Catch Up on ELi's Reporting from this Week
Catch up on reporting about the city's budget, new police chief and more!
It was another busy week in East Lansing. Get the latest on recent adjustments to the city’s budget for next fiscal year, the recently announced police chief hire and more.
With budget deadline looming, council opts to preserve parks funding – for now.
Staring down a more than $3 million budget deficit in the city’s general fund next fiscal year, City Manager Robert Belleman made seven recommendations to get rid of the deficit. Council adopted six of Belleman’s recommendations, but couldn’t stomach eliminating the general fund’s entire $2.6 million contribution to the Parks and Recreation Department. With the biggest recommendation left out, the city is still projected to lose $2 million next year. Read about why that matters and what changes to expect in Managing Editor Luke Day’s story.
Jen Brown selected as East Lansing’s new police chief.
After a rigorous selection process that included a nationwide search, panel interviews for four finalists and a public engagement event, the city has chosen Jen Brown to serve as its police chief. Brown has served as interim chief since December, after joining ELPD a year before that. Read more about Brown and some challenges she’ll look to address as the city's top cop.
East Lansing City Council votes to change attorneys for general legal services, prosecution.
The city will have a new primary legal team going forward, as council voted to contract with Rosati, Schultz, Joppich & Amtsbuechler for general legal services and prosecutorial services. The decision was not without controversy, as a couple council members balked at the higher price tag for the firm and a potential conflict of interest. Read Luke’s story on the city’s new legal team.
A Q&A with Marcia Gebarowski, the East Lansing DDA’s first executive director.
For its roughly 40 years of existence, the East Lansing Downtown Development Authority has relied on various city staff members to carry out its work. Now, the DDA will have a full-time employee to help tackle the challenges the body and downtown developers face. Read a Q&A with recently hired DDA Director Marcia Gebarowski here.
There are five city meetings scheduled next week.
The wheels will keep churning in city government next week. Monday (May 19), the Folk Festival Study Committee and Commission on the Environment each gather. Tuesday (May 20), there is a discussion-only City Council meeting. Wednesday (May 21), the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission will gather. Then on Thursday (May 22), the Building Board of Appeals will convene.
When meeting agendas are posted, they can be found here.
Additionally, the East Lansing Board of Education will meet on Monday. School board meetings are held downstairs in the high school starting at 7 p.m. The agenda for that meeting can be found here.
The 62nd annual East Lansing Art Festival will be held this weekend.
This weekend, the East Lansing Art Festival will bring more than 170 vendors to downtown East Lansing for one of the area’s most popular art shows. The event will bring artisans, painters, sculptors, photographers, food trucks, live music and kids activities on Saturday, May 17 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, May 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Read more about what to expect at this year’s festival in Arts and Culture Reporter Sarah Spohn’s story.
What a storm.
We hope all our readers and Mid-Michigan residents are safe after Thursday night’s storm that caused trees to fall, property damage and power outages. The city's Department of Public Works is reminding residents to drag fallen trees and other debris to the right-of-way to be picked up. The city's full press release on the clean up effort can be read here.
Thank you for supporting our work.
ELi is a nonprofit news service that is able to operate due to the generosity of our readers. To support our work, consider subscribing to an East Lansing Insider membership. Subscribers have stories emailed directly to them even before they are published to our website. Here is a list of ways you can help ELi continue our work.
