RECYCLE WEEKEND!

There are three recycle opportunities for residents this weekend in Cascade.

First, there is a document shredding event at Family Fare on Saturday (4/30) from 9am to Noon.  The Forest Hills Business Association is sponsoring the event.  They are asking for donations of $5.00 per box of papers with all the money going to The American Cancer Society.

Second is a prescription drug "Take Back" Day on Saturday (4/30) from 10am to 2pm at the Sheriff's office (701 Ball Avenue NE).  This event is an effort to keep unneeded or unwanted drugs from getting into the wrong hands (kids, theft, water supply, ...). 

And lastly, the Township will have dumpsters available at the Township Office all weekend for residents to "recycle" their leaves and brush.  Please remember to not deposit any plastic bags in the dumpsters.

Have Fun!

East Precinct Office Hours

The East Precinct of the Kent County Sheriff Department is a cooperative effort between the Sheriff and the three "East Precinct" Townships of Grand Rapids, Ada and Cascade.  The townships entered into a cost-sharing agreement with the sehriff to have dedicated patrol officers in our three townships 24 hours each and every day in additiona to the normal staffing for our area.  We also share the cost of operating the East Precinct Office located at 877 Forest Hill SE (just north and west of the intersection of Forest Hill & Cascade Roads).

The hours that the office is staffed has been reduced to keep costs in line.  The office is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  This office can be used for all sheriff-related activities and inquiries.  The telephone number is 632-6394.  If the office is closed, the call will automatically be forwarded to the Main Office at 601 Ball Street.

Letter to Cascade's State Senator and Legislator

This week I wrote a letter to both State Senator Hildenbrand and State Representative Yonker to show them what Cascade has done to meet the proposals put forth by Governor Snyder in recent weeks.  I have attached one of the letters here for your review.  As you will read, cascade did not wait for bad times to begin being careful to spend the public's money wisely; the Township has done that all along.

April 5, 2011

The Honorable David Hildenbrand, Senator

State of Michigan

P. O. Box 30036

Lansing, Michigan 48909-7536

Re:      Simple, Fair & Efficient Government Service

Dear Senator Hildenbrand:

Recent appearances and comments made by Governor Snyder and many State Senators and Representatives have driven me to write to you.  It is imperative that you be aware of the work being accomplished in local government to control costs, work collaboratively with our neighbors and continue to provide quality services to our citizens.

I have attached a copy of a recent letter to Governor Snyder that details what Cascade Charter Township has done in the realm of cooperation and collaboration to be more efficient in the delivery of our services to the public. 

It has been said that public government health care costs are out of line.  At a recent Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce meeting, it was stated that average health care premiums are $19,700 per year for public employees and that the employees pay less than 10% of these costs.  Please note that health care premiums for Cascade Township employees are not close to this figure.  Our premiums range from $3,357/year for a single employee to $10,547/year for an employee with a family.  Employees pay either 10% or 18% of these premiums (we have two plans), but no one has any insurance until they spend $1,200 (single) or $2,400 (family) on health care including prescription drugs.  Therefore, a typical employee with medical costs pays about 33% of their health care coverage costs per year.  The Township paid $286,011 toward health care premiums in 2006; this year the Township will pay $239,000 toward the premiums.  This is an excellent track record considering the double-digit raises imposed by the insurance industry during this time.  The reason Cascade is spending less is due to changes made in the plans and more costs being absorbed by the employees.  Lastly (and most importantly for financial concerns), Cascade offers no retirement health plans regardless of the age that an employee retires.  We have no health-related legacy costs!            

Another argument made concerning the cost of government is the costly retirement plans many locals offer.    Cascade Township enrolled (in 2004) in a defined benefit retirement plan.  The Township did something a bit out of the ordinary by limiting its exposure to 10% of wages paid into the plan.  Every year we receive an actuarial so we can determine the rate of contribution by employees the following year.  This year it is 5.5%.  The employer rate remains at 10%.  The Township Board feels they are doing a good job of controlling wages and retirement costs by following this plan.  The significant part of this arrangement is that the board keeps a close eye on it and will make changes before costs cause a problem for our budgets.

I believe Cascade Charter Township is doing a good job of controlling costs, serving the public and doing it in a transparent fashion.  Our budgets have been available online and at our front counter.  We will attempt to enter the data into the “dashboard”, but feel it is time consuming and not necessary.  Every municipality has to file an F-65 form each year that is available to view on the state website.  This appears to be a simple, fair and efficient way to review our financial condition and doesn’t require any more time than what we already spend on an annual basis.

