A tale of two millage proposals.

Hamburg Township is strongly considering putting a road millage on the ballot. That got my attention because half of Cunningham Lake road is in Hamburg Township. Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods will be keeping an eye out to see what the plans are regarding the road list.

I am cautiously optimistic however that we won't see the same mistakes made by Hamburg Township as we had in Genoa. Smart officials learn from the past. Hamburg has had its share of drama over the years, but things have been much quieter there the past couple of years. That's a very good thing. They also saw what happened in Genoa Township just recently. I don't think they want a "Protect Hamburg Township Neighborhoods" committee to be formed there.

I'm not going to argue here whether Townships should jump in and fix county roads here in their area. That's up to the voters. Whether taxes in Hamburg should be increased for roads in Hamburg to be fixed is also up to the voters there. Whether about 1/2 of the people in Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods gets involved with a highly organized campaign will be based on the road list. What I am going to do here is compare the process that I've seen so far.

Three differences I've seen are timing, community involvement, and road list.

Timing - This is being discussed now in different focus groups. If Hamburg is going to go through with the millage, it will be in November 2014 according to their Supervisor Pat Hohl. This isn't a rush job, or something pushed under the radar by Gary McCririe. There's been three meetings already, and there's more meetings scheduled. This is one year before the election, and it's not going to be in a (usually) low turnout off year. Hamburg's so far doing this right.

Community Involvement. -  In Genoa, all involvement I saw was after the road list was picked. There were three meetings after the fact, with at least one (probably two)  of them well after the absentee voters were out. The attitude from Genoa Township was "all or nothing" regarding the road list. They got their wish. Nothing. I attended the last meeting (3rd) in Hamburg. Hamburg is prepared for a Genoa situation (as something to avoid). County Road Commissioner Mike Craine was there. That got my attention as he wasn't at any of the Genoa meetings I attended. Craine gave his presentation and it was informative. He didn't try and steer anyone in a direction, although his presentation focused on repairing paved roads instead of new projects on gravel roads. There was also a packet to inform the attendees with estimated costs of repairs of each segment and traffic counts on most roads. There were ideas for a road list that varied but all were fixing currently paved roads. There was a little talk about gravel roads, but only maintenance and not paving.

Road List - The three most important factors in a road millage are in reverse order, how long, how much, and the road list (where is the money going). In the Genoa Township plan, there were several questions to the manager in how the road list was picked. The manager said he picked the list. We can't unelect a manager, but his boss can be fired. Most thought that list didn't make any sense and the results showed election time. Hamburg doesn't have a road list yet. That will be largely picked by people at the meetings. The preliminary ideas there tend to be towards main roads you would expect. While Genoa strongly implied that Hamburg would pave Bauer road if Genoa paved their side, that turned out to be wishful thinking at best, and lying at worst. The road list in Genoa sealed the fate of the millage proposal. Hamburg is being careful in the road list, and it's a smart move learning from the bad decisions from the powers that be in Genoa.

I don't know whether a Hamburg millage will pass, but based on the process I'm seeing, it has a better chance than Genoa's did. There's certainly plenty of arguments on tax issues length of the millage, but I haven't seen the gamesmanship there so far that I saw with Genoa. Granted, I've been at one meeting there (compared to 3 with Genoa) but the process seems much better in Hamburg.

Gary McCririe says the township won't ask for more money

Some good news in the Argus:

Genoa Township residents won’t be asked anytime soon to fund county roadwork after the “significant trouncing” the township’s road millage proposal took last week, Supervisor Gary McCririe said.
McCririe said the nearly 3-to-1 failure of the 15-year, 1.5-mill tax levy proposal will also make other Livingston County townships think twice before pursuing millages to fix roads the Road Commission is responsible for.
“I think that the results of the millage should give us pause, and we should think long and hard before we go back and try that again. I think the voters spoke pretty clearly and decisively that they’re not interested in additional tax dollars to fund Road Commission roads,” he said.
“I don’t see a path where we would put the issue before the voters anytime soon,” McCririe added.

...

