Inside 208

NLC President Mark Stodola, mayor, Little Rock, Arkansas, and NLC CEO and Executive Director Clarence E. Anthony recently sent an open letter to city leaders on the state of America’s infrastructure. That letter is reproduced here: Dear City Leaders, Happy New Year! At the National League of Cities, every new...

Join city leaders from across the country at the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference as we advocate together for the priorities of cities in the Nation’s Capital.  The conference will take place in Washington, D.C. March 11-14, 2018. For more information click here. Direct link to registration can...

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) is now accepting papers for its 27th Annual Meeting, taking place June 4-7, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. This year’s Program Committee is looking for high-quality papers for the Annual Meeting technical program to narrate this year’s theme, “Transportation 2.0” Papers should be...

While last week’s House and Senate adjournment merely marks the mid-point of this two-year legislative session, that did not mean that the Legislature coasted into their holiday break. Highlighted by the intense activity surrounding OPEB reform, both legislative chambers pursued aggressive agendas in the final days before adjourning.  Numerous bills...

Over the past several years the telecommunication industry has attempted to have legislation passed that would require local municipalities to cover the cost of relocation their lines, waive permit fees and provide one year a notice on any project that would require relocation. A similar bill was introduced this year,...

The much awaited local wetland mitigation grant program (MiWB) is up and running. Applications are now available on their website at www.MiWB.org. After enabling legislation was passed in 2016, this new program was launched in 2017 to help local road agencies handle wetland mitigation banking Please look at the website...

The Michigan Indigent Defense Commission will meet on Tuesday, December 19 at 1:00 pm in the lower level of the Capitol National Bank Building (200 N. Washington Square, Lansing). The agenda is posted on the MIDC’s website – http://michiganidc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/12-19-17-agenda-and-attachments.pdf. At the meeting, Commissioners will begin reviewing compliance plans. The agenda...

Following the initial action on the stripped down OPEB proposal last Thursday morning, League staff and members reviewed that language with an eye towards identifying provisions that appeared to be in conflict with the task force report or could be viewed as problematic for municipalities. We identified a number of items...

Following days of meetings and negotiations, efforts to provide comprehensive reform tools for communities to better manage rising retiree health insurance costs were derailed and a stripped down proposal was adopted in the early hours Thursday morning. House Bill 5298 and its identical counterpart, Senate Bill 686, served as the...

Following the introduction last week of the 16-bill OPEB reform package, three additional bills were introduced in the House to create a structure that attempts to address the chronic under-funding of revenue sharing for local units of government. Lead by chief sponsor, former Walker city mayor, Rep. Rob VerHeulen, House...