Region Four Education Seminar Highlights

The Region 4 Seminar held in Au Gres on May 2, 2008 was a huge success!  Speaker Joe Borgstrom, director of the CATeam for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), spoke about their grants for building the downtowns that draw people, talent, and businesses to municipalities.  He also touched on their Main Street program and how important sense of place is to the up-coming generations.  Speaker Allan Brouillet of DEQ talked about Michigan’s economic development program and how it is currently at risk due to limited funding.

Representative Kenneth Horn (R-Frankenmuth) and Senator James Barcia (D-Bay City) answered audience questions about current events at the Capitol.  They discussed revenue sharing and encouraged League members to push for increases and to support even greater increases than the 4 percent that is currently being discussed.  They also discussed the importance and cost of health care for every individual.

Community Excellence Award
The votes are in!  After many excellent presentations by officials across the region, attendees chose the city of Au Gres as the Region 4 Community Excellence Award winner finalist.  This win places Au Gres in the running for the ultimate win—the 2008 Community Excellence Award Cup!  The final competition will be fierce, pitting the winner from each region against each other for the BIG win, which will be announced at the 2008 Annual Michigan Municipal League Convention on Mackinac Island, October 1-4, 2008.  Don’t miss out—register early (June 2) to come out to vote for your favorite project.  Congratulations to the City of Au Gres!