A Bridge Too Far
How "Pro-Business" Politics Led To Bay City's Bridge Problem
Where Are We?
December 13th, 2022,
the Bay City Commission approved the final lease agreement with United Bridge Partners (UBP). The deal, which expanded and reclassified terms of an initial agreement passed in late 2019, cemented the privatization of both the Liberty and Independence Bridges at the north end of Bay City. Independence and Liberty are two of the four bridges that operate within Bay City’s limits and are the only two under the city’s direct jurisdiction. The other two bridges, Veterans Memorial Bridge (Vet’s Bridge) and The Lafayette Street Bridge (The Double Hump Bridge) are under the purview of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) as they are part of state highways.
There are technically three different agreements that were decided in three unanimous votes: the 2019 agreement enabled UBP to begin surveying the bridges along with taking on maintenance and seeking out funding from the state, the second agreement in April of 2021 changed the deal from a sale to a lease agreement, and the third and final agreement in 2022 was the final rubber stamp on the refurbishment and 75-year lease of the bridges. This process began in 2016 when then-Bay City Manager Rick Finn first contacted UBP. In 2017 a presentation was given to the City Commission that outlined the specifics of what a UBP deal would look like, and at the time, Mayor Kathleen Newsham referred to the proposal as a “no-brainer.”
UBP was one of three firms initially considered to repair both city-owned bridges. According to commission members, the other two proposals had severe defects so at the discretion of the City Manager’s Office and with the consent of the city commission, the Denver-based firm was inevitably chosen. The new contract was also accompanied by several changes, such as the decision by UBP to cancel the Independence rebuild that was agreed upon to begin with. This change has faced skepticism as before the updated agreement, the Independence Bridge was widely agreed to be in disrepair. Nonetheless, UBP opted to cut this corner citing increased construction costs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I really think we got bait and switched.”
-Eighth Ward Commissioner Ed Clements
UBP broke ground on the Liberty Bridge project nearly two years after its agreement in late 2021 and began tolling in June of this year. Despite being considered complete, two years later the updated bridge has faced several technical problems, and at times the four-lane bridge has been reduced to two lanes of traffic. Construction on Independence began early this year and is expected to continue well into 2024, unlike Liberty though, Bay City’s most northern bridge is operational and allows two lanes of traffic as maintenance is performed on one side of the bridge.
Though the 2019 and 2022 agreements were approved by unanimous city commission votes they weren’t uncontroversial, and some commissioners expressed discontent with moving forward on the deal. According to residents of Bay City’s 2nd Ward, State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet, who represented the Center Avenue-based precinct in city hall at the time, expressed that she was unsure how she would vote on the updated contract with UBP. The Senator’s office was contacted to comment on the bridge deal for this piece and a spokesperson offered this, “Senator McDonald Rivet was not on Bay City's City Commission when the decision to move to a toll company was made. By the time she arrived on the Commission, the only steps left were the final crossing of t's and dotting of i's on the United Bridge Partners contract.” McDonald Rivet was not on the commission when initial negotiations began and did not attend the special meeting where the final vote took place, likely due to her election to the state senate, but she did support the 2019 rendition of the contract.
Commissioner Ed Clements also held some convictions regarding the finalized agreement, “This is our problem and we’ve got a solution, although I do think this ultimate solution absolutely sucks, here we are,” he explained to former MLive correspondent Ricardo Quintanilla after the meeting. The 8th ward commissioner was particularly dissatisfied with the changes surrounding Independence. The original agreement for the Independence Bridge was for a complete rebuild rather than a refurbishment. Initial plans included four twelve-foot lanes, a ten-foot shared-use path, and a ten-foot shoulder on either side, along with making the bridge taller and wider overall, “I really think we got bait and switched,” Clements said about the changes. He went on to vote for both the 2019 and 2022 agreements.
“Our hands were indeed tied in a way.”
-Bay City Commission President Jesse Dockett (1st Ward)
During the late 2019 meeting, the public consensus was more or less ignored. Ten people voiced concerns about the deal and no members of the community spoke in favor of it, but from the outside looking in these reservations seemed to fall on deaf ears. Despite the public sentiment, opposition to the deal seemed to be a bridge too far for the commission, and on December 16th, 2019, along with Clements and McDonald Rivet, Jesse Dockett, Andrew Niedzinski, Brent Brunner, Rachelle Hilliker, Christopher Girard, Kerice Basmadjian, and Cordal Morris voted for the original UBP contract. In 2021, the same commissioners for wards 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 all supported the change from a sale to a 75-year lease, as did Kathleen Zanotti, the 3rd ward commissioner at the time.
