OCD director Mary Jo Callan will lead the new office of community & economic development. The goal is to cut costs by eliminating duplicated services in the face of declining revenues, while finding ways to deliver those services more efficiently to citizens. The change resulted in a net loss of nine jobs. However, jobs in other departments have been found for all but one of the affected employees. Diane Heidt, the county’s human resources manager, said she’s continuing to work to find a position for that employee.

Commissioners were briefed on the restructuring at a May 5, 2011 working session, and also discussed it at a June 28 agenda briefing.

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

If the reorganization gets final approval, Mary Jo Callan, director of the office of community development, will lead the new office of community & economic development. The goal is to cut costs by eliminating duplicated services in the face of declining revenues, while finding ways to deliver those services more efficiently to citizens. Several personnel changes are part of the restructuring, which would eliminate 11 positions and create 3 jobs – for a net loss of 8 jobs. In addition, there would be 20 job reclassifications, 5 title changes and 1 position held vacant.

Commissioners were briefed on the restructuring at a May 5, 2011 working session, and also discussed it at a June 28 agenda briefing. At that briefing, county administrator Verna McDaniel told commissioners that all but one person had been given a “soft landing” within the county’s organization.

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

From left: Washtenaw County commissioners Conan Smith and Barbara Bergman, and Mary Jo Callan, director of the county/city of Ann Arbor office of community development, at the May 5, 2011 working session of the county board of commissioners. (Photos by the writer.)

County commissioners were given an update on these plans at their most recent working session. They’ll be asked to give initial approval to the consolidation at their June 1 meeting, with final approval on July 6.

Mary Jo Callan, who is expected to lead the new office of community & economic development, made the presentation and fielded most of the questions from commissioners. She is currently director of the office of community development, a joint department of the county and city of Ann Arbor, and one of the three departments slated to merge. The goal, Callan said, is to provide a more coherent approach to the broad spectrum of community development, from providing for basic needs to helping people get jobs. And in a climate of reduced resources, they’ll be eliminating duplication and cutting costs, she said, while making it easier for residents to get the services they need.

The three departments – the office of community development (OCD), ETCS (the employment training and community services department) and the economic development & energy department – employ nearly 60 people with a combined budget of about $16 million. Staff cuts will likely result from the changes – those and other details are still being worked out.

Most commissioners expressed support for this effort, though some wanted more information – including a business plan for the new department – before their June 1 vote.

The working session also included a presentation and discussion on the Packard Square brownfield redevelopment, an issue that was initially debated at the board’s May 4 meeting. A Chronicle report on that part of the working session will be published separately.

Consolidation of Departments

For about a year, county administration and staff have been looking at the possible merger of the office of community development (OCD), ETCS (the employment training and community services department) and the economic development & energy department. Planning for the change is near completion.

County administrator Verna McDaniel set the stage for commissioners, telling them that this was part of a broader effort to look for ways to create efficiencies in the county organization. The county needs to address the reality of decreased state and federal funding, to focus on the programs and services that the county does best, to leverage partnerships with other organizations, to find structural savings, and to mitigate duplication of work, she said.

McDaniel said she’d instructed the department managers to check their egos at the door and figure out what’s best for their customers – the residents of Washtenaw County. This was the context for challenging these three departments to come together, she said.

Mary Jo Callan, OCD director, gave an overview of the proposed changes – it’s anticipated that she will lead the new department. She said that she and the other department directors – Patricia Denig of ETCS and Tony VanDerworp of economic development & energy – have been meeting for about a year. They’ve taken McDaniel’s charge seriously, Callan said, and have worked in honesty “and sometimes in pain, frankly.” In all their conversations, she said, a focus on providing services to residents has come first.

All the departments face challenges. They’ve recently learned that the departments in total are on the verge of losing another $1 million in federal funding, Callan said. Not long ago, the three groups had revenues totaling about $29 million – now, it’s closer to $16 million. [All three departments receive significant funding from state and federal grants that they administer.] Declining revenues have forced them to look at structural issues, including staffing and external costs. The solution they’re proposing, Callan said, aims to reduce duplication and improve services.

Callan then gave an overview of each current department:

• Economic development & energy: Four employees, led by Tony VanDerworp. Programs focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy investments, historic preservation, brownfield redevelopment, community engagement and planning, and economic development – including support for the Eastern Leaders Group, the Detroit Region Aerotropolis, and other efforts aimed at job growth.
• Office of community development: Twelve employees, led by Mary Jo Callan. OCD, which is funded by both the county and city of Ann Arbor, handles a range of programs, including energy efficiency improvements for residential housing, affordable housing development and rehab, improvements to public facilities and infrastructure, neighborhood revitalization, and community engagement and planning – particularly focused on human services. OCD is managing the coordinated funding of local human services nonprofits by the county, the city of Ann Arbor, the Urban County, Washtenaw United Way and the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation – a process that was discussed at length at the board’s May 4 meeting. The Barrier Busters program is also managed by OCD.
• Employment training & community services (ETCS): Forty employees, led by Patricia Denig. [Long-time ETCS director Trenda Rusher retired at the end of 2009.] ETCS also offers residential energy efficiency programs, including help with weatherization, and contracts with other agencies to provide human services support, primarily related to food and nutrition. They’re involved in crisis intervention services, like Barrier Busters, and provide services to job seekers and employers.

Callan said there are several areas of overlap, and that the departments have reached out and worked together in the past. But the reality is that they operate in silos, she said. By coming together into one operation, they’re acknowledging that quality of life isn’t just about jobs, or neighborhoods, or housing – it’s about all of those things, and more. She noted that health rankings were recently released, and many of the health outcomes relate directly to social and economic conditions. A unified organization could take a more coherent, broad-based approach to developing community, she said.

Consolidation of Departments: What’s the Plan?

The proposal is to create a new office of community & economic development, Callan told commissioners. It would have four units: (1) housing & community infrastructure, with a budget of $4.3 million; (2) economic & workforce development, with a $6.6 million budget; (3) human services, with a $5.2 million budget; and (4) finance and operational support.

Structure of the proposed county office of community & economic development.

Although they’ll organize around teams in these four areas, Callan said there will be lots of “cross-fertilization” as well, with people working across units. Callan described the primary responsibilities of each unit:

• Housing & community infrastructure:  This unit will bring together the weatherization and energy efficiency programs from all three departments, as well as all efforts to provide decent, affordable housing to local residents. This group would also work to support public infrastructure projects aimed at low-income residents.
• Economic & workforce development: The work of this unit will focus on developing a pipeline of workers for jobs in fast-growing sectors of the economy, Callan said – they’ll tie their workforce development to business needs, so that people will get trained for jobs that actually exist. This group would continue with other economic development work already being done by the county, including heritage tourism, brownfield redevelopment, and support for projects like the aerotropolis and development near Willow Run Airport.
• Human services: This unit will combine the community services parts of ETCS and the office of community development. They’ll focus on partnering with local nonprofits to provide safety net services to residents. The unit will also coordinate emergency financial assistance and services for seniors.
• Finance and operational support: Now, each department handles finance and operations in different ways, Callan said. OCD does theirs all in-house, for example, while ETCS uses an external contractor for most of those services. Callan said that keeping finance and operational support within the department creates greater accountability, ensuring that their investments are being managed properly. Among the three departments there are 37 funding streams, she noted. They need to braid those sources so that residents don’t have to navigate the bureaucracy, and so that the funding can be coordinated for maximum benefit. It’s even more vital to do this at a time when resources are scarce, she said.

This approach provides specific ways to enhance services, Callan said. They’ll be streamlining services to the county’s most vulnerable residents – things like eviction prevention, housing improvements and help for the unemployed. When residents are in crisis, they’re on a sinking lifeboat, she said – they shouldn’t have to reach for more than one ladder to help them out. Instead of calling two departments, residents will be able to make one phone call and get twice as much help in a timely way, she said.

