HOLLAND, MI (WHTC) - Now that the priorities are set, Holland City Manager Ryan Cotton can begin work in earnest on a proposed municipal budget for fiscal 2014. He led City Council members and department heads on a two-day retreat at City Hall over the weekend, as they put together a list of the most important needs and wishes for the upcoming year. Among the top priorities are redeveloping the waterfront, upgrading neighborhoods, and developing a strategic fiberoptic network throughout the Tulip City. This is the first spending plan that Cotton is putting together in Holland, as he took over as City Manager 10 months ago from Soren Wolff, who had retired in September of 2011; Assistant City Manager Greg Robinson led the budget-making effort as interim manager last year. Council will consider Cotton’s proposed financial blueprint this April before voting on it in May.
This evening, Mayor Kurt Dykstra will head an annual "Mayor's Roundtable" session. A group of 70 hand-selected students from a variety of schools in and around the Tulip City will join Dykstra, along with other civic and business leaders, for a discussion on economic and community revitalization through a three-sector approach titled the Holland-Zeeland Model Community Initiatives. The nearly three-hour session, sponsored by Lakeshore Youth Leadership, is in Council Chambers at Holland City Hall.