Cheboygan County's Attempt to Raise 911 Taxes

Cheboygan County Commissioners,

On Friday, May 25, 2018, an op-ed piece of mine was published in the Cheboygan Tribune. I endorsed the existing tri-county CCE 911 and closed the piece with a request to fund the 800 MHZ upgrades fairly."There is an estimate of a $10,283,167 cost. The three counties need to split that amount equitably and fairly, while recognizing this upgrade is a priority. You and I are the taxpayers served by these committed men and women who respond when we call 911. Cheboygan and the other counties will discuss the options available to fund these needed upgrades. Telephone surcharges on your monthly bills and pre-paid phones, or millages are two options. I trust our Cheboygan County Board will reach out to us. They need our input to get the needed question on the November ballot that we can answer with a “yes”."

As a Board, outside of a public meeting, or on a decision made solely by your Administrator Jeff Lawson, that plea for an open discussion has been ignored. 

On Sunday evening, May 28th, the Clerk Karen Brewster sent an email notice of a "Reconvened" County Board meeting scheduled to occur on May 31 at 9:30 AM. The only new business is "Truth in Taxation Resolution No. 18-07 to Establish Additional Millage Rate and Set Public Hearing". 

Please advise the method the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners have used to determine the need, millage required, and who drafted a "Resolution" outside of the view and purview of the public. Was this "Resolution" created with a round-robin discussion, a closed door meeting, or is it another creation of Mr Lawson operating as a defacto County Controller, on his own prerogative, instead of County Administrator?  

The citizens of Cheboygan County who have some awareness of the CCE 911 situation and needed funding have questions on the fairness of the distribution of costs. At the County's annual planning meeting, there was some discussion of the issue and Cheboygan County seemed to think the consensus among the three counties would be a shared ballot question seeking a surcharge or millage. Charlevoix County exercised their independence and nixed that option.

The newly incorporated articles of incorporation, "CALM", have not yet been majority approved by Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners. The new document continues the same cost sharing. That 32.77%, 30.77%, and 36.46% split is based on a "formula requires that sixty percent of the Authority's expenditures be divided equally between the three participating counties. The remaining forty percent is divided based on telephone lines in each county. The agreement requires that this funding formula be reviewed every five years. The funding formula was last adjusted in 2005." (see below)

That 40% of the funding "based on telephone lines" in each county and last "adjusted" in 2005 cannot fairly represent current actual usage of 911 services. In 2005 about 90% of homes had landlines; now less than 50% of US homes have landlines. Many families and even individuals have multiple cellphones, smart devices, and other connected devices that also cannot be used as a measure of impact on 911 services.

I am sure CCE 911 can track and easily compile the geographic source of every 911 call that arrives at the call center. An annual record of calls received from each County, averaged over a rolling 5 year period, and updated annually would serve as a fairer and more equitable method to allocate that 40% of charges.     

I encourage the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners to act more responsibly. The voters are watching.

Articles of Incorporation-(CALM) 5/17/2018

Each County shall have the responsibility to fund the Authority based on the following: Charlevoix County – 32.77%; Cheboygan County – 30.77%; and Emmet County – 36.46%, which allocation percentages are the same as existed at the time these Restated Articles of Incorporation were adopted by the Counties.

CCE 911 Contributions per County-Notes to December 31, 2016 Financial Statements

NOTE I - CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PARTICIPATING MUNICIPALITIES: Under the terms of the organizing agreement, each participating county is responsible for funding the developmental costs and operating expenditures of the Authority based on a formula. Currently the formula requires that sixty percent of the Authority's expenditures be divided equally between the three participating counties. The remaining forty percent is divided based on telephone lines in each county. The agreement requires that this funding formula be reviewed every five years. The funding formula was last adjusted in 2005. 

The Cheboygan Courthouse Doors-The Tip of an Iceberg

Most of a Michigan County’s essential services, many mandated by our Michigan Constitution, are provided by offices or departments headed by elected officials. The voters elect Judges, the County Prosecutor and Sherriff, and the Clerk and Treasurer. There may be decisions made that do not satisfy everyone, but for a group of elected officials chosen by popular vote, they all serve Cheboygan County with a surprising amount of competence. The Cheboygan County Road Commission, a Board with five elected individuals and their own budget and building, manages to rebuild old roads and maintain newer roads while plowing snow for much of the year. The CCRC Board relies on the capable efforts of a management, engineering, and accounting staff that gets the job done while dealing with a legacy of pension costs and all of the complexities of State and Federal rules, mandates, and grants. 

Our elected Board of County Commissioners oversees the County Administrator and provides the few County services not directly controlled by the previously mentioned people.  The Administrator working with the Finance Department holds the purse strings and ultimately controls the budgets for all of the Cheboygan County departments except the independent CCRC. The County Commissioners come and go subject to the whims of the voters every two years. County Administrator Jeff Lawson, much like a corporate CEO, must work for this ever-changing Board. Mr Lawson recently disclosed his current salary of $100,928 per year. That does not include his benefit package; healthcare, defined pension, vacation and personal time, vehicle use, life insurance, and other perks that assuredly exceeds the County employee benefit average of 53%.  Mr Lawson seems well compensated to facilitate the needed communication and coordination to manage the day-to-day operation of the rest of the County Building and keep the doors open.

Did I say doors? Every week, one of Mr Lawson’s failures is on display as taxpayers and other visitors to the Cheboygan County Building attempt to gain entry through a single ill-conceived security door. That was Mr Lawson’s idea.  Mr Lawson sold the design and implementation of a very expensive and often out-of-service security system to a too trusting Board. In 2002, just after 911 and while Mr Lawson was still Village Manager at Mackinac City, the State of Michigan had published Michigan Court Security Guidelines. “Weapons screening is an essential part of court security. All persons entering the court facility should be subject to security screening. A proper weapon screening station has: Adequate room for people to congregate inside, out of the weather, without being so crowded as to present additional security problems.” Mr Lawson ignored those guidelines and best practices. The Board had placed their trust in him. Mr Lawson promised again in March 2017 to correct the door issues: “Staff has been in communication with Diebold and the door manufacture to receive estimates on door modifications to place employee at the door during peak use times or modify the existing remote system to provide additional scanning capability”. More than a year later, that never happened.  Meanwhile, hundreds of people, county staff and employees, lawyers, and even elected township officials, apparently more trustworthy than a Cheboygan County citizen or taxpayer just swipe one of the hundreds of cards issued and walk through any other door. Until everyone is subject to the same security screening, the County building will only have a false sense of safety.

If the front doors, a still unresolved embarrassing failure are the tip of the iceberg, what issues are floating just below the surface out of sight to all but the most diligent observers?  

A failed Zoning Ordinance with 147 amendments and much needed changes stalled, business openings and investments delayed, failed enforcement of both zoning and building safety violations, with the Planning & Zoning and Building Safety Departments under-staffed and over-stressed. The list continues with a failed attempt to reconstitute the Cheboygan Economic Development Corporation, a failed Cheboygan Marina Fuel Tank project budget, and a twenty-year-old Solid Waste Management Plan that needs revisions before a half-full garbage truck becomes your new neighbor.

If Cheboygan County Administrator Jeff Lawson, like a CEO, answers only to the County Board of Commissioners, when do the shareholders get their say? The County Commissioners will allow you three minutes to comment to their often-deaf ears. Every even numbered year, the taxpayers can exercise their right to vote and support or oust the Commissioner that does or does not represent their District.