ALPENA — The Alpena Downtown Development Authority board will lay out its goals and initiative for the upcoming year and beyond during a pair of special meetings next month.

The meetings will not only bring the public up to speed on DDA operations and its mission, but also make it compliant with Public Act 57 of 2018, which was enacted last year and requires DDAs in the state to improve transparency.

Executive Director Anne Gentry said her board will meet at 2 p.m. Dec.3 and 5:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at City Hall, 208 N. 1st Ave.

“The act came into effect at the beginning of the year, and it is statewide and regulated DDA reporting requirements that we are required to abide by,” Gentry said. “It will inform the public more about what we do, how we are spending taxpayers’ money, and what our projects are for next year and in coming years.”

Gentry said that, in order to be compliant, the DDA has to also offer information such as contracts, budgets, meeting minutes, as well as list of accomplishments and projects.

Gentry said she believes the DDA does a good job of being transparent and there were already resources available to the public before Act 57 became law.

“We have a lot of stuff in writing, such as our strategic plan, (tax increment financing) plan, and our capital improvement plan already in place,” Gentry said.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.