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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 2003.06.02 - 35813WILLIAM R. PATTERSON Chairperson PETER H. WEBSTER Vice Chairperson DAVID COULTER Minority Vice Chairperson June 2, 2003 Chairperson Patterson called the meeting of the General Government Committee t o order at 2:01 p.m. in Committee Room A, Commissioners’ Wing, County Service Center, Pontiac, Michigan. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: William R. Patterson, Peter Webster, Bill Bullard, Martin Knollenberg, Jeff Potter, John Scott, David Coulter, Eileen Kowall and Mattie McKinney Hatchett COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT WITH NOTICE: None OTHERS PRESENT CLERK - REGISTER OF DEEDS William G. Caddell, Clerk/Register OLHSA Ron Borngesser, CEO EXECUTIVE OFFICE Doug Williams, Deputy County Executive Bob Daddow, Asst. Deputy County Executive Kristie Everett Zamora, Arts, Culture & Film Carmen Talbot, South Oakland Liaison Special Projects CORPORATION COUNSEL Judy Cunningham, Director INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Phil Bertolini, Director Mike Wilk, Deputy Director David Veit, Manager Kevin Bertram, Chief – Tech. Operations Harshika Patel, Chief – Tech. Services Joseph Tabor, Tech. Operations Supervisor Norma Miller, Program Manager MANAGEMENT & BUDGET Art Holdsworth, Deputy Director HUMAN SERVICES Thomas J. Gordon, Ph.D., Director DTE ENERGY Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager Michael Palchesko, Regional Manager EXECUTIVE OFFICE Lynn Alexander, Senior Citizen Advocate CITIZEN Dr. Steffan Taub, Retired Physician THE OAKLAND PRESS Charles Crumm, Reporter BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Tom McMillin, Commissioner, District #11 OAKLAND COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 1200 N. TELEGRAPH ROAD, PONTIAC, MI 48341-0470 Telephone (248) 858-0100 FAX (248) 858 -1572 GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Bill Bullard Martin Knollenberg Eileen Kowall Jeff Potter John Scott Mattie McKinney Hatchett GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 2 June 2, 2003 Hugh D. Crawford, Commissioner, District #9 Eric Coleman, Commissioner, District #23 Harvey Wedell, Analyst Pamela Worthington, Committee Coordinator PUBLIC COMMENT Ms. Zamora mentioned that she is sponsoring a workshop on the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) Minigrant Program on Tuesday, June 10, 2003, from 10:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. at the Orion Art Center, 115 South Anderson Street, Lake Orion. She handed out a copy of the Press Release that is available on the Oakland County web site in regards to this workshop. She also handed out an invitation card for the Treasures Lost: The Baghdad Museum Brown Bag Lecture which will take place on June 19, 2003, from noon – 1:00 p.m. at the Oakland University. The speaker will be Dr. Susan Wood, who has been very active in the study of art history. She will be giving a presentation on the current situation involving ancient artifacts stolen from the Baghdad Museum. She invited all commissioners to attend both of these events. Mr. Caddell informed the committee that the Governor signed the Presidential Primary Cancellation Senate Bill #397, so it’s official that there will be no presidential primary in 2004. Ms. Alexander mentioned that some Oakland County Senior Directories are available at the Board Office, and a larger directory will be produced in the near future. Chairperson Patterson reminded the commissioners that if they have not yet appointed a representative from their district to the Senior Advisory Council, they should do so soon. APPROVAL OF THE PREVIOUS MINUTES Scott moved to amend the minutes of May 12, 2003 to reflect under Other Business that a CMH Application Study Group was created by Ch airperson Patterson, and David Coulter, Marty Knollenberg and John Scott were appointed to this study group. Supported by Coulter. Motion carried on a voice vote. Coulter moved approval of the minutes of May 12, 2003, as amended. Supported by Scott. Motion carried on a voice vote. AGENDA ITEMS 1. DTE ENERGY – INFORMATION REGARDING APRIL ICE STORM (POSTPONED FROM MAY 12TH Ms. Carla Gribbs and Michael Palchesko, Regional Managers of DTE Energy, were present GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 3 June 2, 2003 to inform the committee about the April 2003 Ice Storm and the challenges that the employees had in getting power restored to the almost 403,000 customers affected. They handed out a sheet with some facts about the ice storm, which hit southeastern Michigan on April 3, 2003 and lasted for six days. There was not only freezing rain, but it turned into ice on the lines and trees, and on top of that there was snow, wind and near freezing temperatures. As a result, there were 100 circuit lockouts; almost 3,500 primary wire-down locations; over 11,000 service trouble cases; over 625,000 feet of wire was replaced; over 40 poles were replaced; over 1,700 cross arms were replaced; and almost 200 distribution transformers replaced. In response, Detroit Edison had almost 6,500 workers out in the communities working on getting power restored to its customers. They were getting 100 calls a day for five weeks after the storm. The normal amount of calls a day is ten. Ms. Gribbs mentioned that they prioritize power outages. Priority #1 is safety of the public, as well as their employees. Priority #2 is human services (i.e. hospitals, police and fire dispatch and communications, sewer, water and pump stations. Priority #3 is the largest number of customers impacted by each repair. They handed out several photographs that showed the thickness of ice on trees and power lines, along with areas that were broken on the poles. There were also circumstances where the workers had repaired a line, got in their truck to leave, and a tree branch had broken, fell on the line that had just been repaired, and it caused the workers to repair it again. This was the worst ice storm in 25 years. It took 15 days back then to restore power to all its’ customers, and it took 6 days this past April to restore power to 95% of th e customers who had lost power during this storm. Linemen from the States of Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri had come to Michigan to help in the power restoration effort. Tree trimmers from other states also had helped. Approximately 250,000 of those 403,000 customers without power were in northern Oakland County. Mr. Palchesko mentioned that DTE Energy would be upgrading their 1-800 system to a voice-activated system. The current system does not have enough prompts necessary for every situation. 2. DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY – THIN CLIENT COMPUTING PROPOSAL The resolution approves the implementation of the Thin Client Computing Phase 1. Mr. Bertolini and Mr. Veit gave a presentation on the possibility of converting current personal computers (PCs) within the Oakland County offices into what are called Thin Client Computers. Thin Client computers are without hard drives, and they would link up to servers at the Information Technology Department. When upgrades in software would be necessary, they would be installed on the main servers, as opposed to physically going to each PC site and installing software on each PC. There are currently 3,600 PCs in the Oakland County network today. The age of these PCs vary from one to six years old. Some of these PCs do not have enough memory to upgrade, for instance, to Windows XP; therefore, they would need to be upgraded in hardware before a new operating system, such as Windows XP, could be installed. Industry experts estimate the costs would be well over $9,000 per year to maintain a networked PC, and it would save 35% to 57% of that cost to convert to a Thin Client environment. Another advantage of converting to Thin Client is security reasons, better protection against viruses and hackers. The primary goal of Phase 1 is to establish the baseline configuration and deployment strategy of the Thin GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 4 June 2, 2003 Client environment. Approximately 280 PCs will be converted to Thin Clients in Phase 1. Costs of Phase 1 are estimated at $517,428, estimating total net savings to Oakland County of $3,317. Bullard moved approval of the attached suggested resolution. Supported by Potter. Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote. 3. MR #03121 – BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – OAKLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONER PARTICIPATION ON REGIONAL AND NATIONAL BOARDS The resolution approves the establishment of a policy authorizing the payment of registration and travel expenses, in accordance with the County’s established travel guidelines, for Oakland County Commissioners who are appointed to serve on regional, state or national boards, committees and/ or subcommittees. Coulter moved approval of the attached suggested resolution. Motion failed due to lack of support. 4. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – APPOINTMENT TO COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH BOARD This is a report to the Board of Commissioners recommending the appointment of Dr. Steffan Taub to the Community Mental Health Services Board to fill the General Public vacancy. The CMH Application Study Group met and reviewed all applications, and this recommendation came out of their review. Scott moved approval of the attached suggested resolution. Supported by Kowall. Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote. 5. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – APPOINTMENT TO THE PUBLIC SERVICES COMMITTEE This is a report to the Board of Commissioners recommending the appointments of Sue Ann Douglas and Christine Long to the Public Services Committee, filling the vacancies left by the resignations of Lawrence A. Obrecht and David L. Moffitt. Upon approval of these appointments, Sue Ann Douglas will discontinue her appointment on the Planning & Building Committee, and Christine Long will discontinue her appointment on the Personnel Committee. Webster moved approval of the attached suggested resolution. Supported by Knollenberg. Motion carried on a roll call vote with Hatchett voting no. COMMUNICATIONS A. May 14, 2003 – County of Antrim Board of Commissioners Resolution Opposing GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 5 June 2, 2003 Passage of SB244 B. May 12, 2003 – Family Independence Agency Board Meeting Notice and Agend a C. February 18, 2003 – Family Independence Agency Meeting Minutes D. April 17, 2003 – Airport Committee Meeting Minutes E. May 19, 2003 – Memo from Bill Patterson to Tom Law – Appointment of Study Group F. Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority 2002 Annual Report G. May, 2003 Area Agency on Aging 1-B Newsletter – Home-Based Long Term Care Potter moved to receive and file the communications. Supported by Kowall. Motion carried on a voice vote. OTHER BUSINESS/ADJOURNMENT Mr. Webster mentioned a May 21, 2003 letter that was addressed to the Clerk’s Office from David E. Wresinski, Administrator of the Project Planning Division at the State of Michigan Department of Transportation. This letter was in response to the Oakland County Commissioners’ MR #03101, which urged the Michigan Department of Transportation to reinstate funding for the highway and road improvement projects that are important to the continued growth and safety of Oakland County residents and the residents of Southeast Michigan. Mr. Webster felt the letter was an inefficient response, and that the Board of Commissioners may want to respond to this letter. Mr. Williams stated that Mr. L. Brooks Patterson is communicating with Governor Granholm on this issue. Mr. Williams will keep Mr. Webster informed on the status of this issue. Mr. Potter mentioned that on Saturday, June 7, 2003, 10:00 a.m. there would be a grand opening of the Huron Valley Trail System at the Lyon Oaks Park, just west of Milford Road. This trail system connects the cities of Wixom, South Lyon, Highland Lake Recreation Park and the Huron/Clinton Authority. He invited everyone to attend. There being no other business to come before the committee, the meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m. ________________________ _______________________________ Pamela Worthington James H. VanLeuven, Jr. GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 6 June 2, 2003 Committee Coordinator Administrative Director NOTE: The foregoing minutes are subject to Committee approval.