My Response to Questions from the local Press

1. Efforts to expand downtown parking have been frequently been discussed by council in the past year.  What it the best, most cost-efficient way to do this? 

Extra parking has been discussed to support the WALLY train proposal, a Disneyland type project that I oppose and the other candidates support. WALLY is a complete waste of money, requires tax increases and is unaffordable.  Remove WALLY from the discussion and we can talk sensibly how much extra parking is really need for the future. Right now the other candidates support spending a half a million dollars, yes that right $500K of YOUR tax dollars to bury underground utilities in a very small private back alley for a powerful developer. They are spending all this money for looks alone.  It is the biggest waste of our tax dollars I have ever seen serving on Council

I strongly oppose this misuse of our tax money. This project should be a funded through the DDA like every other parking lot project.  That is why a DDA exists, to fix downtown infrastructure. Several years ago, Council raised property taxes to fund the road program. Now, instead of giving us our money back, they are taking it to make a little alley look pretty for a few businesses.  Since the city has to borrow money for this project, I proposed putting this bond, (just like schools) to public vote, but Manor and Proctor are in bed with a developer who already got a tax break. So next time Council says the budget is tight; it’s because someone lobbied hard to take your money to improve their property value, not the public at large..

2 .  Recreation is also a key issue with the potential disbanding of the neighboring SELCRA Authority. What must the Howell Recreation Authority do to assure its own future?

The Recreation Authority is seriously in need of new leadership. The current Director is a political patronage appointee with no recreation management experience, has been publicly rebuked by the Board for violations of policy and cited by the State for a budget deficit. The Rec Authority reputation has been damaged and the public lacks trust in its ability to function well. We need professional leadership with recreational experience to restore trust. The Rec Board is now waiting to see if I get reelected before they propose a tax increase.  They may need a tax increase or more money from the member governments, to remain solvent, but for gosh sakes; they need to get their house in order first to plan for a better future.

 3. What other issue(s) are most important to you.
Mini-circles. The public hates them and want them gone. We are a national joke with trees growing in the middle of the street over a sewer system. The only reason they remain is Steve Manor loves them; in fact he has three of them on his street, more than any other area of town. Gee how did that happen? I have fought for years to get them removed; we had the votes, but when the Mayor Campbell and Councilman Schlittler left council this year, the last supporting vote from Mayor Proctor, switched to support Manor’s mini-circles. As long as Manor is on Council mini-circles will remain in Howell. I even sponsored a resolution to put their removal to a public vote, but that too was blocked by Manor. Mini-circles can be removed for very little money, but remember, our tax money has now been budgeted to bury utilities for a developer.