an example. Our bicycle patrol and police trading cards are even other examples.

Cindy Schlaud from AAA
and Principal Eric Lieske
can be seen honoring the
students efforts.

Police Chief Brandon was able to participate at Central Elementary’s Safety Patrollers pizza luncheon. Central Elementary has about 20 4th graders who assist and monitor grades 1-4 in the bus loading zone.

We think it is little things like helping these kids learn about responsibility that will help them and us in the future.

Sometimes you here me spell out the challenges of dealing within government bureaucracies. It seems that inefficiency is the model for a lot of how we attempt to do things.

We still have the best form of government that has ever been tried, but it still raises my eyebrows sometimes.

Well as much as get on my soap box to help reform the inadequate ways we do things I am happy when we get little victories.

In a meeting at Genesee County yesterday the Transportation System Management (TSM) sub-committee met to deal with a host of issues. One item was to deal with some policy changes. Of the 7 or so changes one has the opportunity to make a difference in $$ spent in the county.

The TSM is recommending that when a community or agency has a project in the 3 year Traffic Improvement Program (TIP) they will only be funded the amount that they put in the TIP.

Fopr you in the private sector you may be saying this is common sense, but not in the public sector. What happens is larger road agencies put in a generic plan to be funded. Then when the project comes in to be built there are all kinds of “extra stuff” added. Some of this stuff makes for a better projects but it takes money away from other projects.

The goal is to make agencies plan better. Look at the entire picture before submitting plans, not get the project approved and then add to it.

How much money are we talking. Well in 2007 we had about $5.3 million worth of projects. Of those, 40% were over budget due to these add ons by an average of 30%. So we are talking about $636,000 in a year.

In Davison we had 2 projects that didn’t make the TIP that don’t add up to the over spent amount.

The good thing about slow change is that it is change, and I thing this change is in the right direction.

“Pete, I’ve got a dumb question about the new municipal center.”

Of course there are no dumb questions.

“Okay, How come the city offices are needing so much more space?”

Actually, from our needs analysis the city administration section is only gaining about ten square feet. We still don’t have the final drawings yet, but we are getting closer to see what floor plans could look like.

The most space is in the new project is for the Library where we double the existing space. This makes sense since it is the second busiest district library in Genesee County and is open the most days during the week. We have a community that understands the value and uses the library services.

The Davison Police Department looks like a huge gain as it goes from 2,400 to 8,000 square feet. What sounds like a huge increase actually gets the Police to where most departments are today. An example would be to have locker rooms for male and females (right now we have no female officers and the men change in a closet).

Common shared areas is about 16,000 square feet. This is where the building differs from most. We are attempting to maximize space and share areas with the court, the police department, library and historical museum. Every use could use a couple meeting areas, but no one needs them all of the time. So in this project there will be an abundance of shared space such as small medium and large conference rooms.

Each use in the building obviously has their own inherent needs, but a conference room can be easily shared.

I am excited to see what the architects at FTC&H have come up with. I am also looking forward to hearing more public comments on our progress.