Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Granholm calls for resource pooling

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 00:54:38 -0500

Granholm calls for resource pooling
BY Diane Frank
Jan. 30, 2004

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm urged local governments in her State of the
State address earlier this week to form new partnerships and pool resources for
common services in order to get through the budget shortfalls that will continue
to plague the state in fiscal 2005.

A gap of more than $1 billion "looms" in 2005, Granholm said, on top of the $3
billion gap Michigan just closed. Although state government officials will be
working on the shortfalls from its perspective, "crisis begets opportunity, and
opportunity now screams out loud to our local schools and governments to break
the mold, not the bank," she said.

Many resources could be combined in order to share services, technology and even
employees. Maxine Berman, director of special projects, will serve as the leader
at the state level for this cross-organizational initiative. Her job will be "to
remove barriers to collaboration, share successes, provide incentives to mergers
and erode the turf mentality that costs us all too much," Granholm said.

Coordination and communication are also top priorities for the Michigan Homeland
Security Team in the coming year. During the summer blackout that affected much
of the Northeast and part of the Midwest, including Michigan, the state's public
safety radio system was able to provide uninterrupted communications for police,
fire and emergency medical personnel.

However, communications interoperability is still spotty between local and state
responders, and even worse between state and local law enforcement and the
federal Customs and Border Patrol officers keeping track of the Michigan/Canada
border, which is one of the busiest crossing points in the United States,
Granholm said. She pledged that by 2008, the communications systems would reach
across all levels of government within the state.

http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2004/0126/web-michigan-01-30-04.asp

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