City of Davison, Michigan

After last night’s Fire authority meeting, I think our Authority Board has a clearer vision on the direction we need to work towards with our Fire Department.

The Davison/Richfield Area Fire Authority is at a place & time when we need to make some decisions on the future of fire services. Right now, we do fire suppression very well and at a low cost.

The first option is to do nothing. This is always an option, but not one our Fire Authority feels comfortable with. Status quo today probably will not be enough ten years from now.

What we found out last night is that we have a lot of common agreement in the general direction we need to take our Fire department and the services we want and need to provide. Here is a thumb nail of the direction where there is mutual agreement between the three units of government:

The type of service we want to strive for is to maintain our status as one of the premier fire suppression departments in the area. We also see the need to maintain our Medical Response standard as first responders. We see the need to increase Fire Prevention and Education programs and increase Fire Inspections capability.

The authority could envision our labor force encompassing our current form of Paid on Call Firefighters and possibly augmented some sort of full time firefighters to maintain weekday coverage and perform the Inspections/Prevention programs.

We see a need to address the Fire Facilities situation. We understand we would probably have to look at our existing agreement to prepare for this, and how this would affect both a 72 square mile community and each individual unit of government.

I think there was also consensus that the Fire Authority/Department should look at our local fire ordinances to address issues of public safety.

In addition, the bottom line is that everyone agrees that this is not an open checkbook situation.

Where this might seem like a small step, I feel we have made great progress towards the work that now has to be done. The next step is for us to look at cost and lay out the foundation for the growth of the Fire Department.

I look forward to this adventure.

One of the changes in operation occurred just under a year ago. It is important to watch these changes and see if they have the desired effects. Some effects we see financially and other we see operationally. Here is how we see the merging of the two departments last year.

Staff has compiled some numbers now that we are closer to a year of operation.

The 2005-2006 Budget for services was $178,317 (Last Budget).
The 2006-2007 Budget for the above services is $177,880 (This Budget Year), with anticipated savings of at least $12,000.00 for a total of $165,880
The 2007-2008 Budget for the above services is projecting $162,341.00 (Next year’s budget)

With the consolidation and reorganization, additional projects have been initiated and many have been accomplished:

· Code Enforcement actively pursued.

· Commercial Ordinances C-1, C-2, and C-3 updated for future development, design standards (Public Hearing May 8, 2007)

· Recreational Vehicle Ordinance (Public Hearing May 8, 2007)

· PA 110 Ordinance Compliance for Planning Commission, ZBA, and city overall (Public Hearing May 8, 2007)

· 425 Agreement with Davison Twp. finalized for $5,000,000 project

· DDA Goals & Objectives and By-Laws Completed

· Downtown Renovation started, with Façade Grants available to property/business owners

· LDFA Boundary Expanded, Goals & Objectives Completed, TIF Plan Amendment started, By-Laws revision started

· Planning & ZBA By-Laws completed

· Website Enhancement

· Staff Cross-training

· $13,300.00 collected for Site Plan Escrow

With the 2007-2008 Budget Year, the following projects are already slated:

· Rental Ordinance - Creation

· Sign Ordinance revisions

· Residential Ordinance revisions

· Downtown Renovations continued

· LDFA TIF Plan Amendment completed

· Website Enhancement continued

· Staff Cross-training continued

· Things that have not been thought of yet!

It appears that the first year’s difference is going to be about $25,000 ($12,000 in savings $13,000 in pass thru fees) if we are just talking dollars.

On the operations side this has been a very good move and it is hard to quantify that. What has happened with the Planning Commission and the communication that has occurred has been a great thing. Information is now being decentralized where all can benefit to the information and employees are improving their value to our constituents.

This morning people from our community had a chance to have coffee and chat with our State representative, Ted Hammon.

We encourage our State and Federal Representatives to come to our community, speak with residents, and appreciate it when they do come.

