A Professor and a Commissioner… And even more?

By Andrew Atwal

Oct. 25, 2010

Not only does she run half-marathons, but she also manages to teach two courses at Michigan State while being a member of the Meridian Township planning commission as well.

Adrienne Domas was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas where she was the oldest of her siblings. She went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Texas Austin, graduating in 2000. Domas continued her study of geography at the University of California Santa Barbara where she received her Master’s degree in 2002.

Currently a professor in the department of geography at Michigan State, she teaches Geography 221, a course which introduces geographic information. Domas also teaches Integrative Studies in Social Sciences (ISS for short) 310 which involves contemporary issues related to the interaction of social and ecological systems (msu.edu).

She also helped to developed Geography 221V, which is the online version of geography 221. The course was awarded honorable mention for the 2010 MSU-AT&T Instructional Technology Awards.

Domas loves being a professor because she really enjoys interacting with students and being around young people, though she is only 32 years old herself. She also likes introducing students to new topics and seeing their interest sparked as a result.

If she was not a professor right now, Domas said she would be doing some sort of urban planning right now, identical to the work she did Santa Barbara and in Austin. She enjoyed being a planner in Austin, in particular, because she “could take the city that she loves and make it better.” Her projects in Austin were more long-term (10-20 years), while her projects in Santa Barbara were for the more immediate future.

Domas described one of her experiences as a planner in Santa Barbara where she had to deal with celebrity Rob Lowe. You may know Lowe from his roles in shows including Parks and Recreation and The West Wing. Domas sat through mediation meetings essentially across the table from Lowe stemming from neighbors taking issue with Lowe wanting an addition onto his beach house. Neighbors argued that the addition would “block their view of the sunset.”

In addition to being a professor at Michigan State, Domas serves on the Meridian Township planning commission. She enjoys being on the planning commission to get a first look at developments as it makes her feel “ahead of the game” in that regard. Domas also enjoys serving on the planning commission because she seeks to make Meridian Township a better place by making the best decisions for the community.

In her spare time, Domas enjoys running; she has ran eight half-marathons and one marathon. She also enjoys cooking and playing guitar. It also seems that Domas enjoys sports as her office in the geography building had posters of the Michigan State football and basketball teams. She also described herself as a hard-worker as she has won an award of some sort at every job she has ever held.

Although Domas is a professor at Michigan State, something that is a lot of work as is, she also serves Meridian Township on the planning commission to help better the community around her.

As if that was not enough, Domas has run several half-marathons.

This begs the question: Does she have any time for relaxing?

Okemos School Board facing potentially devastating budget cuts

By: Andrew Atwal

Oct. 18, 2010

OKEMOS, Mich. — The Okemos School Board met on Monday, Oct. 11 to discuss, among other things, the potentially very large  budget cuts that could wreak havoc on the schools’ operation in the years to come.

Catherine Ash, interim superintendent of the Okemos Schools, and Robert Clark, director of accounting services, talked about the budget cuts the schools could be facing within the next several years.

On a more positive note regarding the budget, the federally funded Education Jobs Bill, or EduJobs, is awaiting Governor Jennifer Granholm’s signature. If passed, Okemos would receive $23 per pupil, for a total of $92,000 for the district. The bill’s purpose is to give funds for salaries and benefits of building level staffing. Clark said Okemos would be “happy to receive the funding.”

In addition to the $92,000 from EduJobs, there is also a onetime additional federal funding allotment for Okemos as well. This would add $710,000 (allocated amount of money for the school district on a per pupil basis) for the 2010-11 school year  but is only a onetime allocation. “This helps us this year, but has no provision for future years,” Clark said.

However, there are many negatives for the future school budgets as well.

First off, the Michigan Public School Employees retirement rate is set to go up from 19.41 to 20.66 percent on November 1, 2010. This rate is up from 16.94 percent in 2009. The increase in retirement rate has a negative impact the Okemos budget of $285,000. Because the rate is state imposed, local school districts cannot opt out and are forced to abide by the state mandated retirement rate increase.

