Washtenaw Head Start supporters filled the county boardroom on Oct. 20 at a working session of the board of commissioners. (Photo by the writer.)

Eighteen people spoke during public commentary, many of them staff or parents of children in Head Start – and many with their children in tow. They described how transformative the preschool program has been in their lives, and made passionate appeals for the county to keep administering it.

The county administration first made a formal proposal to the board at a July 21 working session, when county administrator Verna McDaniel and her staff laid out details of a transition. McDaniel noted that the county isn’t in the business of education, and that it made sense to consider moving the program to another grantee – especially in light of a projected $17.5 million general fund deficit that the county was facing in 2012-2013.

If approved by the board, the county would notify the federal Head Start program of its intent to relinquish its grantee status. County support would continue through 2012 – a line item of $528,000 for 2012 is in the proposed general fund budget, part of Head Start’s total $4.8 million budget. But the county would hand off the local Head Start to federal administrators at the start of 2013. Federal officials would then be responsible for selecting another agency to take over the program.

Pat Horne McGee – Washtenaw Head Start’s executive director – received a standing ovation from the audience at the start of her presentation to commissioners. She noted that October is national Head Start awareness month, and that usually she’s there to accept a board resolution of appreciation. Horne McGee then reviewed a 9-page document she had originally distributed to the board this summer, which highlighted the program’s achievements and economic impact, and which proposed alternatives that would allow the county to continue administering the program.

Several commissioners stated their support for Head Start, but noted that the county wasn’t best-suited to administer it. However, Ronnie Peterson protested bitterly over how the process was being handled, accusing others – but not naming anyone specifically – of holding backroom talks with Washtenaw Intermediate School District officials about taking over the program. [The county could have input on the choice, but would not be empowered to decide which agency is selected. The possibility of WISD being the next grantee was discussed at the July 21 working session – Peterson attended that meeting and expressed similar concerns.]

It’s likely that commissioners will continue to discuss the future of Head Start, as part of their ongoing budget deliberations. They have until the end of the year to approve the budget, but only three more regular meetings are scheduled before then.

The Oct. 20 working session also included a very brief presentation about the county’s contracts for outside professional services. This report focuses on the topic of Head Start.

Head Start: Brief Background

As part of an effort to balance the 2012-2013 budget and overcome a projected $17.5 million deficit, county administrator Verna McDaniel has proposed eliminating support for Washtenaw Head Start. At her initial presentation to commissioners at the July 21 working session, she said the board had directed her to review all the county programs and services to determine whether the county should continue to offer them, in light of current economic conditions. That was the context for her proposal regarding Head Start.

Head Start is a federal grant program that promotes school readiness for children from low-income families, between three to five years old. The program offers educational, nutritional, health, social and other services. The county has administered this program for 46 years – in federal parlance, the county is the “grantee” for the program in Washtenaw County. There are several sites throughout the county. The largest is in Ypsilanti, serving about 260 children and their families. About 300 other children are served at sites in Ann Arbor, Whitmore Lake and Willow Run.

The program employs about 35 full-time employees – mostly teachers, plus about six positions in administration. Most of the workers are represented by unions.

The program would likely continue under a different grantee. The process would work like this:

1. The county would notify the regional Head Start office that the county intended to relinquish its status as grantee.
2. A date would be set to end the county’s participation in the program.
3. The national Head Start office would issue a request for proposals (RFP) and select a new grantee. Entities that could qualify as a grantee include: (1) a public entity – like a school district, university, municipality or a new consortium; (2) a nonprofit or for-profit organization; or (3) a regional Head Start office.
4. If no new grantee is selected by the county’s end date, the national Head Start office would appoint the Community Development Institute (CDI) as the program’s interim manager. CDI is a federally funded entity specifically charged with providing this kind of interim service for Head Start programs. Current Head Start staff in Washtenaw County would have to re-apply for their positions.

Another factor is the $3 million Head Start building that the board of commissioners voted to build in 2002. The county owes $2.68 million on bond payments through 2022. It’s likely that the building would factor in to any agreement made with the next grantee. Currently, all of the “rent” paid to the county by Head Start goes directly to the bond payments. In addition, Head Start will make payments to the county through FY 2052-53 to repay the county for the full amount of the bond. The county would also need to determine what obligations it has for more than $748,000 it received in federal funds for the building.

For more details about the program and previous board discussion, see Chronicle coverage: “Options Weighed for Washtenaw Head Start.” In addition to the July 21 working session, several Head Start supporters also spoke during public commentary at the board’s Sept. 21 meeting, when the 2012-2013 budget was formally presented.

Head Start: Public Commentary

Most of the 18 people who spoke during public commentary were staff or parents with children in Head Start. Here’s a sampling of that commentary, which lasted about an hour and was frequently met with applause from others in the audience.

Marcia “Marti” Bombyk said she’s an Ann Arbor resident and taxpayer, and a professor of social work at Eastern Michigan University. She’s also coordinator of EMU’s graduate certificate in community building and a neighborhood organizer in Ypsilanti, focusing on neighborhoods south of Michigan Avenue where there’s a high concentration of families in poverty. Bombyk told commissioners she’d like to address the bigger picture, and she read a letter from a former student of Head Start who’s now an adult. In the letter, the student explained how without Head Start, she wouldn’t be where she is today. It’s an investment in the future, helping to break the cycle of poverty. Bombyk said the letter was written by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. [Sanchez is a Democrat representing California's District 47.] Bombyk urged the board to retain funding for Washtenaw Head Start.

John Franks said he’s a graduate of Ypsilanti High School and is getting a bachelor’s degree in business management. Head Start helped him be prepared for school, giving him that extra push and letting him know what to expect. If not for Head Start, he wouldn’t be talking to them today. Now, his three-year-old son is in Head Start too. His son has only been in the program for two months, but has already learned a lot, Franks said. He noted that Head Start had employed his mother, which helped out their whole family.

Franks’ fiancé, Jemma Wallace, described how their son – who she says is borderline ADHD – can now hold a pencil, and is eating fruits and vegetables. Wallace said she’d been struggling, and the Head Start teachers are giving her advice on how to be a better parent. Her son is now eager to go to school, she said. Wallace also gently chastised commissioners: “You all look kind of bored, but I want you to wake up!”

Jill Koeppe teaches at the Ypsilanti Head Start site, and said the teachers there are all dedicated. She worked hard to get her degree – the teachers have high credentials, she said. Koeppe drives 45 minutes to get to work and her student loan payments require a large part of her take-home pay, but she does it because she believes in the program. Everyone works extra hours so that they can help the Head Start families. It’s a wonderful program, she said.

Michelle Trummel of Ypsilanti described how she was taking Head Start families on a tour at Eastern Michigan University. On the tour, she asked EMU’s director of community relations to support their efforts to keep Head Start with the county, but he told her it was a done deal. This hurt her, Trummel said, but he was probably right – though she still hoped that he was wrong. The county is giving up on its most valuable asset – its children. Why are they selling out a program of excellence? There are over 40 staff at Head Start in Ypsilanti, including teachers, kitchen staff and others. All of them will be fired and have to reapply with whatever agency takes over Head Start, and they’ll lose county benefits. She might lose her house, Trummel said, and she knows of others who would face foreclosure. She said she’s known as the “Ypsitucky Queen,” and she’s a wealth of positive community relations – but now her fate lies with the board.

Melodie Tolbert walked up to the podium with a young boy, and said the boy was a former student of hers at Head Start, where she teaches. If the county doesn’t pay money at the start of these children’s lives, the county will pay much more at the end, if they get into trouble and are put in prison. Please don’t balance the budget on the backs of children, she said. Society is changing. Head Start provides a safe place for children to come, learn, and be fed nutritious meals. Tolbert held up a copy of the board’s budget principles, saying that commissioners are concerned about families and children – that’s what Head Start is all about, she said. They’ve worked hard to become a program of excellence, but they need the county’s continued support.

Shirley Beckley noted that she’s talked to the commissioners before. Her children, who attended Head Start, are now 48 and 49, and her grandchild now attends the program. She knows the county has to balance its budget, but even the governor of Michigan has decided to fund Head Start, so surely the county can, too.

Tiffany Gore said her 23-year-old son was enrolled in Head Start 18 years ago. The program fostered his love of school, helped him overcome learning disabilities and resulted in his becoming an honor student. He’s now studying at Michigan Tech, pursuing a degree in computer engineering. She also now has a three-year-old daughter who’s had some disabilities and is enrolled in Head Start – now her daughter is much calmer and pleasant to be around, and that’s given Gore peace of mind. She urged commissioners to retain the program.

Wadler Fleurina, who lives in Ypsilanti, has two kids at Head Start, and they always tell him what they’ve learned. Most countries that are poor don’t have decent education. Fleurina said he’s from Haiti, which has a very poor education system. Here, his children have opportunities because of Head Start. It will help them through high school and college, and let them reach new heights. He asked commissioners to find it in their hearts to keep Head Start going.

Jenita Holbrook noted that she lived in Romulus, but her second home is at 1661 Leforge Road in Ypsilanti – the Head Start site. She graduated from Head Start in the 1980s, growing up in a neighborhood that most commissioners probably only saw on TV. Their family would sometimes eat only beans and rice for weeks at a time, and their milk was powdered. She lived next to crack houses, and there were drive-by shootings. She lost two brothers to drive-by shootings, less than a year apart. But for her, Head Start has broken the cycle of poverty. If you don’t invest in children now, she said, they’ll end up being like the men who killed her brothers. Maybe Head Start could have prevented that.  “If you don’t keep it open, you’ll have a lot more on the streets,” she said.

Dwight Walls, senior pastor with the Greater Shiloh Church of God in Christ in Ypsilanti, described his past affiliation with the county and Head Start. He began working for Head Start in the late 1960s, first as kitchen staff, then as an assistant teacher, then working his way up to eventually serve as director for a short time. He was president of the employee union for 25 years, Walls said, and negotiated 20 contracts during that time. He said he was there to fight for the children because their lives are at stake. Head Start works, and will continue to work if they find money to keep it afloat. Walls noted that he’s worked on a lot of their campaigns to get commissioners elected. Let’s go back and relook at the budget, he said – together they can find the funding to make it work.

Caryette Fenner – president of AFSCME Local 2733, the largest union representing county employees – told commissioners that she was also a product of Head Start, but not in Washtenaw County. She didn’t remember the names of her teachers because she didn’t have a good experience. But her daughter attended Head Start here, and remembers her teachers because they had a positive impact on her life. Her daughter graduated from Michigan State and is working on a master’s degree – that’s all due to Head Start. Fenner said that when her daughter was in the program, one of the teachers encouraged Fenner to also go back to school, and she did. This is a program of excellence, she said. And whatever Pat Horne McGee tells her staff to do, they’ll do. Teachers have already made labor concessions, Fenner noted. The program brings value to Washtenaw County.

Flo Burke told commissioners to examine studies that have been done by the HighScope Educational Research Foundation in Ypsilanti and the National Institute for Early Education Research. Studies show that quality preschool programs can make a difference, she said. Head Start is a program they just can’t let go. The county’s funding is just a small part of the Head Start budget, she noted – most of the budget is provided by federal funding. But if the county drops its sponsorship, it’s not clear what would happen. There’s no guarantee that anyone would take it over, she said.

The final speaker, Sara Burg, tearfully spoke about being a single mother, and how she didn’t know where she’d be without this program. Two of her children have graduated from Head Start, and another one just started. Without Head Start, her children wouldn’t be doing as well as they are, and she wouldn’t be able to keep a job because she couldn’t afford daycare. She urged commissioners to continue funding the program.

In addition to public commentary at the working session, commissioners had received a raft of letters from Head Start children and parents, lobbying the board to retain the county’s administration of the program. [.pdf of letters]

Head Start: Presentation

After public commentary, board chair Conan Smith thanked everyone for coming, and said it was never the board’s intent to see Head Start disappear. They’re working on a strategy to maintain the organization’s full breadth of services, he said. Yet the county has to be cautious and not be arrogant in thinking it’s the best entity to provide this service, Smith added. If the county does vote to reduce its budget allocation to Head Start, Smith said it’s a vote he’ll make only if he’s confident that another provider can step in.

With that, Yousef Rabhi – who chairs the working sessions – introduced the executive director of Washtenaw Head Start, Pat Horne McGee, who received a standing ovation from the crowd of supporters in the audience.

Horne McGee noted that October is Head Start awareness month, and that usually she’s there to accept a resolution of appreciation from the board. She referred to a handout that she’d originally distributed to the board this summer. [.pdf of Head Start impact document] It was important to provide a framework for what Head Start has accomplished, she said, in order to make a decision about its future. She also pointed to the board’s budget decision principles, citing three that she felt related directly to Head Start:

• Support programs that address the basic needs of children and families.
• Support programs that increase economic opportunity for residents.
• Integrate efforts across agencies to meet strategic priorities.

Horne McGee asked people to stand up if they were parents of Head Start children and also worked for the program – several people in the audience stood. Head Start isn’t just a child development program, she said. It’s also a community development program that helps people acquire skills and emerge from poverty. Many of Head Start’s staff have matriculated or completed professional degrees with support of the program and the county, she said.

Horne McGee touched on a range of other points from the 9-page impact document. Among other things, the document (1) outlined ways that the program has made cuts over the years to address the worsening financial situation, and (2) proposed several alternatives that could lower the county’s general fund contribution to Head Start. The options specified under the second point included items such as requesting additional in-kind contributions from local partners, and tying staff raises to increases in federal grant support. She also referenced letters of support from the community that commissioners had received this summer regarding Head Start.

Alluding to the public commentary, Horne McGee said the best stories have already been told, adding that she’d be happy to answer questions from the board.

Head Start: Commissioner Discussion

Alicia Ping began the discussion by saying she’d be brief, because “I know commissioner Peterson has a lot to say.” She confirmed with Horne McGee that Head Start is free to those who enrolled. But is it open to people who could pay? she asked. Horne McGee explained that 10% of the families enrolled can be over the income level set by the federal Head Start program, but those are often families of children with disabilities, she said. The staff also uses that 10% for families whose income might be just a few dollars over the limit. Horne McGee said Washtenaw Head Start gets many request for families that want to pay to enroll, but they aren’t accepted, she said.

Ronnie Peterson then spoke at length, often receiving applause from the Head Start supporters. He described his own background, saying he started working when he was 10 and didn’t get any handouts. Head Start is an award-winning program and provides opportunities, he said, not handouts. He talked about his advocacy in fighting poverty, and recalled that commissioner Conan Smith’s grandfather, Al Wheeler, had led the county’s office of economic opportunity during its most progressive years.

Peterson said he’d advocate for Head Start all the way to the vote. When he was growing up, his parents didn’t eat until all their children had been fed, he recalled.  “We should not enjoy a budget adoption until the children are fed.”

Peterson characterized the county as planning to default on the Head Start program, in order for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) to take over. He said he didn’t realize those discussions had been going on, and he wondered what process had been started and at what level these discussions had been taking place.

Yousef Rabhi said he didn’t know what conversations had occurred. Rabhi noted that if the county decides to give up its status as federal grantee of the program, then it would be out of their hands. Even if the WISD is interested in taking over the program, there’s no guarantee that WISD would be selected, he said.

Peterson said he was upset at being left out of the loop, and he asked whether Rabhi was confirming that discussions had taken place. Rabhi replied that he wasn’t sure – he hadn’t attended any meetings with WISD, but it seemed that there might have been discussions, since the WISD had been mentioned so many times.

Peterson said it seemed that everyone in charge was out of the room. [County administrator Verna McDaniel didn't attend the working session, and at the time of Peterson's comment, board chair Conan Smith and Kelly Belknap, deputy county administrator, were not in the boardroom.] Peterson said he was concerned that this was being handled in a backroom process, adding that he had confronted the WISD superintendent about it. He said he had never played politics with children, and he found this offensive.

Referring to the $15,000 annual stipends that McDaniel had proposed several weeks ago for her top staff, Peterson asked “Where did that come from?” The county’s financial challenge doesn’t seem that great if money can be found for that, he said. [The stipends – which Peterson characterized as bonuses – had been part of a proposed administrative restructuring that McDaniel withdrew from the board's Sept. 21, 2011 agenda. She had planned to eliminate the position of deputy administrator, which has been vacant for several months, and distribute responsibilities among four other managers, who would receive a $15,000 stipend in addition to their regular salaries.]

Parents in the room that night probably don’t have time to go to PTA meetings, Peterson said, yet they came to the working session. They weren’t asking for handouts, he said, but just wanted to have an education for their children. The room should have been packed with advocates for children and early-childhood education, he said. Discussions about the future of Head Start should have been public, he said.

Wes Prater said that the budget information about Head Start has been public, and noted that in addition to $528,000 in general fund dollars that support the program this year, the 2012 county budget calls for another $528,000 to fund Head Start.  [No funding is budgeted for Head Start in 2013 – the county plans to relinquish its administration of the program that year.]

Peterson said it was a weird meeting that night, and there will be a Part 2 to the discussion. He wasn’t sure why people “on the payroll” weren’t in the room. He asked if Horne McGee had been asked to propose an alternative budget. No, she said, adding that the program has consistently made budget cuts over the years. Peterson said he anticipated a follow-up meeting on this issue.

As he had at a board meeting the previous night, Prater pointed out that 16 departments showed increases in their expenditures compared to 2011, totaling more than $6 million. Conan Smith, who had returned to his seat by this time, explained – as he had the previous night – that the increases relate primarily to higher amounts for each department’s cost allocation plan (CAP).  [The CAP sets a charge that’s levied on each county unit and designed to cover general costs like administration, technology, building use, and insurance, among other things.]

Smith said he wished that Peterson had remained in the room to hear this explanation – Peterson had left the room soon after Smith started speaking. Departments are not being overfunded, Smith said, and county revenues are declining. “This is a tight budget with no fat in it,” Smith said.

The budget projects revenues of $97.714 million in 2012 and $96.937 million in 2013, down from $101.25 million this year.

Prater contested Smith’s interpretation, insisting that 16 county departments were increasing their expenses by a total of $6.8 million, and that CAP accounted for only a portion of that. He accused Smith of “playing with numbers.”

Rolland Sizemore Jr. spoke up, noting that he sat on the Head Start board and it’s an excellent program. He said there might be ways to find additional funds, and pointed to the fact that many county buildings aren’t fully used. County staff might be able to consolidate – at the Zeeb Road service center, for example – and sell some buildings. It comes down to money, he said – that’s the issue in making these budget decisions.

At this point Shirley Beckley, who had spoken during public commentary, stood up and began addressing the board. Rahbi interrupted, saying she’d have the opportunity to speak at the meeting’s final public commentary. “I’m 70 years old and I’ll say something right now,” she replied. She recalled that at the board’s working session in the summer, when the Head Start program had been initially discussed, some commissioners had said they weren’t in the business of educating children. If they decided to get rid of the program, they should at least be honest, she said. “We’re not stupid.” She told Conan Smith to stop talking to them as if they were.

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Felicia Brabec, Leah Gunn, Ronnie Peterson, Alicia Ping, Wes Prater, Yousef Rabhi, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Dan Smith, Conan Smith.

Absent: Rob Turner

Next regular board meeting: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [confirm date] (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting.

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Supporters of the Humane Society of Huron Valley in front of the Washtenaw County administration building at Main and Catherine, prior to the Oct. 19 board of commissioners meeting. (Photos by the writer.)

Inside during their meeting, county commissioners heard from a stream of supporters for various nonprofits, all urging the board to maintain funding for services – from the care of animals to basic safety net services like housing and food. The proposed budget calls for $1.2 million in cuts to outside agencies, including many nonprofits. Funding levels would drop from about $3 million this year to $1.8 million in each of the next two years. The cuts are proposed to address a projected $17.5 million deficit over the next two years.

Much of the public commentary came from HSHV supporters, who argued that the county is already getting more services than it pays for under its contract with the nonprofit, even before cutting annual funding from $500,000 to $250,000. That contract expires at the end of 2011, and leaders from the county and HSHV will be meeting later this month to try to reach an agreement for providing services – including those mandated by the state.

The budget was the focus of much of Wednesday’s three-hour meeting, which started with the appointment of Felicia Brabec to fill the vacant District 7 seat. Commissioners expressed support for the nonprofits they fund, but several argued that cuts are necessary because of the county’s declining revenues. They also pointed to discussions at the state level of eliminating the personal property tax. A recent analysis prepared by county staff estimates that repeal of the PPT would cut county revenues by $5.559 million, and would eliminate a total of $42.961 million in revenues for all local governments in Washtenaw County. [.pdf of PPT report]

Some commissioners urged the public to contact state legislators and oppose the PPT repeal, while others asked that everyone dig into their own pockets and contribute to local nonprofits that face funding cuts. Several commissioners expressed support for putting a human services millage on the ballot as a way to raise money for these safety net services. It would not be possible to add it to the Nov. 8 ballot, but could be considered for 2012. Wes Prater also argued that not enough cuts have been made in the budget – he believes county departments can find additional ways to trim their expenses.

