It would be difficult to underestimate recent comments made by Farmington Hills Mayor Jerry Ellis, who has long had the idea the Hills “subsidizes” Farmington when it comes to cultural amenities. Now that Mr. Ellis is mayor, his quest to even-up has gone into over-drive.
As quoted by Stacy Jenkins in Thursday’s Farmington Observer, the Hills Mayor makes a unique assessment about why the two cities are still the two cities: “We remain two separate communities, because we cannot afford you anymore.”
Well, no. We remain two communities because a group of Farmington officials and the core of residents who support them want nothing to do with Farmington Hills. We remain two communities because the collective will to merge simply does not exist. The “we subsidize you” attitude is a large part of why.
Quite a few people in Farmington see Farmington Hills city officials as “empire builders.” They believe Farmington Hills would annex Farmington if it could, to absorb its property tax base and, perhaps, fulfill some vast, evil plan to become a world super-power. Okay, that last part is an exaggeration, but the bottom line is, folks in Farmington have been naturally suspicious of Farmington Hills for quite some time. While the talking points for both cities have always included “cooperation” and “sharing,” an undercurrent of mild hostility has always punctuated the conversation.
Here’s the thing: Farmington Hills does have vast recreational resources, when compared to Farmington. And for years, people in Farmington have used them under the same terms and conditions as people in Farmington Hills, because that was the deal. Now, if Mr. Ellis didn’t like the deal, he’s had 10 years to change it. He’s lived in Farmington Hills all that time, and in fact, he took his first steps toward city council with involvement in developing Farmington Hills’ parks and recreation facilities. Why now? Could it have something to do with the Hills new Parks and Recreation facilities study, with its 10-year $27 million capital improvement plan?
Money can’t be all of it. Hills city council members have publicly expressed their weariness at being cast as the big, bad wolves looking to gobble up the smaller city. And who could blame them? Only Farmington mayor Valerie Knol has consistently kept an open mind in these discussions; other council members have been adamant advocates of autonomy and, in some cases, openly hostile. The city’s reaction to a request for skate board park funding probably sticks in the Hills’ craw, as it should.
But lost in this riotous nonsense is how it all began, with a small section in a study about how to sustain Farmington Hills’ success into the foreseeable future. This led to a discussion of whether a merger would benefit residents in both communities and an examination of shared services/merger benefits and drawbacks. Unfortunately, the results were immediately cast in light of who got the most out of the deal. The question was, is and always should be whether residents in both communities would be better served and pay less in property taxes under one, central government. And to a greater or lesser degree, they would.
Everyone seems to have stopped talking about that now. The merger/shared services study seems to have become less a road map to unity, and more the preamble to a divorce decree. Listen to the bickering at the shared table, sure seems like we’re headed in that direction.
And we weren’t even married.
–Joni Hubred-Golden
Michigan woman blogger
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