Polygon, the Dancing Bear

Occasional notes on politics, history, technology, architecture,
and the life of a county clerk

2002:
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August / September / October
November / December

2003:
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April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2004:
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April / May / June / July
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November / December

2005:
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April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2006:
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April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2007:
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April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2008:
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Current entries

Sunday, December 31, 2006, 6:42 pm

Another press clipping. From today's installment in the Ann Arbor News series on the decline in civic engagement:

In November 2005, Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje gave a lecture in his University of Michigan public policy class examining the question, "Is Ann Arbor overrated?"

When a student's account of the class was posted on the weblog Ann Arbor Is Overrated (www.annarborisoverrated.com), it generated some 67 responses, a lively electronic conversation on water quality, affordable housing, and how to pronounce the mayor's name.

Eventually, Hieftje himself chimed in and invited anyone interested in talking face-to-face to meet at Leopold Brothers brewpub. Those who accepted the offer talked with the mayor about affordable housing and alternative energy - and for the record, it's pronounced "HEEF-t-ya."

"That was the kind of thing you have to have," says Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestennbaum, a blogger himself and frequent visitor to Ann Arbor Is Overrated. "One thing I have noticed in connection with some of the local online communities is that these groups are always stronger when there's a way for people to get together and meet each other."

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum —

Saturday, December 30, 2006, 10:00 am

From the Clerk-Register. Message to my staff, sent December 18, containing some family news:

Notes for the Clerk/Register staff:

Last Saturday, my daughter's karate school (Keith Hafner's) sponsored a fundraising event for students to break boards, barehanded. Sarah, age 8, is a karate brown belt, but she had never done this before.

The concept is that the board symbolizes the obstacles or difficulties in one's own life. Prior to the event, many of the students decorated their boards (substantial pieces of pine, about a foot across and 3/4 inch thick), with words to remind them what they.re trying to overcome. Most of the boards were emblazoned with the word FEAR, but Sarah, who has a temper, put ANGER on hers.

She broke the board on the first try (click for photos).

In this last week before Christmas, we are seeing people who are more cheerful than usual but also more stressed than usual. Some of our customers are behind on their Christmas shopping and decorating, and rushing to finish everything on time. Others, who have no family nearby to share holidays with, are no doubt feeling lonely or grumpy. Still others are resentful at having to spend time with family they don't get along with. Plus, cold weather and difficult driving conditions sometimes get to everybody.

Count on it: a lot of those bad feelings will be taken out on us — especially those who staff high-traffic counters like Vital Records or Court Services.

Nobody enjoys dealing with rude or defiant customers, but it's important to maintain your composure and treat every one with courtesy and respect. Yes, it's sometimes difficult, but in the long run, it can be very satisfying to take pride in your consistent professionalism. I think I can speak for the entire county in expressing my gratitude and admiration for the work you do with customers every day.

"Casual Friday" dress rules apply during the week between Christmas and New Year's.

Let's have a great week!

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum —

Friday, December 29, 2006, 11:20 am

Voting absentee. Michigan law currently provides a menu of legal reasons on the absentee ballot application; you have to pick one to be eligible. Most election officials of both parties have long advocated "no-reason" absentee voting. The current system is something of a charade, since anyone can declare that they "plan" to be away from their home city during the election, even if those plans later change.

In the Michigan legislature, this became a partisan issue, with Democrats supporting "no-reason", and Republicans (especially in the Senate leadership) opposing it. Now that Democrats have won control of the House, and gained seats in the Senate, action on no-reason absentee voting is expected. ("Early voting" is a related, but distinct, issue.)

I came across the following editorial in the Kentucky Enquirer (a branch of the Cincinnati Enquirer) on December 22:

The spread of `no-excuse' voting

Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson wants Kentucky to follow Ohio's lead and adopt "no-excuse" absentee voting.

It would increase the number of votes cast, especially in lower-profile races. Ohio set a state elections record this November with absentee ballots accounting for 15 percent of the total. That bests Ohio's previous record of 10.6 percent in 2004. The increase is credited to a new Ohio law that says any qualified voter may request an absentee ballot - without giving a reason. About 14 percent of Hamilton County's voters [Cincinnati area] this time voted absentee.

Kentucky lawmakers should take up Grayson's early-voting plan. There could be negatives such as more risk of vote fraud or delayed vote counts, but these can be overcome.

Healthy democracies depend on a citizenry energized enough to be heard decisively at election time.

Oregon voters in 1998 did away with precinct voting altogether. Vote By Mail saves the cost of voting machines and staffing the polls. Like a take-home test from school, mail-in ballots give voters more time to study the issues and candidates before choosing. Oregon's system with its nonpartisan traditions may not lend itself to bare-knuckle Kentucky politics, but some form of "no-fault" absentee voting could boost voter participation here.

"The biggest advantage is that people would be able to schedule when they vote," says Grayson, a Boone County Republican who filed on Tuesday as a candidate for re-election. The Secretary of State has pushed other election reforms in the legislature, including a stalled bill that would have prohibited automatic "straight-ticket" voting by party.

