City of Davison, Michigan

Sometimes people chide those who go to conferences as just another way to go on a vacation. I was reading Crain’s Business blog today and found that at the Mackinaw Policy Conference (which is sponsored by Crain’s and the Detroit Chamber) this definitely is not one of “those” retreats.

Here is an excerpt from a posting by CJP. It holds no punches, and doesn’t care what side of the political isle you sit on.

What does it say about the political leadership in our state that they have allowed an acknowledged deficit to continue to grow, unchecked year after year without putting together a comprehensive strategy for balancing our budget?

As the Detroit News pointed out today, the Lansing leadership has been allowing the problem to accumulate for at least the past seven years spreading over the last two governors and several changes of legislative leadership. As the problem continues to grow, they keep looking for ways to avoid the tough decisions that so many businesses have been making to keep what is spent in line with what is taken in.

Clearly the mood on the island this week is that we’ve seen enough cobbling together a collection of dollar shifts, future revenue stream raids, accounting gambits and various sleights of hand that culminated in the latest budget agreement which bought time, but brought us no closer to a real solution. This past week’s agreement, which really just put the problem off until October, is just the last example of avoiding the real decisions that must be made.

The Governor to this point in time has mostly been content to trot out the specter of school aid cuts, Medicaid cuts and health and safety calamities if the Legislature fails to raise taxes. But we can’t tax our way out of this problem if we want a viable state to be left when we are done. It’s time to take a hard look at some of the programs in place that we simply can no longer afford and bring them under control.

Defined benefit pension plans, virtually unknown in today’s business world, can be replaced by defined contribution plans at levels which can be afforded by the taxpayers. Premium sharing, as well as competitive deductibles and co-pays, likewise bring about tremendous savings.

Speaker Andy Dillion, addressing the Chamber Tax Committee a month or so ago, acknowledged that no one in Lansing had the “appetite” to address these issues. In this case “appetite” clearly is a euphemism for “courage.”

Here’s a suggestion: If we face a deficit of $800 million, let’s initiate $400 million in savings – real savings, not just accounting gimmicks. Then we could look for $400 million in additional taxes. If voters see their government going for real savings, much as our Mayor has done in Detroit, they’ll be more receptive of the idea of additional taxes, at least temporarily, to keep from truly gutting critical programs in education, health, public safety, protecting the environment and other vital state services. But if they are asked to pay more while the people in Lansing refuse to make the kinds of decisions businesses are making all over this state, they are not going to buy that.

It’s a fairly simple problem. All it takes is vision and courage – commodities that sadly are in much too short supply in Lansing these days.

What will be very interesting is seeing if there are solid solutions that come out of these meetings.

Some say Police work is 80% boredom, 10% maintenance, and 10% pure adrenalin. You can break the percentages anyway you want, or even change some of the categories, but a lot of police work is not what you see on TV.

As a former Police Officer, I can tell you it is very tough to catch a felony in progress as a patrol officer. This takes planning, patience and cooperation.

The planning part is finding the target that a perpetrator might hit and when.

The patience part is working and allowing yourself the time and faith in your plan that the criminal will strike the target.

The cooperation is out of your control. It is all of the other society not calling dispatch for police service while you are trying to be patient.

Recently one of our Police Officers had all three line up in perfection. In fact, the Officer was runner up for the prestigious FOP Police Officer of the Year for Genesee County. Below is an excerpt of the letter Police Chief Brandon wrote recommending Officer Don Harris for the award.

…Unknown person(s) were breaking into Consumers Power sub-stations all around the Genesee County area and stealing copper grounding leads. Their motivation was the unusually lucrative market for copper at area recycling factories. These serious felony crimes were costing tens of thousands of dollars to Consumers Power and its’ customers and it was only a matter of time before the perpetrators cut the wrong lead in these HIGH VOLTAGE areas killing themselves.

