City of Davison, Michigan

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) was one of the sessions last week. One of the issues they are dealing with is the image of Michigan. Some of our worst enemies are us. Does that make any sense?

Sure does. We create a lot of our own bad public relations. In Michigan we have gone through some tuff times recently. Not the first time.

But to capitalize on what we have we have to get by the defeatist attitude that seems to dominate most discussions.

The MEDC is working on TV and Radio adds to help explain what we have to offer and why Michigan is a great State to live in, or vacation in (or both).

Travel Michigan’s goal for this year is to establish a basic familiarity with the Pure Michigan message and start to generate long-term goodwill toward our brand and the state it represents.
Our compelling truth is we have a perfect world in our own backyard. We are surrounded, protected and nurtured by the world’s largest system of fresh water lakes–a place less like everything is and more like everything is meant to be.

Our selling proposition is not in our overdeveloped, strip malled and starbucked world, one state still feels magic, mystic, authentic, untamed, unspoiled, uncompromised, timeless and true. Michigan–Pure Michigan. We will drive all communications towards that single focus.

We saw some of advertisementsenProfessionallynaly done and very positive about Michigan. I think we do have to toot our own horn once in awhile to let people know what we have to offer.

I am spending a few days at the Michigan Local Government Management Association Summer Workshops so I’m bogging from the road.

Our first program on Wednesday was Downtowns and Main Streets: How Can They Compete? How appropriate as the City of Davison continues to work on ways to improve our Downtown. We heard from Ann Arbor who just finished up planning items real similar to what our Planning Commission is going through right now. They have gone through the Design Overlay process and looked at zoning and standards for development. Where their issues deal with higher densities than us, it was interesting to see that we do have a lot in common with the process.

We also had a presentation from Bob Donohue from Oakland County Downtown Economic Development Group. It was interesting as he spoke about DDA’s. He first stated you have to know what the initials stand for:
D Downtown, you must decide what a downtown is.
D Development, develop for the future.
A Authority, by State law the DDA has authority to get things done with recaptured tax $$$.

We did speak some about the new Life Style Centers.

We spoke about marketing and how we have to stop miss naming things. A downtown is a downtown. Marketing people market shopping centers as downtowns and downtowns need to market themselves.

We spoke on maximizing harnessing talent. There is an issue with private businesses fighting the government entities. It seems some property owners think local governments want to run their business. Just having a DDA or Main Street Program does not ensure that things will happen. It takes the people wanting to keep improving things to make downtowns work.

Some DDA’s are just trying to market or do promotions. Other groups are into event hosting downtowns. And then there are those into developments, as in capital improvements. The successful ones capitalize on all three elements.

A lot of people think downtowns run 3 year programs. The truth is downtowns are forever (or should be). You have to keep improving it all the time, when you don’t, the projects you do get real expensive due to scope.

Overall good session. We, in Davison, have laid a lot of the ground work we need to be more successful. All the speakers did caution, beware of the excuses, they can kill downtown development and anyone can come up with a reason not to do things.

No, not that billion dollar project that goes under Boston.

This was a sewer washout challenge we had on Juniper Street. The Sewer line is between 16 and 20 feet deep here. Working on a main at that depth offers all types of challenges.

One of the challenges is equipment. The sewer is actually two feet deeper than our equipment will reach. So, next week we will bring in bigger equipment and our team will make the repair.

You know you are in the summer time when Friday’s roll around in Downtown Davison. This year’s Farmer’s market is off to a great start. It is more than your normal farmer’s market.

Sure we still have vendors with fresh Michigan produce…

But, we also have some arts and crafts for sale. Plus bring your appetite for some Odd Fellows hot dogs and brats, can’t go wrong with those Odd Fellows. Enjoy talking to old friends or meeting new ones as live entertainment changes weekly.

It was great to see all the smiling faces at the end of second street last week, I hope to see yours this week.

The third site visits happened this week with visits to some FTC&H completed projects. As in the other site visits it is hard to encompass all that we learn from these visits by my amateur photography and brief comments, but we will try once again to give you a glimpse.

We started out in Lowell where they renovated a historicity significant old city hall and added a Police department wing. There were added cost in this building due to renovation versus building new.

There were a lot of open public area and several smaller meeting rooms.

A second story City Council Chamber that over looked Main Street was very impresive.

The Police Department was very nice with room for growth. I really liked their in door parking area as I am sure does our Police Chief Brandon.

Right across the street was their District Library the FTC&H also did. A familiar face, Mayor Charles Myers (a Davison transplant) helped with our Lowell tours.

They had nice signage designation the different areas between Police and City Hall.

The next stop was to Cascade Township Library. The interesting thing with this structure was the versatility of their large meeting room. They jointly (Township & library) use this are for meetings and activities. The township’s Board desk can be closed off when the board isn’t in session. This is important as we talked about maximizing shared space to keep the over all cost down.

This building had an older flare to it with a lot of modern amenities.

The next stop was to FTC&H building where they house around 250 employees. One of the advantages is the one-stop possibilities that they have to offer. Very nice Brownfield redevelopment project with their building. The building flowed very well and left a lot of open space that can be reconfigured as times change.

Our final stop was the City of Wyoming. This building is a little more modern in design, but had great flow to it and very user friendly. Great use of technology in the Council Chambers. They are another community that has gone paperless.

With the three firms we are looking at city Council has a challenging decision to make; which firm do we move forward with?

Stay tuned, the fun now begins.

I have received a lot of questions over the past two days. There are a lot of rumors floating around and some factual stuff too. Even some news paper articles.