McCririe said the scope of last week’s defeat suggests a rework of the project list or changing the size or length of the tax levy would not make a difference in voters’ minds.

At this point, I doubt it will make a difference, because there's no trust.  Gary McCririe blew it because the original plan was that unacceptable. The road list was the biggest problem because it assaulted rural character and property rights. In addition taxpayers in subdivisions was the plan as wasting money for projects residents did not want to see happen. Road Commissioner Mike Crane said this, which gives me confidence that county doesn't have nefarious plans for some of these rural country roads (at taxpayer expense). We still have to stay vigilante.

Green Oak likely took more exhaustive measures than Genoa to get resident input on road project selection for its millage proposal, Road Commission Managing Director Mike Craine said. Most of Green Oak’s projects improved existing paved and gravel roads rather than reconstructing them, he added.

“I think that the selection and maybe the amount of time before it went on the ballot may have influenced the outcome. I think people felt they had to mobilize really quickly because it was coming on so fast,” Craine said.

“I don’t think it was about millages, per se,” he added.

Green Oak didn't reconstruct roads. This was different. Would a Green Oak style plan pass? Maybe, maybe not. Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods would not have been formed against a Green Oak Township type of plan. That type of plan would likely just have people voting yes or people voting no for tax or use reasons without an organized opposition.That's much different than threatening the rural character of these neighborhoods by widening these roads 10+ feet.

Gary McCririe still doesn't get it. He needs to get it, soon, if he wants another term as supervisor.

Sometimes you can fight township hall

Results are in. 73.79% NO, 26.21% Yes

This committee formed October 1st. Everything was done in essentially one month. While we were aware of the millage, it took a chance look at the township website and the master plan that spurred a group of residents into action. This millage was a 1.5 mill tax increase over 15 years. That had its critics. The master plan showed the list of projects. That was a game changer. It's now more than taxes. It's about wasting money, widening and paving roads, and destroying rural character.

That was unacceptable. That's why Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods was formed. That's why it was named Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods instead of "no new taxes." The word got out, and the voters saw what this was about. This failed township wide, even in the Latson area. This was absolutely massacred in the Eastern portion of the township.

	Turnout	Yes	No	Total	Yes%	No%
Genoa 1 & 9	17.71%	186	378	564	32.98%	67.02%
Genoa 2 & 10	16.82%	117	249	366	31.97%	68.03%
Genoa 3 & 11	19.58%	92	374	466	19.74%	80.26%
Genoa 4 & 8	33.91%	181	698	879	20.59%	79.41%
Genoa 5 & 12	31.62%	161	417	578	27.85%	72.15%
Genoa 6 & 7	36.14%	291	778	1069	27.22%	72.78%
Total	25.93%	1028	2894	3922	26.21%	73.79%

You don't get 30% on an off year one issue ballot until people are fired up. 33% is more than an August primary. The highest turnouts were in these areas:
Genoa 4/8 - Most of Cunningham Lake, Pine Creek, part of Prarie View, Walnut Hills, Mt Brighton, Rolling Meadows.
Genoa 6/7 - Part of Cunningham Lake, Mountain, Mystic Lake, Oak Pointe.
Genoa 5/12 - Southwestern part of the township. 

Obviously, more than just the folks on the Genoa side of Cunningham Lake showed up to vote. This wasn't just them. By vote numbers, they aren't enough to matter. They had to have others help. From a percentage standpoint, precincts 3 and 11 had more no votes than precinct 8, which has most of the Cunningham Lake area.

Some township officials said that Mountain or Prairie View wanted this paved. That was a misconception that was misread by the powers that be. If Mountain wanted this, the numbers in precincts 7 (most of Mountain) and 8 (Most of Prairie View) would be closer. The no's would not be 70%+ I bet precinct 8 on its own was about 85%+ no.Prairie View can outvote Cunningham Lake if they want.

People don't want their money wasted over 15 years, their rural roads widened, their gravel roads paved, or new projects taken up when the main roads are not being taken care of at this time.