Three years after the first agreement, eight city commissioners voted for the updated contract, seven of which sat on the commission in December 2019. Trey Pinkstock, appointed to the commission following the resignation of now County Clerk Kathleen Zanotti who was appointed briefly to succeed Commissioner Niedzinski, voted for the 2022 agreement. Pinkstock did not seek a full term in the 2022 election and has since relocated to Ohio. Andrea Burney, a vocal critic of the deal, became the first black woman to sit on the Bay City Commission when she defeated write-in candidate Quenessa Miller in the race for the third ward. Kerice Basmadjian also concluded her tenure on the city commission after her yes vote. Basmadjian was the longest-serving incumbent commissioner at the time she left office and made way for Shelley Niedzwiecki to represent the seventh ward. Niedzwiecki, who bested Karey Prieur with roughly 70% of the vote in the only race with two candidates on the ballot last year, did not want to opine on the bridge deal, “I was not a commissioner at the time decisions were made on the bridges, therefore was not presented with the same information those who were tasked with the decision had.” She stated, “I do have an opinion as a private citizen, however, as a current commissioner do not feel it would be appropriate for me to make a comment.”
Then-Commissioner Kristen McDonald Rivet’s replacement, her husband Joseph Rivet, was not elected but appointed after her resignation with the other 8 commissioners voting in favor and McDonald-Rivet herself abstaining from the vote. Joseph and his father, Ed Rivet, have been a cornerstone in Bay County Democratic politics for decades, with the elder Rivet serving as a Bangor Township trustee for four years, a brief stint as Bangor Township Supervisor, County Commissioner for a total of 16 years (4 years as chair), and two terms on the Bay County Road Commission. Joseph’s resume includes Supervisor of Bangor Township, State Representative, and Drain Commissioner, the latter being a position he held for over 15 years, and was ousted from in 2020. Rivet currently also serves as the President of The Michigan State Land Bank, a position he took in September of this year.
Current Commission President and 1st Ward Commissioner Jesse Dockett originally spoke out against the privatization of the Independence and Liberty bridges, but after years of working to find a better solution, Dockett had exhausted all options. “In total hindsight, I maintain that it was the third worst option; however after exploring all of the avenues that I did, it was also the best option that actually could happen,” he explained in an email, “For most city residents, this option is cheaper than what the tax increase would have been. If a county-wide millage had been an option, it would have been marginally cheaper for the people who use the bridges to pay the tax increase, however, as most of the county lives West of the river, a lot of people who don’t use them would be paying more.” 9th Ward Commissioner Cordal Morris, who became Bay City’s first Black Commissioner when he was first elected back in 2017, declined to comment on the deal. In 2022 Commissioner Morris faced a somewhat spirited write-in challenge from Jill Causley. Still, he skated to a 2nd term with over 90% of the vote, while Commissioner Dockett ran completely unopposed. Both Dockett and Morris respectively supported both renditions of the UBP contract, but not without some frustration on Dockett’s part. “Our hands were indeed tied in a way. We had agreed to transfer and could have been found in breach of the first contract if we voted “no" on the second contract.” With the commission legally bound, UBP was able to pivot from its initial plan for Independence without any repercussions. This is the “bait and switch” Commissioner Clements referred to.
How Did We Get Here?
The bridge deal didn’t happen in a vacuum.
If you’re naive enough to believe this issue isn’t much deeper and more systemic than it appears, Bay City may have a bridge, or two, to sell you. Decades of pro-business politics paved the way for the lackluster deal with Bay City Bridge Partners, on top of the lingering whispers of backroom dealing that continue to echo throughout the chambers of city hall. These concerns haven’t just been raised by the few politically active members of the public that attend commission meetings, but also members of the city’s legislative body itself. From commissioner Andrea Burney of the third ward who has alleged that there are off-the-books meetings taking place, to former Drain Commissioner and 2nd ward City Commissioner Joseph Rivet who quashed Burney’s claims in a meeting this year saying he’s never witnessed one of these alleged gatherings, but still holds convictions of his own surrounding the operation of the Bay City government. Rivet notably spoke out against raising fines for downtown parking and raising the cost of monthly trash pickup, the latter being passed with only Rivet and Burney dissenting. Rivet often cites his decades of local and state-level political experience when criticizing decisions made by the current city administration, while Burney typically speaks from the perspective of a lifelong, working class, Bay City resident.