Current Kentucky law requires that voters seeking to vote early at county clerks' offices or by mail-in ballots must qualified to do so by such reasons as advanced age, disability, military service or attending a school outside the county.

Some lawmakers will resist change for fear of increased vote fraud. A federal grand jury in October indicted a former Bath County Attorney, Donald "Champ" Maze, on charges of buying absentee votes in the primary. A "no-excuse" system might increase the opportunities for fraud.

Other lawmakers may object that a surge in absentee ballots could slow reporting of election results. Ohio's Warren County Board of Elections found the crush of absentee ballots so great that it voted late on election night to go home, with many uncounted. Hamilton County Board of Elections avoided that embarrassment by readying absentee ballots in advance for scanning on election day and by buying additional scanners.

Kentucky county clerks could help lawmakers craft an early-vote plan that's more fraud-proof and less susceptible to counting delays. The General Assembly will need to fund the change, and not just dump an unfunded mandate on county clerks.

States need to do all they can to make voting more convenient in an age of instant, electronic communications.

Though I strongly disagree with the implication of the last sentence that ballots should be transmitted by electronic means, I think Michigan and other states will see no-excuse absentee voting soon.

It sounds like Ohio's no-excuse law led to a 50% increase in the percentage of absentee ballots - from 10.6 to 15 percent. If our law changes, we election officials should be prepared for a similar increase.

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum —

Thursday, December 14, 2006, 8:18 pm

Ann Arbor News editorial on Election Technology. The lead editorial in today's Ann Arbor News, titled Michigan's voting system a wise choice, praises Michigan's Secretary of State for choosing the optical scan technology:

Terri Lynn Land is looking pretty smart these days.

Michigan's Secretary of State, re-elected this November to a second term, made a crucial decision when she chose optical scanning as the system for use in Michigan elections. The Nov. 7 general election was the first time in Michigan's history when voters statewide used this type of equipment, and while there were glitches, the process was relatively smooth.

Some other states that opted for touch-screen computer systems haven't fared as well, and now a federal agency has issued a report highly critical of these voting systems.

In the same report released earlier this month, the National Institute of Standards and Technology - a research entity that advises the U.S. Election Assistance Commission - endorsed optical-scan systems like the one used in Michigan, which combines paper ballots and electronic recording of votes.

The NIST report states that the absence of a paper trail causes "continued questions about voting system security and diminished public confidence in elections."

Local officials have also endorsed the optical-scan system used in Michigan. In an essay published in the Nov. 5 edition of The Ann Arbor News, Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum called it "the ideal 'voter-verified paper trail': clear, trustworthy and fully recountable by hand. This is better than punch cards, better than old-style paper ballots and enormously better than unrecountable methods such as mechanical voting machines or touch-screen computers with internal counters.''

Federal lawmakers are expected to introduce legislation next year requiring a voter-verified paper trail. If passed, states that invested in touch-screen technology could be spending even more to modify their systems.

In Michigan, we're already there.

Federal election laws passed in response to the 2000 debacle mandated an ambitiously rapid rollout of new voting devices. Unfortunately, little thought was devoted to how to shape and implement all these new mandates. When you make decisions at breakneck speed, no surprise that some necks get broken — or in this case, a few billion dollars goes misspent.

At least Michigan got it right.

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum —

Sunday, December 10, 2006, 11:07 pm

Exchange of letters between Sheriff's Dad and Ypsilanti Police Chief. Here's two more letters about the jail issue that have been widely circulated but not published. My apologies for the delay in getting these online.

Jack Minzey, a former EMU official, is the father of Sheriff Dan Minzey. Matt Harshberger is the Ypsilanti city police chief.

First, the letter from Jack Minzey to Matt Harshberger, responding to his earlier letter (posted here December 2) criticizing the Sheriff:

From: Jack Minzey
To: Matthew Harshberger
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 5:26 PM
Subject: Re: Jail Expansion Proposal

Matt-

I have tried to stay out of the discussions relative to the jail expansion. However, there are some points which I would like to make that are not being widely circulated by you and should be brought to the attention of everyone.

The jail issue must not be confused with the policing issue. Except as Bob Gunzel tries to find funds to expand the jail, they are quite separate issues.

I can understand if you are concerned that you might have been given incorrect information about the money being spent on the expansion costs. However, this should not be the main issue of contention. The issue is not whether the cost is 9 million or 21 million. The issue is, how many beds do we need to adequately meet the needs of our county. The fact is that the jail is currently 100 beds short of their needs. The sheriff is trying to get across the point that 96 beds, to be built in the nex three years, will not meet those needs In fact, if the beds were available tomorrow, you would still face the same situation of lock up because there would still be no room for new prisoners. We are in need of a few hundred beds, and to convince the public that 96 beds will be adequate, is really a public disservice and is going to be casistrophic. The sheriff is trying to get this message out, but no one, including Mr. Gunzel and the Ann Arbor News, is willing to let the public hear of this.

