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Versagi Voice |
Conversation with Commissioner Capello |
Commissioner Pat Capello
Pat Capello served four years as commissioner (2003-2007), took a couple of years off, again won a commission seat in which she has been sitting about 10 months. The broad perspective resulting from having been both an official and an observer, and now again an official led to an unusual mix of openness and caution in our coffee conversation.
“The first time I ran, my motive was to bring my skill-set – labor relations and finance/budget -- to the table. For the rest, I was obviously a neophyte and made a few mistakes.” Capello identified a couple of the votes she regrets, but the point is that the learning curve includes acquiring knowledge about agenda items, about procedure, and “about guarding against being manipulated by others, intentionally or not.”
During that first term, I occasionally characterized Capello’s performance at the table as excessively detailed, to the point of “nit-picking.” During this conversation, she complained mildly that to her it seemed I praised others for similar behavior. At the same time, Pat – more often than any of her colleagues – found and finds occasion to publicly praise individuals and organizations from the table, and I labeled that characteristic “grandmotherly.”
Both characteristics were demonstrated during her first term when I served with Pat on the Charter Review Committee whose work requires nit-picking attention to detail, and the committee obtained voter approval of several charter amendments. At no time did she attempt to “pull rank” by asserting her role as city commissioner. She worked well with volunteers one of whom, Jay Dunstan, was named Chairman early in his appearance on the civic scene.
“This time I know why I’m here,” Pat said, and she identified one or two issues, besides the all- important budget, about which she hopes to get agreement and action before the end of her term. Combining strategy and tactics, she offered brief outlines of those issues on background, not for publication at this time.
Unavoidably, city finances came up several times during discussion of other matters, and we recalled that her approach to balancing the budget included her recommendation to “rob” several fund balances to save 6 police and 3 firemen. “It’s helpful to have an accounting background. City finances utilize a similar uniform system of accounts just like the company where I spent my career”.
Related Capello thinking:
- “No way will this city commission allow the city to go into Receivership. Admittedly, “our costs have outpaced our revenues, and if we were a business, there would be talk of bankruptcy.”
- Speaking of the not-always-useful comparison between governmental and private sector governance: “Smaller communities can better be compared to small business. They are more capable of controlling expenses during economic ups-and-downs.”
- I think Capello agreed with my contention that a public safety millage would weaken the city’s collective bargaining power with police and fire unions. In addition, I am concerned about how such funds would be allocated between the two departments. She went further, suggesting that “public safety” would have to include, say, “the clerk who writes their paychecks.”
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That brought up the thought of reorganizing police
and fire into a single Public Safety Department. At
one time Royal Oak had a Director of Public Safety,
but he had a Police Chief and a Fire Chief under
him. “What would be the benefits – not just
cost-benefits but also quality-of-service benefits
of converting to a single department?”
As it happens, past Fire Chief Ron Nancarrow told me that decades ago the city used the threat of converting to Public Safety as a collective bargaining chip, and he explained why he considered, and considers, the concept a flawed one.
Capello was her most reluctant during my usual “let’s go around the table” exercise, when we, off-the-record, compare impressions about elected and appointed officials. She was most comfortable expressing positive comments like:
- City Manager Don Johnson: “Has no equal” re city finances.
- Director of Public Services Greg Rassel: “Competent, cooperative, a gentleman.”
- City Engineer Elden Danielson: “Gives an engineering answer to an engineering question. Answers questions briefly and to-the-point. No politics.”
She acknowledges the inevitable tension and occasional suspicion between CITCOM and the Administration. Ours is not the only municipal legislative body which guards against “self-serving” information sometimes provided by department heads. Nor is ours the only group of legislators some of whom ignore protocol and give major assignments to city employees without going through the city manager as specified in the City Charter. On her part, “I clear with Johnson when I intend to contact one of his department heads.”
Pat was willing to describe working with her fellow elected colleagues in general terms. For the most part the working relationships are cordial and remain so even after vigorous debate, she says. There is the occasional tutoring relationship, but she made no mention of the commissioners socializing away from commission chambers. She is saddened by the exception to camaraderie when two commissioners display their dislike of each other while debating issues.
