Harbor Springs Chamber hosts 2023 State of the Community

HARBOR SPRINGS — Harbor Springs community members filed into Stafford’s Pier Thursday afternoon for the State of the Community address where they heard about the city’s developments of the last year.

During the event, the crowd heard from:

• Elaine Warner, Harbor Springs Chamber of Commerce board chair

• Gregg Garver, Harbor Springs Chamber Foundation board president

• Brad Plackemeier, Harbor Springs Public Schools superintendent

• David “DJ” Jones, Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation executive director

• Victor Sinadinoski, Harbor Springs city manager

• David Emmel, Northern Lakes Economic Alliance president

Introduced by Harbor Springs Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bonnie Kulp, Warner kicked off the presentations, discussing new initiatives being introduced by the chamber in the coming months, as well as the events planned for the city this year.

Warner discussed the chamber’s commitment in growing membership, brainstorming how to grow revenue beyond being event-driven and the plan to publish a 2023 Community and Visitors guide.

The visitors guide will be available mid-May and will be free to all members of the chamber.

“We are focused on our business owners and their staff and our community members,” Warner said. “You are going to continue to drive us to do consistently better and do more for you. Thank you for allowing us to continue what we do and for having the faith in us to keep representing our members.”

Kulp introduced Garver afterwards, explaining that the chamber foundation is a key player in allowing the chamber of commerce the ability to put on larger events, often taking place during the summer months.

During his speech, Garver discussed how the foundation was founded in 2011 as a fundraising mechanism in response to the chamber struggling with funds.

“We really struggled. We lost a lot of money,” he said, reflecting on his time on the chamber. He formerly served on the chamber of commerce and was board president.

The foundation has grown, allowing the chamber to put on more events, he said. Last year they hit fundraising goals and are on track to meet them again after securing some commitments from some donors.

Garver was followed by Plackemeier, who discussed his first year as superintendent and provided construction updates regarding the $41.5 million bond project the district has been working through.

He noted that the district has introduced two new classes, including a drone and STEM class and audio engineering class. He said the district sends students to other schools for classes that are specific to their CTE interests as well, like sending students to Boyne City to participate in the lineman program, for example.

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In addition, he talked about the construction of the new elementary school, set to replace Shay Elementary School.

During his speech, he also mentioned the School Resource Officer stationed at the school from the Harbor Springs Police Department, explaining that he is interacting with students in classrooms and teaching them about the importance of safety, as well as things like life insurance, for example.

The district also has a partnership with the Health Department of Northwest Michigan as a part of the Ram Wellness Program, Plackemeier said. As a part of the program, two therapists and a school nurse are in the district providing support to students, staff and families.

He added that the high school’s different extracurriculars — ranging from athletics to robotics to theater to Youth in Government — are well represented, attending competitions throughout the state. In the summer, the district also is a part of the Young Americans program, meaning kids come to the district to check it out.

Jones discussed the work the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation does for Emmet County as a whole.

He mentioned the need for child care access, and how the foundation partnered with North Central Michigan College to invest more time and research into finding sustainable, realistic child care solutions for the area.

When it comes to housing issues in the area, the foundation has strived to try to keep things affordable, Jones said.

“I suspect no one in the room was surprised that housing is a problem in this community,” Jones said. "Frankly, it's gone beyond problem. I would frankly call it a crisis at this point.”

“We've talked about it long enough that we’ve moved from a problem to a crisis, and the community foundation has been involved in the housing initiative for several years trying to do as much as we can around it, but frankly, it’s a crisis.”

To aid in helping people working in Emmet County to find housing, Jones said the foundation purchased land and is building 60 units for workforce housing, with plans to break ground this year.

The foundation also partnered with Northern Homes and Hearts, buying real estate so they can keep homes purchased at a more affordable rate, rather than being rented by a land trust, he said.

Jones was followed by Sinadinoski, who spoke about the city’s efforts to be more communicative, accessible, and improve public participation. The city has been live streaming city council meetings, having text alerts and more.

“We, of course, are a small staff and we put considerable amount of time and effort into communications and public participation,” Sinadinoski said. “I believe an informed populace is critical to successful governance, and while perfection is an unrealistic goal, we are doing our part to ensure everyone has the means to access information and understand what's going on in the city.”

He mentioned the projects that he thinks are more relevant to the community right now, including building a new electrical substation and a proposal from the Michigan Department of Transportation to reroute M-119. He also provided updates on two key construction projects the city is working on: the boardwalk and skate park.

The boardwalk is expected to be done this summer, and construction on the skatepark will start in the fall, Sinadinoski said.

He also encouraged the community to get involved during budgeting and planning stages to avoid being blindsided when different projects and initiatives are discussed later.

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“Unfortunately, many people find budgeting and planning to be boring, so we get very little participation during these aspects of governance,” he said. “This often leads to people being surprised or upset about certain projects or activities, which can lead to frustration, confusion and delays. But the more people that we have participating in the planning and budget stages, the more ownership the community has over city government.”

He said the community should continue to be involved with city government and that “Democracy doesn’t stop with voting someone into office.”

Emmel was the final speaker of the day, talking about how the workforce is changing, and how the area needs to grow the workforce.

“This year, our primary focus is going to be on talent and talent attraction," he said.

He said that housing access has constrained the ability to attract talent, and the economic alliance is working with employers about how they can best engage individuals to bring them into the workforce.

He also mentioned needed changes in infrastructure throughout the area to support a higher population as the workforce grows.

He closed his speech by mentioning that the community is surrounded by people who do great work.

“We have a lot of people in this room, doing great work, exceptional work,” Emmel said. “Recognize it, celebrate it, applaud it, take every opportunity you can to reinforce it.”

— Contact education reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at@KarlyGrahamJRN. 

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor Springs Chamber hosts 2023 State of the Community