The retirement rate increase also comes with increased payment for retired workers’ health care costs. With the health care costs, and other related expenses factored in, the impact to Okemos ends up being about $4.25 million in 2021, which is double the 2009-10 employer retirement costs.

The Okemos school board budget sees another reduction in funds of about $1.4 million due to Michigan funding trends; for 2011-12, Okemos will not see any American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and no EduJobs funds.

However, Dr. Ash and Robert Clark are working on a financial contingency plan.

The plan came to be because of the potential for additional financial challenges in 2010-2011. The first step of the plan is the preliminary work of the Board and Leadership council which seeks the voice of community members on the issue. The second step is to update the Okemos Board of Education, community members and employees (which is the stage they are currently in and will be until June), and the final step of the process is to utilize the opinions and the plan in 2011-12 budget decisions.

Some of the possibilities the board is considering to increase revenue to the school district are by selling and renting property, applying for grants, and developing “magnet” programs such as instructional and program planning.

Additional possibilities include expenditure reductions. The board is considering transportation cuts, cutting some extracurricular and athletic programs, reducing personnel, cutting employee salaries, instructional cuts such as eliminating standardized tests and the programming of the fifth and sixth grades, and by consolidating school districts, a drastic measure which would have to be approved by both potential districts.

“These are devastating concepts to look at,” Ash said. “The cons are going to far out weight the pros.”

“There are unknowns facing us (Okemos).” Unknowns that the school board hopes to take on ahead of time through their financial contingency plan and by considering all possible budget and economic options.

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Proposed development draws much criticism

By Andrew Atwal – Sept. 30, 2010

OKEMOS, Mich. – A proposed $6 million development project on Hagadorn and Mt. Hope Rds in Okemos drew its share of criticism at a Meridian Township Planning Commission meeting on Monday night, but also had a few residents in support of the development.

The proposed site would feature a 9,000 square foot office building along with a 41-unit apartment complex. The development would be located on about 4.5 acres of land with access drives on both Mt Hope and Hagadorn Roads. The complex would also feature a gathering area with picnic tables in between the office and apartment buildings.

Allan Russell, who represented DTN, the real estate company that proposed the project, said, “We have been as asset to the community and are looking for a core concept with DTN-owned Berrytree, Glenwood and The Hamptons apartments in the immediate area.” He also said that their goal was to heavily landscape the area, meaning having a lot of green space, should the Planning Commission approve the project.

One resident who showed up at the meeting was originally against the project, but has grown to support it. “As long as development ends up like The Hamptons, I would support it,” Chateau Condominium resident Laura Cottrell said. “I have lived here for 14 years and it has been quiet and clean and I do not want that to change.”

However, there were many more residents who are against the proposal.

Dawn and Dave McCune, who are also Chateau Condominium residents, voiced their concern over the potential development. “The proposed plan will only complicate and burden the traffic situation and will overload an already overused drainage system,” Dawn McCune said.

One resident, who lives just feet away from the site on Briarcliff Drive, shared his opinion on the project. “I am opposed to the 10 foot setback (to Briarcliff Dr), but I could support the proposal if there is increased setback,” Mike Peters said. “If the setback is not increased, I would feel as if cars are pulling into my driveway when they pull into the potential office building.”

Members of the planning commission also had concerns over the project, primarily ranging from lack of “green space” and the drainage issue that is currently a problem on the property and at the Chateau complex.

Many commissioners thought that if some of the parking spaces were cut out it would allow for more green space. The commissioners also said that if the setbacks onto Briarcliff and Chateau were increased, they would be more in favor of the project. Some of the commissioners were also underwhelmed with the number of amenities proposed.

Although residents are in agreement that this proposal is better than the previous, many are still against the development. The planning commission will meet again to discuss the project at its next meeting on October 11 at the Meridian Township offices on Marsh Road in Okemos.

Map of Proposed Area: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=103006236496373527067.0004915b2f09a981623a2&ll=42.712186,-84.46055&spn=0.002759,0.00456&z=17&source=embed

Pictures of the site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7MJ7gW-E9I&feature=player_embedded

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