Learning Opportunity

The Shiawassee River as a Key Piece of Community and Economic Development will be the topic of a presentation on Tuesday, February 23, 5:30-7:00 pm, at Caledonia Township Hall, 135 N. State Road.

David Lossing, Mayor of Linden, will describe how their community has taken advantage of their riverside location to further community development, including providing for recreational access, and describe upcoming plans. Mr. Lossing has been the Mayor of the City of Linden since 2004 and has been involved in a number of regional discussions in southern Genesee, Oakland and Livingston counties dealing with land use, multi-use bike paths, and the establishment of the Shiawassee River Heritage Water Trail. He’s involved with a number of local and statewide organizations and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Michigan Municipal League. He also serves as the director of government relations at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Shiawassee River

Two workshops in the next few weeks will present some tools the City of Owosso can use to preserve, develop, and utilize its most vital natural resource, the Shiawassee River. Looking both backwards and forwards in history, one sees the Shiawassee River at the center of our community's economy and quality of life. Owosso started here in the 19th century because of the River, and the River again offers the community a chance to create a special sense of place in the 21st century.

The Friends of the Shiawassee River (www.shiawasseeriver.org) are offering two opportunities to help understand the ecological and economic importantce of the River. On January 14 at 5:30 p.m. at the Baker College Welcome Center, experts from the planning and engineerng firm Wade Trim will present Fish Passage and Recreation Potential on the Shiawassee which will discuss the very successful replacement of a dam in Chesaning. This act of river restoration replaced an aging dam in danger of failure with a set of scenic rock rapids (see photo below). Importantly, this change provides for the passage of walleye and other aquatic life, which improves both the environmental quality of the river and opens up large stretches for increased sport fishing. Owosso has three small dams, and Corunna has one large one, all of which are various states of disrepair. Wade-Trim will outline options for replacing these dams and enhancing the natural qualities of the Shiawassee.


The Shiawassee River as a Key Piece of Economic Development is the second important learning opportunity. Originally set for January 28, the date is now being rescheduled. The workshop will feature David Lossing, the Mayor of Linden, a small town upstream on the Shiawassee that has used the River as an asset to promote downtown development and recreation opportunities. He will highlight other mutli-jursidictional efforts in Genessee and Shiawassee County which seek to promote a green community using a blue asset, the Shiawassee River. Check in with the Friends of the River website (www.shiawasseeriver.org) for exact date and location of this meeting.

Both of these sessions will be valuable for anyone who cares about our communities, the Shiawassee River, and the life--human and aquatic--that makes good use of our most precious water resource.

2010 Goals

Like any successful organization or team, the City of Owosso needs a set of goals to guide its efforts. Otherwise, good initiatives may not be achieved because of a lack of policy focus or insufficient dedication of resources. Without goals, an organization tends to become reactive, not proactive. With goals, an organization states clearly its objectives so that those on the inside know how best to direct their energies; those on the outside can align their efforts to complement or support an organization's goals that agree with their own.

At the first meeting of the year, the City Council continued a discussion of priorities for municipal action in 2010. It is the responsibility of elected representatives to set direction; the execution of goals are the responsibility of city staff. Both activities must be informed by, and actively involve, community residents and others with a stake in the success of the City.

After considerable discussion, the City Council voiced its support for the following seven goals. The language, with some modification, for each goal comes from the City's Blue Ribbon Committee Report completed last year. These goals are still a working draft and have not yet been adopted.

CITY OF OWOSSO GOALS FOR 2010

1. Public Services. Fiscal soundness and growing revenues sources are required to provide quality services and maintain our infrastructure.
2. Economic Development. Provide leadership and effective policies to encourage the diversification and continued growth of our local economy. We will actively collaborate with our community partners to produce economic benefit to all citizens.
3. Neighborhoods and Housing. Promote comprehensive neighborhood planning and active housing programs to ensure vibrant housing markets, a diversity of housing opportunities, and safe and healthy residential environments.
4. Parks, Recreation and Culture. Promote and maintain a high quality of life by providing diverse opportunities for recreation, entertainment, and physical health. Establish public/private partnerships to develop key facilities for residents and visitors of all ages and abilities.
5. Downtown. Create a sense of place in our community that attracts visitors, new residents, and additional investment.
6. Green Owosso. Promote a sustainable community, conserve natural resources and enhance the Shiawassee River and other natural assets.
7. Communications and Marketing. Utilizing a variety of media and technology, strive to market our services, communicate our mission and values, and engage citizens in the decisions of city government.

