ARPA was a blessing, but at the same time it was a curse. … It was (supposed to be) a way to get ahead, but it also has divided us, again. Again!
Saginaw Mayor Brenda Moore
This was a gifthorse moment, be careful what you may wish for. The mayor’s words, near the close of the City Council meeting on Feb. 6, displayed frustration from nearly two years under an unexpected cash windfall via the American Rescue Plan Act.
For years, local leaders have lamented losses of federal funds that had been budget cornerstones. Then, suddenly, wishes came true with ARPA, intended as a stimulus for communities to bounce back from the pandemic shutdown.
No, this wasn’t quite like hitting the Powerball. It’s closer to a Fantasy 5 lottery prize, still life-changing for a family, or by comparison for a city in need.
City Manager Tim Morales reflected the mix of celebration and precaution in May 2021, four months after President Biden took office.
“We understand that $52 million in funding can transform a city,” he said at the time. “It is my goal and the goal of the City Council to utilize these funds to positively impact this community for generations to come.”
For her part, Mayor Moore remains positive overall and has made recent pledges that other multi-million-dollar packages are forthcoming. The difference is that ARPA is unique, not like funding for a fire station or a water tower, or even for city personnel. Citizen participation in the Rescue Act is involved at all levels, including with fund-seekers and advocates. Old-timers make references to the Model Cities days and the 1960s War on Poverty.
To no one’s surprise, proposals poured in for a combined dollar total counted as high as $290 million, well beyond Saginaw’s designated sum, even though the one-time ARPA is 20 times higher than regular annual Community Development Block Grants. Inevitable lobbying, in public and in private, has ensued. A prior indication of the mayor’s irritation took place before the holidays, when she made a comparison to handing out Christmas gifts.
Which applicants should get how much from ARPA, and for what purposes? Push has come to shove during recent months, and the weight of the pressure has become more intense, reaching a peak on Feb. 6. (For Council remarks that concluded with the mayor, click here.)
Protests from those excluded have caught hold, again no surprise, especially in the $10 million category designated for youth programs and community centers.
First came the Houghton-Jones Neighborhood Association on Jan. 23, zeroed out despite a 31-year track record, with speakers led by Chairwoman Anganetta Ervin and Vice-Chair Saleem Mannan. Council members did not immediately answer, but at the Feb. 6 proceedings they unanimously approved $400,000, without comment.
That same night, leaders and supporters of the 30-year-old Women of Colors spoke up, beginning with Vicki Hill, but the Council denied a Michael Flores motion to follow the Houghton-Jones pattern by granting $384,000 for WOC. (For the pair of votes, click here.)
“We don’t have a full-time staff, but we do a lot for the community,” co-founder Evelyn McGovern told the Council. “What more does an organization have to do to receive the support of the city?” (For the Women of Colors presentation, click here.)
But if the City Council is weary of protests, another is in the works for the next meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 20. A third long-term program that has missed the funding cut is Mission in the City, which has erected recreation facilities and conducted youth mentoring through New Life Baptist Church at Janes and South Seventh.
Pastor Craig Tatum says he will be the latest to ask questions from the podium, on behalf of Mission in the City outreach that began back when the late Rev. Rufus Bradley was pastor and originator.
Tatum says, “This 17-year-old fitness park has conducted concerts, walk-a-thons, family reunions, Greek gatherings, church outings, programs for breast-feeding, foster care celebrations, Easter egg hunts, back-to-school giveaways, Halloween parties, and served as host for all types of events, with young kids from every racial background and not a drop of violence. Yet our efforts are not considered an asset for this community.”
He summarizes, “Unfortunately, Mission in the City appears to have fallen between the cracks.”
When ARPA arrived, top local officials said they needed to proceed at a careful pace because of complicated federal rules. Congressman Dan Kildee then asserted that the regulations actually are wide in scope, and that his office staff would aim to resolve any eligibility questions that might arise for specific activities.
This seemed to speed the local urgency. Neighborhood public hearings took place, and an online suggestion portal was created.
At the same time, during the first eight months of 2022, a Council-appointed advisory panel became unsure near the end on final choices, just like a family might do with a sudden inheritance. Guidehouse consultant David Sernick attempted to prompt members to make leadership in legislating, even though these “only” were recommendations. The youthful agent even circled his arm rodeo-style to encourage action, while himself remaining neutral, but they were slow to move. And then, to stay on deadline, he resorted to marking suggested startup dollar figures for various categories on an eraser board. Still, feedback remained scant.
