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Dearborn Heights council creates Water Billing, Grants and Communications departments to centralize services
Summary
Council approved ordinances to create a Department of Water Billing, Department of Grants and a Department of Communications, with the administration saying the changes will address resident billing issues, pursue grant funding, and centralize messaging and crisis communications.
Dearborn Heights — On Dec. 9 the City Council approved ordinances to establish three new departments: Water Billing, Grants and Communications.
Chief of staff and administration officials told the council the water-billing department is needed because billing inquiries and disputes have consumed substantial staff time and require a dedicated supervisor. The grants department is intended to bring in a professional grant writer to pursue external funding, including for water and sewer projects; administration noted the position could pay for itself by securing grant revenue. The communications department, adopted on an emergency basis, is meant to centralize messaging, manage social media and provide a public-facing communications director who can coordinate press releases and emergency statements.
Council members and the mayor cited recent public complaints—high water bills, a compromised notification vendor, and social-media attacks targeted at city leaders—to justify the changes. The mayor said communications capacity will help the city “control its own narrative” and provide quicker, multilingual alerts.
What happens next: The administration will move forward with hiring lines and job descriptions as budgeted; the grants and communications positions were described as priorities in forthcoming hiring and budget actions.
