Category Archives: Cooperation

Mt. Pleasant, Central Michigan University Growing Together

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Members of the CMU Greek community join together several Sunday mornings each semester to clean up Mt. Pleasant’s streets.

By Kathleen Ling and Dr. George Ross

“Mt. Pleasant was destined to have a college,” John Cumming wrote in his book, “This Place Mount Pleasant,” published during the city’s centennial in 1989.

Central Michigan University was established in Mt. Pleasant in 1892.

An interest in education started early in our history and has continued since — the city helping to support a university, and the university helping to shape a city. Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, now known as Central Michigan University, opened in 1892 with the collaboration of determined residents.

Today, much of the city’s active, community-oriented culture, stable economy, small business growth and real estate development are impacted by the needs of CMU students, faculty and staff.

Pedestrian-friendly
Using a car to cross campus or town is becoming a second thought as the city and university work together to create a bikable and walkable community with a thorough network of bicycle lanes and sidewalks.

In 2010, the city worked with Dan Burden, executive director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, on a Campus Connection project.

Summer in Mt. Pleasant brings with it the Festival of Banners, a community-wide collaboration that decorates the streets of Mt. Pleasant.

The project was designed to improve city streets to better connect campus to downtown and other areas of the city.

Streetscape charm
We work together all year to keep those streets decorated and clean.

Each summer, Art Reach of Mid Michigan lines city streets with banners painted by community artists of all ages.

CMU faculty, staff and students have a definitive presence in this colorful, unique public exhibit.

During the Dickens’ Christmas Festival, CMU fraternities and sororities decorate their homes with lights seen by festival goers during hayrides through the streets.

Thanks to technology, the effort also is seen by thousands of “visitors” to university and city websites and social media.

Student/city partners
Collaboration between the city’s code enforcement team and Greek community at CMU has developed into “Greeks Clean the Streets.”

CMU were involved as volunteers and participants at the inaugural Freakin’ Freezing Challenge, a winter obstacle run established in 2013.

A few Sunday mornings each semester are spent removing trash along streets surrounding campus.

Going further, city-led events rarely take place without the help of CMU student volunteers, who assist with planning and execution of events such as the Freakin’ Freezing Challenge, a new winter obstacle run.

Students helping children
A spirit of care benefits even the youngest Mt. Pleasant residents.

In the Biobuds program, CMU graduate students visit elementary classrooms and share their passion for biology, engaging students in science at an early age.

Consider as well the CMU student teacher who worked with four mentally impaired students to create a solar system display.

A CMU student helps festival goers onto a hayride during Mt. Pleasant’s annual Dickens’ Christmas Festival.

The project grew to involve nearly 100 fifth-grade students producing a display now exhibited at the Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum.

Jointly planning the future
As we move forward, the city and CMU are updating their master plans.

We’ve worked closely together and even hired the same transportation specialist to assure coordination.

This same collaboration has led to development of a town and gown group that meets monthly, with representatives from the city, CMU and area organizations.

The future is bright, and we look forward to moving into it together.

When you think of Mt. Pleasant, you think of CMU. When you think of Central Michigan University, you think of Mt. Pleasant.

That’s the way it should be.

Kathleen Ling is the Mayor of Mt. Pleasant and Dr. George Ross is the President of Central Michigan University. Ling was appointed mayor Mt. Pleasant by her fellow City Commissioners in January, 2013. Dr. Ross became the 14th president of Central Michigan University on March 1, 2010.

Set up a target, and I’ll hit it every time!

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Local government in Michigan has been operating under the shadow of the Economic Vitality and Incentive Program, or EVIP for the last two years.  The EVIP program has three basic components, transparency, cooperation & consolidation, and employee compensation.  The State of Michigan has set arbitrary requirements that if met, allow local government to get 2/3 of the revenue sharing money they had previously received without any strings. Why did this happen?  The state needs to create incentives for good government, because the locals clearly can’t achieve these objectives without help from above (please note sarcasm).

What has been accomplished through EVIP is nothing short of remarkable!  We have a program that has created new levels of bureaucracy at both the state and local level.  Added additional costs.  Stymied cooperative efforts.  Confused labor negotiations and contract administration.  Most importantly we have established a system that rather than spur innovation, encourages communities to manage to the prescribed targets.

