Candidates Make Their Pitch to Lead St. Clair Shores

The men vying to be the next mayor and council members in St. Clair Shores took part in the Women's Civic League Meet the Candidates night at City Hall.

Over the course of two hours, the men shared their vision for the city, areas for improvement and what their to-do list would be on their first day of work.

To begin the evening, each candidate gave a three-minute introduction.

The mayoral candidates led off with current city council member Kip Walby stating he has been an agent of change on city council through improvements to the city including paving of major mile roads, enhanced parks, improved ambulance service with the fire department. He also listed additional improvements like the installation of energy-efficient streetlights and approval of additional liquor licenses, which have occurred during his tenure.

"(These) are steady, consistent improvements in St. Clair Shores," Walby. "That is a record of success."

But, he added, there is "clearly room for improvement."

"I know I have the leadership to drive St. Clair Shores forward," he said.

Fellow mayoral candidate Nate Kaczmarek said that he would be for transparency, growth, cleaning up the lake and mayoral leadership. 

He was concerned about the workout room project where HUD money was used with private, unnamed contributors for the project.

"My objection is not with the project, but how it was put together," said Kaczmarek. "It is about transparency."

He said that if you are private group and want money from the city, they would have to report $100 donations.

Council candidates followed including:

• Ronald J. Frederick, who highlighted his record of making the city a strong, safe place to live and play.
• Jack Downey, who stated that the coming years will be a critical time for the city financially and with fighting blight.
• John Burtch, who discussed how he would work to build, maintain and improve the city for current and future residents.
• Anthony Tiseo, who would bring his professional experience in business and as a member of the planning commission to keep the city a strong community for families.
• Chris Vitale, who is willing to make the important, challenging and possibly unpopular decisions that need to be made by council to guide the city in a positive direction into the future.

• Chuck Hall, who believes a balanced budget is the key to protecting the assets of the city.

Consolidating city services

When asked about consolidating city services, all of the candidates were against consolidating departments such as police, fire, DPW and parks and recreation. But they would consider evaluating services that could be bid out to private contractors, but not at a detriment to residents.

Proposals that were discussed in regard to working with neighboring communities included Frederick's proposal to bid with Roseville and Eastpointe for trash collection; Hall discussed purchasing through a consortium and Vitale said he wants to see neighboring communities raise the level of their ordinances to match St. Clair Shores before entering into an agreement.

Addressing blight in the city

Each of the candidates agreed that blight is a major issue in the city that needs to be addressed to maintain the quality of the community. Kaczmarek proposed focusing on sections of the city when addressing blight, but also aggressively fighting water pollution in the lake and considering changes to the location of the city's beaches. Other candidates shared their ideas, including Burtch, who proposed working with residents who are making an effort to improve their property but are having financial difficulties; Vitale would want to work with the code enforcement department to better respond to residents' concerns and address blight and Walby, who would consider changing rental inspections from every three years to every two years and increasing the budget to address rats by tapping the sanitation trust fund.

TIFA and Corridor Improvement Authority

The question of continuing TIFA tax capture financing authority for the Nautical Mile divided the candidates with Frederick, Tiseo, Walby and Kaczmarek supported extending it while Downey, Vitale and Hall were against it. Burtch stating he had an open mind on continuing the TIFA program.

Those that were against it were concerned that tax money captured by the authority could be used throughout the city and they thought that the authority had run its usefulness.

Those in favor spoke about the TIFA as an incentive for investment and Walby stated that captured funds have been used to repave mile roads, the Blossom Heath parking and it can be extended without continuing to capture taxes.

What would you do on Nov. 9?

If elected, most of the candidates said they would be in contact with their colleagues and city staff. They would also use their position to meet with other leaders about water quality, such as Burtch; Vitale and Hall would like to meet with the community development department to identify procedures for improved customer service; in a lighter moment Frederick said that he would try to "smile more" while working on the budget and he would look to improve technology to save money and establish a communication and advertising committee.

PCBs in the canal

Candidates for council expressed their concern about the length of time of the investigation by the EPA, but acknowledged that federal funding for the cleanup was needed. They said that continued pressure by city officials would be needed to keep the project on track.

The election will be held on Nov. 8; one candidate will be selected as the new mayor of St. Clair Shores and three members of council will be elected.

The Meet the Candidate night will be rebroadcast on the city's government access channels: Comcast Ch 5, WOW Ch 10, AT&T Ch 99. Broadcast times have not been set.