There was a weary vote for final approval. Some of those numbers ended up in the final report, including the $10 million for youth programs and community centers, not because Guidehouse failed to seek input but because committee members did not provide a whole lot.
(The advisory group’s meetings were open, but not televised.)
And how much did the categories and dollar figures really mean? For example, when agreement was reached to pay a full proposed $5 million for a countywide mental health behavior center, the Council followed Michael Balls’ suggestion to take half, $2.5 mil, from the amount that had been reserved for City Hall regular budget balancing and for facility improvements.
Even then, dismay was expressed by existing smaller mental health service agencies who felt excluded. Councilman George Copeland has taken the lead for a second round of proposal reviews in that category.
Meanwhile, in the youth programming group, the Saginaw YMCA so far also is unfunded. City Council members have not offered specific comment, but Gerald Little on the County Board, which also received $37 million from ARPA, said the Y already is well-established and more secure in financial support.
YMCA President Steve Meyer has not publicly appealed, but he responded to our request for his outlook
Meyer wrote, in part, “The YMCA is the longest serving organization in Saginaw, since 1868, with ‘Youth Development’ at the top of our mission. When the City reserved $10M for youth programs and youth-serving agencies, we certainly thought we would be included to receive a share of the funding.
“Understanding the requirements of the APRA funding, and the challenges that some organizations may have in fulfilling their stated goals, we remain hopeful and optimistic about potential support. The Y can be trusted. We are here for our community. We are here for all.”
He added, “A common misperception is perceiving the Y as only a gym. Our gym is a small part of our overall mission. We house several partner organizations and programs at the Y for youth, seniors, veterans, and for students. We provide food assistance for our neighbors. We prevent drownings. Our programs create next-generation leaders, reduce crime, and prepare the workforce.”
Council members respond that nothing has fallen through any cracks, because they have taken time to thoroughly review a 462-page binder of 150 genuine proposals mixed with 250 “ideas” submitted by citizens at large. They say they also have listened for feedback from the advisory committee, along with general remarks from constituents. Direction has been provided by Manager Morales and his administrative team, along with the aptly named Guidehouse consultants.
Still, confusion at the Council level has been evident on occasion, with the Houghton-Jones debacle only the latest example. Council members repeatedly have said they support many of the agencies and proposals that fell short, but they simply don’t have enough money. This leads to a question of balance in the $10 million group.
While Houghton-Jones initially was zeroed out, followed by Women of Colors, Mission in the City and the YMCA, two new projects will receive nearly half of the funds in that category. One is a group restoring Neighborhood House, which was defunded four years ago by Lutheran Social Services of Michigan. The other is Project YEARN (Youth Employment and Recreation Network), an initiative under Bishop Larry Camel (New Birth Baptist Cathedral) and Pastor Hurley Coleman Jr. (World Outreach Campus Church).
The totals, at this point:
- The Neighb (Neighborhood House), $2.4 million
- Project YEARN, $2.16 million
- Saginaw County CAC, $1.25 million
- First Ward Community Center, $950,000
- Boys & Girls Club, $903,000
- Youth Development Corp., $731,000
- Mexican American Council, $500,000
- Houghton-Jones, $400,000 (as of Feb. 6)
- D.A.R.S. Learning Center, $275,000
- Saginaw YMCA, $0
- Mission in the City, $0
- Women of Colors, $0
The other $42 million, in addition to the mental health center, will go for such purposes as home-repair loans and grants, HVAC for City Hall (finally getting rid of all those window air conditioners), Hoyt Park, Ojibway Island, cemeteries, a fairgrounds cleanup, a stormwater sewage overflow basin, pandemic hazard pay for employees, and citywide vacant property cleanup.
In a late development, a Feb. 16 Facebook note from former City Treasurer Karen Lawrence-Webster raises questions about City Hall procedures for monitoring the grant dollars. Protesters who respond represent The Neigh (Alvin Pratt), Project YEARN (Coleman) and YDC (Denita Dorsey). The trio have been awarded grants that comprise more than half the $10 million awarded to youth development and community centers. Coleman describes the accounting process as a “charade.” (See full the dialogue here.)
