Cool Cities Action plan presented to local officials and groups
Earlier this month, a presentation of the Rogers City Cool Cities Committee was given by Jeff Hopp and Anne Belanger to members of the Rogers City Council. Hopp and Belanger presented council with a five point action plan to better Rogers City, which in turn was accepted by council. The next step was to conduct a joint meeting with local officials, which took place Monday.
About half of the people invited were in attendance in the Constance Jordan Conference Room in Rogers City, as Hopp and Belanger presented the plan. Last fall, Gov. Jennifer Granholm unveiled the ?Cool Cities Initiative,? inviting Michigan communities to participate in an effort that would help retain, as well as attract, the state?s most valuable asset, its people. The five steps for Rogers City include: grass roots initiative; bridging organizations; establishing a cultural plan; image development; and having the city adopt a pro-active approach.
?I THINK Cool Cities has definitely got a good start today,? said Hopp, following Monday?s two-hour workshop. ?It?s a small start, but it?s an important start to engage the right people who have the right contacts and the right touch points in the community that can truly make a difference.? Mayor Beach Hall, who directed Hopp to form the local Cool Cities committee nine months ago, had hoped certain members of the community would have attended the workshop, but there also were people he hadn?t expected to see in attendance. ?Overall, I thought it was very positive,? said Hall. Judging by the reaction and the ensuing discussions, which lasted well past the end of the meeting, many of those in attendance expressed an eagerness to work with the city in making the plan move forward.
The next steps will be to continue to get the word out about what the local Cool Cities Initiative is all about. Hall?s goal with the initiative is to ?Entice other residents into the community to make it more year-round, so that we can basically be an attractive destination, and also keep people here in town, who are currently having to leave because they don?t feel they can find adequate employment or recognition for their talents.?
BELANGER BELIEVES the community, service organizations, and business leaders need to accept the plan. She said the city needs to ?Get people to buy into this, get people to embrace it, to take it from this room and spread the word,? said Belanger. ?It?s always communication,? said Hopp, explaining the biggest obstacle, ?keeping everybody on the same page. Communicating the message (and) making sure that there is forward, positive direction.? More meetings are expected, Hall said, to see who is interested in joining the effort. ?I?ve got to get some other people involved. It may take personal invitations,? said Hall. ?It?s very obvious we need to keep very closely linked with the chamber. That process is well underway.?
The Rogers City Chamber, other than city council members, had the most representatives of any local group at the workshop, including new executive director Bill Hanchett. Hanchett, who has lived in Rogers City for a year-and-a-half, wants the city to stay the way it is, because that?s what attracted him to the area, but there are things he believes will strengthen it.
?WE NEED to build a strong infrastructure,? said Hanchett. ?We have needs in the town that we have to fulfill. We need to have more cultural type things and I would like to see the town change that. ?The values of the town need to stay the
Mary Ann Heidemann, Community Development Commission director, believes the city should seek state funding. ?I always think we should bring home the bacon if we possibly can,? said Heidemann. ?If Cool Cities didn?t fit our area, of course I wouldn?t say that, but everything is consistent with our dreams. Since our goals are consistent, why not share in the funding??
THE GOVERNOR?S initiative is expected to be for three years, with the next round of grant applications being accepted next year. No meeting dates were set, as Hall was hoping participants would take time to digest the information they heard and then proceed. ?I?m extremely pleased as to how today went,? said Hopp. ?It?s small steps, bench-marketable, that can truly show that there is progress being made. It is the key to the success of the whole project, and it?s going to take people to do that.?