Officer Harris spent many hours of third shift patrol concealed watching the sub-station in his district which was a target as it had been hit before and repaired. On September 13, 2006, utilizing night vision equipment, Harris watched as the perpetrator walked up to the rear of the sub-station, cut the rear fencing and entered. With the help of additional officers, the suspect was taken into custody without incident or injury.

Officer Harris has received praise from Consumers Power Inc. for his efforts as they informed us he has made the only arrest for this type of crime in the entire region. It should be noted that In October 2006, the suspect pled straight-up to Possession of Burglary Tools and MDOP to Utility Structure in Genesee County Circuit Court.

A small agency such as Davison City does not provide a lot of opportunity for in-progress felony arrests. Out here an officer has to make it happen. Officer Harris routinely does that. As Harris is a member of your Lodge, you should be doubly proud of him. I certainly am.

Two good things happened here; Good Police work and a Police Department that recognizes its employees for doing a good job.

The Davison Downtown Development Authority (DDA) along with property owners and business owners are about halfway through the southeast block of our downtown improvements. The façade improvement program is what is most notable so far.

This partnership, in this phase, is investing over $100,000 in making our downtown more attractive and inviting. The DDA has issued a total of $40,324.75 in Downtown Davison Façade Grants to help assist in improving the facades of the private property.

The award recipients, whose awards were made official at the DDA’s regular meeting on May 16, 2007, are:

DAGI Inc. owner of 208 N. Main Street
Donna Graham owner of 210 and 214 N. Main Street
J J R Investments, LLC owner of 216 and 220 N. Main Street
Siegle Properties Mgmt, LLC owner of 222 N. Main Street
Sandra Brewer owner of 225 S. Main Street

The grant criteria required a 50% minimum investment by private dollars. The project will generate approximately $50,000 in private investment. The deadline for grant applications for this phase was April 30, 2007.

The DDA also paid for architectural renderings for the property owners/businesses and developed a streetscape program to compliment the open and pleasant atmosphere.

With a unanimous vote of the authority board, the DDA is taking the next step to improve this block. The DDA and City Council are in process of improving the infrastructure on this block. City staff and our consultants are working on details and cost of the next improvements which include improving the storm drainage, wider street, old style light posts, new trees, water system improvements, Inflow and Infiltration improvements, new sound system, and new sidewalks.

The DDA encourages people to frequent these businesses even as we go through this improvement program. These property owners, business owners, DDA and City Council should be proud of the improvements and investments they are making in our future.

Congratulations to the grant recipients! The future of Downtown Davison will be brighter because of the investment made today by these property owners.

There is no status quo in Davison. We must continue to make our community better.

Have you ever had a project hit a roadblock? How about an extra hurdle in front of a goal you set?

There are some people who have the ability to keep trying even though others give up. How about this example:

“The concept is interesting and well formed, but in order to earn better than a “C”, the idea must be feasible.”

-a professor of management at Yale University, commenting on the term paper by Fred Smith(which earned a “C”) that outlined a plan for overnight delivery services [Fred Smith went on to found Federal Express in 1973].

Or how about that High School drop out Dave Thomas who went on to found the Wendy’s Chain of Restaurants. Although Dave did go back to high school 45 years later to get his GED (in 1993 Dave was voted by his high school class “Most likely to succeed”).

In government there are plenty of opportunities to quit. That is the easy way, to just do things like we always have. Many times we then get caught in the blame game, of course it’s always someone else’s fault.

When I speak with young people about working for government I attempt to inspire them to take what is given to them and make it better. Don’t just try to point out flaws in our system (that’s easy and lazy), but actually work at improving things.

As our State looks at how we operate our State Government sometimes I think we try the same solutions over and over in hopes that it works this time. How or what the State of Michigan does effect all the municipalities.

Hard times make us all stronger in the end. We in Davison have focused on every aspect of what we do. New ideas are encouraged and employees are challenged to add value to their positions.

We are fortunate to have a team of staff that responds well to these challenges. Our latest effort places next year’s budget about $50,000 less than our current year, without reductions in the quality or amount of service.

No status quo here.

After the local media outlets have published that I will be attending Harvard this summer I have received many questions and congratulatory remarks.