In the only formal action related to the proposed budget, a resolution proposed by Yousef Rabhi reallocated $26,230 in annual dues (or $52,460 over two years) paid to the Michigan Association of Counties, transferring those funds to the Delonis Center, a homeless shelter in Ann Arbor. The resolution was unanimously approved. It followed action at the Ann Arbor city council’s Oct. 17 meeting, when councilmembers appropriated $25,000 from the city’s general fund reserve to keep the Delonis Center’s warming center open this winter. At the council’s meeting, mayor John Hieftje noted that the Delonis Center is a partnership between the city and county, and he hoped the county would uphold its end.

Final decisions on the budget haven’t yet been settled. The board must pass a budget by Dec. 31, and has only three more regular meetings scheduled for the year. The budget must first be voted on by the Ways & Means Committee – a committee of the whole board – then voted on a final time at a regular board meeting.

Though much of the Oct. 19 meeting focused on 2012-2013 budget issues, the board gave final approval to several other items, including: (1) creating a study committee to explore a historic district in Salem Township; (2) renewing a two-year contract with Governmental Consultant Services Inc., a Lansing-based lobbying firm; and (3) authorizing a contract with Sylvan Township related to the township’s bond repayment schedule.

And in non-budget public commentary, Douglas Smith submitted an appeal to the board for a Freedom of Information Act request that had been denied by the county, related to an incident that he says involves a high-ranking member of the sheriff’s office. The board did not respond publicly to his request, other than to clarify with the county’s corporation counsel that appeals are handled by the county administrator.

District 7 Appointment

The bi-weekly meetings of the county board are actually two back-to-back meetings, beginning with a Ways & Means Committee meeting at 6:30 p.m., followed immediately by the regular board meeting. The board meeting is officially posted to begin at 6:45 p.m., but typically starts much later – most of the deliberations on agenda items occur during Ways & Means, which is a committee of the entire board.

On Wednesday, rather than begin with Ways & Means, commissioners waited until 6:45 p.m. and began the evening by convening the board meeting – for the sole purpose of making an appointment to the vacant District 7 seat. Former commissioner Kristin Judge resigned from the board mid-term – effective Oct. 9 – and two people applied to replace her until special elections are held next year.

County commissioners Wes Prater (D-District 3) and Felicia Brabec (D-District 7).

The board interviewed Felicia Brabec and Christopher Nielsen at a public meeting on Monday, Oct. 17. In response to a question during public commentary at that meeting, commissioners reported that Judge had encouraged Brabec to apply, and had arranged introductions with some members of the board.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Alicia Ping read the resolution appointing Brabec. The same resolution set the special election dates: a primary on Feb. 28, 2012, and a general election on Tuesday, May 8.

The filing deadline for candidates with political party affiliations to run for this office is Dec. 6 at 4 p.m. The filing deadline for independent candidates is Jan. 3 at 4 p.m. Republican Richard Conn has already filed.

There was no discussion on Wednesday prior to the board’s vote.

Outcome: Commissioners voted unanimously to appoint Felicia Brabec to serve as District 7 commissioner. Barbara Bergman was absent.

After receiving a round of applause, Brabec was immediately sworn in by county clerk Larry Kestenbaum. Board chair Conan Smith said it was a difficult decision, and that it’s the board’s misfortune that they couldn’t appoint both candidates. [Nielsen also attended Wednesday's meeting.] To Brabec, Smith quipped, “”We will work you to death.” Rolland Sizemore Jr. asked her to introduce her husband, David Brabec, who was in the audience. Sizemore told him that commissioners are the reason Brabec will come home from these meetings in a bad mood. He appeared to be joking.

Funding for Nonprofits

Since county administrator Verna McDaniel formally presented the 2012-2013 general fund budget to the board at its Sept. 21 meeting, commissioners have discussed various elements of it at board meetings and working sessions. They have until the end of 2011 to modify and approve it. After Wednesday’s meeting, only three more regular board meetings are scheduled: Nov. 2 and 16, and Dec. 7.

Funding for outside agencies – $1.8 million for each of the coming two years, down from $3 million this year – is a relatively small part of the $97.7 million budget. Yet it typically receives considerable attention from the board and the community. The category includes funding for a variety of nonprofits, as well as dues and special initiatives, including funding for economic development efforts. [.pdf list of all proposed 2012-2013 outside agency funding]

Outside agency funding includes line items for several nonprofit institutions, including the Humane Society of Huron Valley, the Delonis Center homeless shelter, SafeHouse Center (a shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault) and many others. It also includes a line item for coordinated funding of human services – funds that are pooled with other money from the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw United Way and Washtenaw Urban County. Those pooled funds are allocated to nonprofits in a coordinated way, focusing on six priority areas: housing/homelessness, aging, school-aged youth, children from birth to six, health safety net, and food. [.pdf of coordinated funding allocations]

If the 2012-2013 budget is approved as proposed, money for coordinated funding will drop by $128,538 – from $1,015,000 to $886,462. Several supporters who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting advocated for nonprofits who get funding through this process, which is overseen by the joint county/city of Ann Arbor office of community development.

Responding to a follow-up query from The Chronicle after the Oct. 19 meeting, Mary Jo Callan – director of the office of community development – said the intent would be to spread the cuts across all funded agencies, so that every nonprofit takes a small cut. Otherwise, the agencies technically funded by Washtenaw County would have to absorb the entire amount cut by the county, she wrote:

This scenario would be especially unfortunate for those agencies, since it was an administrative decision to assign agencies to specific funders. In other words, no agency specifically applied for county funds, since one application was an application to every funder through coordinated funding. … However, in order to execute the scenario where cuts are spread out across all agencies funded, other coordinated funding partners must agree to that scenario.

The board spent part of its Oct. 13 working session discussing outside agency funding. It was also the main topic of public commentary at Wednesday’s meeting, as well as at the formal public hearing on the budget.

Nearly 30 people spoke about outside agency funding at public commentary, and four people addressed the board on that issue during the public hearing. This report summarizes those remarks thematically. Many others attended the meeting – spilling out of the boardroom into the lobby of the county administration building –  but did not address the board. There was frequent applause in support of speakers’ commentary.

Funding for Nonprofits: Public Commentary – Humane Society

Ten people – volunteers and staff – urged commissioners to restore proposed funding cuts for the Humane Society of Huron Valley. Many other HSHV supporters attended the meeting but did not address the board formally. The proposed budget would cut HSHV funding from $500,000 to $250,000 annually. HSHV is operating under a contract with the county to provide state-mandated services, as well as services that go beyond the state mandate – the contract runs through 2011.

Susan Karp read a letter from Debbie Schutt of the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance. Earlier this year, HSHV received the alliance’s Outstanding Large Shelter Award for 2009. It was recognized for a 75% save rate that year. It will receive the 2010 award as well, according to Schutt. The letter described several shelters that, unlike HSHV, are under fire for their practices – including the Michigan Humane Society and the shelter in Livingston County. Schutt urged the county to work with HSHV. Lisa Birchmeier read a letter from another supporter of HSHV, who characterized Washtenaw County as a community of animal lovers. The county gets a bargain for HSHV’s comprehensive, innovative services, which include support for families that are struggling financially – like the Bountiful Bowls pet food assistance.

Holding her dog Snickers, Deborah Noble tearfully told commissioners that her dog represented the faces of many others that are cared for at HSHV. She served on the Superior Township planning commission, which had to approve the new facility – it’s second-to-none, she said. A year ago, Noble was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, and “there is no stage 5,” she said. Her doctors didn’t think she’d make it this long, but it’s because of Snickers and her other pets that she has survived, she said. Cutting HSHV funds doesn’t mean the animals get fewer treats – “we’re talking about killing these animals,” she said. Noble concluded by asking commissioners, on behalf of Snickers, not to cut HSHV funding.

Jessica Anderson said she’s been an HSHV volunteer for 17 years. She asked whether people would bring in strays to the shelter if they thought the animals would be killed. It’s not a pretty thought to think about animals running loose, as they did recently in Ohio, she said. [The reference is to the release of dozens of exotic, wild animals – including grizzly bears, lions and tigers – from a farm in Zanesville, Ohio. The owner killed himself after releasing the animals, and law enforcement officials killed many of the animals that couldn't be captured.] Anderson said the board’s decision-making process on funding should begin with an investigation of each organization. HSHV is run better than it’s ever been, she said. Clearly, budget cuts need to be made by the county, she said, but it’s not good to pit organizations against each other for funding.  “As we say in education, it’s not a race to the bottom.”

Karen Patterson, an HSHV educator, described how bonds between animals and humans often can’t be broken. Of all the people who refused to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina, she noted, 44% stayed because they didn’t want to leave their animals. Patterson recalled how a little girl she encountered was worried because the girl’s dog had run away. Patterson said she reassured the girl that the dog could be found and taken to the humane society. In the future, Patterson wondered what she’d be able to tell children like this. How can she tell them that every life is valuable, when the community leaders don’t believe it? She encouraged commissioners to find a way to fund HSHV.

Deb Kern, HSHV’s marketing director, said she didn’t envy the board’s position. She’d worked in Ann Arbor for 28 years and loved the city, and had taken a significant pay cut to leave a corporate job and work at HSHV. She’s proud of their work, and of being able to reunite owners with their pets. HSHV provides great customer service, and the staff have answered over 5,000 calls this year from people looking for their lost animals. People know to come to the humane society’s facility – it would be confusing if there were multiple places to look, she said, and it might result in animals being put down because their owners couldn’t reach the pets in time. It’s not cheap to do outreach and advertising, but HSHV does that. They have the highest return-to-owner rate in Michigan, she noted.

Kern recalled being at the meeting when former county administrator Bob Guenzel embraced the idea for a new facility, and she helped lead the $8.5 million capital campaign to fund it. It seems insane to her that after helping HSHV become an award-winning shelter, the county would now pull away from its contract. [.pdf of Kern's full remarks]

Elise Ramsey, an HSHV animal cruelty investigator, said they’ve investigated over 500 cases in the past year, including over 30 cases that have been handled by the prosecutor’s office – all were found guilty. Nearby counties have a lower population yet more animal control officers, she noted. HSHV’s investigators – whose work ranges from investigating dog fights to dealing with wild animals on public and private property – minimize the amount of time that law enforcement must spend on cases, and that saves the county money. The budget decisions aren’t about choosing sides, she said. It’s about creating a safer environment for the community.

Deb Ledford, an HSHV volunteer, told commissioners that people have a special relationship with their animals, and would be willing to pay more in taxes to support HSHV. She urged them to consider a millage to provide additional funding for the shelter.

Anne Alatalo, an HSHV volunteer who also had spoken at an Oct. 13 board working session, read a quote attributed to Gandhi: “The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

Kelly Schwartz, HSHV’s director of volunteers and operational support, said she lives in Pittsfield Township “and I vote.” She criticized the county’s lack of due diligence before making cuts. She noted that the job description for the two animal control officers paid for by the county – at about $180,000 per officer – doesn’t match what those workers actually do. In many cases, they simply pick up dogs and drop them off at the shelter. Picking up 192 stray dogs over a year works out to the county paying about $1,000 per animal. Schwartz expressed frustration at HSHV’s efforts possibly to handle dog licensing that’s now done by the county treasurer. She said HSHV has been told it’s not their purview. Yet HSHV handles dog licensing for Ypsilanti Township, she noted.

Regarding the possibility that the county would issue a request for proposals (RFP) for another agency to provide the state-mandated services that HSHV now does, Schwartz said that HSHV is the only facility in the county that’s licensed by the Dept. of Agriculture. That license requires a set of conditions, such as having a veterinarian on site. It would be a shame if the county didn’t support HSHV’s economies of scale and facility, she concluded.

Funding for Nonprofits: Public Commentary – Housing, Food

Paul Saginaw, co-founder of Zingerman’s and of the nonprofit Food Gatherers, said he appreciated how profoundly difficult the board’s choices are. But the strength of a community is measured by how it cares for its most vulnerable members. Between 2006 to 2008, the number of people needing emergency food assistance increased 138% percent, and those numbers have grown. Since 2008, there’s been a 40% increase in local families needing food stamps. Yet Food Gatherers – which serves a network of food pantries across the county – has seen funding cuts, most recently a 40% reduction in the money it gets from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Barbara Niess-May, executive director of SafeHouse Center, and Paul Saginaw, co-founder of Zingerman's and of the nonprofit Food Gatherers.

Saginaw noted that Food Gatherers already leverages private resources – from donors, volunteers and other partners – to provide public services that used to be handled by the government. They work creatively and efficiently to fight hunger, and are an excellent steward of their resources. He urged the board at a minimum to maintain the $166,000 annual funding for Food Gatherers, which represents 5% of the nonprofit’s annual operating budget.

Six people spoke in support of Ozone House, a shelter for homeless youth. [The coordinated funding budget approved in June allocated a total of $208,557 for Ozone House programs, including $97,625 from the county.] Lisa Jackson, vice president of the board, noted that the nonprofit is the only one that provides a shelter specifically for homeless youth, and it’s a national model. She pointed to the county board’s budget guidelines, noting that second one states that the county will “support programs that address the basic needs of children and families.” That’s what Ozone House does, she said. The county’s funding is a huge part of this community’s safety net, and she asked that they continue funding this critical need in the community.

Three teens – Eric,  Demoni and Tiffany – gave their perspectives on the need for Ozone House, saying they know youth who are homeless and that it’s hard to know what it would be like if Ozone House wasn’t around. Kids deserve a drug-free, alcohol-free, safe environment where they can study and know that they’re not alone. Colleen O’Brien, Ozone House director of youth development, told the board that these three youth represent thousands of others that Ozone House supports. These youth look up to leaders like the commissioners, she said, and if the board doesn’t prioritize basic needs and public safety, she’s not sure they’ll stay in this community when they become adults. Nicole Brown also supported Ozone House, saying it’s important to show youth that the community cares about them.

Paul Leighton, a SafeHouse Center board member, and SafeHouse executive director Barbara Niess-May both spoke in support of the center, which provides help for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. [SafeHouse received $96,000 from the county this year, and is budgeted for $48,000 annually in 2012 and 2013.] Leighton, a criminology professor at Eastern Michigan University, described the impact on victims and the services that SafeHouse provides, including a helpline, crisis intervention, counseling and shelter.

Niess-May described SafeHouse as a “community jewel,” noting that the staff of 24 and 150 volunteers serve well over 4,000 women and children each year through the shelter and advocacy work. She reminded the county that SafeHouse took over sexual assault services from the county in 2003, which at the time had cost the county $200,000 each year. She said that law enforcement officers feel comfortable leaving the scene after an incident when they know representatives from SafeHouse are there. The county is a partner, and she thanked commissioners for their continued support.

Jim Wiseman is a volunteer with Interfaith Hospitality Network’s Alpha House, a family homeless shelter. [The coordinated funding provided $92,400 in funding for IHN.] Of the 4,700 people who were homeless in 2010, 1,500 of those were under the age of 18. He described the consequences of homelessness on youth, including hunger, truancy, poor mental and physical health, learning disabilities, depression and anxiety. Thousands of volunteers support Alpha House, but they need the continued support of the county as well. Wiseman noted that he has two dogs and has volunteered at the animal shelter too, but the basic need for helping the homeless population is greater.

Nicole Adelman, executive director of Interfaith Hospitality Network, said the county has been a true partner, and IHN still needs their support. Many agencies are working together to increase collaboration, she said, and they all have success stories. She urged commissioners to support nonprofits to the greatest extent possible, so the successes could continue.

Michael Appel of Avalon Housing.

Michael Appel, associate director of Avalon Housing, said he deeply appreciated the county’s support through coordinated funding. [Avalon is budgeted for $140,974 in coordinated funding.] Avalon’s Shelter Plus Care program illustrates how seriously they take the county’s charge to leverage funding and be responsible stewards of public money, he said. Every year, Avalon applies with other local agencies for federal funding through the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that helps move people off the streets and into permanent housing. HUD requires that its housing subsidy be matched with supportive services that Avalon provides – the county helps pay for those services, Appel said. He urged commissioners to continue their support.

Kristin Klevering of SOS Community Services thanked commissioners for their support. [SOS receives $90,859 from the county's portion of coordinated funding, plus $124,577 from other coordinated funding sources.] SOS recently has become the single point-of-entry for people seeking housing assistance in the county. [Its housing access phone number is 734-961-1999.] For its first week in this role, SOS fielded 203 calls for help with housing, including people facing eviction and homeless families seeking permanent housing. Klevering said their staff is booked steadily because of the great need. The single point-of-entry makes it much easier for people who need help, but the staff wouldn’t be able to do it without the county’s support.

Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, described the county as a partner through successful and difficult times – and this is one of the most difficult times they’ve faced. She urged commissioners to pass a resolution that articulates their commitment to human services and outside agencies. The resolution would commit to reinstating funds as soon as revenues permit, and would make that reinstatement of funds the highest priority when revenues recover. Schulmeister also asked commissioners to use their political positions to speak out on behalf of the most vulnerable citizens of the county, and to lobby their friends and professional networks to fundraise and make personal donations to local nonprofits.

Julie Steiner, executive director of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, told commissioners she’d just been to the Michigan Homeless Summit in Lansing, where the head of the state’s Dept. of Human Services reported that Michigan’s income level used to be 14th nationwide, but is now 31st. Her organization can see the impact of that income loss throughout the county. Steiner reported some data from the first week of calls to the SOS housing hotline, and highlighted the fact that 31% of the 203 people who called had no income at all.

The question is how can those folks be helped, and the answer isn’t coming from Lansing or Washington, Steiner said. She noted that the state recently imposed an asset test for people receiving food stamps, requiring them to have less than $5,000 in assets – including their cars, which are the way most people get to their minimum-wage jobs, she observed. This came about two weeks after recipients had been told it wouldn’t happen. “The war on the poor is continuing,” Steiner said, adding that she deeply appreciated all that the county does to support human services.

Funding for Nonprofits: Public Commentary – Literacy

Three people urged continued support for the Family Learning Institute, which provides tutoring to elementary schools students in math and reading.

Dave Knight said he’s been a volunteer reading coach since 2005. “I know that what we do works,” he said. It’s a lifelong skill with a tangible return, and is worth the county’s support. Dave Morris, a math tutor for FLI, described his work with a fourth grader – a smart girl, the daughter of recent immigrants, who’s having trouble in school and is at a critical turning point in deciding that she’s not academic. When she realizes that she can understand, she’s more likely to choose a different path. Volunteers at FLI can make a difference in the lives of students like her, and it’a a value to the community, he said.

Jeff Harrold, FLI’s board chair and an academic standards advisor at the University of Michigan, told commissioners that he’s worked with some of the brightest students in the world, and he’s also seen some people who could have gone down that academic path, but who ended up in jail. The thing that connects them is literacy. FLI provides free supplemental tutoring in math and reading, and their work directly addresses the achievement gap, he said. They operate on a shoestring and can’t afford to lose funding. In a knowledge economy, you have to know how to read. FLI teaches students to read, he concluded, and ”we hope you’ll help us continue to do that.”

Funding for Nonprofits: Public Commentary – General Human Services

Alan Haber said he appreciated the incredible volunteerism that’s on display, and he hopes the county can support all of these organizations. There’s a reason why the county doesn’t have enough money, he said, citing the trillions of dollars that the federal government has spent on war in the last decade, and the $1.4 billion in federal taxes from Michigan that pay for nuclear weapons. Commissioners need to work to change priorities of the country, and to encourage innovative approaches like Camp Take Notice. Haber cited the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations of the “99% against the 1%,” and said there needs to be some kind of redistribution of wealth. Local is part of the global, he noted, and he hoped that commissioners would see the bigger picture. They really need to act on a political level, he said, and to raise their voices about keeping more money in Michigan.

Max Heinrich told commissioners that they have a choice. They can accept the budget cuts that are imposed and make decisions in the least painful way, or they can ask how to be creative and find funding to do the things they need to do. If they simply say there’s not enough money, “the county is going to go down,” he said. He called on the board to identify what matters to them, then find a way to fund it.

Saying that her heart hurts, Lily Au told the board that they need to see the bigger picture. She praised commissioner Ronnie Peterson for speaking out against the coordinated funding process. [Peterson has repeatedly raised concerns about the process, but voted along with all other commissioners to approve the approach at the board's Nov. 3, 2010 meeting, and subsequently voted to approve the recommended allocations at the board's June 1, 2011 meeting.] Au criticized the overhead costs at United Way, one of the coordinated funding partners. She said she wasn’t criticizing people, just the policy. People are suffering and need as much support as possible, she said.

Thomas Partridge called for support of affordable housing, transportation, health care and education for all.

