“The members of Lansing City Council thought it would be good to get to know some of the members of the East Lansing City Council,” he said. “This is an opportunity to get together and talk about common issues that the two communities have.”

The cities took time to discuss a pair of major developments that could be breaking ground in the coming months — the integration of their 911 dispatch centers and the collaboration of their fire fighting units.

The two sides expressed an interest in continuing their pursuit of these developments.

“To have real collaboration in public safety, you have to be speaking in one voice in emergencies,” City Manager Ted Staton said. “The dispatch center needs to have access to all the emergency units eventually in the county. That’s what we’re working toward.

“There’s going to be some bumps in the road, but the commitment is to overcome all those problems to have a county wide 911 center.”

The City Councils discussed the progress made with the East Village redevelopment, Campus Village II apartments and other redevelopments on campus.

The East Village project involves redeveloping the region bounded by East Grand River Avenue, Stoddard Avenue, Bogue Street and the Red Cedar River through an infusion of residential, retail and entertainment properties.

Another hot issue was the vacant building formerly occupied by The Dollar Nightclub, 3411 E. Michigan Ave. The city councils discussed potential usage for the establishment.

“Ideally, what you look at is a plan that would redevelop not only the site of the Silver Dollar, but a larger parcel of commercial space along Michigan Avenue that might be able to integrate housing with commercial space and maybe even a new restaurant use or something like that,” Councilmember Kevin Beard said.

The last time the councils gathered was about two years ago.

Lansing City Council President Harold Leeman said the cities should try to meet more frequently.

“We want to continue this after today,” he said.