About transparency in government, I acknowledged the impossibility of avoiding legitimate behind-the-scenes conversations, even understandings, and Capello acknowledged that on matters as controversial as the Emagine Theater/Bowling Alley project there can be philosophical discussions which are judgmentally questionable, yet legitimate.
Except on routine or procedural issues, 4-3 votes are worrisome to Pat. “A 4-3 vote means the seven of us have been unable to agree about how the city will be well-served. Ideally, we should reach enough agreement to vote 7-0 on matters that seriously affect the city.”
(Three days after our conversation, CITCOM decided 4-3 to ban all medical marijuana from Royal Oak, but it was a quiet disagreement based on individual conviction, not on politics.)
That led me to ask how much political party affiliation affects CITCOM voting. “Not at all,” was her answer, although she was willing to identify political philosophies: “Across the table (Andrzejak, Semchena, Poulton) you have conservative and moderate conservative. On my side of the table you have one liberal (Rasor) and two moderate conservatives (Capello and Drinkwine)”.
On my part I have written that sometimes the conservative side of the table seems to be anti-business and the one very liberal guy vigorously promotes free enterprise. Without confirmation from either Capello or Drinkwine, I’d guess they would label themselves Independent. That leaves Jim Ellison, the mayor. Although he and Rasor are the only two at the table widely recognized as Democrats, Jim’s chairmanship and his votes show no evidence of upper-case D bias.
As an aside, VersagiVoice has several times analyzed split votes. Those tabulations, happily, show that split decisions (4-3, 5-2, 6-1) reveal no consistency of yeas and nays.
When I grumbled to Capello about the lack of transparency and due process in approving Arts, Beats and Eats (“You guys spent less time approving thousands of beer drinkers walking the streets than you do approving a sidewalk café”), her answer was that the promoter had communicated with all the pertinent city officials and officials-to-be early on, and explained how sensitive the changing of location was to Pontiac. Our city was in dire circumstances and would benefit from so many visitors who already knew Royal Oak is an entertainment destination but had never come here before. She would have preferred a 1-year contract, instead of three, but the great weather saved the day.
Pat referred to several reports that many in-close parking structures and lots were seldom filled during the festival, and she used that fact to support the argument of those who contend the city doesn’t really have a “parking problem.” I ended my part of the ABE discussion by offering, not completely tongue-in-cheek, “After four days of thousands drinking in public with no serious problems, CITCOM should never again deny a liquor license or lengthening a bar by 10 feet.”
About medical marijuana Capello came across as a bit hard-nosed, citing a doctor (pulmonologist) who told her there really is no benefit to using pot which cannot be obtained with legitimate painkillers. The doctor explained that smoking (of pot or of anything) hardens the cilia in the lungs, preventing the cilia from cleansing the congestion and debris out of the lungs. When I cited the testimony of a dying patient during Public Comment about benefiting from marijuana, she dismissed it with, “Frank, unless a patient has tried all the legitimate drugs first, using marijuana is just trading one set of issues for another. “ Pat was in the 4-3 CITCOM majority which voted to ban all medical marijuana.
Now and then, a voter expresses concern that retirees elected to office -- like Pat and Terry Drinkwine and Chuck Semchena -- may have too much time on their hands and devote that time to micromanaging city affairs. Well, in office and not, Pat Capello has long been civically active: Woman’s Club, Animal Shelter, free Income Tax preparation at the M&M Center for seniors come to mind, and there are probably other volunteer activities I’ve had no occasion to observe. Despite that active civic life, Capello comes across as well-prepared to participate in CITCOM deliberations and demonstrates both the all-business and grandmotherly facets of her temperament dealing with her colleagues and residents.
Pat has spent a 30 year career working for Michigan Bell/Ameritech/SBC. She worked in a technical environment, rising from Chief Switchman to Manager to District and Regional Manager in the Digital Transport Division.
She has been married to Donald Capello for the past 25 years, and between them they have 3 children, and 7 grandchildren. She enjoys volunteer work and also plays softball, golf, and volleyball when the leagues are in season.