Funding for Nonprofits:  Commissioner Discussion

Yousef Rabhi began by thanking everyone for coming, saying it’s refreshing to see people take an active part in the democratic process. He especially thanked Alan Haber and Max Heinrich for their words. Local government is being squeezed from all sides, he said, and now the state is talking about eliminating the ability of local governments to raise revenues via the personal property tax. Rabhi urged everyone to contact their state legislators and tell them that eliminating the PPT would place a significant burden on the local community. He said he’s especially concerned about the proposed $128,000 annual cut to coordinated funding. The process works well to distribute funds from the county, city of Ann Arbor and other groups, he said.

Regarding the humane society, Rabhi said he loves animals and knows that other commissioners do too. No one denies that the county has a mandate to provide certain services, but it’s not yet clear to him exactly what those mandated services are. The county needs to identify what services are mandated, how much it costs to provide those mandated services, and how much additional funding they can allocate to the humane society. He doesn’t think it will be at the same level in the past, but there are valuable programs at the humane society that are important to support.

Leah Gunn remembered when there was no decent homeless shelter, and the county took a proactive role in creating the Delonis Center, which is now a national model, she said. She remembered when Food Gatherers didn’t exist, and commended Paul Saginaw for the great work that he and others have done. She noted that SafeHouse Center is located in a county-owned building that’s paid for by a county millage.

The county has been extremely generous, Gunn said. But the county’s main revenues come from property taxes, and those revenues are decreasing. If the state eliminates the personal property tax, it would be devastating, she said – the county alone would lose $5 million in annual revenue, and all local governments in the county would lose a total of $43 million. State revenue sharing is also going to run out in 2013, she noted. Gunn urged people to dig into their pockets and donate to the nonprofits that do such good work.

From left: Commissioners Rolland Sizemore, Leah Gunn, and Conan Smith.

Conan Smith also thanked the people who attended the meeting, and those who had advocated for finding additional revenue. He believes in that, too. Much of the spending at higher levels of government is wrong, and would be better spent locally, he said.

Smith thanked Rabhi for contextualizing the humane society situation. He noted that the expenses related to animal cruelty investigations can be charged back to the offenders as restitution. [At that, some people in the audience called out that it's not possible – many offenders are unable to pay.] He agreed it was time to revisit the issue of dog licenses, which are currently collected by the county treasurer’s office. HSHV has previously proposed taking over that service.

Smith said there’s another month to find alternatives, and he noted that he and other county officials will be meeting with HSHV leaders next week. The letter that the county received from HSHV’s board president, Michael Walsh – which stated that HSHV can’t afford to offer the same services at a reduced rate – is what prompted some commissioners to talk about looking for other providers, Smith said. [.pdf of Walsh's letter]

In part, Walsh’s letter states:

Should the County be unable or unwilling to find the additional resources that will allow the HSHV to continue to provide these Animal Control Services, given our long-standing relationship, we are willing to work with you on a short-term basis to provide an orderly transition to either another service provider or to a County-run shelter. This could be accomplished through a limited-term extension of the existing contract at the 2011 funding level.

The mandate doesn’t go away, Smith noted, even if HSHV decides it can’t provide the services. But he hoped the county can work with HSHV to meet that mandated obligation.

The commissioners put a priority on protecting families and children – problems of homelessness and hunger are growing, Smith said. “We are in a dire situation.” He’s highly supportive of exploring a millage to fund human services, as other commissioners have proposed – he believes voters would support that too. Smith concluded by saying that the board will be discussing the budget for several more weeks, and he encouraged people to weigh in. “Your words are our community wisdom,” he said. “Know that everyone on the board will take those to heart.”

Rob Turner noted at the beginning of this year, the board was looking at a $20 million deficit for 2012-2013. In April, when the county equalization report showed that revenues didn’t drop as much as expected, that projected deficit was revised to $17.5 million. To deal with it, the board prioritized, Turner explained, and put an emphasis on safety net services. They also directed the administration to streamline and consolidate, he noted – that led to three departments merging into the office of community and economic development. [That consolidation will take effect in January 2012.]

The staff did a good job at restructuring, and found $8 million in savings, Turner said. Employees gave concessions totaling another $8 million. Yet even with all of this, the county will need to tap its general fund balance, he said, bringing the fund balance to 13% of the total general fund budget – at the low end of the recommended level.

Repealing the personal property tax would hit the county hard, Turner said, resulting in another 5-6% cut to the general fund budget and lowering the fund balance to about 8%. Everyone needs to tell their state legislators that the PPT can’t be cut without first identifying replacement revenues. Turner said he supported a human services millage, but he noted that voters had rejected a countywide schools millage just last year.

There are people who are unemployed now who’ve never been unemployed before, Turner said. No one on the board wants to cut the funding for nonprofits, but that’s the hand they’re forced to play. If revenues increase, commissioners would like to make the funding whole again, but right now, the money’s just not there, he said.

Wes Prater observed that the county has been very generous when times were good. If the personal property tax is eliminated, these organizations will face even deeper cuts, he said. There are no secrets about the budget situation, Prater said – all of the information is available online. He hoped the humane society understood that there would be cuts, and that the nonprofit needs to think about fundraising from its volunteers. It’ll take more revenues to support those services, he said. “I’m sorry to have to say those words, but they’re true.”

Ronnie Peterson noted that the board hasn’t yet adopted the budget, so it’s premature to state that certain items will be cut – the board hasn’t voted on that yet, he said. He told the audience that he appreciated their advocacy, regardless of whether he agreed with their positions. Personally, Peterson said he’s not interested in contracting with an alternative agency to the humane society, and he asked the board chair, Conan Smith, to clarify the status of HSHV.

Smith reviewed that county administrator Verna McDaniel had presented the budget to the board several weeks ago. It was developed based on the board’s direction to her, he said, and includes recommendations to cut outside agency funding. In the case of the humane society, the recommendation is for $250,000 per year, down from $500,000. They haven’t taken a vote on the budget, Smith said, and they are now deliberating it. But whatever decisions they make have to result in a balanced budget, he noted. They can make whatever adjustments they see fit, but the result must be bottom-line neutral.

Peterson asked whether the board was considering an alternative provider for animal control services, rather than HSHV. Smith replied that HSHV has indicated it can’t provide the services at the recommended funding level of $250,000 – that message was in the letter from HSHV board president Michael Walsh. Smith said he appreciated that communication, and HSHV’s offer to serve in a transitional role if the county needs to find another provider.

The county’s current contract with HSHV ends on Dec. 31, and there’s only a limited time to reach a solution, Smith said. No one anticipated that the county would end its relationship with HSHV, Smith said, and there’s wide misunderstanding about what services are mandated. Perhaps a new contract will eliminate non-mandated services, like care for cats, Smith said. There are also possible revenues strategies that can be explored, he said. “By all means, the door is open.”

Peterson then raised the issue of coordinated funding, which he has criticized in the past. Addressing poverty must be a discussion among policy-makers, he said, not relegated to a county department. [Coordinated funding is overseen by the joint county/city of Ann Arbor office of community development.] And it shouldn’t be limited to just county commissioners, he said – there are two major public universities in this area, as well as several private ones. Those institutions have resources, he said, and should be concerned about quality of life in this community. “We cannot do it by ourselves,” Peterson said, and it’s unfair that nonprofits should have to fight over funding.

As he has in the past, Rolland Sizemore Jr. called for a working session to discuss all potential new millages, including those for road repair and to fund human services. He recommended that the public attend those working sessions to give their views about the millages – he believes raising revenues is the only way out of the current budget situation. He also called for more information about the budget, including administrative salaries.

Funding for Nonprofits: More Funds for Homeless Shelter

Yousef Rabhi indicated that priorities for him in this budget are coordinated funding and the homeless shelter. Given the increased homelessness in this community, he thought the county should step up funding for the shelter. The county’s membership in the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC) has been useful in the past, he said, but it’s time to prioritize the homeless over that. He then moved to eliminate $26,230 in annual dues to the Michigan Association of Counties, and transfer those funds to the Delonis Center, the homeless shelter at 312 W. Huron. Over the two-year budget period, a total of $52,460 would be added to the Delonis Center funding.

Chuck Warpehoski of the Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice talks with Julie Steiner of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance.

Conan Smith supported the motion, saying that the county has ample representation in Lansing through its lobbyist, Governmental Consultant Services Inc. [Later in the meeting, the board voted to give final approval to a two-year contract with GCSI at at $54,250 per year. Kirk Profit is the primary GCSI lobbyist dealing with the county.]

Dan Smith said that as a new commissioner elected in November 2010, he had gone through a training session in December – MAC had been one of the organizers, and it had been a valuable experience. However, after he was sworn in the county staff have provided even more orientation, so he was comfortable dropping MAC membership at this time. He hoped that when the board reaffirms the 2013 budget in a year, they’ll revisit membership for MAC and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), if the board decides to drop SEMCOG too. [The board will adopt a two-year budget for 2012 and 2013, but then at the end of 2012 they will make readjustments and vote to reaffirm the 2013 budget.]

Rolland Sizemore Jr. said he’d support Rabhi’s motion, but he wondered why they were voting on one item now, and not waiting until they’d made decisions about all changes.

Outcome: The board unanimously voted to amend the proposed budget by eliminating its membership in the Michigan Association of Counties, and shifting its $26,230 in annual dues for 2012 and 2013 to the Delonis Center homeless shelter. The budget itself will receive a vote later this year. 

2012-2013 Budget: Continued Discussion

Following the discussion on outside agency funding and a vote on shifting funds to the Delonis Center, the board discussed the 2012-2013 budget more broadly.

They initially discussed how to proceed with making changes to the budget, without handling it piecemeal. Rolland Sizemore Jr. noted that it’s getting to be “crunch time” – there are only three more regular board meetings scheduled before the end of the year, and if they want to give final approval at the Nov. 16 meeting, as planned, they’d need to take an initial vote at their next meeting, on Nov. 2. He suggested that commissioners email any changes they had to the administrator, who could then forward all proposed changes to the entire board.

Wes Prater noted that in the list of eight revenue categories for the general fund, only two categories – fees & services, and fines & forfeitures – show an increase from 2011 to 2012. He expressed frustration that 16 departments showed increases in their expenditures compared to 2011. The line item for information technology, for example, grows from $5.28 million in 2011 to $6.49 million in 2012. The budget for the board of commissioners also is increasing, he noted, rising from $496,587 this year to $505,664 in 2012. This can’t continue, he said – they need to get expenses under control. ”I think there’s some money there we can find [to cut], and I want to try to find it.”

County administrator Verna McDaniel responded, saying that the departments aren’t just being given money to go spend indiscriminately. The increases relate primarily to increased personnel costs, including health insurance, as well as to higher amounts for each department’s cost allocation plan (CAP).  [The CAP sets a charge that’s levied on each county unit and designed to cover general costs like administration, technology, building use, and insurance, among other things. It’s intended to reflect the county’s true cost of doing business.]

McDaniel said her staff would write up a report explaining these increases, and distribute it to commissioners.

It would be great to get that information, Prater replied, but the bottom line is that there are still cuts to be made.

Commissioner Dan Smith talks with Kelly Belknap, interim deputy county administrator.

Dan Smith recalled the process leading up to this point, beginning with board retreats early in the year, and continuing with extra working sessions in the summer devoted to the budget. There are mandated services that must be funded, and that leaves the county in a difficult situation. The board had a healthy debate in developing its budget priorities, Smith noted – all of this was conducted in public. It’s been a long process and these aren’t easy decisions, he said, but they must work with the money they have to produce a balanced budget. That’s the law.

In response to Prater’s concern about the board of commissioners budget, Smith said it’s a topic of an upcoming working session, and they can discuss it in more detail then.

Leah Gunn noted that the board has discussed this already. She referred to the budget “puzzle” that McDaniel had presented earlier this year, which sought to overcome a projected $17.5 million deficit with roughly $8 million in concessions from employees, $8 million in departmental restructuring and cuts, about $1 million in cuts to outside agencies, and another $1 million in additional revenues. But even though some items have been cut – like health care – that doesn’t mean the total expenses will decrease, she said. It just means the increases won’t be as high. The bottom line is that they have a balanced budget, she concluded, and an acceptable fund balance.

There was some discussion about whether to address some of these issues at an upcoming working session. Yousef Rabhi, who chairs the working sessions, noted that there’s not much time between now and the point of passing the budget – the goal is to take a final budget vote at the Nov. 16 meeting.

Ronnie Peterson responded that the board can take until Dec. 31 to pass the budget, and they should take as much time as necessary. The fact that they reallocated funds earlier in the meeting – from the Michigan Association of Counties to the homeless shelter – indicates that there’s flexibility in the budget, he said. He’s also interested in reconsidering the proposed elimination of SEMCOG membership. They can look at the entire budget to find funds, he said, and it’s their responsibility to do so. If a commissioner just wants to rubber stamp the budget, Peterson said, then they shouldn’t run for office. They should have been looking more closely at these decisions months ago, he said.

Gunn said she found it difficult to respond to Peterson. She’s spent a solid year on this budget, and it’s been gone over with a fine-tooth comb. McDaniel and her staff have done an excellent job in presenting a balanced budget, and Gunn said she has no major problems with it. Her main issue is that the county is spending millions of dollars to subsidize police services for the townships, Gunn said, but she’s not going to argue about that because she doesn’t have the votes to change it. She’d like to see the board pass this budget and move on.

Conan Smith noted that the board has had this budget for a long time. [McDaniel formally presented it at the board's Sept. 21 meeting.] They’ve delved into it at previous meetings and working sessions throughout the year, and it’s an excellent document with a tremendous amount of information, he said. Smith said you can read it, as he has, and understand it with enough clarity to be confident in your decisions. “It’s a boring read,” he conceded, but the information is there.

Using the IT department as an example, Smith noted that a detailed explanation in the budget for that department indicates that much of the increased expenses relate to the administration’s decision to “unleash the CAP.” That’s reflected in the line item for internal service charges, which jumps from $436,343 in 2011 to $1.586 million in 2012.

Smith agreed with Gunn in praising McDaniel and her staff for presenting a balanced budget. He urged the board not to dwell on smaller items – like the board’s own line item – but to look for larger structural reforms that could yield greater savings. He believes the board should pass the budget by mid-November, or by the first meeting in December at the latest.

Prater replied that he wasn’t saying it’s a bad budget, but simply that there’s room for more cuts. It’s possible for departments to cheat when reporting their projected expenses, he noted. Every expense should be absolutely necessary, and he’s not convinced that’s the case. If there are unnecessary expenses in the budget, he’ll vote against it.

Rolland Sizemore Jr. said there are a lot of questions for which he needs answers – including what services are actually mandated by the state for animal control. He also wants comparisons with budgets from other counties, noting that he’s repeatedly asked for this information in the past. There’s also the question about whether cutting ties with SEMCOG will jeopardize the county’s ability to secure certain types of federal grants. Until he sees answers, Sizemore said he won’t approve the budget.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to move this budget discussion item to the agenda of their next meeting, on Nov. 2.

Other Business: Sylvan Bonds, Lobbyist, Salem Historic District

Aside from budget issues, the board voted on several items during the Oct. 19 meeting that were not discussed, but that had received initial votes at their Oct. 5 meeting. Here are the highlights.

Other Business: Lansing Lobbyist

Commissioners were asked to give final approval to renew a two-year contract with Governmental Consultant Services Inc., a Lansing-based lobbying firm. The contract would run from Nov. 1, 2011 through Oct. 31, 2013 at $54,250 per year. That’s the same rate that the county currently pays, and is already built into the proposed 2012-2013 budget. [.pdf of draft contract]

GCSI lobbyist Kirk Profit and his colleagues most recently gave a formal update to the board at their March 2, 2011 meeting. GCSI provides lobbying services at the state level for several local units of government, including the city of Ann Arbor.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the two-year contract with GCSI.

Other Business: Salem Township Historic District

Commissioners were asked to appoint a committee to study the creation of a historic district in Salem Township. The district would be at 7991 North Territorial Road, where the Jarvis Stone School and the Dickerson Barn are located.

Terry Cwik, president of the Salem Area Historical Society, had attended the board’s Oct. 5 meeting and spoke during public commentary, urging commissioners to approve the study committee. The one-room schoolhouse is owned by the historical society. It was built in 1857 and in continuous use until 1967. The historical society now uses the school as its headquarters. It would be the second historic district in Salem Township – the first one is Conant Farm on Napier Road.

Cwik is one of the members of the study committee appointed on Wednesday. Other members are: Jean Bemish, Sue DiMilia, Helen Gierman, Jane Griffith, Marie Turppa, and Marcia Van Fossen and Nancy Snyder. The appointments were recommended by the county Historic District Commission.

Outcome: Commissioners voted unanimously to create the study committee for an historic district at 7991 North Territorial Road in Salem Township.

Other Business: Sylvan Township Bond Deal

On the agenda was a resolution giving final approval to a contract with Sylvan Township related to the township’s bond repayment schedule. The township has been struggling to make payments on $12.5 million in bonds issued in 2001 to build a water and wastewater treatment plant intended to serve future development. The township expected that connection fees would cover the bond payments, but the development never materialized.

Now Sylvan Township – located west of Ann Arbor, near Chelsea – is facing default on its bond payment in May 2012, which the county will need to cover. The township board voted to put a proposal for a 4.75 mill, 20-year tax on the Nov. 8, 2011 ballot for township residents, with proceeds to repay the cost of the bond payments that would be made by the county.

The millage proceeds alone would not be sufficient to cover the entire cost of the bond payments, however, and the county would need to tap its capital reserves as well. After the bond is repaid, the millage proceeds would continue to be used to repay the county to cover the amount used from its capital reserves, as well as interest. The millage proceeds would also be used to repay the county treasurer’s office, which advanced about $1.2 million to the township in 2007 and 2008 related to this project.

The contract between the county and township is contingent on voters passing the 4.75 mill tax. If the millage fails and the township defaults, the county could file suit against the township for breach of contract in failing to meet its debt repayment obligation, according to a staff memo. The county would also need to make the bond payments, to avoid having its bond rating negatively affected.

Outcome: Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the bond deal with Sylvan Township.

Other Business: Drain Projects

Drain projects in Ann Arbor – including two related to the East Stadium bridge reconstruction project – were on the agenda for final approval at the board’s Oct. 19 meeting.

The county water resources commissioner’s office was asked by the city of Ann Arbor to design and build stormwater control measures for the bridges along Stadium Boulevard between Kipke and South Industrial, according to a staff memo. The Allen Creek East Stadium bridges drain project and the Malletts Creek East Stadium bridges drain project will require in total no more than $415,000 for bonds issued with the county’s full faith and credit. The bonds will be repaid through special assessments on property in the drain district for this project.

Separately, county commissioners gave initial approval to an Allen Creek drain project in Ann Arbor. The project involves installing an underground infiltration system on the west side of the Veterans Park Ice Arena and putting in a rain garden near the entrance of the ice arena on the east side of the building. Rain gardens will also be installed next to Fire Station #3 at 2130 Jackson Ave., and trees will be planted in the city right-of-way throughout neighborhoods on the city’s west side.

The Allen Creek project had been previously approved by the board at its July 2011 meeting, as one of several drain projects authorized at that time. The overall cost of the projects approved then is now expected to be $1.45 million less than originally estimated. However, the $330,000 approved for the Allen Creek project turned out to be an underestimate – that project is now expected to cost up to an additional $65,000. That $65,000 – covered by bonds issued with the county’s full faith and credit – was the amount commissioners were asked to approve at Wednesday’s meeting.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the drain projects for Allen Creek and East Stadium bridges.

Misc. Commentary, Communications

During the meeting there were multiple opportunities for public commentary, and for communications from the administration and commissioners.

Misc. Comm/Comm: Public Commentary

Douglas Smith told commissioners he was submitting an appeal for a Freedom of Information Act request that had been denied by the county. He described an incident at Ypsilanti Township hall, where a court employee had reported that $20 was stolen out of her car in the parking lot. She had requested video surveillance footage, but instead of providing it to her, the building’s security officer had emailed the sheriff’s office, Smith said. That apparently prompted an internal investigation, he said, involving a high-ranking member of the sheriff’s office.

Several FOIA requests have since been made, Smith said, but all have been denied. One of the reasons given is that the matter is part of a personnel file. But there can be a balance test applied, Smith said. He indicated there’s a stronger public interest in ensuring there’s no coverup by law enforcement, which outweighs the interest of an employee’s privacy. He asked the board to reconsider his FOIA request and release the surveillance video.

In commissioner follow-up to public commentary, Wes Prater asked Curtis Hedger – the county’s corporation counsel – to explain how the appeal process is handled. Hedger noted that for FOIA appeals, there’s a shorter time to respond, and that’s why the law gives the option of having the head of a public body – in this case, the county administrator – to handle it. Otherwise, the board would need to call a special meeting each time there’s an appeal, he said. He noted that the county administrator doesn’t just rubber stamp the decision, adding that former county administrator Bob Guenzel had overturned decisions several times on appeal. [Guenzel, who retired in May of 2010, is an attorney who had served as the county's corporation counsel before becoming county administrator.]

