By Aaron Mitchell
Otsego City Manager
Any year in the life of a City sees a lot of activity. There are a lot of surprises for which you can never plan for in addition to a lot of the regular annual activities that keeps everything running the same as always.
However, 2022 brought a lot of everything: a lot of meetings were held; a lot of hard decisions were made; and a lot of benefits came from those meetings and decisions. Let’s look back at 2022 and go over some of the more significant happenings that occurred.
Financial Uncertainties
We started 2022 with a large, difficult task: talking about money. We tried to reach out to the community and discuss financial shortcomings from years of lower revenue from property taxes and state obligations while our expenses went up year after year.
The biggest concerns were the annual operations shortcomings (mostly Public Safety related) and the needed replacement of city’s three fire trucks.
The City Commission made the decision to pursue a PA 33 Public Safety Special Assessment to tackle these two complicated long-term issues versus pursuing them separately. This included multiple special meetings to try and get word out to the public.
After public notices were issued to all property owners, a petition was submitted that made PA 33 no longer an option. This forced the City Commission to find an alternative plan to balance the budget with many more questions than answers on the future.
Death of our Mayor
The hardest and saddest part of the year for the City was the passing of our Mayor after a brief fight against a rare disease. It took everyone by surprise, including the rest of the City Commission.
Mayor Cyndi Trobeck was by far the leader of the Commission with many years in her position as the City’s first female Mayor. Stacey Withee was named Mayor at the following meeting and helped pick up the pieces.
Before a City Commissioner could be appointed to fill Cyndi’s vacancy, an additional City Commissioner resigned, leaving only three City Commissioners to handle the difficult decisions of the moment. That also meant that if a City Commissioner could not make a meeting for whatever reason, the meeting would have to be canceled due to a lack of quorum.
Eventually, two new City Commissioners were appointed in May: Jason Smith and Chuck Moore Jr. Both won reelection in November and will continue to serve going forward.
Dissolving of DDA
In response to the changing of plans after PA 33 was no longer a funding option, the City Commission was able to balance the budget with one significant decision. That decision was to end the Main Street program with an expectation of dissolving the DDA by June 30, 3023. This was able to secure the General Fund by it receiving state funds instead of the DDA.
This was not an easy decision and one that City administration did not take lightly. By year’s end, the DDA Board made decisions to utilize its fund balance for downtown projects that will secure downtown infrastructure for years to come.
Events
2022 brought us some wonderful events that brought many patrons to our downtown and downtown businesses:
- The Gus Macker Basketball Tournament had a great year in all measures of success—teams, spectators and donations.
- The Art Thing grew substantially from year one to year two.
- The Creative Arts Festival was able to find ways to improve as they do every year.
- Hometown Christmas changed quite a bit with the utilization of the pavilion area by the river and received many compliments for the direction of the event.
*The City of Otsego also partnered with Otsego Public Schools on a new program called the “Otsego Summer Fun Nights,” which provided free food and family-friendly entertainment every week during the summer under the pavilion.
The community was very excited to put the pandemic behind us and get back to a full schedule of Otsego events and enjoying each other’s company. Considering the DDA previously handled the hosting of Gus Macker and the Art Thing and the DDA will be dissolving in June, the City entered into a contract with Otsego Public School Foundation to assure they continue in 2023 and beyond.
Storms
If you think back to the month of August, you will remember two significant storms that ravaged the town. The first one brought epic rain on top of wind and lightning, while the second was featured even more damaging winds that up-rooted trees.
During these storms, all City departments were responding to different emergency calls. The DPW were obviously removing the downed trees; Fire and Police were responded to downed wires and life-threatening injuries; and even the Water/Sewer Department were making sure the pumps were powered and water and sewer services were not interrupted when the power was knocked out.
Later in the year, we witnessed a surprisingly large November snow event and then we had the Christmas Blizzard that broke so many records.
Throughout these storms, all of our employees were able to show off their abilities as they made the City of Otsego safe during times of incredible danger.
Projects
The year 2022 brought difficulties to everyone in the form of inflation costs and supply-chain difficulties. No matter who you are, you are paying more for most items and receiving timely service is more difficult than years prior.
The City of Otsego is not immune to that phenomenon. We have put multiple projects out to bid only to find prices higher than anticipated and difficulties getting certainties of timelines. Some projects were approved and some were not, due to the costs.
The City of Otsego received a grant from Allegan County of $418,000 to help with our Water and Sewer projects with Allegan County’s American Rescue Plan Act revenue. This grant will insulate City Water/Sewer customers for years to come from rate increases.
While 2022 came with enormous unexpected challenges, it made for great opportunities for growth. City administration had to change plans multiple times, but we learned a lot along the way.
Meanwhile, all City employees have a lot to be proud of with the hard work they all put in to serve the City residents. We are all excited to see what 2023 brings!