Taking a pipeline approach to workforce development will be a huge benefit, Callan said. ETCS has done a great job of focusing on the worker side, but that needs to mesh better with business demands. It’s fine to help someone get certified as a heating and cooling technician, but if there are no jobs in that sector, they’re not achieving their goal. Coordinating worker training with potential employers will help both ends of the pipeline. “It’s pretty simple,” she said.

Finally, combining the different weatherization programs with housing rehab support will help improve access and service to low-income residents who are most in need, Callan said. She related the story of an elderly man on a fixed income, who was cited by a building inspector because his porch was falling down. He had to deal with paperwork for both ETCS and OCD to get assistance. “This is an area where we have to come together and do this in a more coordinated and coherent way,” she said.

The departments hope to begin the first phase of this consolidation in July 2011, after receiving final board approval. This phase would include creating a single housing improvement program, and begin transitioning the financial and operational support activities to an internal unit. In the fourth quarter of 2011, they’d begin bringing the human services team together.

The last phase of consolidation would happen in the first quarter of 2012, to merge the workforce and economic development programs.

This transition entails a lot of change, “and that’s not an easy thing,” Callan said. Barriers include changing the traditional ways that departments have operated, and functioning in a context of constantly shifting circumstances – she pointed to the recent $1 million in funding reductions as an example. Another challenge is to ensure that as they restructure, they’re still complying with state and federal funding requirements, which are often complex.

It’s one thing to create a concept and vision for this change, “but implementation is really harder,” Callan said. It’s understood that staff, advisory groups and key stakeholders like Ann Arbor SPARK need to be fully engaged in the process, she said. It also needs to be determined whether the county is the right entity to offer the services it currently provides. If it’s not, Callan said, then the county needs to ensure that handing off those services to another group doesn’t diminish what residents receive.

Kelly Belknap, the county’s interim deputy administrator, made some concluding comments in the presentation. She noted that McDaniel had challenged the three departments to cut $500,000 from their combined general fund budget in 2012 and 2013. “They are on track to meet this,” she said.

Next steps include meeting with labor leadership that represent employees in these departments – that’s happening this week (the week of May 9). General staff meetings for the departments will take place from May 25-31 to discuss these changes.

The board will be asked to give initial approval to the plan at its June 1 meeting, with a final vote to approve the consolidation on July 6.

Consolidation of Departments: Commissioner Comments, Questions

Commissioners raised a variety of questions over more than an hour of discussion. Conan Smith began by noting that the $500,000 in budget cuts was nice, but it’s more important that they’re taking a strategic, intellectual approach to attacking root causes of problems in the community. He asked Callan to comment on how these changes will improve the quality of life for residents at the neighborhood level.

Community is first and foremost about family, neighborhoods and schools, Callan said. And every community needs the same ingredients to be successful: safety, jobs and a good education. The needs of a community might differ, but the ingredients are the same. By bringing together these three departments, she said, they’re poised to look at community issues in ways that weren’t previously possible. Each department has handled different pieces in the past, but never took a systemic approach.

McDaniel gave the example of Parkview Apartments, a troubled 144-unit complex in Ypsilanti that was foreclosed on by the U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) and acquired by the Ypsilanti Housing Commission. All three county departments were involved in making that a viable community, she said – when resources are coordinated, you can do a lot more.

Smith asked how the process for making grants to local nonprofits would be handled. Currently, that’s done through both OCD and ETCS. Callan said that both departments fund many of the same nonprofits. By consolidating, they’ll be on the same page in terms of expectations, outcomes and accountability. A nonprofit won’t have to deal with two application and monitoring processes, she said. At a minimum, it will amplify the county’s investments. More importantly, she added, they’ll be taking a more coherent approach to making those investments, and tapping the combined experience and expertise of all their staff.

Smith said he’s excited about integrating community development and economic development. They’ll be attacking poverty from two angles: through jobs that put wages into a household, and by reducing the cost of living – with weatherization and other housing services – without reducing the quality of life. How housing and jobs are linked becomes really important in terms of building a sustainable community, he said – and transit plays a role in that as well. Government is the only place where that kind of broad-based thinking occurs, Smith said – only governments take responsibility for community design.

In that regard, one of the challenges is that the county doesn’t do land use planning or zoning, Smith added. The county needs to partner aggressively with local units of government that do that work, he said. Along those same lines, Smith wondered how this new department envisions partnering with other internal units – bike paths in the community, for example, are being built by county parks & recreation.

VanDerworp replied that mobility is an important aspect of community health – and transit is on a checklist for developing healthy neighborhoods. Under this new organization, they’ll be thinking in broader ways, he said, and building that perspective into their assessment of needs and delivery of services.

Smith then pointed to the opportunities created by consolidating renewable energy and energy efficiency services, which have been handled in different ways by all three departments. Washtenaw County can be the center for a new driver of the economy, he said – they have the academic expertise at the University of Michigan, the will of the people to make investments, and the capacity in terms of the workforce and manufacturing facilities. It’s a huge opportunity, he said.

Barbara Bergman expressed some frustration at the level of collaboration among community partners, in areas ranging from food delivery to mental health services. This community talks a lot about collaborating, she said, but doesn’t always pull it off. The fact that the three departments are consolidating is nothing short of a miracle, Bergman said – to expand that effort into the community will be about as easy as shoveling fog. She asked whether substance abuse services are currently coordinated with workforce development services.

Patricia Denig, interim director of the county's employment training & community services (ETCS) department.

Denig said they do reach out to each other, but not in a coordinated, holistic way. She agreed that collaboration is difficult. Bergman urged staff to create some kind of way to coordinate substance abuse services with workforce development.

Wes Prater described the consolidation as impressive, and asked if they’ve developed a business plan for the new unit. McDaniel said that all departments will have a business plan – they’re developing a new budget structure, and departmental business plans are part of that.

Prater clarified that the $500,000 in budget reductions for the consolidated department will occur in 2012. That’s a long way off, he noted. Personnel costs are a big part of the budget, he said – what’s the consolidation’s impact on those costs?

McDaniel said they’re still working on that, and will be bringing that information to the board in June.

Prater expressed interest in seeing the department’s business plan before they vote – the board needs to be comfortable with it, he said. The new department will be handling a substantial budget, he added, and it will need some scrutiny to ensure it’s achieving the projected outcomes. “You’ve done a good job, but I think we’ve got a long ways to go,” he said.

Kristin Judge called the consolidation a phenomenal idea. By the June meeting, she hoped the department heads could provide information about how current operations will fit into the new structure – including the two advisory boards that work with ETCS: the community action board (CAB), and the workforce development board (WDB). [A few members of these boards attended the working session, including Myles Romero, Howard Edelson, and Mary Kerr, president of the Ann Arbor Convention & Visitors Bureau. Judge also serves on the CAB.] Those boards will remain in place, Denig said. Their existence is required in order for the county to receive certain federal funding.

Judge asked how many people would work in the finance and operations unit. Callan said that’s still being figuring that out. Judge also asked whether the department’s eviction services are coordinated with the work of the county treasurer’s office. Callan replied that her department focuses more on rental evictions, while the treasurer’s programs relate to foreclosure prevention.

Judge wondered if the staff had ever considered having just one intake process for all county services. It’s not just weatherization or housing rehab that could benefit from that consolidation, she said – the same pool of residents typically tap a much wider range of services from the county.

McDaniel said the concept has come to fruition for the county health department, and they can certainly study it for other areas. She said she wanted to get the consolidation of these three departments on solid ground, but it’s just the beginning of what they can do throughout the organization. Judge encouraged the administration and staff to think on an even bigger scale.

Ronnie Peterson gave extensive comments, stressing the importance of human services and economic development – those services are joined at the hips, he said. You can’t end homelessness or poverty until you address employment.

