League of Women Voters holds candidate forum for Ishpeming Mayor, city council
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ISHPEMING -- Last week, the Marquette County League of Women Voters recently held a forum for candidates running for mayor and city council in Ishpeming. Mayoral candidates Jason Chapman and Brett Argall attended the forum, as did full-term city council candidates William Anderson and Collin Fleury and partial-term city council candidate Andrea Jackson.
Full-term city council candidate Kurt Kipling and partial-term city council candidate Claudia Demarest were not in attendance. Justin White may still be on the ballot, but has withdrawn from the race.
The partial-term seat is open because the Ishpeming City Council appointed Demorest to serve for one year of a four year term.
"The five members of the Ishpeming City Council are elected from citywide nonpartisan elections," said Laura Sabo of the Marquette County League of Women Voters. "Each council member serves a 4-year term, and may serve no more than 2 consecutive terms.
"The mayor serves a 2-year term and is elected at each general city election from among council members whose terms continue beyond the general election.
"The mayor presides over city council meetings, has the same speaking and voting rights as every other member and has no veto power."
Mayor and city council members elected in the November 3 general election will begin their term at the city council organizational meeting in December. The Ishpeming City Council's duties include enacting local ordinances, adopting budgets, setting policies and appointing the city manager. The council oversees departments including fire, police, public works, planning and zoning, water and sewer and utilities.
At the candidate forum, candidates took turns briefly introducing themselves and their candidacies in opening statements.
Chapman, who is running for mayor, highlighted his experience on the council and as a resident of Ishpeming in his opening statement.
"I've always been passionate about politics and government, and took the opportunity to be a constituent service director for former state representative Sara Cambensy in Lansing," said Chapman. "It was there that my interest in government work and helping constituents with issues they were facing truly began."
Chapman has been serving on the council for seven years, and was elected mayor in 2022. He works for a family-owned business and highlighted his work in several community organizations.
Argall, who is also running for mayor, spoke about his experience working at the County Village Ace Hardware as general manager, as well as at Jasper Ridge Brewery, where he said he has gotten to know the people of Ishpeming.
"I believe in servant leadership," said Argall. "I believe in bettering my community and being part of something bigger than myself."
Argall has been on the city council for two years.
Anderson, who is running for a full-term position on city council, spoke about his experience in municipal government working at the Sawyer Air Force Base, water and sewer foreman for the city of Negaunee, volunteer firefighter for the city of Negaunee and Negaunee City Council.
"I believe the community needs experience (and) practical leadership, and I believe I have the skills to make a difference here," said Anderson.
Fleury, who is also running for a full-term position on city council, focused on his union leadership experience as treasurer and president for IBW Local 1070, as well as on the board of directors for the Upper Peninsula Construction Council.
"I am running for city council because I feel like I can provide good input to the steady issues our city faces, and feel like I can work for the citizens of Ishpeming productively and fairly," said Fleury.
Jackson, who is running for a partial term on city council, said that her family's history of service in Ishpeming, including her own roles on several local boards and committees such as the West End Health Foundation and the Ishpeming Independence Day Celebration Committee, have given her a first-hand view of the struggles businesses face in Ishpeming.
"One of my priorities is to continue working with the Downtown Development Association, attracting businesses, leveraging economic development funds and supporting existing businesses," said Jackson.
After opening statements, candidates took turns responding to questions from the audience. The first question asked candidates about one specific, measurable improvement they'd like to see in Ishpeming by the end of their term, and how they would help to make it happen.
Argall went first, saying that "The main thing I would want to do would be communication. One of the main issues I ran on two years ago was the lack of communication between the public and city government.
"My goal is to make sure Ishpeming residents have the most pertinent information provided in the simplest form and delivered as quickly as possible.'
Anderson agreed with Argall, saying that "I also believe in transparency. I believe that the citizens of Ishpeming should know exactly where all their taxpayer dollars are going. What services are being cut, what services are being thought about.
"There's just been a lack of that, I think, in the past few years. The communication needs to be improved."
Fleury said that he'd like to see more interaction between the city council and city members. "I think it's important to work together," said Fleury. "We are all on the same team here, and to have that transparency and more open lines of communication with the citizens and the council would be a great goal to strive for.
Jackson, whose term would be 3 years instead of 4, said that her main priority would be working with the DDA and improving Ishpeming's sense of community.
"The more people that you know and the more people that care about you and are going to pay attention when something happens, right?" said Jackson. "To have that sense of community in Ishpeming, where you really feel like you're talking down the street and you know the people. I think we've started to do a lot of that."
Finally, Chapman also spoke about communication with constituents. "While we may communicate via Facebook and social media with members of the public, we don't actually connect with a lot of people who do not have social media," said Chapman. "And that's a problem. We need to do more things via print and mail and through the newspaper."
Chapman also spoke about balancing development with the preservation of natural areas.
Other issues discussed at the forum included the library millage, addressing deteriorating properties and stabilizing funding.
The full forum is available for viewing at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgv2eiOvheQ&t=22s.
Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.