Candidate's concern: Staff reductions

Election 2011

EDITOR'S NOTE

Traverse City voters on Nov. 8 will determine the city commission's makeup for the next two years. Two candidates are vying for mayor, while seven commission hopefuls are competing for three open seats.

The Record-Eagle will profile each candidate, available at Record-Eagle.com/election as they are published.

BOB DONICK

Age: 59

Occupation: Union representative, retired police officer

Previous political experience: None

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Bob Donick

October 21, 2011

BY ART BUKOWSKI abukowski@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Fri Oct 21, 2011, 08:01 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Bob Donick wants a piece of the action.

Donick, a business representative for Teamsters Local 214, seeks a spot on the city commission. He's watched the mechanisms of city government for a while now, and he believes it's time for him to get involved.

"I was tired of sitting on the sidelines and watching things that, just maybe, I could help with," he said. "My top priority and the reason I ran is I'm concerned about the reduction in fire department and police staff."

Donick spent 26 years with the Grand Traverse Sheriff's Department, retiring in 2000 at the rank of lieutenant. He now represents the city police department's command staff, city clerical/technical employees and department of public works employees in union negotiations, as well as several county employees.

He doesn't represent city fire department personnel or non-command city police officers. If elected, he said he'd remove himself from any votes that involve bargaining units he represents.

The city lost multiple full-time police officers and firefighters in recent years, largely by not replacing those who retired or voluntarily left. There's been much talk of merging the city's fire and police departments with the Grand Traverse Metro Fire and Grand Traverse sheriff's departments, respectively, though Donick doesn't think those are realistic ideas.

Instead, he'd rather see more city police officers hired.

"I've been to three neighborhood association meetings in the last month, and all they talk about is getting their sector officers back," he said. "You can't do that by cutting officers."

About 10 years ago, the city had seven officers covering seven sectors throughout the city. Each officer primarily focused on activity within his or her sector and developed relationships with neighborhood residents.

That program was trimmed as the city reduced its officer load for budget reasons, and Traverse City now has two officers who cover four sectors, with the rest dedicated to road patrol, criminal investigations or other matters.

Donick does not favor a fire merger, largely because he believes it could hurt response times or overall service.

"My wife and my children and my grandchildren's lives are more important than saving a few dollars," he said.

Aside from public safety issues, Donick wants to see city commissioners regularly attend meetings of neighborhood groups. Some commissioners and city staff members do now, but it's not required.

"I would like to see commissioners going to neighborhood association meetings," he said. "It's we, it's not them against us."

In terms of investing public money in private projects, Donick doesn't have a problem — as long as the project is carefully examined.

"It would depend on the project," he said. "You'd have to look real closely at how it's going to benefit the city before you say, 'Hey, we'll give you $500,000.'"

Donick also wants to see improvements in city parks. Some of them, he said, have play equipment that's decades old.

"We need some enhancement of the parks to make them where people want to go as meeting places with friends, neighbors and children," he said.