By Julius Suchy
Summer Conference Request for Proposals Coming Soon
The Professional Development Committee will be posting the RFP for the summer conference in 2021 and 2022 locations in the upcoming weeks. In 2016, when the MME Board of Directors adopted the new policy regarding conference locations, it was done to encourage new communities to host the Summer Workshop and allow our membership to see firsthand some of the great work being done in member-led communities around the state.
This is where we need you. You live and work in great communities around the state and we’d love to come for a visit. When the RFP comes out, please review it and I would encourage you to submit a letter of commitment if your community would be a good fit. If your community wouldn’t be a good fit but you have another community in mind that we should consider, please e-mail me with the location and we can approach those communities as well.
2021 Winter Institute Location Selected:
At the April 12, 2019 MME Board meeting, Grand Rapids was approved as the 2021 Winter Institute location. The hotel will be the Holiday Inn Grand Rapids (next to the Grand Rapids Public Museum) and the conference sessions will be held at the Grand Valley State University Eberhard Center, approximately 200 steps from the hotel.
Upcoming Conference Locations:
2019 Summer Workshop – Alpena, MI
2020 Winter Institute – Treetops Resort, Gaylord MI
2020 Summer Workshop – Frankenmuth, MI
2021 Winter Institute – Grand Rapids, MI
Upcoming Scholarship Deadline:
June 1, 2019 – Pplease e-mail your application materials to Professional Development Committee Vice Chair Aaron Desentz prior to this date for consideration.
Summer Conference Call for Sessions:
The Professional Development Committee will be sending out the call for sessions for the Summer Workshop in Alpena in the next week. If you have done something innovative in your community please share it with your fellow managers!
Julius Suchy
Chair, Professional Development Committee; Village Manager, Sparta
Julius Suchy was appointed as Sparta village manager in 2014. His other municipal experience includes serving as Dundee village manager, Vassar city manager, and Big Rapids zoning administrator.