Mark Byrne:

·  AGE: 45

·  OCCUPATION: Technical manager at Intertape Polymer Group facility in Marysville.

·  POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Port Huron City Council since November 2007.

·  EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Detroit.

·  FAMILY: Wife, Katie; one child.  

"Will the new council promote boating for Port Huron like keeping the Black River Canal finally dredged out or allowing alcohol consumption on the south side of Black River downtown." Submitted by Rick Niemietz, seconded by Chad Noetzel 10-27-09.

"I don't think I can ad much to Chads's answer. I agree 100% with Chad on this question.  

  I will expand on the question though. We have beaches that are rockier than most tourist like. For those with out boats we have to walk on all those rocks to get to the sand bar and enjoy lake Huron. I support getting DNR permission if needed and then start picking up the rocks.  A 20 foot wide path with out rocks down the beach into the water and through the water to the sand bar would be a start. Over time the area cleared could grow.  Yes new rocks would get washed back. 

   This could be be done by asking those there to grab a bucket full of rocks and dump them into a bin as their leaving, my son all ready makes trips for hours with his plastic dump truck full of rocks. If there was a place to put them at he would empty his truck there. We could also ask for volunteers, donations which could pay people who need work, prison labor or other no cost options. 

   The rocks collected could taken to the city yard and made available to residents for free like wood chips are and sold to non residents or land scapers. There probably would be enough rocks gathered over time to fill a pier and create a beach like Harbor Beach."

"Do you favor a ‘Ward System’ or ‘At Large System’ for our city, and why?”

"I like the ward system because as a Libertarian I firmly believe the more local the decisions are made the better informed the decisions are. I prefer Individual Rights over City authority,  City Rights over County authority, County Rights over States authority and States Rights over Federal power.

  I understand that the decisions would not be made at the ward level if we switch to a ward system. However, I see the people that live near me more often then I see those who do not so I am more knowledgeable in the needs of my neighborhood than the needs of other neighborhoods. Having representation from all parts of Port Huron by using a ward system will bring up issues that otherwise council members may not be aware of.  

On a side note I am in favor of Charter revisions that will make Port Huron more competitive and am opposed to changes that add costs with no actual benefit. 

 An examples is that the Charter commission can change the date city property taxes are do from June 1st to December 1st. Short term this would provide those with escrow accounts a one time economic boost to help get through this tough economy in the form of a escrow account refund for the balance being too high.  Long term it will keep more money in the local economy and make Port Huron a smarter choice by allowing those who pay property taxes directly to pay before December 31st every other year giving them a larger itemized deduction on the Federal tax return one year and lower their itemized deductions the following year so that the standard deduction will be a larger deduction the next year.  This creates a larger 2 year total deductions on Federal taxes which means more money will stay in Port Huron instead of going to Washington DC.  The Charter commission has chosen not to do this after I presented it them.  

 An example on the other hand is that electing the mayor separately instead of allowing the elected council to select their leader.  This will cost more as primaries for Mayor will be more common than primaries for city council have been.  This might be worth the extra cost if the Mayor had any additional powers that the other council members do not such as veto power.  With the Mayor just being another council member except for ceremonial purposes it makes no sense to spend more money to elect the Mayor separate.  The current system of allowing the council to select the Mayor insures that a responsible council will elect the person who will be in the majority of most decisions the council makes.  Electing the Mayor separately or automatically making the highest vote getter the mayor will occasional lead to Mayor who is in conflict with the majority of council members.  What is the point of electing a Mayor separately and not giving them extra authority? The only result will be a frustrated Mayor who gets out voted on everything when the majority of council is not in agreement with that mayor most of the time.           

I am also opposed to staggered terms. Many voters wanted the old council out for choosing to dramatically raise water and sewer rates rather than find budget cuts. Staggered terms would have prevented the voters from being able to change that direction after only 1 year.  Those same voters took a chance on some unknown candidates like me and might want to make a change now not two more years from now.

"What is your opinion of Port Huron's city income tax? Submitted by Alice O'Neil, seconded by Chad Noetzel 10-2-09."

