Dave's Council Newsletter, January 2024

 

January 16 Meeting:

First meeting of the year!  Mayor and City Council members Matthew Stafford, Mary Kerkes, and I were sworn in by Judge Susan Kuhnke.  

 

This was a fairly short, quick meeting with one major action item:  approving the City receiving a $954,500 grant from the state for developments in Wilson Park (more details next meeting)

There was also an Item for Discussion on a presentation that I assembled on a potential plan for improving sidewalks in Milan.  Essentially, it suggested breaking Milan into six areas and working on sidewalks in a rotating pattern.  The group discussed and agreed to discuss further in the coming months as we plan for the budget year starting in July.

 

On another topic, It is clear that we will be talking about becoming a Redevelopment Ready Community throughout the coming year.  This is an important designation to the State of Michigan, and Milan is working on being Certified with that program.  I will be working with the Mayor, the City Administrator, the Community Engagement Director and others to get all the parts in place for that program.

 

February 6 Meeting and Work Session:

 

Work Session: This meeting agenda was more packed than the first meeting of the year.  There was a 6 PM Work Session which was essentially a report from the City Engineers on the condition of roads throughout the City.  I learned a few key things:

• Roads have measurably deteriorated over the last decade in Milan.  There are certainly places where road condition is obviously a problem, but the City measures the condition of every one of the 27 1/3 miles of road every two years.  Roads have become worse every two years for the last ten.

• Sometimes road construction is the solution, but often it is regular preventative maintenance–which is much less costly.  Clearly we will be talking a lot more about this in the coming months.  How to fund road maintenance and improvements will be the focus.

 

Meeting: There were two major focuses during the meeting.  The first was approving contracts with the City engineers for work to be done on Wilson Park, Michigan Avenue, and city sidewalks and crosswalks.  We also formally accepted $3.6M in state money for Milan’s wastewater treatment plant.  Though work will mostly be done in 2025, the groundwork for all that work will be laid this year.  These are exciting times.  

 

The second item of intense discussion was the departure of Milan’s Downtown Development Authority from the Michigan Main Street program.  As the proponents of this change stated, “this program was the core of the revitalization effort that created the thriving Downtown we have along with inspiring the creation of many loved community events that are still cornerstones of Milan’s charm.”   Though it was a decision I did not favor, the majority agreed with the recommendation to leave the program. 

 

The City also bid farewell to Tim Heath who has managed grounds in parks and at City Hall for decades and to John Koehler who has been with the City managing  IT issues for six years.  They will be missed.  Hanna Massouh was promoted to Director of IT Services for the City of Milan.