HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – After a decade of service, the Holland Board of Public Works bids farewell today to one of its board members.
Board President Tim Hemingway will issue a formal proclamation during a special meeting thanking Jim Storey for his tenure on the panel that oversees the Tulip City’s municipal utiltiy. A public relations professional who owns his own firm, Storey is stepping down from the BPW Board due to term limits set forth by the Holland city charter.
As he leaves the panel, Storey believes that the three local utilities in the region – the Holland BPW, the Zeeland BPW and the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power – will eventually need to merge into one entity in order to survive. “People like to own their own utilities on this side of the state,” he explained to WHTC News, “but, the challenges of staying alive in an environment where cost pressures are going to continue to rise … and most importantly, being able to pay people the wages they need to attract them to maintain the system … is something that, down the line, leaders of the area are going to have to look at.”
Storey will remain an Allegan County Commissioner, an ex officio member of the West Michigan Airport Authority and a member of the Macatawa Area Coordinating Council’s Policy Committee. The Holland resident added that, as he leaves the Holland BPW, he plans on joining the Holland Civic Center Place Board.