"Do you feel it is necessary for a councilperson to read the sales agreement, prior to voting, when the city is buying or selling real estate?"    Submitted by Gerald Frendt seconded by Chad Noetzel 9-30-09.

"My answer is an easy Yes.  Council members have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the taxpayers money is spent wisely and not wasted.   

   I asked to delay this resolution and not having a purchase agreement was one of the reasons I gave for that delay. I also voted no since I did not have enough information to make a $660,000 decision on with the purchase agreement not being there being one of them. 

   This topic was discussed by the Charter Commission at their last meeting as the Charter requires the City Manager, Mayor and a Lawyer to sign off on all contracts.  It was an enlightening conversation.

  As Real Estate transactions tend to be large and can carry hidden liabilities such as the Fort Gratiot Light House agreement wanting the city to take responsibility for all past asbestos exposures,  I personally want to see a real estate purchase agreement before I vote to ok it.  

Since a Mayor is required to sign all contracts they will get a chance to read the actual purchase agreement along with hearing what the City Manager and Lawyers think about it before signing it.  If they see something they do not like they can choose not to sign it. I mention this as that points out that the Mayor still has one more chance to vote and to them this was a preliminary step to keep the ball rolling and get a purchase agreement done so that he can review it.  A No vote on Monday would have ended the project.  Other council members will not see the purchase agreement until after is signed if it ends up being signed so this was our last chance to object to anything in it so I needed to see it.  

  Another situation that I might vote in favor of a purchase before a purchase agreement is available is when timing is critical and a 2 week delay might cause an opportunity to be missed and I have known the other people working on it long enough that I know they will do a thorough job and let me know about anything that comes up that may change my mind.

   I treat tax money as if it was my money being spent, which part of it is my money."    "In light of recent events I would like to know how each candidate feels about the City of Port Huron enacting an ordinance banning the ownership of dangerous breeds of dogs, specifically those commonly known as 'Pit Bulls'."  Submitted by Bill Kessler, Port Huron, MI.  Seconded by Edison Palmer 9-22-09.

  "Apparently this question is too hot to touch as you’re bound to lose votes from either dog owners or from parents with small children who do not have dogs. I will attempt to get the ball rolling as this is a very legitimate question for communities.

  I personally have a 5 year old at home without a fenced in yard and have had an occasional stray dog wander into our backyard. The possibility of a stray aggressive dog attacking my son is a reality.

  I also know that some Pit Bulls are trained to be good and some are trained to be mean. This is true of other breeds of dogs as well. I know a child who was attacked by a German Sheppard and mauled badly.  Having cut grass for a landscaping company for many years I know gentle dogs and aggressive dogs come in all shapes and sizes.   

  I am not in favor of an outright ban on all dogs nor a ban on just some dogs.  One reason is that dogs are often used as security for some people. I know my neighbor’s dogs will start barking if a stranger comes between our houses for example. I do not think there are many who would argue that a German Sheppard does not deter some crime.

  I am very much in favor of prosecuting owners as if they committed the assault themselves when their dog attacks someone who is not on their property. If you going to have an aggressive dog, you are responsible to contain or control it at all times. Your dog putting someone in the hospital after getting out of your yard is your responsibility.

  I am also in favor of bans with severe penalties for training dogs to fight and penalties such as fines for not being able to contain and control your dog. If your pit bull or other strong breed is wandering the neighborhood by itself while you’re elsewhere then there should be a law that penalizes you for allowing that to happen.

  I know dogs occasional get out as I have helped more than one person round up their dog after it gets out of the yard. If it only happens once and it’s a gentle well trained dog I am sure you’ll have it back in the yard quickly and safely without any neighbors getting concerned. If it’s a dog trained to be aggressive then you should have taken more precautions as many responsible dog owners do.   

  Dogs are not the issue as much as the bad owners who have more dog than they can handle or purposely train the dog to be aggressive. 

  Dogs are not the issue as much as the bad owners who have more dog than they can handle or purposely train the dog to be aggressive."