In addition to the commentary reported above, Thomas Partridge spoke during three other opportunities for public commentary at Wednesday’s meeting. He criticized the commissioners for holding discussions that sounded like corporate insiders talking to each other, rather than talking to the public. The county should find more ways to raise revenue, such as increasing its grant-writing efforts. They shouldn’t neglect animals, but there are families, children and senior citizens who are also abused and neglected, and who need the county’s help. He also advocated for the recall of Republicans and Republican-acting Democrats, and urged the county to provide affordable housing, transportation, education and health care for all residents – and not to outsource those services.

Misc. Comm/Comm: Communications from Commissioners

Rob Turner gave a liaison report from the Washtenaw County road commission. Road commissioners are concerned that the county is considering dropping its membership in the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), and urged the board not to cut that funding, Turner said. The road commission benefits directly from SEMCOG, he said – most of the $1.355 million in benefits that were outlined in a memo to the board from SEMCOG relate to road commission work. [.pdf of SEMCOG memo] Turner reported that the road commission might be willing to pay part of the county’s $125,000 in annual membership dues, and road commissioners are interested in meeting with the county administration to discuss that possibility.

Turner also reported that the Literacy Coalition of Washtenaw County is in a funding crisis. [See Chronicle coverage: "Literacy Coalition Faces Uncertain Future"] The group is asking its member organizations – including the county – to pick up some of the coalition’s work, such as administrative tasks like answering emails and maintaining the coalition website. There was no further discussion about this among commissioners.

Present: Felicia Brabec, Leah Gunn, Ronnie Peterson, Alicia Ping, Wes Prater, Yousef Rabhi, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Conan Smith, Dan Smith, Rob Turner.

Absent: Barbara Bergman.

Next regular board meeting: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [confirm date] (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting.

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Earlier in the meeting, more than two dozen people spoke during public commentary to advocate for a variety of nonprofits that are funded by the county. The 2012-2013 proposed budget calls for $1.2 million in cuts to outside agencies, including several nonprofit groups. [.pdf list of all proposed 2012-2013 outside agency funding] Many supporters spoke on behalf of the Humane Society of Huron Valley (HSHV), which faces a cut from $500,000 in 2011 to $250,000 in 2012-2013. Prior to the meeting, several HSHV supporters picketed in the rain in front of the county administration building, many of them with dogs. Advocates for HSHV had also turned out for an Oct. 13 working session, when commissioners discussed funding for outside agencies.

Final decisions about these and other items in the budget haven’t yet been settled. The board must pass a budget by the end of the year, but has only three more regular meetings scheduled for the year. The budget must first be voted on by the Ways & Means Committee – a committee of the whole board – then voted on a final time at a regular board meeting.

This brief was filed from the boardroom at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow.

Kate Murphy, left, and Anne Alatalo attended the county board's Oct. 13 working session to voice support for funding the Humane Society of Huron Valley. (Photos by the writer.)

HSHV, which is under contract with the county to provide state-mandated animal control services, is among several outside agencies that the county funds. The proposed two-year budget for 2012 and 2013 includes a total of $1.2 million in annual cuts to outside agencies – the county budget would drop HSHV’s annual funding from $500,000 to $250,000. HSHV’s current contract with the county ends on Dec. 31. Some commissioners expressed dismay, but indicated that in light of other pressing needs – like food and shelter for struggling families – the cuts to HSHV are appropriate.

The other outside agency item that received attention on Thursday was the county’s $125,000 membership with the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, as well as $10,000 for water quality work provided by SEMCOG. Paul Tait, SEMCOG’s executive director, attended the meeting with two other staff members to answer questions and urge commissioners to retain their participation in the regional planning group. None of the six other counties who are part of SEMOG are withdrawing their membership, Tait said.

Several other budget cuts are proposed in this category, including a decrease in funding to the Delonis Center homeless shelter (from $160,000 to $25,000) and the Safe House domestic violence shelter (from $96,000 to $48,000). Money for the county’s coordinated funding of human services – targeting six priority areas, including housing and food – will drop by $128,538 (from $1,015,000 to $886,462).

But most of Thursday’s discussion by the board focused on the two areas that received attention during public commentary: SEMCOG and HSHV. In addition, Chuck Warpehoski, director of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, spoke on behalf of 94 co-signers of a letter urging the county to continue funding human services.

The board will also hold a public hearing on the budget at its Oct. 19 meeting, and it’s likely that supporters from other groups will address the board at that time.

Setting the stage for the board’s discussion on Thursday, commissioners got a staff update on the need for basic assistance in the county. It was not encouraging news.

Update on Need for Human Services

Mary Jo Callan, director of the county/city of Ann Arbor office of community development, was asked to give commissioners an update on the demand for food, shelter and other basic needs in Washtenaw County. She’d been part of a presentation on the same issue at the board’s Sept. 8 working session, and began her remarks on Thursday by noting that the news since then isn’t encouraging.

Emergency services like those provided at the county’s Harriet Street community services office or by the Barrier Busters network are in greater demand. There’s been an unprecedented number of calls, Callan said, and state and federal funding is diminished. Local nonprofit agencies are bracing for funding cuts from the county, she said, and the county itself expects cuts in state and federal funds it receives for these services.

Callan reminded commissioners that the state legislature has passed a 48-month lifetime limit for receiving cash assistance from the state Dept. of Human Services (DHS), which was to take effect Oct. 1 and will affect 72 low-income households in Washtenaw County. [By comparison, 6,560 families in Wayne County will be affected.] A court had ruled that people receiving this aid hadn’t been properly notified about the cutoff, so families and individuals got payments in October, but will be cut off on Nov. 1. Each month after that, about 10-12 additional families will be cut off in the county, she said.

The local DHS office has a caseload of 54,000 cases, Callan said. Of those, 40,000 relate to food stamps. DHS has now instituted an asset test for people to qualify for food assistance – you can’t have more than $5,000 in assets, excluding your home. This new layer has added to the difficulty of processing cases and is costing more in staff time than the money it’s saving, Callan said. That, in turn, is impacting local agencies that provide food assistance, like Food Gatherers. [The asset test was criticized in an Oct. 14 opinion piece by three former state budget directors, published in the Detroit News. The writers urged Gov. Rick Snyder's administration to reconsider the test.]

Food Gatherers is also facing severe cuts from some of its funding sources, even as demand increases, Callan said. She noted that the state has eliminated the tax credit for food banks, which will also impact funding.

Regarding the homeless in Washtenaw County, Callan said that last year, 4,700 people were homeless – 55% of those for the first time. Shelters are reporting increased demand compared to last year, but fundraising is more difficult because tax credits for shelters have been eliminated too. The Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, which runs the Delonis Center shelter in Ann Arbor, is reporting that it won’t be able to afford to open its warming center this winter, unless additional funding is raised. [At the Ann Arbor city council's Oct. 17 meeting, $25,000 was authorized to fill in the gap between private donations and the roughly $81,000 budget for the warming center.]

The area’s rent burden remains high, Callan said. The average rent and utilities is about $1,000 per month. For a family of three with an income of $18,500, that means they’re paying about 70% of their income on housing, with only about $500 per month left over for food, clothing and other needs.

Callan said that SOS Community Services has become the single point-of-entry for people seeking housing assistance. [Its housing access phone number is 734-961-1999.] Last week, SOS fielded 195 calls for help with housing – 38% of those were from people facing eviction, 33% were seeking shelter, and 11% were homeless seeking permanent housing. For about half of the calls, the resources weren’t available to help and people were turned away, Callan said.

In summarizing other funding cuts, Callan said that DHS is cutting childcare assistance by 5-15%, and reducing the number of hours covered from 90 to 80 per week. That decrease is especially difficult for parents who must take the bus to work, she said.

Callan also reported that at the end of September, unemployment insurance for more than 800 people in the county expired. About 800 more are expected to time-out in each of the coming months.

She concluded by noting that her office is developing a job training program for the east side of the county, where unemployment is highest. Commissioners can expect to see a fleshed-out proposal at their Nov. 2 meeting.

Outside Agency Funding: Overview

Tina Gavalier of the county’s finance office gave a brief summary of the administration’s budget proposal regarding outside agency funding. To help address a projected $17.5 million two-year budget deficit, the county’s original goal was to cut $1 million from its spending on outside agencies. That category includes dues, agencies that provide human services like housing and childcare, and special initiatives like support for the economic development agency Ann Arbor SPARK. [.pdf list of all outside agency funding]

The proposed budget allocates a total of $1.855 million to outside agencies in 2012 and 2013. That’s down from $3.095 million in 2011 – a $1.2 million decrease per year.

The most dramatic cuts include eliminating the county’s $125,000 annual membership in the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), cutting funding for the Humane Society of Huron Valley’s contract from $500,000 in 2011 to $250,000, and cutting funding to the Delonis Center homeless shelter from $160,000 to $25,000. Funding for the Safe House domestic violence shelter would drop from $96,000 to $48,000.

Also eliminated completely would be payments to the Huron River Watershed Council ($11,892), the NEW Center ($21,000), and the Area Agency on Aging ($23,712). The $200,000 for the county’s reserve for housing would be cut, as would $110,000 for a housing contingency fund. Money for the county’s coordinated funding of human services will drop by $128,538 (from $1,015,000 to $886,462).

The packet of materials for commissioners also included a five-year funding history for outside agencies. [.pdf of five-year funding] In 2006, funding in that category totaled $1.158 million, reaching a high in 2011 of $3.095 million. The proposed $1.855 million would return funding to roughly 2010 levels.

Outside Agency Funding: SEMCOG

The proposed 2012 and 2013 budget proposes eliminating the county’s $125,000 membership with the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, as well as $10,000 for water quality work provided by SEMCOG.

Outside Agency Funding: SEMCOG – Public Commentary

Paul Tait, executive director for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), told commissioners that he understood they had difficult decisions to make – these are not easy times. He referenced the memo he had sent to the board outlining benefits of SEMCOG membership. [.pdf of Tait's letter] Because of the agency’s ability to leverage regional economies of scale to obtain federal grants, he said, they are able to return value to the county 10 times in excess of the county’s dues. [The memo lists items totaling $1,355,500 that SEMCOG brings to Washtenaw County, including data collection, and work developing commuter rail and the Detroit Regional Aerotropolis.] Tait noted that the county’s dues to SEMCOG have actually dropped by 13% in recent years.

Washtenaw County is part of the region, Tait said – 35% of workers in the county commute here from other areas, and nearly 24% of Washtenaw County residents commute to jobs in nearby counties. Washtenaw County officials need to be at the table, he said. It’s also an investment in the county’s future, he said, and he urged commissioners to retain their membership.

Outside Agency Funding: Commissioner Discussion – SEMCOG

Wes Prater asked Tait to answer some questions. Referring to Tait’s list of services that SEMCOG provides, Prater noted that it states the county would pay $325,000 for activities that SEMCOG now does related to developing commuter rail from Ann Arbor to Detroit. If the county drops its SEMCOG membership, who’ll pick up that cost? Prater asked.

County commissioner Yousef Rabhi, right, chairs the board's working sessions. At right, Paul Tait, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, lobbied for the county to continue its membership in SEMCOG.

Tait said that SEMCOG has taken the lead on that project, along with the Michigan Dept. of Transportation. SEMCOGS been doing it on a shoestring since there’s been no dedicated funding, he said, but the project is close to getting federal dollars. By early 2012, there might even be demo service, he said. The project needs a champion, Tait said, and he didn’t know who would fill that role if SEMCOG didn’t.

Prater said he was concerned about dropping membership. He questioned whether the county would need to get certified in order to receive certain federal transportation grants – would the county road commission be capable of that? He felt there needed to be more of a conversation about the implications of leaving SEMCOG.

County administrator Verna McDaniel said she’d continue discussions with SEMCOG executives and county commissioners on the issue.

Ronnie Peterson noted that SEMCOG is one of the few organizations that puts multiple local governments in the same room, including six other counties as well as townships and cities. He asked whether other counties are cutting their memberships. No, Tait said – only Washtenaw County is considering that. Tait added that SEMCOG would continue to provide services to local municipalities within the county that are also members, like Ann Arbor. But it’s the regional, long-term efforts – like commuter rail – that benefit from having county officials at the table, he said.

Peterson requested seeing a 10-year list of services that SEMCOG has provided to the county. It’s more than just transportation, he said. Tait replied that SEMCOG works with the county’s water resources commissioner on various projects, and provides discounted aerial photography, among a host of other services.

Peterson said he can’t imagine walking way with six other counties in the room. What would be the substitute for regional planning? he asked.

Yousef Rabhi said the ultimate question is this: If the board decides to keep the $125,000 membership, then where will that amount be cut elsewhere in the budget? Peterson replied that the buck stops with the board, not the administration. The board is responsible for dealing with the budget, and they need all the facts they can get before making a decision about SEMCOG.

Rabhi noted that the budget discussion certainly will continue, regarding SEMCOG and all other items. He’s been attending SEMCOG meetings on behalf of the board since he was elected, and one value is being part of a regional conversation that includes Detroit, Oakland County and Macomb County, among others. They don’t always agree, but it’s a productive conversation. If Washtenaw County decides to remain a member, Rabhi added, there are ways to derive more benefits than they currently are. SEMCOG offers services like training programs and workshops that they could take more advantage of, he said. But ultimately, it’s about finding the money.

Prater told his board colleagues that if there’s value in SEMCOG, he didn’t want to lose that opportunity. They needed more information before deciding to withdraw.

Alicia Ping suggested perhaps withdrawing membership for a couple of years, then rejoining. It’s not like the whole county would go without SEMCOG’s services, she said – other municipalities are members, too.

Later in the meeting, Dan Smith recalled that Gov. Rick Snyder had proposed legislation regarding the creation of metro governments. He said he hadn’t heard anything about it recently, but that might serve as an alternative to SEMCOG.

By way of background, Snyder outlined his proposal for metropolitan authorities in a March 21, 2011 message regarding community development and local government reforms. An excerpt:

We should permit open minds across the state to not only enter into collaborations, but to consolidate governmental units and activities as appropriate in their respective communities. The final decision regarding such consolidation should be left at the local level, but the consideration of such consolidation must not be prevented or discouraged by state government. I will support new legislation that permits the establishment of metropolitan government as a metropolitan authority in Michigan. Under such legislation, existing county government would be superseded by the new metropolitan government, with all the functions of the county and city government performed instead by the metropolitan government. In addition, the legislative and executive powers of the city would be transferred to the metropolitan government.

I want to emphasize again that such legislation cannot and should not be mandatory. Rather, it should be drafted in a way that permits broader discussion about consolidation at the local level.

Outside Agency Funding: Humane Society, Human Services

Several human services agencies that receive support from the county are facing cuts in the proposed 2012 and 2013 budget. In addition, the Humane Society of Huron Valley, which is under contract with the county to provide state-mandated animal control services, is slated for a cut in annual funding from $500,000 to $250,000. HSHV’s current contract with the county ends on Dec. 31.

Outside Agency Funding: HSHV, Human Services – Public Commentary

Six people spoke on behalf of the Humane Society of Huron Valley (HSHV), and one person spoke on behalf of 94 others in the community who signed a letter of support for human services funding.

Kate Murphy said she lives in Livingston County so she doesn’t have the opportunity to vote for or against any of the commissioners. But she does spend a substantial percentage of her entertainment and charitable giving budget in Washtenaw County, she said, adding that she hoped that gave her some standing for her comments. She also noted that her experience as a former administrator at Michigan State University and as someone who ran for public office makes her aware of the financial challenges that the county faces. Even so, the proposed 50% cut to HSHV funding “seems beyond drastic to me.”

At least two commissioners appear to be under the impression that there’s no mandate to fund services for abandoned and abused animals, Murphy said, but that’s wrong. If the funding cuts go through, who will take care of the 4,500 abandoned and abused animals that were rescued by HSHV last year? She wanted to hear their plans. Murphy gave examples of three dogs who had been saved by HSHV, and asked what would have become of them otherwise.  She also noted that in Livingston County, a pack of wild dogs have attacked and killed two people – dogs left in the wild will form packs, and it’s dangerous. She urged commissioners to rethink cuts to the HSHV contract.

Jerry Nordblom of Webster Township noted that he’s a volunteer for seven local nonprofits, including HSHV. He told commissioners that a raccoon had come onto the deck of his house and was dying – he called the humane society and they came out within an hour, took the animal back to their facility and put it out of its misery. Nordblom also described the saga of a dog named Brownie, who was beaten with a tire iron and dumped by a man who also abused his girlfriend. The man, who at that time was out on parole for another crime, eventually pled guilty to a charge of animal torture – a felony.

Nordblom said the humane society helped him prepare a victim impact statement for the dog, describing how animal abuse is a symptom of the same pathological problem that leads to other violent crimes. Judge Schwartz agreed with him vigorously, Norblum said, and gave the maximum sentence. Meanwhile, Brownie has been renamed and is now a trained therapy dog, visiting nursing homes and children in schools. Nordblom said when he joked in an email that the dog would be available to commissioners for therapy, he didn’t mean to imply that they had dementia or acted like children.

Jo-Anne Julius of Pittsfield Township said she’s one of more than 500 volunteers for HSHV, and worked for them when the nonprofit was still operating out of a “shanty,” before its new facility was built. The buildings had been deplorable but the care was stellar, she said. Julius encouraged commissioners to visit the new facility, saying that it’s not a place where animals go to die. The kill rate is 18% – the lowest in the state.

Customer service is a priority, and she’s proud to be part of it, Julius said. Children and neighborhoods are safe because of HSHV’s animal control service. There are families that are having their homes foreclosed and can’t keep their pets. Who will they call? Who’ll take the 1,200 calls each year for help with abandoned and injured animals or diseased wildlife? It will fall to the county, she said. Julius said she wouldn’t mind paying more taxes to support such an efficient, essential organization. Please uphold the county’s end of the contract, she said.

Heather Karschner of Ann Arbor told commissioners that she works in the nonprofit sector and understands the challenges that the county faces. Some causes will inevitably lose funding. But HSHV is a smart investment, she said. It’s an innovative, effective organization with one of the highest save rates in the state. They take care of basic services, and conduct about 500 cruelty investigations each year. Working for them as a volunteer, Karschner said she can attest that there’s not a lot of waste in the organization. They use their resources well, their workers are dedicated, and the volunteers equal about 17 full-time workers, she said.

Anne Alatalo, a Superior Township resident, said she adopted her first pet from the humane society in 1957 – she’s a lifelong county resident. What message are they giving if the county doesn’t support this service? she asked. She’s especially concerned about cruelty cases. HSHV has a room full of unadoptable cats who were rescued from a hoarder, she said. It’s important to be compassionate. Alatalo also noted that many people believe HSHV gets funding from other sources, like the federal government, the U.S. Humane Society or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). They don’t, she said. What’s more, the $500,000 from the county is something that HSHV has counted on in its planning – she urged commissioners to continue their support.

John Koselka identified himself as an attorney and Scio Township resident. He said he reviewed a recent article about the county’s funding for HSHV, noting there were some incorrect statements. The county is not giving a charitable contribution to HSHV – it’s paying a low amount for services that the county is mandated to provide. If the county provided those same services, rather than contract with HSHV, it would cost much more, he said. The HSHV estimates that it would cost the county $1.5 million annually to provide the mandated services itself – and that doesn’t include the cost of building a facility. If HSHV tells the county it can’t provide the services for $250,000, then what?

There are about 10 cruelty cases every year, and the county must house those animals in a humane way until the court case is over, Koselka said. Who will do that? What if the county had to house 350 animals at a private facility for $12 per day, with an average stay of 90 days? He noted that last year the county paid $180,000 for two animal control officers. But mostly what they do is pick up animals and drop them off at HSHV, he said.

Though she did not attend Thursday’s working session, HSHV executive director Tanya Hilgendorf had prepared a six-page letter earlier this month that responded to the proposed cuts. [.pdf of Hilgendorf's letter] In part, the letter states:

When
 we
 were 
planning
 to 
build 
our 
new
 animal
 shelter, our
 contract 
with 
the
 County 
was 
$200,000 
annually
 for
these 
services 
–
  a 
level 
we
 knew
 we
 absolutely 
could 
not
sustain 
going 
forward. 

Therefore, 
we
 offered 
the 
County 
the
 option 
to 
either 
pay 
us 
a 
fair 
amount
 closer 
to 
actual 
costs 
or 
to 
make 
plans 
to 
build 
and 
run
 their 
own
 animal 
control 
facility.

 This 
was 
a 
very 
important 
turning 
point.

 HSHV 
would 
have
 needed 
a 
shelter 
only
 half 
the
 size 
and
 half 
the
 cost 
if 
we 
weren’t 
providing 
contracted 
County
 services.

