As soon as the last person headed home from the League’s 2013 Convention in Detroit, our heads began spinning with new ideas for our 2014 Convention.  Mark your calendars for Oct. 15-17 and plan to join your fellow municipal officials in Marquette, a northern Michigan gem nestled on the sparkling shore of Lake Superior. We’ll fill you in on lots of things you may not know about this Upper Peninsula community – from its internationally-acclaimed Northern Michigan University to its thriving downtown and spectacular recreational opportunities.

To sharpen your skills and knowledge base, we have planned sessions on a wide variety of topics. You’ll have an opportunity to learn everything from crowdfunding to boomer turnover to placemaking like a developer. You’ll also have a chance to get out in the fresh Upper Peninsula air and see what makes Marquette unique on one of several mobile workshops.

So get ready to grab onto some new ideas that you can apply in your own community. Registration starts June 23!

#mmlconv

As soon as the last person headed home from the League’s 2013 Convention in Detroit, our heads began spinning with new ideas for our 2014 Convention.  Mark your calendars for Oct. 15-17 and plan to join your fellow municipal officials in Marquette, a northern Michigan gem nestled on the sparkling shore of Lake Superior. We’ll fill you in on lots of things you may not know about this Upper Peninsula community – from its internationally-acclaimed Northern Michigan University to its thriving downtown and spectacular recreational opportunities.

To sharpen your skills and knowledge base, we have planned sessions on a wide variety of topics. You’ll have an opportunity to learn everything from crowdfunding to boomer turnover to placemaking like a developer. You’ll also have a chance to get out in the fresh Upper Peninsula air and see what makes Marquette unique on one of several mobile workshops.

So get ready to grab onto some new ideas that you can apply in your own community. Registration starts June 23!

#mmlconv

As soon as the last person headed home from the League’s 2013 Convention in Detroit, our heads began spinning with new ideas for our 2014 Convention.  Mark your calendars for Oct. 15-17 and plan to join your fellow municipal officials in Marquette, a northern Michigan gem nestled on the sparkling shore of Lake Superior. We’ll fill you in on lots of things you may not know about this Upper Peninsula community – from its internationally-acclaimed Northern Michigan University to its thriving downtown and spectacular recreational opportunities.

To sharpen your skills and knowledge base, we have planned sessions on a wide variety of topics. You’ll have an opportunity to learn everything from crowdfunding to boomer turnover to placemaking like a developer. You’ll also have a chance to get out in the fresh Upper Peninsula air and see what makes Marquette unique on one of several mobile workshops.

So get ready to grab onto some new ideas that you can apply in your own community. Registration starts June 23!

#mmlconv

As soon as the last person headed home from the League’s 2013 Convention in Detroit, our heads began spinning with new ideas for our 2014 Convention.  Mark your calendars for Oct. 15-17 and plan to join your fellow municipal officials in Marquette, a northern Michigan gem nestled on the sparkling shore of Lake Superior. We’ll fill you in on lots of things you may not know about this Upper Peninsula community – from its internationally-acclaimed Northern Michigan University to its thriving downtown and spectacular recreational opportunities.

To sharpen your skills and knowledge base, we have planned sessions on a wide variety of topics. You’ll have an opportunity to learn everything from crowdfunding to boomer turnover to placemaking like a developer. You’ll also have a chance to get out in the fresh Upper Peninsula air and see what makes Marquette unique on one of several mobile workshops.

So get ready to grab onto some new ideas that you can apply in your own community. Registration starts June 23!

#mmlconv

As soon as the last person headed home from the League’s 2013 Convention in Detroit, our heads began spinning with new ideas for our 2014 Convention.  Mark your calendars for Oct. 15-17 and plan to join your fellow municipal officials in Marquette, a northern Michigan gem nestled on the sparkling shore of Lake Superior. We’ll fill you in on lots of things you may not know about this Upper Peninsula community – from its internationally-acclaimed Northern Michigan University to its thriving downtown and spectacular recreational opportunities.

To sharpen your skills and knowledge base, we have planned sessions on a wide variety of topics. You’ll have an opportunity to learn everything from crowdfunding to boomer turnover to placemaking like a developer. You’ll also have a chance to get out in the fresh Upper Peninsula air and see what makes Marquette unique on one of several mobile workshops.

So get ready to grab onto some new ideas that you can apply in your own community. Registration starts June 23!

#mmlconv

This afternoon the Senate passed Senate Bill 850, a bill that would exempt police and fire from PA 54 so they can have retroactive pay increases after a contract expires. The bill passed by a vote of 27-10.

In 2011 the legislature passed a number of reforms to help employers control costs and be better stewards of taxpayer resources. One of the, if not the, most significant reform was to prohibit retroactive pay increases after a contract has expired. This game changing statute, PA 54 of 2011, has helped communities settle contracts more quickly and provides more certainty in municipal budgets. Passage of SB 850 would be detrimental to our ability to settle contracts quickly and efficiently.

The Michigan Municipal League has been strongly opposed to this bill and we continue to urge you to contact your legislators to let them know how detrimental this carve out would be. The arguments the public safety groups use for supporting this bill are that the number of PA 312 filings would proliferate and the legislature only intended this bill to impact teachers.

According to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission there were only 43 PA 312 filings in 2013 as opposed to 69 in 2011. PA 312 filings are significantly lower than they were before enactment of PA 54.

In addition, even if the legislature only intended this for teachers, it has been a game changer for municipal budgets, and it’s critical that we keep this tool to allow local units the opportunity to settle contracts expeditiously and save taxpayers money.

We appreciate all the members who have already contacted their lawmakers on this issue and we hope others follow their lead. It is critical that you please contact your legislators and ask them to OPPOSE Senate Bill 850. You can find the contact information for your Legislators here. We’ve also prepared a letter you can email directly to your lawmakers. Go here to do that today.

The legislation now goes to the House for consideration. A House version, House Bill 5097, is on the House floor.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the League handling municipal finance issues.  She can be reached at sharkins@mml.org or 517-908-0306.

HB 4363 (Rep. Price, R – Holland) passed out of the Senate Government Operations committee today.  This bill would make it a requirement to be physically present to vote in order for a meeting to be considered open to the public.  There were different concerns from both sides of the aisle and the chair asked the bill sponsor to work to address concerns before it is taken up for a vote in the Senate.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305. 

HB 5131 and 5132 (Rep. Harvey Santana, D- Detroit) passed the full Senate today. These bills would amend the Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act and the Economic Development Corporations Act to allow a local BRA or EDC to adopt a rule linking an appointment of a public official to that board to the expiration of that official’s service as a public official, including a resignation or removal from office.  This is permissive.  The bills now go back to the House for concurrence (since they were amended in the Senate) and then to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.  

This morning the House Regulatory Reform committee passed SB 846 (Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R – Lowell), a bill that amends the Michigan liquor control code dealing with redevelopment liquor licenses and is identical to HB 4257 (Rep. Cindy Denby, R – Fowlerville) that passed the House late last year. According to a recent determination by the Liquor Control Commission, only businesses in cities are eligible for redevelopment liquor licenses. This determination is counter to the last six years, where the Liquor Control Commission has allowed the redevelopment licenses in redevelopment districts to be for cities, villages, or townships. This bill is an attempt to rectify this issue and clarifies eligibility for the redevelopment liquor licenses in the development districts to cities, villages, and townships. We have heard from multiple villages worried about this because their redevelopment efforts are coming to a halt without being eligible for these redevelopment licenses.

The bill now moves onto the full House for passage.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.