Mayor Coulter Gives 2015 Ferndale State of the City Address

Mayor Coulter Gives 2015 Ferndale State of the City Address
(Dave Coulter, April 9, 2015)
Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter shared the following Thursday evening:
Thanks Asleigh for that introduction and for hosting us here at Pulse 220, which has become an important magnet for companies such as Metro Times Publishing, Star Trax and others.
Thanks also to Jay McMillan and all the people at the Ferndale Area Chamber who helped organized this event. I continue to value the hard work the Chamber does in supporting our city, and the partners you’ve become in so many of our initiatives.
I want to recognize my fellow members on the City Council; Mike Lennon, Melanie Piana and Dan Martin and Greg Pawlica. We’ve already been through a lot together and I couldn’t be prouder to call them my colleagues. I want to give special recognition tonight to Mike Lennon, who recently announced he will not be seeking another term on Council.
Mike comes from a long line of family members who have served our city with distinction – his Dad Bernie was mayor and his brother David also served as a city councilman – and, Mike also served our city as a police officer. Mike’s no-nonsense style and common sense have been much appreciated; please help me congratulate him as he steps out of the public arena at the end of the year.
Finally, I’d like to thank all the city staff who came out today. Ferndale is blessed with a hard-working and creative group of employees, and our residents can rest assured that the day to day operations of the city, under the leadership of our City Manager April Lynch, is in good hands. And, April just recently became a Mom to baby Evelyn; I know she’ll make just as good a Mother as she has a City Manager, and we’re glad to have her back – and also glad that Joe Gacioch was here to ably fill in for her while she was away.
So, I’d like to open my talk tonight with a question: Why do you choose to live or work in Ferndale?
It sounds simple, doesn’t it? Maybe even a little bit silly? Maybe the answer seems obvious. You might say you’re in Ferndale because of its location. Maybe your work, family, or friends brought you here. Perhaps you even grew up here.
But for most of us, I think it’s more than that. It’s more than geography, or proximity to people and places. We choose to live or work in Ferndale because it’s not just a city—it’s a community. We feel safe here. We feel comfortable building families and raising children here. There is plenty to do—our downtown district and local businesses are thriving. We have a strong network of friends and neighbors. It is an active, vibrant place—not just to live, but to call home. And we value that.
Tonight, and in the weeks ahead, I want you to keep that word in mind: value.
As you may know, there will be an important election on May 5, where the City will ask Ferndale voters to renew the Headlee millage and approve a streets and parks improvement bond. The things I’m going to talk to you about tonight—our people and businesses, the City’s initiatives and services—are what they are today because we as a community value and invest in them.
In many ways, our City has had an incredible year—one of growth and accomplishment—and we want to make sure that we keep our momentum going in the right direction.
Let me speak specifically about some of the accomplishments and issues related to our city operations over the past year.
DPW
With winter finally behind us and spring cleanup hitting full-force, it makes sense to start with our Department of Public Works. DPW had another really busy year. This winter may not have started as bad as last year, but it definitely ended with a bang. February alone brought more than 26 inches of snow and, in some cases, record-breaking cold temperatures. Conditions like those mean frozen water lines, main breaks, and lots of road cleanup.
This winter, we again heard over and over from residents, and even from people who live and work in neighboring cities—“Ferndale’s roads are the cleanest.” This is a crew that truly works around the clock at times to make sure streets are plowed and problems are solved quickly. And yet, the department continues to streamline and reduce expenses.
By hiring skilled employees to perform annual tree maintenance, masonry, electrical, and concrete and pavement work versus contracting these services out, DPW has managed to save more than $500,000 annually.
Flood
Mother Nature didn’t just affect us this winter, however. In fact, I think this T-Shirt from Chris Gorski that I saw on sale at the Rust Belt Market pretty much sums things up.  “Floods & Blackouts & Sinkholes & Fruit Flies. Oh My! Ferndale.”
We seem to get our share of natural disasters. One of the defining moments of our year was the catastrophic rain event that occurred last August. An incredible 4 and a half inches of rain fell in under two hours, causing extreme flooding throughout parts of Wayne and Oakland Counties. Ferndale was hit hard—65% of households were affected and more than 600 claims were filed. On August 12, I declared a State of Emergency—a necessary step toward gaining the support needed for our City to recover.
With the building flooded and phones and computers destroyed, the storm basically shut down City Hall—all told, it sustained more than $700,000 worth of damage. But that didn’t stop your City employees. The manager’s office, police, fire, and DPW crews worked around the clock to assist residents, answer calls, and deal with the aftermath.
And, that didn’t stop once the water subsided and cleanup was underway—the City continues to work with FEMA and Oakland County Homeland Security to receive State aid for debris removal, repairs to streets and bridges that were damaged in the flood, and protective measures to help safeguard our city against similar incidents in the future.