Peterson touched on the history of these three departments. Some of them had drifted away from what they were originally created to do, he said. They were birthed for a reason, and he wanted to make sure they kept true to that after the consolidation. And if any of the programs have lived out their existence, the board needs to talk about that, he said.

Peterson noted that the reason that Barrier Busters exists is because the system isn’t working. Over the years they’ve spent millions of dollars trying to fix the system, he said – this is the third or fourth reorganization of county departments he’s seen since he’s been on the board.

He noted that the need for services is rising. Many people who recently held decent jobs are now out of work and for the first time are relying on the government for support. Peterson said he’s never seen a situation like this on such a long-term basis.

Peterson agreed with Prater that the board should see a business plan before they approve the consolidation. He noted that the role of citizen advisory groups is important. He also wanted to see an organizational chart showing staff assignments, and details about where funding cuts will be made. He asked for more details about how these changes will enrich services to residents. He argued that collaboration among departments should be a mandate for the entire county operation.

Peterson concluded by saying he had two more pages of questions and comments, because these three departments provided front-line services to his district and he wanted to be clear about how those services would be affected. But Judge had asked him to “go light,” he said, so he was cutting his questions short.

Rob Turner said that before he was elected, he didn’t know much about county government. He said he now understands the importance of services provided by the county, especially those provided by these three departments. Although District 1, which he represents, is often considered affluent, Turner said he’s sent several residents to get assistance from these departments. [District 1 covers the northwest portion of the county, including Dexter and Chelsea.] These are people who have been self-reliant, but who lost their jobs and are in terrible need. Those residents sometimes hit dead ends when they tried to get help from the county, he said, so he’s glad there will be a more coordinated approach in place soon.

Turner said economic development is important, and local employers are a pivotal part of that. He appreciated that this new department would look at the whole spectrum, from providing help for basic needs to getting residents back in the workforce and becoming self-reliant again. Turner also advocated for a common database for different county services – otherwise, people seeking services can fall through the cracks.

Conan Smith weighed in again, saying he wanted to give some pushback on a couple of points. He agreed with other commissioners who said that economic development is important, but he noted that the board hasn’t funded that work. They’ve changed the name and mission of that department several times, he said, and have fragmented the staff. They can either give economic development a home in this new department, Smith said, or make a commitment to funding economic development as its own, stable department.

Secondly, Smith said, he wasn’t sure a business plan could be completed by the time the board takes its initial vote on consolidation in June. Right now, they’re looking at structural changes, not programmatic ones. He cautioned against asking staff to develop a detailed business plan before the board agrees to approve the restructuring, saying it could be a potential waste of time. He didn’t think they should get into the weeds of how a new department will function until they’ve actually agreed to form the department.

Peterson responded by saying the board can take as much time as it needs to do its work. He observed that $16 million isn’t chump change, and wondered what bank would make that kind of loan without seeing a business plan. The services provided by these three departments affect certain districts more than others, he said – Districts 6, 5 and 2 are most affected. [Those districts, represented by Peterson, Rolland Sizemore Jr. and Dan Smith, respectively, are on the east side of the county, including Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township.]

Ann Arbor hasn’t felt the brunt of the economic downturn, Peterson said – the city is coming back strong. That’s good, because it will benefit the rest of the county. But other parts aren’t faring as well, he noted. It’s important that the county’s economic development role isn’t buried, Peterson added. He said he’s not arguing for a huge staff, but they need to be able to talk the language of the business community. He asked that a working session be scheduled for this issue.

Prater reiterated that a business plan is critical. It needed to include performance measures, but it didn’t have to be complicated. McDaniel said the staff could put one together.

Conan Smith said he didn’t disagree about the importance of economic development. But he wants to see the board’s commitment to that, not a haphazard approach. He agreed that Ann Arbor has been fortunate to not suffer as badly from the economic decline. [Smith, who represents District 10, is one of four Ann Arbor commissioners.] He credited the University of Michigan as an anchor, and the leadership of civic officials. It was also good that many people making decisions in Lansing have their roots in Ann Arbor. [Gov. Rick Snyder lives in the Ann Arbor area, as does Mike Finney, head of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and former CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK.]

One of the things that makes this county strong is that people care about others, he said, no matter where they live. As an example, he cited the investment that the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority is making in public transit service to Ypsilanti. Smith noted that the organization he leads – the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, based in Ferndale – opened an office in downtown Ypsilanti. His sister also lives in the city – he’s seen the foreclosed homes on her street.

If the county board has the will to invest in substantial economic development over the long term, Smith said, they can do a lot of good. They can do an equal amount of harm by investing haphazardly.

Bergman agreed that economic development is important, but said she doesn’t think it’s being subsumed in this new department. She also noted that while Ann Arbor is a terrific place to live, there are certainly residents who need the county’s assistance. There are widows, for example, who live in large houses they can’t sell and who have to choose between buying food or medication. “Ann Arbor is not just a mansion city,” she said.

Yousef Rabhi concluded this part of the session by saying he was impressed with the consolidation plan. Like the IT collaboration that the board approved at its May 4 meeting, this is another step, he said.

Brownfields and Packard Square

The May 5 working session also included a discussion of the Packard Square project in Ann Arbor. At its meeting the previous night, the board was asked to give initial approval of a $1 million grant application and $1 million loan from the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment, for brownfield cleanup at the site. Commissioners were also asked to authorize designation of the county’s full faith and credit as a guarantee to any loan that might be awarded, up to $1 million.

Some commissioners raised concerns at their May 4 meeting about the brownfield proposal and requested that the agenda item first be addressed at a working session. It was added to the May 5 agenda – that item will be reported in a separate Chronicle article.

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

Absent: Leah Gunn, Rolland Sizemore Jr.

The Washtenaw County administration building at the northeast corner of Main and Ann streets might be renamed the Robert E. Guenzel Government Center. (Photo by the writer.)

Conan Smith defended the resolution, which would name the building at 200 N. Main St. the Robert E. Guenzel Government Center. He called Guenzel’s 37-year tenure “remarkable,” saying his length of service and number of accomplishments makes him worthy of the honor. But Prater questioned the process and fairness of the decision, asking, “Who’s being overlooked?”

Also at Wednesday’s briefing, incoming county administrator Verna McDaniel announced her decision to hire Bill Reynolds as deputy administrator. He was one of two finalists who’d been in town earlier this month for a full day of interviews. The board will be asked to approve the hire at its June 2 meeting.

To mark her promotion to county administrator, McDaniel will be honored at a reception prior to the May 19 board meeting, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at 220 N. Main St.

After last Wednesday’s briefing, commissioners also held a caucus to discuss appointments to nine county boards and commissions. They’ll vote on the appointments at their May 19 meeting, and if the consensus reached at caucus holds, it will result in turnover on the county’s historic district commission.

And a dearth of applications for the workforce development board prompted a discussion of the importance of that group, which helps oversee the county’s Employment Training and Community Services (ETCS) department. Among other things, ETCS is handling roughly $4 million in stimulus funds to weatherize local homes, and commissioner Ken Schwartz raised concerns over the effectiveness of that effort.

Naming a Building: What’s the Policy?

During Wednesday’s administrative briefing, a draft copy of the board’s May 19 agenda included a resolution under “new business” to rename the building at 200 N. Main St. the Robert E. Guenzel Government Center. Built in 2000, the four-story structure houses several departments, including offices of the prosecuting attorney, treasurer, and county clerk, register of deeds and vital records.

McDaniel told commissioners that she’d prefer to bring the resolution from the floor, rather than have it included in the agenda. The agenda now posted online reflects that request – the resolution is no longer listed.

Most of the discussion about the naming took place during the appointments caucus which immediately followed Wednesday’s briefing, and which wasn’t attended by McDaniel. Wes Prater asked how the proposal had surfaced, and was told by board chair Rolland Sizemore Jr. that it had been suggested by commissioners Leah Gunn and Barbara Bergman. Neither Gunn nor Bergman attended Wednesday’s briefing or caucus.

