A Saginaw City Council update on the largest-ever one-time infusion of federal aid, $52 million from ARPA, is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday.
For Rev. Craig Tatum, it will be an anniversary of two years and two months.
In May 2021, at the first public meeting for the groundbreaking American Rescue Plan Act, he was among nearly 100 participants at First Ward Community Center.
Organizers placed blank poster paper on the gymnasium walls and asked participants for suggestions on how to best invest this surprise stimulus windfall to combat poverty and social hardship, in the name of bouncing back from the covid pandemic.
Tatum could have filled the room with his own ideas from his experience as pastor of New Birth Baptist Church Ministries, CEO of New Birth’s Mission in the City project at Seventh and Janes, former probation officer and teen drug counselor, and holder of an SVSU masters degree in criminal justice.
Instead he assumed a humble role as folks finally could speak of some funding versus the usual morbid de-funding. He joined other volunteers, taking a magic marker to the poster paper, to list the proposals from others at his table. Some addressed the basics of crime and jobs and youth. Others ranged from opening a drive-in theater to adding more animals at the Children’s Zoo.
“I only wanted to help out, to move the process along,” the clergyman recalls.
On Monday, 26 months later, Tatum plans to address the council in a more assertive role, asking why Mission in the City was zeroed out in the funding vote last winter.
Council members in January acknowledged some confusion in the ARPA process, especially the $10 million set aside for programs to keep teens and young adults active and out of trouble, when they voted a six-month waiting period to make finishing touches and finalize several million dollars that remain in the one-time $52 million barrel. Urgency is added as Republicans in Washington retreat from their votes during the pandemic peak (even Trump was supportive at the time) to provide local stimulus recovery aid. Some in D.C. now seek to take back any funds not yet doled out, creating a newfound local outlook of use it or lose it.
The bigger picture
Youth programming is one aspect of Saginaw’s post-pandemic aid plan, but that leaves another $42 million. About half was lopped off to help City Hall avoid a covid-caused budget deficit, however, rules prevent adding public safety officers or general staff.
Instead, a large share of the remainder is going for capital infrastructure upgrades at City Hall, Hoyt Park, Ojibway Island, Hamilton Street sewage basin and the cemeteries. Housing fixups are on the list, and to a lesser degree, vacant lot cleanups. For a summary of ARPA spending plans to date, click here.
In Saginaw, unlike clashes in Flint and other communities, friction has come over council procedure interactions more than do-this-or-choose-that policy priorities. For example, the $10 million share for youth programming was a unanimous vote. But when the Houghton-Jones Neighborhood Association was excluded, City Council members indicated they were not aware of the oversight and issued a quiet end-of-the-meeting amended approval of $400,000. The same scenario followed for Women of Colors, leading to council approval of another amended $384,000 grant. When Tatum followed as the third link in the sequence, that’s when the council recognized the pattern and enacted the half-year cooling off period that concludes Monday.
And that’s the timing that has left Mission in the City locked out to this point.
In a presentation to the council last winter, prior to the July 12 Mission in the City neighborhood party of recent note, Tatum invoked his predecessor, the Rev. Rufus Bradley, who passed away in 2017.
Tatum said, “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.”
Meaning of ‘behavioral health?’
Another likely topic Monday, along with the $10 million for youth programs and community centers, is $5 million for a vaguely explained “behavioral health center” on open land at the old downtown farmer’s market site on South Washington at Millard, south of ATT/Michigan Bell.
Two questions are unresolved:
- Why have advocates, via the Chamber of Commerce and Saginaw Future, first described this as a mental health center but now emphasize overall public health?
- What about smaller mental health agencies that feel excluded, similar to Mission in the City for youth? Among these providers is Dr, Melvin McDowell, who joined his family with stage roles in “The Family Car” before a capacity audience at the Temple Theatre. Councilman George Copeland last winter said he would work for third-party providers’ inclusion during the six-month hiatus.
With the CMU College of Medicine and Dr. Samuel Shaheen in lead roles, the Medical Diamond riverfront project has attained a matching $5 million ARPA grant from the County Board, along with $30.3 million from the state, for undefined “infrastructure improvements” at the city- and county-owned location, for a $40.3 million total with scant details.
In addition, from Congressman Dan Kildee, a July 10 letter to constituents states, “I am pleased to have secured $3 million in federal funds for much-needed infrastructure investments in downtown Saginaw. These include moving overhead power lines underground to help prepare for economic development projects that will create jobs and grow our economy.”
City Manager Tim Morales is quoted, in part: “Ultimately, we want to grow our downtown, increase investment and activity in our neighborhoods, and increase our population (now 44,000, down from the summit of 99,000 six decades ago). Funding for infrastructure development downtown will lead the way for large-scale economic development.”
Mayor Brenda Moore asked for more details in a recent Saginaw Daily report that discloses the location, along with Pastor Hurley Coleman Jr. from the ARPA advisory committee and former mayor Joyce Seals, who now chairs the countywide Health Equity Council.
Guidehouse leader departs
Citizens who have been following the ARPA proceedings will note a familiar face missing Monday.
David Sernick, the main Guidehouse consultant in Saginaw for both the city and county, has departed to become the City of Detroit’s ARPA coordinator.
The scenario reflects how middle-sized cities on occasion face tougher challenges than the major leaguers. Detroit is paying both Guidehouse and an inner ARPA staff, while Saginaw also is paying Guidehouse (up to $850,000 from ARPA) but not adding inner staff. Instead, Morales and his department personnel are absorbing the added duties.
