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Sterling Heights accepts sponsorships, announces park WiFi ahead of Sterling Fest
Summary
Council accepted sponsorships from Christian Financial Credit Union, AT&T and Stellantis to support Sterling Fest and a new public WiFi network in the city center and Dodge Park; staff said the WiFi will launch June 5 and Christian Financial committed multi-year funding for connectivity.
Sterling Heights City Council on a voice vote acknowledged corporate sponsorships that will fund festival operations and a new public WiFi network in the city center and Dodge Park.
Parks and Recreation Director Kyle Langlois said the secure WiFi will be available beginning Thursday, June 5, to support vendors, residents and first responders during weekly events and larger draws such as Sterling Fest. Langlois listed three partners: Stellantis (Midway sponsor), AT&T (main-stage sponsor and FirstNet support) and Christian Financial Credit Union, which he said had been a long-term events partner and had agreed to a multi-year commitment for connectivity. AT&T’s Lori Doty thanked the city and noted AT&T’s long history supporting the main stage and first-responder communications.
Council moved to "acknowledge and accept" annual donations as presented. The motion referenced specific amounts in the meeting record (a cumulative figure of $51,000 and individual sponsorship lines presented during the meeting); the council voted to accept the donations and then posed for photos with sponsor representatives.
Langlois said the WiFi installation includes roughly 50 access points to create a single roaming signal across the city center, community center, senior center and Dodge Park, and that the network was built to support thousands of concurrent users. He also said the network supports WiFi calling, messaging and vendor point-of-sale systems. Christian Financial’s representative, Rebecca Monroe, and AT&T’s Lori Doty spoke in support of the initiative.
Councilmember comments thanked the sponsors for financial support and for additional in-kind resources such as AT&T’s FirstNet communications for public safety. The council packet and staff remarks referenced both a near-term Sterling Fest sponsorship payment and a 10‑year commitment from Christian Financial to support wireless infrastructure; the meeting record contains slightly different dollar figures at different moments (see clarifying details). The council did not record a roll-call vote for the donations; the action carried by voice vote.
The council followed the acceptance vote with a brief group photo and moved on to other business.
