The Hancock City Council named Kurt Rickard, second from right, as mayor, and Lisa McKenzie, left, as mayor pro tem during a special meeting Monday. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo)

HANCOCK — The Hancock City Council decided on a new mayor and vice-mayor at a special meeting Monday that also saw the introduction of several candidates for the open council seat.

Kurt Rickard was unanimously chosen as mayor, filling the spot left when former Mayor Paul LaBine resigned last month to become Houghton County’s new prosecutor. State law prevents him from holding both spots at once due to potential conflict of interest.

“I’d be honored to be the mayor,” Rickard said after being nominated. “I’d be happy to work as hard as necessary to fill Paul’s shoes.”

Lisa McKenzie was named mayor pro tem, also unanimously. McKenzie, who rejoined the council in 2022, also served as mayor during her previous period on the council.

Six people applied to fill the open council seat created by LaBine’s resignation: Ryan Tanner, Mariana Grohowski, Zachary Osborn, John Zurcher, Branden Knoop and Margo Pizzi.

Five of them spoke to the council and answered questions at Monday’s meeting. Pizzi was not present at the meeting but was able to watch via Zoom.

Pizzi and Osborn also ran for council seats in the 2022 election, and also applied for the seat vacated by former Councilor John Haeussler last year.

Tanner works as an agile coach and project manager at ThermoAnalytics, and also served in the Army.

He said he would like to see the council choose whoever best represents the city’s residents.

As an example of something he’d like to see changed, he said he’s not happy with the city’s move to garbage stickers.

“From the outside looking in, it doesn’t seem like the best solution,” he said. “The tags were to me an interesting move, because now I bear the burden of bags and the same cost of the stickers.”

Grohowski works remotely at several schools as a lecturer, most recently at University of California-Irvine. Other projects have included founding the Veterans Studies Association, a nonprofit scholarly organization dedicated to studying veterans and their families rather than relying on stereotypes, she said.

Grohowski said she is looking to become more active locally.

“My values are in community and connection, and there’s no better way to find community and connection than to be on the city council,” she said. “And I’m passionate about social justice and change.”

Osborn teaches grades K-6 through organizations such as Kaleidoscope, with classes including cooking and robotics. He said he would look to be a “team player” with the council.

He said he would also draw on his background studying the University of California-San Diego’s urban housing and planning department, where his work involved communicating research findings to the local level. Housing affordability and availability is one of the biggest concerns he’s heard about from residents.

“I believe that we can have economic growth in this town, I think we can have housing affordability and availability for all, but it’s not going to be a silver bullet, it’s not going to be a single fix, and it’s going to need to be a slow and steady growth” to avoid the problems of large cities like New York and San Francisco, he said.

Zurcher, a retired Hancock resident, said the biggest question the council should have for candidates is what they would do for the city. He said he would like to see the city enforce the curfew for children, and see a daytime patrol officer talk with the people walking the streets to get their opinion on the city.

“Also as a council member, go around town and talk to these businesspeople, find out what they want, what the city needs,” he said. “If they don’t do that, or come here like these good people here and present their complaints, we’re not going to know that.”

Knoop works as a Michigan State Police trooper, working primarily in Baraga County. Prior to that, he managed a retail storefront and served in the Marine Corps.

He said he wanted to help guide Hancock to continued positive growth and change.

“It’s a great way to continue serving my community,” he said.

What he’s seen of the city so far is positive, though he said he might want to see slightly more funding for parks and police.

The council will choose a new member at its Wednesday meeting. Whoever is chosen will serve until the next general election in 2024.

In other action Monday, the council:

≤ Approved a Hancock Transit budget amendment resolution for the Michigan Department of Transportation for $510,279. The budget was amended to reflect the city’s participation in Michigan Technological University’s shuttle program for students, faculty and staff. Michigan Tech is paying for the routes, Babcock said. Hancock’s transit system will provide the buses. The city is also adding a full-time and half-time driver for the route.

≤ Authorized the application for a special liquor license for a Hancock Fire Department special event on Sept. 9.