Board of Trustees 2008-2011

 

President:
Robin Beltramini was elected to the Troy City Council in 2001, and previously served as a member and chair of both the Troy Board of Review and the Planning Commission, and served on the Board of Zoning Appeals.  She serves the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments as a member of the General Assembly, Transportation Improvement Plan Development Committee, Executive Committee, and as vice chair of the Community and Economic Development Advisory Council.  Beltramini serves as vice chair of NLC’s Community Futures Panel on Democratic Governance and is a member of NLC’s Finance, Administration and Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee.  Additionally, she has served on a number of site management and district educational advisory committees and the state committee on gifted education.  Her term expires in 2009.

 

Vice President:
Jeff Jenks has served on the Huntington Woods City Commission since 1999, adding to his 36 years of experience working in the public sector.  Jenks serves on MSU’s Michigan Political Leadership Program Advisory board, the League’s EOA board, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments Executive Committee, SEMCOG’s Regional Review Committee, and he chairs the Data Advisory Committee.  In 2007, he was awarded a competitive Taubman Fellowship and completed a three-week intensive Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.  Jenks believes that we must protect local control and our rights of way, and we must reach out to all corners of Michigan by visiting and working with the communities that make up our membership.  His term expires in 2010.

Michigan Municipal League Trustees

 

Ray Anderson is the city manager for the City of Norway appointed in February of 2002.  Prior to this appointment, he served as assistant city manager/utilities director in Norway from August 1999 to January 2002.  Along with his duties as city manager, he is also the Downtown Development Authority Director and Zoning/Code Administrator.  Anderson has been a board member on the Dickinson County Economic Development Alliance since 2000 serving as chairman from 2001-2003.  He was also a board member and chairman of the Dickinson County Partnership from 2001-2003.  Anderson serves on the Dickinson County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the Neighborhood Partnership Program of Dickinson County, and has been president of the NPPDC since 2005.  He also serves on the Norway Area Community Fund.

Anderson currently serves on the League Governance Committee and is vice chair of the Energy and Technology Committee.  He is a member of MLGMA and ICMA.  His term expires in 2011.

 

Virg Bernero is serving his third year as mayor of Lansing.  He has met a struggling state and local economy with energy, innovation, and optimism.  Upon taking office, he assembled the most diverse and talented cabinet in Lansing’s history; and he is getting results.  In his first two years in office, Virg and his team have leveraged over a half-billion dollars in new investment in Lansing.  Bernero helped launch the area’s first regional public-private economic development initiative, LEAP (Lansing Economic Area Partnership) and has racked up an impressive list of economic investment projects including the $182 million resurrection of Lansing’s Ottawa Street Power Station, which will become the new national headquarters of the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America.

Prior to becoming mayor in January, 2006, Bernero represented the greater Lansing area in the State Senate and House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006.  He also served Lansing on the Ingham County Board of Commissioners for eight years.  His term expires in 2011.

 

Patricia Bureau has been involved in city government for more than 20 years.  She was recently made mayor pro tem during her second term on the city council for Ishpeming.  She has served on the board of review for about 12 years, served on the Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation Committee, Housing Commission, Greater Ishpeming Area Foundation Board and various Downtown Development Administration boards.

Bureau has completed Level II of the Elected Officials Academy and served on the EOA board and on the Region VII board. Aside from city involvement, she has been co-chair of the local Renaissance Festival for five years, helping it to grow.  She was recently appointed to the Cliffs Shaft Mining Museum Board and she is on the Steering Committee of the new West End Council for the Arts Network (WECAN) formed in her city which follows many years of involvement with an arts council in a neighboring community.  Her term expires in 2011.

Richard Clanton served a two-year term as city commissioner for the City of Kentwood prior to his appointment as mayor pro tem.  He has over 15 years of local government experience in Kentwood having previously served on the Zoning Board, Economic Development Board, Brownfield Authority, Pension Board, and the Planning Commission. 

Clanton has been involved with the League for the past eight years as secretary, vice president, and president of Region III, president of the Elected Officials Academy (EOA), and vice president of Michigan Black Elected Officials.  He is also a Level III graduate of EOA.  In 2005, Grand Rapids awarded him the “Giants Award for Community Service.”  His term expires in 2010.

 

Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr. has served on the Detroit City Council since 1998.  A former journalist, Wayne County Commissioner and community activist, he made history as the youngest person ever elected to this body.  In 2001 he was re-elected to the position of pro tem, in 2005 elevated to the position of president, and in 2008 he became mayor.  Cockrel has written and passed key legislation to improve the quality of life in Wayne County and in the City of Detroit.  He has passed ordinances to prevent the over-concentration of liquor stores, pawn shops, and other disruptive businesses in residential neighborhoods.  He serves on the Detroit Elections Commission, on the board of directors for the Detroit Transportation Corporation, and is also one of Detroit’s delegates to the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG).  Cockrel is a native Detroiter with a strong commitment to the people of the City of Detroit.  His term expires in 2010.

