This week we had a field trip to City Hall to meet with Community & Economic Development Director, Michael Hansen. Michael spoke to us about the 4 Divisions that he oversees: Building Safety, Economic Vitality, Housing Vitality and Planning & Zoning. He spoke about how renaming the divisions was a way to focus on certain aspects of the city, instead of grouping them all together, and how they have hired 81 new to achieve those goals. Another topic was the education of business owners; creating business programs like Oakland Thrive to teach and give the tools needed to make them successful
Other questions were asked about Data Centers, all the empty downtown buildings and the target date on which Oakland County would relocate 700 employees to the new downtown building, which were told would be at the end of 2027.