Our State Senator Deb Cherry has also had these morning coffees. Sometimes I am amazed at the amount of people who don’t show up. Both our State Representative and Senator have shown the ability to listen to peoples concerns. Both are very easy to speak with and I look forward to their visits.

For those who go to our Council Meetings (or Workshops) it is not uncommon to see Representative Hammon in the audience. I know our city council appreciates the effort to stay in touch with his district.

Next time you see in the paper that one of these two are coming to town, stop by and say hello. Even if you just want to tell them they are doing a good job.

You can get in touch with Representative Hammon through email at tedhammon@house.mi.gov, by phone at (517)373.3906, or visit his website here.

It was great to drive home last night and see the white helmets around the neighborhood. This reminds us that our sixth annual Bike Helmet Program is underway. Our local police officers with the help of parental volunteers, Davison Optimists and Kiwanians custom fit each child with a bike helmet free of charge.

Kids were given a new bicycle helmet, a safety booklet and watched a safety video on helmet use as part of a safety talk given by Lt. Dave Gilbert of the Davison City Police Department. This is a great community project that we know has an affect, because we see the helmets being worn all summer long.

The distinctive white helmets with the American flag on one side and the Davison Cardinal on the other have been something that these kids take pride in wearing.

The Police Officers that were involved at Thompson Elementary School yesterday were Chief Bill Brandon, Lt. Dave Gilbert, Officers Don Harris and Tammy Jackson of the City of Davison Police Department and Officers Marc and Chad Haynes from the Davison Township Police Department.
It is good to see the communication and cooperation between people wanting to do good things in the community.

“We live in a democracy, that means a majority rules.” Is a comment that was used in to attempt to explain someone’s distaste for a decision made or action taken by a local appointed board.

It has been my experience working in local government that we hear this every so often when people get emotionally upset with a direction, action or inaction of the city.

This question of “democracy” I think gets misused often. For those who want to get into the founding of our governmental system, I would recommend The Federalist Papers. Some of our founding fathers attempted in essay form to explain the differences in governance as they attempting to persuade the New York public into ratifying the proposed constitution.

Our form of self governance is not easy, but is still the best form of government that has been attempted.

Democracy, as in the form of everyone votes on all the issues, would be very inefficient and pretty darn scary on the extremes. Because a true democracy is no more than mob rule. Think about it, 9 people on a block decide to vote on everyone using the 10th person’s pool for the summer. The vote is taken (9-1 results), now we all have a pool? Democracy at work.

What we work out of is a representative form of government. People vote for other people to represent them on a board or council. Then this board makes community type decisions. It is not always a pretty process. It is not always a unanimous vote.

I have mentioned before who sits on our local government council. But who are these people? Well right now we have a retired GM employee, several business owners, retired military person, a State Inspector, mother, several fathers, grandparents, someone who works for non-for profit business, high school educated, college educated, some work locally, some travel the region, state and even internationally, a firefighter, certified school teacher, and all are over 18 and live in the city.

Now, I am almost sure there is someone in this group of people that everyone can relate to. I hope that you may also see that with the diverse backgrounds they may not always agree on things. We are very fortunate that with our form of government the council or boards get together in a civil manner and discuss items, even debate the merits of doing or not doing something and then vote to give staff direction.

Sometimes the vote is 4 to 3, sometimes 3 to 4 or 6 to 3 on a nine person board, but normally after the vote it’s time to move forward.

We have been receiving many phone calls about our upcoming I/I project. This is good. Some people are not always happy about the answers, but at least they are getting the facts to help them make a decision at this upcoming election.

As most in our community know, the City of Davison has been looking at our inflow and infiltration issue since about 1970. We have done most of the improvements to the city side of the system, have run a voluntary disconnection program in some parts of the city and we are now being mandated that we take the next step of improvements or receive hefty fines for sending rainwater to the sewage treatment plant.

The City Council has looked at all the options and decided on our project plan. We have applied for special funding and have been awarded the low interest loan to do the project (this financing saves us over a million dollars in interest). The decision that is left is how to pay back the bond (loan). The city could just add the debt payment to our sewer bills, or the city could add a debt millage to the tax bills.

