Escanaba City Council Meeting March 20th, 2025: Sustainable Energy, Firefighting, Fiscal Management, Indiana Jones/Committee, Water, Opioid Money, Apps

Another exciting day in Escanaba as we blaze a trail in creating one of the world's best communities! (That is my opinion and there are many who may agree.). Over the past few years, we have seen the local cities/communities and county really come alive to create positive change and upward trends that have thus far bucked some national trends. Below is a discussion on a few things being discussed. You can read the agenda for Escanaba Meeting March 20th, 2025

MPAA Sustainable Energy:  Energy diversity can help create resilience. Localizing some energy is also important for any location to better protect from rolling blackouts, outages, industry stoppages, etc. While we will likely need to rely in the near and midterm future on traditional sources one can see that multiple local and national inputs could create resilience under various circumstances (There are lot of opinions on this.)

Ludington Stree 1905 Escanaba
Some improvements near park coming in.
Boulevard
Source: Esky Post Cards

-Improving Firefighting through Hydrants: Standardization does help because everyone can use the same fittings. A few dry hydrants might help (The only problem during the winter is freezing unless they are pressurized. Maybe a solar/electric warmer tape of some type might work.). You want multiple departments and trucks to be able to use the various sources of water with ease.

-Vocational Training Center. Research helps to further the idea that vocational training does impact local industry growth as well as improve the economy overall. Vocational Training Research G20. Dang! We be serious about getting the people the skills they need. Partner some of that training to local industries (i.e. Billerud, warehousing, etc.) and participants might have high employment rates while contributing to the development of their community. It could also have an impact on the tax base and by extension improve employment and reduce crime.

-25/26 Budgeting: Notice how the city goes out of its way to encourage active participation and comments on budgeting and finance. It helps for transparency and ensure citizen issues are heard. We can teach other locations the importance of strong fiscal management. So far, the city (I think also the county) are fiscally solvent which indicates they do well staying in the black. If I was an investor I might take notice.

-Water Development: Escanaba is considered to have some of the safest water around. This helps our kids grow strong and people to live long healthy lives. Notice how they invest in their water proactively and avoid delaying decisions. Our water has become a model for some other places. Perhaps better than bottled spring water considering that bottled water is known to have more micro plastics than faucet water. In this case, our water is pure. Our Data Clean Water and Nanoplastics. As a personal preferences I would rather live in a community with clean water versus one without. 

-Planning Committee and Historical Committee: I should really get involved in the Historical Committee. If I had lived my other two live possibilities one would have been get a library card and be a contractor and the other an archeologist like Indiana Jones

-Drug Money and Mediation: There is a free service for mediation if needed. Also if you are a non-profit you may be interested in Opioid Settlement at DeltaCounty.org (I was looking for a grant for somethign else but this might be good for your local organization.)

You may be interested in this article 7 Advantages of Living in a Small Town. A few of us were talking about this the other day. Escanaba/Gladstone are places where young entrepreneurs should really consider. Generally low costs, people who care about each other, opportunities, and an upswing in economic development. We have a downtown that someone could buy a building, improve it, and do well with relatively low outlay costs. Especially true for tourist related business, micro manufacturing, exporting, firms, stores (fruit, butchery, cigar lounge, specialty, etc.) I keep thinking about buying a building down there.

Two Good Resources:

Escanaba Daily Press: If you are an investor consider getting this application. We have our own local newspaper and it has a great new column on local businesses. There is a cheaper online subscription or a delivery option. Escanaba Daily Press App.

City of Escanaba App: If you want to keep up on local happenings, governance, activities, etc. consider My Escanaba App. Staying ontop will help you make business and investment decisions. Welcome to the Digital Era. Also notice the discussion in the meeting on fiber optics. Digital nomad destination location. So much fun in the summer and the other 3 seasons. Fall is beautiful and crosscountry skiing in the winter.