Part of the reason I declared the emergency was to prod the state and then FEMA into declaring a national disaster, and I’m proud to say it worked. How bad did we need the help? Well, out of 19 communities getting aid, Ferndale submitted the 4th most applications to FEMA, and our residents have applied for over $3.3 million dollars in loans and relief assistance.
Police
Despite a reduction in employment costs, Ferndale’s crime rates are down to levels we haven’t seen since the 1960s—and they continue to drop. Crimes in every category are down 50% since 2009. Chief Tim Collins tells us that their average response rate is five minutes or less, and often under three minutes. That comes from having a well-staffed police force—as the number of officers goes down, response time goes up. It goes to show: patrol units on our streets and in our neighborhoods, low response times, and proactive crime reduction versus reactive crime response works.
Our police department has also partnered with Ferndale Public Schools and Baker College on a great new program that starts next fall, called Early College. Chief Collins had been working with staff to find ways to broaden our police department and make law enforcement in general more attractive to local young people, including women and minorities—and they had this great idea of starting a “junior police academy.”
Students will have the chance to study law enforcement while they’re still in high school, and then go right into Baker College to complete an additional year of coursework for free. After this “13^th year,” they’ll earn an associate’s degree and be eligible to head into the police academy. It’s an innovative idea, and we’re really excited about it—stay tuned; you’ll be hearing more about the program as it launches in the fall.
Fire
It’s easy to take our outstanding fire services for granted, but we continue to offer a full-service fire department residents vale despite shrinking revenues. One way we do this is by providing services to our neighbors, Pleasant Ridge and Royal Oak Township, and these intergovernmental agreements have recently been renewed and offer great service to them and revenue stability for us.
Chief Sullivan has also found ways to reduce expenses, like trimming more than $100,000 from defined benefit costs, but best of all these cuts will not compromise our mission to provide the quick response time and services we’re known for.
Street and Road Projects
We’ve got two significant road resurfacing projects about to get underway—one on east 9 Mile and the other on Hilton.
The East 9 Mile project includes a complete resurfacing, curb and gutter repairs, ADA ramp upgrades, and a conversion from four lanes to three with a center left turn lane. The project will be constructed in three stages, and the entire project is scheduled to be completed by August 13, 2015.
The Hilton Rd. project includes a resurfacing, minor curb and gutter repairs, and ADA ramp upgrades, all between Woodward Heights and 10 Mile. Like 9 Mile, this will be completed in three stages and should be completed by July 17.
Upgrading our infrastructure, like we’ve done to West 9 Mile and Livernois recently, is important to attracting investment in these corridors.
Parks and Recreation
As I’ve said before, I want to make Ferndale parks a priority. Clean, well-maintained parks are essential to the health and vitality of a city, especially our neighborhoods. They play a role in drawing people and families to our community—both to visit and to live.
The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Ferndale Parks that I announced at my 2013 State of the City address has worked closely with the Parks & Rec Commission to review project proposals and make recommendations. I’m pleased to report that this year we will continue to see their goals coming to fruition. There are a number of projects slated for 2015, including improvements to athletic fields, a new dog park, senior adult exercise equipment, and more. As we speak, a complete Garbutt Park renovation is underway. Great new play equipment is being installed and should be ready for use by this summer.
Wellness
When people think of a City’s budget and expenditures, the expected things tend to come to mind: Police. Fire. Streets. Parks. One thing we tend not to think about is employee healthcare costs, which can be considerable—and the national trend is that they’re on the rise.
I’m extremely pleased to report that Ferndale is bucking this trend in a big way. We have partnered with two nearby cities on a really innovative new program—the MiLife Health and Wellness Center. It’s a physician-staffed clinic available to all full-time City employees. In addition to treatment for illnesses and minor injuries, our employees are encouraged to go for health risk assessments and health coaching. Research finds that the earlier chronic conditions—like hypertension, obesity, and diabetes—can be identified, the easier and less costly treatment is. Visits to the clinic also eliminate insurance claims, which further reduces costs.
And the best part—the clinic is completely free for City employees. For some, the thought of that insurance copay can be enough to say, “You know, I’m going to skip the doctor this time.” It removes the barriers that keep people from getting necessary treatment.
The clinic opened in January, and there have already been more than 325 visits. The City is projecting a three-year savings of $108,000 and a cost avoidance of more than $470,000. Add to that our continuing Weight Watchers at Work program, which began in 2012, and the City is looking at a reduction in healthcare costs of about $600,000. Goes to show what a little bit of outside-the-box thinking and ingenuity can accomplish!
Downtown
Now looking downtown, the economic vitality of this district can be seen by the more than $7.6 million in private and public sector investments and adding 262 net new jobs to our downtown workforce in 2014.
Our downtown also was host to the National Main Street Conference welcoming reception, tours and educational sessions last summer, bringing more than 1,000 downtown professionals and enthusiasts from across the US for shopping, dining, exploring and touring over a 5-day period.