 

LaVern Dittenber has over 42 years of experience as a teacher, administrator, and director of state and federal programs.  Dittenber currently serves on the League’s Legislative Governance Committee.  He has attained Level III from the Elected Officials Academy, and served as president of the EOA board.  He has served 26 years as a municipal official for the City of AuGres, and has served as mayor for the past 16 years.

Dittenber believes the time has come to be more proactive in educating the residents of Michigan’s communities about what municipal officials are doing and where their tax dollars are being spent.  Too much of what is being accomplished is not recognized or is taken for granted.  His term expires in 2009.

Dana Foster comes to the League Board of Trustees with nearly 30 years experience in municipal administration.  Before becoming the city manager of Brighton, Michigan in 1991, he served as assistant city manager/personnel director for the City of Leavenworth, Kansas, budget analyst in Johnson County, Kansas, and administrative assistant to the city manager in Lawrence, Kansas.

Foster serves on the board of the Brighton Chamber of Commerce, is a member and past president of the board of the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, and is a past board member of the Michigan Local Government Management Association.  His term expires in 2009.

 

Penny Hill is the village manager for the Village of Kalkaska, moving to Kalkaska from Ontonagon in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where she served as the Ontonagon Village Manager for seven years, and previously served with the City of Bessemer as clerk, treasurer, and manager.  Serving a total of 28 years in the public sector, she is an active advocate for local government.  She is member of the League Liability & Property Pool board of directors and served as a member of the Michigan Local Government Management Association board of directors from 2004-2007.  Hill is one of the founding members of the Northern Michigan Public Service Academy, an organization that provides continuing education for local elected and appointed officials in the Upper Peninsula.  She is a life member of the Ontonagon County Historical Society, and in 2002, she was recognized by the Michigan Rural Water Association as Woman of the Year for her work in developing a regional water system.  Her term expires in 2010.

 

Dale Kerbyson was selected as the city manager for the City of Lapeer in December 2004.  He has over 14 years experience in city management and previously worked as the City Manager in Marlette, Michigan.  He also serves as a board member for the Lapeer Development Corporation, Economic Development Commission/Tax Increment Finance Authority/Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Local Development Finance Authority, Planning Commission, Community Foundation Economic Development Visionary Committee, and the Mott Community College Scholarship Fundraising Committee.  He is a past board member of Michigan Local Government Management Association.

While serving as a city manager in Marlette, Kerbyson’s activities included executive director of the Marlette Downtown Development Authority, Marlette Local Development Finance Authority, the Marlette Historical Society, and Marlette Area Chamber of Commerce.  His term expires in 2011.

Deanna Koski was first elected to the council in 1989 and has served as a Macomb County city representative for the Michigan State Boundary Commission, and has completed Level II of the Elected Officials Academy.  Koski is also a graduate of the Police Department Citizen’s Academy, the Fire Department Citizen's Academy, the CERT program, and is an affiliate member of the Metropolitan Consolidated Association of Realtors.  She has served as a member of the Public Safety and Crime Prevention steering committee through NLC, the League’s Legislative and Urban Affairs Committee, the EOA board, the Public Safety Committee, and the Legislative Governance Committee.  Koski is also a member of the Sterling Heights Area Chamber of Commerce, Sterling Heights Community Foundation, and the Oakland County Bar Association.  She is a former president of the Women in Municipal Government Association and former chairperson for Region I.  Her term expires in 2010.

David Lossing has served as mayor of the City of Linden since 2004 after serving on the Linden City Council since 1998.  As mayor, Lossing has initiated a regional dialogue on land use planning called the “Southern Lakes Planning Initiative” which includes six local governments in two counties in southern Genesee and northern Livingston counties. 

Lossing currently works for the University of Michigan-Flint as the director of government.  He previously served as associate director of State Outreach on UM’s Ann Arbor campus in the Office of Government Relations.  He also served on the congressional staff of U.S. Senator Carl Levin (MI) for nearly nine years.  David serves on a number of League committees—EOA board of directors, the Legislative Governance Committee, the Economic Development/Land Use Committee, and the Policy Rewrite Subcommittee.  He is also a Level II graduate of the EOA.  His term expires in 2009.

