One indication of just how hard Howell officials worked to earn Cool Cities Main Street designation is that the award takes most communities several years to achieve.

Bob Trezise Jr., managing director for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Community Assistance Team and head of the Michigan Main Street Program, said, We were very excited that Howell would be one of the four communities in the program. It's highly competitive and most communities have to go through several years of the application process to receive this designation.

For Howell, the process began with submitting the application at the end of March. Officials were notified the city made the first round of cuts for consideration, which led to a site visit from the MEDC in mid-May.

The field was then trimmed down to seven cities out of 11. The next step for the semi-finalists was an invitation to Lansing for a presentation to the MEDC on why each city was in fact cool enough to be chosen for the award.

It was June 24 when Howell received the news it had been selected to receive a Cool Cities Michigan Main Street award as part of Governor Granholm's 2005 Cool Cities program.

It's really an honor to be selected and a measure of how far we've come, said Amy Connolly, director of the City of Howell Downtown Development Authority (DDA).
 

The real reason we picked Howell is, there was already a very fine downtown, Trezise explained. But the question is, can we take that to another higher level It's probably easier to take a poorer downtown and turn it around, so this is going to be an interesting approach.

As part of the program, Howell and the three other cities selected, Ishpeming, Midland and Grand Haven, will receive technical assistance, training, site visits, workshops and professional assistance valued at more than $200,000. The support comes as part of a long-term management approach to revitalization and maintaining successful downtowns through organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring.
 
The award also recognizes Howell as an officially designated Michigan Main Street community, linking it to the National Main Street Center (NMSC) and the MEDC 's Community Assistance Teams.

Following a reconnaissance visit from MEDC and NMSC representatives, city officials will receive a report on the current downtown structure with observations and recommendations for improving programming.

We're not quite cool yet, but we'll use the Main Street program to become cool, said Connolly. 

The DDA will hire a Main Street manager to oversee the development and implementation of the program. Connolly hopes to have the full-time position filled by the beginning of September so the new staff person can participate in state-wide program manager training shortly thereafter.

This position will be dedicated to the Main Street program, offering day-to-day accessibility to the merchants and businesses, said Connolly.
 
She noted that the program will allow the city and the DDA to rise to a more professional level with the added training and design assistance. Some of the visual results residents and business owners can expect to see may include façade improvement, the addition of official Main Street Community signs and more.

Downtown building owners will also be able to participate in a design program to receive assistance for façade rehabilitation. By attending a workshop, the business and building owners will work with the state architect to create designs that can then be taken to a contractor to implement. Connolly said the service could be valued at up to $20,000.

There's going to be a lot of excitement downtown, Connolly said. We want to make the state proud and it will require a lot of hard work and expertise we just didn't have before.

She reported that for the first time, city officials will be able to track downtown activity including the creation and loss of jobs, businesses coming and going and volunteer hours spent. And tracking this progress could have an impact on the greater community as well. 

 Businesses, whether in the downtown or not, should be rooting for the downtown because it represents so much about the quality of life, health and wealth in the region, Trezise said.

We've already done a number of significant projects in Howell and we've had the warmest sense of hospitality with very friendly people, he said. Going forward, we want to work a lot on diversity also diversity of merchants, businesses, shoppers, people living in Howell. These are all sub-goals of project. 
 
The public is invited to attend an informational session entitled Main Street Basics 101 where Trezise will speak in more detail about the program. The event takes place September 19 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in Howell at First National Bank on the third floor. Please use rear enterance.