Mount Clemens City Manager Gregg Shipman speaks about moving the city’s BS&A services to a cloud-based system at the May 4 Mount Clemens City Commission meeting.
By: Dean Vaglia | Mount Clemens-Clinton-Harrison Journal | Published May 11, 2026
MOUNT CLEMENS — On May 4, Mount Clemens city commissioners approved moving its online service software from a local server and to a cloud program.
City commissioners voted to begin transitioning the city’s BS&A software from
BS&A.net to the BS&A Cloud platform. The software company based in Bath, Michigan offers services that are used for online billing, payroll management and more city functions. The move to switch from a server at City Hall to the BS&A Cloud came after BS&A informed the city its local BS&A.net platform was being phased out.
“The cloud platform provides key benefits including automatic updates, enhanced data
security and backups, remote access for staff and reduced IT maintenance,” said City Manager Gregg Shipman. “The proposed agreement also includes implementation services, training, and post-go-live support to ensure staff are fully prepared prior to the transition.”
The switch comes as the city is preparing to move from its First Street properties to a new combined City Hall and fire station by early 2028. Commissioners said they appreciated the reduced strain that could come from moving to a cloud service.
“I also do like the idea of going to a cloud-based system before we do the transition because if internet gets shut off here and it’s not on there when we need it to be, if it’s cloud based we can still, theoretically, access it wherever we can get internet and won’t be dependent on BS&A.net’s servers just in case there’s a hiccup with the transition,” said City Commissioner Erik Rick. “Not that there’s ever any hiccups with any construction or moves, but the added flexibility of a cloud-based system prior to a major transition like that does add a certain level of comfort that I appreciate.”
The total cost of the transition to BS&A Cloud is invoiced at $236,840 with $84,270 being the annual cost of the cloud service and $152,570 covering various one-time transition, training and support services.
Disaster grant
City commissioners also approved submitting applications for federal disaster recovery block grants.
The grants — Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery funds issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — were issued to the state in response to severe flooding in August 2023 and are distributed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The MEDC is distributing the grants via a mitigation and resilience planning program where communities make plans on how to reduce future disaster risk, particularly the risk of flooding.
The city is applying for $150,000 of the CDBG-DR funds to develop a citywide
comprehensive land use plan that includes an economic development plan and a downtown plan as a focused implementation area. The city anticipates working with an outside consultant to help develop the plans.
Business registration fee increase
City commissioners also approved raising the annual registration fee for businesses from $25 to $50. The collects the fees and registrations in order to keep records on the types and locations of businesses in Mount Clemens, maintain contact information for the businesses and ensure that adequate services can be supplied by the Mount Clemens Fire Department, Macomb County Sheriff’s Office and the Mount Clemens Department of Public Works.
The $50 fee is comparable to fees in Harper Woods ($50) and Sterling Heights ($60), and cheaper than the business registration fee in neighboring Clinton Township ($125).
Call Staff Writer Dean Vaglia at (586) 498-1043.