Politics & Government

Candidates Get Down to Business at the Chamber Forum

The Ferndale Area Chamber of Commerce held a candidates' forum on Wednesday at the Gerry Kulick Community Center. The candidates discussed TIF districts, shopping local and where they see Ferndale in five years.

It was business time for the five candidates running Nov. 8 for city government seats in Ferndale.

The sponsored a candidates' forum at the on last Wednesday afternoon immediately following a .

The chamber's forum was geared toward businesses in Ferndale and topics included questions about , gearing the bidding process for city projects to local companies, the recently approved tax increasing and revenue generating and, of course, the "What does Ferndale look like in five years" question.

Find out what's happening in Ferndalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Of the five candidates, three of them -- , and -- are running for two open seats for city council, while the other two -- current and challenger -- are vying for the mayor's seat.

The chamber's forum was the second forum in as many weeks as the at . Much like that one, the five candidates were respectful of each other and often mirrored or merely expanded on each other's statements.

Find out what's happening in Ferndalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Yet, candidates seem to have their themes. Wells talks about equity between residents, businesses and government. Willis wants to advertise and market Ferndale more. Lennon said he doesn't mince words and a vote for him is a vote for "commitment." Not that the other candidates don't, but Martin routinely speaks about strengthening Ferndale's neighborhoods. And Mayor Coulter brings up collaborating efforts, cooperation in services and reaching out to Ferndale's neighbors.

Candidates kicked off the chamber forum with a short introduction, speaking about the importance of the government and businesses working together.

"We want to make business with city hall easy to deal with," Coulter said. "My goal is a bit selfish, I want to create jobs and revenue for our city."

Coulter said he wanted to work more closely with Oakland County and mirror the County's efforts on business retention.

Willis, who said he ran a small hamburger shop in Grand Rapids for some time, said he "appreciates what it takes to make your business successful."

"Government needs to be ran more like a business to be effective," he said.

Lennon also touched on business retention. "The key issues for me, we're into business retention, good public service, fire, police, clean streets, clearing the snow," Lennon said. "A vote for me is a vote for business."

"The real impact here is to have a city that makes it easy to do business here," Martin said. "The ordinances need to be clean. As a business owner, how you interface with the government needs to be clean. ... If you vote for me and put me on City Council, I guarantee work with (local government) will be smooth."

Bob Giles moderated the forum, taking cards from the audience that touched on several points that affect business in Ferndale. Below are the six topics that the candidates discussed.

  • Supporting an established bid process with first consideration to Ferndale companies
  • Development of the industrial sites east of Hilton
  • TIF (tax increment financing) and what that means for future downtown development
  • The Headlee Override
  • What is fiscal responsibility?
  • What does Ferndale look like in 2016?

Click to read the candidates responses.


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