CEO Podcast: Milton Dohoney, Jr, Ann Arbor City Administrator

Paul Krutko: Welcome to Ann Arbor SPARK’s CEO Podcast…Conversations on Economic Opportunity. My name is Paul Krutko, and I’m the President and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK.

Joining me today is Milton Dohoney Jr, Ann Arbor’s City Administrator. Milton has extensive experience in city management, including 7 years as City Manager of Cincinnati and 3 years as Chief Administrative Officer of Lexington. He has received multiple awards for his work including Administrator of the Year in 2013 and YMCA Black Achievers Award in 2010, and serves on SPARK’s Board of Directors.

Milton, welcome back to the podcast! It’s great to have you on again. The last time we spoke, we discussed your early impressions of Ann Arbor, the city’s priorities, and initiatives like the Climate Action Plan. Today, I’m looking forward to diving into how those priorities have evolved, including your vision for economic development, and Ann Arbor’s role in attracting business and talent.

Milton: Thank you. I’m glad to have the opportunity to talk to you.

Paul: Yeah, the last time we spoke was really at the beginning of your tenure and I think after a few months on the job we talked about your early impressions of Ann Arbor, the city’s priorities and initiatives like the Climate Action Plan. 

So today, what I wanted to do is really give you a chance to talk about how those priorities have evolved as you continue in your leadership here at the city, including a new sort of renewed vision with the city council about economic development and the city’s role in attracting businesses and talent.

You’ve recently hired a new economic development director. What are the key priorities you envision for this role and how will it support business growth and innovation in Ann Arbor and maybe, most importantly, support you and your role as city administrator?

Milton: Thanks. Well, it clearly is going to support me in that it’s going to take some of the things off my plate when you’re trying to do a hundred things and running the city and economic development, too, that’s a little bit challenging. The city needs a designated go-to or point person, both internally and also for the external community. If you want to talk about development, if you’re working on something, you’re in the development process and you’ve got a bottleneck and you’re not sure where to go to get it, unstopped, now we have a person you can go to and he can help facilitate moving through the process. The important thing here, Paul, is it’s not just about process, but it’s about facilitating growth because if we can shorten bottlenecks, you’re getting things over the finish line faster, you’re getting taxable value in the community faster. He’s also is going to be dedicated to placemaking, helping to create more places around the community that become magnets for people to come and congregate and socialize. But we also envisioned him partnering with the SPARK team. If you’re entertaining a prospect that’s looking at Southeast Michigan, that might include Ann Arbor. In my mind, City of Ann Arbor, not having a representative in that meeting is a void that needs to be filled and now we can fill it.

Paul: Because as you know, when we’re in that kind of situation many times there’s questions that are asked, and having a city representative there with us is really important for another reason as well that shows a potential client coming here about the city’s interest as well. So I think that’s really, really important. We should say we didn’t do this at the beginning, the gentleman’s name is Joe Giant and he came to us from very successful career both in Minneapolis and in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So we’ve been very impressed with our initial working with him and I look forward in a few months perhaps having Joe on this conversation and getting his sense of where things are. 

Well, let’s move on. Ann Arbor is known, as you well know, for its strong tech ecosystem, its research institutions and startup culture. So one of your strategies was to create this position and move forward. What are some other strategies that you’re thinking about to help attract and retain businesses in what is now a very competitive environment?

Milton: In my experience, Paul, one of the things that businesses look at when they’re making a decision about where to start their business or where to grow their business is the functionality of government. And that might seem like, how is that relevant? Well, people evaluate the ease in which they can interact in the community in terms of engaging with government. Is it a headache? Can you actually get anything done there? Or is it an institution that understands that time equals money and is sensitive to what my needs are? So making sure that we are functioning at a high level and eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy is one of the things we want to do. The other thing we’re working to improve is the transparency around information that people need to make business-related decisions. So when I deliver the budget in a week, one of the things I’ll be talking about is ensuring that the infrastructure capacity is made known to the community and the business community because if you’re thinking about locating in a certain area, well this is a 200 year old city — is the infrastructure capacity at a level that will support the kind of business idea that I have? And being able to know that early before I spend a lot of money and time is important.