What is the difference between a tax to pay off the bond and a sewer rate increase to pay off the bond.

Big picture these non-funded mandates hit the same people, the taxpayer. There is no way around it really. When the State or Federal government mandates change, they really do hold the hammer on us in local government (where the service is provided).

The difference in the two ways to pay back the borrowed money is in timing of payment and other benefits.

Timing:
Tax paid at on summer tax bill.
Sewer Bill is a monthly payment.

Other Benefit:
A local tax may be used to help off set your State and Federal Income Taxes.

Thanks for all those who call and ask questions to get the information. We, at city hall do listen and understand your concerns.

One of the things we will be discussing at the next City Council workshop is the direction they would like us to take in regards to fire services.

We have been looking at options for a while now and I think we are coming to a point where our fire authority should make some decisions.

Fire Department Direction
The Fire authority is at a t time when we need to make some decisions on the future of fire services. Right now, we do fire suppression very well and at a low cost.

The first option is to do nothing. This is always an option.

If we do fire suppression well and at a low cost why would we change? We are running into some issues that have been differed for years and there will be a point in time when our operations will be hindered by staying the same.

With the loss of residents who work shift work in our service area (and Genesee County) our daytime staffing has become dangerously low. Many times the city has augmented labor on daytime runs with city employees. To be a firefighter the person must live within a two-mile radius from the fire station. We have begun to make exceptions to this rule to maintain adequate work force.

Equipment is becoming more customized to fit our existing structure. Our low overhead doors limit the size of vehicle we can purchase and house. The trend is to go up in height to gain more capacity. In essence, we pay more for a customized vehicle to haul less water.

Response times have been good over our history, but are showing a drop in recent times further away from our fire station. This is affected by many factors. Traffic flow has increased in our service area as well as population growth further away from our one fire station.

Regulations continue to change and add more responsibilities for fire service. The paperwork to document training, safety, building design, and site plans continue to grow. To help ensure firefighter safety we are to inspect every business at least every three years. We have started to have the fire department be involved in site plan reviews, which adds to the safety of our community.

Contrary to the vision of a few, the question before us is not about a substation. There is a much larger question before us, and the direction we travel with the Davison/Richfield Fire Department. That is why the first option is still there for us. To do nothing will get us by into the near future. We respond and suppress fires very well.

The fire station(s) is a part of the equation, but that should not drive the larger vision. For 30 years the Fire Authority could not come to a consensus on a “Richfield” fire station. Therefore, the Fire Authority decided to study the Fire Department in whole (not just one issue). The Rehmann Robson evaluation was the start of this bigger picture.

The Fire Authority needs to make decisions for the future of our fire service. This is where your input is important. By giving direction, we will be able to represent the city in future decisions and plans. Some changes take a longer time than others to implement and will not occur over night.

Here are some of the questions that need direction on:

1. What type of service do we want to offer?
Just Fire Suppression.
Medical Response.
Medical Transport.
Fire Prevention.
Fire Inspections.

2. How do we supply our labor?
Paid on Call Firefighters
Volunteer Firefighters
Full Time Firefighters
24/7 full-time coverage
24/7 station coverage
Weekday coverage and Inspections

3. Do we want to service our area (72 square miles) out of one station?

4. Should we look our local fire ordinances to address public safety?
Design standards for suppression systems

It is sometimes hard to shrink the question down to a few questions or bullet points. However, maybe our discussion will lead Council Member Emery and myself to wrap the city’s viewpoint into a common direction for the Fire Authority.

This morning I was able to see that bright yellow thing in the sky. The sunshine is very welcome in most Michigan communities where we just witnessed an Easter Holiday that was colder than our Christmas holiday.

With spring comes the greening of the grass and blooming of flowers. I was recently reminded of Outreach East’s annual Mother’s Day Flower sale. Volunteers will be in the parking lot of Oxford Bank (corner of State street and Flint Street) on Saturday, May 12th.