The Council has also discussed some specific actions to move toward these goals in 2010. Obviously, more work needs to be done to define these priorities. The Council asked the City Manager to develop an outline and timeline for setting specific action priorities for each of these goals. Finally, all of this work must provide input to, and must be shaped by, the difficult budget exercise the City must undertaken in the next few months.

YOUR INPUT IS DESIRED. Are these the right goals for Owosso in 2010 and subsequent years? Did we leave anything out? Is the language unclear? Importantly, what specific ideas do you have for achieving these goals?

These goals and priorities will be reviewed at the next City Council meeting, January 19 (moved to Tuesday because of the Martin Luther King Holiday)

It's a Wonderful Life, in Owosso

After being elected to City Council, I begin to see many things in a new way, including old holiday movies. If you are a regular viewer of the great Frank Capra holiday movie "It's A Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, I invite you to watch it this year thinking about how communities work, and the role we each play in the health of the place we live.

In addition to inspiring thankfulness for one's family and friends,"It's a Wonderful Life" has a primary message spoken by the angel Clarence: "Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" Of course, we may feel that more acutely in a small town because there is less chance, for good and bad, to be anonymous. But what we do here makes a difference.

But there are other messages to find in the movie for Councilmembers, community volunteers and committed citizens. At the end of a year when the economy has not been kind to Owosso, I am thinking about how people can work together to help neighbors become homeowners. While the movie follows the frustrated dreams and redemption of George Bailey, the sub-story is about the Bailey Building and Loan. While stodgy and struggling, the Building and Loan was a community-based institution whereby local people were not only encouraged to save up for their own financial dreams, but those savings were made available to their neighbors in the form of mortgages. It was an organized way for neighbors to help neighbors, including immigrants, the poor, and the powerless.

In the last few years, we have discovered the housing finance system, which we thought of as local and relationship-based, had become the plaything of speculators, large impersonal institutions, and short-term investors. This created space for the greedy, both among homebuyers and lenders. Housing, which had been the reward, for and reservoir of, personal savings, became a source for unchecked spending and personal debt. After the weak foundation of this new housing finance system cracked, the housing market built upon it could no longer stand. The result in Owosso has been several hundred foreclosures, personal employment and financial opportunities lost, and declining property tax revenues. It feels as if Potter left Bedford Falls and moved to Wall Street.

The challenge for Owosso and other small towns is to rebuild the local-to-local systems that made the customers of the Bailey Building and Loan homeowners. Fortunately, we still have good local lenders, and some community organizations committed to improving housing quality and affordability. We need these and other groups to come together to find ways in which we can use our local resources to help our residents become homeowners and occupy the vacant homes that are found on almost every block of our town. I am hoping the City of Owosso and its new housing program can help be a catalyst and leader in this effort.

There are some other lessons from "It's a Wonderful Life" remember Sam Wainwright, the local business climber who makes it big in New York? Well, he stays in touch with George Bailey, and it's George who recommends the use of a local vacant factory to house a new business venture. We too need to build the contacts with our many alumni who move away and find success elsewhere; let's encourage them to make investments in Owosso, or perhaps even move back home.

Finally, the thing Owosso has never lost is its ability to raise up talented young people of character, just like George Bailey. And just like Bedford Falls, we take pride in our high school graduates and we love to help them achieve their dreams, whether they be college, travel, entrepreunership, or some form of service to their country or community.

Despite the tough times in Owosso, we are not Pottersville. Let's always remember the difference one life makes, and all the lives that each of our lives touches. Think how much more of a difference we can make if we are deliberate in the care of our relationships, the exercise of our values, and our love for our community. "Merry Christmas you old beautiful Building and Loan!"

Tough Budget Choices Ahead

The City Council has begun the process of putting together a 2010-11 budget and the first signs warn that there will be difficult decisions to be made. For reasons explained below, Owosso faces a $2.4 million shortfall on a general fund budget of six to seven million dollars. The good news, if there is any, is that we have begun the budget process early to allow for lots of input and for discussion of options and priorities. The City Charter requires the City Manager to submit a budget in April for adoption in May. We have a lot of work to do before then.

