Meeting Notes 1-25-22
Meeting Notes from the January 25th Meeting of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners.
Meeting Packet: https://www.miottawa.org/appImages/Calendar/1642794696612-packet.PDF
Meeting Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNlekPQTCP8
Reclassification of ARPA Funds: The Board approved reclassification of existing ARPA funds by $11,379,576.
Summary:
The County will receive approximately $57 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. One of the eligible uses for this funding is to replace the County's revenue in fiscal years 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 that was "lost" or reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fiscal Services has calculated the FY 2020 lost revenue to total $19,030,058 (based on the Interim Final Rule). The County will ARPA funds to to augment General Fund balance by $11,379,576.
The reclassification of the ARPA dollars will not affect the overall amount of funds we have for ARPA Community Projects, but will simply make the process of accounting for the investment of those funds easier and will relax the parameters and restrictions on those funds.
Resolution Opposing Senate Bills 597 and 598: The Board approved the Resolution opposing Senate Bills 597 and 598.
Summary:
Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey is sponsoring Senate Bills 597 and 598 that would shift Medicaid financing and managed care functions from the public behavioral health system to a private Medicaid health plan system and eliminate public oversight, public accountability and public governance. These bills specifically incentivize and prioritize profits to private Medicaid health plans at the expense of the public and the citizens served by the public behavioral health system. In short, privatizing the state’s behavioral health system would mean an immediate $300 million loss in dollars for persons served and millions more in the future. This would threaten the ability of Community Mental Health Service Providers to deliver services, create new costs, new complexity and other barriers to care, putting the mental wellbeing of thousands of Michigan citizens at risk.
I voted present on the item, not because I have issues with the Resolution on substance, but simply because of the Board Rules that deem Resolutions that do not have operational effect, that is, Resolutions of opinion, to be out of order. I do believe we should remove language regarding restrictions regarding Resolutions from our Board rules, and any Policy to that effect. But in the meantime, I do not believe we can have rules, and then propose Resolutions that contravene these Rules, as we have done now twice in the six months since we have had that policy.
Updated Surveillance Ordinance: The Board voted 10-1 to approve the updated Surveillance Ordinance.
This past summer, the Board passed a Surveillance Ordinance primarily concerned with preventing the flying of drones in our county parks, as well as preventing residents and general public from taking photography and video inside county faculities. This ordinance was enjoined at the Circuit Court level this past November by Judge Miedema because it conflicted with State law.
I voted no on the revised Ordinance, principally because of lingering constitutional issues with Section 400.5.2.3, Photography in Public Spaces. Specifically, I do not believe there is an inherent right to privacy on public property, as the Ordinance posits, and that a ban on photography in a public setting without consent runs counter to First Amendment privileges. While we as public officials and government employees may not always appreciate the increased attention that the recent push for fuller transparency demands, I do believe section 400.5.2.3 contravenes free speech rights, as evidenced in the recent email to State of Michigan employees:
“With very few exceptions, the right to create video recordings of public employees or private citizens on public property is considered a form of free speech and is protected by the first amendment.”
I do believe sections 400.5.2.1 and 400.5.2.2 are already adequately addressed in existing law and park policy respectively.
Eastmanville Farm Management License: The Board approved the Management License between the Ottawa County Parks Commission and Mr. Dave Kulicamp (Manager) that will convey upon the Manager the rights to manage specific portions of the Eastmanville Farm property in a specific manner as outlined in the License Agreement and its attachments for a period of 10 years.
Summary:
Portions of Eastmanville Farm have been managed through a lease with the non-profit West Michigan Agricultural Education Center (WMAEC) for the past 10 years for the purpose of agricultural education for the general public and residents of Ottawa County. WMAEC, a volunteer organization, notified the Parks staff that they would not pursue another term of the original lease agreement. With that in mind, staff began to work on strategies for transitioning the property out of row crops.
Early in the process staff coordinated, with Corporation Council on a strategy of utilizing a long-term natural resource focused management license which would then allow a third-party to manage the property and provide the ability to qualify for Natural Resources Conservation Service Funds through the USDA that would not be available to the Parks Commission.