Prater indicated that naming a building after an employee wasn’t appropriate without discussing the criteria used. “We’ve got a lot of good employees,” he said.

Ken Schwartz pointed to the county’s Meri Lou Murray Recreation Center as an example of a building named in someone’s honor. Murray was a county commissioner – an elected position – who was the driving force behind starting the county parks system.

Conan Smith said there wasn’t a policy about naming facilities. “It’s an honor more than a process,” he said. In that case, Prater replied, it becomes a question of fairness. He wondered who’s being overlooked, and said it seemed like a done deal without any discussion.

Smith said that Guenzel’s service has been remarkable, both in length and accomplishments. He served 37 years with the county, including 15 years as county administrator, and has taken on many leadership roles in the community during that tenure. Among other things, he was instrumental in developing the county’s Blueprint to End Homelessness and in leading the effort to build the Delonis Center, a homeless shelter located in Ann Arbor. Last December he announced his retirement, which took effect May 14.

Prater said if the resolution comes to the floor at the May 19 meeting, he plans to air his concerns.

Deputy County Administrator Hired, Finance Director on Hold

During Wednesday’s administrative briefing, Verna McDaniel – the incoming county administrator – told commissioners that she has made an offer to Bill Reynolds for the position of deputy county administrator, at a salary of $138,000. He accepted the position, she said, and plans to start on June 21. Commissioners will be asked to approve the appointment at their June 2 meeting.

Bill Reynolds, right, talks with Washtenaw County commissioner Wes Prater during a May 5 reception in the lobby of the county administration building. Reynolds is being hired as deputy county administrator.

Reynolds and another finalist for the position, Jose Reyes, spent the day on May 5 being interviewed by county management and others. McDaniel said the feedback in favor of Reynolds was nearly unanimous.

Until resigning to take the Washtenaw County job, Reynolds was chief administrative officer for Chippewa County, Wisc. He served as chief of staff for Republican-turned-Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and led the teams that oversaw the Senate confirmation hearings of both Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Sam Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also served in Iraq in 2004 with a Marine Corps reserve unit, and was a senior officer leading civil/military operations in Al Anbar province. He has a masters degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University – McDaniel has the same degree from Harvard.

McDaniel, who was deputy administrator until being promoted to county administrator when Guenzel retired, said Reynolds’ style is very different from hers, but that they complement each other. Because of his experience running a county himself, “he can hit the ground running,” she told commissioners at Wednesday’s briefing.

Commissioner Ken Schwartz asked about the status of McDaniels’ search for a finance director. That position is vacant following the retirement of former finance director Peter Ballios at the end of 2009. McDaniel said she’s decided not to make a hire until Reynolds comes on board. There might be opportunities to restructure, she said, and she wanted his advice.

Rolland Sizemore Jr., the county board’s chair, told McDaniel he wanted her and Reynolds to attend an Ypsilanti Township board meeting and be introduced as the county’s new top administrators. He said he wanted to go along as well, and he invited the other commissioners who represent parts of Ypsilanti Township – Ronnie Peterson and Wes Prater. It was important to reach out to other government leaders, he said, adding that he wanted to go to the board of Superior Township as well – his district includes a small portion of that township.

Conan Smith said it would be a good idea to do the same thing for the Ann Arbor city council. He noted that councilmembers “might fall over dead if someone from the county showed up at one of their meetings.”

Other Agenda Items: Road Commission, Police Services Lawsuit

Several items were on the draft agenda but were not discussed in detail at Wednesday’s briefing. Here’s a sampling.

Setting the County Operating Millage

At the May 19 meeting of the Ways & Means Committee, on which all commissioners serve, they’ll vote on a resolution to set the 2010 Washtenaw County operating millage. It will be levied in property owners’ July tax bills and is unchanged from last year, at 4.5493 mills. Commissioners will take a final vote on the millage at their June 2 board meeting.

When other millages are factored in, the total county millage is 5.6768 mills. In addition to the operating millage, these other taxes are levied in July:

County Parks (expires 2016):    0.2353
County Parks (expires 2019):    0.2367
Natural Areas (expires 2011):   0.2409
Enhanced Emergency Communications System
  800 MHZ (expires 2015):       0.2000
Huron-Clinton Metro Authority:  0.2146

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Later this year, the board will also be asked to approve a veterans relief millage and Act 88 millage (for economic development purposes), which will both be levied in December.

Setting a Public Hearing for Possible Road Commission Expansion

Conan Smith had previously attempted to set a public hearing for expanding the Washtenaw County Road Commission from three commissioners to five. At the board’s April 21, 2010 meeting, he moved a resolution to set the hearing for May 19. At the time, he told commissioners it wasn’t a decision on whether to expand – setting the public hearing was just a way to start the conversation. [The county board is responsible for appointing the road commissioners to six-year terms. Currently serving are David Rutledge, Douglas Fuller and Fred Veigel.]

The resolution was supported by Leah Gunn, Barbara Bergman and Jeff Irwin, but several other commissioners opposed the timing of the move, saying they wanted more time to discuss it. Ken Schwartz proposed tabling the resolution until the May 19 meeting, and that motion carried.

So on the agenda for the May 19 board meeting is a resolution to set the public hearing on the road commission expansion for the Wednesday, July 7 meeting. During the summer months, the county commissioners meet only once a month, so further action on the expansion wouldn’t likely occur until the Aug. 4 meeting at the earliest – after the Aug. 3 primary elections.

Closed Session to Discuss Pending Litigation

The board will hold a closed executive session at the end of their May 19 board meeting to get an update on the lawsuit between the county and the townships of Augusta, Salem and Ypsilanti. The townships sued the county in 2006 over the cost of sheriff deputy patrols. In late April, the state Supreme Court refused to reconsider a motion made by the townships to hear the case. [See Chronicle coverage: "Townships Lose Again in Deputy Patrol Case"] The county planned to ask for a judgment to cover costs of providing patrols to the townships without a contract for most of 2006 – potentially around $2 million.

At Wednesday’s briefing, the county’s corporation counsel told commissioners that a June 2 hearing has been set regarding the judgment request.

Changes to Natural Areas Preservation Program Ordinance

At their April 22, 2010 working session, commissioners were briefed on proposed changes to the county’s Natural Areas Preservation Program, which would help the county protect more land that’s being used for farming. At their May 19 meeting, they’ll be voting on those changes.

The 10-year NAPP millage expires this year, and commissioners will need to decide whether to put a renewal for it on the November ballot. The current millage, which raises about $3 million annually to preserve natural areas in the county, expires at the end of 2010.

Appointments Caucus

Two times a year, the county board approves appointments to the many boards, committees and commissions that oversee various county programs and activities. The official job of nominating people falls to the board chair, with nominations confirmed by a vote of the board. Prior to the board meeting when this occurs, an appointments caucus is held to discuss potential candidates. That caucus happened immediately after the board’s May 12 administrative briefing.

Appointments to nine groups were discussed, with consensus reached on all but one group – the local emergency planning committee. Here are the tentative appointments, based on Wednesday’s caucus:

• Accommodations Ordinance Commission: Shary Brown, Shari Faulhaber
• Agricultural Lands Preservation Advisory Committee: Charlie Koenn
• Brownfield Development Authority: Teresa Gillotti, Mark Heusel
• Emergency Medical Services Commission: Ashley Cieslinski, Eric Copeland
• Natural Areas Technical Advisory Committee: Rane Curl, David Lutton
• Public Works Board: Ruth Ann Jamnick
• Workforce Development Board: Sean Duval

For the local emergency planning committee, 13 positions are open, but only four people applied. Of those, commissioners agreed to appoint two: Samantha Brandfon and Ashley Cieslinski. There were some conflict of interest concerns regarding the other two applicants, so commissioners agreed to hold off on any decision for those appointments.