In January, City department heads will submit their budget needs for the necessary staff, equipment, and training to carry out the responsibilities of their offices. They will use their best judgement to determine whether police cars and other capital investments need to be replaced, new staff hired, repairs made to equipment or facilities, and investments in City infrastructure undertaken. Past analysis predicts that these costs of maintaining the City will increase about $1.1 million next year. This so-called "structural deficit" can, and will be, trimmed as the City Manager and his team put together a budget, but doing so is an implicit decision to defer investments in what keeps Owosso going.

In addition to the $1.1 million structural deficit, six factors are combining to make next year's budget difficult:
1. Local property tax revenues will decrease $250,000 as a result of declining property values and a declining tax rate. The State's Headlee amendment and other reductions have lowered the property tax in Owosso from 14.5 mils in 2001 to 13.4 mils now.
2. State revenue sharing will decrease $250,000 as a result of Michigan's difficult budget realities. In the last six years, annual support from the State to the City has declined $600,00, and further reductions may yet hit us. We should all contact our representatives in Lansing to recommend against such cuts.
3. State transfer payments for road repairs will decline $100,000; the City's share of state taxes collected on gas and vehicle weights no longer are sufficient to meet local road maintenance needs.
4. Pension obligations to retired city employees are anticipated to rise $200,000.
5. Contractual obligations to city employees will require a $200,000 increase in wages and benefits.
6. An old landfill that the City of Owosso used needs to be cleaned-up and the City's share of those costs may be $300,000.

While these predictions may not be as severe as outlined above (on the other hand, revenues may decline further and exacerbate the budgt picture), the City needs to plan to make $2.4 million in reductions in its planned expenditures in 2010-11. The City Manager believes he can continue to find efficiencies that could yield significant savings. Tough decisions will also need to be made about what capital improvements and other long-term investments to scale back or postpone. Still, to deal with the shortfalls it will likely be necessary to reduce spending on the current services the City offers.

One option is to cut spending across the board, and given that a large part of the City's budget is spent on personnel, then such a cut could be quite negative on our employees.


As you look at the existing expenditures (see pie chart), the largest portion of general fund revenues are dedicated to public safety (police, fire and ambulance) and a proportionate budget cut would have the biggest impact on these important services. Thus, the comprehensive evaluation now begun may offer some valuable ways to reduce the cost of the programs without sacrificing the quality of public safety programs (see previous post, "Optimizing Public Safety").

What do you think? The budget is complicated, with multiple revenue sources, legal requirements, and contractual obligations all limiting the options available. Still, some questions can be asked and answered now, and your input will be important:

• Do you observe any areas of City Government where funds can be saved? Do you see waste? What services could be delivered more efficiently?
• In your opinion, what City services could be scaled back with the least negative impact? That is, if we have to cut, what would you willing to do with less of?
• What investments in equipment and facilities are the most critical and cannot be deferred?
• In previous years, the City has spent general funds on street repairs (in addition to state funds for roads) to address critical transportation needs; should we continue this practice?
• Only 3% of the city budget goes to park maintenance and improvements; should this be increased? And if so, from where do we redirect dollars?
• Owosso has recently been successful in getting a variety of grants, but frequently they require some small outlay of general funds; should we continue to leverage our dollars this way?
• Should the City pursue a Headlee override to restore property tax rates to earlier levels?
• In our economic climate, are there options for revenue increases that would be acceptable, or should we continue to live within our (declining) budget?
• Would you be willing to pay additional taxes for roads? parks and a pool? public safety?any other special benefit?

Again, we are early in the budget process and I start out being a novice and without any particular bias. So, please educate me where you can. Or if, like me, you don't have much specific knowledge, let me know what your priorities and concerns are. Thank you for your continued participation.

Optimizing Public Safety

We live in a safe community and quite appropriately many of us value the police, fire, and ambulance services the City of Owosso provides. We all have personal stories of how a public safety employee was of great, even life-saving, service to us or one of our family members. However, these benefits do not come cheaply. According to the 2009-10 budget, the City spends over $3.5 million annually on public safety. This represents 56% of the City's general fund expenditures.

In recent months, several citizens have raised appropriate questions about inefficiencies in our public safety programs. In particular, people have questioned the management structure of having a public safety director and a police chief and a fire chief. Do we need three managers of public safety? In response to a citizen petition, the previous city council put forward an ordinance amendment that would eliminate the public safety director position. It was not clear if this proposal would result in the elimination of an employee or any salary savings.

The discussion got me thinking about how to best organize the City of Owosso public safety programs. Future budget challenges (due to declining revenues from the state and from property taxes) further spurred me to ask questions about how to provide the highest level of police, fire, and ambulance service at the lowest cost. In other words, how do we optimize our public safety programs?

