Cole Miller for Dexter City Council

An interview with the Dexter Guardian.

Happy Friday and Happy October! Dexter Guardian is here! You can find our publication at retail locations throughout Dexter and on our website at guardiannewspapersmi.com/dexter-guardian. Have a great and safe weekend! 📰🎃📰🍁

It's a busy week in Dexter, last week's scheduled meeting was cancelled after the MI Supreme Court guidance put a stop to Zoom meetings. That was sorted and the meeting ended up being delayed a week.
Big news for the city: our longtime City Manager, Courtney Nicholls is taking another job and Dexter will need to find the right person to fill this most crucial role in city government. That search will be some of the most important work for the newly sworn in council in the coming months.
If elected I will be dedicated to evaluating the candidates, their qualifications, their values and relevant experience with an aim to finding the best candidate for our city.
https://www.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2020/Agendas/2020-10-19-CC-A-Special.pdf (New Business, Item L8)

www.dextermi.gov

League of Women Voter's Questionnaire Answers:

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

I have been present at city council meetings and engaged with city issues for several years. In my time recording and archiving city meetings I have had been seen and participated in the debates about issues facing the city. As a member of Dexter's Housing Task Force I collaborated with fellow residents on research informing the city on one of its most important and pressing issues. This experience means I also already have a familiarity with the people who would be my fellow council members. I would be able to bring a fresh perspective but also a built-in working relationship with council. My educational experience includes graduating from the University of Michigan but possibly more importantly, I was also a student at and a product of Dexter Schools, I began school at the now-former Copeland Elementary and was part of the first graduating class from the "new" high school. I am committed to this community in part because I want to give back to the community that helped to raise me.

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

My goal on council is to foster constructive conversations on council and with the community help Dexter move forward. Whether it is the long-stalled update to our fire station or what our community can be doing to stay safe and support our families and business during the COVID pandemic, there are issues that need careful consideration but also demand action, not delay. There is more we can be doing to involve all of our residents in city decision making and I will make it a priority to be available and in communication with community groups, and interested citizens. I would also make the effort to reduce barriers by meeting the community where they are, providing options to those with busy schedules, limited free time, or no previous knowledge of city politics to become engaged. I believe that if we can plainly communicate the impact of the decisions we make we will find that people want to be involved and register their opinions.

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

Our biggest challenges will be the ones we can't predict but must be ready to address. The pandemic will have effects for years to come. We will need to manage city finances so that Dexter can continue to offer the level of services residents expect. We will also want ensure local businesses can survive and that we make through this crisis together. We can't lose the institutions that make our city a great place to live. The previously mentioned fire station project includes sorely needed improvements and modernization to one of Dexter's essential services. The current fire station and its location are inadequate to the needs of a city several times larger than the village that built it decades ago. We must make sure all due consideration is given to our financial constraints, but we must have the public services that Dexter deserves. In the coming years council will also need to address continued growth and the need for a larger city office space or a city hall for our growing town.

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

Dexter offers a welcoming community, close access to the jobs and cultural amenities of the larger area, but more elbow room and affordability than larger cities. Combined with its quality public schools, beautiful parks and natural features, walkable streets, the appeal of Dexter is quite evident and is borne out by the growth Dexter has seen over the past two decades. It is part of my goal on the city council to make part of the appeal of Dexter the quality of its governance, the feeling that every citizen's voice matters, that they can have a hand in building the kind of strong and vibrant town in which anyone would wish to put down roots, where they are valued and can contribute.

I am running for Dexter City Council because I believe I can help get things done. Dexter is a unique and wonderful place to live, but too often Dexter can defined by what it isn’t doing: not moving forward on a long-discussed update to our fire station that will benefit all and provides safer Dexter; being the only municipality in the county to not own it’s own offices or have a city hall where meetings can be held and adequate space for all city business is provided; not providing a video record or livestream of city council and committee meetings so that people can engage with their local issues even if they have limited mobility or a busy schedule. These are just a few examples.

I know we could be doing more of the little things and the big things to make life in our town better, to create a stronger more connected, more affordable, more vibrant, more diverse city.
I humbly ask for your support in this race.