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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 2014.03.31 - 36798CHRISTINE LONG Chairperson KATHY CRAWFORD Vice Chairperson MARCIA GERSHENSON Minority Vice Chairperson March 31, 2014 Chairperson Long called the meeting of the General Government Committee to order at 9:33 a.m. in the Commissioners’ Committee Room A, County Service Center in Pontiac, Michigan. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT : Christine Long, Kathy Crawford, Marcia Gershenson, Bob Gosselin, Jeff Matis, Bob Hoffman, Michael Spisz, Mattie Hatchett, Nancy Quarles. COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT WITH NOTICE: None. OTHERS PRESENT : AREA AGENCY ON AGING 1-B Ryan Cowmeadow, Advocacy Manager CORPORATION COUNSEL Joellen Shortley, Corporation Counsel COMMUNITY HOUSING NETWORK Debra Hendren, Dir. of Community Programs Jill Shoemaker, Dir. of Grants Info. Mgt. REGIONAL CONVENTION FACILITY AUTH. Patrick Bero, CEO/CFO Michael Carroll, Treasurer EH OF MI Marina Glagoler, Dir. of Philanthropy HOPE WARMING CENTER Elizabeth Kelly, Executive Director HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES George Miller, Director SENIOR ADVISORY COUNCIL Sally Swayne, Chair Elaine Houser, Senior Citizen Coordinator Gene Buchan, Member Dave Hummi, Member Cameron McClure, Member Jerry Sowik, Member SMART John Hertel, GM John Swatosh, DGM John Fuston, Finance Director Beth Gibbons, Marketing & Comm. Manager Steve Brown, Ombudsperson OTHERS Mazyn Barash Susan Rocca Sal Rocca BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Marcia Gershenson, District #13 Jim Ver Ploeg, Administrative Director Sheryl Mi tchell, Sr. Analyst Tracy Stolzenfeld, Committee Coordinator OAKLAND COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 1200 N. TELEGRAPH ROAD, BLDG 12E, PONTIAC, MI 48341-0475 Telephone (248) 858 -0100 FAX (248) 858-1572 GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Bob Gosselin Jeff Matis Bob Hoffman Michael Spisz Mattie Hatchett Nancy Quarles GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 2 March 31, 2014 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chairperson Long led the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF THE PREVIOUS MINUTES Spisz moved approval of the minutes of March 10, 2014, as printed. Supported by Gershenson. Motion carried on a voice vote. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Spisz moved approval of the agenda with removal of Item 3, as amended. Supported by Gosselin. Motion carried on a voice vote. PUBLIC COMMENT Mazyn Barash commented on his termination from SMART resulting in legal action. A handout entitled 325610 – Mazyn Barash v SMART, October 13, 2011 Opinion & Order, Michael Ze lley, Commissioner of Michigan Civil Rights Commission was distributed. Elizabeth Kelly, Executive Director of HOPE , spoke in favor of MR #14049, Item 2 on the agenda, regarding the Clerk’s discounted fee policy and application process. Debra Hendren of Community Housing Network commented she also favors the discounted fee policy. Sally Swayne, Senior Advisory Council , spoke in support of the first item on the agenda, MR #14048, Support for Silver Key Coalition Recommendation Michigan be a “No Wait State ” for Senior In-Home Services. REGULAR AGENDA 1. MR #14048 – BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – SUPPORT FOR SILVER KEY COALITION RECOMMENDATION MICHIGAN BE A “NO WAIT STATE” FOR SENIOR IN -HOME SERVICES This resolution was introduced by Commissioners Crawford and Zack to support Michigan as a “no- wait state” for seniors who qualify for in-home services. The Silver Key Coalition’s White Paper Executive Summary was handed out to the committee. The effort to make Michigan a “No Wait State” will be a key component of a larger strategy to make Michigan a choice retirement destination that attracts and retains retirees and captures the significant social and economic benefits of an aging population. The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) projects that by year 2023 the Michigan senior adult population will be greater than that in Florida. The Area Agency on Aging 1-B (AAA 1-B) brought the issue of a long wait list for senior services to the State’s attention. Governor Snyder mentioned it in his State of the State message and the legislative process has begun. Ryan Cowmeadow of AAA 1 -B presented the key findings of the Silver Key Coalition . Today nearly 4,500 seniors who are 60 and older are waiting for basic services such as home-delivered meals and he lp with bathing, dressing, medication, shopping and household chores. About half of the individuals who qualify and are on the