“A little passion at the table is fine – as long as the passion is focused on issues, not personalities.”

That was part of Mayor Jim Ellison’s response to my chiding him about the sometimes too-vigorous dialogue during commission meetings. “If it seems to be getting personal, I attempt to refocus the debate on the issue.” Jim pointed out that as chairman of the meeting, his participation in any debate is somewhat restricted.

When I asked him to give me his reading of the pluses and minuses of commissioners and department heads whom I named, he smoothly mentioned only the pluses. Because these coffee conversations are informal exchanges of information and opinion, not interviews, I didn’t press. The informal format permits me to say things off-the record, too.

Ellison, 54, is a Project Manager/Cost Estimator for Barton-Malow, a Southfield-based construction industry general contractor. His civic journey to his recent re-election as Royal Oak Mayor began in 1973 with the Jaycees and includes PTA, Soccer, Stagecrafters, Early Dream Cruise work, Traffic Committee, city commission (1991-95), back to Traffic Committee, Plan Commission. Married to Jodie, they have eight children between them and three grandchildren, with a fourth on the way.

I recalled that as Traffic Committee chairman he had occasion to become so dissatisfied with the City Commission that he suggested the committee be disbanded if the commission was never to act on the committee’s recommendation. Jim chuckled as he recalled tiring of being repeatedly told to re-study an issue. I think he identified traffic flow at Jane Addams School as one such issue.

Ellison said he had always expected the Dream Cruise to be a “10-year event.” He sees interest and attendance declining and predicts that the event will need to be redesigned or refocused. He recalled that because insurers considered it infeasible for a city to insure all the possible risks of cars driving along a state highway, the decision was made for each city to schedule an event and identify the event-site. Thus only the event-site needed to be insured, since the drivers’ own insurance would cover them for the usual risks driving to and from the event.

About Royal Oak ’s perceived North-South divide, neither Jim nor I could identify why it seems to have become bitterer. He recalls, “Twelve Mile was simply a convenient way to describe the friendly rivalry between Dondero and Kimball.” He contends it is a misreading to describe South End property as being less desirable. He says the South End saw significant investment in the mid-1980s, and he is excited by the prospect of 16 new houses at the former Franklin Elementary School site.

I commented that three or four present and past commissioners disagree with me when I maintain that political partisanship is not a major factor in city commission deliberations and decision-making. Jim and I noodled the Democrat/Republican thing for several minutes. It is merely coincidental that from where the audience sits the three identified Republicans sit on the right and the two identified Democrats and an Independent sit on the left, but Ellison maintains:

“Of course, a person’s values and mindset influence his or her decisions about some other-than-local matters, but it’s hard to see how party affiliation impacts deliberations about a neighborhood’s traffic problems or snow removal.”

Jim acknowledges that, socially, “I don’t encounter Republican circles often, and vice versa; people hang out with like-minded friends,” but again he doesn’t see that social dimension affecting commission voting. In fact, he disagrees with my citing Commissioner Capello as the only swing vote. “I think you’ll see several commissioners be the swing vote, depending on the issue.”

Which led me to ask Ellison for an overview about the mechanics of Royal Oak governance. I started by commenting that there was a general perception that former City Manager Larry Doyle had become simply a rubber stamp for former Mayor Dennis Cowan, who was forever looking over Doyle’s shoulder. Without saying whether he agreed with that perception, Jim said he told Doyle after his initial election to the mayor’s office, that he expected the city manager to do what a city manager should do and that the mayor would not be micromanaging the manager’s operations.  

That became an academic issue when a power play by commissioners, newly elected and incumbent, forced Doyle to choose between firing Police Chief Quisenberry and resigning. Ellison neither agreed with nor denied that scenario, but did add that “Even some of  those who wanted to cut Chief Quisenberry have come to respect what he has accomplished."

I commented that current City Manager Tom Hoover seems simultaneously to respect individual prerogatives and to insist on protocol relative to commission-staff exchanges. Symbolically but meaningfully, for example, the mayor asks the city manager for a report which everybody knows will be given by a department head, and the city manager turns the task over to the department head. During the Cowan-Doyle regime, commissioners would directly address the department heads – and make direct assignments to staff -- while Doyle remained mostly silent through entire commission meetings.

Ellison expanded on Hoover ’s performance: Hoover is respected and liked by staff . . . He is “up-front” whether dealing with staff or commissioners or residents . . . For the most part Hoover stays away from social events to spend time with family and at home . . . He “answers every communication.“

I told Ellison that I still think that he was blindsided not long after his first election as mayor, when the commission denied him his wish to have a goal-setting meeting with commissioners and department heads, using a professional facilitator. Jim chose not to dwell on the original incident; instead, he offered that the recent Service Delivery Committees accomplished much of what he had hoped to accomplish with his goal-setting meeting. He admits, though, that he feels blindsided when a commissioner adds an agenda item at the last minute, without alerting the full commission.

About commission meetings in general, I repeated my recommendation to cut off longwinded Public Comment. Jim said he could then be accused of depriving residents of their right to offer advice to their elected officials. I countered that longwinded speakers are being discourteous to their fellow-residents who adhere to the time limit. Further, if too many speakers are permitted to exceed the limit, others will charge discrimination if they are not allowed the same privilege.  

I also repeated my published comment that Ellison is “too nice” in not cutting off longwinded commissioners.

Then I tried again to get Ellison’s reactions to the minuses of perceptions about some department heads, but he wouldn’t bite except to say, “Some people tend to judge a department’s performance with the personalities of its leadership, staff, and the particular service they provide.” Sure, he acknowledges, certain inspectors, for example, drive people crazy by seeming to go so strictly by the book that they exercise no judgment. At the other end, a department like DPS is ignored, except for an occasional complaint, because so much of what the department does is “invisible service. They don’t run around in patrol cars or fire engines with lights flashing and sirens wailing, but in dull-looking work-a-day vehicles quietly and effectively doing what they are expected to do.”

This is the spot to mention that the Fire Department is urged to call Jim – day or night – whenever there is a home or structural fire. The mayor shows up, to talk with the occupants or owners and to show appreciation for the fire fighters.

Toward the end of the conversation I asked how many volunteer-hours a week it takes to be a good mayor, pointing out that commissioners over the years have told me they need 12 to 20 hours. Ellison said, “In a sense, it’s in your head 24/7. That aside, I spend two or three hours studying the packet we receive before each commission meeting. There are the other committees I must attend to. There are civic events which I must attend. Twelve to 20 hours a week sounds about right.” – FJV: 28 Dec 2005.

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