Meet Michele Fecht: Northville's Citizen of the Year

A city functions at its best with the help of its citizens, and the City of Northville is no exception. One stellar Northville resident is Michele Fecht, 55, who was recently honored as the city's 2013 Citizen of the Year.

>>See what Fecht has to say about her city in the video above.

"I was rather ambushed by that," she said about receiving the award.

She found out about the honor at Northville Chamber of Commerce's Annual Meeting Oct. 16, which she said she was told to attend because the award was going to someone else. It wasn't until they started reading the recipient's biography and it sounded familiar that she thought something was up, she said. 

Fecht's repertoire of community involvement is extensive. She was on Northville's city council for eight years, a tenure she just wrapped up. At Fecht's last city council meeting Tuesday as a serving member, her colleagues shared their appreciation for her. Councilman Ryan McKindles thanked her for helping him when he first joined the council.

"She was so accommodating and so patient with me," he said.

City Manager Pat Sullivan said Fecht is one of the best council members with whom he has worked. Nancy Darga, city councilwoman, said she felt Fecht was her partner when they had tough decisions to make because of budget cuts.

"It was a very comforting feeling going to a meeting knowing you were there," she said. 

Volunteering is second nature for Fecht

Aside from her city council work, Fecht was a part of the push in 1994 to move the library from a small area of city hall to the building it's in now. She also continues to serve on the Northville Historical Society board of directors and wrote the book “Images of America: Northville."

"To me, it's just what I do," she said. 

Fecht said, with pride about her hometown, that it's one of the most engaged communities she's seen.

"This is a community where volunteerism is a full-time job," she said.

Fecht has been a part of the Northville community since 1980 when she worked as a reporter for the Northville Record. She met and married her husband, Steve Fecht — who was a photographer at the paper, four years later. They then got a home in the City of Northville two years after that. Fecht eventually went to work for the Detroit News but stayed a part of the Northville community because, she said, it's a place that has given her so much.

"I feel strongly in the whole concept of giving back," she said. 

Fecht plans to continue to serve on a couple of committees, but said she also has some of her own work on her agenda.

"I have a lot of writing and editing projects I've put on the back burner," she said. 

As Citizen of the Year, Fecht will be in Northville's Holiday Lighted Parade Dec. 22 and the Victorian Festival next year.