Outreach East does a lot in our area to help those who need a hand.

We have some very good retailers in our community that also sell flowers, but maybe you might want to increase your plantings this year and help some people along the way.

I was happy that someone took time to remind me of this day. Not because of the flower thing, but when did they move Mother’s Day to May?

November is famous in Michigan for Deer Hunting Season. There is also a small game season and seasons for different type of birds, but right now in Davison we are working through our budget season.

Many people don’t realize the effort that goes into creating a government budget. It is about a 4 to 6 month process in Davison.

This afternoon the Department Heads are gathering to go over the General Fund budget line by line to see if we can trim back anywhere.

The city council and staff have done a good job so far. We have already cut over a quarter million dollars out of the proposed budgets of early on and we are going to try to reduce some more spending (if we can) without cutting services.

In the linear look at budgets, we are still fairing well. The budget we are looking at now is actually lower than last year’s annual budget.

The City Council and staff have made tough decisions over the past several years and they don’t seem to get any easier. Since 2002 we have cut, sliced, and implemented new procedures that have saved over 6.5 million dollars.

My hat goes off to all those city councils and staff that have helped us to become more efficient.

One of the great thing about professional City Managers is the networking we do. To be able to talk to other Managers, email them or keep up with their blogs is very helpful. Two of the managers blogs I try to hit every week are Dave Ruller’s from the City of Kent Ohio, and Scott Neil’s of Eden Prairie Minnesota. Both of these are larger communities than Davison and both have different styles. Even though there are differences in all the communities we all face similar issues.

This morning I read on Dave’s post of retailer’s downtown, and a lot of the information is transferrable and on target to what we are doing in Davison. I find it ironic that his conversation is with someone from Birmingham Michigan which is just about 30 minutes to our south.

Here are some things from Dave’s blog:

Cities don’t have to turn themselves into a mall, but they do have to do what shoppers want. Last year 70 percent of all sales occurred after 5:30 at night. If downtown is going to compete, it has to have stores open in the evenings or on Saturdays.
Cities can get back up to 30, 40 or 50 percent of market share with a policy. There’s a demand for retailers. A lot of them want to locate in downtowns and a lot of cities don’t know that.

Why are communities so interested in attracting retailers?

It brings the municipality sales tax revenue in states where they can collect sales taxes. It also brings in property tax revenue, but the bottom line is quality of life. In Des Plaines, we just updated our comprehensive land use plan and a component of it is a market study. In terms of retail we looked at all the types of retailers in our community and surrounding communities, whether it’s bed and bath stores, electronics stores, office supplies, books, groceries, what have you. We said, OK, where’s the hole in the donut for us? What retail niches don’t we have that we’d be very likely to fill? Our residents don’t necessarily like to get in their cars and drive 30 minutes to pick up a book. They want a diversity of stores.

What are some mistakes cities make in thinking about retail?

A common mistake a lot of elected and appointed officials make is they’re around their commercial cores or downtowns during the day and don’t think about what it looks like at night. If you want retailers to stay open past 5 p.m., if you want restaurants that serve dinner and not just lunch, if you want nightlife, then you have to be concerned about details like streetscape, landscape, signage and lighting.

Another mistake municipalities make is when the Economic Development Department is trying to get a retailer to come in, and OK, the retailer commits. Now the Planning Department beats them up. Whether it’s the faÇade or the setbacks on the parking spaces, they get beat up. Municipalities have to understand that if they’re going to reach out to retailers and developers there’s a balance they have to achieve between economic development and aesthetics. Not that those have to be exclusive of each other.

In Davison, we have taken steps to do most of what Dave and his consultant have spoken about. One of the largest steps we took is moving our Building Department in the same office as our Community Development Department. For the same reasons mentioned, we felt the communication and cooperation between the two functions had to work together. If not, sometimes the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing or why.