 

Karen Majewski, a historian by profession, began public service on the City of Hamtramck’s Historical Commission.  She served on city council and as city council president before being elected Hamtramck’s first woman mayor in 2005.  She is the former executive director of the Polish American Historical Association and on the board of the Dekaban Foundation.  She is also a member of the Michigan Association of Mayors and Michigan Women in Municipal Government.

During Majewski’s tenure in government, Hamtramck has been released from the state of Michigan mandated oversight of its finances.  It is completing the last steps in fulfilling the terms of a 40-year-old racial discrimination lawsuit.  Majewski has consistently supported programs and legislation that recognize and empower Hamtramck’s growingly diverse population, and that strengthen its position as an urban core community.  Her term expires in 2011.

 

Lynn Markland has 22 years of experience in local government administration.  Before accepting the appointment as city manager of Fenton in July 2008, Markland served as city manager of Durand for 15 years with prior service in Sandusky as city manager.  While serving as city manager in Durand, he served as a board member of the Planning Commission, Downtown Development Authority, Durand Union Station, Inc., and the Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership.  His civic involvement includes serving as a board member of the Lions Club, Optimist Club (past president), and Rotary Club.  He has also served on the board of directors of Chambers of Commerce and is a past president of the Durand Area Chamber of Commerce. 

Markland has served the League as chair of Region IV, chairman of the Legislative and Urban Affairs Committee, and is currently vice chairman of the Land Use and Economic Development Committee.  He is a past board member of the Michigan Local Government Association and is a member of ICMA. His term expires in 2011.

 

Larry Nielsen has over 24 years of public administration experience.  Before becoming the manager for the Village of Paw Paw, he served over seven years as manager for the City of Bangor.  Nielsen served six years as manager in Berrien Springs, seven years as township supervisor in Benton Charter Township, and he served two years with the Regional Economic Development Corporation.  He also worked two years for Senator Carl Levin.  Nielsen serves on the League’s Workers’ Compensation Fund board and is also president of the Southwest Michigan Managers Association.  His term expires in 2009.

 

 

David J. Post has served as village manager for the Village of Hillman for the past 12 years in addition to his service on the Northeast Michigan Council of Governments.  Post has been the chairman of the Montmorency County Economic Development Corporation since May 1999.  He has been involved in the Regional Economic Development Advisory Committee, the County Building Authority, and the local chamber of commerce.  His policy interests include new and innovative ways to improve health care with reforms and changing the public’s view on retirement investments (401Ks, IRAs and MERS) to encourage more investment within Michigan.  He believes Michigan’s economic recovery will be the result of pension funds investment coupled with local investments by citizens who believe in their community.  Keeping money within Michigan is critical.  His term expires in 2010.

Carol Shafto serves as the mayor of the City of Alpena, she has served the city since 1988.  Prior to her mayoral election, she served on the Planning Commission until appointed to fill a vacancy on city council in 1995—she then went on to be reelected to that post for three subsequent four-year terms.  Shafto is an AICP professional planner and has brought that dimension to her city service where she is on the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the Historic District Commission and numerous other community boards and commissions.  Shafto is a Level III graduate of the EOA and served on its board of directors for three years.  She is a past president of MML Region VI and is only the second woman to serve as an elected official in the city’s history.  Shafto believes that gender balance helps bring a different perspective to local decision making. Her term expires in 2010.

Thomas L. Youatt is the city manager of West Branch, appointed in June 2008.  Prior to this appointment, Youatt served as city administrator and city clerk for the City of Harbor Beach from 1993 to June 1998.  Additional local government experience includes serving as parks director for Sanilac County and harbor master for the Village of Port Sanilac.  Youatt has served on the board of directors of the Michigan Local Government Management Association and has also served as chair of Region V for the League.  Youatt is a member of the Optimist Club of West Branch and serves on the League Legislative Governance Committee.  His term expires in 2009.

 

 

Dan Gilmartin was appointed in March of 2005 as the seventh executive director of the Michigan Municipal League, the state’s association of communities since 1899. In this role, Gilmartin has authority over the League’s programming, policy development and member services. Prior to being appointed executive director, Gilmartin served as the League’s deputy director from 2000-2005, where he led efforts to revitalize its membership programs and design new services for Michigan communities. Gilmartin also served for four years as the organization’s lead lobbyist in Lansing and in Washington, where he concentrated on a number of key issues including transportation, land use and urban redevelopment.

Through his work on behalf of municipalities, Gilmartin is recognized as a statewide leader in the fields of urban revitalization, local government reform and transportation policy.

Prior to joining the MML in 1996, Gilmartin served as executive director of the Conference of Western Wayne for seven years, where he worked directly with cities and townships on a number of critical issues confronting local governments.