MARCH 16th SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL

A special meeting of the Port Huron City Council was held Monday night, March 16th, at 7:00 p.m. in room 408 of the MOC building. This meeting was to decide where the city council plans on heading and what role in leadership they wish to play.

Bruce Brown made a presentation with a flip chart he had drawn. He joked that he had 5 colored markers and so he had to make enough categories so he could use all his markers. In all seriousness, the presentation he made focused on the broader subject of how the city can move Port Huron forward. He mentioned that there had been some controversy surrounding Port Huron's membership in the EDA, but the EDA was just one part of the big picture. Since he has been in Port Huron he has observed all sorts of groups doing all sorts of things, but no leadership (which, in his opinion, should be the city council). He also said that he spent time speaking to all types of people around Port Huron and the main theme was people are frustrated by the lack of coordination and lack of vision.

He posed the question why now? Why should the council be stepping in to a leadership role now? Mr. Brown identified some main points during this part of his presentation. 1: There is no shared vision about where we should be going. 2: We have inefficient organizations with overlapping missions. There seems to be no point person. 3: City government is depending on the performance of these other groups which is getting us no where. 4: The solution is that the city is in the best position to coordinate and do the job.

At this point Mr. Brown identified 5 economic engines that can drive Port Huron. 1: Industrial Development. 2: Tourism. 3: Large Site Commercial Development. 4: Downtown Development. 5: Events. He then broke these down explaining how these should work.

Industrial Development: Someone should be focusing exclusively on this position. The responsible entity should be the EDA. Doug Alexander would be the point person because he is the Executive Director of the EDA. The purpose would be to attract and retain the industrial users for Port Huron's Industrial Park. The proposed funding of the EDA would be $100,000 paid by the city of Port Huron. Accountability was a big factor in Mr. Brown's proposal so the EDA would be required to give quarterly accountability reports to the City Manager/City Council.

Tourism: The Blue Water Convention and Visitors Bureau would be the responsible entity in this category. Marci Fogal would be the point person because she is the Executive Director. The purpose would be to Promote Port Huron's convention and meeting industry. The funding source would be through the hotel tax. While the BWCVB is not financially responsible to the city, Mr. Brown did indicate that he would love to have them come to city council meetings and report on their progress from time to time. Marci Fogal of the BWCVB was in attendance at this meeting and indicated she would like to be part of this idea. Mr. Brown also mentioned that we are not far from a couple major cities and he hasn't figure out why no one has tapped into this market.

Large Site Commercial Development: The responsible entity would be the Port Huron City Manager. The point person would be a Commercial Development Specialist, which would be someone the city would hire to recruit prospective developers for large site and/or strategic properties. The properties mentioned were Desmond Landing, Sperry's Building, YMCA, and the old Art Van Building. This person would also be responsible to coordinate the relocation of those businesses being displaced by the Blue Water Bridge Plaza expansion. The proposed funding for this position would be $100,000 paid by the City of Port Huron. The person they hire must be a licensed commercial realtor with a CCIM designation and be associated with the International Council of Shopping Centers. Mr. Brown commented that no one is focusing on the empty sites around the city. He said you must bring developers here, not hope they just show up. He was surprised the city had no one out whooing developers here. He mentioned he had already had a meeting with a hotel developer for the YMCA site. He had heard this person was building hotels around the state and wondered why Port Huron was not on this guys radar. When he spoke to him, he found out that the guy didn't know about this area. Because of the meeting Mr. Brown had, we are now on this developers radar.

Downtown Development: The responsible entity would be the Blue Water Area Chamber of Commerce. The point person would be someone selected by the Chamber board of directors. Their purpose would be to attract and retain retail, residential and office users for downtown locations. The proposed funding would be either $50,000 in incentives or $60,000 salary. The funding source would be the Downtown Development Authority and the Chamber. Quarterly Accountability Reports would be required to be given to the City Council/City Manager. Mr. Brown pointed out there there are lots of people and groups working on this and they are all bumping in to each other. There needs to be more cooperation and one point person.

Events: Downtown Port Huron would be the responsible entity. The point person would be Cindy Babisz, Executive Director. Their purpose would be to plan, accomplish and coordinate events in the downtown area. Proposed funding for this would be $50,000 and would be funded by the Downtown Development Authority. They would be required to make sure the City Manager has an updated Calendar of Events.

The question was asked if the CCIM position would be salaried. Mr. Brown said he thought it should be. He said he wants someone who can get on a plane and fly to different locations to whoo developers here. He realizes if no one sees this person around, they are going to complain that they are not doing their job. Mr. Brown says that if he hears this complaint, he will know the person is doing their job because they are off looking for developers outside the city or even the state.

Mr. Brown pointed out that the downtown is the commercial heart of the community and needs to be healthy and growing to spark other sections of the city to grow.