One of the questions was, what are the advantages of Executive Education?

According to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard:

Higher education doesn’t need to end once you enter the working world. Nor should it. Executive Education at the Kennedy School attracts leaders from all over the world who have made, and continue to make, substantial contributions in their respective fields—public, nonprofit, and corporate sectors alike. The audience in Executive Education is seasoned, confident, and senior. Participants are prepared to apply what they learn as soon as they get back on the job. Our course curriculum and faculty is committed to giving participants creative solutions to real-world problems—in a timeframe they can manage.

The method for this Senior Executive Education is Case Study. Case study puts the load on the student to do significant preparation work prior to class time.

Although the case study method is principally used in the development and improvement of management skill and leadership ability, its usefulness is not limited to this field. For example, case study pedagogy is also use to teach medical diagnosis to doctors, classroom skills to teachers, and legal decision-making to lawyers. This educational method is useful whenever decision-making must be derived primarily from skillful analysis, choice and persuasion. The case study method actively engages the participant in these processes: first, in the analysis of the facts and details of the case itself; second, in the selection of strategy; and third, in the refinement and defense of the chosen strategy in the discussion group and before the class. The case method does not provide a set of solutions, but rather refines the student’s ability to ask appropriate questions and to make decisions based on his or her answers to those questions.

Another question revolves around me being away from the office for a length of time. I am very confident in my answer with this question. We have very competent Department Heads and staff that works with them. Part of our team environment encourages each Department Head to develop leadership skills and improve on the decision making process.

In my mind, this will just be another chance for everyone to shine.

“Downtown” Davison gets a lot of attention. So much so, that some people are starting to think that we have forgotten about other areas of the City.

“The City is more than the two blocks on Main Street.” Is a common thread of some of these comments.

Where “Downtown” does get a lot of publicity, we have a good record of accomplishment of City services and programs throughout the city. However, sometimes we take what we do on a daily basis for granted and perception starts to become out of whack with reality.

We must do a better job of telling our story.

I looked back over the past five year’s worth of budgets just to give a glimpse of how City Council has spent funds in neighborhoods etc…

Some people may be surprised that we have spent about $200,000 on our side walk replacement program. This does not count the near $60,000 that we are spending on a sidewalk program this year with a Community Development Block Grant Funded program.

We just recently came off a five year local street program where there was a millage passed to pay for some street improvements. Two streets were recently resurfaced that that were not in that program.

With the assistance of the DART Committee and a grant from the State of Michigan DNR we added a $500,000 non-motorized route through Abernathy Regional Park.

We beat the Federal timeframe for changing in the acceptable level of arsenic in our potable drinking water with about a $6 million upgrade to the city wide system.

The City is addressing an issue that has been around since 1970 with our current Inflow and Infiltration Program that addresses improvements in 300 homes around the city and will improve the efficiency of the entire sanitary sewer system.

In developing the community as a hole, we have seen new development and redevelopment out side the downtown of over 15 million dollars in the past few years.

We have also worked with the Schools and neighboring townships to cut duplicated services.

Some of these things don’t have the “sex appeal” of what is going on downtown, but all of it helps define our community and makes Davison a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Sometimes it falls back on us to keep telling our story, so people don’t loose sight of all it takes to keep a community moving forward together.

At our last meeting, our City Council instructed staff to post a public meeting in regards to our Municipal Center Project. This has been an exciting project that has been in the works for many years.

The City first started to look at our existing structure to see if we could add onto it, repair the major deficiencies, and bring the buildings up to today’s construction, access and health codes.

We looked at several options, including filling in our courtyard area, adding an additional floor on top of the existing two main buildings and expanding the footprint of existing structures. Consultants all agreed that an addition/expansion was possible, but questioned wisdom of such a move considering the current building construction, layout and other intangibles.

Two professional firms looked at our existing space and what our needs were to come up with a space needs analysis. The City’s architect for the project would not recommend remodeling and adding on due to several factors and the accumulated number of items that made the building obsolete.

