THE WEEK IN REVIEW
April 26, 2024
Al Vanderberg, County Administrator
Good afternoon Chair Stek and Commissioners,
We successfully completed two more cohorts of Disney Way customer service training with our employees this week. It was a great experience meeting and interacting with staff, hearing their ideas, and answering their questions! My team is now compiling and analyzing the findings from each training session that occurred over the past year and a half. The ideas generated from this training will serve as the foundation for enhancing customer experience across our organization. Many people came up to me at the conclusion of the event and thanked me for the presentation and remarked that they never understood that much about county government.
Last night. I spoke at a meeting of OC – One, a group that has formed in Ottawa County Commission District 1 to support good government candidates. This group describes themselves as “poly partisan” because they not only support Republican and Democratic candidates but are open to supporting 3rd party candidates as well. I informed group that I was not there to attack Ottawa Impact nor could I participate in partisan politics. However, I gave a short presentation on what good County governance from a county board and administrator perspective looked like. Another speaker covered sound financial practices in County government and a third speaker talked about the process of running for office. Many people came up to me at the conclusion of the event and thanked me for the presentation and remarked they never understood that much about County government.
I hope to see you at Monday's ribbon cutting ceremony for the Behavioral Health Crisis Center. Have a great weekend!
Office of the Public Defender
Change to the Kent County Office of the Public Defender Independence Council
On Tuesday, LHR approved the position request as well an Independence Council and administrative policy for the new Office of the Public Defender. We originally proposed a representative from the Federal Defender’s Office serve on the Council. However, we learned on Wednesday that they cannot serve due to their internal policies. Therefore, we changed this seat to the Executive Director of the State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) or Executive Director of the Legal Assistance Center (LAC). Click here to review the updated charge, function, and members of the council.
Costs
During Tuesday's LHR meeting, Commissioner Pachla raised a question regarding the cost of indigent defense services. The following costs represent the numbers submitted for the FY 2024-2025 County budget and as part of the Michigan Independent Defense Commission grant application.
- Our contract commitment with the Kent County Office of the Defender (KCOD) for FY 2023-2024 (the current year) is $6,381.371.04, with allowances to pay less if all positions are not filled.
- Our current MIDC-approved cost for our system for this year is $23,884,344.34. Of that total, $21,416,076.03 is from the state grant and $2,468,268.31 is our mandated local share.
- The cost for next year has been submitted as $29,932,312.08. Of that total, $27,408,220.92 is from the state grant, and $2,524,091.16 is the local share. The local share increases because it will include $55,822.85 from the “Collaborative” (Grandville, Kentwood, Walker, and Wyoming). Those cities will forward their local shares to the County, so the County’s contribution remains unchanged from this year.
- The increase from FY 2023-2024 to FY 2024-2025 is caused by:
- Taking on the misdemeanor-only representations for the Collaborative
- Meeting the maximum case load requirements imposed by the new MIDC standard (Standard 6)
- Increasing roster attorney hourly rates by approximately 3%
- One-time expenses to build-out and furnish office space on another floor in the Calder Plaza building
Other Resource Materials
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Updated FAQs: This document compiles the questions asked to date about the proposed implementation of the Office of the Public Defender.
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Map Showing the Public Service Delivery Model Across Michigan: This resource offers a comparative analysis of public service delivery models across the state.
The clearest data available, dating back to 2007, indicates that there are 28 states with county-based public defender offices. An investigative journalist is currently conducting a state-by-state survey of public defense. Click here to read the stories, which currently have an update up to the state of Delaware.
John Ball Statue Move Completed
During the week of March 19, the John Ball statue was moved to its new location directly north of the Pavilion Building on the Zoo property. As you may recall, I formally approved this project, as required in the Operating Agreement with the Zoo, in early February. The statue move was a success and landscaping around the new location is ongoing. This move is only the second in the statue’s history. The diagram on the left-hand side shows the history of the statue’s location and below are few photos of the move in progress.
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MSU Extension Hires Urban Bilingual (Spanish) 4-H Program Coordinator
MSU Extension’s Kent County office recently hired Adriana Sierra Ramirez as the new County urban bilingual (Spanish) 4-H Program Coordinator. Adriana’s focus is on engaging youth and volunteers from traditionally underrepresented communities. Click here to learn more about Adriana and how she is currently working with the community.
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