September 2005 Status Report

It is my pleasure to submit for your review and consideration my monthly status report. If you have any questions about any of the items listed, or I have failed to mention an item for which you would like additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

1. Chamber of Commerce/Borden Building

Two weeks ago Mayor Miller and Kathie Grinzinger made a presentation to the Chamber of Commerce Legislative Affairs Committee regarding the proposed project. After the presentation and question-and-answer period, the Committee voted to recommend that the full Chamber Board support the project. At our Board meeting of September 20th, the full Board heard a presentation by Greg Saxton. After his presentation, Greg and I responded to their questions.

I am pleased to report that the full Board voted to support the project. I believe Jim Kostrava will issue some sort of press release indicating their support.

2. Project 2000 Tax Case

As you will recall you authorized an appeal on this matter to the State Supreme Court. Our attorney, Dick Figura, and an associate have drafted the request for a hearing and sent it to the Supreme Court. I have not yet seen a copy of the appeal. As soon as I receive it I will let you know, and if anyone would like to review it, please let me know. As you know the Michigan Municipal League Legal Defense Fund agreed to cover half the cost of filing the appeal, or $6,000. I do not know how long it will take for the Supreme Court to determine whether or not it will hear our case.

3. Parking Ticket Software

Our current parking ticket system was purchased in 1998 and is no longer supported by the company that wrote the program. When discussion of the new parking fines ensued last year we requested that Mary Ann Kornexl look at new ways to handle parking tickets. She went through the process of seeking proposals and received nine of them. The proposals she received ranged from contracting parking ticket tracking and collections to the purchase of hardware and software.

Because we currently collect and process the tickets and fines, and because we believe we do a very good job, we did not look at contracting out. After much research, the solution that the Treasurer’s Office came up with is a contract for software/hardware use agreement. The agreement is with Clancy System of Denver, Colorado, and under this agreement they will provide us with a computer, software and four handheld automated ticket-writing devices for $150 per month plus $.38 per ticket. Under this arrangement it is estimated that this service will cost the City approximately $5,600 per year. We found this to be the most economical way to go, as this includes all maintenance for which many companies charge a fee, and all ticket stock for which we currently pay $.12 per ticket. The City of Grand Rapids uses the Clancy system and is happy with it. It is our intent to implement the new program when our new fine structure goes into effect in October.

4. Project 700

Quite frankly I have heard nothing new about this project in the last few weeks so I can’t provide any new or additional information.

5. Fire Funding

I received a call today from Ted Staton, who is the City Manager of East Lansing. He indicated that early on in the budget process some additional money was added for the fire grants. Unfortunately with the latest round of budget talks the money has now been removed. He asked that I contact Representative Bill Caul to talk about this issue with him, which I will do. In the meantime if you should feel so inclined, it may be good to call Bill and express your concern about removal of the money from the budget.

There appear to be two different ways to address this shortfall. The first is through a supplemental budget, and the second is through Homeland Security Grants. It is my understanding that the State Police have $180 million available for disbursement. Their position is that this money is not earmarked to supplement existing fire funding. I think our position should be that through a reduction in these State reimbursement accounts we are not able to provide as high a level of service as we have in the past. This is particularly true when purchasing new equipment to deal with Homeland Security issues.

6. Construction Update

Essentially most of our major projects are completed for this year. We still have a couple of local streets that are being rebuilt, and they should be completed by the middle of October. The new lift station next to the Borden Building has been completed and is operational.
As you know, Duane Ellis prepares his own status report, so he will address our construction projects in more detail in his report.

7. Bond Issue Referendum

As you know, when you passed the Intent to Issue Bonds for the Borden project, this kicked off a 45-day referendum period. During that period people who wished to have the question of whether or not to sell bonds for the project placed on the ballot needed to submit 1,112 signatures requesting a vote. The deadline for submission of petitions was no later than the close of business on September 15th, and no petitions were received.

8. Rental Inspection Bill

In my last status report I indicated that there was a bill pending in the House that would restrict how often we could conduct rental inspections in the community. I am pleased to report that this legislation has died in committee, and hopefully we will not have to deal with this issue again for a number of years.

9. State Shared Revenue

I have previously mentioned the cuts in our fire funding grant funds. At this point in time I have not heard of any movement afoot to further reduce our revenue sharing, and have no reason to believe that the issue will be put on the table as the Legislature deals with the budget.

10. Legislative Issues

The current thrust in the Senate and the House is to adopt the 2005-2006 Annual Budget for the State. Unfortunately there is some other activity going on in the House and the Senate dealing with proposed changes to tax law. There is now a proposal to take all commercial rental and business property off the ad valorem tax bill and come up with a new system of applying the City’s millage rate. It is my understanding that this is the result of a recent Tax Tribunal case in which the House has tried to address a flyspeck issue with a cannon. The Michigan Assessors Association is opposing the legislation and one of the reasons is because it will adversely impact TIFA and DDA collections.