Throughout Burney’s first year on the commission, she has ruffled more than a few feathers. From her aforementioned speculation on alleged back-door meetings to her crusade against bad mortgages doled out by an entity known as Bay Housing Incorporated, she has been a thorn in the side of city administration and her fellow commission members. On the bridge deal though, Burney had this to say; “I wish I sat on the commission at the time the deal was made for this bridge catastrophe. I was not. And I also am not a fan of its result.” In a way, Burney is fairly representative of the public sentiment on recent happenings in city hall, particularly concerning the bridge issue. There is an assumption that the city was either ill-prepared and incompetent or outright negligent and acting in bad faith, and to a certain extent these feelings are understandable. Principally, the privatization of infrastructure is a net negative to the community at large and objectively is opposed by Bay County residents per a poll often cited to argue in favor of the deal. This, on top of several other ongoing problems including a dispute with FIRE (a free speech watchdog) regarding some conduct by Commissioner Burney, and subsequent repercussions, earlier this year, have given the City Establishment an even worse look. It is worth noting that FIRE and the city have come to an agreement regarding conduct during city meetings.
More recently, a motion to censure Commissioner Burney was proposed by Ed Clements and passed with only Commissioner Morris joining the subject of the censure in opposition. This vote has particularly poor optics given Morris is a typically uncontroversial voice on the commission, but happens to be the body’s first, and only other current black commissioner. Morris, a second-termer who is known for being quiet and mild-mannered, lacks the baggage that seems to weigh Burney down so much. The reasoning behind his no-vote remains a mystery, but likely frustrated other commission members who have tried to make it very clear that their critiques of Burney aren’t racially motivated. At the start of the same meeting, Burney also revealed she’d been served a recall petition by the county clerk. After speculating on the legitimacy of the petition, Burney went on to defend herself and make clear she has no intention of leaving anytime soon. “I wanna tell everybody, I don’t care, I’m going to fight for the people, I’m not going anywhere,” Burney said, “I’m going to tell the truth no matter what, you can’t stifle me. I’m here for the people, I just want you to know that.”
“I’m going to fight for the people, I’m not going anywhere.”
-Third Ward Commissioner Andrea Burney
Though Burney feels there is something much deeper afoot, and some of Rivet’s criticisms suggest incompetence on the part of the city’s administration, several commission members hold that some things, particularly the bridge deal, are simply out of their control. Commissioner Dockett believes that they were roadblocked and as he put it earlier, their hands were tied. Commissioner Andrew Niedzinski, who left the commission following an unsuccessful bid for mayor, now serves as City Manager for the city of Vassar in Tuscola County. In 2017, Niedzinski was elected to be President of the Commission, “I believe it was the first or second meeting after the election we were to vote on the privatization of the City-owned bridges,” he said in a statement, “Through my position as commission president, I removed that item from the agenda.” For two years after this, local leaders continued their search for another, better, option.
“The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce hosted community meetings throughout the city. I participated in a few of them. I believe they were well publicized. We had less than a dozen people show up at these. For the most part, they were not city residents,” Niedzinski elaborated. Eventually, a community delegation of local leaders went to the state. This group included Niedzinski himself along with Former Commissioner Basmajian, City Manager Dana Muscott, Mayor Kathleen Newsham, current Bay City Public Schools Board of Education President Matthew Felan, County Executive James Barcia, and an aid from the office of then-State Representative Brian Elder, among others. At this meeting, which according to Mayor Newsham only lasted an hour, they weighed their options, “We stressed the regional importance of the bridges, and even offered a swap, in this swap, the county and city were to take ownership of various M roads around the county, in exchange for the MDOT extending M15 to include the independence bridge,” said Niedzinksi. This was proposed directly to Kurt Steidle, the director of the Michigan Department of Transportation at the time, and ironically an Essexville native. The state rejected the offer.
