City Council interviews candidates to fill vacancy

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Tweet The 12 people vying for the vacant seat on the East Lansing City Council were interviewed Wednesday for the job.

Candidates were asked about why they applied for the City Council, two issues facing the community and how the city might strengthen relations with MSU.

John Fournier, a political theory and constitutional democracy senior who is running for a seat on the council, said communicating with East Lansing residents will help foster positive relations for students living in the city.

"The relationship between students and residents is determined by the relationship between the city of East Lansing and the university," Fournier said.

Transforming the downtown area into a more economically viable spot is something the city can do with the right tools, Fournier said.

"The real bar of success for a city is the services it provides," he said.

Fournier almost won a seat on council in the November 2005 election, but current City Council member Kevin Beard won by 403 votes. Fournier carried all the precincts on campus and one near Mason Hall, totaling about 22 percent of votes cast.

Candidate Bill Sharp, who served for 12 years on council before losing his seat in the 2005 election, said he's most interested in helping stabilize the city's finances and giving senior citizens a voice.

"I've always said I think the financial situation in East Lansing is precarious," Sharp said. "There's a possibility revenue sharing from the state could go down — our budget is very fragile."

The meetings between city and university administrators have increased communication throughout the community, Sharp said, adding that relations are the best he's ever seen.

Keeping MSU graduates in East Lansing after they graduate is an issue, candidate Roberta McElmurry said. Treating students as if they are different from permanent East Lansing residents isn't right.

"I view everybody as an individual," McElmurry said. "We all live in this town. Students should be treated with respect and expectation."

Relations between students and permanent residents also were the focus of candidate Kathleen Boyle's interview with the council members.

The balance of rental properties to families needs to be stabilized, she said.

"East Lansing has tension between homeowners, businesses and students," Boyle said. "There are a number of reasons for that, and it is a challenge for us."

Because such a large number of people attending MSU are living away from home for the first time, they experiment with their newfound freedom, which translates into disruptions for permanent residents, Boyle said.

"There needs to be more of a mix of residents in neighborhoods that tend to be high-density with rental properties," she said. "We need to not be just a university town, but a town that people want to live in."

Kris Turner can be reached at turne112@msu.edu.

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