Then 
County 
Administrator
 Bob
 Guenzel
 and 
the 
Board 
of
 Commissioners 
said
 unequivocally
 they
 did
 not 
want 
to
 provide 
this 
service 
themselves
 and
 understood 
the
 vast
 cost 
savings 
and 
benefits 
to
 the 
community 
in 
this
 contractual 
arrangement – a
 clear
 win/win.
 As
 such,
 we
 kindly
 agreed
 to 
a 
multi‐year, 
incremental
 strategy
 that
allowed 
the 
County
 to
 increase 
our 
contract 
over
 four
 years 
until 
finally 
reaching 
$500,000 
in 
2010.
 After
 that,
 we
 agreed
 that 
HSHV 
would 
get
 an 
annual
 cost 
of 
living 
increase 
so 
that 
in
 10 
years 
we
 would 
not 
find 
ourselves 
in 
the
 same 
compromising
 financial 
position.

Last week 
the 
County 
Commissioners unilaterally 
changed
 that 
agreement 
without
 renegotiation
 or 
even 
notifying
 the 
HSHV.
 So 
today, 
we 
are
 at
 another 
crossroads 
and 
the
 County 
will
 need
 to 
decide
 whether 
they 
want 
to 
provide
 HSHV 
fair 
payment
 for 
services 
rendered 
or 
they
 want 
to 
provide 
some 
or 
all 
of
 the
 services 
themselves.

The HSHV board president Michael Walsh has also sent a letter to commissioners, stating that the humane society’s board and staff were shocked to hear of the funding cuts. [.pdf of Walsh's letter] Attachments to the letter included (1) a financial and legal analysis by HSHV of the services it provides to the county; (2) a May 1, 2008 letter from then-county administrator Bob Guenzel to University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman, which references a 10-year contract with HSHV; and (3) a chart comparing the cost of animal control services provided by HSHV compared to other counties.

Speaking in support of human services funding, Chuck Warpehoski, director of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, told commissioners on Thursday that he was there on behalf of 94 co-signers of a letter urging the county to continue funding human services. [.pdf of joint letter] The letter makes three points, he said. It thanks the county for supporting the social safety net, which is important for the community. It acknowledges that the commissioners have difficult decisions ahead. For his final point, Warpehoski unfurled the letter with the 94 signatures, and asked that the county not balance its budget on the backs of the poor.

The commissioners are hearing from groups like SEMCOG, which says it does important work, he noted. But it’s also important that children whose parents have lost their jobs have food on the table, he said. Yes, it’s important that the humane society takes care of animals that have suffered abuse, but it’s also important the Safe House can provide support for victims of domestic violence. Warpehoski urged commissioners to continue their support for human services.

Outside Agency Funding: HSHV, Human Services – Commissioner Discussion

Barbara Bergman said her first concern is for the well-being of children and families in this county. There’s a real food scarcity, and whenever anyone asks her what they can do to help, she tells them to write a check to their local food bank.

Bergman said she grew up on a farm in Livingston County and has had a dog almost all of her adult life, though she doesn’t have one now. She knows that rogue animals present a serious problem, but it’s also a problem if children don’t get the support they need – they sometimes grow up and do horrible things, she said, even though they don’t bite.

She noted that humans are the singular beings who understand their own mortality. Her dogs did not understand that, when she’s had to put them down. The animals don’t deserve to suffer. She described one dog she had that was “snarky” – whenever she left it with sitters, she made sure they understood that their safety came first.

The county’s contract with HSHV ends on Dec. 31 of this year, Bergman noted. The county previously had offered a 10-year contract, but the humane society didn’t want that, she said. Bergman said she’ll be among those commissioners who’ll ask the county administration to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for the animal control services that are mandated by the state. She’s pleased that the HSHV doesn’t kill animals unless forced to, but if it’s a choice between that and supporting families, then it’s really no choice.

Bergman said she doesn’t know what the county will be able to buy for $250,000, but they should find out. It probably won’t be luxurious for animals, and she’s sorry about that. It will be humane, but they probably won’t be able to save as many animals as they have in the past. But again, she said, animals don’t have intimations of mortality. And on a hierarchy of needs, she said, the needs that take priority are those supported by the 94 people who signed a letter of support for human services.

Alicia Ping described this meeting as the worst one she’s attended in her 12 years of public services. [Prior to her election in 2010 as county commissioner, Ping served on the Saline city council.] Unfortunately, when you allocate money, people get used to that level of funding, she said. And now, the money isn’t there. The humane society funding is what bothers her most, she said, because she’s passionate for those who can’t speak for themselves – animals and children. It was breaking her heart, but they needed to fund immediate needs more so than initiatives that are farther out, like SEMCOG. She noted that the county can’t even afford to repair its roads.

Dan Smith observed that in looking at the five-year funding levels, some of the 2012-2013 recommendations are simply taking funding levels back to what they were three or four years ago. While severe, that’s the reality that the county is facing, and nobody likes it. He also noted that Act 88 restricts the uses on which millage proceeds can be used – it’s for economic development and agriculture, and can’t support human services.

Yousef Rabhi said the funding cuts aren’t just numbers – they represent people, and animals. For him, the funding cuts to the Delonis Center and to coordinated funding stood out, because those areas support people who are facing challenges. The Delonis shelter funding is being proposed to drop from $160,000 to $25,000. “To me, that’s wrong,” Rabhi said. [Coordinated funding – the county's share of pooled resources with the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw United Way and the Washtenaw Urban County, to fund prioritized human services – would drop from $1.015 million this year to $886,462 in 2012 and 2013.]

Rabhi said he’d rather see the county eliminate its $26,230 annual dues to the Michigan Association of Counties. It’s better to spend that money on coordinated funding or services for the homeless, he said. The county already hires a lobbyist in Lansing to advocate for the county’s specific interests, he said, and it’s not clear that the more general advocacy that MAC provides is necessary. [At its Oct. 5 meeting, the board gave initial approval of a two-year contract renewal for Governmental Consultant Services Inc. – lobbyist Kirk Profit is a director of the Lansing-based firm. A final vote on the contract is expected on Oct. 19.]

Bergman also said she questioned the county’s membership in the National Association of Counties, but she didn’t see the dues listed in the budget. She agreed with Ping – these are difficult times. Bergman said the state needs a progressive income tax – people like her, who live in the lap of luxury compared to most of the world, should pay more, she said.

Ronnie Peterson wanted to know the specifics of the county’s contract with the Humane Society of Huron Valley. Was the county fulfilling its end? He also wondered who would provide those services, if HSHV did not. It’s one thing to talk about funding, he said, but first the board needs to talk about their obligations. County administrator Verna McDaniel said she’d provide that information to the board. [.pdf of current contract]

By way of background, the county’s corporation counsel, Curtis Hedger, prepared a memo of points related to the county’s relationship with HSHV that had been emailed to commissioners the previous day, on Oct. 12. [.pdf of Hedger's memo] Points made in the memo include:

• There is no mandate in the state Dog Law of 1919 indicating how long a county must hold a stray or unlicensed dog before it may be euthanized.
• The county is not responsible for stray cats, raccoons or any other species of animal.
• Under the Dangerous Animals Act (MCLA 287.321 et seq), a dangerous animal may be ordered by a court to be placed in a facility, including a humane society building, pending the outcome of the legal proceeding involving that animal. The owner, however, not the county or Humane Society, is financially responsible for the boarding of the animal during this period.
• The county paid $1 million toward the $7.5 million cost of the new HSHV facility, and issued bonds for the remaining $6.5 million. HSHV is making payments on those bonds, and is saving $682,000 over the seven-year repayment of the bond because the county’s bond ratings resulted in lower interest rates.
• Funding to HSHV from the county over the past decade has ranged from $159,000 in 2001 to $500,000 in 2011.
• In the fall of 2007, the county discussed funding the HSHV via a 10-year contract beginning in 2008 with the HSHV receiving $300,000 in 2008, $400,000 in 2009 and $500,000 per year for the remainder of the contract, with a 3% cost of living increase per year. However, the board never approved a 10-year contract and instead continued to execute 2-year contracts with the HSHV – including the current one that expires at the end of 2011. HSHV did not object when the proposed 10-year deal did not materialize in 2008, and agreed to the 2-year deal.

Peterson said he didn’t blame the county administration for proposing the HSHV cuts, but someone else had suggested it and it wasn’t him – his fingerprints aren’t on it, he said. HSHV supporters wouldn’t be sending emails to commissioners if this proposal had previously been discussed in public view, he said. If that had happened, the board wouldn’t have to face this “embarrassment of protests,” he said. When had this been deliberated? If it happened in private, that troubled him.

The HSHV is highly praised throughout the state and is a model for other organizations, he said. The relationship with the county needs to be clarified by the corporation counsel, he added. Hedger “does work for the board, doesn’t he?” Peterson asked.

McDaniel replied that she and her staff would provide detailed information to commissioners, but she cautioned against relying on verbal legal opinion. The reason to provide the corporation counsel’s legal opinion in writing is that it gives him the opportunity to conduct thorough research, she said.

Peterson argued that the HSHV contract should have been provided to the board in its meeting packet of materials. The board needs to be clear on what the relationship is, before voting on the budget. He said he’s independent in his thinking, “unbossed and uncontrolled” – and he likes it that way. HSHV and SEMCOG provide services that can’t be found elsewhere, yet they’ve been lumped into the same category as other types of funding, he said.

Peterson also said he wants to revisit the way the county handles coordinated funding. [The coordinated funding approach was approved unanimously by the board earlier this year, though Peterson has previously expressed reservations about the process. It involves a partnership of the county, city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw United Way and other entities to award funding based on a set of community priorities. The six priorities are housing/homelessness, aging, school-aged youth, children from birth to six, health safety net, and food. The process is managed by the office of community development, a joint county/city of Ann Arbor department. For an overview, see Chronicle coverage: "Coordinated Funding for Nonprofits Planned"]

There will never be enough money, Peterson said, but the current system pits HSHV against other agencies – and the humane society will never win if they’re competing against food for children. The county needs to sit down with representatives from the University of Michigan, United Way, the chamber of commerce and other entities to address this problem, he said. Literacy is another important need, he said.

Bergman clarified with Hedger that the commissioners had been sent a communication about the HSHV contract status. Hedger replied that he also planned to follow-up with additional research.

Rabhi said it’s unfortunate they’ve come to this point. The budget decisions are obviously difficult, and many people have taken cuts – county employees, the Delonis Center, Safe House and others, he noted. No one on the board is an animal hater, he said. There is a state mandate for the county to provide certain animal control services, he said, and he wanted to find out exactly what that mandate is, and how much it should cost the county. After that basic service is provided – via HSHV or another entity – then the county can look at doing something beyond that, if they want, he said.

Rabhi also noted that this discussion needed to be held in the context of the long-term support that the county has provided HSHV. That includes giving the nonprofit $1 million toward construction of the new facility, and issuing the bonds – saving nearly $700,000 off the cost of the debt. That’s all in addition to annual financial allocations in the budget, he said. He’s proud of that relationship, but he doesn’t like it when HSHV supporters talk about walking away from it if they don’t get as much money as they want. ”Put the guns down,” he said. “We can work together.”

Peterson said it’s not about the funding – it’s about the contractual agreement. Your word should be your bond, he said – that’s integrity, and it would matter to him in determining how he’ll vote.

Outside Agency Funding: Agriculture & Economic Development

Alicia Ping asked several questions related to the Food Systems Economic Partners (FSEP). The county has allocated $15,000 for the organization. What does FSEP do? she asked. County administrator Verna McDaniel described it as an excellent program providing support for the regional food network, and said she could provide more detailed information if Ping wanted it.

McDaniel noted that FSEP is funded by the county with proceeds from the Act 88 millage. [At its Sept. 21, 2011 meeting, the board voted to levy 0.05 mills for support of economic development and agriculture. The millage is expected to raise $688,913 – much of it will be used to fund Ann Arbor SPARK, the area's economic development agency. Jennifer Fike, FSEP's executive director, spoke during public commentary at the Sept. 21 meeting as well as other board meetings this year. Because the Michigan statute that authorizes this millage predates the state’s Headlee Amendment, it can be approved by the board without a voter referendum. Ping voted against the Act 88 levy.]

Ping asked whether FSEP feeds anyone, or does it help children get access to healthier food. McDaniel replied that the agency provides agricultural-related education and training, and that one of its missions is to support work like the Farm to School program.

Ping also asked about funding for the law library – $12,400 annually. McDaniel said that’s a state-mandated service that the county must provide, giving access to legal research for local attorneys. [The library is located next to the Washtenaw County Bar Association office in the county courthouse at 101 N. Huron in Ann Arbor. It has two computers with access to several legal research databases.] In response to a query from Ping, McDaniel said she didn’t know if the library is open to the general public.

Ping then objected to increased funding for Ann Arbor SPARK – from $200,000 to $230,000. McDaniel said it wasn’t actually an increase, but that $30,000 had dropped off from another county funding source, so the Act 88 millage was adjusted to cover that amount. The administration felt it was critical to continue employment-related funding. Ping said she opposed the Act 88 millage, and said that everyone was experiencing cuts – SPARK should be no different.

Dan Smith agreed with a comment that Barbara Bergman had made earlier in the meeting – he encouraged residents to write checks to causes that they support. Most of the county’s revenues come from property taxes, he noted, and property values have declined. His own house is worth 20% less than when he bought it 11 years ago. That’s great for him personally since he has to pay lower taxes, he said, but that’s also why the county is facing cuts.

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Ronnie Peterson, Alicia Ping, Wes Prater, Yousef Rabhi, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Dan Smith.

Absent: Leah Gunn, Conan Smith, Rob Turner.

Next regular board meeting: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [confirm date] (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting.

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Ann Arbor city administrator Steve Powers talks with Washtenaw County administrator Verna McDaniel before the Oct. 5 meeting of the county board of commissioners. Powers, who started his job in mid-September and was formerly a Marquette County administrator, told the board he looked forward to building more collaborative efforts between the city and county. (Photos by the writer.)

The proposal debated by the board came from the Washtenaw County road commission. Rob Turner (R-District 1) recommended indefinite postponement. He objected to the idea of levying a millage without voter approval – an action that road commissioners believe is possible under a 1909 law. It’s still on the books but that hasn’t been used in decades.

Ultimately, the board voted to postpone action until their Dec. 7 meeting. The next evening – on Thursday, Oct. 6 – they held a working session on the issue.

In other business, the board gave initial approval to a contract with Sylvan Township, related to its bond repayment schedule, which the township is struggling to meet. The county will be tapping its reserves to help the township cover the bond payments, but the deal is contingent on township voters passing a 4.75 mill, 20-year tax that’s on the November 2011 ballot.

The board also took an initial vote to create a new management position and hire Greg Dill into that job – as county infrastructure management director. The job is part of a broader reorganization of county administration, which hasn’t yet been approved by the board.

Accolades were threaded throughout the meeting, as the county handed out its annual Environmental Excellence Awards to several local organizations. Praise was also served up to Lansing lobbyist Kirk Profit for his work on the county’s behalf. That praise included initial approval of a two-year contract renewal for Governmental Consultant Services Inc. – Profit is a director of the Lansing-based firm.

The board also said an official farewell to Kristin Judge, a Democrat from District 7 who resigned her seat, and was attending her last board meeting.

Introduction: Ann Arbor City Administrator

At the start of Wednesday’s meeting, county administrator Verna McDaniel introduced her counterpart at the city of Ann Arbor, Steve Powers, who started the job as city administrator on Sept. 15. Powers told commissioners that it felt good to be back at a county meeting – he’d spent most of his career in county government, including the past 15 years as county administrator in Marquette County.

Powers said that McDaniel, as county administrator, was one of the first people he had wanted to get to know when he came to town. He came from a place where cooperation was a necessity, and it’s clearly a necessity in Washtenaw County too, he said. Powers cited several examples of how cooperation is already taking place between the city of Ann Arbor and the county, including police dispatch operations, the joint office of community & economic development, and natural areas preservation. He said he looked forward to building on those efforts, to better serve citizens and manage the tax dollars entrusted to local government.

Road Repair Millage?

The item on Wednesday’s agenda that received the most discussion related to a county road repair plan – and the potential for a millage to fund it. The idea of a millage was put forward by the Washtenaw County road commission.

The board had initially discussed this issue at its Sept. 8 working session, and it was expected to be on the agenda for the Sept. 20 meeting. But it wasn’t until Sept. 23 that the road commission formally submitted its plan to the county clerk’s office outlining road improvements. The plan was then brought forward as an item of discussion on Oct. 5. However, no resolution related to the topic was proposed, and no member of the road commission attended Wednesday’s meeting.

At issue is how the board should respond to the road commission’s plan. One option would be to levy an 0.6 mill tax, which is now estimated to raise $8.7 million for a raft of road improvement projects countywide. [.pdf of projects list] [.pdf of map showing project locations] Road commissioners believe the millage could be levied under Public Act 283 of 1909. Because that act pre-dates the state’s Headlee Amendment, it could be levied by the board and would not require voter approval.

Wes Prater began the discussion by proposing that the board table the item. It’s important to communicate what’s happening with the road commission, he said, and that discussion needs to take place at a public meeting before the board takes action.

It’s ultimately the county’s responsibility to provide funding for roads, Prater said. Yet it’s been nearly two years since the board met with the road commission to talk about it. The road commission is getting the same amount of state funding as it did in 2000, Prater said. It’s struggling like everyone else, and many county roads and bridges are in bad shape. This needs to be discussed, he concluded.

Alicia Ping observed that the information given to the board was different than what some communities have received. At least one community had been told that all the millage proceeds collected from their community would be spent on projects there, but it turned out that no projects on the final list were located there, she said. [Ping did not specify which municipality she was referring to.]

There’s no question that some county roads need to be fixed, Ping said, but residents should be the ones voting on a millage.

Barbara Bergman said if she’s going to tax citizens and must choose between funding services for the homeless and children, for example, or filling potholes, then the choice was clear to her. She couldn’t support a millage for roads.

Ronnie Peterson separated out two issues: Communication with the road commission, and funding for county roads. The road commission has presented a plan, and now it’s up to the board to decide how to proceed, he said. They should have a dialogue in the public eye, he said. Finding a funding mechanism should come after a report on the condition of the roads, Peterson said.

Board chair Conan Smith said there’d been some back and forth about setting up a meeting with road commissioners, and he apologized for not following up on it. Regardless of the millage issue, the board needs to start working more closely with the road commissioners, he said.

From left: Commissioners Yousef Rabhi (D-District 11) and Rob Turner (R-District 1).

Rob Turner, who serves as the board’s liaison to the road commission, thanked Smith for apologizing. There’s been some miscommunication and misunderstanding, he said. The board needs to make time to meet with the road commissioners, and road commissioners have expressed the desire to do that. The board needs to hear about the conditions of county roads and bridges, and future funding needs.

However, Turner said, since news about the possible millage has spread, he’s heard from people of all walks of life who are very concerned that a millage might be levied without voter approval. There are also split opinions among officials of local townships, he said.

Turner said he supports road repair, but doesn’t support this approach to funding it. He then moved to postpone the road commission’s proposal indefinitely, and to encourage the road commission to work toward funding the projects with a voter-approved millage or millages.

Prater responded by saying Turner was jumping the gun – the board hadn’t yet discussed the proposal with the road commission. Postponing action until a specific date was fine, Prater added, but he didn’t support getting rid of the proposal completely.

Dan Smith agreed that indefinite postponement was premature. He said he had planned to suggest postponing it until the board’s Nov. 2 meeting.

Conan Smith asked a procedural question: Didn’t the board have to vote the proposal up or down? Curtis Hedger, the county’s corporation counsel, replied that this is the first time a county has considered this particular law in roughly 40 years, so in some ways they’re winging it. Hedger’s reading of the law is that after the road improvement plan is presented to the board, commissioners can do whatever they want – approve it, reject it, pick only certain projects out of the list and levy a lower amount to cover the costs of those projects, or find another funding source.

Hedger noted that if the board delays action much longer, the county wouldn’t be able to include the levy on the December tax bills – assuming they wanted to levy the millage this year.

Kristin Judge said she disagreed with Turner. It’s important to address this now, she said. The board is an oversight body for the road commission – the board doesn’t control the road commission’s budget, but it does appoint the road commissioners, she noted. In her last newsletter, Judge said, she conducted a poll about the millage. Even constituents who are generally anti-tax seemed supportive of it, she said. Good roads are key to economic development, but the state isn’t providing sufficient funding. “To me, it’s an infrastructure question,” she said.

She felt the county could push the envelope on this issue. Judge also expressed frustration that the road commissioners hadn’t been scheduled for a meeting with the county board so far. She said she knew the road commissioners had wanted to come, but they hadn’t been put on an agenda – that’s an issue, she said. She would not support indefinite postponement.

Bergman said roads might be the county’s responsibility, but it’s yet another unfunded mandate from the state.