“I mean we couldn’t have a catastrophic event happen to someone in our community or several someones in our community. We were thinking of the safety.”
-Bay City Mayor Kathleen Newsham
For current Bay City Mayor Kathleen Newsham, who has served the city in an elected capacity since 1991, safety was the primary concern. “I’m very proud that we got them done for the safety of our community — it was the right thing to do,” The Mayor said in a telephone interview, “We couldn’t have a catastrophic event happen to someone in our community or several someones in our community. We were thinking of the safety.” This seemed to be a universal concern for those tasked with making the decision, “The number one duty as a public servant is safety, public safety” echoed 6th ward Commissioner Christopher Girard in a sit-down interview, “Police and fire are the majority of our budget for a reason, we’re here to protect residents.” Their fear for public safety and the potential of a bridge collapse is not irrational, it’s happened here before. “We’ve had a history of bridges falling in (to the river) over the lifespan of the city,” Girard said, referencing the Third Street Bridge that once connected Bay City’s Downtown to the Midland Street District. Before its collapse in June of 1976, the two-lane swing bridge was central to commerce in Bay City for over a century, pre-dating the automobile.
Ironically, the first iteration of the Third Street Bridge, constructed in 1864, was a toll bridge owned by a private company. The bridge was later bought by the city and eventually rebuilt to sustain car traffic. At the time of its collapse the bridge that connected its namesake, Third Street, to Midland Street on the west side, was the northmost operational bridge in the city. This was due to the permanent closure of the Belinda Street Bridge and the ongoing construction of its replacement, the Independence Bridge, which was finished roughly a month after the collapse. The initial Independence project was financed by Bay County with long-term upkeep expenses put in the hands of the city of Bay City. This agreement was made following the projection that Bay City and the county as a whole would see an increase in population in the coming years. An increase never came, and by the 1970 census, the county began to hemorrhage population, a trend that was disproportionate in the city and would continue until the present day.
Mayor Newsham first sat on the Commission in 1991, but she says the issue with population and infrastructure wasn’t discussed until much later. “It wasn’t talked about, the bridges were not discussed with me,” explained Newsham, “We just went about our business not knowing.” Even when it came down to it, City Manager Rick Finn did not inform the Mayor of his decision to reach out to UBP. “He’d kept all this info to himself and then I got a phone call one day, right after I was elected, and they thought I knew when I didn’t have a clue,” Newsham said, “So then I talked to the manager and he kinda filled me in and I said we probably should’ve known a little bit sooner.” This decades-long communication issue presents itself in two problems, the negligence or incompetence of major power players, and the lack of willingness to push back on the part of other officials. “We started having really heavy-duty discussions, and by that time Mr. Finn was gone,” Newsham remembered. This was arguably too little, too late.
“We didn’t have the money, you know, we just didn’t have the money.” -Bay City Mayor Kathleen Newsham
During the same time the big decision to build independence was made, Bay City was still a thriving industrial center. Major Manufacturers like General Motors and Dow Chemical still employed a huge chunk of the workforce, and their political clout ran deep. Bay City’s GM Powertrain plant employed over 4,800 people at its peak in 1943, and in 1977 it peaked again at 4,000. Today, however, less than 500 employees work at the plant in the City’s first ward. Dow Chemical or Dow Silicones Corporation is a subsidiary of Dow Corning, briefly known as DowDuPont (yes that DuPont) after a 2015-2019 merger. They may not have the same national name recognition as General Motors, but the company is still particularly powerful in the Saginaw Bay Region as they are headquartered in Midland, Michigan, just a county west of Bay City. Dow Corning, or now just Dow, has become a staple in Bay City and this region as a whole.
Both General Motors and more recently (and more effectively) Dow, have entrenched themselves in the communities here, as well as the culture. For GM that grasp has slowly come and gone with its decreased financial power, though current employees and UAW Retirees along with the $216 million invested by GM in its Bay City Plant at the start of this year seem to keep some semblance of the auto culture alive. Dow on the other hand remains front and center to happenings in Bay City, having an office building in Bay City’s recent uptown development just a block away from the DOW Bay Area Family YMCA that has existed for over a decade, the Dow Corporation has ensured it will remain a household name in the area for years to come.
