This was the scene at the CIP public meeting last night (thanks to Ian for the panoramic shot). It's kind of a wierd perspective as I'm all the way over at the left in the picture but actually standing against the back wall – opposite of the stage and screen. All told there were probably 50 citizens there who were not affialliated with any city institution: just folks. There were an equal number of folks who were with the schools and/or the city. Some of those school/city employees are citizens as well. I saw no media whatsoever.
So, my first impression of the "Joint CIP Process" is that it's moving along. The city and school staff members are meeting weekly to come up with numbers, plans and priorities. The City CIP is pretty well developed and defined. I do get heartburn when staff parachute a $40 million dollar "Public Safety Building" into the budget with no warning at all – that doesn't strike me as planning – but the CIP is very well structured. The schools CIP is not as well structured so we engaged in this process in order that everyone will understand what our collective needs are. All of this money is really coming out of the same pot so it's best to plan this way.
Up to this point the process has really been inside of City Hall – staff meetings and Council briefings. We have Public Hearings every year about the CIP but nobody ever comes so nobody knows what is in the CIP. This is evidenced by the hullabloo we had over the Winter's Branch trail extension which has been routinely approved by Council (usually unanimously) for about the last dozen years. This being the case, seeing all of this stuff dragged out into public in a very open and honest fashion is a bit disconcerting. I know that it's an odd thing to say – it's the public's business so it shouldn't be disconcerting – but over the past 6 years the public has been so rarely involved (despite published notices, public hearings and stories in the media) that when you do finally get a handful of citizens to show it feels a bit strange. A bit like having your neighbors look in your trash can and then curiously eyeball your house with an arched eyebrow. Again that seems a bit odd but I make no apologies for how it seems to me. I've been hip-deep in it for 6 years now.
I thought the meeting went well – the staff presentations were well put together and the Superintendant did an acceptable job presenting her information. I'll admit I was a bit confused by some of her information but it's only because I'm less familiar with their needs and estimates than I am the City ones. The only part I thought was missing were some estimated costs for the big-ticket items. After all, it's easy to support building a firing range, schools and public safety building until you get the estimate: $90 million for all three!!!
So, even though I was a bit uncomfortable at first, I'm glad that we're having these meetings. The citizens of Manassas have to pay for this stuff so they need to understand the requirements and then support it or not. Manassas has significant needs in facilities and government. An understanding of the costs will be important so that the citizens understand the magnitude of the requirements and that simply trimming this program or that program is not likely to save sufficient revenue to pay for these programs and buildings. You could, for instance, close the museum, cut all funding to arts and non-profits and it wouldn't pay for more than 20% of any of these projects. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that the government in Manassas is about as small as it can realistically get. Some might take issue with that but the practical effect of having fewer staff is that the remaining folks end up doing their assigned duties less and less as they cover other functions. You can still find this in our current government structure. Some might say that this is great! It shows our flexibility and for my part, I do agree that we're a small government and we need to be flexible. However, from a management point of view I need to be confident that if we hire 4 zoning/building inspectors (for example) we are going to get that level of effort in the intended department, not covering something else.
We need to be honest with ourselves when it comes to how we're going to pay for this stuff. Does that mean the only way to get some of these new facilities is a tax increase? No (and at the republican convention this winter it was made clear that the Republicans in Manassas will not support tax increases and will punish those who even consider them). This being the case, we're going to need phase these projects over a pretty long term to take advantage of retireing debt service and we'll need major help from the economy. Both of those are pretty normal for Capital projects but it needs to be understood that you won't see progress on most of these projects anytime soon. We may also have to examine our existing budget for cuts in order to save enough money to pay for these projects – if we're to do them sooner than later.
This is going to be difficult!
October 17, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Andy,
Thanks for the work here. I was worried that the City of Manassas would end up with a deficit not unlike the Federal Government. I appreciate the honesty, the approach and the thought processes being used. This is good work!!
October 17, 2012 at 2:23 pm
You're welcome Mo! Safe to say Manassas will NOT be governed like the Feds…or the state. I'm very proud of our financial management over the past 6 years. It hasn't been without a fair amount of pain but those were difficult choices. Also, thanks for all you do with the VFD. An integral part of our Public Safety system that helps keep costs low. Our citizens are blessed to have passionate volunteers.
It's going to be a difficult process but I'm confident our citizens will help the Council make the right decisions….