Hitting a target is easy, it’s like checking a box…done.  But is that what we really want?  Take the second leg of EVIP.  It requires one additional  cooperative effort each year to receive funding.  Knowing that I need “ONE” every year, how many do you think I will implement on an annual basis?  When the state tells me to get funding I must publish certain information on my website, what gets published?  Its not what I think my community cares about, I “HIT” the target.  If I am negotiating labor agreements can I maximize my leverage when certain outcomes are predetermined, or do I ensure that I hit the target and receive our funding?

Clearly EVIP is needed. Without the new vision from the state as it relates to transparency, cooperation and managing benefits, local government could never have conceived of such innovations.  The hundreds of examples of cooperation and consolidation that already existed before EVIP should not be interpreted as working together or creating efficiency.   The countless ways that locals shared information previously doesn’t mean that we are being transparent.  And if we aren’t following a one size fits all approach to benefit design, then we must not be managing our benefits.

Fortunately, that has all been figured out for us.  We now have a target to hit, and we will it it every time.

 

Alma College and City of Alma Persevere Together Through Good Times, Challenging Times

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By Mayor Mel Nyman and President Jeff Abernathy

Mayor Nyman & President Abernathy

Since its founding in 1886, Alma College has stood as a vital community partner, dramatically affecting the lives of those living in mid-Michigan and beyond. The college’s founding was made possible by Ammi Wright, a lumberman, businessman and civic leader who gave 30 acres of land and more than $300,000 to found and sustain the institution in its early years — a sum equivalent to more than $6.2 million today.

More than 125 years later, Alma College continues to value its role in the mid-Michigan community. The campus hosts the annual Alma Highland Arts Festival, which brings thousands of visitors to mid-Michigan to celebrate their Scottish heritage.

An Alma College student volunteers in the community.

As part of its mission, the college also promotes a “culture of service” in which students meet local needs through participation with numerous community agencies and organizations.

One of the key questions in the college’s most recent planning effort was how it could leverage its presence to ensure that the college can thrive together with the community. The resulting plan, while establishing important educational goals, includes an emphasis on creating a sustainable campus and community. It states directly: “We will assist our city of Alma — where we aim to create a seamless environment between the downtown and the campus— as well as communities across Mid-Michigan in order to help our region thrive in the decades to come.”

There is much to be thankful in our small community of Alma. Business is growing in the downtown. Within view of town, the largest wind farm in Michigan has risen, with 167 monuments to the new economy. The efforts by community leaders in collaboration with Alma College professors and students to address environmental challenges caused by a chemical company that left the area decades ago continue to make meaningful progress.

Downtown Alma

All this good news is especially welcome in Alma, where we have had our share of challenges. The most recent economic downtown hit mid-Michigan hard, and in October 2010, a ruinous fire all but destroyed a prominent landmark at the center of our downtown, Alma’s former Opera House. In such a close-knit community, nearly every citizen felt the impact of these and other challenges.

And yet, the values and benefits of living in a college town still appeal to many. Recent developments are evidence that collaborative college-town partnerships are making a difference. Those developments include:

The downtown Alma College bookstore.

  • In 2011, the college purchased a vacant building and moved its bookstore off campus and across the street into a location that formerly represented a geographic divide between town and gown. The college also partnered with Stucchi’s — a successful ice cream store that was destroyed in the downtown Opera House fire — and brought it in under the same roof. The new business is thriving, a welcome addition to the downtown where students and community members come together.
  • Kurt Wassenaar, an investor with local roots committed to revitalizing the downtown Alma business district, bought the burned Opera House and determined to save it from demolition. Today, the building is undergoing major renovations that will restore its historic features while providing new retail opportunities on the ground floor and, in a leasing partnership with Alma College, student apartments on the second and third floors.

    Alma Fall Festival helps bring the city and college together.

  • Alma College has set an aggressive goal to place a large number of interns across mid-Michigan in an effort to help non-profits and governmental entities that lost so many resources in the recent downturn. Such work is hugely beneficial to Alma students even as it will help to sustain the communities across our region. Alma College students can learn how to leave positive footprints in Alma and wherever they go in the future.
  • Alma College’s Center for Responsible Leadership and the Gratiot Area Chamber of Commerce sponsor an annual Fall Festival in October in downtown Alma. The purpose of the event is to strengthen the connection between the college and community and to encourage community members, merchants and students to meet and interact in a positive and education atmosphere. Activities include merchant specials and giveaways, raffle drawings, face and pumpkin painting, kids activities and more.

