Rochester, MI looks to the future to innovate now







$ Rochester, MI$  has a deep history.

About 40 minutes north of Detroit, the small suburb (population just over 13,000) began as a log cabin built in 1817. The following year, the settlement became the first in the newly formed Oakland County.

Today, many of the city’s Main Street restaurants and shops are housed in buildings over 100 years old. Neighborhood streets are lined with mature trees — some have stood there for more than 130 years. Elements of the infrastructure have been around for over a century.

But instead of living in the city’s past, Rochester’s local government is turning an eye to the future. This forward-thinking lens is being applied to projects across the board, from general budgeting to parking to facilities upgrades to an ambitious “complete streets” project that reimagined all aspects of a roadway, while setting the stage for future business opportunities.

How does Rocehster do it? By always keeping the big picture in mind, and by breaking down silos to form relationships and coalitions that drive progress.

As Govlaunch works to build the global wiki for local government innovation, we’re highlighting a series of Innovators — cities, towns, and counties who are implementing transformative ideas and fostering a culture of innovation. We chatted with Rochester City Manager Blaine Wing to explore how Rochester’s long term vision gets applied to current initiatives.



Rochester’s “complete streets” project

Sometimes, when it comes to a public works initiative, you have to go big or go home. Take, for example, Rochester’s $ Ludlow Avenue Project$ , which completely reconstructed all elements of a Collector street, Ludlow Ave. — all at the same time.

The undertaking is known as a “complete streets” project because it basically tore out the whole road down to the dirt and reconstructed it. But instead of just doing the road, the city also fixed the sidewalks. They fixed the water lines. They fixed the sewer lines, the electrical and gas system, and the street lighting. Rochester completely reimagined nearly every part of one of its big thoroughfares in one go. And the city did it while residents and businesses were going about their daily lives on Ludlow, City Manager $ Blaine Wing$  explains:

“This was a major project, and it impacted more than 50 households, along with some businesses.”

By doing all of the updates at once, the city minimized the number of future disruptions Ludlow Ave. residents would face. And, weeks before the project was set to be complete, Wing saw another opportunity and decided to go for it:

“I had the idea of throwing down some fiber conduit, so that later on we could connect our public works building to our City Hall.”

Instead of just laying down one standard fiber conduit, Wing decided to construct a bigger space, which holds three chambers. One of these will be used to run the city’s fiber, from City Hall to a new public works building that’s under construction. The other two can be leased out to other providers to run their own cables.

This last-minute curve ball had a number of positive outcomes. First, by installing conduit when the ground was already ripped up, it prevented the city from having to tear up its newly reconstructed street and sidewalk to install fiber later on. Likewise it spared residents yet another construction period. Second, it expands the potential availability of fiber connectivity in the city, by allowing up to three sources. This could result in revenue for Rochester, or allow the city to easily pivot to another provider if need be.

Finally, it saved the city money. Wing estimates that, despite the extra cost to lay the conduit during the project, Rochester saved about $80,000 by acting now to prepare for the future. This cost savings made it possible for Wing to convince the city council that even though this was a last-minute change of plans, in the long run it would be worth it.

Budgeting for the future

The Ludlow Avenue Project was one of Rochester’s more complex initiatives — and one of the most successful. It was awarded the 2020 Project of the Year Award for Michigan by the $ American Public Works Association$  (APWA), and at this writing was competing for APWA’s nationwide prize.

But Rochester has applied this progressive mindset across many of its other recent initiatives, especially when it comes to projecting costs, fees, and future expenses. Examples include:

Smart sewers and water

Rochester has one sewer system, but two different water systems. A few years ago, the city added sensors and smart meters to allow measuring water use across the systems. Now, says Wing, it’s time to act on this data:

“We’re going through the data to assess what our usage and costs are. And we’re looking to set water rates for the next five years, but I’m looking out 25 years with our capital improvement to know what sort of things we may need to replace.”

Some of Rochester’s water lines date back to the 1890s; Wing knows there will be replacements in the future. By factoring these upcoming costs in with the data-based assessment on current usage trends, Wing and his team are able to strategically set water and sewer rates to cover what’s to come. (Spoiler: His recommendation will be for a zero percent rate increase next year.)

Parking projections

The city is using a similar tactic when it comes to the city’s parking meters.

Rochester built two new parking structures a few years ago, and $ partnered with the Parkmobile app$  to provide smart meters. Now, says Wing, a number of future costs associated with these are being factored into the city’s parking program, including everything from meter replacements to salting and cleaning the lot surfaces in the winter.

When viewed as a whole, all this amounts to a couple hundred thousand dollars. But spread over time, there are ways to recoup those costs that don’t require raising rates now, such as extending the hours of the lot. Wing explains:

“Instead of just saying, ‘We have to raise our rates,’ we look at our overall system for multiple years to see if it makes sense. Can we absorb these costs over the years, or do we need to adjust something now?”

How cities can take a forward-thinking approach

In Rochester, a lot of the innovative initiatives start with a look at the budget, and the current local landscape. Wing says that his team uses the SWOT analysis process:

“We look at our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And then tying that in with our goals and objectives, we do a process with our city council. Then with our departments, we come up with a tool we call a scorecard.”

Projects and ideas are ranked, and those that hit a certain score then get vetted through a series of subcommittees.

Once a city does this assessment, the next step is to pull in the appropriate stakeholders to start enacting a project. Says Wing:

“The next step to really allow everything to be so successful is working that network — knowing and working with various people, including the residents, the businesses, the various vendors or utilities. If my staff and I didn’t have these relationships with all these different groups, we wouldn’t have been as successful.”

Wing invests a huge amount of effort in building relationships across the Rochester community, whether it’s holding meetings at local businesses and facilities, checking out his staff’s favorite restaurants, or staying active in local community groups.

These connections across local government, and throughout the community, are ultimately what drives Rochester’s success, says Blaine:

“To me, it's about the people. So, having our community, having my staff, having the businesses working with our partners, our neighboring communities, the county, our nonprofits, the churches … by pulling everybody in, we end up with a much better product in the end. Just because we're collaborating and working together.”

What’s next for Rochester?

The city is currently undergoing an update of its master plan, as all Michigan localities must do every five years. Wing notes that this is an exciting time for the historic community, with a new vision for everything from redevelopment to electric vehicles to sustainable urban planning. Says Wing:

“I’m excited that as we just celebrated 200 years as a community, that we actually look forward to the next 50 and to the next 200.”



For more information on how Rochester leaders like Blaine Wing break down silos to work across local government, listen to the podcast at the top of this article.