These companies, including but not limited to General Motors and Dow, have a significant say in conversations surrounding economic development in Bay City, so much so that GM was a major factor in the construction of the Independence Bridge back in the 70s. The company effectively convinced the power players of the time that there would be an increase in auto jobs, and subsequently, continued growth in population, this was used to justify investments in infrastructure that would’ve otherwise seemed risky including the choice to continue to fully support two city-owned bridges without changing the revenue process.
While Dow and GM are respectively the 2nd and 10th largest employers in Bay County they arguably have a history of negatively offsetting their contributions. From the withdrawal of jobs from the region to the pollution of the Saginaw River basin that both corporations have spent millions to atone for, it is certainly worth noting that employment isn’t the only measurement for investment in the community. In 2020 the EPA settled a case with Dow to the tune of 77 million dollars, and back in 1998, GM was ordered to pay about 30 million towards cleanup and restoration of the waterway. More recently, a 5.4 million dollar settlement was proposed by the EPA for Dow’s role in creating the Dioxin that was cleaned up a little over a decade ago. Despite everything, both city administration and major local politicians remain cozy with the same corporations that left us high and dry. From tax breaks given to developers to the bridge deal itself, giving big business what it wants has remained central to decision-making in Bay City and the greater Saginaw Bay Region, the overarching goal seemingly being to solve the population problem in the area or even start to turn it around.
Big business is the reason we have the bridge problem in the first place, yet many still seem to think those same corporations and others like them are our only way to solve it. They argue that we can reverse the population decline by making Bay City’s policies more friendly to business, in turn bringing more jobs to the region and increasing our overall population. There is a point to be made here, recent investments by companies such as SK Siltron, Vantage Plastics, Mersen US, Bay Carbon, and Wilkinson Minerals are compelling, especially given that together they have maintained hundreds of jobs in the region. Conversely, there is another point to be made here. These investments have the primary goal of increasing profit for the corporation, not bettering the community. That is how business works.
We always need to ask tough questions during these discussions: “Are the jobs good paying?” “Are they union jobs?” “How long does this company plan to stick around?” and “What externalities, positive or negative, could arise as a result of these investments?” The point is not to dismiss the value of these jobs, or even these companies but rather to, at the very least, proceed with caution. These discussions are often centered on how to attract businesses, create jobs, and then attract and retain people with the jobs those businesses created. Bay City has no shortage of good ideas, but we do have a funding problem, and too often we spend taxpayer dollars fighting tooth and nail to attract more business rather than directly investing in our community.
What’s Next?
Next year will likely prove to be even more tumultuous for Bay City than years past. With five city elections wide open and the pending recall of third ward Commissioner Andrea Burney, city residents have their work cut out for them. With three commissioners and Mayor Newsham likely leaving the city government for good, Chris Girard is poised to be the only constant in next year’s election. “I’m running for mayor next year.” Girard clarified in an interview, “We’ll see if anyone else runs— not everybody wants to get up and go to a meeting where people are swearing at you and they cuss you out online —not everybody wants to do that,” he said. This will be Girard’s second bid for Mayor after losing to Newsham back in 2015.
Another candidate is yet to officially enter next year’s mayoral race, but several people are eyeing the four open commission seats. In the second ward, incumbent Joseph Rivet is planning on stepping down and opting out of running for a full term. When Rivet was appointed last winter, four other people applied for the appointment, none of whom have officially announced a campaign for the seat yet. One of the former applicants, Ashlee Chesney, has been seen at several recent commission meetings, and another, Brandy Swartz, has expressed interest online. Swartz was one of the ten people who voiced opposition to the original bridge deal back in 2019 and is a member of the Bay County Progressives group on Facebook that was started by official commission candidate Alexander Dewitt. Dewitt is running for the sixth ward seat for the second time, the first being in 2019 when he lost to Girard by 82 votes, before that election, he also served on the Bay City Charter Commission from 2017-2019. On top of running the Progressives of Bay County group, Dewitt also operates a Facebook page known as Get Accountable Bay City where he updates followers on happenings in city government.