While today was a win, this is not over. This could come back at some point at a future date. We need long memories to make sure projects like this are buried and we don't see their ghost as a future date. Hopefully with results like this, it will be a long time. There's still a couple of preventative measures in the works, but for now. Let's enjoy this big win.

Tomorrow is Election Day - What you can do

Election Day is tomorrow. All of us at Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods need all of our supporters to do the following.

1. Vote, if you haven't already. That's the obvious part.

2. Get your friends and family and other supporters to vote.

3. If you have time, bring a sign and go out to the polling locations and campaign (over 100 ft from the polling location building's entrance to stay legal). Bring some maps and cost estimates in case some voters have questions. Some people always vote as a sense of duty that don't have all the facts on the issue. We need to reach these swing voters.

The Polling Locations are:

Genoa Twp 1 and 9 - Cleary University, 3750 Cleary Dr, Howell MI
Genoa Twp 2 and 10 - Three Fires Elementary School, 4125 W Crooked Lake, Howell MI Genoa Twp 3 and 11 - Community Bible School, 7372 W Grand River, Brighton MI 
Genoa Twp 4 and 8 - Brighton Church of the Nazarene, 7679 Brighton Rd, Brighton
Genoa Twp 5 and 12 - Chilson Hills Baptist Church, 4440 Brighton Rd, Howell 
Genoa Twp 6 and 7 - Hornung Elementary School, 4640 Bauer Rd, Brighton


Based on what I have heard, if we have a high turnout, we win. However, this is a three way election. Yes. No. Staying home. Unfortunately Staying home will have the most votes, although only yes or no will win. If we turn enough Staying Home votes into no votes, then we win.

Lastly, win or lose this isn't over. If we all win tomorrow, the same proposals can come back later. The Master Plan doesn't need to be just defeated, but buried and gone. If we lose, there's other options as our disposal we can and will use if necessary. Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods is not going away. It may lie dormant as a ballot question committee, but it is not going away. We'll cross those bridges after this election.

Argus endorses a "NO" vote on Genoa Millage

Today's Argus has an editorial on the millage.  It endorses a NO vote for many of the same reasons this group was formed. Many of the supporters of Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods are supposedly the "beneficiaries" of these projects. It isn't viewed much of a benefit, and everybody in the township is going to pay for it.

For starters, the survey supposedly showing the township that it had a green light to ask for road money had fewer than 500 respondents. Genoa has more than 8,000 households.
Just weighing those numbers against each other, we cannot agree with those who would suggest that a few hundred survey responses from about 20,000 residents constitutes a clarion call to raise $23 million in property taxes for roads.
Indeed, we are swayed more by the ongoing, turbocharged negative response from community residents who have voiced concerns about the road millage. Some have said they are concerned about speeding on paved roads instead of gravel roads. Others have said they are worried about widening roads and taking out natural features in their community.
Surely, nobody wants to pay extra taxes. Frankly, the tax tab isn’t really even the issue with this proposal. When a proposal like this is going to sock everybody in the township with a tax increase for a perceived public gain such as better roads, and the people along those roads — who are in line for what is perceived to be a $23 million public benefit — are crying foul, there needs to be a reassessment of the plan itself. The road projects very well may not be a benefit, in light of their concerns.

Most people don't like tax increases, but if these fixed main roads instead, this group probably would have not been formed. At the very least, it would not be nearly as organized and have a broad coalition of multipartisan supporters. It would be more ideological based. These plans however fundamentally change our neighborhoods. The pavings are bad, but the widenings are worse.

We can’t endorse a proposal that has generated such a swirl of controversy. Voters should say NO to the road millage proposal on the ballot Tuesday.
Genoa Township officials should then head back to the drawing board, seeking citizen input on a new road plan.
The Legislature is not going to come up with the money to fix local roads anytime soon. If residents want good roads to drive on, they’ll have to take care of it themselves.
But citizen input should be the guide as to how much, for how long, what roads get addressed and how they be repaired.
The vocal opponents of Tuesday’s proposal should be participants in the process.

They will, or already have.  Hopefully the rest of those who don't like this will show up. We've done and are doing our best to get the word out to likely voters. If we have a high turnout, we probably win.