GLADSTONE, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Tuesday, four candidates are facing off at the polls to win one of three available seats on the Gladstone City Commission.
Sitting commissioners Steve O’Driscoll and Joe Thompson are looking to retain their seats, while candidates Mike O’Connor and Whitney Maloney are hoping to join the board.
O’Driscoll has served on the board for just under a year and a half. A born Yooper, he has lived in Gladstone for the last 30 years. For the past 27, he has worked as the co-owner of local business Bramco Containers.
If elected, one of O’Driscoll’s goals is to wean the City off of funds from Public Act 33, which allows the City to levy taxes for public safety needs through special assessments. O’Driscolll takes issue with the fact that the City Commission is not required to take a community vote before levying such taxes.
“I believe in the voters speaking for what they want to spend their money on, and we should be living within our means,” he said. “We are going to be able to do [wean the City off of those funds] because our responsibilities to the retirement system are decreasing greatly over the next three years. We will have funds to supplant those funds and not tax our residents as heavily as we have been with the imposition of Public Act 33.”
In his time on the board, O’Driscoll is particularly proud of the Commission’s efforts to renovate the City’s waste treatment plant, as requested by EGLE. He says the $20 million project will prevent waste materials from entering Lake Michigan during heavy rainfall and snowmelt.
“We’ve revamped our entire system, and we are pressing on with relining our sewage lines and replacing some of the oldest ones over the next two years,” O’Driscoll said. “We’re really putting ourselves in a position where our infrastructure is going to be suitable for the next 150 years of Gladstone residents because of these projects.”
O’Driscoll wants voters to know that he has been paying attention to Gladstone issues and policies for decades. He says he wants to continue to be part of the solution as a member of the City Commission.
“I’ve been on our local Economic Development Corporation for a quarter of a century,” he said. “I was on our Gladstone School Board for 13 years. I just find that it’s very rewarding to try to do my best for the City of Gladstone and its residents. I am cognisant of the things that we’ve done wrong in our city in the past, and I’m hoping that we can learn from the lessons of the past and make [Gladstone] the best place to live that I possibly can with my other commissioners.”
To hear what candidates O’Connor and Maloney hope to accomplish if elected, click here. Commissioner Thompson did not respond to WZMQ 19’s request for an interview.