Mayor Pro Tem Annie Boensch has joined her Council peers in expressing wishes that more ARPA funds were available, but she also has stepped forward to assert that physical “capital” facility needs and building projects should have priority over staffing for program operations.
With emphasis on “sustainability,” the outlook has been that once a construction or repair project is finished, the impact is long-lasting and requires only routine upkeep.
Staffing, on the other hand, demands ongoing annual funds while ARPA is a one-time deal. Operations, especially contracts with agencies, also require constant oversight to ensure compliance with federal funding guidelines, because if rules are broken, the regular general budget (local taxpayers) becomes liable to repay the feds. A similar scenario was the former Housing Commissioners who fumbled the fairgrounds ownership with the feds 20 years ago.
This brings Sernick and Guidehouse into play again, with their $850,000 ARPA contract for consulting and oversight. Guidehouse has been adopted by numerous other cities, including Detroit, and Saginaw has followed this approach.
“Now we’re getting into a lot of oversight,” Boensch noted, referring to funds for agency operations. “Whatever little money we have left over, it looks like it’s going to have to go to Guidehouse (again) to oversee all the programming dollars we have allocated.”
At the same time, the pro-tem has joined the mayor in blending 50-50 operations with facility upkeep for locations such as Neighborhood House, for First Ward CC, for CAC, and for the newly emerging Mexican American Council in an historic home across from Hoyt Park.
Meanwhile, the mayor defended reserving half of the $52 million for projects that originated at City Hall, not from outside proposals.
“That’s how we got (qualified for) the money” in the first place, she said, by demonstrating hardship in the regular city budget, an explanation that critics would dispute.
The Feb. 20 meeting will air on Spectrum Cable 191 and on saginaw-mi.com, with replays on YouTube.
Other ARPA issues remain unresolved:
– Saginaw High School is slated to close in September 2024 when a merger with Arthur Hill blends into the new Saginaw United on the riverfront Arts and Sciences Academy site. Late last year, there was a tentative $5 million plan to transform the Saginaw High building into half with a middle school, half with a multi-purpose center for the various service agencies.
The City Council and County Board both were preliminarily pegged to offer $750,000 apiece from ARPA to help with the one-stop agency portion. Neither body was asked to help pay for the middle school remodel and upgrade, which is the school district’s duty.
This has fallen apart with no explanation from the City/School/County Liaison Committee, which is not scheduled to again meet until 5 p.m. Thursday, March 16, at school board headquarters. At stake is possible demolition of half of the Saginaw High structure.
– Council members have approved $1.275 million to clean up the desolate former fairgrounds and horse track. This actually was the first agreed-upon project, and now it will be among the first to require intensive follow-up.
Needed partners for action with City Hall will be the Saginaw Housing Commission, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Congressman Dan Kildee, and two community groups — the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association and One Week One Street.
Both groups submitted multi-million-dollar proposals for redevelopment, but the Council approved only the cleanup and is asking the groups to work together. A first meeting of the minds is set before the end of February.
A possible development is Kildee challenging HUD, even in a Democratic presidential administration, to ease up on penalties that have impeded past cleanup work, leading to the city’s largest single eyesore.
– During ARPA’s first year, a $1.5 million seed money proposal for a major affordable housing project was in the works among member agencies with S-CHAP, the Saginaw Consortium of Homeless Assistance Providers, which includes City Rescue Mission and other shelters, coordinated through United Way.
Use of the vacant Houghton School was pitched to the school board, but then S-CHAP suddenly pulled out. Chairman Dan Streeter (Rescue Mission) canceled a meeting with Houghton-Jones neighbors at the last minute, but he wrote, “It has become obvious that the Houghton neighborhood has expressed enough hesitation about such a project that we will continue our brainstorming and find a different way to invest funds elsewhere in the community.”
This may not have been on a comparable level with the proposed mental health behavioral center, but no other applicant offered a similar new-build plan, and the City Hall plan for housing improvement is $3.8 million for expanded block grant-style individual homeowner assistance. The start has focused on furnaces in winter emergencies and will proceed in warmer weather to roofs and windows. Unclear is what will happen when homes have multiple repair needs.
Meanwhile, no follow-up talks between City Hall and S-CHAP were reported during the past year, while four-figure monthly rents continue to torment tenants who are not covered under Section 8.
At the close on Feb. 6, Councilman Michael Balls explained that he will be absent for six to eight weeks for health concerns. We join in hopes and prayers while respecting his privacy.