This letter was written to inform you that not all governmental units operate in the manner that is portrayed at legislative breakfasts or expressed by some of your colleagues.  Please keep the Cascade model in mind as you move bills through the legislative process in Lansing.  Contact me if you wish to discuss any local items at any time.

Sincerely,

William T. Cousins III

Township Manager

Letter to Governor Snyder

I recently wrote to the Governor to advise him of the actions Cascade has taken over the years to be financially responsible to our citizens.  The letter is printed below. 

March 23, 2011

The Honorable Rick Snyder, Governor

State of Michigan

P. O. Box 30013

Lansing, Michigan 48909

Re:      Service Sharing and Consolidation

Dear Governor Snyder:

The speech you gave in Grand Rapids Monday was most informative.  You laid out a lot of ideas and plans for the local governments around the state.  I thought it might be helpful for one local government to provide you with some input about our services.  Cascade Charter Township has been involved with our neighbors in collaborative efforts long before revenue sharing issues appeared on anyone’s radar.  The following is a list of our collaborative and consolidation efforts in Cascade to date:

·         Cascade provides building construction inspection services (including plan reviews prior to building permit issuance) to other municipalities (since 1990).  We currently provide inspection services for one city and four townships in addition to ours (six total).  The process is seamless for the “customer” communities; we keep in close touch with them to keep it that way.  By providing this service, all six communities are able to offer their residents and construction industry the expertise of full-time, well trained, highly skilled professional inspectors and support staff. 

·         Cascade, Ada and Grand Rapids Townships worked together in 2000 to create the “East Precinct” of the Kent County Sheriff Department.  The residents of the three communities wanted more police support than the Sheriff could provide.  The Sheriff was willing to create a separate precinct that would function similarly to a separate police department.  The townships pay the County for this service.  From it we have three deputies on patrol 24/7, an office for the public to use to make reports and obtain information, a community policing officer dedicated to the three townships and the necessary detective and command staff to make the precinct a success.  The three townships recently purchased our own “speed trailer” to be used to deter speeding in our townships.  Each township has use of the trailer for a week at a time, and we coordinate the use with the deputies so they can provide follow-up enforcement after the trailer has been used at a particular location.  The Sheriff and the three townships meet regularly to insure the success of this mission.  The residents are very supportive of the East Precinct.  In Cascade they funded the precinct through the passage of a dedicated millage. 

·         In 2007, Cascade Township entered into an agreement with Grand Rapids Township to receive fire inspection services from Grand Rapids Township.  The contract inspector performs required safety checks of all our industrial and commercial buildings in the township on a ½ time basis.  The program has functioned well as both communities utilize a full-time, well trained inspector that provides quality, consistent inspection criteria to both townships.  

·         In previous years, Cascade Township has participated in cooperative efforts with our neighbors from the East Beltline Committee to the Four Corners Committee to the 28^th Street Committee, al involved with planning and economic development of their respective corridors that affected multiple municipalities.

·         Cascade Township, the City of Kentwood and Gaines Township combined forces in the late 1990’s to form the Tri-com Hazmat Team.  By combining forces, we were able to provide a quality hazmat response model to all three communities for the cost of just one team.  We are fortunate to not need the team very often; however, it is very comforting to know it is always ready and the cost is much lower than if we had to provide the service to each community separately. 

·         Cascade, Ada & Grand Rapids Townships have met to attempt to consolidate our fire departments into one.  These discussions have gone on for about four years.  The sticking point that prevents us from moving forward is the state requirement to adopt the highest and best wages and benefits for the employees and the fact that one township does not employee full-time firefighters today, requiring them to spend about $300,000 to improve their fire station to be equipped for 24 hour use.  I believe that if we could resolve the housing issue without increasing our costs, the townships could successfully consolidate the three departments into one.

·         The Kent County Drain Commission has assisted Cascade Township over the years with local drain maintenance and improvements.  This has allowed us to have a lot of improvements made using county employees and saving the Township from having to hire contractors or employees to do the work.  We continue to enjoy this relationship today.

·         For over twenty years, Cascade Township has purchased water and sewer services from the City of Grand Rapids.  The City provides this service to us along with at least eight other communities.  A Utility Advisory Board was created with representation from all the customer communities to make recommendations to the City Commission regarding the operation and improvements to the system.  We meet monthly to discuss any issue affecting the cost and service levels of the system.  