This agreement will help facilitate the restoration of missing native habitat for grassland birds, native pollinators, and many wildlife species that depend on such grasslands, as well as protect water quality and reduce non pointsource pollution in the form of soil erosion.
A benefit of this agreement is the creation of a unique ecosystem that only grazing grasslands provides while still providing an opportunity for the Manager to earn proceeds as he performs unconventional farming and grazing practices that are designed to benefit wildlife including grassland birds. This mutually beneficial agreement will not involve any compensation to the Parks Commission for rent, nor payments from the Parks Commission for land management. After 10 years the agreement will be revisited.
Without this agreement, the Parks Commission would have to invest significant resources both in labor and fiscally to transition the current land that is managed as row crops to a mixture of cool season, warm season and pollinator mix, and row crops managed to benefit bird species such as Bobwhite, Killdeer and Horned Lark. The estimated cost savings over the term of the agreement is $140,000
Parks and Recreation Commission Consolidate Motor Vehicle Permit Fees: The Board approved the recommendation of the Parks and Recreation Commission to adjust Motor Vehicle Parking Fees to establish one daily motor vehicle fee of $8.
Summary:
Ottawa County Parks charges motor vehicle parking fees at its Lake Michigan parks and at the Riverside Park boat launch between Memorial Day and Labor Day to help offset a portion of the operational expenses associated with the high usage of these facilities. Visitors have the choice of purchasing a daily permit or an annual permit. Most of these fees are currently collected by a person in a booth, except for Rosy Mound and Olive Shores where a fee machine is used or a small percentage of that are on-line sales. The current pricing provides resident and non-resident rates for both the daily and annual permits.
Because the fee machines at Rosy Mound and Olive Shores are unable to determine residency, the machines have offered the sale of one daily option at the non-resident rate. The Parks and Recreation Commission is preparing to upgrade the automated fee stations at Rosy Mound and Olive Shores and install new automated fee stations at North Beach Park and the Riverside Park boat launch in 2022 and Kirk Park and Tunnel Park in 2023. This new hardware will greatly improve our customer services by reducing long lines that form during heavy use periods. It will also reduce the County’s liability by reducing the amount of cash that is handled by Park staff which will reduce risk and increase safety. In order to implement these machines will we need to consolidate to one daily permit fee regardless of resident status at all parks as the standing practice has been at Rosy Mound and Olive Shores since the fee machines were installed more than a decade ago.
This change in the fee structure will allow for a smooth transition to the new fee machines in the upcoming 2022 season. It is also worth noting that this change is also in line with the Michigan DNR policy of only one daily permit price sold at their booths.
Naming of North Stearns Creek Park: The Board approved naming the newly acquired area of Stearns Creek Park north of Stearns Creek as the Helstrom Family Natural Area, to name the proposed trails as the Helstrom Family Trail System and to provide exclusive naming rights to any future trails and overlooks on this property.
Summary:
The 27-acre Stolarz property was recently added to Stearns Creek Park. This purchase was funded with a small amount of County funds, a MNRTF Grant, and a $100,000 donation from the heirs of John Helstrom. Negotiations for this donation included naming of the area and trails as well as recognition of the family on trail signs and kiosks.
Proposed 911 Service Plan: The Board the proposed 911 Service Plan for Ottawa County and scheduled a final public hearing at least 90 days after approval.
Summary:
Ottawa County’s 911 Service Plan was enacted in the 1980s when 911 was first getting started. There have been many technological changes since that Plan, which require updating. The most important of these changes is the Next Gen technology, which allows the last leg of all communications into Central Dispatch to be through internet hookup. This facilitates the flow of much more information to Central Dispatch, including videos of the scene of the 911 incident. This will improve the safety of first responders and enhance medical stabilization efforts at the scene of incidents.
Idema Explorers Trail Ravines to Grand River Park Segment: The Board approvedthe bid from Apex Contractors in the amount of $967,262.50 and entered into a contract for the construction of the Grand Ravines to Grand River Park Segment of the Idema Explorer’s Trail.