wait lists have been GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 3 March 31, 2014 waiting for more than 180 days and many have been waiting over six months . Those seniors end up moving from their homes and have a higher likelihood of death waiting for services. The Coalition’s goal is to make Michigan a “no -wait state” for in-home services, beginning with a $5 million increase in state funding for Fiscal Year 2015. The Coalition advocates a projected $10 million over the next three years to achieve the goal and to meet all of the existing needs. Commissioner Gosselin questioned where the source of the funding was. The hope is for some of the State’s fund surplus to be allocated for this c ause. The funding would be in addition to any community monies. Crawford moved to report to recommend approval of the attached suggested resolution. Supported by Hoffman. Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote . 2. MR #14049 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – OAKLAND COUNTY CLER K/REGISTER OF DEEDS DISCOUNTED FEE POLICY AND APPLICATION PROCESS The resolution was brought by Commissioner Gershenson to establish a discounted fee policy for the Clerk/Register of Deeds office. County Clerk Lisa Brown explained her desire to help people after a tour at HAVEN and experiencing a situation of a gentleman with little money having to pay for a birth certificate resulted in developing the idea of a discounted fee policy. A letter from an accredited agency or other documentation evidencing hardship is required for one to qualify for the proposed discounted fee . The policy will be evaluated in three years to see whether it should continue. Commissioner Matis asked what agencies are considered accredited. Ms. Brow n gave examples of HAVEN, Lighthouse, HOPE, United Way and agenci es that are providing services to individuals because of financial hardship or crisis. These agencies are commonly called upon to write and provide letters verifying th at the person is receiving services from them. The agency will be relied upon to report whether a reduced or waived fee is appropriate. The documents from the clerk must be obtained in person if requesting the discounted fee. This policy is not meant to be a blanket waiver of paying fees. The Clerk’s Office is the keeper of the records. A certified copy is on security paper and has a seal. The fee for a certified birth certificate is $15 for the first copy. A second copy is $5. The fees are set by the commissioners. Coun ties charge different fees for different things. The fees are higher in Lansing than Oakland County. Chairperson Long mentioned that if passed by this committee, the resolution would have to be heard by the Finance Committee. Commissioner Spisz pointed out that the word “accredited” sometimes is used in a financial reference. Details of the Discounted Fee Policy were discussed further. Long moved to amend the resolution as follows: “Upon presentation of a letter by an accredited social services agency or other documentation evidencing financial hardship ” Supported by Spisz. Motion to amend the resolution carried on a voice vote. Spisz moved to refer the resolution to the Finance Committee. Supported by Gosselin. Motion to refer the resolution to Finance carried on a voice vote. Hatchett moved to report to recommend approval of the attached suggested resolution as amended. Supported by Spisz. GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 4 March 31, 2014 Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote . Copies of the following letters supporting this res olution were received and filed: Email to Commissioner Gershenson from Marc Craig of Community Housing Network dated March 17, 2014; Email to Commissioner Gershenson from Elizabeth Kelly of HOPE Warming Center, dated March 18, 2014; Email to Commissioner Gershenson from Lindsay Calcatera, Board Chairman of HOPE dated March 24, 2014 ; Letter to Board of Commissioners from Patricia Hartner, HOPE Volunteer, dated March 22, 2014. 3. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – APPOINTMENT TO THE REGIONAL CONVENTION FACILITY AUTHORITY – CITIZENS ADVISORY COUNCIL The Regional Convention Facility Authority - Citizens Advisory Council (CAC) appointee’s term expired March 2, 2014. Michael Carroll, Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRCFA) Treasurer and Oakland County appointee, updated the committee. He was joined by Patrick Bero. Mr. Carroll has been the Authority Treasurer since its inception, September 15, 2009. Mr. Bero is the CEO/CFO of DRCFA and a direct hire of the Authority. He reported that the construction has utilized 80% of the capital funds to date with the largest portion of the redevelopment complete. It will take approximately ten to twelve months to finish the project and the projection is to come in on budget. A PowerPoint presentation on Cobo Center was shown and a handout of same was distributed. Mr. Bero spoke about the details of the budget including addressing needed repairs. The Authority has to approve all expenditures and anything over $5,000 has to be competitively bid out. The parking facilities topic was covered. Listed on the page titled Where Our Contractors Call Home, the pie chart indicates out-of-state contractors were used. The reason given was that some materials were not available locally. Example materials were the glass for the glass wall came from Florida and the marble in the atrium was obtained from Cleveland Marble due to no quarry in Michigan that could meet the specifications. One point reiterated throughout the presentation was that the state operating subsidy will ex pire at the end of 2023. No public convention center currently operates without some form of subsidy. This is too far into the future to contact the legislature about the situation , as the construction project is not complete. Commissioner Gershenson asked about the DRCFA’s viewpoint on what happened to the Citizens Advisory Council. Mr. Carroll responded that the CAC took a while to get going. 10 to 20 hours a week are spent by Mr. Carroll on Cobo business . This is an uncompensated position. The added work required of the CAC appointee might be a possible reason, but Mr. Carroll had no clue why the CAC was no longer involved. He believes there is a need for the CAC and wishes for their active participation. The DRCFA funds were limited at the time of CAC’s request for $90,000. The DRCFA suggested sharing services, staff and meeting rooms. Mr. Bero commented that part of the CAC’s role is to communicate what is happening at the DRCFA to the public and further explained that DRCFA is currently doing that by being transparent with their records and holding meetings open to the public. The DRCFA meetings are held every two weeks. The DRCFA is prepared to provide the CAC with as much support needed to be effective. Matis moved to receive and file the Cobo Center Status Update presentation materials dated March 31, 2014 from Michael Carroll and Patrick Bero of the DRCFA. Supported by Hoffman. Motion carried on a voice vote 4. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – AUTHORIZING OAKLAND COUNTY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY MILLAGE QUESTION TO BE PLACED ON 2014 ELECTION BALLOT GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 5 March 31, 2014 The proposed resolution authorizes that a question be added to the election ballot regarding a millage increase. This procedure is required under the rules to go through this committee be fore placing the question on the ballot. John Hertel, SMART representative, distributed and discussed the following handouts: SMART’s Financial Status and the 2014 August Millage , SMART’s Capital Needs and Oakland County Board of Commissioners , General Government Committee Meeting, March 31, 2014. This resolution addresses only the addition of the millage question to the election ballot. Commissioner Hatchett urged the committee to focus on passing the resolution as it would allow people of the opted -in communities to decide whether or not to vot e for the millage increase . Crawford moved to recommend approval of the attached suggestion resolution. Supported by Hatchett. Motion carried on a roll call vote with Spisz absent and Gosselin dissenting. 5. WEBCASTING AD HOC COMMITTEE – RECOMMENDATION TO RECEIVE BIDS FOR WEBCASTING SERVICES The Webcasting Ad Hoc Committee has agreed to receive and review bids for the three -year webcasting contract and will return their recommendation back to this committee. Matis moved to accept the attached report by the Webcasting Ad Hoc Committee . Supported by Crawford. Motion carried on a roll call vote with Gershenson and Spisz absent. COMMUNICATIONS A. Health and Human Services – Health Division – Grant Review Sign Off – FY 2014 Comprehensive Planning, Budgeting, and Contracting (CPBC) Agreement – Amendment #3 within 15% of Original Agreement Matis moved to receive and file the communications. Supported by Hoffman. Motion carried on a voice vote. OTHER BUSINESS/ADJOURNMENT There being no other business to come before the committee, the meeting was adjourned at 12:02 p.m. ______________________________ ________________________________ Tracy Stolzenfeld Jim Ver Ploeg Committee Coordinator Administrative Director NOTE: The foregoing minutes are subject to Committee approval.