Michigan Municipal League: Team Boyne brings together big players

From the Michigan Municipal League "Review," November/December, 2009, by Jennifer Eberbach: In Boyne City, leaders in the community have teamed up to form Team Boyne in order to “create an environment to foster and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of Boyne City,” according to the group’s statement of purpose. Team Boyne’s activities center around regular meetings, which bring together city officials, downtown organization directors, business owners, and other community leaders who work towards shared goals.
Current Chairman Jim Baumann, who runs the Boyne City Chamber of Commerce, explains, “What I love about this group is that you have the city manager, the school superintendent, the Chamber director, the Main Street director, and key business people all at the same table virtually every month. It’s a good way to informally make sure everybody is on the same page.”
Boyne City participated in Michigan State University Extension’s “Creating Entrepreneurial Communities” (CEC) training program, after a handful of community members attended the CEC 2006 conference. “That’s where it all got started,” says Hugh Conklin, Boyne City’s Main Street manager. “They were looking at how communities can get involved in addressing the realization that business recruiting is changing. It isn’t going to be recruiting manufacturing anymore,” he explains.  Full story.