Dan Power resigns to join Beckett & Raeder

Daniel Power, Van Buren Township Director of Planning and Economic Development, has resigned his position to join Beckett & Reckett, Inc. planning consultants.
Power said he is heading to the non-government entity to work as a GIS Specialist/Community Planner.
“It will be a pivot toward a more analytical role and less one involved with management and economic development,” he said. “This was more a personal decision to reset my schedule with the aim of shifting some of my time balance back toward family. I am fortunate to have an opportunity to do so.”
Power and his wife have two preschool children.
He said he has nothing but kind words for the people he have worked with at the township.
The township is advertising in Crane’s Detroit Business online job posting for candidates to apply for Power’s position at an annual salary of $85,000 to $90,000.
Beckett & Raeder is a privately held Michigan corporation headquartered in Ann Arbor with additional offices in Petoskey and Traverse City. The firm has a full-time staff including landscape architects, planners, civil engineers, environmental planners, LEED accredited professionals and support staff maintaining registrations in numerous states and certification at the national level.
Power began work as planning director at Van Buren Township on Jan. 2, 2020. He had been the planning director for the past year for the City of Walker and Walker’s staff planner/zoning administrator for three years before that.
He replaced Ron Akers, who resigned the previous July to take a job in Ypsilanti.
Power had a base pay of $73,000 and worked under Director of Public Services Matthew Best.
Power received the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certification in 2018. He earned a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan in 2012 and a bachelor of science degree from Central Michigan University in 2008, with majors in environmental studies, policy and geography, and land use and environmental analysis.
He worked for Spicer Group in Saginaw as a community planner and was an environmental services assistant for The Greening of Detroit for a year.
He had computer skills that include GIS, AutoCAD, ArcMap 10, Sketchup, Access, Excel, Adobe Creative Suite, and PowerPoint. He also had done grant writing.
At the township board’s Dec. 17, 2019 meeting, Power said he and his wife are from this area and spent time in Van Buren Township and Belleville growing up. He said he started moving their things to this area the previous month, carload by carload.
During the board’s work/study session on Dec. 16, 2019 Director Best described an exhaustive hiring process.
Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara referred to Power as a “Swiss army knife,” with many skills.