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The Muskegon Chronicle recently submitted to the the County Commissioner candidates questions regarding current issues confronted by Muskegon County. Printed below are the Chronicle's questions and David's responses.

COUNTY COMMISSION CANDIDATE SURVEY

1. Do you favor spending approximately $2 million in county money to pay the local match for a $21 million expansion of Runway 32 at the Muskegon County Airport? Why or why not?

Yes.

A. It will make the Muskegon County Airport much safer in hazardous winter conditions. Added safety is always important and the added safety will make the Muskegon County Airport more desirable to both airline carriers and passengers.

B. The expansion of Runway 32 would result in a decrease in the cancellation of some flights during the winter months.

C. The projected cost of this project is $21 million. The cost will be covered by Federal funds except for $1.2 million. This is less than 6 percent of the cost of the project and is only about .5% of the County's annual budget. This cost could be covered by the issuance of bonds or by internal borrowing from one of the County's other funds.

D. The infusion of $21 million into the local economy would be an added benefit. What an excellent way to bring some of our Federal tax dollars back to Muskegon County's economy!

E. This project includes a new control tower (the current one is 40 years old) which will be funded 95-100% by the FAA and will also coordinate nicely with the new high tech $8.6 million ASR11 digital radar system which will be funded entirely by the FAA. These features, with the extended runway and with the FAA using Muskegon as a regional facility will make Muskegon one of the very few communities in the nation with this high level of airport equipment and services (for which many other communities our size are paying additional fees) and which will be an enhancement to economic growth as well as making it one of the safest airports.

F. This project has been recommended by the 28-member public advisory committee consisting of a broad spectrum of representatives of local government, financial and business sectors of the County.

2. Airport officials have offered incentives (waiving landing fees and terminal rent for one year, paying United desk staff for two years, offering $100,000 in marketing support) to United Airlines to bring regional jet service (Chicago flights) to Muskegon. Would you support that investment? Why or why not?

Yes. Studies have shown that the lack of a major airline with regional jet service to Chicago from Muskegon has not hurt business-traveler traffic at our airport, but has had a detrimental effect on leisure travel both because of cost and frequent flyer allegiances. The Muskegon County Department of Transportation has provided me with information indicating that the incentives offered United would be funded by a Michigan Air Service Grant and other outside sources. No County general funds would be needed. I am also informed that it is projected that after the incentive period expires, projected additional revenue from adding United jet service is $400,000 per year. It appears that the advantages would be greatly improved service and significant additional income at little or no cost to the County.

3. County Administrator James Borushko recently said he may nominate county board chairman Ken Hulka to be assistant administrator. Do you think Hulka should have the position? Why? Do we need an assistant administrator?

A County Administrator is hired for his administrative ability and he will be held accountable for how well he and his staff perform. I am in favor of allowing the County's Administrator to organize his senior staff in a way which he believes would best allow him to carry out his job responsibilities, so long as the total budget for his staff is not increased and outcome measurement tools are used to determine whether the new administrative structure works better than the established one.

I am against hiring Mr. Hulka for the position of assistant administrator. The current all-Democratic Party Board of County Commissioners completely disregarded the experts they hired to help them find a new County Administrator and took a vote to hire Mr. Borushko after a private, closed door meeting. Since there is no public record of what took place at this private meeting of the Commissioners, the appearance is that an improper deal was struck between Mr. Borushko and the Board. The parties involved claim no secret deal was struck, but since the decision to hire Mr. Borushko was not discussed in a session open to the public, there is no way to prove this. In order to avoid the appearance of impropriety and improper dealings Mr. Hulka must not be considered for this position.

4. Do you support the ballot proposal seeking three-tenths of a mill in property taxes for seven years to help support Muskegon Central Dispatch? Why or why not?

I am in favor of a strong 911 system. 911 services are very important to the people living in the rural areas of District 2. Though, I am opposed to a tax increase for this purpose at the current time.

