The Michigan Municipal Managers Collaborative (M3)

New statewide collaborative among City, Village, Township and County Managers launches.

LANSING, MI: A new statewide collaborative among professional appointed City, Village, Township and County Managers has launched focusing on creating statewide partnerships on projects and initiatives such as joint purchasing, pooled bidding, joint RFP and RFQ’S, professional development opportunities and networking opportunities.

The Michigan Municipal Managers Collaborative is already comprised of almost fifty managers from municipalities across the state. The collaborative is non-political and non-partisan.

“This is really about pooling our expertise and best practices to find innovative ways to reduce the cost of government and solve big problems like roads and unfunded liabilities”, voiced James Freed, Port Huron City Manager and one of the founding members of the collaborative.

Randy Fernandez, City Manager of Marysville notes, “We have been doing this regionally for years and have saved significant money for our residents, but never has an effective statewide collaborative existed. Now is the time. Big problems require big partnerships”

“The collaborative really provides resources to all sizes of communities and the sharing of information and best practices from around the state will really provide value to the residents”, said Tim Wolff, Village Manager for the Village of Lake Isabella.

Tutt Gorman, City Manager for the City of Portland says training and professional development are big goals of the collaborative, “City Managers are missioned with solving problems and providing good government. Sharing ideas and best practices from across the state will really aid in finding solutions to the challenges we face.”

The Council-Manager form of government is most prevalent form of local government in Michigan and is the fasted growing form of government around the county. More information on this new collaborative can found at www.MichiganMunicipalManagers.com