City of Davison, Michigan

For those who follow this blog you are aware that I am fortunate enough to be Chairman of the Michigan Municipal League’s (MML) Public Safety Committee. This committee looks over legislation that is being formulated or reviewed so the MML can represent the view of local governments.

Today we held our first Virtual Meeting. Committees used to meet on a schedule or as needed, but everyone had to get to a common destination (normally Lansing or Ann Arbor). Today we all met utilizing a joint conference call on the telephone and a portal link on the internet. One of the committee members was in Florida, but was still able to participate in our discussions.

As Chair, I thought the meeting went excellent (although I might be biased). Our MML staff did a great job of ensuring that everyone was comfortable with the technology that we are using.

How using this technology helps us in Davison is the time that it takes normally to drive to these meetings and the additional added cost (like gas).

Aside from the new format, we did have good discussion on items such as Public Act 312 (Binding Arbitration), the legalization of fireworks in Michigan, residency requirements and some other local control issues.

Change is tough sometimes, but I think the change today was well received by all.

Across almost all of Genesee County, the price of water is going up. This year the City of Detroit will raise the cost of water to the City of Flint by a projected 2.3%. The city of Flint then sells the water to Genesee County Water/Waste who then sells it to other communities. The County Drain Commissioner’s Office does not plan to raise any of the county fees, but will pass on the Detroit increase.

In the City of Davison that will not effect our water rates. We operate are own independent water system (Best Water Utility of the year for communities under 15,000 population). We did have to raise our cost of water about 4 years ago in order to meet the new Federal regulation for potable water. In addition, our citizens voted to soften our water for the entire city system at that time.

We actually raised the rate by $3 for three consecutive years to ensure we could make the appropriate upgrades. We are currently working with our water engineers on a water/sewer rate study to ensure we are charging the appropriate amount for the services we provide. We hope to have those numbers to city council sometime in April.

On other Water/Sewer issues, we had a chance to peek at our Inflow and Infiltration numbers for 2006. In 2006, if the County’s new billing system were in place we would have been fined 5 times during the year for rain events that exceeded 3 times our dry weather flow. As of now, the fine cost would be $25,000.

We would have also had to pay one and a half times the normal rate for anything over 2 times our dry weather rate and twice the sewage rate for any volume over 3 times the rate.

We should have the actual reports on 2006 with different scenarios in the near future.

What is happening is other communities are starting to panic on their own I/I situations. We are getting many questions of how we developed our program.

After making it through my emails and phone messages of last week, I found a recurring request that pops up every now and again. The request normally comes from a high school or college student who is working on a project. Sometimes the question is more personal “How did you become a City Manager?” But most of the time it is a more generic, “What does a City Manager do during a week?”

This is one of the reasons we started the Blog in Davison. We have found that most people do not understand how their local government works. Not just what does the City Manager do, but how local regulations go through the open government process, how projects get prioritized, what effect non-funded mandates have on local services, and the list goes on and on.

We hope that these short blogs help give some insight on not how things happen, but also why our local government makes the decisions we make.

But for those curious on what your City Manager does in a week, here is what this week looks like:

Monday
9:30 AM Weekly Department Head meeting where the management team updates each other on projects, challenges and other issues such as scheduling.

Afternoon is blocked off for negotiations with two bargaining units that contracts expire June 30, 2007.

7:00 PM to 11:00 PM City Hall for City Council workshop.

Tuesday
8:30 AM Appointment with knee surgeon

11:00 AM Preliminary meeting between staff and developer about expansion of facilities within the city.

1:00 PM Sub committee meeting on countywide infrastructure and how Federal and State funding can be divided to ensure “best bang for our buck” countywide.

3:30 PM Meet with staff on project updates.

5:30 PM Meeting with Fire Department Master Plan work group.

6:30 PM Fire Department Personnel Committee Meeting

7:30 PM Fire Authority Meeting

Wednesday
7:30 AM Office work to produce requested correspondence to regional board.

9:00 AM Genesee County Water/Waste Advisory Board Meeting

9:45 AM Genesee County Storm water Task Force Meeting

10:00 AM County Sewer Sub-Committee meeting.

2:00 PM GAIN (County Police Task Force) meeting on state funding issues.

Thursday
10:00 AM Budget meeting with Library Board chair.

Friday
10:00 AM MML Public Safety Committee meeting

All the above is scheduled things to do. As you may see, the week can fill up awfully quick. Between meetings there is still a ton of work to be done. We are fortunate in Davison to have a quality staff that continues to get things accomplished when delegated the task.