Paul: On that point, I don’t know what I was going to ask you in a moment about infrastructure, but yeah, what we know, and I think because I know about your career elsewhere, things have changed since I started in economic development many, many years ago where companies and businesses have lots of access to information about your community. Well before they might even talk to you, and I’ve stuck by the point that you just made that businesses, when they think about a location, they think about, oh, is there an appropriate site for me? Is there talent there? But pretty soon after that, they want to know about the community, how safe is it, what are the service delivery elements, all those kinds of things. And when you’re in a really competitive environment, lots of communities have great attributes. So your work, really, I don’t want to call it say economic development isn’t your real job, but your real job in running the city is really an important part of attraction as well.

Quality of life, as you say, the ease of doing business is important, but the environment that the business is going to be surrounded by is very, very important as well. And I was also struck by what you said, that urgency is a key thing. We’re experiencing that, and I’m going to ask you about that in a few minutes of lots of uncertainty now and talking to a couple people in business. Well, if I had been able to move a little bit faster before the tariff announcement last week, but now I am hesitant to do what I was going to do. So moving things quickly is not just something you just do because it’s a good thing. It really affects how others make decisions. 

So hey, tell me a little bit, so you just mentioned infrastructure and I’m curious about the things that you’re working on on the physical infrastructure of the city. What are some of the projects and things that are happening? I know a lot of paving is going on, but what other kinds of infrastructure emphasis are you and your team in public works working on right now?

Milton: Well, there is a lot of paving going on, and that’s going to be a permanent part of our DNA. The Michigan climate is what the Michigan climate is, and so it has an impact on roads, but the ease of being able to get people around town, we’re interfacing with AAATA to make sure transportation planning is central because having viable public transportation is important for students, for workers, for residents. So that is an element, too. We’re a city that also has some bridges and dams, and so we’re reinforcing those. We’re doing a major $12 million project at the Barton Dam right now. We’ve got a hydroelectric dam here, a couple of them, actually. So keeping those things up, we have on our drawing board, the replacement of our water treatment plant was built in the 1930s. It’ll take more than a hundred million dollars to replace it. And so we can fund that locally. We’ve got to have a partner in DC regardless of who’s running the country; we have to have a relationship with both state and federal governments. So those are things that we’re constantly looking at. And then those are big ticket items. There’s also some smaller, not insignificant, but smaller by comparison. You’ve got to make sure that your city is well lit.

You’ve got to make sure that your wayfinding is appropriate to help people move about your community. We’re having conversations and projects to address all of those things.

Paul: Well, one of the things we were happy to help with and had to move through some legislative changes in Lansing is the idea of expanding how we could do business improvement districts. And I know that that’s moving forward now on State Street. We’re hoping that entryway into the city can sort of be a project that stimulates other thinking about how the business community can support, because what a business improvement district is, the property owners are saying we want to self tax ourselves to make the external streetscape more attractive, more welcoming to our city. So those are kinds of things that the private sector can help with as well. 

So you mentioned a little bit, and I alluded to it, what other, I understand your point, and I think it’s a good one that we don’t get to choose who’s running various levels of government, and well, we do.

You and I have a vote, but we don’t, the populace chooses. And so I’m wondering, as you’re digesting the change in administration, are there any other particular challenges that you’re seeing for the city from some of the things that you’ve heard and maybe opportunities? I mean, one that came to my mind, and I was in a meeting with you the other day and you mentioned it: We went down a path two years or so ago about the downtown post office site, and we got a hard no. And then now the Trump administration is saying, well, we’re thinking about the vesting of property. So that’s where there might be an opportunity, but there are some other challenges that you’re concerned about right now.

Milton: Well, let me provide this context. When I arrived in 2021, Ann Arbor didn’t even have a federal lobbyist, and it was one of the first things I identified. You can’t really be a viable city without that kind of relationship help. So not only do we have a federal lobbyist, but we’re also trying to improve our interaction with Lansing. Sometimes people view Ann Arbor in a certain way. Well, it’s a well-off community, so you probably don’t need much. Well, yeah, there are people here that have money in the bank, but that has nothing to do with what the city needs. We have needs, and we have relationships that we need to pursue at the federal level. A guy in my lane, absent all the politics, I know that at a certain point, a federal administration will determine where they are going to invest money. So you have to wait and see what that is and then be in a position to compete for it. Because if you say you want to advance transit, that’s relevant. If you’re going to deal with infrastructure or housing or economic growth, whatever it is, we need to be competitive and ask for our fair share, irrespective of any political discussion.

And part of my charge is to stay focused on that, be very pragmatic. We’re asking for some Congressionally-directed funding. Well, we need fire stations. We need things that are not controversial that we’re going to ask for things like that. We want to work with state and federal administrations, period.

