Things are good in Michigan, at least in the eyes of the Ottawa County legislative delegation.
In his seventh annual State of the State address to lawmakers, Gov. Rick Snyder pointed out early on how job growth has helped Michigan.
"Thirty-eight counties cut their unemployment rate by half," he said, pointing to the addition of nearly 500,000 private-sector jobs since 2010, an unemployment rate below 5 percent and higher personal incomes. "There are 16 counties with unemployment below 4 percent, and two below 3 percent."
Much to the pride of Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, Ottawa County is one of those two counties below 3 percent unemployment, the other being Washtenaw County.
"We really want to set an atmosphere that they don't want to go anywhere else," Meekhof said. "The greatest choice is to stay in Michigan."
Rep. Daniela Garcia, R-Holland, felt the same pride that many younger people would have more options than she did starting out in a career thanks to more educational opportunities. Garcia also received one of Gov. Snyder's patented "shout outs" for her work on the Detroit Public Schools package that saved the troubled school district.
"I'm very encouraged," she said. "Glad to be focusing on education, as someone like me who had to leave Michigan to find opportunities."
Her father, Ottawa County Commissioner Frank Garcia, was happy to be in attendance.
"What I enjoyed was that the governor gave a very positive message," he said. "I'm especially proud to be a father when she got a shout out.
"It's a great night for Ottawa County," he added.
But for Rep. Jim Lilly, R-Park Township, he was glad to see Gov. Snyder speak on a few issues the former banker highlighted in his election campaign last year.
"I was very happy to see a focus on infrastructure, and on skilled jobs," he said. "He celebrated some of the successes, and gave a lot of statistics.
"So often we hear we have challenges, but from my perspective we're winning."
Lilly's guest for the evening was Ottawa County United Way President Patrick Moran, and Lilly knew he picked the perfect night to bring Moran to listen to Gov. Snyder discuss the future.
"The governor highlighted collaboration, and looking to a public/private partnership," he said. "I applaud what Patrick does with the United Way."
He shares Commissioner Garcia's positive attitude about the future of Michigan, and is especially happy to be a part of this legislative group at the state level.
"I look forward to the leadership from Ottawa County," Lilly said.
Snyder touted the state's Medicaid expansion and called for addressing Michigan's aging infrastructure over the next several decades, citing the Flint water crisis that has roiled his administration and a football field-sized sinkhole that formed recently in suburban Detroit.
The second-term Republican said "we hope for the best" as the GOP-led Congress considers ending expanded Medicaid under the federal health care law, "but we can't count on it. There's going to be changes in health care. The important thing is we need to let them know that Healthy Michigan is a model that can work for the rest of the country, that we should be speaking up."
Snyder will travel to Washington on Thursday to discuss the program with members of Congress. The expansion is providing health insurance to 640,000 low-income adults.
On infrastructure, he did not say how to raise the additional $4 billion that a state commission has said is needed annually. But to start, he said, there should be better coordination so local road, sewer and fiber-optic cable projects are done simultaneously to save money.
"We're at risk in every corner of Michigan from our aging infrastructure," Snyder said.
He did not unveil major policy initiatives in his speech to a joint session of the GOP-controlled Legislature. It came a year after he was forced to mainly focus on Flint's lead-contaminated water in his sixth yearly address amid withering criticism over his administration's failures that caused and prolonged the man-made public health emergency.
Elevated lead levels had been detected in children, and people had died in a Legionnaires' disease outbreak. While water quality is improving in Flint, residents continue to use faucet filters or bottled water nearly three years after the fateful switch of Flint water while the city was under state management.
"We're making progress, but our work is not done yet," said Snyder, who has committed to fixing the crisis.
Democrats agreed with some of what Snyder talked about but said he offered few details and did not address the economic anxiety many residents continue to feel. They also criticized him for not mentioning Flint until more than halfway through the 54-minute speech.
"One of the biggest issues that we're going to grapple with I believe this year is how do we deal with the long-term issues facing the young people of Flint -- their educational needs as well as their health care needs. ... Not to have a long-term plan for that and to talk about that was very disappointing," said House Minority Leader Sam Singh of East Lansing.
(c)2017 Holland Sentinel, Mich.