Council-member Doorn pointed out that we have a lot of entities all doing the same thing with no accountability. When the city works with different entities, it's up to the city to tell them what they want for the city and the entity should have to be accountable to the city. He also noted that he is President of the Chamber Board of Directors and knows the Chamber was invited to move to Downtown with the thought they would take a stronger role as a group.

Council-member Stevens pointed out that the Chamber is a huge lobbying entity. She wanted to make sure there were no problems with the politics and the ability of the Chamber to do that job. She wanted to discuss the Industrial Development issue for a minute. There has admittedly been problems with the EDA. She likes the proposed funding of $100,000 in this plan. She said that if the city decides to "contract" with the EDA, now is the time to realign how they operate. There should be someone at the EDA who would be responsible to Port Huron. Instead of having a "membership" to sit at the table, it should be set up as a "contract." She also felt the County needs to step up and say they will be main contributor to the EDA. Her thought was that Port Huron should only pay $20,000 to the EDA and then hire our own person to work on the development of industry.

Council-member Lewandowski felt the EDA has become stagnant over the years and feels they need a wake up call. They are a good tool for us to use, but there should be other tools in the box. He feels that paying them the $121,000 yearly is out of line and we don't get our money's worth.

Council-member Doorn said that we could fill up downtown and we still won't develop good paying jobs. Most of those jobs would be minimum wage. The one area the council can really do positive things for the city would be large scale commercial development to help bring better paying jobs. He also felt that it could particularly work for Desmond Landing. He felt the partners in the downtown redevelopment need to sit at the table and work it out. Give them 30 to 60 days to get a proposal done and if they can't, then the city council has to step up and take the lead. He wants those people to think long term . . . something that gets it done.

Bruce Brown commented that the most important thing is in this category would be to find someone who really knows what they are doing.

Mayor Pro-tem Fisher cautioned that this person will need a couple years to move things in the other direction. This situation we are in now was not something that happened over night. It's been a slow decline over the last 10 years. He said if we have someone who is not hanging around Port Huron glad-handing the locals, then this person will be doing their job.

Bruce Brown cautioned that he was not sure how long it would take to put someone in place. He's not sure what's out there yet. He also pointed out that if we could land a couple of nice projects, other developers will come. In his experience, developers want to be where the action is.

Council-member Doorn was concerned that we owe the EDA a number that we will pay them and a job description.

Bruce Brown responded that the city should look at a stepping down plan form the EDA. People in industrial park have told him the EDA has helped them. Mr. Brown sees the value of the EDA and the best part of only being here 5 months is, he's not involved in the history. He says the city has to decide what we want to pay for the EDAs service.

Council-member Stevens was adamant that Port Huron should not be expected to take care of the whole county in regards to the EDA. She felt that the council needs to talk to the county commissioners and let them know the city can't afford to carry the bulk of the EDA anymore. Times have changed and we need the county to be the major donor. Leadership in the city needs to come from the city government and it's the city's responsibility to communicate to the county that times have changed and the population of Port Huron has dropped and yet the city still carries the bulk of the payment to the EDA.

Council-member Lewandowski mentioned that he feels Port Huron is really missing out on tourism. He travels to other cities and sees that they have something going on every weekend.

Council-member Doorn commented that there is a bright spot there because Downtown Port Huron has been working on some larger key events to help bring people to Port Huron.

Bruce Brown said that the wild card is McMorran. If we had a large scale convention business going on year round that would bring many dollars to Port Huron. He joked that he was going to take over McMorran and run it.

After sitting and listening to the discussion, Mayor Moeller said he supports this plan. He likes that Bruce is new to the area and has fresh ideas. He also pointed out that the problem with Port Huron (and here he mentioned that this was not going to come out politically correct) is there are too many chiefs and not enough indians. He said a big thing that's changed since he took office as Mayor is Bruce keeps the council updated on EVERYTHING. Once a week the council gets an update by email of everything going on which has really helped him to be able to know what's going on within the city. He also said that if the entities they had discussed aren't willing to play the game, the council will step up and lead. There has been a leadership void here for 10 years and now that Bruce is here, he feels comfortable that Bruce can lead. Obviously there will be differences of opinion among the council and these other entities . . . especially when it comes to the money we spend, but he supports the overall plan.

Bruce Brown said that ever since he's come to Port Huron, all he's heard is the city can't do things because of the sewer project and the horrible economy. He knows times are tough, but the rest of the world is moving on and Port Huron needs to move forward too.

Mayor Moeller felt the groups need to be accountable to the city. He hopes the BWCVB will come to Council meetings and give quarterly reports so the council is aware, but any entity that the city funds should be 100% accountable.

Council-member Doorn said that it would be good to talk to these entities now and not wait until there is a problem like they ran into the the McMorran Authority.

Mayor Moeller feels the city has been stagnant and it's time for the council to step up and lead. He felt that if there had been quarterly reports required, the would not have run into the problem they did when the EDA went out and spent thousands of dollars on a study that the council didn't agree with. He said that was a huge waste of taxpayer dollars and can be avoided.