At last night's (11/16) City Council meeting I requested that the City Manager provide us with information on several options for reforming our public safety programs. I suggested eight areas for research:

1. Elimination of the Public Safety Director position and other administrative restructuring.

2. Creation of a true Public Safety Department where police, fire, and ambulance personnel are cross-trained and provide support for one another in their duties.

3. Regional cooperation with surrounding jurisdictions whereby we expand on current mutual aid agreements to see if it possible to provide necessary services with less manpower or equipment.

4. Contracting some city public safety services to surrounding jurisdictions; apparently in the past Owosso has provided ambulance services.

5. Contracting with private companies to provide services.

6. Use of volunteers; currently the City saves considerable money through the volunteer services of Community Radio Watch.

7. Cooperation with the County Sheriff and/or the State Police; recently the City has examined closely cooperation in drug enforcement through the State MAGNET program.

8. Use of grant funds; e.g. Neighborhood Watch programs

The City Manager promised to provide an analysis of these and other options by the December 21 Council meeting. Importantly, there will be a financial analysis of these options so that we can compare the costs, as well as any non-financial benefits or risks, of each of these options. In addition, the experience of City employees will be drawn on through a formal request to the relevant unions for their ideas and input.

I am no expert on public safety, and some of the suggestions outlined above may be impractical or not lead to any cost savings. There are undoubtedly other ways to optimize public safety programs; for example, someone in the public hearing raised the idea of better managing overtime schedules of police and fire personnel. What I believe is important at this time is to get on the table as many options as possible so that they can be compared with one another and the best opportunities identified for saving taxpayer funds.

What ideas do you have for optimizing the public safety services in Owosso? Do you have any reaction, information, or insight to any of the options outlined above? It is critical that the public weigh in with their opinions. Thank you.

New Council, New Mayor

Four new members of the Owosso City Council were sworn in tonight (from left to right): Mike Erfourth, Cindy Popovitch, Tom Cook, and Chris Eveleth. As well, Ben Frederick was selected as Mayor and Cindy Popovitch chosen to be Mayor Pro Tem. I am excited to be working with these people, and the other two city councilmembers, Joni Forester and Gary Martenis.

I was flattered to be nominated for the Mayor's spot, which followed a number of requests supporters had made of me to consider serving as Mayor. I declined this opportunity for two reasons: 1) I believe the Mayor's position should go to someone who has been on the Council because they have more experience to draw on; and 2) because I believe that sometimes one can be a more effective leader when one does not have the restrictions of an official leadership position. There is a lot to be done in Owosso, and I want to be an advocate for change.

I believe Ben Frederick will be a good mayor. For the last several months I have observed him at council meetings, and he seems committed to the mechanics of good decision-making. He wants a good process, as well as a good outcome. I have seen him work hard to ensure that good information is available to the Council, that a variety of opinions are heard, and that the public has access to the process. I have also had the opportunity to talk through several issues with him. It's clear we won't agree on everything, but I feel as if we will be able to communicate well and work toward compromise where needed. That should yield good policy. Several people told me he was ambitious and someday seeks higher office. To me, that is not a bad thing. Drive and commitment are how things get done; a lazy or disinterested Mayor would not serve our community well. Right now, Ben Frederick is our Mayor, and I hope that by working with him we can both accomplish a lot for Owosso.

Cindy Popovitch will be a good second in command. Her performance in the election proves she can connect well with the public, and that will be an important quality as the City moves forward. I am happy that she will get more visibility and recognition for all of her hard work on behalf of Owosso.

It's important to remember that the Mayor has very little power in the city manager form of government that Owosso has. The Mayor's primary function is to chair the meeting, and the Mayor Pro Tem's task is to fill in when the Mayor is absent. As well, the Mayor presides at official functions. Ben and Cindy will do these jobs well. The Mayor makes appointments, and this is an important task; I feel confident that Ben will seek the input of other council members when making appointments.

Again, I am excited about this team, and ready to get to work. We will be immediately busy at our next meeting when we hold a public hearing on an ordinance amendment to eliminate the public safety director position from the city government structure. I have had a few thoughts on this (see earlier posting of my letter to the editor), but I would welcome your thoughts on this topic.

What would be the best structure for the management and operation of Owosso's fire, police, and ambulance services? Please share with me your suggestions.

Thank you for your support.