In addition, agreement was reached on four appointments for the historic district commission: Chuck Gray, Jean King, Elmer White and Ron Woods. All but Woods are reappointments. Two other HDC commissioners who reapplied – Martha Churchill and Nancy Snyder – will not be reappointed, if the recommendations made at caucus are approved.

During Wednesday’s caucus, some commissioners discussed the view that the HDC hasn’t been an extremely functional group. Conan Smith said that while commission members all care passionately about the historic district, there’s been internal fighting, primarily between White and Churchill. The HDC has potential to play a role in economic development by highlighting the county’s historical assets, Smith said, but it hasn’t to date fulfilled that function.

Ken Schwartz described White as the “heart and soul” behind the effort to organize a permanent display of a model of the USS Washtenaw, the most highly decorated ship of the Vietnam War. The consensus was to reappoint White. Smith noted that the appointment of Woods would add diversity – he would be the only minority on the commission.

Workforce Development Board and Weatherization

Sean Duval, CEO of Golden Limousine in Ann Arbor, was the only applicant for the workforce development board, though there are five openings – when full, there are 13 seats on the board. He was recommended for the position by the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce.

Wes Prater said the commissioners need to give the workforce development board more attention, given its oversight role. It’s one of the two primary boards – along with the community action board – that oversee the county’s Employment Training and Community Services (ETSC) department.

Jeff Irwin agreed with Prater, saying it was especially true given the recent change in leadership and influx of federal stimulus dollars. [Trenda Rusher, the long-time head of ETCS, retired at the end of 2009 after nearly 30 years with the county. The department is being led by interim executive director Patricia Denig.]

ETCS has been successful in garnering millions of dollars in federal stimulus funding, including $4.29 million for a program to weatherize 600 homes for low- to moderate-income families over a three-year period. That grant was announced in March 2009.

Ken Schwartz expressed concern with the weatherization program, and told commissioners the county needs to hire an objective third-party inspector to start doing spot checks on the work. He said some of the work he’s seen has not been good – a simple audit would tell the commissioners whether the program is working, he said. He asked to schedule a working session on the issue. “It bears looking at,” he said.

Schwartz has raised concerns about the weatherization program at several board meetings over the past few months, primarily pushing for faster implementation of the program. Other commissioners have asked questions as well. At an April 8, 2010 working session during which commissioners were updated on how the county’s stimulus funding was being spent, Prater asked how many local contractors were being used for the weatherization program. Staff didn’t have an answer at the time, but on Wednesday Prater said he’d been told that of the 16 or so contractors being used, only four or five were based in Washtenaw County – that concerned him.

At a Feb. 18, 2010 working session, Conan Smith had asked whether the weatherization program at ETCS might be moved to the newly created department of energy and economic development. That issue was brought up again at Wednesday’s discussion by Schwartz, who said there had been no coordination with the new energy office.

Regarding the quality of the weatherization work, on Wednesday Irwin said it would help to get data on how effective the program is. Having that information could also help the county get future grants, he said. Smith suggested getting homeowners to sign a release from DTE, so that the county could have access to their usage records and could track how much savings are gained from weatherizing homes.

Rolland Sizemore Jr. wrapped up the discussion, saying, “It’s something we will address.”

Candidates for County Commission

Alice Ralph, a Democrat who’s running for the District 11 seat that will be vacated by Jeff Irwin, attended Wednesday’s briefing – she has attended several briefings over the past few months, as well as regular board meetings. Irwin is not seeking reelection and is instead running for the state representative’s seat in District 53.

May 11 was the deadline to file for the Aug. 3 primary, and all but one of the board’s 11 districts face competition either in the primary or the November general election. Here’s a rundown of the candidates:

District 1 (Chelsea, Dexter, and the townships of Lyndon, Sylvan, Dexter and Lima, and portions of Webster and Scio townships) This seat is currently held by Republican Mark Ouimet, who will be running for state representative in District 52.

Eric Borregard (D)
Reid McCarthy (D)
Adam Zemke (D)
Kathy Jane Keinath (R)
Rob Turner (R)

District 2 (the townships of Ann Arbor, Superior, Salem and Northfield, and portions of Webster Township)

Ken Schwartz (D-Incumbent)
Ben H. Colmery III (R)
Dan Smith (R)

District 3 (the cities of Saline and Manchester, and townships of Saline, Lodi, Freedom, Bridgewater, Sharon and Manchester, and a portion of Scio Township) The seat is currently held by Jessica Ping, who isn’t seeking reelection. Alicia Ping is her sister.

Alicia Ping (R)

District 4 (the city of Milan, the townships of York and Augusta, and portions of Ypsilanti Township)

Wes Prater (D-Incumbent)
Rick Roe (D)
Robert Van Bemmelen (R)

District 5 (portions of Superior and Ypsilanti townships)

Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-Incumbent)
Daniel K. Benefiel (R)
Bill Emmerich (R)

District 6 (Ypsilanti and portions of Ypsilanti Township)

Mark Namatevs (D)
Ronnie Peterson (D-Incumbent)
David H. Raaflaub (R)

District 7 (Pittsfield Township)

Kristin Judge (D-Incumbent)
Sean Gray (R)

District 8 (northeast Ann Arbor)

Barbara Levin Bergman (D-Incumbent)
Melinda Day (R)

District 9 (south and southwest Ann Arbor)

Leah Gunn (D-Incumbent)
Mark Tipping (R)

District 10 (west and northwest Ann Arbor)

Danielle Mack (D)
Conan Smith (D-Incumbent)

District 11 (central and east Ann Arbor)

LuAnne Bullington (D)
Mike Fried (D)
Yousef Rabhi (D)
Alice Ralph (D)
Joe Baublis (R)
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Contact information for the candidates can be found on the county elections website.

Washtenaw County employment applications ask about felony convictions.

Mary King, coordinator of the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative of Washtenaw County, told commissioners how the MPRI is attempting to reduce the county’s high prisoner recidivism rate – a problem dating back several years. She also urged them to consider eliminating a question on the county’s employment forms that asks about an applicant’s felony history. Such questions can be barriers to employment, she said, and the biggest cause of parole failure is lack of a job.

Leaders of two county departments – Mary Jo Callan of the Office of Community Development, and Patricia Denig of Employment Training & Community Services (ETCS) – gave an update on how some of the county’s $22.69 million in federal stimulus funds are being spent. Those two departments alone have received $13.22 million for a wide range of programs, from job training to low-income housing.

Federal Stimulus Spending in Washtenaw

Mary Jo Callan, director of the joint county/city of Ann Arbor Office of Community Development, started with an overview of federal stimulus funds, noting that $321 million had been awarded to entities in Washtenaw County through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. About half of that has been awarded to the University of Michigan, she said. Washtenaw County government has received $22.69 million.

Thursday’s presentation focused on the $13.22 million received by the OCD and ETCS departments, in the categories of family support, community building and workforce development.

Stimulus: Funding for Family Support Services

Several programs have been funded by $1.067 million to support families, said Patricia Denig, interim executive director for ETCS. Of that, the largest amount –  $925,193 – was awarded through the Community Service Block Grant program. Funds have been used to hire additional ETCS staff, increase existing services – like the county’s emergency financial assistance programs and foster grandparent program – and expand efforts like the Washtenaw Literacy Coalition, the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing program, and microloans offered by the Center for Empowerment and Economic Development (CEED).

Senior nutrition services received $61,554 and has expanded the number of meals served by 20,000 to a total of 245,000 meals over 15 months, delivered to 2,200 people in the county. Delivery has been expanded to areas not served before, Denig said, and Saturday delivery was added.

The county’s emergency food assistance program received $17,000 in stimulus funding, Denig said. For this program, the county partners with the nonprofit Food Gatherers, which supplies local food pantries. The federal funding is helping provide emergency food for an additional 1,400 households annually.

