Police, Public Works and Other City Departments Lay Out 2024 Priorities

The Tuesday (Jan. 16) discussion-only City Council meeting saw priority setting presentations from nine of the city’s 11 department heads, a process that occurs with each new year. 

The presentations were setting the foundation for a deeper planning session that will be held Saturday (Jan. 20). This story will cover presentations by the Parks, Recreation and Arts Department; Human Resources; East Lansing Police Department (ELPD); Department of Public Works (DPW); Planning, Building and Development; and Prime Time Seniors Program. 

Throughout the evening, we learned that perceptions of rapidly rising crime in East Lansing are misguided, city records badly need to be digitized and several departments are looking to add staff members. 

ELi covered presentations on the City Clerk’s Office, fire department and communications department in a report Wednesday (Jan. 17). 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and Organizational Culture Director Elaine Hardy and Finance Director Penny Wright were absent from the Tuesday meeting. The pair will present to Council on Saturday, City Manager Robert Belleman said. 

Human Resources

After a year filled with staff departures, Human Resources Director Emily Kenney said the department’s top goal will be attracting and retaining talent. One of the steps the department will take to do this is a wage and job classification study. The Request For Proposal closed earlier this month and the department is reviewing four applications to take on the task. The study is expected to go through 2024 and into 2025.

The department is also looking to modernize a lot of their processes, Kenney said. Currently, much of the paperwork handled by Human Resources is done on paper. This means that, for example, someone interested in a job with the city has to fill out a PDF or paper application and mail or email it to the city instead of filling out online forms. This could dissuade some applicants from even applying. 

Kenney also hopes to establish a mentorship program within the city ranks. She said this could help new employees get acclimated to working in the city and prepare them to take on bigger roles eventually. 

Following Kenney’s presentation, Councilmember Mark Meadows commented on the mentorship program. 

“I’ve been in organizations where we’ve tried to use mentors,” Meadows said. “Unless the mentors are trained, they don’t turn out to be very good mentors.”

Mayor George Brookover said he would like to see an improved system for evaluating employees that is predictable for people working for the city and entering its ranks. 

“I’m extremely concerned with this set of things,” he said. “To me, the primary thing that we have to do here is we have to institute a rational program or policy or set of predictable evaluations on an annual basis, methodology for evaluations, instruments for evaluations and a fair system of evaluation in conjunction with the prior discussions we’ve had about written contracts and authorizations for written contracts.”

Parks, Recreation and Arts

Parks, Recreation and Arts Director Cathy DeShambo stressed the importance of public input when the department is pursuing new projects and grants. 

“You’re going to see, in everything that we do, lot’s of community input,” she said. “It’s a requirement. For projects, we’re writing grants all the time. The grants that we write, almost always, that community input piece is absolutely mandatory. We have to do it.”

DeShambo said the department has been collecting more demographic information when receiving feedback so they know who is and is not responding. She said they hope, going forward, to start using new methods to reach demographics that do not respond as much. 

DeShambo gave a recent success story of eliciting community feedback by sharing that the department partnered with a Michigan State University (MSU) Sustainability PhD. student to survey residents about the East Lansing Farmers Market. They received more than 2,000 responses, which is considered excellent feedback. 

During Council comments, Meadows called the farmer’s market presentation they had seen “spectacular” and said it should be added to a discussion-only Council meeting at a later date. 

Environmental sustainability will continue to be on the forefront for the department. Deshambo said they have been looking at environmental stewardship from many angles, including environmental care, climate action and resiliency, land acknowledgement, and resource and financial management. The department started its stewardship master plan last year and it should be finished sometime in 2024. 

Following DeShambo’s presentation, Meadows said the newly established Youth Commission, which he is a liaison to, has a lot of interest in the environment and discussed creating an Earth Day event. He said the city used to have a large event where volunteers cleaned up areas and did other activities, but it had disappeared over time. 

Planning, Building and Development

Interim Director of Planning, Building and Development Annette Irwin prefaced her presentation by saying much of the staff is new and highlighting the importance of hiring and retaining staff. She also said succession planning within the department needs to be improved.

Irwin said the city needs to find a way to improve work-life balance for the department. Since Planning, Building and Development supports so many city commissions, staff is often called in to attend meetings in the evening, when they still have responsibilities at their day job. 

One of the main priorities for the department will be digitizing files. Irwin said some documents that are very important are also very old and finding a way to electronically store these files in an accessible way will be key. 

“As this Council knows, some of the projects recently that have come before you, you’ve wanted some historical information,” she said. 

During Council comments, Councilmember Erik Altmann suggested Irwin reach out to the MSU Library for advice on digitizing files. Irwin said the department had not yet made that connection, but it could be useful to do so. 

Brookover, who is an attorney, said large law firms have been digitizing old files for some time and that they contract companies to do this work. Digitizing files was a top priority for several city departments that presented at Tuesday’s meeting. 

“I’ve just got to believe the science is out there some place,” Brookover said. “Instead of us having to reinvent the wheel.”

Irwin also said it can be hard to find contractors for city projects, so promoting the building trades is important. While the city won’t be holding a camp like the fire department is holding, she said, there is movement on a potential partnership with East Lansing High School to grow interest in the field. 

Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Ebersole Singh said as part of her job for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), she designs Pre K-12 training programs and she could be a resource for the department on their project with the high school, if needed. 

Police

The East Lansing Police Department (ELPD) was represented at the meeting by Chief Kim Johnson. 

Johnson said there is now a plan for a reception center in the event of Active Violent Incidents, which was also mentioned by Fire Chief Dawn Carson during her presentation earlier in the evening. Johnson said Deputy Chief Jennifer Brown, who recently joined the department, is certified in professional management and has spent much of her time getting the plan for the reception center “up to speed.” ELPD and ELFD will be running tabletop exercises to go through the plans for the reception center.

