Library Project Updated, Vendor Issue Tabled

Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners (Feb. 4, 2009): Most of Wednesday night’s board meeting was devoted to a discussion of the county’s budget crisis, but commissioners also heard an update from Josie Parker of the Ann Arbor District Library about the transition of the Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, and tabled voting on a facilities contract in order to have a later discussion about vendor preferences. They also met some of the administration’s interns.

Washtenaw Library for the Blind & Physically Disabled @ AADL

Josie Parker, AADL director, gave a brief presentation about the Washtenaw Library for the Blind & Physically Disabled, which was formerly housed with the county and was, at the request of the county last year, moved to the Ann Arbor library. It opened under AADL management on Feb. 2.

Parker praised all the people involved in making the transition. She noted that the library board had waived the district’s residency requirement so that anyone in the county who’s eligible for those services can participate at no cost. And rather than being in just one location, as it was at the county, the services for the blind and physically disabled will be accessible from every branch, she said. [Some of these services were also described by staff at a recent library board meeting.] Over the next few weeks, library staff will be doing outreach by calling every person who has registered for the WLBPD, Parker said.

Commissioner Barbara Levin Bergman asked whether the software being installed on AADL computers – which allows vision-impaired people to use the computer – would be installed in other library districts, like Ypsilanti and Saline. Parker said that it’s expensive software, but that they’re hoping to engage other library districts in the county to make their patrons aware of the services at AADL.

“We won’t let those clients down,” said Parker, “and we won’t let you down.”

Vendor preferences

The topic of giving preferences to local businesses for county contracts had been previously discussed but came up again on Wednesday. An agenda item asked commissioners to approve a contract with Allied Building Service, a Detroit firm, to provide as-needed general construction services to the county, and with Huron Valley Electric, based in Scio Township, for electrical services.

At the evening’s first public comment session, Cindy Carver of Manchester-based Carver Construction spoke about her concerns over the bidding process, saying that it’s difficult to know what the county is looking for and how it awards its contracts, and that the process is frustrating and confusing.

Commissioner Jeff Irwin moved to postpone the item until the board’s March 4 meeting. Commissioner Jessica Ping said she’d like to discuss the topic of local vendor preferences and the procurement process at an upcoming working session. By a voice vote, commissioners approved tabling the contract.

Meet the staff

Bob Guenzel introduced two interns and a former intern who’s now part of the administrative support staff. He said the county had great success working with interns from both Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. He first introduced Scott Rasmussen, who’s in his final semester at the Ford School working toward a master’s degree. Rasmussen, who’s been an intern since September 2008, spoke briefly to the commission, saying that after graduation he hoped to make Washtenaw County his permanent home. He currently lives in Pittsfield Township with his wife and two sons.

Kyle DeBoard has also been an intern since last fall, and is attending EMU for a master’s degree with a concentration in public management. He was unable to attend Wednesday’s board meeting. And Guenzel introduced former intern Stephanie Jensen, who now works as an administrative coordinator for the county. She recently finished her master’s of public administration from EMU.

Public comment

In addition to Cindy Carver, the only other person who spoke during the public comment portions of Wednesday’s meeting was Tom Partridge. He spoke at all four public comment sessions. He berated the board for not doing more to help house the homeless, especially when temperatures dropped below zero, as was the case that night. Following the discussion of county finances, Partridge said that if he were a commissioner, he wouldn’t focus on doom and gloom but would come up with creative concepts to move forward, like a countywide transportation system and an economic development department that’s part of the county, not a separate nonprofit, referring to Ann Arbor Spark.

When Partridge spoke past the three-minute time limit, Conan Smith – who, as Ways & Means Committee chair, was leading that part of the meeting – told him his time was up. That prompted Partridge, raising his voice, to say, “You know it’s unconstitutional!” Partridge was referring to a recent vote by commissioners to change the time limit for public comment speakers from five minutes to three minutes per turn.

At the final public comment session of the evening – following the board meeting, which was chaired by Rolland Sizemore Jr. – Partridge said he was disappointed the commission was not funding lifetime education for county residents, countywide transportation or a county economic development department. He asked why he hadn’t heard about county projects for the proposed federal economic stimulus package, and said they should send such projects to President Obama forthwith.

Several commissioners responded to Partridge’s comments. Wes Prater noted that the county had submitted about $61 million in projects that might be eligible for federal funding through the stimulus package, and said the road commission had submitted a similar amount. Barbara Levin Bergman noted that Ann Arbor Spark was doing economic development for the entire county. Both Mark Ouimet and Sizemore pointed out that commissioner Jeff Irwin had been a leader in regional transportation initiatives. Sizemore also asked the county’s administrative staff to provide Partridge with copies of the proposed stimulus package projects.

Misc. items

Commissioners Barbara Levin Bergman and Kristin Judge reported that they’d had an orientation tour and meeting with the county jail and community corrections staff. (Judge took the tour as a newly elected commissioner; Bergman serves on the community corrections advisory board.) Bergman said she wished that other commissioners could have attended, and recommended that they find another time to set up something similar for other board members.

Bob Guenzel said he appreciated the Ann Arbor News article and editorial about the county and city of Ann Arbor sharing an IT data center, but he wanted to clarify that county employees would not be working at the city, as The News seemed to imply. Only the equipment is located at city hall, he said.

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Leah Gunn, Jeff Irwin, Kristin Judge, Mark Ouimet, Jessica Ping, Wes Prater, Ken Schwartz, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Conan Smith

Absent: Ronnie Peterson

Next board meeting: Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the County Administration Building, 220 N. Main St. [confirm date]. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting.  (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.