Finally, the county received $46,285 for human services via the Community Development Block Grant program, which is administered by the Washtenaw Urban County. These funds were allocated in two ways, Denig said: 1) to Northfield Human Services to provide transportation for low-income residents, and 2) to the Fair Housing Center, which helps alleviate barriers for low-income residents and to advocate for those facing housing discrimination.

Stimulus: Funding for Programs to Strengthen Communities

Three programs in this category got a total of $7.578 million in federal stimulus funds, Callan told commissioners: weatherization, neighborhood stabilization and infrastructure projects.

Of that, the county’s weatherization program received $4.29 million, and 100 projects are in progress and another 70 applications have been approved. Though only about $1.8 million has been committed to projects at this point, the county has until the spring of 2012 to spend the funds, Callan said. The program has hired five new employees, trained six inspectors and has 12 contractors approved to do weatherization work.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) received $3.024 million to acquire foreclosed or abandoned houses. The county has worked primarily with Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley and Community Housing Alternatives to buy 17 homes so far, Callan said. The NSP funds are also paying to demolish blighted properties in Ypsilanti – primarily in the Water Street area – and in Ypsilanti Township. And a portion of the money will be used to redevelop 144 units of rental housing at Parkview Apartments in Ypsilanti. [These funds are overseen by the Washtenaw Urban County – see Chronicle coverage: "Urban County Allocates Housing Funds"]

The remainder of the funding in this category – $262,282 – is being used for infrastructure improvements in low-income areas, including road work in Ypsilanti Township and sidewalk repair in Pittsfield Township.

Stimulus: Funding for Workforce Development

Washtenaw County received $4.578 million for workforce development programs to help dislocated workers and unemployed adults, as well as for a summer youth jobs program.

Denig said that whenever possible, the ETCS staff tries to enroll people in both the dislocated worker and adult worker programs, which received a combined $1.463 million in stimulus funding. Those funds helped pay for the training of 97 additional participants in the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) adult program, and an additional 189 people in the WIA program for dislocated workers – people who are transitioning to new careers after their jobs have been eliminated. These services are offered at the county’s Career Transition Center in downtown Ypsilanti, which opened last fall.

The summer youth jobs program received $1.957 million. Over 600 young people between the ages of 14-24 worked at 120 sites across the county, Denig said. The program’s goals include giving employment opportunities to youth that they might not otherwise have had, and to help develop good work habits, financial literacy and social skills. One of the program’s participants, Leslie Minor, was selected by the Michigan Works! agency as its Alumni of the Year, Denig said.

Stimulus: Challenges Faced

Callan concluded the presentation by saying they were very proud of their accomplishments and that they’d been good stewards of the money. But she also acknowledged how “extremely challenging” it has been to manage this stimulus funding. It’s an unprecedented national program that’s heavily scrutinized, and the funding comes with a lot of strings attached. Reporting requirements are very detailed – “some might say onerous,” she said – which entails considerable staff time.

Ramping up the programs is another challenge, Callan said, whether it’s hiring and training new staff for the weatherization program or finding employer partners for the summer youth jobs program. Another challenge is knowing that these are short-term dollars, she said, though demand for these services continues to grow.

One of the things that will have a lasting impact, Callan noted, is the paradigm change that’s happening between the Office of Community Development and ETCS. They’re working together to try to find the best way to provide the services they offer – it shouldn’t be the case that residents just get the services that are available from the office that they happen to enter, she said.

Callan cited weatherization as an example – those services are offered through both departments. Together, they’ve entered into a joint contract with the Clean Energy Coalition, a nonprofit that will provide training for contractors and subcontractors in energy efficiency and weatherization. Both departments will share the costs for CEC to develop the training curriculum, Callan said.

They’re committed to looking beyond departmental silos, Callan said. In general, the goal should be to collaborate and have a “permeable boundary,” within county government and throughout the community.

Stimulus: Commissioner Questions, Comments

Several commissioners had questions for Callan and Denig. Barbara Bergman asked whether there was any movement toward consolidation among nonprofits that the county worked with in the community, quipping “or is that a bad question that we’ll discuss in private?”

It’s a question that many people are asking, Callan said. Her office works with about 70 nonprofits, and those groups are trying to do things differently and collaborate more. But just like jurisdictional cooperation between local governments, it’s challenging. The Office of Community Development isn’t interested in supporting new nonprofits, she added, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in new ideas and new approaches.

Responding to a question from Wes Prater, Callan clarified that the federal funding didn’t always align with the county’s own fiscal year, which runs from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. They are rolling funds, with grants given over a minimum 15-month period. Verna McDaniel, the deputy administrator who’s been hired to replace retiring county administrator Bob Guenzel next month, said it was the county finance department’s job to account for the funds within the county’s budget.

Prater asked whether the new contractors being hired for these expanded programs are complying with the Davis Bacon Act, which requires that public works projects pay prevailing wages. It was important to have rigid enforcement of that, he said. Denig said they’ve recently hired a contractor who’s an expert in Davis Bacon, who’ll help with compliance issues. Aaron Kraft, who supervises the weatherization program, said that new contractors weren’t all familiar with Davis Bacon, so there’s been a learning curve.

Prater also asked how many of the contractors being hired are from Washtenaw County – it was important to him that those jobs stay local. Kraft said they’d get that information to him.

Mark Ouimet wanted to know whether the senior nutrition program included delivering meals to senior centers as well as the homebound. It did, Denig replied. Ouimet said that the program was important not just for the food, but for socialization as well.

Bergman asked about the senior nutrition program, too. She noted that federal and state funding for the Area Agency on Aging has been cut, and she worried about that vulnerable population. She wondered if it would be possible to use neighborhood providers for preparing meals, or whether that would run counter to public health code. Denig said the program achieves economies of scale by using one provider for food preparation, but that they can look at how to expand delivery services. The federal stimulus funds have allowed them to serve more people who’ve been on a wait list on the eastern side of the county, and to increase delivery in rural areas on the western side.

Jeff Irwin asked about a comment that Callan had made during her presentation about the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, and how it was sometimes difficult to acquire foreclosed houses because of competition from the private sector. He asked her to elaborate. The competition comes from buyers who are able to respond more quickly than the county can, she said, and who can pay more for the property. Using federal funds, the county can’t pay more than 1% below the appraised value – so the county must get an appraisal and funding together before moving forward. In contrast, some buyers can act quickly and are willing to pay cash.

Responding to a follow-up from Irwin, Callan said there are different types of buyers. Some are speculative, having faith that the market will turn. Others are acquiring the houses as rental properties. And to a lesser degree, some are actual homeowners making purchases. Irwin pointed out that on the positive side, it meant that there are people out there willing to invest.

He also asked Callan to clarify the difference between the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) and the Community Development Block Grants-Recovery (CDBG-R) program. NSP funds focus on foreclosure reclamation, Callan said, whether through demolition of blighted property or acquisition and rehab. The funds can be spent in a limited geographic region, designated by low-income population. CDBG-R is used for housing development, public instructure improvements, and to a limited degree, human services programs.

Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative

Mary King, coordinator of MPRI of Washtenaw County, began her presentation by noting that Michigan spends nearly $2 billion annually for its corrections systems. It costs $30,000 to incarcerate a prisoner for a year, and $45,000 if the prisoner is mentally or physically ill. [Similar information was discussed at a recent forum on MPRI at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy. See Chronicle coverage: "Panel: MPRI Transforming State Corrections"]

Washtenaw County has the highest recidivism rate in Michigan, King told commissioners  – as high as 75%, depending on whether it’s calculated over two or three years. One of the biggest factors contributing to repeat offenses is a lack of employment, she said. It’s extremely difficult for parolees to find a job, especially in this economy – and given the fact that an increasing number of employers require background checks, no matter what the job.

Nationwide, 82% of employers now do background checks, King reported, and only 12.8% will hire someone with a felony conviction. It’s ironic, she said: The very thing that would make a community safer – finding employment for parolees – is the thing that’s most frequently denied. “You could make the case that we’re actually creating the very thing that we fear.”

