Leaders from across the country are heading south for the U.S. Conference of Mayors this week.

The event is an annual meeting where mayors talk about some of the most pressing issues facing their communities. Several mayors from Michigan will be in Tampa, including Teresa Rich from Farmington Hills.

“We’ll be talking about some of the things that we’re concerned with, such as making sure children get fed, making sure that there’s funding for roads,” Rich said.

Rich says in municipal government, certain things transcend politics.

“I may have my own preferred political party, but when I represent Farmington Hills, 84,000 people, I represent all of our 84,000 people. So as one of our former mayors who was a mentor of mine and not of my party said to me, ‘Teresa, there is no Republican or Democratic way to get your trash picked up. You need to make sure that everything is handled for everybody.’”

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is at the conference. So are Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand and Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson. And Southwest Michigan is represented with the conference website listing Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad as one of the attendees.