Reaching out to the community is a part of Alma College’s mission to “prepare graduates who think critically, serve generously, lead purposefully and live responsively.” We remain committed to the exciting work of building and nurturing community partnerships that will be key to the college’s future as well as that of our town and region.

Mel Nyman is the Mayor of Alma and Jeff Abernathy is the President of Alma College.

Big Rapids, Ferris State University Joined at the Hip

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Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan

By Mayor Mark J. Warba and President David Eisler

Mayor Warba and President Eisler

On September 1, 1884 – over 128 years ago – Woodbridge Ferris opened the Big Rapids Industrial School on S. Michigan Avenue.

For an institution that started in rented rooms on the third floor of a business building in downtown Big Rapids, Ferris State University has grown into an educational enterprise. It now has 119 buildings on the 880-acre Big Rapids campus and also in downtown Grand Rapids, as well as partner sites at 17 community colleges around the state.

The university has an operating budget of over $270 million and it employs more than 1,400 full-time employees with an annual payroll of over $120 million. Ferris has an annual net economic impact of over $90 million, with two-thirds of the spending occurring in Mecosta County, where more than 65 percent of students attend classes on the main campus, and 88 percent of Ferris faculty and staff work in Big Rapids.

Big Rapids is the seat of government for Mecosta County, with a vibrant downtown and an industrial base that continues to thrive and transform itself while creating numerous employment opportunities. The Mecosta County Medical Center consistently ranks in the Top 100 hospitals in the United States in quality performance measures, and the Roben-Hood airport continues to grow and expand.

The university and the city recognize the continuing importance of communicating and cooperating with one another, and with their partners in the community. Examples include:

1. Monthly meetings during the academic year between representatives of the university, city and Mecosta County to discuss topics such as infrastructure improvements, training opportunities with members of public safety, utilities and recycling.

2. Quarterly town-gown meetings that bring together representatives from education, local government and the community, including the university president, superintendent of public schools and mayor.

Ferris State University campus

3. The “Big Event,” where Ferris State University students come together and give back to the community by performing household chores for area residents. The chores include washing windows, raking leaves, trimming bushes, small paint jobs, and more. Labor and supplies are provided completely free of charge, and last year tmore than 1,800 students volunteered at over 200 homes in the Big Rapids community.

4. The Festival of the Arts that is held throughout the month of February, where the university, in association with the Big Rapids community, brings together numerous individuals, volunteers, artists and event sponsors for a celebration of the arts, ranging from photography, to writing and music.

5. Members of the University’s administration participate in meetings with local manufacturers to say thank you for doing business in the Big Rapids community, and to look for ways to help the manufacturers, the university and the community grow.

6. Support for the United Way campaign in Mecosta and Osceola counties, helping to make the area’s United Way one of the very few in Michigan that continues to grow and meet its goal, albeit in a region that includes two of the poorest counties in the Lower Peninsula.

Big Rapids business district

7. Providing assistance in other ways as needed. For example, during a period of upcoming renovation for the public library, the university library will provide services for local residents.

The city and the university have also maintained a commitment to campus and community growth and improvement, with some of the highlights including:

A. In 2001, the Ferris Library for Information, Technology and Education “FLITE” was completed, and in 2012, the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia opened in the lower level of the library.

B. In 2004, the Granger Center for Construction and HVACR opened, with various elements of its construction and its heating and cooling systems open to view in order to facilitate learning.

C. In 2007, the city had the number 1 project in the state as part of the Vibrant Small City Initiative Program, allowing it to invest nearly $3 million to improve its downtown, including streetscape, facade improvements, way-finding signage and cultural center enhancement.

D. In 2008, the city embarked on improvements to its wastewater treatment plant, which services the university and two surrounding townships, totaling more than $7 million.

Downtown Big Rapids

E. In 2012, the Michigan College of Optometry opened its state-of-the-art facility on the university campus. As the only College of Optometry in the state and one of just 20 in the country, the new building provides the resources the college needs to produce graduates to meet a growing need.