Because it addresses this and other problems of transitioning from prison to the community, MPRI “is a crime reduction program,” King said.

The program begins when a prisoner is incarcerated, she said, but intensifies 60 days prior to their release and continues for six months following their return to their community. Services vary, depending on need, but include help in finding housing, transportation, clothing and other basic needs. Employment training and family counseling are also available. The nonprofit Catholic Social Services is the lead agency for MPRI locally, but its steering committee includes representatives from county law enforcement and corrections, faith-based groups and other nonprofits, and former prisoners.

About 350 people each year return to Washtenaw County from prison. Of those, 32% are from Ypsilanti Township, 25% from Ann Arbor, 19.5% from Ypsilanti, 8.5% from Superior Township, 2% from Pittsfield Township and the rest from other parts of the county. Those statistics are important, King said, because the program has made a commitment to help settle former prisoners back into the communities where they previously lived.

The local program is just in its third year, so there isn’t yet data on recidivism to show MPRI’s impact. King said that other sites in the state, which have been using MPRI for a longer period, are showing roughly 30% reductions in recidivism. The goal had been a 10% reduction, she said, so it’s “beyond people’s wildest expectations.”

With employment being a major challenge, King said the program offers “juicy” incentives for employers to hire former prisoners. Employers can “try out” a worker for eight weeks at no cost – MPRI acts as the employer-of-record and pays all wages. Up to $2,400 in tax credits are available for each new hire, she said, and employees are bonded for up to $25,000.

But the biggest barrier is the felony box on an application, King said – many employers automatically discard applicants who check “yes,” regardless of skills, work ethic, or experience. ”It puts everyone into the same box, which is if you have a felony, you’re not welcome here.” Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits the rejection of all applicants with criminal records, but it happens all the time, she said.

King laid out several reasons for “banning the box.” People of color are arrested, convicted and sent to prison in disproportionate numbers, compared to the overall population, she said, and are at a disadvantage when they return to the community. The county could serve as a model for employers in other governments and the private sector – King pointed out that one of the board’s stated priorities is to “support programs which result in successful reintegration of persons who have come through the criminal justice system.” [Jason Smith, an intern with MPRI, elaborated on reasons to ban the box in an essay published by The Chronicle on Jan. 27, 2010.]

Background checks are also an issue, King said. While they should be used for certain sensitive jobs, it shouldn’t be an across-the-board practice. Often there are inaccuracies in the report, and applicants aren’t given a chance to see it or respond. If background checks are conducted and result in the applicant being denied a job, the applicant should at least be allowed to see the report and verify its accuracy, she said.

King said that MPRI is providing a template for a resolution that local governments can modify to address these issues. She encouraged commissioners to take action, saying it would level the playing field for former prisoners. In Michigan, Battle Creek was the first community to ban the box, and Kalamazoo has now done the same.

“We’re hoping that Washtenaw County might like to be third,” King said.

MPRI: Commissioner Questions, Comments

Leah Gunn recalled that the mayor of Battle Creek had come to the board and discussed that town’s experiences with eliminating the felony box. She said if it works there and in Kalamazoo, “I don’t know why it wouldn’t work here.” Former prisoners have served their time, she said, and the board should consider banning the box, especially if it helps reduce recidivism.

Barbara Bergman has previously raised the suggestion of banning the box. She commended King for getting “water from a rock,” noting that the state hadn’t kept all of its promises regarding MPRI. She said that although there should be exceptions – for example, for employees working with children – in general, eliminating the question about felony convictions is the “only humane and smart and money-saving thing to do.” The county should also require its contractors to do the same, she said.

Jeff Irwin said he wanted to get feedback from the county’s human resources staff, as well as department heads and other employees. It’s the board’s responsibility to float the idea within the organization, before acting on it. He commended King for making the suggestion, and said that reducing recidivism is key to dealing with the state’s criminal justice problem.

After King’s presentation, Diane Heidt – the county’s human resources director – told The Chronicle that currently, applicants aren’t eliminated from consideration if they’ve been convicted of a felony. And background checks aren’t conducted until after an offer has been extended, she said.

Trenda Rusher, head of Washtenaw County's Employment Training & Community Services (ETCS) department, led a joint meeting of the Workforce Development and Community Action boards on Monday. (Photos by the writer.)

The Washtenaw County department that Trenda Rusher supervises is undergoing transition, and not just because the long-time workforce development manager is retiring.

At Monday’s annual joint meeting of the two boards that oversee the county’s Employment Training & Community Services (ETCS) department, Rusher spoke of several other changes – from the dramatic growth of revenues, thanks to federal stimulus dollars, to the equally dramatic increase in demand for services, due to Michigan’s economic plight and the implosion of the auto industry.

And as Rusher departs – after nearly three decades with the county, she’s heading to Washington, D.C. to start her own consulting business and to be near her twin daughters – the new county administrator will be looking at possibly reorganizing the operations that serve as a conduit for millions of federal, state and local dollars.

Verna McDaniel, the deputy county administrator who’s expected to replace retiring administrator Bob Guenzel, spoke to ETCS staff and members of both boards on Monday, saying “we will be looking at all options.” No decisions have been made – a planning team will be meeting to lay out a strategy for evaluating what’s next, she said.

ETCS Highlights in 2009

There are 24 members of the Workforce Development Board and 17 members of the Community Action board – about half of the combined group showed up for Monday’s half-day joint meeting. They oversee, respectively, the county’s job training and community services programs that ETCS manages. ETCS director Trenda Rusher spent part of the meeting summarizing what those programs accomplished in 2009.

Stimulus funding is taking the organization’s budget from $8 million to about $20 million, Rusher said. For 2009, the ETCS budget was $13.6 million – with 96% of those funds coming from federal and state grants, and the rest from county appropriations. Additional federal funding has been earmarked for ETCS programs in 2010. Of the $13.6 million budget, 73% of the funds – nearly $10 million – were used for workforce development programs.

The largest program getting stimulus funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is the county’s weatherization initiative. Last spring, the county was awarded just over $4 million to weatherize up to 600 homes over an 18-month period. [See Chronicle coverage: "County Gets $4.1 million Weatherization Grant"] Previously, the local weatherization program, which serves  low- to moderate-income families, had funding for about 100 homes annually, Rusher said.

Some members of the county’s board of commissioners have questioned why more homes haven’t been weatherized by this point. Commissioner Ken Schwartz in particular has voiced concerns about the delay, and at the board’s Dec. 2, 2009 meeting, he asked again for an update. From Chronicle coverage of that meeting:

Patricia Denig, director of planning and operations for the county’s Employment Training & Community Services (ETCS) department, said that the federal program was initially held up because the U.S. Department of Energy – the granting agency – decided to conduct a national prevailing wage survey, and those results weren’t released until August. In September, ETCS issued a request for proposals (RFP) to get bids from local contractors to provide weatherization services. Bids were received and ETCS was ready to sign contracts in early November, Denig said, but local labor organizations raised concerns about whether those bids had been reviewed by the the county’s Construction Unity Board, known as CUB. Now, ETCS was awaiting a decision from CUB.

In a follow-up this week, Curtis Hedger, the county’s corporation counsel, told The Chronicle that those contracts are now being processed without CUB approval. Wage guidelines for the weatherization contractors, which are lower than what CUB would like, are mandated by the federal government. On Monday, Rusher told members of the ETCS oversight boards that “we’re working like crazy” to get the weatherization requests processed. The grant funding must be used by Sept. 30, 2010 March 31, 2012.

Juanita House, right, holds her daughter Olivia Hudson while working on a group exercise at the joint meeting of the county's Workforce Development and Community Action boards. House is a member of the Community Action Board. In the background: Aaron Kraft, who supervises the ETCS weatherization program.