There are a couple of concerns which I have. First, why are you and Gunzel the authorities on the jail in our community rather than the sheriff or the commander of the jail, Capt. Filsinger, who is one of your residents? In fact, even Ronnie Peterson, your county representative, would give you information which does not agree with what you are telling people. Why are you not encouraging the various agencies, service clubs, and the city council to invite those directly responsible for the jail to present their information, which appears to be quite different from yours and Bob Gunzel's?

I am aware that the sheriff has explained this need to you in detail, but unlike the other chiefs in the county, you seem determined to back Mr Gunzel's inadequate proposal. These are some of the facts as I understand them.

They are not spending the 21 million on new beds. Only about 9 million is for new beds. The rest of the money is for renovation and will not help you with your criminal problem.

In the plan, the county administrator will come up with another 10 million bond issue for court houses in two years.

Since the sheriff showed you that plan, you should have understood that the current 21 million will not be for beds and that the court money he was talking about was the money to be spent in a couple of years. Thus, when he said that only 9 million was going to the jail (beds) and more than that was being being proposed for the courts, he ws not lying to you and it was simply a case of misunderstanding on your part.

Why you would allow yourself to be supportive of 96 beds is beyond me. You have seen the professional consultants report which states the jail currently needs 550 beds, and in two years, when this project is complete, it will be far greater than that. We probably need a jail with at leawt 750 beds.

Further confusing to me is that you are supporting a 96 bed increase, to be available in three years, when you have stated to several community groups that you have about 100 criminals from Ypsilalnti alone ewho should be locked up. How do those figures make sense?

Another concern should probably be your concern. You have joined forces with Bob Gunzel, and the Ann Arbor News to push a plan that falls far short of our needs for even the immediate future. A few years from now, when those beds are in place, and we still have about 17 years to pay for them, will you not be the object of peoples disatisfaction when they discover that you, while complaining about the dishonesty of the sheriff's office, were giving people bad information about what was really needed in the expansion of the jail. How will you then be viewed in terms of your leadership and truthfulness?

Jack

Next, the brief response from Matt Harshberger:

From: Matthew Harshberger
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 1:01 PM
To: Jack Minzey
Subject: RE: Jail Expansion Proposal

Hi Jack,

Thank you for voicing your thoughts and/or concerns. Although we apparently have different points of view on many of the issues at hand, we must partner together to do what is best for the Ypsilanti community - using it as our common goal to drive our efforts to improve the overall quality of life in Ypsilanti. I sincerely wish you and your family a warm, festive and safe holiday season. Take care.

Matt

Matt Harshberger, Chief of Police
Ypsilanti Police Department

A few comments. Interesting to see that critics of the 96-bed expansion plan, nominally on the same side, either denounce it (a) as grossly inadequate to serve the county's needs, or (b) as a totally unnecessary "giant jail".

To quickly expand the jail to the size envisioned by Jack Minzey (and by the sheriff) is not politically possible, since the county's voters would never approve a tax increase to fund it.

What most of the critics of incremental expansion have in common is opposition to funding it through the phase-out of the sheriff's road patrol subsidy.

But what's the alternative? Given that most of the services the county provides are mandated by state law, there is not a lot of room for major cuts. After road patrol, I think the biggest non-mandated county program is (comparatively tiny) Head Start.

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum —

Saturday, December 2, 2006, 11:20 pm

Another letter about the jail. The following email was sent by Ypsilanti Police Chief Matt Harshberger to many community leaders yesterday:

From: Matthew Harshberger
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 5:27 PM
To: [recipient list omitted]
Subject: Jail Expansion Proposal

I recently gave information to CoPAC, the Rotary Club and many others about the cost breakdown of the bond proposal for the 96-bed jail expansion. At the time that I gave out the information, I believed it was accurate. However, upon having a meeting yesterday afternoon with the County Administrator, Bob Guenzel, I learned the information that I was spreading ($9 million for jail expansion & $11 million for court facilities improvements) was patently false/wrong/inaccurate/erroneous. I, along with all the other Chiefs and Directors in Washtenaw County, received this false information directly from the Sheriff and his jail administrator. Obviously, I will not allow this error of trust to occur again. The citizens of Washtenaw County should not be misinformed about any public issue and I will not allow it to happen again. Please accept my apology.

The truth, according to the County Administration, is that the entire $21 million bond proposal is going toward jail and correctional improvements, which includes the 96-bed jail expansion and jail infrastructure improvements, including support systems due to increased capacity. The county provided a written breakdown of the costs that shows specifically the recommended improvements and the cost of each, which totals $21,177,210. Bob Guenzel will be presenting this information at the City of Ypsilanti Council meeting on Tuesday, December 5th.

I have a copy of the cost breakdown for the bond proposal and I am happy to provide copies of it to anyone that may want it.

I am very sorry for the misinformation that I gave out with regard to the bond proposal costs. It is sad that I will not be able to trust information coming from the sheriffs department until it can be confirmed, or, as in this case, denied.

Take care and I hope you have a good weekend.

Matt Harshberger, Chief of Police
Ypsilanti Police Department
505 W. Michigan Ave.
Ypsilanti, MI. 48197
Website: ypsilantipolice.org