In the fourth ward, current Commission Vice Brent Brunner is term-limited and there is one official candidate in the open race. Benjamin Tenney was the first person to officially announce their candidacy for a city race this year and is also seemingly progressive. Tenney has a degree in social work from Saginaw Valley State University and currently works for Bay Arenac Behavioral Health. Other potential candidates for the fourth ward seat include Andrew Thibodeau, a commission meeting regular, and Matthew Czerwinski, the owner of Chets Corner Bar.
With the eighth ward Commissioner, Ed Clements, also term-limited, the seat is open for the first time in a while. Just like the second, the eighth ward also has no official candidates, but owner of A-1 Lawn Service and Michigan Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Joseph Charlebois is considering a bid for the seat. Charlebois lives in the same house on State Street where both he and his father were raised, as well as where he and his late wife, Margo, raised their daughters. Charlebois is also an outspoken progressive and a member of Dewitt’s group, as well as the unofficial local chapter of DSA. He is expected to decide if he is running in the coming weeks.
Several questions also remain surrounding Commissioner Burney and the recall effort she mentioned at a recent meeting. According to Bay County Clerk Kathleen Zanotti, the recall petition Burney referenced in that November meeting has been formally withdrawn. Meanwhile, a guilty verdict has been reached in a domestic violence case against Burney for an altercation with her sister earlier this year. The sentencing for this charge, which is scheduled for the 25th of next month, could put Burney behind bars for a maximum of 93 days. Though the original recall is on the outs, and it is unlikely Burney will receive the full sentence, she is not out of the woods yet and there could very well be a recall election in the third ward next year, or even a vacancy that needs filling by the Commission.
Though the aftermath of the decisions surrounding the bridges has seemingly increased public participation in city government, some still caution that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.“You can replace every single person on that commission and the mayor, and the decision would still need to be made,” explained Mayoral Hopeful Chris Girard, “And when you get down to it, there’s not a lot you could change,” he said. While changing the composition of the city government may not be able to undo the bridge deal, it may allow for a shift in mentality about the city’s relationship with big business as well as the community.
“You can replace every single person on that commission and the mayor, and the decision would still need to be made.” -Christoper Girard, Sixth Ward Commissioner
Though the Commission may not have the power to change the outcome of this problem, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other avenues that could be taken. Several higher-level elections could influence the state of the bridge situation, including who succeeds retiring Representative Dan Kildee in Michigan’s 8th district and if someone successfully takes on State Rep. Timmy Beson in the race for the 96th state house district. A more progressive candidate in either of those seats along with State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet and a more progressive city commission could very quickly shift the conversation about the bridges. At the end of the day, the underlying problem is that the status quo of Bay City is more willing to subsidize corporations rather than invest in the community. Until we put making Bay City more enticing for people before making it more profitable for big corporations, we will continue to bleed population, and issues like the bridge problem will continue to be exacerbated.
Another factor at play is the logistics of the toll bridges. Overall, the west side of the city will likely be impacted disproportionately as most city residents live east of the river. This disparity will likely be even greater in the northwest part of the city because both toll bridges are at the city’s north end. Meanwhile, the Lafayette Street Bridge, operated by MDOT in the south end is going to be under construction beginning in May of next year, work on the bridge could last between 24 and 30 months. This means that Vet’s Bridge will be the only operational, non-toll bridge in the city until 2026, doubtlessly impacting the wear and tear on the already worn bridge. All of these issues will be greatly amplified when the five years of free crossings are up for city residents. This is a concern Commissioner Rivet and the Mayor both referenced on the December 18th meeting due to a temporary closure of Independence greatly impacting the flow of traffic in the city.
As for the state of the contract, after June of next year, UBP will have the statistics for the first year of operation of the Liberty Bridge, this will undoubtedly play a key role in determining the company’s path moving forward. Most people seem to think that data will not be good news for UBP, even Girard is skeptical. "I think they (UBP) could pursue selling it— It just depends on what the numbers and usage actually say,” he said, “If it’s (at the) end of the day a losing proposition for them they’re going to have to think long and hard.” More talk also looms about the potential of establishing a County-wide Bridge authority or starting a fund to potentially buy back the bridges in the future. Until then though, that’s simply just gossip. And with elections and appraisals coming next year… we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.
Good article. Moved here in 8/22 so I am trying to get up to speed on why Bay City is in the situation it is.