"This forum has been set up for the candidates to ask the questions. Do you feel that the opportunity to ask questions should be offered to non-candidates as well? " Submitted by James Fisher 9-16-09

"I am always willing to answer questions from anybody. I answer questions on the Times Herald Forum called "Ask you local government official" and will answer any e-mail or phone call I get. e-Mail me at byrnem@porthuron.org if you have a question.
 
As to this forum allowing questions from non-candidates I will leave that entirely up to the owner of the site who has so graciously offered us all a Free way of getting our views out.
 
If questions are allowed I would suggest that anonymous ones not be allowed as that as other blogs have shown anonymous bloggers can be very mean spirited and that is not in the interest of making this a site people will find useful for learning about the candidates. In addition that may provide an excuse for some candidates not to participate.

"How do the candidates feel about having fundraisers outside of Port Huron city limits. Do they get most of their contributions from non residents or from residents? Also do they feel that township resident contributions can sway their opinions and how they vote?" Submitted by John Edison 9-11-09

I would not hold a fund raiser outside of Port Huron and think that is wrong. I think that is different then getting donations from non-residents and I am more concerned about the size of individual donations and the amount of money raised then the ratio of resident to non-resident donations. For example if I decide to spend money this campaign my Mom who is a non-resident maybe the only one who donates to my campaign. I do not think it’s bad for a parent to support their child with a $20 donation. I do think it bad if a Port Huron City Council candidate is getting donations over a couple hundred dollars from anybody rather the donator is a resident or not.   

Decisions made by the Port Huron city council affect not only city residents but others as well. Many of the non-residents pay city income taxes and or city property taxes on business’s they own and have chosen to locate in Port Huron, this would be taxation without representation in terms of being able to vote if they were not allowed to donate. Many non-city residents are also affected by our Water Rates which previous councils chose to increase dramatically rather than find more cost effective ways to deliver city services. In addition not everyone’s close friends and family live in Port Huron and donations often get started from you close circle of friends or family. 

That said it is important to know who the candidates are and not be voting for candidates just because they have a lot of signs or nice literature or other campaign material that donations allow them to buy.

In general I am not in favor of money being used to influence the outcome of an election. Donations can often be viewed as buying influence or buying ear time. No candidate should ever let donations determine who they talk too or which way they vote on an issue. I believe the Bluewater area is very fortunate to have FREE sites such as this one and fair coverage by the Times Herald, The Voice, WPHM/Radio First, WGRT etc…which provide opportunities for voters to know who the candidates are. In addition candidate meet and greet’s such as the Citizens for a Vibrant Community one on 9-21-09 at 7PM at McMorran and the debate sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the Times Herald and hopefully others also allow voters to get to know the candidates.

 I myself also participate for free on the online forums of the Times Herald under my name, am listed in the phone book, return all phone calls and e-mails and am open to questions when ever anybody sees me such as around town at local events or just about town. 

While I am hopeful voters take the time to find out more about the candidates I also know that candidates like any product benefit from advertising and marketing. Last election I did not spend any money and was able to just squeak onto council. With a larger field and there being many good candidates to choose from, having the most signs or a lot of advertising may determine who gets elected and who does not.

"How do you like the work new city manager Bruce Brown is doing ? Please give examples of what you liked or disliked so far." Submitted by Mark Byrne 9-3-2009.

While I submitted this question I will also answer it.  I think Bruce is doing an excellent job. His strengths such as communication and team building are even better than I thought they would be. I knew he had great experience and success in development and am very pleased with how hard Bruce is working to get things started in Port Huron . There have been and continue to be more opportunities that council has been informed about by Bruce in each month than I was made aware of in the first half of this councils term. 

"A few months ago the City Council removed funding for the EDA and hired their own Economic Development director. Do you support the direction this council has taken?" Submitted by John Edison Palmer 8-27-2009.

"Not only do I support the decision to stop having Port Huron taxpayers pay EDA dues for a 3rd way in our 2009/2010 budget,  I proposed eliminating the EDA membership dues during discussions on the 2008/2009 budget as well. 

