Bloggin’ on the Edge

Posted by Scott Spielman at 12:08 PM | Comments | Permanent Link

The letter wasn’t addressed to me, but I got a chuckle out of it, anyway.

“Dear Dave,” it started, “The City of Wayne City Council and other concerned citizens have formed an informational group called; Citizens to Support Our Community…”

Ah, yes, the non-city-sponsored campaign to promote two millage increases that will be on the ballot here in Wayne in May. I guess all the good acronyms were taken. The letter was from that group to our owner and president, David Willett, explaining briefly the issue at hand and asking for a donation.

The issue at hand is two millage increases: one a five-year, one-mill levy to support police and fire services and the other a Headlee Override that would result in a .4635 mill increase.

The donation…wait a minute. They’re asking for money to help promote a campaign to increase our taxes? Well, anyone that has driven past our old building in recent months and noticed the big sign out front there knows that we couldn’t exactly afford them before. I suppose there might have been a chuckle or two exchanged when that particular form letter went out.

I can’t see us supporting that concept—at least financially. I’m still on the fence about whether to support it with an editorial, although I know how I will personally vote and why.

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Posted by Scott Spielman at 5:16 PM | Comments | Permanent Link

One of the items on the Wayne City Council agenda for tomorrow night is a response to the Wayne P3 proposals presented at the last meeting.

That should be an interesting discussion. The Wayne P3 is a group of concerned citizens that initially got together to protest two tax proposals Wayne voters will decide in May. They have since decided to push for positive, long-term changes in the city as well.

I thought the proposals all sounded reasonable when they were presented on March 9. They included common sense items like having the council and administration treat people with respect and answer questions concisely, improve communication, through better posting of city meetings and agendas.

Some of this has already been done, but the concept is that the same technology that allows residents to get an email movie listing every week could also be used to send out meeting notices, water main breaks, road closings, etc.—the same way it is in the City of Plymouth.

Being treated with dignity and respect is easy—just don’t ask a question that nobody can answer or challenge anyone’s views.

The group also wanted the city to solicit bids for all future all contracts with respect to any city services paid for by the taxpayers or the DDA. This seems like a common sense thing, but it’s not. It probably refers to the city website; city officials have not solicited bids for that even though last year when they faced a difficult budget year, they said they would look through each and every line item. Since it falls under a ‘professional service’ they technically don’t have to solicit bids, but that falls under my frequent argument about doing what you should, versus what you can.

They also wanted someone on staff dedicated to the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), but I don’t see that happening. The city just laid off five police officers and more layoffs are most likely on the way.

Still, the talk should be interesting enough. I expect to see more of these kinds of grass roots groups sprouting up in other communities. Part of that is due to the economy, itself—municipalities and school districts alike will have to depend more on citizen involvement because they don’t have the funds, themselves—and part of that is because we all tend to hear more rhetoric than solutions from people in office.

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Posted by Scott Spielman at 3:05 PM | Comments | Permanent Link

State Sen. Ray Basham (D-Taylor) is among the legislators proposing an innovative plan to help solve the credit crisis that is further hindering economic development.

The plan would involve developing a Michigan state bank that would do what national banks should be doing: helping business people invest in the community, offering low-interest student loans and so forth. There are people out there who want to buy a car, start or expand their business or purchase a home but cannot because the bailed-out banks won’t offer much, if any, help.

It’s an interesting concept and one that has apparently worked in North Dakota. I like the possibility of it offering low-interest credit cards to consumers that are struggling to get out of debt.

My own fruitless endeavors with Chase bank have me hoping something like this will come to pass. It’d be nice if there were some kind of financial institution out there willing to work with people, instead of perpetuating that endless cycle.

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Posted by Scott Spielman at 11:41 AM | Comments | Permanent Link

I trudged up the stairs at the Old Village School in Northville Tuesday night, and a familiar figure was at the top, talking on the phone.

“Dude,” I told him as I shook his hand, “you need to get a life.”

It was State Rep. Marc Corriveau (D-Northville), popping in to give an update to the Northville Public School Board. I’ve talked before about how impressed—and surprised—I was that he regularly attended meetings throughout his district and, as his second term in the House winds down, that hasn’t changed.

School Superintendent Leonard Rezmierski hit upon it at the meeting, too.

“Not many districts have their state representative attend board meetings to explain the bad news,” he said.

He’s right. Corriveau was, in fact, there to explain some bad news: the impact of a ‘cuts-only’ budget on school districts across the state. He could have shipped off a form letter or had a staffer send out a mass emailing, but he was there in person and that’s worth noting.

The meeting summed up the challenges facing districts across the state, too. Within a two-hour period, the Northville School Board recognized several teachers who had earned distinction within their profession and later talked about the necessity of cuts that will ultimately make their jobs harder.

Maybe if more legislators made the rounds like Corriveau, this wouldn’t have to be.

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Posted by Scott Spielman at 11:45 AM | Comments (1) | Permanent Link

I was looking through the job description for the director of public safety in Van Buren Township, and wondering what type of candidate will apply for the job.

The board approved the description at their last meeting, and notices have since gone out.

Obviously, this will be a well-debated interview and hiring process, given what’s taken place in the community during the past year.

In some ways, the job description sells the township short. It requires only a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in public administration, public safety/emergency management, criminal justice, fire science or a related field. Maybe this was done to favor somebody who has already expressed an interest in the job, or to widen the candidate pool, but many police departments require a bachelor’s degree for entry-level police officers.

I bring this up because I think there will only be two ways the township will be successful in this. They’ll either go the fiscally smart route and put off hiring a director, or they need to find someone whose qualifications can’t be debated.

My big question about this originates in the reputation Van Buren Township earned throughout the past year. I was asked about it wherever I went in western Wayne County. The issue caused traffic to our website to spike up to about 140,000 hits in February. The law enforcement community is relatively close-knit, too, so I wonder what brave soul would be willing to put in for the spot.

In that, the township board has an advantage. They don’t need to hire anyone, and can reject all candidates if they feel they didn’t get enough qualified responses. That’s something for everyone to keep in mind.

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