Inside 208

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced they are extending the deadline for comments regarding their proposed “Waters of the U.S.” rule until October 20th. The proposed rule would change the definition of “Waters of the U.S.” in the Clean Water Act, which determines jurisdiction of water bodies under the [...]

More than a dozen Michigan cities and villages have approved resolutions urging residents to vote YES on Proposal 1 Aug. 5. The Michigan Municipal League is part of the vote YES on Proposal 1 Michigan Citizens for Strong and Safe Communities coalition and is encouraging our member communities to adopt [...]

The Michigan Legislature is out of session until July 16 at the earliest.  They are in district campaigning so it is a perfect time for you to set up meetings with them in your own communities. Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land [...]

Although the legislature was unable to come up with a comprehensive solution to fix Michigan’s transportation system, next years transportation budget includes an additional $144.5 million in one-time funding for roads. As a result cities and villages across this state will receive $31.5 million. Based on the boilerplate language in [...]

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is pleased to announce the solicitation of new applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2016 Local Safety Program. Federal funds for the Local Safety Program are to be used for highway safety improvements on the local roadway system. All locally controlled roadways, regardless of [...]

This event provides an opportunity to discuss the geosynthetic reinforced soil integrated bridge system (GRS-IBS) and showcase a GRS-IBS project in Ionia County. GRS-IBS is an engineered fill of closely spaced, alternating layers of compacted granular fill material and geosynthetic reinforcement. It’s a fast, cost effective method of bridge support [...]

The Senate adjourned until July 16 after several failed attempts to provide additional road funding to fix Michigan’s infrastructure. Failing to act means our roads and bridges will continue to fall into greater disrepair. We will not only fail to maintain existing infrastructure but won’t be able to invest in [...]

This afternoon the Senate passed Senate Bill 850, a bill that would exempt police and fire from PA 54 so they can have retroactive pay increases after a contract expires. The bill passed by a vote of 27-10. In 2011 the legislature passed a number of reforms to help employers control costs and [...]

HB 4363 (Rep. Price, R – Holland) passed out of the Senate Government Operations committee today.  This bill would make it a requirement to be physically present to vote in order for a meeting to be considered open to the public.  There were different concerns from both sides of the aisle and [...]

HB 5131 and 5132 (Rep. Harvey Santana, D- Detroit) passed the full Senate today. These bills would amend the Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act and the Economic Development Corporations Act to allow a local BRA or EDC to adopt a rule linking an appointment of a public official to that board to the expiration of [...]