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An Interview With Interim Saginaw City Manager BILL BAILEY By Mark Leffler
Still, many decisions, like the final city budget, are voted on by the council, working from a suggested budget drawn up by the administrative staff and recommended by the city manager. The city manager also advises the council during their regular meetings, while also helping answer the many questions that are usually heard from city residents. Anyone who has been following Saginaw's struggles to balance its budget while still providing essential services, is aware of the challenges facing Bailey, the city staff, Mayor Wilmer Ham and the Council. Bailey recently agreed to this wide-ranging interview exclusively for Review Magazine. Review: What is a nice guy like you doing in the City Manager's chair? Can you describe how a young lad from Bay City ended up with a career in city government? Where did your interest in politics come from? Bailey: My passion for politics, which is indeed a "blood sport, started as a "roadie" for the George McGovern campaign in 1972. I worked the West Side of the state planting road signs, making advance arrangements for campaign stops. From this high-wire work I covered some politics as a journalist early in my career. Review: When did you first realize that you might be an interim City Manager and what were some of your thoughts about that possibility? Bailey: I've been the number two guy in the organization for many years and it came as no shock to serve as an interim manager. Frankly, I view the time as an opportunity to break political inertia and make some otherwise difficult changes. Review: When do you expect the city will complete their search for a new City Manager? Could it take as long as a year? Bailey: The Council will likely hire an experienced headhunter to conduct a national search for a new city manager. I'm hopeful, however, they don't overlook the local talent. It's my guess that a new manager will be in the hot seat by November. I plan to help for a few weeks, but other challenges are calling. Review: Do you have a personal opinion or advice for the City Council about whether there should be a nation-wide search for applicants or simply look locally or from within current management as they did with past managers Joyce Parker and Reed Phillips? Bailey: The last three city managers came from the experienced ranks of the city staff. My biggest piece of advice is that city management is sometimes a gypsy field and the carpetbagger factor can be high. Council should not be overly impressed by slick-talking managers. We don't need a Messiah; we need a solid, trustworthy person that can do the difficult work. Fancy talk and PR are good, but working on land assembly, issues of poverty, setting the stage for job development and investment is the most important vision we can foster. We need a government that understands market forces and uses all the economic development tools to set the stage for reinvestment, blight fighting, and casting Saginaw in the best light possible. Review: Any idea whether your management style will be very similar or different from how the job was carried out by past managers Phillips, Joyce Parker or Marv Baldwin? Bailey: I'm far more aggressive than past managers. As a small business owner, I know what it's like to make paydays, negotiate and operate efficiently. I also am a student of total quality managements, process mapping and modern management skills that need to be increasingly applied to government. From cutting the red tape, to one-stop-shopping for services, government must be proactive, productive and measured. We will pass a tax cap lifting measure only when we are perceived as being politically stable, efficient and credible. Review: As someone who once supervised the Saginaw Children's Zoo, what do you think of the success and growth of the Zoo, after being spun off from city management and funding? Both it and the expansion of the Saginaw Art Museum seem to be hopeful signs for the city. The Andersen Water Park and Wave Pool are similarly going to be managed, along with some Recreation programs, by the Saginaw YMCA. Are there many more programs, currently run by the city that may be similarly privatized? Obviously the police and fire departments and the water and refuse services will always be run by the city, but the Japanese Tea House and Cultural Center is another service that has been mentioned as a possible budget cut. Bailey: In many ways government is lousy at running businesses. I think we understand that we have successfully spun-off the zoo, recreation to the YMCA, Civic center and some others. I plan to constantly comb through the organization to find efficiencies and places where the private sector can do a better job than local government running an operation. Someone once said, "if there are three companies in the Yellow Pages doing a task, why is government doing it?" A good example is the recreation department being run by the YMCA. Programs are growing and credibility is increasing, as the Y becomes a broker for recreation services. The city needs to be more of a facilitator of services than a direct service provider. Review: One of Reed Phillips suggestions to the Council was to