By Adam Smith
Over the past few years, through workshops and retreats, I have had the privilege to speak with numerous officials with regard to effective council-manager relationships. A key point of the presentation is that understanding different perspectives is essential for making sound decisions in your community. Professionals recognize that smart, conscientious, and reasonable people can disagree on the best course of action. Regardless of whether or not we agree on any given issue, I thank each of you for sharing your perspective on our listserv. We can control the attitudes and actions of only one single person – ourselves.
Regional Groups
We encourage our MME Regional Groups across the state to continue to take time out of your demanding municipal management pandemic schedules to connect with your neighboring managers. The Capital Area regional group has now held two virtual group meetings with great success, not only for sharing knowledge and experiences with each other, but a much needed opportunity to connect with our colleagues and friends. It is worth the effort. If you are new to the association, please consider becoming involved in one of our regional groups:
- Border Bandits
- Capital Area
- Central Michigan
- Downriver
- Macomb County and Pointes Area
- Northern Michigan
- Oakland County
- St. Clair County
- Southeast Michigan
- Southwest Michigan
- Thumb Nuts
- Upper Peninsula
- West Michigan.
For more information, visit MME’s Regional Groups web page.
Community Resource Web Page
The Advocacy Committee will be compiling a statewide COVID-19 resource webpage “illustration” document for our members on the MME website (i.e. https://www.cityofgrandledge.com/covid-19 ). If your community has developed a COVID-19 web page within your municipal website, please submit a link to your resource web page to webposting@mml.org. Please put “MME COVID link” in the subject line.
Adam Smith
Chair, Advocacy Committee
City Administrator, City of Grand Ledge
Adam Smith was appointed city administrator of Grand Ledge in 2014. Previously, he served as the manager for Mackinaw City and the City of Jonesville. Smith also serves as chair of MME’s Advocacy Committee. You may contact him at 517.627.2149. ext. 11, or asmith@cityofgrandledge.com