Downtown Ferndale welcomed 18 new businesses and saw 16,000 square feet of new commercial space added, and is now home to places like The Rocket and Dickey’s BBQ, Biggby Coffee and the expansion of the Go Comedy! Improv Theater. New business such as M-Brew also contributed to this growth with the transformation of a 6,500 square feet former VFW hall on Vester Street into…well I’m never quite sure how to describe it, it’s a laid-back, cottage-feel, Michigan-centric food, beer, coffee and pinball restaurant that’s just part of the increased renovation and expansion of downtown that’s now happening east of Woodward.
Speaking of M-Brew, I’d like to acknowledge its owner, Dean Bach, who also owns Dinos, and who this year took the reigns as the new Chair of our Downtown Development Association, a big job. He replaces Mike Hennes, who did a great job leading the board, and I’m really looking forward to Dean’s help as we navigate the growth and continued development of our downtown, including working together on our parking needs.
And yes, a State of the City wouldn’t be complete without talking about parking.
A couple years ago we rolled out a new multi-space parking meter system, and it was admittedly a rocky roll-out. But today, with the improvements we’ve made to the system, people have adapted to it and it’s finally time to declare the project a success. Customers like the various pay options, and more than half of them use either their credit cards or mobile apps, options that didn’t exist before. Other communities, like Detroit, are even adopting similar systems. And just as important, revenues are up $160,000 since 2012, money that will allow us to expand parking capacity someday.
On that note, the city investigated an ambitious project last year that would have not only added extra parking downtown, but would have significantly expanded the number of people working and living in our central business district, helping to support our retail businesses, among other goals. This project, known as the 3-60 development, was a source of much conversation and debate this past year. While City Council ultimately decided not to move forward, the time spent investigating 3-60 I believe proved to be time well spent.
We now have a much clearer, more detailed and realistic analysis of our actual parking needs, and a clearer understanding of the costs. And frankly, we also have a much clearer perspective of the concerns and wishes of our residents and business owners. The discussion was heated at times, but I have always felt that it came from a true passion for our city and a desire to do what’s best for Ferndale’s long-term success – and I’d rather have that, than a community that’s indifferent or silent on things that matter.
We’re still going to have to address parking and how our downtown grows and develops over time, so we still have hard choices to make. But the choices we make, we will make together, as one community, and everyone’s voice will be heard and valued.
Economic Development
Let’s talk a little bit about the economic climate in Ferndale today. As you probably know, I’ve made improving this climate in Ferndale a priority since becoming Mayor almost 5 years ago. It’s why I created the Mayor’s Business Council – and I’m glad to see many of the members here tonight – and it continues to drive our efforts because as businesses grow or relocate here, jobs and tax revenues do, too.
The economy in Michigan finally improving, of course, and Ferndale is helping lead the way. We saw double digit increases in housing values last year, above the Oakland County average. We saw work permits jump 40%, and the value of construction projects increase a whopping 93%. Going forward, we expect this activity to continue to move in a positive direction.
I’m proud to say this has helped lead to another significant event, an increase in our city’s credit rating from Standard & Poor’s – from A+ to AA-, which is an important benchmark of how we’re doing financially as a city. It means we can get lower interest rates on our bonds. It means the city has stable cash reserves for a rainy day. Basically, it tells businesses – and residents – this is a safe and attractive city to invest in.
Look, we’re not totally out of the woods yet from the Great Recession, and we’ll be challenged to keep costs down and be creative in how we deliver services. But all things considered, I’m very optimistic about our future and the state of our city is strong.
***
But in talking about the state of our city, it’s important to go back to what I said earlier, and to think about what we value. Programs, services, and people like the ones we’ve heard about tonight are essential to the health and vitality of a city. They’re also a choice. We have great DPW, police, fire, and recreation because the residents of Ferndale choose to support them. I, for one, am grateful to live in a community that values and invests in quality services.
By the way, I need to mention the importance of our public schools and new district library and the critical role they play in contributing to our city’s success. We’re building strong partnerships with them, because we understand we’re all in this together.
So, one more shameless plug – as the May 5 election approaches, I encourage you to learn about Proposals 2 & 3 – the local millage and streets and parks improvement proposals. Voting yes on both proposals will not only lower your taxes, it’s a great way to show your support for essential City services and the community we call home.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to help lead this city, I’m excited to be a part of the community we all value, and I’m thankful that you’re all a part of it, too.
Thank you very much.
Other States of Cities:
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2015/03/21/oak-park-mayor-gives-2015-state-of-the-city-address/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2015/03/13/hazel-park-mayor-gives-2015-state-of-the-city-address/
Previous Ferndale State of the City Addresses:
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2014/03/25/ferndale-mayor-dave-coulters-2014-state-of-the-city-address-video/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2013/04/19/mayor-coulters-state-of-the-city-address-video/
https://oaklandcounty115.com/2012/04/01/ferndale-state-of-the-city-address/

 

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