Access and Denial: Two Good Things to Come from the October 12th Council Meeting

[XLFD]

Frankly, after many years of attending and chronicling Ludington City Council meetings, I often have nothing good to report since the tendency of the City appears often to veer towards the absurd, the costly, the inefficient, and the unsustainable, while they're broadcasting that they're doing the total opposite.  

The October 12th meeting, the first in-person LCC meeting since March, had a couple instances of poor policy with the City upping the community contribution to the Haskelite/Wolverine Building nearly 50% with the 'new' non-profit developer admitting that this wasn't a project that a private developer would take because of the lack of a viable profit margin.  The meeting also featured the ninth annual opt-out of Public Act 152 of 2011, a state reform that was passed in order to have local governments get control of their entitlements.  In my second public comment I reminded them of a couple of facts:

"Our city staff are paid fair wages, beyond that they receive 70% or more of their regular salary in fringe benefits, a percentage that far exceeds what you would expect in the private sector around Ludington.  Instead of trying to moderate this additional compensation, every year this council decides to keep that 70% level along with additional perks like $3000 health care reimbursements."  

The city council obviously believes that their minions deserve better perquisites than you'll find working around town, even if you have a good job, because they always vote to avoid having their employee's benefits capped and controlled.  

But, I digress from the two very good policies that came to and came through the city council on this night.  The first was a new service offered by the Ludington Police Department for those who accidentally lock themselves out of their car.  Chief Tim Kozal introduced this as a helpful service the police would offer in order to help those in need who may be hard hit financially by the use of a local locksmith to unlock their vehicle.  Kozal mentioned that the tool they would be using would be similar to what local locksmiths use, and noted when they were called on to open locked doors, they would have the owner of the vehicle sign a waiver to excuse any incidental damage that may occur.

So while this may signify bad news for our local locksmiths during the off-season, one has the feeling that they will still have plenty of business from locked-out tourists who may not know of this service and those that want and can afford a professional to get them into their vehicle.  This appears to be a nice gesture on LPD's part and can help out the financial situation of those financially-strapped and forgetful guys and gals who lock their car doors without keeping better track of their keys.  

The second positive thing the city council did on Monday night was to follow the advice of the new water plant superintendent Jaime Hockemeyer and reject the water tank maintenance agreement of a company the City has retained since 2009.  Hockemeyer replaced Kurt Malzahn, who died while doing his job late last year in a pit at the Brye water tank.  The maintenance company, originally Utility Services Maintenance Company and currently named SUEZ, has been overcharging the City for that whole time, and it finally took a numbers-wise guy like Hockemeyer to figure that out for the City.  

Hockemeyer spoke eloquently about the contract with SUEZ that effectively finished at the beginning of this year for the two water towers in the city limits, and how the work performed over the length of the contract was a bit less than what was paid for, even accepting the high figures of SUEZ as the benchmark.  Hockemeyer acknowledged what I had been saying all along to the city leaders since 2010, that the water tower contract was way overpriced as regards painting and maintenance services, and that the new contract offered was way beyond what the City would spend if they instead did the maintenance work themselves and contract out for the big ticket items (like putting a new coating on the water towers). 

He had a binder he referenced that had most of his number-crunching inside, but in the packet he had it effectively summarized, where the City effectively had overpaid the cost of maintenance by $450,000 at the least during the period of the contract and that the City could save $1.74 million over the next 20 years by adopting a capital improvement plan for water tower maintenance, with the additional benefit of having a lot more control over how and when maintenance is performed. 

I was already poised to commend the city council for rejecting the new contract in the second comment period (if they did), but I found myself having a difficult time trying not to clap for these common-sense notions proposed by Hockemeyer when he was presenting them (which may have influenced one or more of the vapid councilors to not reject the bloated contract).  Fortunately, the city council listened to the expert and voted with him to reject the contract.  I thanked him and the council for doing the right thing in my comments:

"I am pleased that you terminated the water tower maintenance agreements that were originally agreed to in 2009. and which cost the City over $1.2 million to paint the two water towers in town, an incredibly expensive price when compared to similar projects.  I can't help but recall our prior city manager saying that the cost included two paintings of the water towers done ten years apart when the contracts said no such thing.  Lot of money wasted, I'm glad you did not accept further contracts from them.  Kudos to Jamie Hockemeyer."

If one keeps looking at the good side of things, one could look at the October 12th meeting and say the money that the City gained over 20 years by not ignorantly retaining a bad contract more than made up the extra money spirited away over a 26 year period to the Haskelite Building developers in the amended brownfield plan adopted.  And, if you're one to overthink these things while ignoring the real world, you can save about $80 every time you forget those keys in your car just by calling 911.

[Willy]

I am pleased to see that someone in the City is keeping an eye on those water tower expenditures. Kudos to Mr Hockemeyer and the City Council for not renewing the water tower maintenance. Could there actually be light at the end of the tunnel?

As far as the police unlocking car doors! I don't like the idea. I can see it if someone is stranded in cold weather but to make this a service not connected to law enforcement is not something I am crazy about. The police are taking business away from towing companies. What's next, changing a flat or replacing a broken wiper blade? There is to much Government involvement into the private sector no matter how well intended it may be.

[XLFD]

Mr. Hockmeyer brought a notebook to the meeting and made a point to suggest that it had most of the plans and computations involved with his decisions on the water tower maintenance contracts and other stuff.  I might have to look at that notebook in the future.

I will agree with your point that having the LPD unlock car doors is a double-edged Slim Jim.  I enjoy having the additional option of being able to call the police-- additional options make me happy.  I am saddened that some of our area locksmiths will lose some business--government competing with small business makes me sad.  However, I am hopeful that the service offered by LPD will not be overused, and I think it may not simply because if you call the cops to open your door, you have to be mindful that your registration, license, and insurance are all caught up, and that you left your unregistered guns and crack cocaine in a place they can't see from outside.

[stump]

  I look at it as one another way that the police get more information on citizens. Do you think they might run your name and registration when you call them?

[XLFD]

Of course, which allows you to also find out if you or your passengers have any outstanding bench warrants they didn't know about, leading to another free service, a ride to the local jail.