F. This year, the city will begin moving forward in making improvements to one of the two bridges that span the Muskegon River, increasing access to the industrial park, the riverwalk system, and local streets, at a cost of nearly $6 million.

At the Michigan Municipal League’s 2012 Convention, one of the core legislative principles that was adopted recognized how educational institutions play a central role in growing and supporting a knowledge-based economy. The legislative principal also recognized how local government must effectively collaborate with such key community stakeholders and participate as a partner in decisions that impact the community.

Big Rapids and Ferris State University are truly joined at the hip as we both realize our mutual success depends on cooperation. Together we both grow and prosper. As such, we fully support the League’s emphasis on effective town-gown initiatives. This is something we both have recognized and appreciated for more than 128 years.

Mark J. Warba is the mayor of Big Rapids and David Eisler is the president of Ferris State University.

Benefits of City and University Partnerships

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By Mayor Dayne Walling & Chancellor Ruth Person

Dayne Walling

Dayne Walling

Ruth Person

Ruth Person

Michigan’s colleges and universities are essential to who we are as a state. We think of ourselves as a diverse family of Wolverines, Spartans, and many others. We are known around the country and across the globe as a place with extraordinary institutions of higher education. In our local communities, Michigan State University has become synonymous with East Lansing, Wayne State University with Detroit, and the list goes on.

Looking ahead into our future, however, this international status and these important relationships can not be taken for granted.

In fact, at a time when talent, economic development, and thriving places are intertwined, it is necessary to nurture city-university partnerships so they grow and expand in innovative and remarkable ways. We believe this will require an unprecedented cooperative effort among public officials and higher education leaders. Our hope is that the dialogue started here about the exciting partnerships already underway will spark greater enthusiasm for this essential effort.

A classroom at University of Michigan-Flint.

One of Flint’s anchor institutions is the University of Michigan-Flint. The campus is literally at the heart of community, where the main street and the river cross. In the past decade, the university has been a catalyst for transforming downtown into a vibrant and diverse space with new residents, facilities, restaurants and events. With more than 8,000 students and 1,000 faculty and staff, the University of Michigan-Flint fills the downtown up every day with hard-working and creative people who have made this the metro region’s fastest growing “neighborhood”.

Joining together as part of the Flint River Corridor Alliance, the City, Mott Community College, Hurley Medical Center, Kettering University and the University of Michigan-Flint are working on a broader vision of redevelopment for the greater river corridor. The corridor is redefining the region as a place of opportunity for growing businesses, eager students, and talented faculty.

A UM-Flint bus picks up and drops off students in downtown Flint.

Strong city-university partnerships created through service-learning, research projects and academic programs are also in place. These include important K-12 alliances such as the Genesee Early College and the Beecher Community Schools project.  The “Vehicle City Voices Database” project aims to create a linguistic and oral history database that contains interviews of residents of Flint. This project will serve as a digital resource for researchers and students on the UM-Flint campus and beyond who are interested in variations in grammar, pronunciations, word use, and speaking styles of English speakers in Flint, MI.  The University supported the City’s grant application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and agreed to provide in-kind support of $245,000 to the City’s effort. Currently, the University has nearly a dozen faculty and staff involved in various committees that make up the Master Planning process, serving either as residents or technical advisors to the subcommittees.

University of Michigan-Flint students meet at a downtown Flint cafe.

Together, we see tremendous opportunities ahead of us as the City rebounds and the university continues to grow.  As we continue to seek partnerships for mutual benefit, we’ll continue using our annual “Town-Gown” gathering to facilitate the dialogue and generate new and exciting ideas.

We hope that other colleges and universities and the cities they serve will join us in this effort to build a successful future for our State.  We applaud the Michigan Municipal League’s commitment to building strong Town-Gown relationships.

Dayne Walling is the Mayor of Flint, Michigan, and Ruth Person is the chancellor of University of Michigan-Flint.

Cooperation, Consolidation, Bigfoot, Roswell and other Famous Myths

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If I can figure out how to license the phrase cooperation and consolidation, I could retire tomorrow.  As I travel around the state and country working on local government issues, I find that it may be the most overused, and in my view, over heralded phrase in local government. My concern isn’t that I hear it so much, but rather that there is a belief that this will solve the ills created by of a decade of declining revenues and a couple generations worth of underfunded legacy costs.  I think we are more likely to see Sasquatch flying a space ship than we are to solve a broken financial model with consolidation.