Several public input sessions helped refine needs and uses.

The new municipal center would house:
1. Genesee County District Library
2. Davison Police Department
3. 67th District Court House
4. Davison Area Historical Museum
5. Davison City Hall
6. Public Meeting Space

The cost to build this facility is estimated at $8.5 million (approximately $162 per square foot).
The purpose of this project was to develop a plan that would meet the City’s needs for the future while improving our efficiencies, operations and services.

Our process brought together the public, elected officials and staff with professional architects to figure a way to mix several different uses, functions and traffic patterns into a user friendly, functional and aesthetically pleasing structure.

The question approaching us now is, does the public understand this project and is this a project we should pursue?

City Council will now hold a public information meeting on Thursday May 31, 2007 to explain what the project is. This meeting will be at the Davison Middle School Cafeteria between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM.

Developing this project has been very time consuming and rewarding. It has also been a large group project that has been open to public input along the entire development. The City has spent about $45,000 to get to this stage.

At last night’s city council meeting there was an interesting discussion on nonconforming use. This truly is a governmental term.

Let me take a shot at attempting to explain. A nonconforming use is that of which the laws, ordinance, codes or standards have changed, yet someone is allowed to keep what they have been doing even though the “rules” have changed.

Clear as mud you say.

I think Mayor Rappuhn used a good example last night. We have a lot of city lots that are 66 feet in width. This was the standard lot size when they were built. We have since changed our lot size to a minimum of 75 feet. All of the 66 foot lots still exist. After changing the “rule”, the city did not make people take down every other house and make lots that conform to the new standard.

Another example would be multi family homes (duplex) in a single family zoned area. We use to allow this under our zoning as a conditional land use. We changed this and now only allow single family homes in a single family zoned area. But, we still have several duplexes in single family zoned areas. They are all nonconforming uses.

So, why change the rule if people are allowed to keep doing what they have always done even though the law, rule, or code changes?

This allows people not to have a hardship as things change. What happens is when someone upgrades or makes a change of use you have to upgrade to the new standards.

As long as there are changes there will probably be nonconforming uses.

I was looking at information from the Kennedy School of Government(KSG) in anticipation for the this summer’s course I am enrolling in.

Now granted I attempt to stay up to speed and keep educating myself through professional associations, but what I found is that I have been away from the college setting for a little while.

From what I can see it looks like KSG focuses in on about a dozen core competencies. The ones I found were:

How we pay for our Fire Department has been a hot issue of late. We have a committee exploring ideas and we are receiving input from some of the public.

A Fire Chief from another municipality recently asked, “Do you still cover the 72 square miles out of that old station near downtown?” Well, yes we do. We also have a requirement that Firefighters live within two miles from that station.

This policy has worked for us, but we are at a crossroads. Our labor force is shrinking. With the loss of a lot of shift work in Genesee County, we are very low on daytime labor.

This has caused us to look hard at what we do.

Currently we operate on a system that pays for the Department based on calls. Every time a truck pulls out of the Fire Department, one of the three municipalities gets a $1,500 invoice. This is based on averages of fire runs and personnel over a 5 year trend.

Davison Township is the largest of the three units of governments and gets the lion share of the cost. Richfield Township probably gets just over a quarter of the fire runs and the city makes up the lowest portion.

One of the areas we are exploring is cost allocations.

There is an inherent cost to running a fire department. If we had no fires in a month there are still cost we have to pay. The heating or electrical bills have to be paid. We have training mandates for the firefighters that have to be done. Maintenance has to be done on the fire trucks etc…

It has taken a little while to figure out actually what that cost is, but we are getting closer. It is probably safe to say that it a number between $300,000 and $400,000. Once that number is determined we maybe able to agree on sharing that cost amongst the three units of government. If this happens, we can then bill each unit the actual cost of each fire run.

To get to this point, we would all have to agree that there is a base cost to operate a professional fire department and then there is an additional cost based on responding to the calls. It has been a challenging experience, but very rewarding.

I hope to post more on our progress later.