The MML Review March-April 2022

Success Stories Tim Dempsey, vice president of Public Sector Consultants, has been fielding ServeMICity technical assistance inquiries for several months. After gaining an understanding of the different challenges local leaders are navigating, he works with them to create solutions. For small municipalities, who don’t necessarily have a full-time staff, the reality of navigating the federal and state funding infrastructure can be overwhelming. That’s where Dempsey and ServeMICity comes in. “Working with people to break down the process helps them see that the steps ar- en’t as complicated as they first appear. Just introducing them to the resources they may not be aware of goes a long way,” says Dempsey. In Muskegon Heights, City Manager Troy Bell has been leaning-in to the benefits of ServeMICity. His community has been struggling for years to recover from the setbacks that started with the great recession back in 2008. Hopelessness creates as much of a problem as a crumbling infrastructure. That’s why Bell was very intentional about enlisting grassroots participation from community stakeholders in the funding allocation process. He put a focus group together in October of 2021 that provides recommendations on how to spend the nearly $11 million Muskegon Heights received.

ServeMICity and Public Sector Consultants helped stakeholders understand the limitations on how the funds could be spent. “The Michigan Municipal League was a conduit to help us understand what other cities were doing, so that Muskegon Heights could follow suit and leverage all the different opportunities,” says Bell. Who Have We Helped? What Does the Future Hold? Between the CARES Act and ARP, ServeMICity has supported 120 communities to date. That’s exceptional progress, but there are many more opportunities for success. According to Draheim, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fund the futures of local governments. It really should be all-hands-on-deck as more federal and state programs to help with recovery come online. As for the future, Draheim says, “The long-term vision for ServeMICity is to have enough impact that we work ourselves out of a job. We want to set the stage, so that local officials are off and running helping their communities in the best way they can.” Joel Van Kuiken, APR, is owner and principal of See Context, a Communications, Strategy, and Consulting firm. You may contact him at 616.308.3789 or seecontext@gmail.com.

26 THE REVIEW

MARCH / APRIL 2022