Council-member Doorn said at the end of the day, people are concerned about finding good work that will help them live a decent life. He feels the council can make a big difference in this area with the new plan in place.

Council-member Stevens commented that the council members should hold themselves accountable for the boards or commissions they sit on. The council members should be reporting back to the rest of the council that the group is doing fine or if they are getting out of line. She wants to see a return on the city's investment. For instance . . . the Mackinaw weekend. She knows, as a member of the Port Huron Yacht Club, that they make a lot of money off that weekend, but does anyone know what the return on the investment is for the city?

Council-member McCullogh wanted to set the dollar amounts aside right now and make a resolution on this plan so the council can vote and put it into action. He felt the dollar amounts mentioned in the plan can be negotiated later on.

Bruce Brown is leaving on vacation for three weeks. While he is gone he hopped the council would work out the details of this plan and this will give him a shot to get something done when he returns.

Council-member Lewandowski would like to see the Large Commercial person hired as soon as possible.

Council-member Doorn agreed and said the city needs to be proactive and get moving on this plan sooner than later. He felt with the budget looming on the horizon the council should work this in right now.

Council-member Fisher said this person should make us money.

Council-member Lewandowski asked Mr. Brown if the resolution could be ready for the Monday night council meeting.

Mr. Brown said it could be ready if that's what they wanted.

Council-member Doorn said a resolution is important to show the public and other entities that the council and city are serious.

Mayor Moeller suggested they set up a presentation for the April 13th council meeting so everyone could see what they are doing. He also wanted all the entities involved to be invited.

Council-member Doorn asked if they should wait that long for a presentation because it would obviously be coming out in the media.

Mayor Moeller asked if they wanted to wait a month for the presentation.

Council-member Doorn wanted to know when the city will tell the EDA what funding we are willing to give them.

Mayor Moeller said that Mr. Brown will need to tell the EDA what the city wants from them. The EDA should let Mr. Brown know if they want to go along with that.

Council-member Stevens stressed again that the County should be addressed as to what they need to do to step up. On another topic, Council-member Stevens said the McMorran Authority President would like to be on the next agenda to give a quarterly report. They want to set up a specific time they would report to the council quarterly.

Council-member Byrne was concerned that the council make sure the surrounding townships don't feel excluded. The city cares about what they think.

Bruce Brown commented that the city does not want to be isolationists, but the city administration and city council's job is here and being responsible to the citizens who live in the city.

Mayor Moeller said he had been meeting with some of the township officials and his perception is we have a good relationship with those areas.

At that time the special meeting was adjourned. It seemed that everyone in the room was very impressed with this plan. The council members seem very confident that this could really lead Port Huron into a better future. Several of the people who attended the meeting to watch were very positive about what they heard. They were very impressed with what Mr. Brown said and were really happy the city has a strong leader in the city manager position. Art Sturdevant, of Secure Step Technology - a business located in downtown Port Huron, was sure Mr. Brown had been reading his mind. All the things Mr. Brown said were things Art had thought himself. Local resident, Angela Kelley, is very excited about Mr. Brown's proposal. Her family owns Ben's Furniture in downtown Port Huron and she said her family would be very excited to learn about this new plan.

Final Thoughts: There is hope in Port Huron. Our city council is very forward thinking and the City Manager is working well with them. He has shown a great amount of insight into Port Huron in a very short period of time. It is exciting to see someone come in and formulate a plan that can help the economic structure of Port Huron. Jobs are hard to find in this area and it appears that Mr. Brown is working to help turn that around.

It's time for the citizens of Port Huron to stand up and join together to make this plan work. The citizens can do that by supporting this council and encouraging them to keep going in this direction. People can do this by coming to city council meetings and addressing them at Public Audience, letting them know how excited they are. They can also write letters to the city council and submit them to the city clerk to read to the council.

    Comments:

Trina 03/16/2009
I guess they will still be around and still collect the funds, but they will have to work with the Chamber and not make all the decisions. It's too early to tell what the details of the plan is.

SpeakMyMind 03/16/2009
If the Chamber is going to be the Downtown Development entity, what will happen to the DDA and the funds they collect for downtown development such as streetscate and things like that?

MACHUISHLA 03/16/2009
WELL, THE COUNTY HAS THEIR "ECONOMIC CZAR" WITH SCOTT BEEDON NOW THE CITY WANTS ONE TWO!! LOOKS LIKE A COUPLE MORE CHIEFS AND NO INDIANS.

Angel 03/16/2009
Darn! I can't Facebook share it! (WiNk)!

Angel 03/16/2009
i love the Printbrat insight.... Quit talkin' about me... (smile);^)

Pam L. 03/16/2009
Thanks Trina, for this report. I had wanted to come but was not feeling well. I knew I couldn't count on this kind of reporting from the Times Herald. I'm very glad that Mr. Brown is here and working hard for our city!

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