  Port Huron Taxpayers pay county, city, PHASD, Library, County Parks and County Drug task force millage etc... Each millage has a stated purpose such as the PHASD millage is to pay for the school system and the County Millage is to pay for county wide services. 

   Port Huron has the highest unemployment and lowest per capita income in the county and yet we pay a county millage for county wide services of which there are several we do not receive. It is the city’s choice to not use these county wide services such as the Sheriff patrols and instead have our own Police Department. For opting out of some county services there is no refund or reduced county millage rate for Port Huron taxpayers. This probably works out fairly even as there are county services Port Huron uses at least our share of.

  The EDA, while not part of the County Government , is a county wide service whose success or failure is shared by the whole county. The people hired or jobs saved by the EDA can go to any of us and are not restricted to the local residents where a project is. The local benefit is water, sewer and property tax revenues. The property tax benefit also benefits the whole county as the county property tax revenues are affected as much as the local property tax revenues are.

  I voted to end Port Huron taxpayers paying additional dues because I believe Port Huron residents and business’s should not be paying more than the same county millage rate for county wide services as everyone else in the county pays. The current dues structure has many taxpayers in St Clair County paying dues to the EDA two and three times. Port Huron taxpayers for example pay EDA dues through the PHASD dues, Port Huron dues and the County dues. Others, such as Marysville and St Clair pay twice through their city dues and their county dues. Some Township’s such as Kimball pay twice through their PHASD dues and county dues. Meanwhile others only pay once and at a lower per person rate than those paying City dues pay in just the City dues portion.    

During the pre-primary debate. A few of the challengers commented that too much time has been spent on "trivial matters." Specifically, over the past two years, what items up for council consideration have you considered "trivial?"  Submitted by Jim Fisher 8-26-2009.

"While there may have been small items addressed I do not see how they took away from time spent on other issues. For example council meetings that addressed an issue such as the invocation would simply have ended earlier if no discussion on the invocation policy had taken place. 

A recent council meeting took an hour. Had we taken another hour to discuss any other topic it would have not taken time away from other topics.  

I for one think all issues are important and should be addressed promptly when they arise. While some may think restoring Freedoms to citizens is trivial I consider both your and my Freedoms to be extremely important as Freedom and responsibility are the basis this great country was founded on."

The current city council drastically reduced the pay for the new city manager compared to the previous city manager, would you favor reducing the pay  level for department heads and eliminating severance pay when they quit?  Submitted by Chad Noetzel 8-12-2009.

  I am a leader on this topic. I have shown salary comparison data and introduced resolutions that passed. One reduced the Police Chief's salary to no more than 7% higher than the Police captains from about 30% higher.  Reductions have all ready been implemented for the City Manager, Police Chief and City Clerk as these vacated positions were filled. Reducing the HR Directors salary is in process currently.  We have shown that very qualified people can be obtained at salaries lower than what was being paid to department heads in each case.  As our citizens have been asked to tighten their belts in this economy so must the city administration. These 4 salary reductions will save taxpayers about $230,000 a year in salaries and benefits.

  These savings prevent the lay offs of Police Officers, Fire Fighters and others who perform critical essential services that we must maintain if we are start attracting people and jobs back to Port Huron. The alternative chosen by previous city council members and city administrations was to raise water and sewer rates making Port Huron a less attractive choice for people and business's to locate.     

 I am also in favor of and pushing for changes in the work rules that allow a person to accumulate sick and vacation days from the time they first start working for the city when they are often in entry level jobs and then cash them out later at their current often higher level pay 30 years later. This practice needs to stop as it creates several problems:

 1. Some vacation time is known to be important for productivity and moral. Not taking some vacation results in a less productive work force. 

2. The departments are staffed and budgeted knowing how many vacation days need to be covered. Not using the vacation days in those years and instead accumulating them up and taking more in other years creates over staffing in the year they were not taken and under staffing in the years they are taken. If cash payouts are taken later that creates budget shortfalls in those years.      