October 18, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Andy, the Public Safety Building came as a suprise? Dude, that was in this year's budget as Project G-15!!! I stood before Council complementing the plan, to include the idea of taking the current MCPD building and turning it into the new MCPS Admin Building after rennovation. It the draft proposal had it at $41K+.
We also need to look at such items as the Museum as part of our Economic engine; and for that matter, look at all CIP in terms of what broader sense of supporting the economics of this City they have. Public Safety, transportation options, and schools are three things always identified by companies looking to locate and those also are key to attacting residents who become homeowners. All of that needs to be remembered as an aspect of the CIP.
By the way, kudos to the City for putting up the presentation, and also having the survey up. For those of us who have not mastered being in two places at one time, it is a great benefit. Looking forward to the video being up at the Media Center for the first hour of the meeting.
Finally, I have to chuckle at the photo…you and Mark look like the bouncers! If you both had on sunglasses, it would have really fit the profile of a bouncer…:-)
October 18, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Allow me to clarify: it was a bit of a surprise in *last* years budget…:)
October 19, 2012 at 7:17 am
It was a total surprise to us too Andy, as in a “screw you” parting shot at the volunteers he never supported by the outgoing manager…
October 19, 2012 at 9:51 am
Ok, I accept your clarification…since you let my typo of "$41K" versus $41M slip by without comment…LOL! Suprise or not, you have to admit having a central public safety building makes sense when you look at the seperate projects costs PLUS the new Public Safety Building would house the City's IT Department allowing for a more secure, centrailized data center. I do realize there are concerns over the current Fire Station being identified as the facility to be sold off in that plan and understand the views over that.
One other thing I advocate on is ONE-CONSOLIDATED-SAME-FORMAT-CIP which shows ALL of the projects for the whole City; regardless of it being School-Related or rest of the City. One document, maintained by Community Development with the MCPS School Board managing their projects and the Council (of course) as the Sovereign Power overwatching the whole process "since all the money is coming out of the same pot".
Terry Russell had spoken to the MCPS Board last year offering the assistance of the Planners, and the idea then was to bring the MCPS spreadsheet CIP into a more viable document format. Hopefully, the end game of the joint process leads to this Consolidated-Same-Format-CIP.
October 19, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Excellent communications throughout, especially the online survey and the posted videos on the city website. As you said, no one from the media was there, so the city has been proactive in getting the word out inspite of lack of coverage. Thanks to the city and to you Andy, for promoting this and sharing with those of us who couldn't be there. http://www.manassascity.org/index.aspx?NID=1284
October 19, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Great to see it in Spanish, as well.
http://www.manassascity.org/archives/36/Voice%20Flyer%20Spanish.pdf
October 24, 2012 at 11:49 pm
May have been better with more folks there, but I'm sure there was a good deal of constructive feedback coming from those attending. Council, School Board, and city staff will be making big investment decisions in the coming years. Not enough money now to invest in school buildings, public safety buildings, and the like? Well, what do you think it's going to be like in five more years? We've all seen cities that have 'declined'. Manassas shouldn't be one. We can fine tune details like, will the new public safety building have two floors or three, or how big should the lockers be in the new school, but the message I heard that night was that we need these things. Preferably yesterday, but the numbers have to go into the CIP and resources must be found to provide for schools and public safety. I'm fairly satisfied with the financial stewardship of the city in recent years, but there will be no dividends paid later without investment now. In our past, city fathers with vision chose to make wise investments that have served us well. I believe we have city fathers now with vision, but if they refuse to make investments simply to satisfy some 'no tax, no how, no where, forever' voters, then I'd like some new decision makers. Preferably while the streets are still pretty clean and safe, and the schools haven't become somewhere where more than half the kids are unmotivated to learn.
Andy maybe you can answer an unrelated question for me, wasn't there about 3 million dollars left over in last years school budget? Did the city ask the schools to return that money to city coffers, or am I mistaken entirely? If they did ask, did the board rightly tell you to pound sand, or did they give it all back? Wasn't it part of their 57%?
Oh the meeting also shed light on the fact that the Airport and Utilities continue to support themselves. Nice going people. Also found out that our police drive four hours round trip to Orange, VA for firearms training. There's gotta be another way.
October 28, 2012 at 1:55 pm
good piece in the WaPo Metro section today about costs of rebuilding infrastructure:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/burden-for-rebuilding-infrastructure-may-fall-to-states/2012/10/27/df8c0bdc-16e8-11e2-9855-71f2b202721b_story.html?hpid=z4