By Pat McGinnis
The Advocacy Committee will meet again on December 7 at 3:00 p.m. on Teams. All are welcome if you’d like to join us; the more the merrier!
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 292 496 367 41
Passcode: RKkMLf
One of the deliverables requested by the Board this year is meaningful data to support the Council-Manager form of local government in Michigan. The Board asks that we convert this into a useable document to tell the story of well-run communities. Ryan Heise from Saugatuck found us some research from Wisconsin, but continues to seek reliable, empirical studies that speak to the success of the Council-Manager form. If you have access to such data, please send it our way. By this time next year, we intend to present spiffy graphics that we can all link up to better tell our promising and positive story.
Julius Suchy and Cameron Van Wyngarden will be featured in a coming MTA Magazine cover story: “Is it Time to Hire a Township Manager?” Nothing like free publicity—but we can also buy some publicity, and will plan to purchase a booth at the spring MTA conference. We seek Township Managers to staff the booth throughout the conference, so please contact Julius if you are interested.
Lisa Nocerini, City of Douglas Manager, will present a concurrent session at the Winter Institute on the work of our committee this year. Even though she had a transition from Wayne, Lisa continues to boast about her chosen field and will be a great spokesperson for us next January.
I enjoyed seeing many of you at the MML Convention and look forward to connecting again in January 2024.
Pat McGinnis
Chair, Advocacy Committee
City Manager, Portage
Pat McGinnis has been active in the MCMA/MLGMA/MME since 1987, when he first worked in a manager’s office in the City of Farmington Hills. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration from Michigan State University and has served as city manager in the Michigan municipalities of West Branch, Grand Haven, and Portage. He served a term on the MLGMA Board of Trustees and received the Excellence Award in 2012 and an Innovation Award in 2020. He and his wife Tina live in Portage, Michigan with their bunny, cat, and puppy. He can be reached at mcginnip@portagemi.gov.