Contrary to popular belief, local governments are for the most part well run and operate fairly lean.  Are their advantages to be gained by cooperating with your neighbors or consolidating services?  Probably.  Economies of scale generally will yield efficiencies that can lower the cost of service delivery, but to what end?  If our starting point is two communities that do not provide services to the level we all expect, isn’t it like combining two cars in need of repair and declaring victory because it drives?  Is this our vision for the future?

I don’t believe that the greatest challenge is being more efficient nor is the greatest benefit in combining departments or merging services.  The single biggest financial burden that our core communities are struggling with are legacy costs. Pending legislation in Michigan will help communities to draw a line in the sand and many already have, but they have no ability change the cost structure for those who have vested benefits or have left service.  More needs to be done.  In many established communities, the ratio of retirees to active employees is more than 2 to 1 with far more being spent on healthcare for retirees than is spent on active employees.  The hurdles both on both the human and political level to address this are substantial, but without real change it is not inconceivable that the only services a community might offer will be to hold elections, collect taxes, and pay and insure retirees.

It’s simply unsustainable.

 

Get by with a little help from your friends

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I applaud the City of Detroit and the State of Michigan for making everyone a winner with the Belle Isle lease agreement.  The deal for the state to lease Belle Isle relieves the city of the substantial cost of maintaining the park, and opens the door for significant improvements to this tarnished gem making it an even greater asset to the city.  Residents and visitors to Detroit alike should be thrilled with this announcement as everyone stands to benefit.  So what lessons can we all take a way from this historic agreement?

Lesson one:  Put your good sense ahead of your pride.  It sounds easy, but that can be tough to do and takes a fair amount of courage.  This decision was not a slam dunk.  Not because it didn’t make sense, but because many felt that if the city doesn’t directly manage the park, then it must be a loss for the city. It wouldn’t have been a loss of money, improvements or access, those all improve.  None of that made the decision any less difficult.  Fortunately all involved had the vision to see that allowing the state to be a partner with the city improves Belle Isle for everyone.

Lesson two: Do what you do best.  Belle Isle is a major park that requires a huge continuing investment. Even though it is utilized by many folks outside the city, Detroit bore the full financial burden. In short Detroit was not set up to succeed on this one. The State has more resources, manages large parks, and is actually pretty good at it. The city is far better served by focusing their energy and financial wherewithal on other areas of the city’s operation. They can now put added emphasis on neighborhood parks, public safety or other key areas.

Lesson three:  The Stockdale paradox – Confront the brutal truth of the situation, yet at the same time never give up hope.  Like so many municipalities in Michigan, the City of Detroit is faced with some very difficult financial circumstances.  It serves no one’s purposes, especially your residents, to ignore the reality that we all face.  Confront it and utilize all the resources at your disposal to craft a plan that keeps your community moving forward.

My father always told me, “don’t cut off your nose to spite your face”, and it seems appropriate in this circumstance.  To have let this opportunity pass would have served no one.  We should all learn from the leadership shown here to be open to new ideas, even if that idea stings a little at first.  Maybe that idea is in the form of a partnership, or even a hand off.  If in the end our residents are better served, then we have done our job. Kudos all around!

The Big Disconnect

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Once upon a time in a land far, far, away….Oh wait wrong fairly tale.  What am I talking about? The fact that not too long ago the provision ofr services in Michigan used to be a shared responsibility between state government and local government.  But, over the past decade or more what we have seen is a devolving of those responsibilities to primarily locals as the state has used nearly $5 billion meant for locals to fill its own budget hole.  As a result we’ve seen locals layoff police and fire personnel, close parks and libraries, and put off much need upgrades to important infrastructure such as local streets and sewers. At the same time, getting state government (governors and legislators) to come together on the need for additional revenues has been virtually impossible.  Take additional revenues to help fix our roads and bridges and support transit alternatives.  Even with federal dollars at stake, the legislature can’t seem to find a way to agree to something…anything that would bring such areas into the 21st century.

