League of Women Voters Guide (2020)

(Responses are limited to 1,000 characters.)

What in your education and experience make you the best qualified candidate for this position?

Even before being elected, I served on a planning commission and historic preservation commission. I have since served on the zoning board of appeals, 3045 Broad Redevelopment Committee, and Election Commission, to name a few, and on several regional and state groups. These experiences have helped me understand the workings of local government.

I have worked for local governments as the director of planning and zoning departments. These front counter experiences have helped me understand the real-world impact of policy decisions and the pressures and perspective of staff.

Softer skills I have found useful are my love for chatting with people and learning new things.  It is so important to talk with folks, even those you don’t agree with; local government is about people. There will always be more to learn in elected positions.

My education in architecture, urban planning, and urban design will be useful with the many once-in-a-lifetime projects that are happening in the City.

What are your goals should you be elected and how will you work to accomplish them with currently limited resources?

I have a lot of goals but will give the Reader’s Digest version here.

There is a growing mistrust of all levels of government. To serve our community, we need to demonstrate we are working honorably in their best interests.  There are many ways to address this, without much expense. We need to follow our rules and procedures, adopt and follow an ethics and conflict of interest ordinance, broadcast meetings, and be as transparent as possible.

It is important to engage as many voices as possible. I listen to colleagues, make myself available to the public, and try to get people engaged in their City government. I have successfully worked to get student representatives on our public bodies. I will work to provide more opportunities for other community members to participate. 

Our fire station is functionally obsolete and unhealthy for our firefighters.  Our city office is undersized and does not have meeting space.  I will work to prepare plans for new facilities that will meet our needs today and into the future and advocate for the necessary millage, including going door-to-door.  This is not inexpensive, but the longer we wait, the more costly it grows.

What are the biggest challenges facing Dexter in the next five years?

Compared with other communities, we are in a good position in many respects: our infrastructure is in good shape; we have done a tremendous job of funding retirement liabilities.

Ensuring our citizens have confidence and trust in their City government and ensuring they are able to participate is not sexy, but it is the basis for addressing all of the other challenges.

Pressures on housing affordability and variety in Dexter are quickly becoming a challenge. I could not buy my house today! Young professionals, recent graduates, and empty nesters have few options. Residents can find it difficult to move to another place within the community.

The fire station does not have adequate space to house our fire fighters or the necessary equipment. This is a high priority for me to address through building of a new fire station.  In the very near future, the City will not have a dedicated space to hold its meetings, once we’re able to hold non-zoom meetings. We need a new facility to provide space for staff and for meetings.

In the next couple of years, it is likely that a number of senior staff and elected officials will be ready to retire.  We will need to make sure we have the capacity to weather this loss of experience and institutional knowledge.

What does Dexter have to offer people looking for a place to relocate?

My wife and I were very deliberate when deciding where to live. Here are some of the reasons we fell in love with Dexter.

People love this community. It shows in sharing time and energy to support community groups and City boards, high voter participation, and how quickly the community fund has grown. 

Our downtown has everything: food, donuts, ice cream, banks, professional offices, hardware, farmers’ market, post office, and library. We enjoy experiencing this on foot. The town is still relatively-compact, and provides some freedom for kids.

We can leave our house, hit one of the trails, and be out in nature in just minutes. It is a great way to refresh, recharge, and exercise.

We enjoy that we can go to Ann Arbor in a couple of minutes when we want bigger-city and university activities but have some distance from all the noise.

Our schools are great. I am especially proud of their efforts with exchange students. It’s a wonderful way for our students to learn different cultures.