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Outspoken to a fault in some minds, Bill Shaw during the August Town Hall meeting reminded officials and the audience that federal block grant funds pay all or part of the compensation package for some employees, adding, "When the federal funds go, you go!" It’s interesting to note that the city commission recently moved a contract employee to a full time city position, Shaw adds. "Once again, falling for the old, and heavily used, 'Hey folks, 50% will come from the DDA and 50% from block grant. This will not cost the city a dime!" My question is, if the federal funding or block grant funding dries up which of the two positions is eliminated: the grant position, which has no impact on the general fund, or the general fund position which would have an impact on our budget? Maybe, if faced with that decision, the city could lay off part-timers and DPS employees as they’ve done historically."
Civically active, Shaw served for nine years on the now-dissolved Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), two years on the Salter Community Center oversight committee, Department of Public Services Delivery Committee, and currently serves on the Brownfield Committee. Bill loses patience with symbolic gestures, like commissioners offering to forego their admittedly meager pay. "We keep being reminded that 87% of the city’s budget goes to compensation, pensions, and benefits yet we spend 90% of our efforts on the ten percent! It bothers me that after the last budget discussions our city commissioners are still divided on the problems and possible solutions. I’m concerned when they throw up their hands and say 'put it on the ballot and let the residents decide.' Gee, I thought that’s why we elected them: to represent and advise us and do the city's business. If we just put everything on the ballot, why do we need them?" Shaw is dismayed that only about 20% of registered Royal Oak voters show up when no state or national issues or positions are on the ballot. "I can’t call the President or the Governor; I probably can’t even call the Oakland County Exec. directly. Yet I can reach out to local officials, elected and appointed. Local government affects our lives almost 90% more than county, state and federal levels. We have to come to that realization and become part of the local process that most directly impacts us." But there’s a flip-side to that picture, Bill says. "There is a lack of information" from City Hall. As an example, he says, "There is no excuse" for city staff not to have informed the citizens, let alone our city commissioners, about the so-called water department IOU. Shaw seems to remember that former Commissioner Lanfear was told, "Don’t worry about it, it’s just a 'pass-through that you have no control over' when she said she didn’t understand the way the water bill was being handled. He commented on the sudden finding of $1.5 million in the parking budget, the $2.5 million in the "enterprise funds", after watching the commissioners "twisting in the wind for weeks. We even had a city appointed golf committee approving a bonus for a course employee. There seem to be too many instances of differences between what the city commission legislates and what the staff implements." When Commissioner Ginotti repeatedly asked whether the city had the money to assume the expense of the mandated staffing levels being demanded by the Fire Department, Shaw remembers, "He was repeatedly told yes." Shaw thinks that when Commissioner Drinkwine stresses that the voters approved the Fire Fighter-proposed charter amendment by more than 3,000 votes, the commissioner is not recognizing that the citizens didn’t know about the coming funding problem. "The commissioner apparently didn’t know either. How can we worry about health and safety issues and not consider the cost? We seem to have the same problem with employee benefits and pensions." Returning to the "lack of information" coming from city staff, Shaw says City Manager Hoover should have stood on the city hall steps and told us, ‘We don’t have the money to fund the proposed mandated staffing levels in the Fire Department. "If he had taken the stand he has during the last budget meeting, I seriously believe the proposal would have been defeated. Unfortunately, I don’t think even he knew the extent of our shortfall until he started to prepare for the annual budget. It makes you wonder about the sudden departure of our past Director of Finance after 10 years of service." The word "golf" brought to mind the debate over selling Normandy Oaks Golf Course. "I’m a golfer, so as a golfer I’d support keeping it. But as a citizen I have to ask myself, ‘Why are we going to keep the course when we can’t afford to maintain it?’" The word "maintain" caused Shaw to suggest that the Department of Public Services, whose employees he considers among the cities most dedicated and responsive, seems "to be making a statement. "Do you notice all the tall grass in the parks? I think its hard for citizens who are constantly being asked who/what’s most important to you? A police officer who will dodge bullets for you, a fire fighter who can save your life, or the person who maintains your water and sewer?" Speaking of the DPS led to Shaw’s referring to Service Delivery Committees (he served on the one dealing with DPS) as "40 poster children put in place to generate support for the millage." Told "You can’t talk money," each Service Delivery Committee essentially generated a wish-list of desirable services, he says, and labels the entire exercise a futile waste of time. "Notice the lack of minutes, lack of attendance, and lack of effective feedback. I still haven’t seen minutes or the 'magic matrix' from the budget committee." Concerning City Manager Hoover’s creating a Deputy City Manager; Shaw disagrees with Hoover’s justification that by dropping the contract Project Manager and not replacing the Deputy DPS position, the city was saving money. Those who complain that a contractor costs too much, Shaw maintains, "don’t know, or forget, that a contractor is not paid fringe benefits, and his costs go when he goes. He gets no retirement benefits. As for not refilling the Deputy Director position, since the department has run quite well under the present director, maybe this is a clear indication that this position was not really justified in the first place. I’ll find it interesting to see what happens to the Deputy City Manager position. There seems to be a school of thought that if you move enough employees around, you save money. With our deficit, let the game of musical chairs begin!" |
Shaw agrees that it is easy to become confused by the complex interrelationships among the city’s general fund, enterprise funds, block grant funds, donations. Speaking specifically of the Citizens Advisory Committee, he explained that it had three assigned priorities for spending its block grant funds: aid for those with low and moderate income; cleaning up blight and slum areas; to bring the city into compliance with the American Disabilities Act. Funds were also dedicated to handicapped facilities in the library, farmers market, down-curbs in the sidewalk improvement program, signed performances at Stage crafters. Over 33 years, he says, the CAC processed about $50 million locally in block grant funds. At one time, the CAC loaned $4 million to the DDA. As the DDA repaid the loan, the funds were placed into a contingency fund. "Thus, if you had 2 million in contingency and the federal grant was 2 million for that year, we could "recommend" 15%, or $600,000, to be spent in public service areas: Senior Center Operations, Haven, Boys and Girls Club, ADA Hearing Assistance, and Common Ground. Please keep in mind that the Senior Center operations are almost completely subsidized by CDBG funds and not from the general fund. "After four years of repayment, the city received a letter from H.U.D informing Royal Oak that they could not continue to stockpile these funds and warned that if this continued we would forfeit approximately $4 million dollars. After a lot of brainstorming, Commissioners Andrzejak and Harrison conceived the idea for the Salter Center in the south-end. The rest is history with almost $4 million going to this project. Again, nothing came from the general fund." During the free-flowing coffee conversation, Shaw forcefully, but not angrily, dispensed several nuggets of impressions about matters which he says must be addressed. Among them:
His extensive involvement in city affairs has led Shaw to conclude that, as a whole, "Our city government is not goal-directed. There is no overall management philosophy guiding the City Commission, department heads, or supervisors. The citizens of Royal Oak should demand that we be shown a 1, 3, 5, year plan. This plan should include the following:
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Born
and reared in Royal Oak, Shaw, 63, served in the Air Force, earned a B.A and
M.B.A, traveled the world a couple of decades for his corporate employers,
before establishing his 10-year-old management consultancy. He is married to
Dorothy, and they have a daughter Christine who lives with her husband and two granddaughters in
Atlanta.