A. There is no demonstrated need for the tax increase. Last year the County Board of Commissioners spent $1 million to put a new breezeway on the County Building, $3 million to remodel the third and fifth floors of the County Building and $2 million for additional improvements to Heritage Landing. In the 2003 budget additional large amounts of money have been designated for remodeling and furnishings. If the County has more than $6 million to spend on redecorating and remodeling, it is hard to understand why there are not sufficient funds to pay for health/safety/law enforcement needs without raising taxes.

B. The 911 system is utilized by many municipal entities in the county and most of these entities have representatives on the 911 advisory board. Much of the equipment to be purchased would be placed in the police cars of these municipalities. If the renovations proposed are needed and would be a valuable enhancement to the safety needs of the community, each of the individual municipal governments should also be willing to contribute to the cost.

C. The request as it is currently proposed is not sufficiently specific. There are two parts to the 911 dispatch system. The first part involves citizens calling 911 and 911 operators dispatching emergency services. There is no indication that this part of the system is not working adequately nor any indication that the reliability of this part of the system will be inadequate any time in the near future. The other part of the 911 system involves various computerized communications, tracking of vehicles and record keeping by police officers, fire departments and jail personnel. This is new technology. Unfortunately, the 911 board has not indicated exactly what equipment it wants to buy, the detailed cost of this equipment, the reliability of the equipment and software, the anticipated practical life of the equipment and software, the cost of maintenance and the benefits to the average taxpayer if all of this new technology works as anticipated.

5. County officials are studying a proposal to build a new downtown convention center, or possibly spend less to renovate the old Mart Dock building for the same use. Experts say it would operate at a loss, but would be good for the local economy. Would you support this project? Why or why not?

Probably not, given the current development model. First, this project is very speculative as to whether the overall outcome would be beneficial to the County. It has a much greater chance of being a huge drain on the County's limited resources. I give a higher priority to the health and safety needs of the community and would rather see money spent for these needs than highly speculative projects.

6. The county's general fund has recently been squeezed by increasing "Child Care Fund" costs. This is money used to support abused or delinquent children who are taken from their homes by the courts. Some say the county should spend money to expand the county youth home and offer more programs there, instead of sending kids to out-of-town treatment facilities. Do you agree? Any other ideas?

Currently Muskegon County is below the State average for the number of court ordered juvenile placements. In large part, the explosion in costs is due to the fact that has been no step-up foster care program as the County once had and that the County of Muskegon does not have a treatment facility for juveniles. The cost of maintaining juveniles at our youth home is approximately $100 per day. Since Muskegon County's youth home is only licensed as a detention center and not as a treatment facility, though, many youth need to be sent to other facilities and programs outside of the county and outside of the State at a cost of up to $300 per day plus transportation. Statewide there is a huge shortage of juvenile treatment facilities. Those counties with juvenile treatment facilities generate considerable profit from out-of-county children. If the County of Muskegon were to expand its juvenile detention center and include a treatment center, it could greatly reduce the per child treatment/detention cost and also generate considerable income from out-of-county children placed here.

7. Some would like to see Hilt's Landing, the county-owned property in Whitehall Township, left in its natural state, while others would like to see it developed, either by the county or a private developer. As a commissioner, how would you vote? Why?

As a natural result of growth, areas of natural beauty are quickly being gobbled up by urban and commercial development. Hilt's Landing is an area of natural beauty which should be preserved as much as possible in its natural state while still allowing public access and use.

8. Should the county try to purchase another building for extra jail space, since overcrowding continues to be an issue? Or should the county save space by offering alternatives to jail for nonviolent offenders?

Currently neither the Sheriff nor the Judges has publicly urged the tax payers to build more jail space. If after implementing alternative sentencing programs for nonviolent offenders, our elected Judges and Sheriff believe there still is a need for additional jail beds, I would prefer to see the establishment of a minimum security work release center to be used for the housing of nonviolent overnight/weekend work release prisoners. The cost of building and maintaining such a facility would be considerably less than additional maximum security jail space.

9. Should the county play a more direct role in economic development efforts, like the SmartZone or Muskegon Mall property redevelopment?