“Just to get everyone comfortable with their roles, to get comfortable with what we should be doing and what resources we should be reaching out for,” Johnson said. 

The department will also be doing exercises to prepare for adverse weather events and train derailments, Johnson said. 

Johnson referenced the Feb. 13 mass shooting at MSU as evidence the department needs to work with businesses on how to react to mass violence incidents. He said ELPD will be working with businesses on what they can do if there is a threat downtown and how they can keep customers safe. 

ELPD will look to continue to build upon its community engagement efforts. Recently, the department budgeted a downtown officer and a youth engagement officer to help with these efforts, Johnson said. 

ELPD has seen an increase in calls for service. However, the department is not always just sending police to these calls. Sometimes social workers or other neighborhood resources respond as calls for people in mental crisis have increased, Johnson said. ELPD is often called to respond to matters that are not criminal. 

Johnson said there have been more calls over domestic disputes that require two-officer responses since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. He said between the increased calls and community engagement that he has asked officers to do, ELPD officers are taking on more responsibilities than previously. Johnson commended his officers on the work they are doing. 

Despite community engagement being prioritized, Johnson said there needs to be more outreach to youth, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. 

ELPD is trying to hire three more police officers. A police shortage is a problem around the country and not just in East Lansing, Johnson said. 

“We’re trying to get the right people in the door, but the right people need to apply first,” he said. 

Following Johnson’s presentation, Meadows said he would like to see the use of force recommendations from the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission (ELIPOC) and ELPD’s relationship with that commission as a part of Saturday’s discussion. 

Councilmember Dana Watson asked about unhoused people who sometimes have the police called on them for trying to find shelter. She asked if the police have thought about solutions that offer shelter. 

“Where can people go?” Watson asked. “Because they are members of our community.”

The two social workers ELPD has on staff have been helpful addressing unhoused people, because they focus on helping them to meet their needs, Johnson said. 

While talking with Council, Johnson also said that crime in the city is not rapidly rising, as some people believe. He said there is a perception nationally that crime is out of control, when this is not shown by data, and that this dynamic can be seen in the city as well. 

“Some of the stuff that was happening in ’23 or ’22 was stuff that was happening in ’18,” Johnson said. “Some of the levels are about the same, which is not good because we’re not reducing the crime either.

“Everyone thinks that crime is out of control but when you drill down to the numbers… There are some things that are up, but it’s not like crazy, crazy outlandish numbers,” Johnson continued. “Nationwide, people’s perception of crime [that it] is out of control.”

Specifically, Johnson said assaults are down from a historic perspective and at a “manageable” level. He said having officers downtown at night and proactive measures by some of the business owners may be helping with this. 

Prime Time Seniors Program 

Interim co-director for the Prime Time Seniors Program Emily Hanson presented to Council.

The annual report for the program showed that participation is rapidly growing, largely because of an increasing senior population and members who are not East Lansing residents joining, Hanson said. She later clarified that non-resident members pay a higher rate for the program. 

Many of the program participants are interested in opportunities to volunteer and the program is looking for more options, Hanson said. Meals on Wheels, working in East Lansing Public Schools (ELPS) and Adopt a Grandparent programs are all options that will be explored. Prime Time will also look to strengthen its community gardening and Helping Women Period activities. 

Many members are also interested in helping out the city by doing tasks like assisting the clerk’s office with the upcoming slate of elections, aiding the Parks, Recreation and Arts Department with childcare or doing storytime sessions at the library. 

Hanson said the program is starting to outgrow its current space in the Hannah Community Center. 

“We’re looking at working with other facilities,” Hanson said. “Burcham [Hills Retirement Community] has reached out to us and The Willows have as well, and so we can bring programming there.

“However, right now we’re not able to do that just due to a lack of staff,” she continued. “So, that is another thing we’re working on and our director will be here next month.”

Hanson said there will be a focus on transportation to the senior program, which has been a common request from the community. She said they have reached out to CATA about how they could work together and MSU Extension to see if virtual programming could be expanded. 

Following Hanson’s presentation, Meadows said that part of the budget for the program is provided by a “Legacy” that will end in 2033. He said he would like to have a conversation about a millage in the city that would allow the program to continue to function as it has. 

Department of Public Works

Scott House is the city’s director for the Department of Public Works (DPW) and presented to Council. 

As is always a goal, the department wants to make wise investments in critical infrastructure like sidewalks, roads, the sewer system and trees, House said.

The department will also aggressively pursue grants and other sources of money to help fund projects. 

“We want to be at the table when money is being considered,” House said. 

The department will attempt to replace all lead service lines by 2027. House said there may be upwards of 400 lines that need to be replaced, which could be a challenge. 

House said DPW would like to invest in water meters, which would allow residents to be billed monthly for services and alert them of leaks. The water meters have been discussed previously by Council when talking about how to spend American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds and drawn strong support from Watson. Notably, Council moved to spend ARPA funds on expenses within the general fund, which now gives it flexibility to allocate money within the general fund.

House said the city’s recycling program is “great” and the city is a “leader in the region,” but is “flatlining.”

“We want to reach more people, we want to increase participation, we want to get more people recycling,” House said. “That’s constant contact, engaging different people. Every year we have a new population of students moving in, we have to reach out to them.”

Other priorities include gathering resources to help protect against extreme weather events, especially rain, and continuing to seek out alternative clean energy sources. 

Discussion will continue at Saturday. 

Council and staff will reconvene Saturday (Jan. 20) at 9 a.m. at the Hannah Community Center to continue strategic planning. The agenda for that meeting can be viewed here. The meeting will not be recorded.