11-01-2024 4:12pm

Election 2024: Meet Dean Girbach, Candidate for Saline City Council

There are four candidates for three two-year positions on Saline City Council. Dean Girbach, Janet Dillon, and Nicole Rice are the incumbents and Brian Cassise.

Dean Girbach, the longest-serving member of council, answered questions from The Saline Post.

Here are the questions and his answers.

Biography:

I have dedicated more than twenty-seven years of service to the City of Saline and its citizens, including nearly 20 years as a council member. I have and continue to serve on numerous commissions, work groups and task forces. Currently, these include planning, risk management, asset management, charter review and a newly formed subcommittee for financial policy. My work career prior to retirement in 2020, included nearly thirty-five years at the University of Michigan with experience in accounting, finance, administration and human resources.I also manage my family’s rental properties including an historical downtown property which has been in my family for almost a century.

Why are you running for council

Honestly, Saline is my passion and I find great satisfaction in serving our community. I’ve dedicated years striving for a local government that provides adequate information, invests in its infrastructure, works towards long-term solutions and follows through to completion. I have the passion and ability to dedicate time and resources for the task at hand. It takes someone willing to spend sufficient time preparing, researching, and asking informed questions. I vote on difficult decisions without concern for the next campaign. Although a select few suggest frequent turnover is needed for renewed leadership, my ability to recall institutional knowledge, apply consistency in my approach, investigate new ideas and both champion and challenge staff in their creativity while holding them accountable, outweighs gambling on inexperience and a proven record.

Why should voters select you?

As a lifelong resident, I understand the various perspectives of where Saline has been, what is needed to sustain its vitality and a vision where Saline can go in the future. I am known to weigh in and vote upon hard decisions whether it be changes to key personnel, investing in our infrastructure, supporting public safety or driving change to long-held practices (especially in terms of technology and/or process efficiencies).

I have a proven record including valuable institutional knowledge, a consistent and beneficial approach to problem solving, insistence on accountability, and demand for equitable consideration in approach to policy.

What are your key priorities for the next two years?

My priorities will continue to focus on effective management of our organization, proper planning and prioritizing of limited city resources, and insisting on a qualified, competent and committed workforce. Above all though will be monitoring and seeing completion of the water/wastewater treatment plant renovations. Further, there are a number of other major issues which need to be considered in the near term; sustainability of the recreation center, resolution of Millpond dam, addresing public safety succession and staffing shortages, focusing on economic sustainability of our retail and hospitality businesses, and addressing the on-going demands placed upon our City from the surrounding community and schools.

Will you support borrowing money to pay for Rec Center improvements. Why or why not

The ability of the recreational center to borrow or even service additional debt is not possible within the current operations. The only way the rec center can consider any major repairs or improvements is through either further subsidies from the city general fund or some new form of revenue. As such, this will require either a new dedicated millage or renegotiation of the CARES millage and hopefully a real commitment by the CARES board and schools. Regardless, I personally think the current subsidy is not sustainable, as of Fiscal Year End 2024, annual operational support well exceeds $450,000. While a portion of this current subsidy includes expiring debt service, this freed up source is not nearly sufficient to cover the future debt servicing necessary to complete repairs needed maintain the status quo.
Further, as the current operating subsidy is primarily for sustaining just the recreational center, funding for other general park improvements or even other community improvements will continue to fall behind until this issue is resolved.

As specifically as you can, describe the problems as you see them at the fire department, and how they can be resolved?

As I stated in a previous article written for The Saline Post, my general concerns are related to internal controls, higher authority approvals, separation of duties, Title lX compliance/ violations, hiring practices and overall management. It has also been identified that both administration and chair leadership of the last 10 years has led to this crisis. While an initial push to separate the SAFD from the city administratively has occurred to some degree, there continues to be reliance on our city manager providing guidance and use of the city accounting system.

In addition, as an offshoot of the risk assessment initially undertaken by the City of Saline for which I chaired and recommended, a similar comprehensive review of the fire department risks was undertaken. While I was initially encouraged with this risk assessment approach, unlike our city, there continued to be issues with the results.

Finally, it must be noted the contention between the mayor, fire chief, townships and the city has not resolved itself. While many opinions and assumptions have been made by community residents, until an independent assessment of fire and medical response is considered, individual agendas and personalities will continue to negatively impact policy and decision-making among the fire chief and board. Current proposals being discussed will definitely have a very large price tag. Ideas such as multiple facilities, much more staffing and concerns about response time without truly evaluating other potential alternatives or even consideration of regional opportunities is shortsighted. While I understand there are many factors, especially improving response times, these other possibilities must be considered in terms of limited taxpayer resources.

Do you support the latest charter amendment proposal? Why or why not

My goal since proposing a review of our city charter has always been to bring our City up to date with the laws of the State of Michigan and generally accepted practices of comparable local governments. Operating with a charter from 1962 and never formally amending it to reflect current legislative directions or correct outdated societal norms is simply not representative of the leading values to which Saline aspires in 2024. I was disappointed the previous charter amendment on residency and gender neutrality failed. However, what was clear is the City Council must take a greater lead in communicating its intent and clarying both legalese and misinformation.

As for the two charter amendments on the November 5 ballot, clearly I supported the recommendations as a serving member of the actual charter review task force. I initially evaluated the change primarily on the realization that the three newest cities in Washtenaw County (Chelsea, Dexter and Manchester) all adopted four-year terms similar to Milan(with exception of the mayor), Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.
As to the second amendment, adopting the compensation committee is simply codifying what has been practiced for decades by the city and already authorized by the State of Michigan. It is neither a change nor gives Council new authority to increase its actual compensation without proper review. An appointed committee of City residents will continue to make recommendations using data gathered on other comparable communities. Council then either rejects or accepts their recommendation.

What gives you the most optimism for Saline’s future.

Saline is a great community. We have similar struggles and worries as any other community in Michigan however we have a strong tax base, dedicated and thoughtful residents, the potential for growth and an ability to re-engineer our city for the future, with deep respect to our history and values. The current council has worked hard this past year to develop a new strategic plan and update our various recreational and planning master plans to aid us in achieving an even better city.

What gives you the most concern for Saline’s future?

The most worrisome of concerns is a return to the broken past. Residents expect fair and just consideration, reliable services and honesty. Prioritizing special interests because of money, influence, grandiose schemes or a need to boost a reputation have always resulted in poor outcomes, ultimately leaving city taxpayers to foot the bill and depriving individuals of their rights and livelihood. A Council that focuses merely on outcomes without adequate reviews, clear disclosure and full communication fails in its sworn duty to protect the city as a whole. Which raises the concern of the lack of qualified and dedicated volunteers willing to serve in leadership roles. It takes more than just a desire to sit at the dais, our city needs individuals willing to dedicate time and efforts to drive policy and expectations. Similar to other volunteer organizations in the city, all are struggling to retain and add volunteers. If our community cannot improve participation, many of the opportunities to build a sense of community and duty among Saline residents will disappear.
Separately, but clearly on the minds of our citizens is the ability for our community to support and provide a wide diversity of economic households. Housing costs continue to increase and there is insufficient housing stock in both variety and attainability. Further, the cost of providing utilities and remaining a fully independent city will be extremely difficult. A key component to lowering costs across-the-board depends on our ability to accommodate more density, accept growth and consider regional options. While a desire to preserve open space and limit growth seems feasible, the direct offset is higher costs and/or reduction in non-essential services. As we already know, millages, many of which are not under the control of the city, continue to be assessed. Without coordination, especially among taxing agencies, we will continue to experience widening disparities and further erosion of our living standards.