Turner said he appreciated Judge’s comments and he also wants the roads maintained. But this “ancient law” isn’t the way to do it. He felt it would be wrong to bring road commissioners to a meeting if he had no intention of supporting a millage. If the road commission comes with a more viable alternative – that he might vote for – then that’s fine.

Judge countered that it’s important to have this debate in public – and her board colleagues shouldn’t assume that they know the outcome of a vote. They shouldn’t stand in the way of a public debate on an issue of such importance to residents.

Dan Smith asked about procedure – is postponing indefinitely just another way of voting no? Hedger replied that there wasn’t a main motion to vote on. The agenda item had been a discussion point, not a resolution. The county administration didn’t want to presume to know what the board would want to do, he said, “so it’s now in your lap.” The motion to postpone indefinitely would have the effect of killing it, Hedger said. If commissioners vote to do that, the issue could be reconsidered in the future if it’s brought forward by someone on the prevailing side of the vote, he said.

After some additional commentary by Peterson, who supported having a public discussion with the road commission, Prater moved to “call the question” – a procedural move that forces a vote.

Outcome on Turner’s motion to postpone indefinitely: The motion was rejected on a 3-7 vote, with support only from Turner, Barbara Bergman (D-District 8) and Conan Smith (D-District 10). Leah Gunn (D-District 9) was absent.

At that point, Rolland Sizemore Jr. suspended discussion to handle other items on the agenda, including the Environmental Excellence Awards – several people were on hand to accept those awards, and had been waiting while the board conducted other business.

Later in the meeting, when the discussion resumed, Dan Smith moved to postpone the item until the board’s Dec. 7 meeting, and that it be scheduled as the topic of a working session at some point before that date.

Yousef Rabhi, who chairs the board’s working session, said he had tentatively scheduled the road commission for the Oct. 6 working session, pending the outcome of the board’s discussion on Wednesday. His only question about the Dec. 7 date is whether it’s too late for putting a millage on the December tax bill, if that’s what the board decides to do.

Dan Smith said they needed to think through the issue, indicating that they shouldn’t rush to make a decision based on the timing of the tax bill.

Peterson said he wished Dan Smith had made that proposal an hour ago – it would have saved the board some time. And if there’s an intent to kill the proposal on Dec. 7, that should be stated, he said. It’s just a report, he said, and the board needs to deal with it.

Sizemore expressed some reluctance to hold the working session so soon. He said he wanted to get some documents under the Freedom of Information Act before meeting with the road commission.

At that, Prater called the question.

Outcome: The motion to postpone the road commission proposal until Dec. 7 passed on a 9-1 vote, with dissent from Alicia Ping (R-District 3). Leah Gunn (D-District 9) was absent.

Later in the meeting, Sizemore urged anyone who was watching the meeting to contact the road commission and give them input. He provided the web address and phone number: www.wcroads.org and 734-761-1500.

The topic was on the agenda for the Oct. 6 working session, which was attended by road commissioner Ken Schwartz and Roy Townsend, the road commission’s director of engineering.

Sylvan Township Bond Repayment Contract

At Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners were asked to give initial approval to a contract with Sylvan Township related to the township’s bond repayment schedule. The township has been struggling to make payments on $12.5 million in bonds issued in 2001 to build a water and wastewater treatment plant intended to serve future development. The township expected that connection fees would cover payments for the bond, which is backed by the county’s full faith and credit. But the development never materialized. [More extensive background on the situation is provided in a staff memo that was part of the board's packet of material for the Oct. 3 meeting.]

Sylvan Township – located west of Ann Arbor, near Chelsea – is now facing default on its bond payment in May 2012, which the county will need to cover. The township board voted to put a proposal for a 4.75 mill, 20-year tax on the November 2011 ballot for township residents, with proceeds to pay a portion of the bond payments.

The millage proceeds alone would not be sufficient to cover the entire cost of the bond payments, and the county would need to tap its own capital reserves to cover the remaining amount. After the entire bond is repaid, the millage proceeds would continue to be used to repay the county to cover the amount used from its capital reserves, as well as interest. The millage proceeds would also be used to repay the county treasurer’s office, which advanced about $1.2 million to the township in 2007 and 2008 related to this project.

The contract between the county and township is contingent on voters passing the 4.75 mill tax. If the millage fails and the township defaults, the county could file suit against the township for breach of contract in failing to meet its debt repayment obligation, according to a staff memo. The county would also need to make the bond payments, to avoid having its bond rating negatively affected.

Sylvan Township Bond Repayment Contract: Commissioner Discussion

This issue has been discussed several times over the past year, most recently in a report by commissioner Rob Turner at the board’s Sept. 7, 2011 meeting. Turner represents District 1 on the county’s west side, which includes Sylvan Township.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Yousef Rabhi asked how much the county would be paying on an annual basis. Curtis Hedger, the county’s corporation counsel, pointed Rabhi to supplemental materials provided at the meeting, which laid out the repayment schedule. Sylvan Township’s portion of the bon payments – using millage proceeds – start at $853,860 in 2012, with the county contributing $118,498. The estimates for county payments vary, reaching a high $262,414 in 2023. The bond will be repaid in 2026. For five years after that, all millage proceeds will be paid directly to the county, to repay the county’s contribution from previous years.

Hedger said the estimates for millage proceeds were calculated for the worst-case scenario – that is, for zero percent growth in property value.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously gave initial approval to the contract with Sylvan Township, contingent on township residents passing a 20-year, 4.75 mill tax in November. A final vote on the resolution is expected at the board’s Oct. 19 meeting.

Contract Renewal for Lansing Lobbyist

Commissioners were asked to give initial approval to renew a two-year contract with Governmental Consultant Services Inc., a Lansing-based lobbying firm. The contract would run from  Nov. 1, 2011 through Oct. 31, 2013 at $54,250 per year. That’s the same rate that the county currently pays, and is already built into the proposed 2012-2013 budget. [.pdf of draft contract]

GCSI lobbyist Kirk Profit attended Wednesday’s meeting. He and his colleagues most recently gave a formal update to the board at their March 2, 2011 meeting. GCSI provides lobbying services at the state level for several local units of government, including the city of Ann Arbor.

County administrator Verna McDaniel noted that commissioners had been given a list of issues that GCSI had worked on for the county, and said that GCSI staff have been very helpful and responsive. From the staff memo recommending GCSI’s contract renewal:

GCSI has, on numerous occasions, been able to cut through the red tape and arrange for County officials to meet with various hard to reach members of State government. In addition, GCSI has on many occasions advocated the County’s position on pending legislation with key State lawmakers. GCSI also keeps the Board of Commissioners and key County Administrative personnel periodically apprised of developing legislation that could positively or adversely affect County government. This early notification permits the County to develop a strategy to either promote or oppose the proposed legislation.

Contract Renewal for Lansing Lobbyist: Commissioner Discussion

Several commissioners praised GCSI and Profit specifically. Conan Smith said Profit has done yeoman’s work over the last year, on issues ranging from state revenue-sharing to 80/20 legislation [requiring public employees to pay 20% of their health care costs, effective Jan. 1, 2012, or to cap the amount that local governments would pay as premiums for employees] to threats against Act 88, which allows the county to levy an economic development millage without voter approval. Smith hoped Profit would be able to bring even more benefits to the county in future years.

Kirk Profit, a director with Governmental Consultant Services Inc., a Lansing lobbying firm, attended the Oct. 3 county board meeting. Commissioners gave initial approval to renew GCSI's contract with the county.

Barbara Bergman recalled that when this contract first came up for consideration years ago, she questioned whether the county would get any value out of it. “That was not the smartest question I ever asked,” she said.

Kristin Judge also thanked Profit, and said she hoped someday the county would consider hiring a lobbyist at the federal level, too. She was especially grateful for his work in helping secure funding for an improvement project at Lakeside Park on Ford Lake, which included building a new boathouse.

Wes Prater quipped that with all the praise Profit was getting, he must not actually be on the payroll. Profit replied that GCSI appreciated the compensation provided by the county. Prater added that Profit has always been a hard worker, now and when Profit had been a state legislator.

Conan Smith noted that Profit also has worked on behalf of the county parks & recreation department. He asked for an update on pending state grants for parks-related projects.

Profit began by praising parks & rec staff and its director Bob Tetens, crediting them for pushing for collaborative efforts that have been funded in the past. That included the $500,000 in state funding received for the Ford Lake project, in partnership with Eastern Michigan University.

This year, Profit said, even though there’s not a lot of money coming out of the state, Washtenaw County is again well-positioned to receive funding from the state Dept. of Natural Resources trust fund. He said that state Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-District 18) – who is married to Conan Smith – and state Rep. David Rutledge (D-District 54) have been helpful, as have DNR staff. Profit noted that Gary Owen, DNR’s legislative liaison, grew up in this area.

He mentioned that the $300,000 requested from the DNR trust fund for the proposed Ann Arbor skatepark scored well, and now they’re working with the trust fund board to ensure that the full amount gets awarded. [The county parks & recreation commission approved $400,000 in matching funds for the skatepark, which is proposed for city-owned land at Veterans Memorial Park in Ann Arbor. The $300,000 state grant would be counted toward meeting that match.]

Profit also cited collaboration between the city of Ypsilanti and the county parks & rec department on a $300,000 DNR grant for Rutherford Pool, calling it a recreational opportunity in an urban setting that’s unmatched in this region. He praised the collaborative efforts of the county, and thanked commissioners for their support.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously gave initial approval to the GCSI contract renewal. A final vote is expected at their Oct. 19 meeting.

Infrastructure Manager

On the agenda was a resolution to authorize hiring Greg Dill to the new position of county infrastructure management director, with a salary of $116,758. The resolution also approved the creation of that post, with responsibility for information systems and technology, as well as management of the county’s buildings and other facilities. Some of those duties were previously assigned to the county’s information & technology manager, a position that was eliminated following the departure of James McFarlane earlier this year.

Dill has been director of administrative operations for the sheriff’s office, but previously worked for five years in facilities management for the county. Dill attended Wednesday’s meeting but was not asked to address the board formally.

The creation of this new job and Dill’s appointment to it were originally on the agenda for the board’s Sept. 21, 2011 meeting. However, that item and a proposed reorganization of county administration were pulled from the agenda at that meeting. The reorganization would have replaced the deputy administrator position by giving additional responsibilities to four managers, including Dill, paying them annual stipends of $15,000 each in addition to their salaries. Some commissioners had concerns over the stipend, and the proposed reorganization has not yet been reintroduced.

Infrastructure Manager: Commissioner Discussion

Wes Prater asked whether the job description could be altered after board approval. County administrator Verna McDaniel said it’s quite easy to do that and it can be handled administratively, as long as they’re not changing the salary rate.

Rolland Sizemore Jr. said he had a problem with the way salaries are presented for new positions. There’s often just a range given, he said, but it would be better to have the exact amount. He asked that staff provide information over the past two years indicating the salary ranges that the board has approved for new hires, and the actual salary that’s been set for those jobs. It might be time to tighten up what the county pays, he said.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously gave initial approval to create the position of infrastructure manager and hire Greg Dill for that job. A final vote is expected on Oct. 19.

Appointment to Natural Areas Advisory Group

On the agenda was a resolution appointing Catherine Riseng to the natural areas technical advisory committee (NATAC), which advises the county parks & recreation commission regarding its natural areas preservation program (NAPP). Her appointment was recommended by the county parks & recreation commission, to fill a seat previously held by Mike Wiley. She’ll serve the remainder of a two-year term, which expires on Dec. 31, 2012.

Riseng is an aquatic ecologist researcher at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. She also is vice chair of the city of Ann Arbor’s greenbelt advisory commission. [.pdf of Riseng's cover letter and resume] Other NATAC members include: Rane Curl, Bob Grese, David Lutton, Tony Reznicek, John Russell, and Sylvia Taylor.

NAPP is funded by a 10-year countywide millage that was first approved by voters in 2000 and renewed in 2010 at 0.2409 mills.

Outcome: Without discussion, commissioners unanimously approved the appointment of Catherine Riseng to NATAC.

Environmental Excellence Awards

At Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners passed a resolution honoring winners of the county’s 2011 Environmental Excellence awards, now in its 14th year. The awards were handed out to representatives of the winning organizations by Steve Manville of the county’s environmental health department, and Janis Bobrin, water resources commissioner.

The overall Environmental Excellence Award went to the Chrysler Group LLC for the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, in recognition of its waste reduction and recycling program, its model stormwater and erosion control system involving native plants, and its efforts to keep toxic materials out of the waste stream.

The Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission was given the Excellence in Water Quality Protection Award for its innovative stormwater management, use of native plants in landscaping, and pollution prevention. An honorable mention in this category was awarded to Horiba Instruments Inc.

The Leslie Science and Nature Center of Ann Arbor received the Excellence in Waste Reduction and Recycling Award for its extensive recycling program, purchasing of recycled products, and educating the public in waste reduction and conservation ethics. And ITC Holdings Inc. of Ann Arbor received the Excellence in Pollution Prevention Award for reducing the use of toxic substances and preventing pollution before it is produced.

After the presentation, several commissioners praised the winners. Yousef Rabhi said environmental quality is important, and it’s important to have local institutions like these at the forefront of environmental protection. He noted that during the presentation he’d received a text message from his girlfriend, Christine Muscat, an environmental compliance analyst with Con-way Freight in Ann Arbor. She was teasing Rabhi about the fact that her employer’s environmental efforts hadn’t been mentioned. Rabhi gave Conway and his girlfriend a shout-out for their work.

Conan Smith said that places that take care of the environment attract the best talent. It’s part of Washtenaw County’s culture, he said, telling the organizations that “you’re really the models of the future of our economy.”

Smith and other commissioners also thanked Bobrin and her staff for their efforts in environmental protection, praising the innovative approach they took to the work.

Ann Arbor Drain Projects

Drain projects in Ann Arbor – including two related to the East Stadium bridge reconstruction project – were given initial approval by commissioners at Wednesday’s meeting.

The county water resources commissioner’s office was asked by the city of Ann Arbor to design and build stormwater control measures for the bridges along Stadium Boulevard between Kipke and South Industrial, according to a staff memo. The Allen Creek East Stadium bridges drain project and the Malletts Creek East Stadium bridges drain project will require in total no more than $415,000 for bonds issued with the county’s full faith and credit. The bonds will be repaid through special assessments on property in the drain district for this project.

Separately, county commissioners gave initial approval to an Allen Creek drain project in Ann Arbor. The project involves installing an underground infiltration system on the west side of the Veterans Park Ice Arena and putting in a rain garden near the entrance of the ice arena on the east side of the building. Rain gardens will also be installed next to Fire Station #3 at 2130 Jackson Ave., and trees will be planted in the city right-of-way throughout neighborhoods on the city’s west side.

The Allen Creek project had been previously approved by the board at its July 2011 meeting, as one of several drain projects authorized at that time. The overall cost of the projects approved then is now expected to be $1.45 million less than originally estimated. However, the $330,000 approved for the Allen Creek project turned out to be an underestimate – that project is now expected to cost up to an additional $65,000. That $65,000 – covered by bonds issued with the county’s full faith and credit – was the amount commissioners were asked to approve at Wednesday’s meeting.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously approved the drain projects on an initial vote. A final vote is expected on Oct. 19.

Farewell to Kristin Judge

It’s the board’s custom to award a resolution of appreciation to commissioners when they leave the board. On Wednesday, Kristin Judge, a Democrat who represents District 7, received such a resolution. It was her last regular board meeting before her resignation, which took effect on Oct. 9. She announced her decision to step down on Sept. 30, citing potential conflicts with a job she recently accepted with the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC).

After receiving a framed copy of the resolution, Judge got a standing ovation from her board colleagues and staff, and several commissioners praised her work on the board. Conan Smith (D-District 10) described her as a “force of nature,” while Rob Turner (R-District 1) cited her energy, passion, and compassion. Ronnie Peterson (D-District 6) called Judge ”an outstanding public servant – and I have not said that about many people in my career.”

From left: Commissioners Ronnie Peterson, Conan Smith, Kristin Judge, Wes Prater.

Saying there were too many people to thank individually, Judge said she’s loved every minute of her time on the board. [She was first elected in 2008, then re-elected in 2010.] One of her goals, she said, has been to make people understand that government really works, and that most people in government are good. In her new job she’ll work with local and state governments nationwide, she said, helping address online security threats.

Much of Judge’s recent work has been related to cyber-security issues. She led the formation of the Washtenaw County Cyber Citizenship Coalition, and organized the Oct. 7 Michigan Cyber Summit, a day-long event that served as the kickoff for National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Keynote speakers included Janet Napolitano, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. In conjunction with that event, at Wednesday’s meeting the board also passed a resolution declaring October as cyber security awareness month in Washtenaw County.

The county has announced the process for filling the vacant District 7 seat, which will be an appointment made by the board of commissioners. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m., and the board is expected to make a decision at its Oct. 19 meeting.

The board must make an appointment within 30 days of a resignation, for a commissioner to serve until special elections are held. There will be a Feb. 28, 2012 primary for that seat, followed by a May 2012 special general election. The winner of that election would serve a truncated term for the current District 7, through 2012. Redistricting of the county board that takes effect in 2013 will reduce the number of districts in the county from 11 to 9 – candidates for the new districts will compete in an Aug. 7 primary and November general election.

Upcoming Working Sessions

The topic of working sessions emerged at several points during Wednesday’s meeting.

After the discussion about a potential road repair millage, Rolland Sizemore Jr. told his fellow commissioners that he wanted to schedule a working session to discuss all possible millages that might be coming in the future. He said he’s heard rumors that some commissioners want to see a countywide millage to fund human services. There’s also the likelihood that a countywide transportation millage might be floated. Why not put them all on the table to get a better overall sense of what’s happening? he said.

Ronnie Peterson said he hoped that the road repair millage would be the topic of a working session, before other possible millages get discussed. Sizemore noted that a working session on the road millage was set for the following evening.

Later in the meeting, Yousef Rabhi – who as chair of the working sessions sets those agendas – reported that the Oct. 6 working session would include the possible road millage, as well as an update on bond ratings and the county’s fiscal scorecard. A special budget-related working session will be held on Thursday, Oct. 13, he said. Topics will include an update on the community’s food and housing needs, and a discussion of the proposed 2012-2013 budget for nonprofit and other outside agency funding.

Peterson questioned why commissioners needed an update on food and housing needs. They should focus on budget items, he said. Rabhi indicated that the update, which had been requested by Barbara Bergman, would be brief.

Conan Smith observed that the community’s food and housing needs provide a context for making budget decisions, particularly for funding nonprofits that provide food and housing services.

Peterson again expressed concern, saying he hoped the working sessions weren’t going to be stacked with non-budget items. If so, he wouldn’t attend. The budget for funding outside agencies is over $1 million, he noted. They had a lot to discuss, and commissioners shouldn’t be burnt out on other topics before they get the chance to address the budget. The budget is their biggest responsibility, he said. [Earlier in the meeting, the board had voted to postpone the agenda item on a discussion of the budget until their Oct. 19 meeting.]

Bergman said she certainly wanted a complete discussion about outside agency funding, but she agreed with Conan Smith – the update on food and housing would provide context.

Rabhi then highlighted topics for other upcoming working sessions, noting that topics reflect items that commissioners had previously expressed interest in. On Thursday, Oct. 20, the board will hear from Pat Horne McGee, director of Washtenaw Head Start. [The county administration has proposed relinquishing support for the program, and previously reviewed that option at a July 21, 2011 working session.] Other topics for Oct. 20 include professional services contracts and the county’s Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA) trust. A Nov. 3 working session will focus on the 2012-2013 budget.

Public Commentary: Salem Twp. Historic District

The only speaker during the four opportunities for public commentary was Terry Cwik, president of the Salem Area Historical Society. He said the topic he wanted to address – creation of an historic district for Jarvis Stone School, the Dickerson Barn and associated property – wasn’t on the agenda that night. It would likely come up at the board’s Oct. 19 meeting, but he couldn’t attend then. The school is owned by the historical society, he said, and a study committee has been working on a proposal for the board to review.

Cwik said the one-room schoolhouse on North Territorial was built in 1857 and in continuous use until 1967. The historical society now uses the school as its headquarters, he said. The site is a worthy candidate for designation as an historic district, he said, and would be the second one in Salem Township. [The current historical district is Conant Farm on Napier Road.]

Kristin Judge said she’d been to the school, and called it a gem in the community. Conan Smith expressed confidence that the historic district designation would eventually be approved, and noted that it was located just a couple of miles from where he’d grown up. He also joked that it was special because commissioners Barbara Bergman and Wes Prater had been part of the school’s first graduating class. Prater pointed out that Smith was incorrect: “It was the second,” Prater quipped.

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Kristin Judge, Ronnie Peterson, Alicia Ping, Wes Prater, Yousef Rabhi, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Dan Smith, Conan Smith, and Rob Turner.

Absent: Leah Gunn.

Next regular board meeting: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [confirm date] (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting.

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County commissioner Ronnie Peterson, right, talks with supporters of Washtenaw's Head Start program. (Photos by the writer.)

