Midland Business Alliance Forms Advisory Committee to Help Mitigate Long-Term Flooding Issues
MIDLAND, Mich. – Businesses and residents of Midland County and the Great Lakes Bay Region have a long history of dealing with flooding. To take a deeper look at legacy flooding challenges and related sanitary sewer issues, the Midland Business Alliance (MBA) has formed a special advisory committee.
The Midland Business Alliance is one of Chemical City Paper’s Community Partners. Please read our Editorial Independence Policy to see how our sponsors, donors, and advertisers never influence our journalism.
The MBA Advisory Committee on Infrastructure is charged with determining how best to work with local, state and federal partners to address longstanding issues that impact citizens, the business community and economic development.
“We are approaching the anniversary of last May’s devastating flooding and dam breaches, but many of us remember that unforgiving rains and floods have occurred in the Midland area in 1986, 1996, 2013 and 2017, as well as 2020,” said J.W. Fisher, Committee Chair. “The dam breaches obscured the fact that a significant flood event was already in progress last year.”
“The floods clearly have affected citizens. Added to this, there is the negative impact on jobs, economic growth, property values and tax revenues in the Midland area,” said Tony Stamas, MBA President & CEO. “While we don’t pretend that we can eliminate flooding completely, we believe the MBA Advisory Committee on Infrastructure can focus on ultimately finding ways and providing recommendations to help mitigate the frequency and severity of flooding.”
The committee is made up of MBA board members, members of the community at large, an MBA staff representative, and representatives from the County and City of Midland (ex officio). The committee will report back regularly to the MBA President and CEO.
The MBA Advisory Committee on Infrastructure includes:
• Committee Chair: J.W. (James) Fisher (Fisher Contracting, President)
• Noel Bush (former City of Midland Utilities Director)
• Mike Erickson (MidMichigan Health, VP Facilities and Construction)
• Bridgette Gransden (County of Midland, Administrator/Controller) (ex officio)
• Lee Johnston (Johnston Contracting, President)
• Brad Kaye (City of Midland, City Manager) (ex officio)
• Lee Ann Keller (Omni Tech International, President and CEO)
• Dave Kepler (Four Lakes Task Force, President) (ex officio)
• Sharon Mortensen (Midland Area Community Foundation, President and CEO)
• Bill Schuette (Community Volunteer)
• Tony Stamas (Midland Business Alliance, President and CEO)
“The key ingredients to reducing the severity of flooding in the Midland area will be building widespread community involvement and participation as we move forward. We have so much talent in our town,” Mr. Stamas said. “As we further involve and engage our community, from all walks of life, more and better ideas and solutions will emerge to build a stronger Midland and region.”
Mr. Stamas also stated that further information will be coming in the weeks ahead as the advisory committee makes progress on initial planning and identifies goals and objectives.
Our Community Message Board includes press releases from government agencies, business, and nonprofit organizations in Midland, curated by the our editorial staff.