By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


Five years onto the job, Brighton’s City Manager is reflecting on years past and times to come.

In a bulletin written to city residents, Manager Nate Geinzer shares how far the city has come since he joined it in 2016. Coming into the position with Finance Director Gretchen Gomolka, Geinzer said the duo found that Brighton was still struggling to recover from the 2008 recession. Failing infrastructure, needed replacements of capital equipment, and burdening pension and health care costs were issues in need of addressing.

A drought of capital investment in the first decade of the century had a negative impact on the city, affecting their ability to deliver services at time, and has led them to declaring it a high priority.

An early 2017 report revealed that roughly two-thirds of the city’s public streets were in poor-to-failing condition. A partial-Headlee Amendment override allowed the city to move forward with investments in roads. City Council recently authorized the issuance of Capital Improvement Bonds in the amount of $17.5-million to be used on several street projects like in the much needed Northwest Neighborhoods.

City staff has also worked on restructuring pension and retiree benefits, with employees accepting concessions that will reduce Brighton’s unfunded liabilities by over $5.2-million. Geinzer said they are extremely thankful to those employees for their sacrifice.

Going forward, he writes that they continue to pursue the highly-sought after AAA credit rating. Though they remain at AA+, he said there is indication that may rise.

A full copy of Geinzer’s bulletin can be found at the link below.