[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 10 (Thursday, January 12, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E26]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING KATHLEEN KLINE-HUDSON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELISSA SLOTKIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 12, 2023

  Ms. SLOTKIN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Kathleen Kline-
Hudson, an extraordinary public servant upon her retirement, and to pay 
tribute to her dedication and devotion to community planning over the 
past 3 decades that have helped shape and mold Livingston County, 
Michigan into the thriving, vibrant place it is today.
  Nearly 32 years ago, with the ink barely dry on her Master's degree 
in urban planning from the University of Michigan, Kathleen Kline-
Hudson was hired as a ``principal planner'' with the Livingston County 
Planning Department. By 2009 she had risen through the ranks to become 
its director, a position she has held for the past 13 years. All this 
at a time when the county was experiencing unprecedented growth and 
transforming from a collection of predominantly rural areas to a 
bustling bedroom community at the crossroads of the region's major 
expressways.
  A self-proclaimed data nerd, Kathleen thrived on organizing critical 
information about that growth into tables and graphs and analyzing what 
the changes meant for Livingston County. She created data books and 
detailed community profiles that now serve as historical documentation 
of the county's trajectory. Three times--in 2000, 2010, and 2020--she 
helped lead the effort to ensure every resident was counted in the 
decennial census, serving on the Complete Count Committees, revising 
census tracts based on population and housing units, and ultimately 
crunching the numbers that came in to plan for the county's future. She 
helped draft Livingston County's first master plan in 2002, and its 
second in 2018, which won statewide and national awards.
  But Kathleen Kline-Hudson has not been a simple observer of 
Livingston County's trends, or a mere chronicler of its past. A county 
resident, her devotion to her work as a land use planner has always 
been rooted in her abiding love for the place she calls home and her 
passionate advocacy for creating more diverse, equitable, and 
accessible communities. She served as a founding director of the 
Livingston County chapter of Habitat for Humanity, helping the 
organization obtain nonprofit status and break ground on its first 
local home. She facilitated a grassroots committee focused on 
affordable housing, reviewed all proposed developments along the M-59 
corridor, and coordinated the opening of Fillmore and Lutz County 
Parks, to name just a few of her many accomplishments and contributions 
to the betterment county.
  As she now closes this chapter as a county planner, my wish is that 
her personal planner will be filled with quality time with her 
cherished family and friends, the traveling adventures she so loves, 
kayaking, hiking, biking, and Michigan-themed crafting. Kathleen Kline-
Hudson charted a course of excellence for Livingston County that will 
not be forgotten.

                          ____________________