Michael Spence spoke to the club as Administrator of Government Affairs at Southeast Michigan Council of Government (SEMCOG).
SEMCOG is made up of a 7-county region (www.semcog.org) whose purpose is to support coordinated local planning with technical, data, and intergovernmental resources. It coordinates local projects and provides funding from the federal and state governments, with transportation, economic development, the environment, and infrastructure as the main areas of focus.
These areas, which are mapped out for the next five years, have benefited the Grosse Pointes. Over $1 million has been allocated for road repairs on Cadieux and Kercheval. SEMCOG also studies traffic safety through crash location maps and safe routes to schools, which has included Maire. For our infrastructure, it has miles of pipe data of water, sanitary, and stormwater usage to better prepare for flooding and is working with an organization through a coastal zone management grant, to help fix our shoreline. Resource tools are available for local economic development with an emphasis on electric vehicles and broadband availability.