Michael Young
City Manager, Rockford
Michael Young assumed the role of Rockford’s city manager in 1995, and has spent the last twenty years cultivating his own managerial skills as well as the assets of this city of just under 6,000 residents in Kent County. Recently he shared his thoughts on his municipal career as well as his new position as president of the Michigan Local Government Management Association.
You have been Rockford’s city manager for 20 years. What’s special about the community that has kept you there so long?
Rockford is a very welcoming community and there seems to be a historic respect for government. It’s also a progressive community where they’re willing to take some risks. The city has seen pretty significant growth in my 20 years. We have a real vibrant business community, great parks, and a very diverse housing stock. And downtown development is a passion of mine, so I’m proud to say that we have one of the best downtowns in the state of Michigan.
What have been your biggest accomplishments during your tenure as city manager?
Early on in my career, we completely redid our downtown district – roads, lighting, brick paving, sound system, water, and sewer. The community has been very good at keeping it up with constant upgrades. Another significant project was the sewer authority we created with the townships of Plainfield, Alpine, Cannon, and Cortland. They are five very different communities, but we banded together and built a $52 million sewer plant from the ground up. It was a great example of cooperation.
About a year ago, we created a hybrid public safety department by merging the police and fire departments. But we also did something very unique. We were the first city in Michigan to incorporate the public works department into public safety. We now have 24 employees who are cross-trained, which has saved us about $300,000 a year. It wasn’t easy but the end product is fabulous.
You’ve been a member of MLGMA since the early 1990s and held a variety of positions within the organization. How has MLGMA enriched your career?
MLGMA has been critical to my career. I started out as an intern with Eric DeLong, who is now deputy city manager of Grand Rapids. He has a stellar reputation for developing young talent. My first year he took me to a MLGMA conference. I was around all these giants of the profession trying to soak up everything – they made me fall in love with my profession. I’ve made sure that MLGMA has been a continuing part of my career. Now when I meet new managers and interns, I feel like I have a responsibility to help them develop their career and make them feel welcome to MLGMA.
In January, you were elected as MLGMA’s 2015 president. You said that one of your goals is to attract more college graduates into the profession. How do you hope to bring more young people into municipal government?
I’m real honored to have been chosen as president. I think the structure that already exists within MLGMA – particularly the Professional Development and NextGen committees – and the mentoring that takes place among members is essential. We have incredible managers in these committees reaching out to universities and young professionals and I want to help facilitate their work. It’s a tenuous time in our profession with stories in the news about managers being fired or in trouble. We have to get our arms around the situation or we won’t get young talent wanting to come into city management.