Northville DDA, attorney share input with Belleville DDA

Belleville Downtown Development Authority chairperson Alicia McGovern invited the executive director of the Northville DDA and the Belleville DDA’s attorney to teach local members what their jobs are and how to partner with the city.
Chairperson McGovern said she wants the Belleville DDA to become educated about the DDA, read the DDA bylaws, and serve on committees.
“I want to see a great partnership with our city and I’m looking forward to what we can do as a board,” she said.
McGovern, who served as vice-chairman of the DDA last year, became chairperson with the death of longtime DDA leader Rosemary Loria on Nov. 15. McGovern was elected chairperson in January and meetings have been by zoom due to the coronavirus.
Longtime DDA executive director Carol Thompson resigned June 1 and later deputy administrator Tim McLean took over that position in addition to his other duties at city hall. McLean had served as DDA director in Gibraltar.
On Sept. 15, the DDA met for the first time in person at the Belleville Area District Library. McGovern finally was able to get down to business to plan the work of the DDA with the new executive director almost in place.
Lori Ward, who became the Northville DDA’s first director in 1999, was invited to tell how her DDA works and how to partner successfully with the city.
Ward said DDAs differ in every community. She said she started in Ypsilanti and Ken Voigt came to work with her there. Voigt, a retired Belleville police officer, now is a city councilman and was present for the meeting.
She said in Ypsilanti, the DDA is not housed in city hall, but in Northville it is in city hall and she is considered a city department director. She said the city staff does the bills and checks for the DDA and the DDA compensates them for the service.
She said in the last couple of years there has been more outreach by the city and it hired a part-time communications person. She said they used to have the DDA do that work.
Northville has a Merchants Association. She said independent business owners often are the only ones in their stores and don’t have time to attend a lot of meetings. She said besides the obvious parking as a problem, the DDA tries to give the Merchants Association some support. They do a Girls Night Out and the DDA helps with the social media and advertising, she said.
Ward said the DDA partners with the Chamber of Commerce and city to make sure they’re not overlapping in what they do. She said they assess what skills and assets they have in the community and discuss projects, such as special events vs. bricks and mortar.
When McGovern asked them if they do special events, Ward said at first they didn’t do any events. When a person moves on from an event that person promoted over the years, the DDA decides whether to keep it going or to retire it.
Ward said the DDA is a financial sponsor for Buy Michigan Now, which brings tens of thousands of people to the city and helps to bring money in. She said the first year the DDA gave it $5,000 for seed money. Last year they didn’t have it because of COVID.
She said the DDA puts on a music series and had an acoustic series, Northville Unplugged. They offer music with just one or two musicians playing so people don’t gather and they go on shopping.
A new Skeletons are Alive project is starting. There are 120 life-size skeletons that will be around the downtown, dressed in different outfits. The bike shop will have a couple of skeletons on a tandem bike, she said.
She said there are 11 members of the DDA, which includes the mayor, business owners, and other residents of the community, as required by law. She said there are five standing committees, which include design for improving the downtown, economic development for financially vetting projects going into the downtown, marketing (made up of 20 members from groups in the community, including the library, chamber, Maybury Farm), and organization, for audits, budgets and goals.
Ward said they require each board member to sit on a committee and some on several and report to the full DDA board.
“We feel more connected that way,” she said, adding, “We all have board members who open the packet for the first time at the meeting.”
She went on to talk about getting the designated outdoor refreshment area (DORA), noting the City of Belleville was the first one in the state to get that designation. She said she had worked for Beckett and Raeder and Belleville was one of her clients.
Councilman Voigt asked Ward to speak about paying attention to detail.
Ward said if you don’t take care of it, it’s not worth doing.
She said groundskeepers worked for Northville doing weeding and watering. The DDA took over management and salaries and they were able to have one full-time superintendent and two summer full-time seasonal employees. They take up the garbage, wipe off tables, and keep things clean.
“You have one chance to make a good impression,” she said.
“I live in Ann Arbor,” she said. “They put in bike lanes and don’t weed the medians. They do have an operating budget of about $1 million.”
Also, in the two-hour-and-20-minute meeting, the DDA:
• Heard a lengthy presentation from Kevin Kilby, its DDA attorney, on what the DDA is and how it works throughout the state. He said by law the DDA is to promote economic growth, prevent deterioration, and promote historic preservation. Voigt said the $5 million project being built on Main Street next to the bridge will bring more money to the DDA. He said 85% of the business property in the city is in the DDA district and the DDA captures some of the taxes. City Manager / Police Chief Dave Robinson said 51% of the police runs are in the DDA district so maybe some funds could be provided for police that would take the burden off the city budget. Kilby agreed with Ward: “Taking care of what you have is so important”;
• Approved paying half of the money the city paid Randy Brown for the goats to trim the shoreline. Brown’s bill was $5,450 and the DDA agreed to pay $2,725;
• Learned Jason Mida has resigned from the DDA because of family matters;
• Heard McGovern announce she has reserved the meeting room at the library for the rest of the DDA meetings in 2021; and
• Heard Chief Robinson tell the DDA the city and the DDA are a one-two punch for delivery of services in this community. “We love you. Together we can do anything,” he said. “I’m excited.” He said the energy at city hall now is so positive. He invited everyone to walk into city hall if they’re feeling down and, “You’ll feel the energy.”