MUNICIPAL City looks ahead at long-range planning
Township treasurer appeals court ruling By Lisa Brody
By Lisa Brody
Birmingham city departments looked ahead to the upcoming year and presented projections for the next five years at the city commission's long-range planning meeting held on Saturday, January 16. With four new commissioners on the city commission this year, department heads, including finance, engineering, planning, police, fire, library, and the Birmingham Shopping District, provided informational reviews as well as projections for the future. Finance director Mark Gerber, along with accountants from Plante Moran, presented a five-year financial forecast along with capital improvements and funding priorities. They explained that this year had been a very good housing market in Birmingham, which is expected to continue. However, taxable values are limited by the Headlee Amendment, which if the housing market continues to increase will reach pre-recession property value levels by 2018 or 2019. City manager Joe Valentine clarified, “We're just getting to the 2008, 2009 (housing) levels.” Gerber said that the city's general fund is expected to increase two percent for each of the next five years, with revenues increasing 1.5 percent during that period. “The city is assuming that increase of property tax increase growth will be higher after 2017, and we have been seeing increases in permits,” Gerber said. The city's millage for 2015-2016 is 14.6006 mills, down from 14.6359 mills in 2014-2015; in 2011-2012 the millage was 14.8269. The decrease is due to Proposal A (Headlee Amendment) caps. As for funding priorities for capital improvement, Gerber said they look to buildings, parks and other capital needs in the city and determine if they have enough money for various projects that they need to fund on an annual basis. Valentine explained that for larger projects, like the Chesterfield Fire Station, often they “prefund” by setting aside money each year for several years in order to be able to pay for it. “We can't budget for large projects all in one year,” he explained. “When we do a capital project, we always try to budget for it in advance,” explained commissioner Stuart Sherman. “It works better that way, and it helps us maintain our AAA rating, and it makes sure we always downtownpublications.com
loomfield Township Treasurer Dan Devine filed a claim of appeal on Monday, January 4, with the Michigan Court of Appeals, after Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Leo Bowman dismissed on December 16, 2015, his whistleblower lawsuit against Bloomfield Township and township supervisor Leo Savoie. The suit, filed September 10, 2015, alleged that Savoie “has engaged in an ongoing campaign to retaliate against Devine” and requested an unspecified money judgement in his favor for “loss of career opportunities, diminishment of business and personal reputation, emotional distress, and attorney fees and costs.” Devine sought monetary damages, the minimum of which are $25,000 under the Whistleblowers' Protection Act. Daniel D. Swanson of Sommers Schwartz P.C., representing Devine, said in September that under the Michigan Whistleblowers' Protection Act, an employer, which they claimed in this case is Bloomfield Township, “shall not discriminate or retaliate or threaten against an employee. Under the Whistleblowers' Act, the employer is Bloomfield Township because Devine has an employment contract. The supervisor, treasurer and clerk are elected officials, but they are employees of the township that serve at the pleasure of the people. The Act also allows you to name individuals involved in unlawful activities,” which is why Savoie was named frequently in the lawsuit. A key contention Devine made was that he was an employee of the township, rather than an elected official, and in a legal response, he cited a former health care benefit contract from 2011, since cancelled, which called him an “employee.” However, Devine has been the treasurer since being appointed to the position in 1999. He has been elected and re-elected several times since. Judge Leo Bowman read in a prepared statement that Devine had no standing to bring a case against Bloomfield Township or Savoie under the Whistleblower Protection Act. “Plaintiff is not an employee as defined by the WPA,” Bowman wrote in his ruling. He continued, “This court finds that plaintiff's claim is so clearly unenforceable as a matter of law that no factual development could possibly justify recovery.” Devine had 21 days to appeal the circuit court ruling, which would have been January 6. Attorney Linda Roberts of Sommers Schwartz requested complete transcripts of everything since October 14, 2015, as part of the appeal. “Frankly, I'm surprised and disappointed that he (Devine) would drag this on,” Savoie said when notified of the appeal, noting the township had already spent between $40,000 and $45,000 to fight the original lawsuit. He said he anticipates it will likely cost at least that much of the township's money to counter Devine's appeal. Michigan Court of Appeals cases are always heard by a panel of three judges, and it can take up to 18 months after filing to come up for appeal, “but it could be more or less depending upon the complexity of the case,” said Judge Lisa Gleicher of the Michigan Court of Appeals. She said often people do not appeal their cases because “it's expensive to appeal,” although “when someone loses a case in the circuit court, he/she has a constitutional right to the Court of Appeals under the Michigan Constitution.”
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have enough money to fund the project. And by doing that, we're not playing with our millage rate every year and bumping up against Headlee, and people at home can budget that their taxes will be pretty much the same.” City engineer Paul O'Meara explained that most of Birmingham's
streets date back to the 1920s, “when gravel streets without drainage was the norm.” Among the street maintenance projects the city does are complete reconstruction, which includes water main, sewer and drain replacement, as well as work to sidewalks, street lights, curbs and traffic lights.
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“For 2016, our big project will be the W. Maple resurfacing (between Southfield and Cranbrook roads), and one block of Hamilton,” as well as some neighborhood streets,” O'Meara said. In 2017, the major project will be a complete reconstruction of Old Woodward in downtown Birmingham between Willits and Brown streets, “which will give a new look to downtown,” he said, along with some neighborhood streets. In 2018, Maple Road between Bates and Woodward will be reconstructed. On neighborhood streets that are unimproved, O'Meara explained that residents can petition the city to have their street repaved. If over 50 percent of the street's residents sign the petition and present it to the city commission, it will be approved, with residents paying 80 percent of the assessment and the city the remaining 20 percent. He said when a project is resident-initiated, the street is often paved in 12 to 24 months. “Often people don't understand how to get it done, unless a go-getter neighbor gets it done,” he noted. “Maybe we need to do a video and put it on the (city's) website to explain it. It could be very helpful. If it's residentinitiated, it goes to the top of the construction list, otherwise it goes by need of the road and the condition.” On ADA-compliant, or handicapped, parking at metered parking in the downtown shopping area, O'Meara said, “There have been complaints people have been abusing. During a recent survey on a busy shopping day, a total of 121 vehicles were observed parked with disabled permits, about 80 percent in metered spaces.” Those cars park, sometimes all day, for free under current regulations. O'Meara said that the advisory parking committee in late January will review new advisements where bluestriped handicapped parking in parallel parking spots, added as downtown streets are reconstructed, will be added with new blue meters. If the committee approves it, it will then go before the city commission in February for final approval. O'Meara updated commissioners on the current parking shortage, stating that currently improvements to the Pierce Street structure are off the table. “Currently the worst (structure) is Peabody, it's in deficit mode, with the Balmoral building coming on, and Park Street is falling into deficit with the Palladium filling up,” he said. He said the Chester structure still has a great deal of capacity, and the Old 69