By Michael Cain
First, I would like to wish each of you a Happy New Year. Hopefully, the start of 2023 has been good for you and yours. As I begin this, my final newsletter article as your president, I can’t help but reflect on this past administrative year and all that has been accomplished. In some ways it seems like we were just at the Winter Institute in Troy instead of making final preparations for the one later this month in Grand Rapids. Sure, there have been plenty of challenges, but we have worked our way through them one by one and hopefully, will be even better prepared and ready for anything MME going forward.
When we were in Troy, we had a good discussion about our officer and board selection process in one of our sessions. Since then, we have had two elections as an association on that topic and ended up with our membership approving major changes to our constitution on how our vice president and board members are nominated and elected. After years of discussion and grumbling, real change approved by us, as a group, has been implemented and used in the election that wrapped up last month, just before the holidays. The result was a slate of candidates, and people who were elected, that while vetted and recommended by our Nomination Committee, were initially nominated by our general membership. And every eligible MME member was afforded the opportunity to vote whether they were able to attend the Winter Institute or not. And, by having the election results known in advance, the incoming board can be better prepared to hit the ground running when their terms begin at the end of the Winter Institute. The full incoming board and officer list is included for your reference elsewhere in this newsletter. One of my duties next year will be to chair the nominations process that we’ve just implemented. Having been through the adoption process this year and seeing the great work of this year’s Nominating Committee, I am eager to continue to be of service helping our association with this important task next fall.
Another responsibility I will have as our immediate past president will be to mediate the listserv. When initially considering the 2021 recommendations of the Listserv Task Force of the board to reassign those duties from the incoming president to the immediate past-president, I thought that was a good change then, and now as I prepare to step into that role. Used properly the listserv is, I believe, one of our greatest assets. It allows us to connect quickly and easily and share important information with each other. But too often it has also been a distraction. I hope, with your help, to keep those distractions to a minimum. I’m a listserv scanner myself. I don’t, and won’t, ever have the time to review every post. I won’t be out there looking for problems, but if I see them, I plan to communicate with the sender directly and remind them of the guidelines for the listserv, which are available on the MME website for all to see and be aware of. If you see something that you believe does not comply with our listserv guidelines, feel free to let me know directly, and I will take what I believe to be direct appropriate action.
As I’ve reported in a December listserv post, the MME Board voted to expand who from the MML can be on our listserv from what that task force recommended. From my perspective that takes us back to the roots of how the listserv worked from its onset as not only a tool for our eligible members to participate in, but also a resource where those from the MML, and possibly other specifically MME Board-approved related outside groups, can share their insights on topics of importance to us or learn how to better address issues or concerns that are important to us as well.
As with all of our discussions during the past year, the conversations on all of the topics we have had at the board have been full, deep but respectful. Like the boards and commissions we serve, we don’t always agree, but I can honestly say that I have learned from all those who I have served with and appreciated learning about their views and perspectives. There has been a fair share of board votes where my views came up on the short end of the tally. But that’s the way the process is designed to work and I’m fine with that. As I mentioned in my first article to you, I see the position as president is to represent all of you the best I can. That’s what I have tried my best to do.
As this administrative year winds down, your board is working to wrap up an agreement on providing us additional staffing support, outside and in addition to what we receive through our longstanding agreement with the MML. This is another concept that has been discussed for years that is closing in on completion. Once final arrangements are agreed to and approved by the board they will be shared through the listserv and, hopefully, more fully revealed at the Winter Institute. We also continue to work on updating the agreement with the MML on the services they provide.
To make all this work requires the money to do so. That’s why at the beginning of this term a task force reviewed our budgeting process, timeline, and needs. Based on their recommendations, we significantly increased our dues to better handle our longstanding ongoing needs while also providing the additional resources to get our new internal staff/support processes up and running.
One of my greatest personal points of pride has been the reconstituting of our senior advisor team. From down to just one person, we are now up to four to better handle the needs of our members—from those in southeastern Michigan to the Upper Peninsula. As we have seen all too recently, we never know when any of us may need some extra outside peer support. Been there, done that, used it.
Again, that’s what makes our association special and important. We are there to support each other in good times and in bad. There is a lot to love about this profession and the positive differences we can make in the lives of our communities and the people who make them up. But as we all know, these are uniquely challenging times in our world, nation, state, and communities. Dealing with those challenges can take their toll on each of us. That is why it is ever so important, now more than ever, to have our formal and informal support networks that we can reach out to when necessary, or that reach out to us when they see we might be in need.
One of our best support tools is right around the corner with the Winter Institute coming up at the end of this month. If you haven’t signed up yet, do so! It provides great opportunities for both those formal and informal forms of support. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the ICMA conference in Columbus last year. I still contend that as strong as those ICMA conferences are that our MME events compare very well to those in terms of both sessions and networking. Be sure to register and come to Grand Rapids and support the profession as it supports you.
In closing, let me express my thanks to all of you for being a part of our great organization, and especially to those who have done the heavy lifting by serving on the board or one of our committees. It is only by being involved that this association can live up to its full potential.
And a heartfelt thank you for giving me this opportunity to be of further service to you, our association, and our profession.
See you in Grand Rapids!
Yours in service,
Mike
Michael Cain
President, Michigan Municipal Executives
City Manager, Boyne City
Michael Cain has served as city manager of Boyne City since 2002 and has more than 38 years of municipal management experience having previously worked for Grand Traverse County, Traverse City, Fenton, Wolverine Lake, Troy, and St. Johns. Cain is a member of the ICMA and has been active with MME for many years serving as a member of its board and several committees. He’s also been very active with the Michigan Municipal League serving on several committees and is a past member of its Board of Trustees. He is currently on the board of Networks Northwest and served as the chairperson of the Charlevoix, Cheboygan, and Emmet County 911 Authority for several years. Mike is a native Michigander being born in Dearborn then transplanted to Traverse City in 7th grade where he met his wife, Katherine. Together they have four daughters and a cat. You may reach him at mcain@boynecity.com.