Although the budget calls for a net loss of 32.22 full-time-equivalent jobs, most of those positions are either already vacant or will be handled through retirements, McDaniel said. One significant retirement was recognized during the meeting: Donna Sabourin, executive director of the county’s community support & treatment services (CSTS) department, who’s worked for the county for 20 years. Commissioners awarded her a resolution of appreciation, and also gave final approval to the CSTS budget for the coming year.

But the meeting’s main focus was the proposed general fund budget, which was discussed at length and will be the topic of most board meetings and working sessions at least through November. The county budget is based on a calendar year, from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, and is developed in two-year cycles.

Among the recommended cuts is a reduction of $1.2 million to local nonprofits and other agencies. For example, funding for the Humane Society of Huron Valley’s contract is proposed to drop from $500,000 in 2011 to $250,000 in 2012 and 2013. The Delonis Center homeless shelter’s funding could decline from $160,000 to $25,000.

The budget also calls for the county to relinquish its status as the federal “grantee” for the Head Start program in Washtenaw County, which would trigger a process to find a replacement entity. The county has administered the program for 46 years. About a dozen Head Start supporters showed up to Wednesday’s meeting, and urged commissioners to continue support for the program.

Though commissioners had several questions and comments about the 2012-2013 budget, several of them expressed even more concern for what’s on the horizon: Projected deficits of $11.6 million in 2014 and $14.7 million in 2015.

Board chair Conan Smith characterized the 2012-2013 budget as a recommendation that’s “ripe for public discussion at this point.” Everything is still on the table, he said. The board is expected to take up the topic again at its Oct. 5 meeting, and a public hearing on the budget is set for Oct. 19. The target date for approving the budget is Nov. 16.

There was no vote taken on the 2012-2013 budget directly, but the board took action on several other budget-related items. Among them, commissioners gave final approval to levy two taxes: for (1) services for indigent veterans; and (2) economic development and agriculture.

The board also passed a resolution in support of developing a regional transportation authority, after a failed attempt to postpone the vote. The resolution is a prelude to a Sept. 30 summit with Detroit and the counties of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair, which will focus on region transit issues.

Two issues of note did not come before the board as expected. A proposed reorganization of county administration was pulled from the agenda at the start of the meeting. It would have replaced the deputy administrator position by giving additional responsibilities to four managers, paying them annual stipends of $15,000 each. The stipends were a sticking point – during public commentary, AFSCME Local 2733 president Caryette Fenner objected to the timing of that pay, in light of recent labor concessions made by employees.

And not on the agenda was an anticipated proposal by the Washtenaw County Road Commission, which was discussed by the board at its Sept. 8 working session. The road commission is presenting a request for a countywide millage to help pay for road repair. It’s a tax that the county board could impose without seeking voter approval. The plan was subsequently submitted to the county clerk on Friday, and could be addressed at the board’s Oct. 5 meeting.

Admin Reorganization Postponed

One of the first actions of the meeting was to pull off the agenda a resolution regarding the reorganization of administrative positions proposed by Washtenaw County administrator Verna McDaniel. Details of the restructuring had been part of the board’s packet of meeting materials, including a proposal to pay annual stipends of $15,000 to each of four managers who would be taking on additional responsibilities.

The proposed changes, which could be introduced at a later date, were expected to save $120,962 and were part of a broader 2012-2013 budget proposal. The reorganization would have put the deputy county administrator’s position – which has been unfilled since the departure of Bill Reynolds earlier this year – on hold/vacant status. A new “cross lateral” team was proposed with four members: Kelly Belknap, director of finance; Greg Dill, infrastructure management director (a new position); Curtis Hedger, corporation counsel; and Diane Heidt, director of human resources and labor relations.

Greg Dill, director of administrative operations for the sheriff's office, is likely to be appointed as the county's infrastructure management director. He was working on his iPad before the meeting.

Dill is currently director of administrative operations for the sheriff’s office. A resolution for his new appointment – to the newly created job of infrastructure management director, with a salary of $116,75 – was also pulled from the agenda of Wednesday’s meeting. His new responsibilities would include those previously assigned to the county’s information & technology manager, a position that’s been eliminated following the departure of James McFarlane earlier this year.

According to a staff memo, the cross lateral team was intended to split the duties formerly handled by the deputy administrator. Department heads would be assigned to a team leader and report to that person for non-critical issues.

The proposal called for each team member to receive a $15,000 stipend in addition to their salaries, which would be capped at $125,000 unless a higher salary is authorized by the county board. If the combination of salary and stipend exceeded $125,000, the excess would be paid as a contribution into the employee’s deferred compensation retirement plan.

Other changes in the proposal included eliminating an administrative coordinator position, and creating a new management analyst job.

Admin Reorganization: Public Commentary

There was no discussion on the topic among commissioners, but during public commentary later in the meeting, AFSCME Local 2733 president Caryette Fenner objected to the $15,000 stipend that had been proposed. She noted that her membership and most employees had made concessions to address the projected two-year budget deficit. It wasn’t that these team leaders didn’t deserve the stipend, she said, but it wasn’t the right time for it.

2012-2013 Washtenaw County Budget

After discussing budget priorities and challenges for over a year, commissioners formally received a recommended budget for 2012-2013 at Wednesday’s meeting, which calls for a total net loss of 32.22 full-time-equivalent jobs and cuts to a range of programs and services. [.pdf of draft 2012-2013 budget]

County administrator Verna McDaniel and the county’s finance staff gave a presentation during the meeting, showing how the administration proposes to balance the budget. Previously, an estimated $17.5 million deficit had been projected for that two-year period.

The board is expected to take up the topic again at its Oct. 5 meeting, and a public hearing on the budget is set for the board’s Oct. 19 meeting.

Commissioners asked questions both at Wednesday’s meeting and during a working session the following day, on Sept. 22.

2012-2013 Washtenaw County Budget: Presentation

The proposed budget is based on a forecast in general fund revenues of $97,714,410 in 2012 and $96,937,530 in 2013 – down from $101,250,268 this year. The budget includes cutting 28.36 full-time-equivalent jobs, creating 5.5 FTEs, putting 11 FTE positions on hold/vacant status, and removing 1.64 FTEs out of hold/vacant. In addition to the 25.36 jobs that are already vacant, another 14 of the job cuts are expected to be handled mostly through retirements. Currently the county employs 1,369 people.

WEMU's Andy Cluley interviews Washtenaw County administrator Verna McDaniel after the Sept. 21 board of commissioners meeting.

The biggest cuts are proposed to come from the sheriff’s office in positions represented by the Police Officers Association of Michigan (POAM), with a net loss of 12 jobs, and in positions represented by AFSCME 2733 Unit B, with a net loss of 10 positions.

Earlier this year, McDaniel told commissioners that she hoped to gain $8 million in labor concessions from employees. New labor contracts have now been finalized with 90% of the county’s employees, for a total of $4 million in savings both budget years from changes to compensation and benefits. The board had approved a new contract with its largest labor union – AFSCME Local 2733 – at a special meeting on Sept. 13.

The budget also reflects $4.1 million more in additional revenues from property taxes. Those tax revenues are now projected to be higher than previously estimated. The budget also identifies $8.2 million from organizational and structural changes.

The budget includes a total of $1,239,859 in cuts to funding for local nonprofits and other agencies. Examples of the most dramatic changes include funding for Humane Society of Huron Valley’s contract (from $500,000 in fiscal 2011 to $250,000 in fiscal 2012 and 2013), the Delonis Center homeless shelter (from $160,000 to $25,000), and the Safe House domestic violence shelter (from $96,000 to $48,000). [.pdf of six-page response to the proposed cuts by Tanya Hilgendorf, executive director of the Humane Society of Huron Valley. ]

Items proposed to be cut completely include $125,000 to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), $200,000 for the county’s reserve for housing, and $110,000 for a housing contingency fund. Money for the county’s coordinated funding of human services will drop by $128,538 (from $1,015,000 to $886,462). [.pdf chart of nonprofit/agency allocations]

Looking beyond this two-year budget cycle, the report also projects deficits of $11.6 million in 2014 and $14.7 million in 2015.

During the presentation to commissioners at their Sept. 21 meeting, McDaniel, finance director Kelly Belknap and finance analyst Tina Gavalier summarized the proposed reductions and revenue sources for the coming two years. [.pdf of budget presentation highlights]

In addition to a working session on Sept. 22, other budget-related dates include:

• Oct. 6: Working session on a county building/space plan.
• Oct. 19: Public hearing on the 2012-2013 budget.
• Nov. 2: Budget update for the third quarter of 2011.
• Nov. 16: Target date for board vote on 2012-2013 budget.

2012-2013 Washtenaw County Budget:  Commissioner Discussion

Yousef Rabhi began by thanking county staff for their work in developing the budget, and thanking employees for the contract concessions they made. “People have given, and given a lot,” he said.

Leah Gunn described this budget as “the hardest budget I’ve ever worked on” during her 15-year tenure on the board, but noted that even more challenges are in the wings. If the state legislature eliminates the personal property tax, that will be another major hit to the revenues of local governments, she said. Gunn urged people to contact their legislators in Lansing and beg them not to repeal the tax, “or we lose government services.”

Wes Prater first asked for more details on the 80% in budget reductions that McDaniel had categorized as structural – she said she’d get that information to the board.

Prater then turned to the projections for 2014-2015, when deficits of $11.6 million and $14.7 million, respectively, are expected. Why are expenditures projected to increase? Revenue estimates are much lower, he noted – falling 8.21% in 2014 to $88.975 million, and staying flat the following year. Why aren’t expenditures in line with that? The staff needs to look at revenue realistically, he said, then prepare a budget that’s based on those realistic revenue estimates.

McDaniel said that as they get closer to those years, they’ll have a better handle on projections and will make revisions. She acknowledged that it was disheartening to see additional projected deficits, but said the staff would be remiss if they didn’t point it out. The county will work to bring expenditures in line with revenues for those years, she said – they are required to present a balanced budget.

Prater complained that originally, the administration had projected a $20 million deficit for 2012-2013. Then in the spring, that deficit had been revised to $17.5 million. But revenues are only down $1.7 million from 2011, he said.

Kelly Belknap, the county’s finance director, explained that the projected deficit was based on anticipated expenses and revenues. It wasn’t comparing 2012 to 2011, she said. McDaniel added that the county would “be in a pickle” if they made rosy projections. She assured Prater that the staff wasn’t playing games to make things look worse. It’s difficult to make projections, she said, and she acknowledged that revenues for the current year showed less of a decline than anticipated. But she indicated that it’s better to be prepared for a steeper decline than to suddenly be faced with a crisis, if projections turn out to be overly optimistic.

Prater replied that in the past couple of years, projections have missed the mark so much, that some people think county officials don’t know what they’re doing.

From left: Commissioners Rob Turner, Yousef Rabhi and Dan Smith.

Dan Smith observed that it seemed the county was jumping from one emergency now to another in 2014-2015. He asked the staff to explain why revenues are expected to decline, and where some of the expenditure increases are coming from. Expenses are projected to rise from $96.93 million in 2013 to $103.72 million in 2015.

Tina Gavalier, the county’s finance analyst, confirmed for Smith that most of the revenue declines reflect an anticipated drop in property tax revenues and a loss of state revenue sharing. Current union contracts run through 2013, she noted, so the projected expenses assume that concessions made for the coming two years will end. That means step increases, longevity pay and other aspects of the previous contract will resume, unless labor unions agree to additional concessions. Gavalier also noted that health care costs are projected to increase 12%.

Gavalier also pointed out that earlier this year, the staff had projected deficits of $27.7 million in 2014 and $34.3 million in 2015. Since then, based in part on updated estimates of property tax revenues, those deficits are now projected to be lower.

Conan Smith took issue with Prater’s characterization that previous revenue projections had been way off. In fact, Smith said, the projections were fairly accurate – off by less than 1% in 2010 and by about 1.5% this year. On the revenue side, the board needs to project worst-case scenarios, he said. For expenses, they assume the status quo from the previous budget cycle as a starting point. Of course expenditures will be adjusted, he said – the county is legally obligated to present a balanced budget.

Alicia Ping asked a series of questions also related to how the projections are made, wondering why the previously projected $17.5 million deficit was no longer reflected in the 2012-2013 budget. Belknap clarified for Ping that the deficits are based on projected expenses if the county takes no action. Conan Smith added that the budget that’s now presented to the board reflects adjustments they’ve made – including labor concessions, for example – that helped them overcome that deficit and align expenses with revenues. You don’t see the $17.5 million deficit because the county has taken action to address it, he said.

Barbara Bergman thanked the unions and other employees for their sacrifices, and said that at a later date the board needs to talk about making a sacrifice, too. She didn’t want to make commissioners’ salaries so low that people couldn’t afford to serve, she said, but they needed to talk about adjustments.

Rob Turner noted that the daunting task before them is the 2014-2015 budget, with a two-year $26 million deficit. Given that they’ve just made serious cuts in the current budget cycle, cutting another $26 million “is just a scary thought,” he said. Turner agreed with Bergman that they needed to look at the line items for commissioners too. They can’t just sit back and hope that property taxes will increase – they need to look ahead.

Ronnie Peterson observed that public employees are “taking it in the neck,” and that people often point to those employees as being responsible for the deficit. But employees are responsible for coming to work and doing their jobs, he said – it’s the responsibility of the board to manage the budget and protect the future of local government, so that employees can feel secure. He clarified with McDaniel that additional board meetings and working sessions will focus on specific aspects of the 2012-2013 budget.

Peterson said it felt like the county was just putting a finger in the dike. Some commissioners had courage, while others didn’t, he said. Commissioners should lead the way, but everyone needed to sacrifice – and he didn’t see that that was happening.

Rolland Sizemore Jr. said he wanted to look at the issue of part-time employees. He also noted that not all of the departments led by other elected officials were getting budget cuts. [Those elected officials are the prosecuting attorney Brian Mackie; water resources commissioner Janis Bobrin; county treasurer Catherine McClary; clerk/register of deeds Larry Kestenbaum; and sheriff Jerry Clayton.]

McDaniel replied that in developing the budget, finance and administrative staff looked at a variety of factors, including cuts taken by departments in previous years, and budgets in comparable departments. The budget didn’t make broad, across-the-board cuts, she said, but rather reflected strategic decisions.

Proposed general fund budgets for departments led by other elected officials are:

Office       2011      2012     2013

Pros Atty   $5.44M    $5.88M   $5.94M

Water Res   $2.59M    $2.46M   $2.54M

Treas       $1.31M    $1.51M   $1.55M

Clerk       $2.36M    $2.64M   $2.53M

Sheriff    $40.89M   $43.41M  $44.92M

-

The sheriff also oversees the budget for emergency services, which is budgeted for $2.77 million in 2011, $2.53 million in 2012, and $2.63 million in 2013.

Returning to the overall budget, Conan Smith elicited from McDaniel that budget increases for certain departments reflect higher cost allocation plan (CAP) payments that these departments are being asked to make. The CAP is an amount charged to each department for items like the county attorney and administration.

Yousef Rabhi clarified with McDaniel that nearly all of the positions being eliminated were already vacant or were planned retirements. McDaniel said there may be one “bump,” but that doesn’t mean the person will hit the streets. The administration is working hard to find another assignment for that person, she said.

Rob Turner noted that the county’s “rainy day” fund – its general fund reserves – would be decreasing in the coming years. It’s important to remember to maintain it in case the state does something drastic that would affect the budget, he said. At the same time, it’s important to note that the county isn’t keeping a fat balance, he said.

Mention of the state prompted Ping to comment on the personal property tax (PPT) issue. She noted that Gunn had mentioned it earlier in the meeting, adding that everyone is shocked that the proposal seems to have legs. Although it seems like the momentum is now behind reducing the tax, not eliminating it, there’s no revenue replacement plan being put forward, Ping said, and that’s wrong. “Again, Lansing needs to be minding their own business,” she said. Ping asked staff to provide information about how eliminating the PPT would affect the county’s revenues.

Prater returned to the issue of revenue projections, and noted that the county’s equalization staff “really missed the mark” in projecting the decline of property tax revenue for 2011. The 2011 budget had been built on the assumption of an 8.5% drop in property tax revenues, but in fact revenues fell only 2.85%. [See Chronicle coverage: "Washtenaw County's Taxable Value Falls"]

Gunn commented that for decades, property tax revenues did nothing but increase. Then revenues plunged, and the county has had to deal with it, she said. Predicting it is almost impossible, she added, and the equalization report for the year doesn’t get completed until April – four months into the fiscal year. Given those constraints, it’s always better to be conservative in projecting revenues, she concluded.

McDaniel noted that the board had agreed to build the budget based on worst-case scenarios. Otherwise, they might be faced with sudden, unanticipated cuts, she said.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to move the budget agenda item to its Oct. 5 meeting. No initial vote was taken on the 2012-2013 budget itself .

After the vote, Peterson asked about a building space plan that McDaniel is preparing, which will be presented at the Oct. 6 working session and is likely to include recommendations about what to do with certain county facilities that might be sold. Was that plan factored into the budget? McDaniel responded that it’s not part of the budget, because commissioners would need to provide direction to staff about how to proceed. It’s more related to future planning than to the 2012-2013 budget, she said.

2012-2013 Washtenaw County Budget: Public Commentary – General

Caryette Fenner, president of AFSCME Local 2733, expressed concern that information about retirements had been made public before the union leadership was informed. She hadn’t heard about it previously.

Following up to her commentary, Yousef Rabhi said he’d like to see better communication between the unions and county administration. He hoped that the proposed cross lateral managers would help facilitate communication with union leaders and employees.

2012-2013 Washtenaw County Budget: Head Start

During public commentary after the budget discussion, Shirley Beckley told commissioners she is the parent and grandparent of children who had benefited from Washtenaw Head Start. She wondered what the status of the program was, in layman’s terms – had it been cut from the budget, or had the board reconsidered that decision?

Public commentary is typically a formal process, with speakers alloted a set amount of time – three minutes at Ways & Means Committee meetings, or five minutes at regular board meetings. After all public commenters have spoken, commissioners have the opportunity to respond, if they choose.

However, during this public commentary on Head Start there was considerable – and uncharacteristic – back-and-forth.

By way of additional background, the board held a working session on July 21, 2011 devoted to the future of Washtenaw Head Start. From that report:

The presentation stressed that Head Start – which serves over 500 preschool children of low-income families in the county – would not be eliminated. Rather, the county would relinquish its status as the program’s federal “grantee,” triggering a process to find a replacement entity. Federal Head Start officials would be responsible for selecting another agency to take over from the county.

The county currently spends about $900,000 each year in support of Head Start, which has a local budget of $4.8 million – the bulk of its funding comes from federal sources. In addition, the county owes $2.68 million in bond payments related to an Ypsilanti facility it built for Head Start in 2002-03.

Seven of the board’s 11 commissioners attended the working session, and several expressed support for exploring the transition. They praised the program, which has been recognized nationally for its performance, but noted that education isn’t part of the county’s core mission. Some suggested that an organization like the Washtenaw Intermediate School District would be a better fit to administer the program.

At Wednesday’s meeting, county administrator Verna McDaniel told Beckley that there’s still time to discuss budget decisions, and that meetings of the board are open to the public, with opportunities for public commentary. Beckley replied that she didn’t think the county understood the impact of its decision to cut funding for the program. She hoped that they could come to some kind of understanding with Head Start, rather than cutting it. She wondered if Head Start were cut from the county, would it get a new name?

McDaniel said she couldn’t answer that question. The federal government would take responsibility for finding a new agency to sponsor it, if the county decided not to host the program.

Beckley indicated that she was confused about the process. Commissioner Rolland Sizemore Jr. replied “sometimes we are, too.”

The next speaker was Caryette Fenner, president of AFSCME Local 2733. Among her budget-related concerns, Fenner said she thought that the executive director of Washtenaw Head Start – Pat Horne McGee – would be returning to the board to propose budget cuts that would still allow the county to retain the program. She hoped the board would take another look at Head Start and see if there was any way to help.

Sizemore characterized Head Start as a great program – a comment that elicited applause from supporters in the audience. He said the county has to look at all its options, and that there’s the possibility of another provider taking over the program.

Conan Smith noted that the board will hold a public hearing on the 2012-2013 budget at its Oct. 19 meeting. That’s a great opportunity to talk about it, he said. Public commentary also could be made at any of the board’s other meetings, he said, including upcoming working sessions devoted to the budget. Or people could talk to commissioners directly, he noted.

Everything is still on the table, Conan Smith said. The board has a budget that’s recommended by the county administration, he added, and ”that is ripe for public discussion at this point.”

Ronnie Peterson, who had spoken at length during the July working session about his support of Head Start, reiterated his support for the program. It seems to the public that the county has already decided to cut ties with Head Start, he said, but he hoped that commissioners hadn’t made up their minds. There are a lot of other things that the county subsidizes, he said, and he wanted to talk about those, too.