Paul: Yeah, it’s one of the things that we work very hard on from a regional perspective. So there are great opportunities for us to work together. I mean, one of the things that we were proud about and reported to the board on a regional basis, we were able to bring back about 35 million in different programs to the region. One that was very important to the city was about $10 million in resources for housing development. We don’t do the project, but we’re a voice in Lansing saying, our community has some of the highest housing prices in the State of Michigan and we need to work on supply. And so we can amplify that voice and we’re happy to do that with you. In terms of making clear, and I’m very sensitive to the point that you made because I’ve heard that many times in my work over in Lansing.

Well, Ann Arbor’s doing really well, and the point being that’s true in certain areas, but in other areas we’re just like everybody else. And there’s also the concept that when you’re doing well, that shouldn’t be a reason not to invest. That’s a reason to make things that are going well go better. So we kind of try to convey that message. So I’m kind of closing out. 

That kind of fits into the last thing I wanted to talk to you about, and maybe you can talk a little bit in answering this question about some of the planning and zoning changes that have been made that are allowing developers to think about different kinds of projects. But I’m really convinced that our best chance at local prosperity is through local and regional strategies and appropriate tactics, working particularly with the state. 

So looking ahead, what are some of the biggest opportunities you see for economic development in the city and how do you feel we can all work better to create an environment for that to happen? And I did kind of tee this up a little bit. I’m really excited about the work that you’re engaged in at State and Eisenhower. So maybe take a moment to talk about that, maybe some other areas in the city that you see have opportunities for growth for the city.

Milton: One of the things that I try to do is send a signal that city government is open for business and very interested in people investing in our community. So I sat down with the Simon folks a few years back before the Briarwood expansion even started to understand what their vision was, what it would mean. I convened all of the departments of city government and gave Simon an audience to talk about how we want to build 300 units of housing, we want to build a grocery store, we want to transform the area and become a regional magnet where in that same approach, we’re working on the Arbor South Project. Now, it hasn’t yet been approved by Council, so we have to see if that happens, but if it happens, it’s a thousand units of housing. It’s a new hotel. It’s 85,000 square feet of commercial space, all in the same footprint, general footprint as what Briarwood is doing.

And so that’s adding jobs. It is increasing. It is not designed to create a second downtown per se, but in effect, that’s what you would be doing. You’re creating a new community and it’s expanding the Ann Arbor brand. And one of the things that I’ve been an advocate of is Ann Arbor needs to be more bullish on its brand. We need to proactively put our name in places. And the last thing I’d be remiss if I didn’t say the city and the university must have an extraordinarily positive working rapport. And we have that got a relationship with the president of the university. I communicate with the leadership of the university. We support what they’re doing and vice versa, because if you do that well, Ann Arbor benefits. And my last point is, many, many years ago, I was a faculty member at the University of Louisville College of Business, and one of the guys that I would bring in to teach my class, to speak to my class, his name was John Schneider. He started a pizza company in the basement of his house, which evolved to become Papa John’s. So you never know where a small business might end up. That’s how headquarters get placed in cities is that someone lives there and they cultivate it. So you have to think about it in those terms.

Paul: You do. You do. Very much so. And I think what is important is you have brought this welcoming attitude towards the idea that we can continue to grow the city in a way that is the kind of city that the residents want to live in from their values. But we can do this in a way that takes some opportunities that have been sitting in front of us and really make them happen. I’m thinking particularly about Briarwood. I mean, as I had to go out to the Apple store the other day, and you just see that sea of parking that was built for a different era, a different time, and rethinking that. The one thing that I always think about relative to the university and the partnership with the city is we know how many people are driving into this community on a daily basis, and many of them would love to live here if certain kinds of housing was built. And that really does multiple things, but it also affects the city’s environmental goals. The more people we get off the roads are living in our community, the better we’re all going to be. So always, Milton, this is great to have a chance to chat with you, to learn about what’s going on in the city. I enjoy working with you and your team, and we’re really looking forward to the progress we’re going to make over the next several years.

Milton: Thanks for having me on. I’m glad to be a member of SPARK and working with your team to grow opportunities in our community. So thank you.

Paul: And I want to thank our audience for listening and learning more about those leaders and organizations working hard to create the Ann Arbor Region’s economic future. These conversations are brought to you by Ann Arbor SPARK. For more information about Ann Arbor SPARK, you can find us on the web at annarborusa.org. We’re also on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.