I was out of the office for a few days last week due to some knee surgery. I hope that I will be better than new in no time.

What a week to miss some hours.

I missed going to Lansing on Wednesday for the Michigan Municipal League Annual Legislative Update. This is a day of finding out what is happening in our State Capital. What legislation is pending and how that will affect us here in Davison. We were very fortunate to have Council Members Ron Emery, Keith Flewelling, and Joy Murray attend this event. This keeps us in the loop of what is happening politically at the State level.

I was also not available to attend the Michigan Rural Water Association Conference in Traverse City. Again, I was happy that our DPW Director, Brian Klaassen, City Clerk Andrea Schroeder, Matt Sytek from our Water Department, and Mayor Pro-Tem Ralph Arceo were able to represent the City of Flags at this event. We were the talk of the conference as Matt was recognized as Michigan Water Operator of the Year, Andrea was honored with Woman of the Year, and the City received Water Utility of the Year.

The City of Davison residents, elected officials, employees, and businesses should be proud of all the accolades.

Today we get into two separate union negotiations as these contracts expire at the end of June. As I attempt to respond to the dozen phone messages and review almost a hundred emails, I can tell this will be a challenging week.

I was reading Crain’s Detroit about how local leaders are attracting and retaining entrepreneurial companies. This interests us very much in Davison. What we have been gearing up for in Davison is to go out and find the new engine to drive our local economy as well as retaining the quality businesses we have.

For too long communities have just welcomed whoever came to the community. Today, times have changed. According to Michael Shore, chief communications officer at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the leading cities in the study “work economic development very, very aggressively”.

In our view we can just hang around, wait, and deal with whatever is in our future. On the other hand, we can be aggressive and go create our future.

I know our community Development staff will be looking for more information from this study. There is no sense in reinventing the wheel. Let us find out what worked and what didn’t and help create that thriving Davison Community.

Our District Court just held our third or forth Night Court. This is something Judge Conover has done with great success.

He opens the District Court up in the evening and stays open into the wee hours of the morning. What some people don’t realize is police work occurs 24 hours a day, but most court systems don’t work those same hours so some people fall through the cracks of the system.

About twelve different police agencies took advantage of this last night. Police where able to clear up about 71 warrants and 42 people were arraigned.

A total of about $400,000 in bonds were set and 14 people ended up spending the night in jail. I think that by the numbers Davison’s Night Court was a success again.

“Where have you been?” Has been a common comment from people as we meet.

I respond, “Nowhere, took a day off last week to get some home projects started.”

“Well you have not posted a blog in almost a week.”

Opps, can not argue that one. Sometimes we get bogged down in work it is hard to squeeze 15 or twenty minutes more out of a day. I was reminded of this at our last City Council meeting when our County commissioner defended herself to the council for never attending any of our city council meetings. She explained that she sits on seven boards and sings in a choir so her schedule does not permit her to see what is happening in our city.

I think some council members took offense to this because then she lectured the city council on how they should cooperate with other units of government more. The reason some council members took offense is that we have a long history of cooperating with other entities on a host of ventures.

Here are some of our Joint Ventures:

Davison Richfield Area Fire Authority
• 72 square mile fire district covered by one department
• 11% of the county fire service
• City of Davison, Davison and Richfield Townships

Davison Richfield Area Library
• 2nd busiest library in Genesee County system
• Shared building cost with City of Davison, Davison and Richfield Townships

Davison Richfield Area Senior Citizens Authority
• Largest Sr. Center in Genesee County
• Busiest Sr. Center in Genesee County
• Shared cost with City of Davison, Davison and Richfield Townships

Davison Community Enrichment & Recreation (DCER)
• Shared Recreation Programming for the Davison area
• Joint agreement with City of Davison, Davison and Richfield Townships, and the Davison Area Schools

67th District Court Agreement
• Unique District Court and City Hall complex

Davison Area Historical Society
• An area historical museum that is supported by the City of Davison
• Every 4th grade class goes through to learn “Davison’s history”.

Genesee Areas Intelligence Network (GAIN)
• An Auto Theft prevention unit with many Genesee County Communities and the Michigan State Police

Flint Area Narcotics Group (FANG) Drug Unit
• An drug enforcement unit with many Genesee County Communities and the Michigan State Police

County wide 911 Consortium
• County wide dispatch system

So you may see why some of our council are getting passionate about what they must feel are unfounded attacks by our own county commissioner.

As far as me not blogging for a few days, all I can say as I will attempt to do better.

The Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce just honored Fernco, Inc. (whose global headquarters are in Davison) with the prestigious “Outstanding Business Award for Manufacturing”.

This company is one of Davison’s best-kept secrets in the corporate world. Our Community Development Department recommended Fernco for their tenacity, future vision, and down-to-earth philosophy on human contributions to the corporate world. According to Community Development Director Hackney “it’s not all about the money; people count first.”

Fernco, Inc. is a world-wide manufacturer and distributor of flexible PVC pipe connections for waste, vent, sewer, and drain applications. They have approximately 200 employees in Davison and 290 total employees world wide (Canada, Germany, England, Australia).

Fernco is a perfect example of what many manufacturing companies were and are still facing. The only thing that is constant is change. Fernco had to change to survive and they had to learn how to “move their own cheese”.

The Solution:

Fernco, Inc. had to choose to be either reactive or proactive to the manufacturing environment. Mark Cooper, President of Fernco, Inc., best captures the corporation’s focus regarding change, “Through acquisitions and competitors forcing us to move faster, we have chosen to embrace rather than deny the need to change.”

In the mid 1990’s Fernco, Inc. began its journey up the “lean” path, doing more with less, while doing it smarter. Fernco management decided to embark on a company-wide Total Quality Management (TQM) training program to search for a way to expand capacity and increase efficiencies and physical floor space. Executive management decided moving from Davison was not the best option.

The City of Davison wants to take a moment and thank the Executives of Fernco for their vision and insight. This act exemplifies the Fernco Culture that has been built throughout this family owned business.

Diversification, sharing knowledge and resources, and providing outstanding customer service have all helped Fernco increase their market share.

To achieve the next level, Fernco partnered with organizations including Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC). Fernco, Inc. has been an MMTC-Genesee Valley (GV) client since 1991. They participated in networking groups and soon realized the value in getting started on the continuous improvement path.

Proper personnel placement and on-going training have become a first priority for the corporation’s growth and continued success. Fernco, Inc. has not only accepted change, but has wrapped their arms around it, from the work force up to the president of the corporation. Management and executive officers have realized the need – the priority- to prepare for the future by investing in the people and the technology today.

What an honor it is to have Fernco, Inc. Headquarters in the City of Davison. They have accepted challenge, kept their focus towards a positive future, and have opened the doors of opportunity through team building.

What State are you in?

Some times I wonder as I hear bad news, (doom and gloom) how people can get through a day.

Have you ever gone to a gathering and everyone was angry or complaining about something? When you left, did you say “Geez, I can wait to go come back to this event!”?

That’s what we are doing in Michigan. I was reminded of this again today when I read this article in the Detroit News.

Don’t get me wrong, I live in the real world, economic times have seen better days in Michigan, but what happened to the can do attitude in Michigan. Now it seems like a lot of people have thrown in the towel.

Yes, the days of great paying jobs with average education are going away, so it’s time to adjust. One of our Council members sent me an email that quoted former Secretary of Education Richard Riley referring to the jobs of the future. “The top ten jobs in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004.” In other words, we have to adapt to the changing times.

We do have a lot to build on in Michigan. In this State we have more coast line than any another State except Alaska. We have the most access to fresh water than anywhere else in the world. Adam Bruns, managing editor of Site Selection Magazine commented about Automation Alley that “it’s right up there, [with] Silicon Valley, Boston’s Route 128 and North Carolina’s Research Triangle.” We have great land for farming, and excellent natural features that others would be envious of.

Locally or at the State level, if we are not telling what we are good for, no one else will.

Why does City Council want to raise my taxes to put sump pumps in someone else’s home?

This, or a variation of this question has been common since our City Council voted to place election language on the May ballot. This is for a levy of 1.35 mills on the tax roll to pay for the Federally mandated disconnection of home’s weep tile systems from the sanitary sewer system.

City Council thought that by allowing people to vote a tax in place, this would give property owners an advantage over raising the sewer fee. As a tax, people have the option to take advantage of the local tax on their State and Federal income tax filings.

The city plans to finance this portion of the project by borrowing funds from the State of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). By qualifying for this State loan we save a million dollars on financing fees (compared to bonding on the open market).

The proposed millage is estimated to bring in $160,000 per year which will be used to pay back the low interest rate (1.67%) loan.

The construction of this project is scheduled to last over a two year period.

This project, as well as continued work on I/I have long term effects on our citizens. It has been estimated that we pay over $100,000 per year in treating rain water as sewage.

In the past five years, City Council has been able to lower the city taxes by 3 mills. Additional in depth information will be discussed at the March 26, 2007 Council Workshop.