The weatherization program is one of many community services programs that are managed by ETCS. Among its programs, the department provides emergency food assistance and a summer food program for low-income children, health insurance for low-income county residents through the Michigan Enrolls program, and several services for senior citizens, including meals served in community centers and a foster grandparent program.

At Monday’s meeting, Rusher highlighted several workforce programs as well, including the county’s Access Points initiative. A federal program, it provides training to volunteers at faith-based organizations and community centers, which then act as satellite sites for providing employment resources. [.pdf file of Access Point sites and contact information]

There are 36 Access Points in Washtenaw County, Rusher said – more than in the rest of Michigan combined, and the highest number for any other participating region in the country. “They’re like gerbils,” she said. “They just keep growing.” Gov. Jennifer Granholm last year came to a breakfast for Access Point participants, to thank them for “putting Michigan on the map,” Rusher said.

Another highlight of the year was the opening in November of the Career Transition Center, located in downtown Ypsilanti on the second floor of the KeyBank Building at 301 W. Michigan Ave. Monday’s board meeting was held in a conference room in the basement of that building.

Since opening, thousands of people have walked through the center’s doors, Rusher told board members. She cited a head count of over 6,000 people, but then noted that those numbers include duplicative counts, with some people coming to the center multiple times.

George Toles, who works for ETCS corporate and business services, fires up a demo of a practice interview program at the Career Transition Center in Ypsilanti. A webcam mounted on top of the computer monitor records the interviewee. Counselors at the center then help critique the responses. The equipment is also used for employers off-site to conduct actual job interviews.

On Monday, board members attending the half-day joint meeting spent part of the time touring the center, which includes conference rooms, a computer training lab, interview rooms – each with a phone and computer – and a large area with computers and Internet access available for conducting job searches. There’s also a functional gas fireplace in the lobby.

The center serves as an entry point for people accessing the state’s unemployment services, via the Michigan Works! program, as well as a resource for people hoping to change careers. ETCS operates another employment center in Ypsilanti as well, at 304 Harriet St.

While both centers offer classes and help in identifying resources for job seekers, the newer Career Transition Center encounters more people who have never previously been unemployed. It’s often an emotional experience, said Rhonda Williams, one of the career counselors on staff. “We have to be Dr. Phil sometimes,” she told The Chronicle.

Update on the Future of ETCS

In reassuring ETCS staff about the upcoming transition, there was an element of Dr. Phil in the remarks of Verna McDaniel, deputy county administrator, who spoke to staff and board members on Monday,  The department employs 22 county staff, plus about 65 contract employees.

McDaniel is the sole candidate being considered at this point to replace county administrator Bob Guenzel, who also dropped by the Monday event. She was interviewed by the county board of commissioners on Thursday – an interview that Guenzel characterized in his remarks on Monday as “superb.”

McDaniel told the ETCS crowd that she didn’t want to presume she’d be the next administrator, but she said that county administration would work closely with the leadership of the boards and with staff in the coming weeks. She pledged to provide frequent updates about plans for the department.

Verna McDaniel, right, talks with Jenny Bivens, workforce development manager, at the county's Career Transition Center in downtown Ypsilanti. McDaniel, deputy county administrator, spoke to ETCS staff and the joint meeting of the Workforce Development and Community Action boards on Monday.

Whoever is appointed by the board of commissioners on Feb. 3 will have their hands full, McDaniel said. To help with that transition, she and Guenzel have formed a team to work on a smooth hand-off between administrators and to lay some groundwork for the future. There are several opportunities, she said, given the retirements of both Rusher and Peter Ballios, the county’s finance director.

They’ll be looking at all options, she said, but they haven’t made any decisions “so don’t feel we have secrets or anything like that.” There’s no need to panic, she added, urging people not to speculate or spread rumors about what might be happening.

What they’ll be doing is laying out a process by which to make decisions, she said. They’ll be seeking staff and board input, she added: “You’re going to be seeing a lot of me.”

On the board level, some reorganization is already occurring: the Workforce Development and Community Action boards have combined their leadership into a joint executive committee, co-chaired by Keith Peters and Mike DuRussel.

But other possible changes aren’t yet in place. In response to questions from ETCS staff, McDaniel said they’ll have a plan for the ETCS leadership transition by March 31. Rusher, whose retirement took effect at the end of 2009, has agreed to stay in her position through the end of March. McDaniel said they don’t yet know if a search for Rusher’s replacement will be local or national. The board of commissioners has asked the county administration to look at “other permutations of leadership,” she said.

When one staff member stated that the department needs an interim leader after March, McDaniel agreed. She said they didn’t want to rush into naming an interim, but that by the time Rusher leaves, “I’m almost certain that will be necessary.”

Trenda Rusher talks with Aaron Kraft at an April 15, 2009 meeting of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners. Rusher will be stepping down from her job as executive director of the Employment Training & Community Services (ETCS) department.

As the search gets under way to replace Bob Guenzel, Washtenaw County’s top administrator, two other high-level staff members have announced their retirements.

Trenda Rusher, who has worked for the county for 26 years, is stepping down as executive director of the Employment Training & Community Services (ETCS) department, which serves as the local agency for the state’s Michigan Works! workforce development program. Finance director Peter Ballios will be retiring after 38 years with the county.

Both moves were announced Tuesday morning in an email sent to county commissioners and department heads. Neither Rusher nor Ballios could be reached by The Chronicle for comment.

On Tuesday morning at a joint meeting of the soon-to-merge Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti chambers of commerce, Guenzel told The Chronicle that the county would be conducting a search to replace Ballios. However, at this point they won’t be doing the same for Rusher’s position. Instead, county leaders will be looking at possibly reorganizing the operations that she supervises, he said.

A National Expert

Rusher has been noted over the years for her effectiveness in securing state and federal funding for the county’s workforce development initiatives. Most recently, ETCS has pulled in millions of dollars in federal economic stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including over $4 million to weatherize local residences and $3.6 million for adult training services and summer youth employment.

Rusher also is active on the state and national levels, and is considered an expert in the field of workforce development. She serves on the board of the Michigan Community Action Agency Association, the state Council for Labor and Economic Growth, and the National Association of Counties, among other groups, and is a frequent speaker at national conventions on the issue of workforce development. Locally, she heads the county’s Workforce Development Board – which oversees the county’s Michigan Works! program – and the Community Action Board, an advisory group for community programs that include weatherization, food assistance and other services for low-income residents.

In a conversation with The Chronicle at the joint chamber breakfast meeting, Mike Finney – who’s executive director of the area’s economic development agency, Ann Arbor SPARK – credited Rusher with forming the MEGA Partnership, a group that meets monthly to discuss regional economic and workforce development. In addition to the county, other municipalities, and Ann Arbor SPARK, MEGA members include the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, and the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti chambers of commerce.

Finney said that MEGA has been a forum to allow these different groups to  coordinate their efforts better, and that many of SPARK’s programs – including its Shifting Gears program for displaced auto workers – emerged from these discussions. SPARK receives $130,000 from ETCS for this and other programs, he said.

Handling the Transition

Peter Ballios oversees the county’s finance operations and played a key role over the past year in developing the two-year budget for 2010 and 2011, which the board passed in December. The department includes the county’s budget director, Jennifer Watson, as well as the administration of payroll, purchasing, accounts payable and accounts receivable.

A job posting for the next finance director will be made on Jan. 19, according to Tuesday’s email announcing the retirements, sent by deputy county administrator Verna McDaniel. The retirements were effective as of Dec. 31, 2009, but both Ballios and Rusher have agreed to stay for up to 90 days to help with a transition.

Meanwhile, a posting for the county administrator’s job was made Monday on the county’s website. It includes a note stating that an internal candidate is being considered for the job – McDaniel is considered a strong candidate. Guenzel, who announced his intent to retire late last year, is expected to stay until mid-May to help manage the transition. The board of commissioners, which is conducting the search for Guenzel’s replacement, plans to hold interviews for the position later this month.