Yes, I was asked to go up and interview for the City of Mt. Pleasant City Manager’s position. Yes I accepted the opportunity to speak with staff and elected officials from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

The big question is how did we fare?

Yes I said we. It is a nice honor to be considered one of five people that a city like Mt. Pleasant thinks has the right stuff to lead their community into the future. How does this get to how we fared?

Since being in Davison this has been my only interview. No, it was not my first request by communities who are looking for new managers. I am not the type of manager who has fresh resume on hand. What I did during this process is list our accomplishments over the past five years. Going through this process confirmed and reminded me how far we have come. What started out as a short list of items turned into a list about 7 pages long.

We measure up very well against many communities through out the State. For a community our size we have done a lot of great things and have plans to do even more things to keep our community a great place to live, work and raise our children.

The fact that a city like Mt. Pleasant is looking at our management and what we’ve done is a compliment to our staff and elected officials. The staff and volunteers who serve on our boards and committees are what make a manager look good, not the other way around.

For those of you who feel offended to hear about this first in the news paper and not in person, Please accept my apology.

Yesterday was our local MDA Lock-Up. Lieutenant Dave Gilbert was locked up and had to raise the $600 bail for MDA. This was Dave’s first lock-up and he was able to raise around $800.

Michele Hall, the MDA District Director said we had a record year in Davison raising over $13,000 during the day.

Dave said “I am very grateful to all those who donated, especially those individuals eho helped me fulfill my personal bond!”

I agree with Dave the Davison community and Police Department can take pride in being part of the MDA team.

Lt. Dave posses with the
“Warden”, Michele Hall

A few weeks back we were able to take a Davison contingent to visit a couple of the Redstone groups project sites. We had another great day and saw three different functioning buildings.

Our first stop was to the City of Saline. Here they have a city hall functioning with a police department under one roof. They had a little political turmoil during this process where one council member (and some of the public) wanted to save the old structure and add on. It had to be cheaper than demo and starting over. The old city hall was of no significant value and the looks were modified to fit the new building.

What they found out later was by using the old building it added about a quarter of a million dollars to the project.

The two separate functions were divided by a common lobby. This is an interesting gathering space with a nice sky light. Sometimes the noise level is a bit loud when there are many people her at once. At the end of the main lobby is the City Council Chambers. The chambers was very nice an had all the technology upgrades that we may be looking at, yet had a warm inviting feel to it.

There were several separate meeting areas through both sides of the building. The architects did a nice job of blending the old building with the new. They said some of the cost increases dealt with the construction process of feeding new wire and mechanical issues.

The work stations were very nice for the city side and the general office was laid out well.

Saline built a basement under the new section, and they are glad they did. Where this still cost money to build it is sometimes referred to as the cheapest space you can build. Most of the basement is used for storage on the city side of the building and they have plenty of room for the future growth here.

On the Police side, technology has them already making changes. Most of these deal with the 24/7 dispatch area that we do not have. Big office spaces and room for growth were key on this side of the building. They built a nice temporary holding area and a secure sally port entrance.

The basement on the police side was totally used for daily operation. Locker rooms, a large training area, storage and mechanicals took up most of the space.

Our next stop the Ypsilanti Public Library. This library was about 50,000 square feet, or about the same size we are looking at for all functions. The exterior of this multi storied building was modern.

The interior was modern but very warm. They used stone floor in the heavy traffic areas. It is a little more expensive to install but is easy to maintain and will last the lifetime of the building. There were high ceilings throughout and brick an wood brough a great feeling of warmthh through the interior of the structure. Use and membership cards have sky rocketed since opening this facility. It has become a community gathering spot.

A very cool children’s story time area gets a lot of use. Some of the areas have been shifted since opening to handle the growth in usage, but the building flowed very well. They also had good sized meeting space that is often used by public groups. There was also a used book area to help bring funds into the library system.

Our last stop was down to the Taylor District Court. The exterior of this building was very stately and the court rooms had enough wood in them to remind you of the old style court rooms. They had some interesting security issues that they dealt with here. They had two nice court rooms and a third almost identical for the magistrate. Very good open public space in the lobby areas.

Again, a very nice day and I thing we gained some more ideas . Its going to be a very tough decision.

I would like to thank all who have forwarded condolences, thoughts and prayers at our loss of Scott Yaklin.

This includes getting back to my daily (almost) post on what is happening in the City of Flags.

So many have asked what we will be doing to tribute Scott’s dedication to the city over the past 25 years. We do not know yet, but I’ll be sure to blog about it when we come up with an appropriate plan.

Our community has a lot to look forward to and a bright future.

If city services are a little slower than you are use to this week.

If the employee you speak with has a tear in their eye and a lump in their throat.

Please be patient with us. We, in the City of Davison have just lost an important person on our team. Our DPW Director, Scott Yaklin died in a motorcycle accident on Sunday.

Scott was 43.

Scott left behind two daughters that were is pride and joy.

Scott also left behind a community that may only now realize how much Scott was to the workings of our city.

Scott was also assistant Fire Chief for the Davison/Richfield Fire Department.

Maybe at another time when my mind can stay clear I will bolg about Scott, a true professional and trusted leader in our community.

A recent picture of
Scott as he explained to
Davison Students the
workings of the Skellenger
Water Treatment Plant.
The Treatment Plant was
one of Scott’s many
accomplishments while with the
City.

Arrangements:

Allen Funeral Home

Tuesday July 4, 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Wednesday July 5, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm

St. John’s Catholic Church

Thursday July 6, 9:30 Visitation, 10:30 mass