The new city council decided to take a different approach to the annual budget review process this year. In the past, the process was quite simply a rubber stamp for whatever the city administration asked for. To call it a review process was something of a misnomer.

With income tight and property values falling, many councilpersons, including myself, believed that a tax cut was necessary. After carefull deliberation, four days of budget meetings and hours of discussion, I am happy to report that we completed the budget process on Monday, March 21st.

City Income Will Fall in 2008

Income expectations are expected to fall this year, largely due to falling property values within the city. As a result of these falling values, the city expects to take in approximately .3 mills less in property taxes this year compared to 2007.

Eliminate the “Assistant City Manger” Position

We reviewed and completed the various department level budgets, and I am pleased to report there were no reductions made to city services. There was one change in staffing levels, however.

The council opted to eliminate the “Assistant City Manager” position, which was left vacant after the retirement of Carl Renius in February of this year. Replacing that position will be a new “Assistant to the City Manager” position.

This change in status will likely result in the employment of a younger Assistant who has expectations of future employment in the capacity of an Assistant City Manager or a City Manger.

The expectation is that this change in position will save the city approximately $30,000.00 per year without any reduction in city services.

Core City Services

I am pleased to report that there will be absolutely no reduction in core city services in 2008-2009. In fact, several significant changes were added to various department level budgets that are likely to increase the effectiveness of city services. But at the very least, no cuts were made.

Discretionary Spending

The biggest difference that took place in this years budget review was how the council addressed dispensing the discretionary income. This is the portion of the income that remains after budgeting for all core city services. This year that amount approximately $832,000.00.

The council took a very deliberate and cautious approach to studying all items that were discretionary in nature. When the final budget was complete, I am delighted to report that we had a remaining balance of .9 mills after all spending was complete. The council decided to return this .9 mills to the taxpayers in the form of a tax cut for 2009. This equates to approximately $690,000.00 that will be returned to your pockets.

The Final Result

There were no cuts to core city services. Several enhancement were made to department level budgets. Spending was critically reviewed and the fat was cut out of the budget. Money was returned to the taxpayers. It’s a win-win situation. And best of all, not a single dime was taken from any of the city fund balances. Not one penny.

Some people said that it couldn’t be done. Guess what? They were wrong and I am delighted to say so!

On Saturday, February 23rd the council met in an open meeting to continue the city manager search process. There were a total of sixty five applications made. Our hiring consultatant, Mark Nottley, reviewed those 65 applicants and reduced the number to 27 for us to review.

I was very pleased with how the council approached the review of these applicants. Mayor Stuart Bikson suggested a simple strategy that allowed the full council to move rather quickly, but efficiently, through the applicant resumes. After several hours of review, we were able to reduce the working number of applicants being considered to five.

Next Come the Interviews

The five remaining candidates will be scheduled for two hour interviews during the weekend of March 7th. These interviews will be orchestrated by Mr. Nottley, who will have 45 minutes of time to ask the candidates a number of pre-prepared questions.

After he is finished, each council person will have a short time (five minutes, perhaps) during which individual council members will be able to ask their own question(s).

On Saturday, February 23 the city council will meet to review the resumes submitted for the vacant city manager postion. Our hiring consultant, Mark Nottley, will have made the first cut of the resumes, but my understanding is that we will see the resumes that he dismissed and will have the opportunity to place any of them back into contention if we choose to do so.

The hiring process is blind, at this point, and we will not see the names of the candidates. Our job at this meeting is to weed through the resumes, discuss which candidates we think are the most suitable for interview, and pass those candidates on to an interview process two weeks later.

I am really looking forward to this process. The new council has a unique opportunity to help directly shape the future of our city. It has been thirty years since a city council was in a postion to choose a new manager, and who we hire will be critical to the success of our city as we move forward into troubling economic times.

Community Involvement is Solicited

When we choose the final list of candidates, my understanding is that the city council will make a public statement identifying the finalists. This unprecedented step will be taken so that all citizens and other interested people will also have the ability to review the candidates and to be involved in the selection process. At that time, I would welcome any phone calls or emails regarding the suitability of the candidates, any questions you might suggest that I ask in the interview process, or any other information that you feel is pertinent to the hiring process.

Please take the time to stay abreast of this process and to provide approrpiate input. It’s your city and your city manager. Get involved!

This city council is in the process of reviewing the various professional contracts that the city maintains. These include the city attorney, the city planner, the county assessor and the city auditor, to name a few.

The current contract that is under review is that of the city auditor. This contract is a three year commitment, and the firm chosen will be responsible for a yearly audit of the city’s financial records and financial position. The council solicited bids for this assignment, and four firms submitted proposals for the audit work.

Disparity in Pricing

Suprisingly, there was a nearly $60,000.00 difference in price between the lowest and highest bidder. This amounted to roughly a 50% difference in price, with the low bidder being in the $100,000.00 range and the high bidder in the $160,000.00 range.

Needless to say, this disparity caught the eye of several council persons at our meeting two weeks ago. At that meeting, there had been an initial motion to approve the interim city manager’s recommendation. His recommendation was to award the project to Plante Moran, the highest bidder. While I am not disputing the ability of this widely respected firm, I thought it was best to study the other proposal more closely so that a more informed decision could be made.

Apparently others agreed, because the matter was tabled two weeks ago. Each of the four firms was asked to come to the meeting of February 11 to discuss the matter and to answer questions regarding their proposal.

I received an email yesterday that was sent to my official city council email address. The email was also sent to each of the other council members. In this email, the writer made a complaint about the manner in which the snow was plowed on the residential streets after our most recent ice and snow storm. She felt that the snow was no longer being plowed as well as it was in the past, and she made the following observations and conclusions:

• East and west streets in the Norhwood/Highland area were not plowed
• The streets that were plowed were not plowed in a timely manner as in the past
• The city is restricting overtime for the DPW workers, resulting in the deficient plowing
• This decrease in plowing efficiency is somehow related to the recent resignation of the city manager
• That the current council is reducing city services as a result of their interest in studying the budget with an eye toward increased efficiency and a potential tax cut

As a result of this complaint, I contacted Interim City Manger John Hiller. He told me that there has been no change to manner or method in which the snow is plowed. He also told me there has been no change to the overtime practices of the DPW snow removal employees. I had no reason to believe any changes had been made, but thought it best to contact Mr. Hiller before replying to the homeowner about her complaints.

On January 25, 2008 American Legion Unit #172 sponsored an event honoring selected members of the Rochester, Rochester Hills and Oakland Township police and fire departments. At this event, the American Legion presented these officers with the American Legion Americanism Award.

As part of that event, two Rochester public safety officers were honored for their achievements.