Mayor
Mayor Gary J. Burtka
BRIEF BIO
Mayor Burtka served for over 31 years as a Wayne County Sheriff, where he completed his service as an Executive Lieutenant.
After serving in the Sheriffs Department, he continued to work as an Assistant Wayne County Executive, Director of FOIA for 2 additional years before retiring from Wayne County with 33 years of total service.
During his tenure on the Sheriffs Department, Mayor Burtka graduated from Police Staff and Command from Eastern Michigan University as well as the University of Detroit with a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice.
Mayor Burtka currently serves as a Board Member of the Detroit Wayne County Mental Health Authority, as Chairman of the Allen Park Pension Board and the Downriver Community Conference.
In June of this year, Mayor Gary Burtka was appointed by Governor Granholm to the Council for Labor & Economic Growth.
Mayor Burtka has served on the Allen Park City Council for 12 years before becoming Mayor in November 2007.
In his first term as Mayor, he along with his council colleagues re-structured the City of Allen Park from an operational and financial management standpoint.
One such example is the hiring of an additional five police officers within the Allen Park Police Department which included the School Liaison Police Officer to aid in the safety of the children.
This was accomplished while balancing the budget and ultimately moving from a deficit budget into a 1.6 million dollar surplus being added to the City’s fund balance.
Mayor Burtka clearly understands the importance of public safety and service as well as fiduciary responsibility on behalf of the residents he serves. He firmly believes that Integrity is the key to success.
This year’s focus will be on the economic growth and development of the city needs. To help create jobs and stop property values from falling we will be:
- Identify and target businesses and industries that will add value to the City.
- Promote the city of Allen Park as a viable option for location of business / industry by contacting national and international businesses.
- Work on getting the Federal Stimulus assistance with pursue grant funding to complement our needs.
- Development partnership with the DDA , Chamber of Commerce, other governmental agencies, private enterprise, civic groups and the general public.
- We will also be rolling out 5 Resident Safety Programs including CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), Code Spear Rapid Communication Program, Neighborhood Watch Program, Police Reserve Program and Arson task Force.
I would like to again thank all of our employees in the City for their ongoing dedication and support for the betterment of all of us that reside here in Allen Park, and to our residents, Remember you are the eyes and ears of our city and we want to continue to make Allen Park a great community to Live, Work and Play!
State of the City Address (Thursday February 6, 2009) Presentation
Values Statement