3. Cashing out a vacation day earned 30 years ago when making $7.00/hr and getting paid for it now when you are a department head making $45.00/hr means the taxpayers spent $360 for that vacation day instead of just the $56 it what earned as and accounted for as. For someone saving up 10 vacation and sick days a year for 30 years this can be as much as 300 x $360 = $108,000 

4. Taking the cash pay out in later years also distorts one's average salary their last 3 years. As the last 3 years salary are used to determine retirement benefits this can and does create higher pension payouts than the 80% of last 3 years average salary should rightfully be.  In the case of someone saving up 10 vacation or sick days a year that can add up to $108,000 / 3 = $36,000 to each of the last 3 years pay. At 80% this is an extra $28,800 a year in pension money.   For this example a Department head who has been with the city for 30 years and ends their career at $90,000 a year as some have recently done that can mean their pension is actually greater than their working salary as 80% x $90,000 = $72,000 and $72,000 + $28,800 = $100,800 a year.  If they started when they were 22 and retired at 52 and live to be 82 that can cost taxpayers $3,024,000 in retirement pensions a full $864,000 more than it should be. 

5. While I believe a public servant such as a HR Director, City Clerk or Police Chief should be able to retire comfortably after 30 years of service. I think the possible $100,800 a year pension from inflating the base salary along with social security payments and payments from the taxpayer 6% matched 401K's is excessive wasteful spending of tax payers money. Particularly when the average family is making only $33,000 a year in Port Huron. I have all ready eliminated further 6% matches on the 401K's put in place by previous city councils and city managers and now want to eliminate the ability to bank vacation and sick days.

My proposal is to give each employee until the end of the year to use or cash out 50% of their currently accumulated sick and vacation days this year. Next year they will need to use or cash out all their remaining banked sick or vacation days.  Each year going forward they will at a maximum be allowed to carry over an accumulated total of 5 days or cash out 5 days if un expected workloads require it with permission from their manager.  This is still as generous or more generous as any place I have ever worked. 

1.  What strategy should the city employ for economic development?

"Reduce the regulatory and tax burdens placed on those who choose to do business or live in Port Huron. Businesses and citizens are paying customers and should be treated as such. I would not shop at a store that charges higher prices and only allows me to look at an item if they are standing over me to verify I'm looking at the item correctly. Likewise, businesses and homeowners will not locate in Port Huron if we have higher taxes and more regulations than other communities. Suspending permit fees and requirements for a month will demonstrate freedom works."

2. What should be done to pay the debt from the sewer separation project?

"Reversing declining population and business base is the way to ensure revenue is maintained or increased without raising taxes. Over the life of this debt service, cost cuts will add up. Selling the marina and city-owned land shifted $8 million in costs to $1 million in revenue. Eliminating double pensions and severance for quitting reduced costs by another $2 million. Changing work rules so that vacation and sick days must be used up each year or lost instead of accumulated and cashed out at higher pay rates inflating pension benefits, also will save additional millions over the debt payoff period."

3. After economic development, what is the biggest issue facing the city?

"A big issue facing Port Huron is that our next generation is leaving the area in search of career opportunities. We must start creating an environment in Port Huron that attracts entrepreneurs to start, relocate or expand their business here. Reducing regulatory and tax burdens is the best way to attract them. There are many growing industries, including technology and renewable energy. In addition, having large companies open branches in Port Huron provides career opportunities. Stafford, Texas, has been extremely successful at this, and we should learn from the strategy they used. See www.cityofstafford.com for details."

4. What would you do with McMorran Place if you had the final say?

"McMorran was a great gift and was once an economic engine for downtown. As a Libertarian, I believe government has no business being in the entertainment industry. Selling McMorran or leasing it to a private company will eliminate the city's $300,000 a year subsidy, result in the facility being better utilized, draw more people downtown and generate more tax revenue along with more jobs at the facility. River Street Marina, for example, once placed in control of a private sector company, went from being a money pit to money maker, despite high gas prices and a very rough economy."