·         You noted that the MEDC will be setting up office in the Right Place facility to help foster Economic Development in West Michigan.  The Right Place is another cooperative effort in the region (started by the Grand Rapids Chamber) and supported by both public and private funds.  Cascade works closely with the Right Place to assist in the economic growth of the region.  We could never afford to do this on our own.   

·         Often passed over during discussions regarding sharing of services is the use of neighboring fire departments to supplement each other at emergency scenes.  Cascade has mutual aid with all our neighbors (and automatic aid with some) to complement our resources and assist others to enhance theirs.    

·         The region created the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council a number of years ago to foster coordination of efforts for all transportation issues, be the regional metropolitan planning organization (MPO), work together on road projects and provide solid communication regarding legislative issues that affect our region.  Through our work with GVMC, we participate with the road commission to repair our local road structure.  We split the cost of such work with the road commission.  We also collaborate to collectively have the use of a regional GIS computer software for tracking all our infrastructure. 

·         Twice each year, we partner with Ada Township and the Kent County Road Commission to offer a Clean-up Day for our residents.  They can bring almost any unwanted item to a centrally located road commission garage to be recycled or disposed of.  Ada & Cascade share the cost – the residents love the free service.

·         The July Fourth Fireworks are enhanced by Ada & Cascade contributing to one show rather than two smaller shows.  We work together to provide a good location, suitable fire support and, of course, patrol by the East Precinct.  We used to put this on at a school (more cooperation), but moved when they started a long-range construction project.  We now partner with Amway for parking (free) at a new location.  The show goes on with public and private partnerships flourishing!

·         Cascade Township has participated in a door-to-door “para-transit” bus service since 1999.  Many other townships participate in this endeavor.  Seniors and disabled residents are able to access the low cost bus service to go all over the metropolitan region for any purpose they desire (medical, shopping, dining,), seven days per week.  The Township supplements the fees to make the service possible – it would cost us twice as much to create our own transit service for these otherwise homebound residents.

·         Cascade Township has worked with the local school district (Forest Hills Public schools), Ada Township and the Kent County Road Commission to plan for the installation of sidewalks to a local junior high/high school complex and have the road widened to provide easier left turns along the route to school.  We jointly held public information sessions (at the high school) for the project, reworked the project after considering the public’s input, and are preparing to schedule the project for the 2012 construction season.

·         The Gerald R. Ford International Airport is located in Cascade Township.  We meet quarterly with the airport administration to discuss construction projects, noise issues and airport operations.  We are currently working with the airport to resolve a discharge issue involving the use of deicing liquids in the colder months.

·         We recently started to hold meetings with Ada & Grand Rapids Townships to work on a consolidation of some of our ordinances.  We have started with the Solicitation Ordinance with the goal that our police will only have to enforce one version of the ordinance, not three.

·         Lastly, Cascade is in the process of meeting with Grand Rapids Township to share our planning services.  I expect to see this collaboration move into reality within the next two months.

We continue to look at ways to improve our service to our residents while keeping our costs in check as best we can.

The efforts listed above would, I expect, be more than enough to satisfy the consolidated services portion of your requirement to release 1/3 of the statutory revenue sharing for Cascade Township, Ada Township and Grand Rapids Township.  Unfortunately, none of us are receiving those monies now.  Cascade had its statutory revenue sharing reduced starting in 2001 and it was eliminated in 2005-6.

I believe we could easily meet the requirements for the other two legs of the revenue sharing stool as we have had our budget online for years (converting it to the “dashboard” will be easy).  On the compensation leg, our employees have a high deductible health plan with effectively no insurance until they (family) pay $2,500 in medical bills.  They pay either 10% or 18% of the premium.  The township’s cost is about $70,000 less than we paid in 2005.  The township moved into a defined benefit plan in 2004, but made it clear to the employees that the Township contribution would not exceed 10% of payroll.  Currently, the employees contribute 5% into the plan.  

Please advise me if you would like more detail about any of these efforts.  Cascade looks forward to working with you to improve Michigan and continue to provide our residents with quality government services.

Sincerely,

William T. Cousins III

Township Manager 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

Oh!  How time flys!  We need to wish our wonderful Cascade Township a belated happy anniversary!!!  Sunday was the 163rd anniversary of the founding of Cascade Township!!!  The township was created in 1848.  I'll bet that first summer was something!  Think of it....Cascade Road was probably a trail then.  The Cascade Dam was 86 years away from being built.   The State was only 11 years old.  What an exciting time for those who preceded us in the making of this township.  Happy Anniversary
Cascade!