Peterson said he planned to work on the issue of Head Start, as well as funding for outside agencies. The board didn’t have to adopt the budget until the end of the year, he said, and commissioners need to have a proper discussion about it. He indicated his belief that Head Start should stay with the county – and received applause from the audience.

Act 88, Veterans Relief Millages

Several other items on the agenda also related to the 2012-2013 budget. Commissioners were asked to take a final vote to approve levying two taxes in December 2011: (1) 0.05 mills for support of economic development and agriculture; and (2) 0.025 mills to pay for services for indigent veterans. Because the Michigan statutes that authorize these millages predate the state’s Headlee Amendment, they can be approved by the board without a voter referendum. Initial approval and public hearings on these millages occurred at the board’s Sept. 7 meeting.

The indigent veterans millage will cost homeowners about $2.50 for every $100,000 of a home’s taxable value. It’s expected to raise $344,486 – about $11,000 less than in 2010, due to projected decreases of property values. The county first began levying this millage in 2008. Services are administered through the county’s department of veterans affairs.

Outcome: Commissioners approved the resolution to levy the millage for indigent veterans services, with dissent from Alicia Ping (R-District 3). Kristin Judge (D-District 7) was absent.

The millage for economic development and agriculture – authorized under the state’s Act 88 – will cost homeowners $5 for each $100,000 of their home’s taxable value. It was also given initial approval at the board’s Sept. 7 meeting, with dissent from Alicia Ping, Wes Prater and Dan Smith. Nine people spoke during public commentary at that meeting, all supportive of the tax – including several people from organizations that will be funded from it.

The anticipated $688,913 in millage proceeds will be allocated to several local entities: Ann Arbor SPARK ($230,000), SPARK East ($50,000), the county’s dept. of community & economic development ($131,149), Eastern Leaders Group ($100,000), promotion of heritage tourism ($65,264), Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP – $15,000), Washtenaw 4-H ($82,500) and Washtenaw County 4-H Youth Show ($15,000).

On Sept. 21, Dan Smith said he would again be voting against the Act 88 millage, as he had on the initial Sept. 7 vote. He read from the 1978 Headlee Amendment ballot language, which was passed by voters and amended the state constitution. The ballot language stated, in part, that the amendment would “prohibit local government from adding new or increasing existing taxes without voter approval.”

Act 88: Public Commentary

As she had at the board’s Sept. 7 meeting, on Sept. 21 Jennifer Fike – executive director of the Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP) – thanked commissioners for their past support of FSEP, and encouraged them to approve the millage again. FSEP leverages the funds it receives from the millage to attract and support food businesses in this region, she said, and she provided several examples of that.

After her commentary, board chair Conan Smith noted that Fike is also a member of the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Outcome: The Act 88 millage was approved on a 7-to-3 vote, with dissent from Alicia Ping (R-District 3), Wes Prater (D-District 4), and Dan Smith (R-District 2). Kristin Judge (D-District 7) was absent.

Support of Regional Transit

At the Sept. 7 meeting, board chair Conan Smith had indicated he would be bringing forward a resolution in support of a regional transportation authority for southeast Michigan. That resolution was on the Sept. 21 agenda.

The context for the resolution is a Sept. 30 southeast Michigan regional summit that Washtenaw County has been invited to participate in for the first time. In past years, the summit included Detroit and the counties of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb. This year, Washtenaw and St. Clair counties will be included, and the topics will focus on regional cooperation and transportation. Smith and Kristin Judge have been participating in the planning stages on Washtenaw County’s behalf.

The resolution cites the benefits and goals of regional transportation, including transit options along the Ann Arbor to Detroit corridor, and connections to Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports. It notes that state Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) – who is married to Conan Smith – has introduced legislation as part of a bipartisan package to create a regional transportation authority.

The main resolved clause of the Washtenaw County resolution states:

Be It Therefore Resolved that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners supports the creation of a new Regional Transportation Authority to enhance interconnectivity among the communities of the southeast Michigan region and urges the participants in the 2011 Southeast Michigan Regional Summit to aggressively pursue work that meets the above outlined goals.

Support of Regional Transit: Commissioner Discussion

Leah Gunn moved to table a vote on the resolution, saying she had a lot of questions about it and it needed a complete discussion. For one, she wanted to know what the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority thought about it. [AATA is leading an effort to develop a countywide transit authority.]

Outcome on motion to table: The motion failed on a 5-5 vote, with support from Leah Gunn (D-District 9), Barbara Bergman (D-District 8), Ronnie Peterson (D-District 6), Alicia Ping (R-District 3) and Wes Prater (D-District 4). Kristin Judge (D-District 7) was absent.

Ronnie Peterson asked Conan Smith to provide more details about the resolution. Smith reviewed that for the past decade, leaders of the counties of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb, and the city of Detroit had been meeting to discuss issues common to that region. This year, Washtenaw and St. Clair counties were also invited, he said, and the focus will be on regional transportation. Each county was asked to bring a resolution of support on that issue. This resolution acknowledges that Washtenaw County supports having a conversation about creating a regional transportation authority, he said.

Barbara Bergman noted that there wasn’t mention of a budget for this in the resolution. In the past, she said, some issues have ended up consuming considerable staff time, and she didn’t want that to be the case. Bergman said she’d consider supporting the resolution if it were amended to indicate there would be no money budgeted for the effort at this point.

C. Smith said he had no intention of spending money on it. He asked if anyone objected to adding Bergman’s suggestion as a friendly amendment – there were no objections.

Peterson clarified with C. Smith that they weren’t joining a consortium at this point, but rather simply supporting the idea of discussing it.

Rolland Sizemore Jr. said he was tired of reading articles in the Detroit papers that don’t mention Washtenaw County. He viewed this as an opportunity to advertise the county while working with other communities, something he said he keeps “harping about.”

Outcome: As part of the consent agenda, the resolution was approved unanimously.

Bonds for Western Washtenaw Recycling

Commissioners were asked to give final approval to authorize issuance of $2.7 million in bonds, backed by the county’s full faith and credit, to help pay for a $3.2 million facility operated by the Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority (WWRA).

The WWRA plans to use $500,000 from its reserves to fund part of the project. The $2.7 million in bonds would be repaid through special assessments on households in participating WWRA communities – the city of Chelsea, Dexter Township, Lima Township, Lyndon Township, and Manchester Township. Bridgewater Township is participating in the WWRA, but will not help fund the new facility. The village of Manchester and Sylvan Township have withdrawn from the WWRA.

County commissioners had been briefed on the proposal at their July 7, 2011 working session. Since then, the WWRA board has approved adding a county commissioner to their board. Rob Turner – a Republican representing District 1, which covers large portions of western Washtenaw – will serve in that role.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously gave final approval to authorize bonds for the WWRA facility.

Accommodation Tax Contract Amended

A contract amendment regarding the distribution of the county’s accommodations tax was on the agenda for final approval by the board.

The county collects a 5% excise tax from hotels, motels, and bed & breakfasts, which is then distributed to the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti convention & visitors bureaus and used to promote tourism and convention business. The contract calls for the county to retain 10% of that tax to defray the cost of collection and enforcement. (Until 2009, the county had only retained 5% for this purpose.) The remaining funds are split, with 75% going to the Ann Arbor Convention & Visitors Bureau, and 25% going to the Ypsilanti Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The contract amendment addresses the process for distributing excess funds that might accumulate from the county’s 10%, if that amount exceeds the expenses required to administer and enforce compliance with the tax. Beginning in May 2013, the county will continue to retain 10% of the tax proceeds, plus 10% of any remaining fund balance. If additional funds accumulate in the fund balance, they are to be returned proportionally to the two convention & visitors bureaus – 75% to Ann Arbor, and 25% to Ypsilanti.

Outcome: The board unanimously gave final approval to the accommodation tax contract amendment.

CUB Contracts Suspended

At their Sept. 21 meeting, commissioners were asked to give final approval to suspend the county’s use of Construction Unity Board (CUB) agreements, pending the outcome of litigation that’s challenging the validity of the state’s Public Act 98.

CUB agreements are negotiated between local trade unions and contractors, and require that contractors who sign the agreement abide by terms of collective bargaining agreements for the duration of the construction project. In return, the trade unions agree that they will not strike, engage in work slow-downs, set up separate work entrances at the job site or take any other adverse action against the contractor.

However, Act 98 of 2011 – which became effective July 19, 2011 – prohibits municipalities from including as a requirement in a construction contract anything that would either require or prohibit contractors from entering into agreements with collective bargaining organizations. The act also prohibits discrimination against contractors based on willingness or non-willingness to enter into such agreements.

The law is being challenged in federal court by the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO and the Genesee, Lapeer, Shiawassee Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO. They are seeking to rule the law invalid, alleging that it is pre-empted by the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and the National Labor Relations Act.

At the board’s Sept. 7 meeting, when commissioners took initial action on this issue, Yousef Rabhi had proposed two amendments to the resolution: (1) to assert the effectiveness of CUB agreements in ensuring a fair and cooperative workplace; and (2) to affirm that the county would reinstate CUB agreements when it becomes possible to do so. Those amendments had been approved on an 8-2 vote, with dissent from Dan Smith and Alicia Ping.

On Sept. 21, Dan Smith said he still opposed the way that the resolution had been modified – he had objected to the second amendment, which he believed inappropriately commented on the value of CUB agreements. However, he said the No. 1 priority is to look out for taxpayer dollars and to prevent the county from being sued, so he would be supporting the resolution.

Outcome: Commissioners voted unanimously to suspend the county’s use of CUB agreements.

Public Health Budget

On the agenda was a resolution giving final approval to the county’s 2011-2012 public health budget, which includes elimination of a net of nearly seven full-time positions.

The $11,839,496 budget includes a $3,553,575 allocation from the county’s general fund – a net decrease of $583,597 from the previous year. Unlike the county’s general fund budget, which is aligned to the calendar year, the public health budget runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, in sync with the state’s fiscal year.

Though a total of nearly 12 full-time-equivalent positions (a combination of part-time and full-time jobs) will be eliminated in the proposed budget, five positions will be created or reclassified, for a net loss of nearly seven FTEs.

The budget also calls for a raft of new fees and fee increases. Effective Jan. 1, 2012, new fees will be required for a change of restaurant ownership ($250), a temporary food license late fee ($60), a time-of-sale authorization extension fee ($50), and a pollution prevention late reporting fee ($25).

A sampling of the fee increases includes a septic tank only permit (from $52 to $100), a new-build well permit (from $187 to $250), and a swimming pool inspection (from $56 to $150). Cremation permit fees will be increased from $40 to $50.

Outcome: Without discussion, commissioners voted unanimously to give final approval to the county’s public health budget.

CSTS Budget, Director Retires

A resolution for final approval of the 2011-2012 budget for Washtenaw County’s community support & treatment services (CSTS) department was on the Sept. 21 agenda. The budget includes a net loss of five full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions.

The proposed $26,838,557 CSTS budget calls for eliminating seven FTEs and putting one position on hold/vacant status, but creating three new FTE positions, for a net loss of five FTEs. In addition, 19 FTE positions will be reclassified. Though CSTS is a county department employing about 300 people, it receives 98.8% of its funding from the Washtenaw Community Health Organization, a partnership between the county and the University of Michigan Health System. Commissioners were briefed on a reorganization of the WCHO at a July 7, 2011 working session. The changes are aimed at limiting the county’s financial liabilities.

The WCHO is an entity that receives state and federal funding to provide services for people with serious mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance abuse disorders. At this point, WCHO “leases” its employees from the county, and contracts for services through CSTS.

The CSTS budget runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, in sync with the state’s fiscal year. The county operates on a calendar year cycle.

Outcome: Without discussion, commissioners unanimously supported the resolution giving final approval to the CTST budget.

Donna Sabourin, executive director of the county's community support & treatment services (CSTS) department, who's retiring after working for the county for 20 years.

CSTS executive director Donna Sabourin, who is retiring after working for the county for 20 years, was acknowledged at the Sept. 21 meeting. She’s been executive director of CSTS since 2002. The board approved a resolution of appreciation in her honor. [.pdf of resolution of appreciation] Commissioner Barbara Bergman said it was a sad pleasure to present the resolution, noting that she and Sabourin had worked closely together for many years.

Sabourin spoke briefly, saying there’s never been a day when she hasn’t felt proud to be a county employee. She thanked the board for their continued commitment to the services provided by CSTS. Even the hardest decisions that commissioners had made were done with compassion and concern, she said. Sabourin also thanked CSTS employees, and wished them well as they meet the challenges of the coming years. She said she felt tremendous gratitude for her time with the county.

Sabourin told The Chronicle that after her retirement, she plans to work managing vendors at the Town Peddler Craft & Antique Mall in Livonia.

Insurance Providers Selected

Commissioners were asked to accept proposed quotes for insurance coverage in seven areas, totaling $1,021,275 in premiums.

The Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Agency has proposed obtaining coverage from several providers for the areas of: (1) property coverage, including boiler and machinery – Chubb Insurance Co.; (2) general liability, law enforcement liability, public officials liability, and auto liability – Genesis Insurance Co.; (3) crime – Great American Insurance Co.; (4) fiduciary liability – Chubb Insurance Co.; (5) lawyers professional liability – Underwriters at Lloyd’s London; (6) judicial liability – Underwriters at Lloyd’s London; and (7) medical professional – Hudson Insurance Co.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to accept the proposed insurance quotes.

Appointments

In an item added late to the agenda, board chair Conan Smith moved two sets of appointments:

• Republican Melody Gable and Democrat Ulla Roth to the county board of canvassers, both for four-year terms starting Nov. 1, 2011.
• Republican Barbara Johnson and Democrats Rachel Bendit and Rose Toth to the county jury board. Johnson’s term expires April 30, 2017. Terms for Bendit and Toth also expire April 30, but in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Outcome: Without discussion, commissioners unanimously approved the appointments.

Misc. Public Commentary

In addition to the speakers reported above, Thomas Partridge spoke at three of the four opportunities for public commentary during the evening. Saying he advocated for those who were affected by decreased services, Partridge urged commissioners to develop a plan to raise revenues by seeking grants, working to expand the number of entertainment venues in the county, and asking the wealthiest individuals and businesses in the county – including football and basketball fans – to contribute. Eight of the board’s 11 commissioners are Democrats, he noted, but no one had put forward a plan to raise revenues. He called on the board to pass a resolution asking employers locally, in the state and nationwide to hire more workers here, rather than expanding in places like China and India.

Partridge also urged commissioners to fund co-ops that would providing living spaces and employment for people in need, and he argued that a countywide drug policy is needed to combat increased property crimes and robberies caused by people using illegal drugs, including marijuana. None of the law enforcement agencies are handling this, he said, not even the sheriff’s office.

Partridge also criticized Barbara Bergman and Leah Gunn – two of the four commissioners who represent Ann Arbor district – calling them puppets of mayor John Hieftje.

Both of the other two Ann Arbor commissioners responded, somewhat indirectly, to Partridge’s final comments. Yousef Rabhi said he’d recently been interviewed by the Ann Arbor Observer for an article that the publication is doing on Bergman and Gunn. Both have announced plans not to seek re-election in 2012. He said he’d been skeptical when he came on the board – Rabhi was first elected in November 2010 – but they are phenomenal commissioners and strong supporters of human services.

Conan Smith joked that Bergman and Gunn are more like the mayor’s marionettes.

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Leah Gunn, Ronnie Peterson, Alicia Ping, Wes Prater, Yousef Rabhi, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Dan Smith, Conan Smith, and Rob Turner.

Absent: Kristin Judge.

Next regular board meeting: Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [confirm date] (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting.

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Board chair Conan Smith characterized the budget as a recommendation “that is ripe for public discussion at this point.” Everything is still on the table, he said. A public hearing on the budget is set for the board’s Oct. 19 meeting. The next working session on the budget is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 22. The board is expected to take up the topic again at its Oct. 5 Ways & Means Committee meeting.

The proposed budget is based on a forecast in general fund revenues of $97,714,410 in 2012 and $96,937,530 in 2013 – down from $101,250,268 this year. The budget includes cutting 28.36 full-time-equivalent jobs, creating 5.5 FTEs, putting 11 FTE positions on hold/vacant status, and removing 1.64 FTEs out of hold/vacant. In addition to the 25.36 jobs that are already vacant, another 14 of the job cuts are expected to be handled mostly through retirements. Currently the county employs 1,369 people.

The biggest cuts are proposed to come from the sheriff’s office in positions represented by the Police Officers Association of Michigan (POAM), with a net loss of 12 jobs, and in positions represented by AFSCME 2733 Unit B, with a net loss of 10 positions.

Earlier this year, McDaniel told commissioners that she hoped to gain $8 million in labor concessions from employees. New labor contracts have now been finalized with 90% of the county’s employees, for a total of $4 million in savings both budget years from changes to compensation and benefits. The board had approved a new contract with its largest labor union – AFSCME Local 2733 – at a special meeting on Sept. 13.

The budget also reflects $4.1 million more in additional revenues from property taxes. Those tax revenues are now projected to be higher than previously estimated. The budget also identifies $8.2 million from organizational and structural changes.

The budget also includes a total of $1,239,859 in cuts to funding for local nonprofits and other agencies. Examples of the most dramatic changes include funding for Huron Valley Humane Society’s contract (from $500,000 in fiscal 2011 to $250,000 in fiscal 2012 and 2013), the Delonis Center homeless shelter (from $160,000 to $25,000), and the Safe House domestic violence shelter (from $96,000 to $48,000).

Items to be cut completely include $125,000 to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), $200,000 for the county’s reserve for housing, and $110,000 for a housing contingency fund. Money for the county’s coordinated funding of human services will drop by $128,538 (from $1,015,000 to $886,462). [.pdf chart of nonprofit/agency allocations]

Looking beyond this two-year budget cycle, the report also projects deficits of $11.6 million in 2014 and $14.7 million in 2015.

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building at 220 N. Main in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The indigent veterans millage was passed with dissent from Alicia Ping. It will cost homeowners about $2.50 for every $100,000 of a home’s taxable value. It’s expected to raise $344,486 – about $11,000 less than in 2010, due to projected decreases of property values. The county first began levying this millage in 2008. Services are administered through the county’s department of veterans affairs.

The millage for economic development and agriculture – authorized under the state’s Act 88 – was approved on a 7-to-3 vote, with dissent from Alicia Ping, Wes Prater, and Dan Smith. Kristin Judge was absent. It will cost homeowners $5 for each $100,000 of their home’s taxable value.

The anticipated $688,913 in millage proceeds will be allocated to several local entities: Ann Arbor SPARK ($230,000), SPARK East ($50,000), the county’s dept. of community & economic development ($131,149), Eastern Leaders Group ($100,000), promotion of heritage tourism ($65,264), Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP – $15,000), Washtenaw 4-H ($82,500) and Washtenaw County 4-H Youth Show ($15,000).

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building at 220 N. Main in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The $11,839,496 budget includes a $3,553,575 allocation from the county’s general fund – a net decrease of $583,597 from the previous year. Unlike the county’s general fund budget, which is aligned to the calendar year, the public health budget runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, in sync with the state’s fiscal year.

Though a total of nearly 12 full-time-equivalent positions (a combination of part-time and full-time jobs) will be eliminated in the proposed budget, five positions will be created or reclassified, for a net loss of nearly seven FTEs.

The budget also calls for a raft of new fees and fee increases. Effective Jan. 1, 2012, new fees will be required for a change of restaurant ownership ($250), a temporary food license late fee ($60), a time-of-sale authorization extension fee ($50), and a pollution prevention late reporting fee ($25).

A sampling of the fee increases includes a septic tank only permit (from $52 to $100), a new-build well permit (from $187 to $250), and a swimming pool inspection (from $56 to $150). Cremation permit fees will be increased from $40 to $50.

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building at 220 N. Main in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Also acknowledged at the Sept. 21 meeting was the retirement of CSTS executive director Donna Sabourin, who has worked for the county for 20 years. She’s been executive director of CSTS since 2002. The board approved a resolution of appreciation in her honor at Wednesday’s meeting.

The proposed $26,838,557 CSTS budget calls for eliminating seven FTEs and putting one position on hold/vacant status, but creating three new FTE positions, for a net loss of five FTEs. In addition, 19 FTE positions will be reclassified. Though CSTS is a county department employing about 300 people, it receives 98.8% of its funding from the Washtenaw Community Health Organization, a partnership between the county and the University of Michigan Health System. Commissioners were briefed on a reorganization of the WCHO at a July 7, 2011 working session. The changes are aimed at limiting the county’s financial liabilities.

The WCHO is an entity that receives state and federal funding to provide services for people with serious mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance abuse disorders. At this point, WCHO “leases” its employees from the county, and contracts for services through CSTS.

The CSTS budget runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, in sync with the state’s fiscal year. The county operates on a calendar year cycle.

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building at 220 N. Main in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow: [link]