eliminate Saginaw Government Television (SGTV, seen on Channel 15 for Charter Communications cable customers in the city and the township). He made it clear that he would rather the meetings weren't televised. Doesn't Charter's contract provide funding for the station that would be lost to the city if the channel was discontinued? What are the odds that there will still be a station after next year's budget cuts? Bailey: If I could sweep my magic wand I would stop televising council meetings. The franchise agreement (with Charter) is silent and doesn't require broadcasting of anything. Review: With the recent or impending retirements of such senior staff as Economic Development Specialist Joe Turner, Darwin Baranski from Parks and Cemeteries, Planning and Zoning's Rod Dixon, and Ken Gamble, Tom Miller and yourself from the Manager's Office, is it difficult to fill their positions, if indeed the positions still remain? Bailey: Saginaw's (city government) work force is half the size it was when I started 25 years ago. The brain drain is huge and the financial challenges are even bigger. Next year we are projecting a $4 million shortfall and we are working now to help stop the flow. Given our Draconian tax cap, flat-line revenues, the city general fund suffers while we see great investment in the city and new growth along the riverfront. Fortunately, we have crafted plans and systems that overreach personalities. One of my challenges is to make certain the organization is stable and steady upon my departure. Review: Do budget limitations make it difficult for the city to attract young people and even higher priced experienced administrators to fill positions? Bailey: The middle-class (and state and federal government) have abandoned Saginaw and the city. With them went much of the good values, leadership and money. The challenge today is to plan for bringing them back in the future. One way I am championing is to assemble tracts of buildable land where new subdivisions on larger lots can be built. If we have to clear the land and plant corn, let's do it to bring back market-rate housing in Saginaw. We as a region must also grow enough jobs to keep our children here. This is an area Vision 2020 is working on and one we believe deeply in. Review: Looking ahead another year or two, do you think Saginaw is headed for the problems that Flint has been going through, facing a possible take-over by the state of Michigan due to financial problems? Bailey: Unofficially I've heard that the state has about ten cities on the "at risk" list for takeover. Frankly, I think the state must reinvest in cities. They can't run all of the cities and we must realign many state laws that prohibit urban growth. Laws like land-use, sprawl and the way grants are issued are just some of the things the state can do to protect the cities. Review: On a lighter note, what do you do to relax and get away from the pressures of managing the city? Are the rumors true that you are a Jethro Tull fan? Bailey: As the author of 15 books, I'm a fanatical reader. During the summer there is nothing more relaxing for me than a good book, a sunny day and a cold drink. I'm a Jethro Tull fan and collector, especially of vintage bootleg concert videos. I also meditate, read about Eastern philosophy and take long walks with my wife and springer spaniel. Review: When you retire do you plan to continue working with your publishing and media consulting? Do you plan to do more writing yourself? Do you expect to be working full-time or are you going to be semi-retired and playing golf? Bailey: My retirement plans are personal at the moment. I plan to work and some offers are being tendered. I'm merely interested in doing something else for a few years before I really hang it up. Review: Most citizens understand and appreciate our police and fire crews for the services they provide. Who are some of the unsung heroes you could draw attention to? What are some of the services provided by the city that don't get the big headlines but make our quality of life better? Bailey: There are many important jobs in the organization. From fixing broken water mains in the winter, to snow plowing and all forms of outdoor work, we have a great and dedicated staff. Police and Fire are often in the news and are real heroes, but most of our staff are also heroes and grind out the difficult, sometimes dangerous work on a daily basis. Review: There have been ups and downs in the City's relationship with the unions, especially during contract negotiations with the police and fire. How would you characterize relations now? How have they reacted to the budget limitations? Bailey: I've tried extra hard to communicate to our union colleagues, hoping to make them fully understanding of the long-term financial picture. >From uncontrolled health costs to day-to-day increases in operation, the city is in partnership with its staff and the community. Review: There are, of course, still crimes and murders in the city, but is seems that even the perception of violence in the city has lessened in the past few years. Has there been a demonstrable reduction in crime? Do you expect youth and gang violence to pick up in the summer? Is community policing gone with the past police budget cuts? Bailey: Crime is down about 30 percent in the past five years. Sadly most crime is gang and drug related and often found in communities with high poverty rates. I think we are doing a good job, but we need to engage the eyes, ears and hearts of every citizen. Parents need to know what their kids are doing. Parents need to work with the schools, get involved and stop bad behavior early and often. Local government can't paint houses, put out your trash or raise crime-free kids. It takes involved families. We are making progress, but it's not fast enough for me. Review: If you could wave your magic City Manager wand, and get one wish on the job, what would it be? To have the tax cap loosened? Bailey: I have many wishes and they start with church and citizen involvement. If every church adopted parks, vacant lots to mow, a child in need and fund-raised to demolish some houses, we would have a great city. Local government can't do it all, we need faith-based involvement to help with practical problems of house painting, neighborhood clean-up, providing mentoring programs and much more. The tax cap is a noose around our necks. I wish the readers could understand that even if every GM plant in the world moved to Saginaw, we would not get one more dollar in property taxes. It is unfair to struggle with this tax cap that is unknown anywhere else in the country. Review: How can the city work more effectively with the County Commission in reducing urban sprawl? What can the city do to work with the county to refurbish and reinforce the strength of Saginaw's residential neighborhoods? Bailey: Sprawl is a national problem and the answers will probably need to come from the state. In fact, many states are requiring smart growth and "build-in" policies. Even our recent Vision 2020 land-use plan, which was a great effort, largely failed to address in-fill housing and cost of ongoing sprawl to all of us. I believe that the reasonable person would agree that building at the fringes of the infrastructure is costly and downright dumb. Each day the state loses hundred of acres of fertile farmlands and natural areas to sprawl---and at the expense of urban areas. Issues like the availability of water may be the fundamental issues that bring land-use planning into focus. Review: What can be done to end the duplication of service in the city and the county? Bailey: Consolidation of fragmented governmental services should be a fundamental goal of public administrators and elected officials. Sadly, fiefdoms and provincial thinking stops us from many economies of scale. For example, in Saginaw County we have one unit of government for every 5,000 peoples, more than a couple dozen school districts, 17 police chiefs and fire departments scattered all over. Doesn't it make sense to find ways to consolidate some of these services? In the end, it's all about politics. It all about old-style politicians that want to protect their turf at the cost of services and on the back of all taxpayers. I'm not sure my idea of a metro council has the right timing; but it's certainly the right thing to do. Review: Why can't Saginaw do more to get its share of state and federal monies that are available. The feds have a lot of money out there and Saginaw never seems to get its fair share of the pie. Bailey: Saginaw does receive millions in block grants, grants for the Shaheen project, riverfront development ($2.1M), downtown streetscape ($4M) and others. Certainly we can do better. Our state and federal elected officials, some faced with term limits, have delivered some "pork," but I think as they mature in office we'll see more dollars for public improvements. There is no money tree and grants at all levels have dried up. In addition, most grants will help you build a facility, but there is no support to operate it---and that's the biggest challenge. I'd like to see the city hire a lobbyist who would be charged with making certain we're in the game and at the table when there are bits and pieces of grant money available. Review: The issue of lifting the tax cap is a big one, but how can this effectively be put before the voters when 12-year tax abatements are given to huge corporations and developers with all the burden being placed upon residential homeowners? Bailey: The Draconian tax cap limits city services. The tax cap has held back a number of services and resulted in plenty of downsizing. Frankly, rightsizing is good, but we are at the point where entire blocks of services are at great risk. The next year, if the cap isn't lifted, will begin to impact the public in tangible ways. Soon---and sadly, the public will feel the pain of reduced city services. We've been creative enough to constantly realign services so there hasn't been direct pain. But pain there will be when police only respond to the most serious calls, special events are gone and recreation services are reduced. Consider this my fair warning that unless we see the tax cap lifted you will see dramatically reduced city services. This is why I'm calling for a faith-based summit, a citizens summit and other creative initiatives to engage non-government resources to mow vacant lots, paint houses, adopt parks, volunteers clean-ups and so forth.
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