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Okay, a millage vote is
coming
Just to get you started thinking, here are some of
the statements you'll be hearing, beginning at the
CITCOM meeting which follows the Monday after the
Wednesday I'm writing this:
-
The
rush to get a May vote is because that
will bring in the higher summer taxes than will
a vote in August. November will almost guarantee
a defeat because the national
election will attract a large number of
uninformed people who have not followed the
local dialogue.
-
But,
does May provide enough time for officials to
make the case for a millage to the voters?
-
Housing values will "never" get back to
pre-Recession levels.
-
Short
of repeal of Headlee or Proposal A, even an
increased millage won't bring in enough revenue
to fund all the services we've lost.
-
Our
Police and Fire will try to reproduce what
happened in Ferndale: Fire granted concessions.
Cops played it to the end.
-
Let's
have Town Meetings (Hoover did) to ask the
citizens which services they are willing to
reduce or eliminate.
-
Oh, please, how can anyone
who has been paying attention not have heard
everything we residents have to say?
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As
happened when Hoover asked whether he should ask
for 3 mils or 1.75 mils, CITCOM will punt.
-
The
planning session made it clear that asking 15 or
20 guys and gals to come up with specific
recommendations is futile.
-
So
the city manager has to take the lead, but he's
heard it all already, and he has resources which
neither commissioners nor department heads have
ready access to.
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People will not approve any millage if the
Public Safety guys haven't granted concessions.
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People will approve a millage dedicated to
Public Safety.
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How
can the new commissioners responsibly vote on
this?
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There
is consensus in city hall that there is no
choice.
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How much millage will will be requested? No
lower than 3, no higher than 7.
It's
serious stuff, yes, but we're in for several months
of fun as well as irritation.
3 new commissioners benefit
Long-range planning session starts strong
Note: These impressions were formed
after sitting in for 2.5 hours of the planned 6-hour
meeting -- which turned out to be an 8-hour session.
Challenging elected and appointed Royal Oak
officials to come up with "what do you want to come
out with today?" facilitator Brett
Tillander guided them quickly past spending time
on such abstractions as mission and vision
statements. Instead, Tillander directed the
officials to write their suggestions, then state
them aloud as he wrote them on the long chalkboard.
The intention was to discuss the topics just enough
to enable setting up meaningful breakout groups.
Understandably, almost everyone mentioned budget,
many using "sustainable" to emphasize the need to do
more than kick the can down the road. "Millage"
came up generically. "Right-size Public Safety,"
"Prioritize," "Review and enforce ordinances,"
"Better communication" between the Administration
and CITCOM were in there. When better
communications between the City and the residents
came up, Brett had to cut off the dialogue after it
segued into, "Are we talking about us communicating
with the public or about the public communicating
with us? -- which in turn led to how effective the
city's website is in that regard.
As I
write this I have not yet learned what final
recommendations were made, but the initial focus on
seeking measurable goals was encouraging.
Observing the human dimension in such gatherings as
this is invaluable. Between Staff and CITCOM, of
course, but also among department heads whose
contacts are mostly chance encounters in the halls
and in the necessarily structured staff meetings.
Unavoidable institutional suspicion between Staff
and CITCOM was evident. Personal and professional
angst was there -- expressed politely for the most
part. Sincerely held conflicting convictions were
confronted quietly and with a slightly raised voice
or two. For the most part the dialogue went
smoothly, with an occasional chuckle.
Watching
all those personalities interact for six hours;
watching personal and professional priorities being
debated has to prove useful for future interactions
at all levels -- especially for the three newly
elected commissioners, for whom the day will surely
have provided them a giant step up their learning
curve.
Another look at the planning session
I left
thinking the gathering was on its way to coming up
with some tangible recommendations. There was the
pitch for a millage, but civic activist Bill Shaw
tells me he was distressed at the return to
wish-thoughts instead of measurable goals, and
equally active Geof Vasquez provided the
following written summary. It is printed as
submitted.
City of Royal Oak
2012 Strategic Planning Session
January 14, 2012
Troy, MI
On
Saturday January 14, Royal Oak officials conducted
their 2012 Strategic Planning Session in Troy, MI.
Frank was gracious enough to allow me to submit a
few of my thoughts on the event.
It was an all day
process with Brett Tillander facilitating. The focus
of the day was strategy, but the most important
discussion concerned a millage. Key points are
listed below:
·
►The Mayor and Commissioners all spoke
from the perspective that consensus to seek a
millage had previously been established. I am
unaware of any public meeting at which this has
been discussed.
·
►Mayor
Ellison pushed hard and established a schedule
requiring completion of all millage planning in
February. This could indicate he is considering
a special millage election on 05/08/12. If
passed, the new millage rate would then be
applied to the (larger) summer tax bill,
maximizing tax revenue collected. The other
possible 2012 millage election dates are
08/07/12 and 11/06/12.
·
►The Mayor and Commissioners also appear
to have changed course and seem willing to move
forward with a millage even without concessions
from Police and Fire.
The strategy session
included a review of progress toward last year’s
strategic goals along with presentations with high
level views on the city’s financial condition and
property values. The participants were asked to
list:
·
►Two outcomes they would like from the
Planning Session
·
►Two “goals” they would like the city to
achieve within both 18 months & 5 years
Most of the day was
spent defining & refining the strategic “goals”,
which will be documented and distributed by Brett by
the end of the month.
These “goals” aren’t
goals in the traditional sense; they are an
extensive variety of pet projects requested by our
city leaders. Examples include building a promenade
on Second Ave., establishing real time financial
information, branding the city’s image, improving
the city’s website and building a central plaza
downtown.
This whole process
raised many concerns with me. I will list only a
few:
·
►Many, many times the group deferred
discussion on an issue because they didn’t have
needed information. Typically, a strategy
session is preceded by an extensive gathering of
information. The purpose is to develop a
comprehensive, set of facts about your
organization and the environment in which it
operates. If you don’t understand the world in
which you operate, how could you possible
develop a strategy that works?
·
►Due to limited money and staff, the city
is now delivering a greatly reduced level of
service to the taxpayers. Where will the
resources come from to complete this list of pet
projects? If the city has spare money and staff
time for these projects, shouldn’t they instead
be used to restore taxpayer services to historic
levels?
·
►Was there a rationale for determining
these goals? Are they needed and wanted by the
taxpayers? What will they cost? What is the
expected return? How will they be prioritized?
None of this has been thought through. In some
cases commissioners suggested projects, only to
find out what they suggested was already in
place. Shoot, ready, aim!
►There seemed to be an ordinate amount of
time and focus spent on what government could do
for businesses and the downtown. When it came to
neighborhoods, the focus was on encouraging
neighborhoods to help themselves. The good news
is we will have new equipment in our parks; the
bad news is it will all be financed through bake
sales!
·
►There was a lot of discussion and concern
about public safety and police staffing levels.
It all seems truly disingenuous in a week when
the LCC rubber stamped a new 400+ seat mega bar
and expansion of another. A few wealthy bar
owners are subsidized by millions in public
safety dollars; while taxpayers face declining
public safety and new millage requests.
There
was even a little controversy about the location of
the Planning Session. It was held at a Beaumont
Hospital facility in Troy, chosen for its hi-tech
media tools and multiple breakout rooms. None of
these were used. Next year’s meeting will be held in
Royal Oak. I hope that also means utilizing a city
owned facility and videotape.
Geoffrey Vasquez
Royal Oak, MI
geof.vasquez@gmail.com
(248) 346-1614
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