And yet, at the local level, residents are passing millage after millage to support any number of services.  As a matter of fact at the August election, 90% of all local millages were approved.  This included 100% of all public transit millage requests!   The story has been the same the past couple of years. In the August 2010 election, 86% of all millages were approved and in May of 2011 more than 80% were adopted.

So what’s the deal in the halls of Lansing or Washington?   Clearly, local voters are more than willing to support additional revenues for items when the case is made for specific services that add to our quality of life.  Lets just be sure that the next time we hear a state legislator say the public is against raising taxes to remind them of the reality.

Better, Faster, Cheaper

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Better, Faster, Cheaper.  It is the battle cry of any good government reformist.  How can you argue with the premise?  Shouldn’t we all strive to reach this lofty goal? I certainly think we should.   In reality though, it seems that the focus as of late is really only on cheaper & faster when we talk about government services.  Better never enters into the dialogue.  If something costs less, then that becomes the default answer.  We talk about, but our policies don’t back up the rhetoric.

I’ll be the first to admit that many of the processes that we have engaged in are not cheapest or fastest, but let’s not forget that part of this is by design.  So why would we intentionally have inefficient processes?  Well, another rallying cry of any good government reformist is transparency and accountability.  Everyone needs to know everything at all times.  Is this better, faster, cheaper?  Well it is certainly not faster or cheaper. The need/desire to be open and transparent leads to a slow, costly, cumbersome bureaucracy.  Is it open and transparent?  Yes it is.  Is it efficient?  No, it is not.

Now this does not absolve us of the need to be the best at what we do.  I would also suggest that the best is rarely if ever the cheapest.  The old adage that you get what you pay for is true in the private sector, your home, and in local government.  Ask any successful business person, what is the most important ingredient to a successful enterprise?  The answer will uniformly be talent.  Hire the best people you can and let them do their thing.  I would suggest to those who believe that the best way to save money is to impose further restrictions on locals consider this concept.  By employing a top down, control filled environment as a way of controlling costs: they are in reality making every government less efficient.  We need to attract the best and brightest people possible and let them lead.

We must remember good people always have options.  If we create an environment where the best and brightest choose not to serve locally because we have made it untenable, have we won because it’s cheaper? Are we better off if we have degraded the talent we can attract because of the environment we have created?  Would any business survive with this approach?  Clearly not.  Why then would we use this as our model of success for local government?  In the phrase better, faster, cheaper:  better comes first for a reason.  We should be striving to make Michigan’s communities the best, not the cheapest.

Is it as simple as cutting costs?

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So much is being made about the need for government to be more efficient. Consolidation and collaboration are the buzz words of the day, and are presented as the cure all for the financial challenges that all local governments are facing. So is it really that simple? Is it true that all we need to do is cut costs to some hypothetical number we can afford?

It occurs to me that the simplest challenge that locals face is matching costs to revenues. It’s something anyone with simple math skills can do. What I am bringing in must exceed or equal what goes out, simple stuff. Why then do so many locals have financial issues? The answer lies in the paradoxical nature of local government services. Every time you cut services you reduce the earning capacity of the city.

So why would service cuts diminish a cities earning capacity? While it is easy to understand that police cost money, in fact a lot of money. It’s harder to understand how cutting costs, a.k.a. services, reduce a cities ability to raise revenue. Think about it like this: what is the cities equivalent of a manufacturing company’s factory? Or to say it another way, how does a city generate revenue? It’s the properties located in that city, and taxes assessed against the “value” associated with those properties. So a simple query: would you pay more for a house in a community with “more” services or “less” services? Great parks or no parks? Good roads or poor roads? Adequate public safety or minimal public safety? I think the answers to all these questions are obvious. Better services equate to better property values, and increased revenue to provide critical services.

Turn around companies make a very handsome living by helping companies be more efficient, and shed themselves of losing components of their business. I am quite certain that as part of that quest for efficiency they would not eliminate the fundamental earning capacity of the company. If the books were balanced by eliminating the manufacturing capacity of the company, then there is no company. The same holds true for cities. Any effort to restructure and reduce costs must preserve the earning capacity of the city. In other words, if our cost cutting only approach leaves a place where people don’t want to live, then we have failed. Herein lays the challenge before us. Increase efficiencies to be sure, but retain the character and fiber of our communities. If not, we have only exacerbated the very problem we set out to solve.