Contact:
Morgan Schwanky
Michigan Municipal League
[email protected], 734-669-6320
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 19, 2022
ANN ARBOR, Michigan – Sterling Heights City Councilmember Deanna Koski recently received the Jim Sinclair Exceptional Service Award from the Michigan Municipal League.
The Sinclair Award celebrates a person dedicated to public service who has shown passion and commitment to the League, enthusiastically supporting its mission and promoting its purpose.
“On behalf of the League and the City of Sterling Heights, I would like to congratulate Deanna on receiving this award.” said Barb Ziarko, the League’s Board President and fellow Sterling Heights City Councilmember. “It has been a pleasure to serve on the council with Deanna. Her work in Sterling Heights, Macomb County, and the state has created great, positive impacts. It is an honor to award her truly exceptional service.”
Koski was first elected to the city council in 1989. She has completed Levels I, II and III of the Elected Officials Academy through the Michigan Municipal League (MML). She is a graduate of the Sterling Heights Police Department Citizen’s Academy, the Sterling Heights Fire Department Citizen’s Academy and the CERT program, IS-100 and IS-700. She earned her associate degree as a legal assistant from Macomb Community College. She also holds a Real Estate Brokers License.
Koski is active at all levels of government service. She has served as a Macomb County city representative for the Michigan State Boundary Commission. Through MML, Koski has served on the Legislative and Urban Affairs Committee (vice chair), the Elected Officials Academy Board, the Public Safety Committee, the Legislative Governance Committee, and was a former chairperson for Region I of the MML.
In 2007, she was elected to the MML Board of Trustees for a three-year term. She has also served on the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Public Safety and Crime Prevention Steering Committee, and was former president of the NLC Women in Municipal Government Association. Koski is a supporter of the Sterling Heights Community Foundation, and was also a founding member of the Sterling Heights Drug Free Coalition, a group that works to educate, collaborate and advocate to create an environment safe from substance misuse. She is a member of the Sterling Heights Area Chamber of Commerce, Oakland County Bar Association, Business Women’s Alliance, and was a past member of the City of Sterling Heights Board of Review.
The award was presented during this year’s Michigan Municipal League Convention taking place in Muskegon.
“As a member of the Sterling Heights City Council for 33 years, I am humbled to receive the 2022 Jim Sinclair Award,” Koski said. “Jim was all about promoting local government, and I, too, have always thought it was important that I take advantage of the many networking opportunities offered for elected officials. Throughout the years, my participation in the League has provided countless opportunities to collaborate with communities all over Michigan and has served as inspiration for many new amenities in our own community of Sterling Heights. For my efforts to have been recognized by my peers, who nominated me for this award, means everything to me.”
Download and view photos from our award winners on the League’s flickr page here.
For additional information contact the League’s Morgan Schwanky, Content Developer, Marketing and Communications, at (734) 669-6320 and [email protected].
Michigan Municipal League is dedicated to making Michigan’s communities better by thoughtfully innovating programs, energetically connecting ideas and people, actively serving members with resources and services, and passionately inspiring positive change for Michigan’s greatest centers of potential: its communities. The League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services. Learn more at mml.org.
###