Wayne County committee approves UAS readiness assessment with Downriver Community Conference

The Wayne County Economic Development Committee approved a professional services agreement with the Downriver Community Conference (DCC) to conduct an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) readiness assessment across 24 Wayne County communities.

Anthony Cartwright, the county's economic development director, said the assessment will document current drone activities, registrations and public‑sector operations, interview local points of contact and produce community‑specific reports to guide future UAS integration for public safety and economic development. Cartwright said the contract would be paid in three installments totaling $63,000.

Jasmine Dancy, economic development administrator for the Downriver Community Conference, said DCC's administrative role would be limited—she described project management and community facilitation work that she estimated at under $10,000. Anna Heelander, co‑founder and vice president of customer success at AirspaceLink, described typical assessment steps: interviewing municipal points of contact, producing per‑jurisdiction reports on readiness and advising on pathways to legal flight operations. Heelander said AirspaceLink has coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration and is a certified partner that supports authorization workflows for drone pilots.

Commissioners asked how the project would support workforce pathways for students and whether the assessment would coordinate with county homeland security and the FAA. Heelander and Dancy said the assessment prioritizes government and community engagement, can include tours of AirspaceLink operations and can help communities with federal registration and authorization processes; staff offered to connect the contractor with Wayne County homeland security and to schedule facility visits.

One commissioner asked whether DCC had sought other comparable providers; Dancy said DCC had not performed a formal comparable‑source search and selected the provider based on prior regional work. The committee moved and approved the agreement by voice vote; the transcript records that the motion carried but does not provide a roll‑call tally.

AirspaceLink and DCC emphasized education and workforce opportunities as potential follow‑ups once communities are found ready for broader UAS activity. The committee authorized staff to proceed with the assessment and follow‑up coordination with county partners.