Plymouth City Commission Candidate Profile: Meg Dooley

Age:
37

Occupation:
Volunteer, Stay-at-home parent

Previous public office experience?:
Currently on the City of Plymouth Planning Commission

Education:
Bachelor of Arts in Education, University of Michigan (1996)
Juris Doctor, Wayne State University Law School (2001)

How long have you been a Plymouth resident?:
Since February 2002

What made you decide to seek office?:
Quite simply, I love this City and I want to be involved in keeping it a special place to live and work. I have been a part of the City since 1996 when I started working downtown. Plymouth is an amazing community made up of caring and committed people. I love it here and my husband and I can think of no better place to raise our children. We have two sons, ages 4 and 5. Now that they are getting older, I have some extra time to volunteer. My experience on the City Planning Commission made me decide to run for City Commission since I have learned so much and I have developed an understanding of the current and future issues facing the City. I think I have the skills necessary to make a positive impact on our community and I am willing to work hard to make that happen.

One recent issue that has been identified in Plymouth is the availability of public parking downtown. What steps should the city take to address this issue?
The City is already addressing this issue. A Parking Committee has been formed that is working on all aspects of parking in the City. I see a need for short term and long term parking solutions and the City Commission will ultimately have to make decisions based on recommendations from the Parking Committee, the DDA, the Planning Commission and the community at large. In the short term, we need to come up with creative ways to respond to existing concerns of business owners and patrons about the lack of downtown parking during peak usage times. Solutions are being discussed and I believe that we will have additional public parking downtown in the very near future.

In the long term, we have an aging parking deck and we are going to have to make plans to build a new deck to accommodate downtown parking needs. I think it is worth exploring whether there are funds available from government infrastructure projects that could assist us with the cost of building a deck. I also think we should get community feedback on this issue. I personally do not favor charging patrons to park downtown on the City streets since it is currently free and I think it will discourage people from coming but I am open to all discussion.

The city will begin its joint fire operations with Northville in 2012 after previously working with Plymouth Township. In what other ways can the city consolidate services, and what are the benefits of doing so?
That is a difficult question to specifically answer without pouring over the City budget with existing Commissioners to ask if we have recently pursued consolidation of particular services. As to each service, we must examine whether consolidation of that service is an option and determine if it would
actually save us money. Governor Snyder recently altered the State revenue sharing system of the past with a new "best practices" system. Now municipalities will be rewarded when they consolidate services. I believe the deadline for submitting consolidation plans to the State is January 1, 2012 in
order to receive a share of $200 million in state aid. Therefore, I am confident these issues will be on the forefront of the City Commission agenda in the near term.

To answer the question, I see potential opportunities to consolidate in at least the following areas: regional fire and police dispatching, trash and recycling, professional services, equipment ownership/sharing and transportation. But
consolidation does not always mean that things work better or that they will save the community money. That is why I would need to respond on a case by case basis after examining the entire issue and getting answers to the right questions before developing an opinion.

Aside from parking, can you identify one other issue in the city and any plans to address it?
Attend any City Commission meeting and you will quickly see that issues (big and small) are constantly arising. One big issue that comes to mind are the vacant buildings that dot our City. The City Commission can only do so much to fill those vacancies since the properties are privately owned. However, we can enforce existing codes to make sure the properties are maintained while vacant. We can also do things that continue to make Plymouth the place where people want to invest, to work and to live. I would really like to be a part of coming up with a plan to encourage diverse business development in Plymouth, particularly downtown and in Old Village in order to support existing businesses and to continue to improve our great City.

Editor's note: Candidate responses have not been edited.