Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter Shares What He's Excited About In 2017

FERNDALE, MI — Mayor Dave Coulter is ready to take on 2017. In an exclusive interview with Patch, the mayor shared what he's excited to see in Ferndale in the New Year along with his own personal New Year's resolution.

As far as what's at the forefront of Ferndale's agenda for 2017? Breaking ground on a downtown parking deck. Coulter told Patch "Maintaining our economic prosperity is always important and a huge project to help us do that is going to be our new parking deck downtown. We have had a parking shortage for a number of years and the city and the Downtown Development Authority are working together to finally break ground this year on a development project. It's taken us a while to get to this point and it's going to happen this year."

As for when the shovels will hit the ground? Coulter says "Our time frame right now is late spring. It's more important to do it right than to do it fast. We'll do our best to stick to the schedule."

Another key Ferndale initiative for 2017? Continuing to build trust between the people and police of Ferndale. Coulter explains "A challenge that is not unique to Ferndale but communities across the country are facing is the relationship between our residents and our police departments. It has changed over the years and we've seen examples in other cities where that relationship has broken down. One of our focuses this year will be on our brand new community policing model which we kicked off last year but will continue to make great strides this year. A community policing model is a fancy way of saying we want to strengthen the relationship between our residents and visitors and our police officers. That's the ultimate goal to increase the trust."

Sgt. Barron Brown of the Ferndale Police Department will play an integral part in boosting trust. Coulter says "Sgt. Barron Brown was the first major part of our community police initiative. He will spearhead more initiatives designed to increase the trust between the city and our police."

As for Coulter's personal resolution for 2017? A very necessary work-life balance. Coulter shares "My personal goal will be to try to have a better work-life balance so that I remember to include things like exercising, and taking some personal time to recharge the batteries. I have a tendency to be a workaholic and I'm going to work on that balance this year."

He is a certifiable workaholic. In addition to serving as the mayor of Ferndale, Coulter also has a full-time job at the Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation, where he helps give away money to programs that help sick kids. Coulter says, "A lot of people don't realize that I have a full-time day job. There's an expectation as mayor that you're available 24 hours a day to respond to people. I try to be as responsive as I can. I don't work in city hall during the day. Fortunately, we have a great city manager, April Lynch, who handles that. I really enjoy my job during the day and at night as mayor. It's a very rewarding thing I get to do."

The mayor will be enjoying a little personal time this Christmas. Christmas is Coulter's favorite holiday, and he is ready for the Christmas countdown, "My house is decorated, the tree is up and I love to entertain and have people over and celebrate Christmas with me."

Photo courtesy of Mayor Dave Coulter's personal Facebook