Melanie Piana, MML Board President

Michigan Municipal League President Melanie Piana will participate in an “Infrastructure Financing Panel” Tuesday during a briefing for Congressional staff in Washington D.C. The event is being hosted by the Bond Dealers of America.

The panel will discuss the importance of preservation of the tax-exemption, reinstatements of advanced refundings, and the expansion of private activity bonds in order for local government to drive capital infrastructure projects in their communities.

Piana, Ferndale city councilmember, spoke on the importance of public-private partnerships during a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce infrastructure event in Washington D.C. In that event, Piana talked about the value of municipal bonding and public-private partnerships in Ferndale’s downtown Development on Troy project – a mixed-use (office, retail and resident) endeavor, and a parking deck.

Her comments and information shared about the project in Ferndale and the importance of infrastructure investments in Michigan led to the Bond Dealers inviting her to participate on this panel, Piana said.

The event moderator is Sean MCCarthy from Build America Mutual (BAM). Other panelists are Ron Bernardi from Bernardi Securities, Steve Heaney from Stifel, and Mike Belsky from the University of Chicago, also a former mayor.

This week, Piana and numerous other Michigan local government officials are in D.C. for the Congressional City Conference put on by the National League of Cities. For more about the NLC conference read this MML blog on Inside 208.