Full Notification

We have received numerous phone calls this week from concerned residents regarding the recent resolution passed by our City Council concerning the Economic Vitality and Incentive Program (EVIP) grant the Grosse Pointes received from the State of Michigan to facilitate the consolidation of their lockups and dispatch centers. The resolution passed by our Council supported the concept of consolidation, but asked the State of Michigan to include Harper Woods in the funding.

I have been advocating consolidation with the Grosse Pointes for over twenty years as a police administrator and City Manager. We share the radio system with the Grosse Pointes and have helped pay for it for over forty years. The concept of consolidating services with other communities is a rational, financially sound idea, whose time has come.

I have written several letters to the State Treasurer, our elected representatives, and the Governor’s Office seeking information on why Harper Woods was excluded by the Grosse Pointes, and more particularly, why the State of Michigan is funding the exclusion and isolation of Harper Woods. To date, I have not heard back from anyone.

In researching how this grant came to be, I have learned that a fifteen (15) member Ad Hoc Committee was formed to consider consolidation of services in the five Grosse Pointes. Harper Woods was not invited to participate in these discussions, despite our decade’s long mutual aid pact. This Ad Hoc Committee was led by the City Manager of Grosse Pointe City, Peter Dame, and consisted of other elected officials of the Grosse Pointes, the City Managers, and the Directors of Public Safety. I have been advised that when the discussion of seeking a grant under the EVIP program came up, all of the Public Safety Directors and at least two City Managers strenuously opposed leaving Harper Woods out of the request. The Committee voted despite these objections to seek the EVIP grant to receive funding to build a central lockup and dispatch center for only the Grosse Pointes.

More surprisingly, the State Treasurer’s Office received the grant request and approved matching funds of up to $300,000.00 to build a Grosse Pointe only lockup and dispatch center. As I stated, we are all for consolidation of services and support Governor Snyder’s philosophy on building partnerships and more efficient communities. To allocate state funds to a group of five communities to isolate a long standing partner is contrary to the stated goals of the Governor and the EVIP program.

The City Councils of the Grosse Pointes are in the process of passing resolutions supporting the use of these funds and the building of a lockup and dispatch center. The consequences of Harper Woods being left out are dire. We will be left alone as an island surrounded by the City of Detroit, Macomb County, and the Grosse Pointes, who appear to be moving to consolidate, but leaving our community out. This move away from a forty year plus partnership should not be allowed to happen.

Harper Woods desires to continue our long standing relationship with the Grosse Pointes. We currently share a radio system, mutual aid pact, school system, library, and community and cultural ideals. We will continue to seek answers and inclusion in our communities’ efforts at consolidation. The EVIP grant as it stands is counter-productive to the mutual benefit of all six cities, and is contrary to the objectives as outlined by the Governor. I will keep you informed.

Thank you,

Randolph Skotarczyk
Harper Woods City Manager