MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI – Two primary elections will be held in the race for the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners’ seat currently held by the board’s chair.
Susie Hughes, the county board’s chair, will face L. Kip Smith in the Democratic primary for the third district seat. The Republican primary involves two candidates: K.J. Hartell III and Christopher Kaijala.
The third district encompasses Muskegon Township.
The winners of each primary will face off in the Nov. 3 general election. The term is for two years.
This year, MLive Media Group partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan to provide candidate information for readers. Each candidate was asked to outline their stances on a variety of public policy issues.
Information on all state and federal races and many of Michigan’s county and local races will be available at Vote411.org, an online voter guide created by the League of Women Voters.
Here is background information provided by the Democratic candidates:
-- Susie Hughes was first elected to the board of commissioners in 2013 and was named chair in 2019. A lifelong resident of Muskegon County, she also is chair of the Muskegon County Economic Development Commission and the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission, and was past chair of the Muskegon County Public Works Board. She also has experience serving on the Lakeshore Muskegon board, the Muskegon County Land Bank, the Muskegon County Road Commission, the Senior Activities Committee, the Veterans Advisory Committee, the Water System Policy Board, the Michigan Association of Counties Human Services Committee, the Community Foundation Board, 911 Central Dispatch, Emergency Services Board, governing board for Michigan Works and as chair of the Muskegon Township Parks and Recreation.
-- L. Kip Smith is a retired corrections supervisor who also worked as a cross utilization agent for SkyWest Airlines. He has been a delegate, trustee and vice president of the Monroe Lenawee Central Labor Council AFL/CIO; board member and trustee of the Association of State Employees in Management; trustee and officer with the Michigan Corrections Association chapter; local steward, chief steward and vice president of SEIU/MCO 526M; precinct delegate for district 3 of Lenawee County and precinct delegate for district 3, precinct 4 Muskegon County. He has an associate’s degree from Jackson Community College.
Here is background information provided by the Republican candidates:
-- K.J. Hartell III is a 30-year resident and homeowner, spent 13 years managing a local business owned by a good friend and currently is unemployed.
-- Chris Kaijala is an independent contractor and engineering consultant offering design, project management, quality improvement and modeling. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts. His qualifications and experience include project management and cost controls, team building and team leadership, engineering management, policy development, procedure writing, problem solving, budget management, contract negotiations, environmental and regulatory training, design and development of pollution control systems, environmental permit writing, permit calculations, permit auditing, process safety management training and quality systems and quality improvement services.
The candidates submitted responses to questions posed by the League of Women Voters, which are included in its online voter guide.
Here’s a look at how the candidates responded to questions on some key issues:
What are your top three priorities for Muskegon County and how would you address them?
Hughes: 1) Provide services and resources needed by our residents. Continue and increase our great programs that address our residents needs. 2) Be fiscally responsible with taxpayers money. Using competitive bidding and purchasing, local when ever possible. Seek resources that benefit and fund our local programs and seek funding from available sources. 3) Keep Muskegon a beautiful, friendly, safe and fun place to visit and live. Local events highlighting our museums, lakes and venues. Continue to improve our lakeshore, our special events, music venues, cruise boats, mall and soon to come casino and convention center. And everything else Muskegon County has to offer.
Smith: 1: Inclusiveness within our county: Commissioners should be role models of encouraging inclusiveness. Including consideration of others views and representation of all persons within a district (not just those that voted the commissioner into office), encouraging political involvement and listening to precinct delegates of all parties within the district. 2: To re-establish the trust of government officials within Muskegon County. I believe Commissioners need to be professional in their interactions with other Commissioners. Commissioners should not lie to other Commissioners or spread fear to the public based on rumor, speculation, or inaccurate information. 3. Building the county through strengthening the middle class, education and recreation. Strong communities have great jobs, education, and recreation. County funded projects should utilize local companies and labor. We need to support services such as MATS that make transport to colleges and recreational sites accessible.
Hartell: #1 Our children are priority ONE. Schools need to be truly secure,plain and simply put.. more than one or 2 officers or guards. and YES properly trained armed security, Sorry if that offends anybody, but our children need to attend schools with no doubts about their safety. #2 ROADS!! We always seam to be fixing the same ones.. My Idea is: We do not fix or repair any minor issue with any road which has been rebuilt within last 5 years , before we fix the older bad roads and streets.. #3 local small businesses need growth! I am honestly at this point still trying to find ways , and have a few ideas I need to fact check ,and research on them.
Kaijala: 1. Create significant funding to support a serious long-term economic development group. This group will coordinate with regional economic development groups and develop a long-term effort to support and expand business in our county (more jobs, with better pay). 2. Focus County resources to support small businesses, and large employers through infrastructure development, cleaning of brown field and polluted sites, training for business leaders and vocational training for all ages of workers. 3. Focus County resources to bring stable work and learning opportunities to the disabled and disadvantaged.
What policies do you support to increase jobs and help your residents improve their economic positions?
Hughes: Keeping and improving the services the county provides and supports for residents in top shape at affordable prices. Including our excellent water and sanitary sewer. Continue working with Muskegon Area First and the Chamber of Commerce to bring businesses with good paying jobs to Muskegon and keeping our services and county a wonderful place to live and raise a family in. Continue promoting the County Wastewater for increased power options with solar and wind, keeping our roads in good shape, affordable housing, good schools and great parks to promote friendly, happy residents.
