Chelsea City Manager Marty Colburn provides key updates on new grants, social services, and intergovernmental collaborations in his December 9, 2024, report to the City Council.

At the Chelsea City Council meeting on Monday, December 9, 2024, City Manager Marty Colburn provided an update on several important developments and grants impacting the community.

Colburn began by detailing a Tuesday (Dec. 10^th) meeting with county officials. “Tomorrow, myself, the mayor, we’re meeting with county officials and also Mr. Ahrens from the Chamber of Commerce to take a look at the Learning Resource Center of the counties,” he said. The group will also tour county facilities as part of ongoing discussions about shared spaces and county facility operations in Chelsea in the future.

He further shared a recent meeting he had with the Washtenaw County Commission, where Chelsea was recognized for its inclusion in the county’s priority list of construction projects. “The county is actually come up with a formatted priority list of five priorities on their construction of their facilities. Chelsea is listed number five, and there’s only five items on the list. So I thanked them, on behalf of this community, for prioritizing us on that list,” Colburn said.

Colburn reported the addition of Chelsea’s first social worker, thanks to the approval of the public safety millage. “We now have our first social worker on board and is kind of working on not just learning the ropes of the community, but actually starting to do office hours and such that is published on the county or the city website,” he explained.

Additionally, Colburn praised County Commissioner Jason Maciejewski for his leadership role in securing funding for senior services, particularly through the Senior Millage. He noted the millage would benefit many local seniors “for years to come.”

The city manager also provided updates on environmental and grant-funded projects. Chelsea secured an $806,000 grant from the county’s Brownfield board to clean up part of the MSPA properties, and Colburn confirmed another grant request for the sledding hill’s environmental work. “I’ve asked the county for a grant for that, so they’re addressing that this week,” he said.

In terms of state funding, Colburn said, “We did receive official notification from the state of the Category F grant that we applied for $375,000, and that actually won’t take place for a couple years out,” he noted. “There are matching dollars for that as well, and that’s for North Street.”

Colburn also provided updates on two grant applications to Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation. He expressed optimism about one of the projects, saying, “What I’m hearing through the grapevine is MSPA this year will probably get funded. We probably won’t get funded on the other one,” referring to a $67,000 request for trail system planning.

Finally, Colburn concluded with excitement over a potential million-dollar grant the city hopes to receive from the state. “Mr. Joe Zoilkowski and I are going to meet with the state later this week in regard to a million-dollar grant that we’re hoping to wrangle from there here in the very near future,” he said.