By: Dean Vaglia | Mount Clemens-Clinton-Harrison Journal | Published September 20, 2023
MOUNT CLEMENS — As summer rolls into fall and the new year comes ever closer, the Mount Clemens City Commission took a step toward charting its future by approving a fiscal year 2024 strategic plan at the Sept. 5 meeting.
The plan was formed over the course of two pre-meeting sessions in February and July.
“We had a difficult first session and I think some of us were feeling very frustrated after that difficult first session, and I would like to thank all of you (commissioners) for not giving up on that and working through it,” said Mayor Laura Kropp.
Broken into seven categories, the plan outlines various points about how to best reach its goals for the coming fiscal year.
“I’m very happy that we’re building on something that was started a couple years ago,” said City Commissioner Laura Fournier. “We’re not just shelving it, saying, ‘Oh maybe we should do a plan.’ We’re actually using the one we did and building on it. Thank you for building on it and getting it done.”
The plan begins with the organizational mission of “Enhancing community through effective and equitable public services,” as well as the city’s values. From there, the plan is divided into categories focused on capital improvements, safety and blight control, economic development, recreation, connections with other communities and embracing the city’s diversity.
Plans to improve housing in the city include expanding the new Administrative Hearings Bureau to include rental properties, property maintenance, building and fire code violations on top of anti-blight enforcement. The plan also calls for developing a property maintenance code enforcement strategy and providing the same level of accountability to the Mount Clemens Housing Commission as it does for other property owners.
The capital improvement goals focus on developing a funding strategy to pay for capital improvements, reviewing costs and benefits related to the city’s water treatment plant — in light of the city’s decision to switch from its own municipal water system to the Great Lakes Water Authority network — and finding ways to better communicate upcoming construction projects with residents and businesses.
The full plan can be found online in the Sept. 5 meeting agenda packet.
Other business conducted at the meeting included rezoning the property at 111 Elizabeth Road from residential to mixed use, appointing Mathew Vaughan and Tammy Swain-Simmons to the Mount Clemens Historical Commission and honoring Knights of Columbus Council 744 on its 120th anniversary.