Economic development is important to the County of Muskegon. Municipal, County and State governments each have a role in assisting the private sector produce economic development and frequently each must contribute for economic development to be successful. In most situations, though, it is the local municipality which should take the lead role in assisting the private and nonprofit sectors with projects such as the current Smart Zone and Muskegon Mall.

10. Why are you more qualified to serve than your opponent?

I have a lifelong history of very active volunteer involvement with numerous community organizations and activities. I have personally knocked on the doors of more than 2000 homes in my district in order to speak with the residents regarding their concerns and ideas. I have actively worked with county government as a private attorney for 26 years, an assistant county attorney and an assistant municipal attorney. I have formal training, experience and skills as a mediator. These are advantageous attributes and experience my opponent does not have.

11. If elected, what will be your top priorities?

In the following order of priority:
A. Issues involving the health and safety of our community.
B. Issues involving the stability of our local economy.
C. Issues involving growth of our local economy.
D. Quality of life issues which cannot be addressed by the private sector.

12. Are there one or two other issues not listed here that concern you?

A. BENCH WARRANT OFFICER. The County needs a bench warrant enforcement officer. Every day, bench warrants are issued by our judges to arrest people because they fail to follow court orders. These include offenses such as:
- failing to clean up junk in a yard
- failing to turn over documents or records to the Court
- failing to show as a witness in a trial
- failing to show up for Court when subpoenaed by a creditor
- failure to pay money ordered by a Court to be paid
- failure to show up in court for a traffic ticket trial or pretrial

What most County citizens do not know is that even though our judges order that these people be arrested and brought before them, rarely is a law enforcement officer sent out to do it. Instead, the judges' orders to arrest these people are put on computer records and they are arrested only if they get stopped by a police officer for a traffic violation. This comes as a surprise to many of our citizens, but is well known by those people who routinely thumb their nose at the Courts and law-abiding citizens. It makes a mockery of our judicial system.

B. HEALTH CARE. The State of Michigan is not providing the full amount of statutorily mandated funding for County Health Department programs. Additionally, the State of Michigan has been attempting to eliminate the County-run Department of Community Mental Health and replace it with a private system which would have no realistic accountability to the citizens of the County. The County needs to take an active role in forcing the State to pay the funds it is mandated by law to pay for Health Department programs and take a very strong position in regard to keeping Community Mental Health a County-run service. Additionally, the working poor in our community continue to have a very difficult time obtaining access to needed health care. It is important for the County to work with the hospitals, local FQHC health centers, State of Michigan Health Department and Medicaid officials and organizations such as Access Health and the Muskegon Community Health Project to continue to address these and other community health problems.

C. ROADS. Many of our County's rural, but heavily used, roads remain unpaved or in disrepair. Although funds for these roads come primarily from the budgets of the Road Commission and the Townships, the County Commissioners appoint the Road Commissioners, have a duty to review the decisions of the Road Commissioners and a duty to assist and partner with the Townships and Road Commission in searching for local road improvement funds.

D. GOVERNMENT ACCESSIBILITY. It is important for government to be accessible to its citizens. This is especially true on the local level where the money being spent and the decisions being made have the most direct impact on the citizens. Also, this is extremely important to those who are medically and physically disabled and those with limited transportation. Last year, the County Board held one of its meetings at Mona Shores High School. Unfortunately, only four of the nine Democratic Commissioners in office attended and there was no quorum. But, the idea was a good one and should be expanded upon. Additionally, for many years the Board and its committees have usually held their meetings at 3:30 P.M. I believe that the Board should experiment with varying the meeting times. There is never a time which is convenient for everyone, but varying the times of the meetings might allow more Muskegon County citizens to attend without missing work. The Board of Commissioners might also want to consider making the meetings available on television and the internet. If the meetings were filmed, a local cable station might be interested in airing the program. If streaming video web cams were installed, perhaps citizens might "tune in" on the web. Possibly, even some system of instant messaging or email could be installed to allow for interaction. As technology improves, this could be a predecessor to interactive television.