Smith: I support strong education with a curriculum that include career aptitude exploration, life skills such as resume writing, interpersonal communications skills, money management, and job preparedness. I also support apprenticeship programs through unions, job training through Career Centers and Tech Schools. Making college more accessible to students with need is very important. In 1994 I established The Deborah R Smith Memorial Scholarship through the school districts where my deceased wife & I had attended. Recipients of that scholarship have contacted me to tell about the impact those scholarships had upon their success. As a community, we can make colleges and training programs more accessible to all, bringing better jobs and increased economic positions for those that seek assistance. I want to help Muskegon county become a welcoming place for labor and business, so that our youth might have work in the Muskegon area to raise their families and maintain our history and heritage.
Hartell: Young entrepreneurs are needed BADLY, I see so many pop up small businesses that seam to just make quick money and then break the laws and just get renamed and repeat. I feel the younger generations could be taught correctly to do things properly,not follow the older crowd and the ways they did it, Yes most are honest, but just looking at all the closed shops that didn't make it almost always seams to have had financial issues they either did not know of, or followed incorrectly ,choosing to cash and dash with our communities hard earned money. All small towns really need more ""Mom and Pop "" type businesses, when its a tighter community of friends and neighbors it flourishes.
Kaijala: We need to create significant funding to support a serious long-term economic development group. This group will coordinate with regional economic development groups and develop a long-term effort to support and expand business in our county (more jobs, with better pay). We need to focus County resources to support small businesses, and large employers through infrastructure development, cleaning of brown field and polluted sites, training for business leaders and vocational training for all ages of workers. I support reducing regulations that make it difficult for small businesses to startup.. Mobile businesses should be encouraged by County and Township polices. Residents should be able to start a business on their property without numerous requirements. Safety is important I support lower tax rates for businesses, in order to increase employment. I support reduced connection fees to water and sewer systems. The County needs to down-size operations and be as efficient as possible.
What actions or policies do you support to protect the county’s water, air and land for current and future generations while meeting community energy needs?
Hughes: As past Chairman of the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission, I am very supportive of their work to clean and enhance our water quality and shorelines, their continued monitoring of our water and air quality and community outreach. I work closely with MSU extension to improve our lands and protect our forests. I support and promote our great current water systems that are constantly updating and expanding into rural areas, I have spend the last 8 year on the water system police board and our system is first class and in the process now of expanding to better serve our residents. We have a great working relationship with Consumers Power and DTE as they continue to provide our energy needs. We have also promoted our available land at the Muskegon Wastewater system for use by the increasingly popular solar and wind options for renewable energy. I am proud to say our County facilities are multiple winners of Energy Saving Awards.
Smith: The Nugent Sand acquisition is critical to Muskegon’s shoreline. By protecting that area as a park, we benefit our lake asset and create another recreational asset for our community. I believe Muskegon’s lakes, rivers, beaches, and parks should have responsible policies with public access for all, unless there are endangered plant or animal species that could be affected by the access. Land that is of historical or cultural significance should be accessible as well to the point where access enriches but does not violate the historical or cultural aspect of the sites. Recent PFAS issues in areas within and around Muskegon are concerning. Muskegon county needs to ensure proper retainment and cleanup of environmental spills are enforced to protect our watershed. Outdated drains do affect water quality. The use of CNG fuel in our MATS buses is a policy that shows our community cares about air quality. I would support proposed policies that enhance the Clean Air and Clean Waters acts.
Hartell: #1 I am looking to support the Nugent sand location as a future park, hopefully they keep it free, with minimal prices for onsite camping... #2 I would also like to look into WHY Nestle has such a LOW price to pay Michigan vs. the Billions they make off our water removed from Michigan.
Kaijala: As a chemical engineer who has designed and installed numerous environmental control systems to protect waterways, the air, and the land; I feel the county should take an active role in understanding environmental control systems and supporting businesses that require them. The lack of this action in this the past has resulted in many Superfund sites around the county which are holding back development. The County should meet with State representatives of the MI DEQ on a regular basis to identify businesses that are having difficulty meeting State and Federal requirements for good environmental control, and worker safety. The county should regularly audit important environmental systems. This will bring in companies and jobs that operate safely. The County needs to develop plans to clean our nine Superfund sites. The County needs to develop a list of all the marginal ecological situations in our lakes and rivers. Then develop and an action plan for eliminating each problem area.
What initiatives or policies do you support to help increase tourism and recreational activities in your municipality for residents and visitors?
Hughes: I am an active advocate for visitors to our county. I support the great job our Convention and Visitors Bureau does. I support improvements to our many County Parks and as past Chair of Township Parks and Rec, I am very active at all the parks. I support our museums and options visitors and residents have to learn about as well as enjoy our County. I am very supportIve of the possibility of being able to provide public access to Lake Michigan and 2 inland lakes at the former Nugent Sand site, especially with the possibility of no additional cost to our parks system. I support and volunteer for the large and varied array of events Muskegon host in the summer. We are also a Winter Wonderland with a Luge, ice fishing, skating and more. I am a huge supporter of the vast area for bird watching, nature trails, native plants, walking, and the new Mosquito Creek Bike Trail we have at the Wastewater. I am proud to Welcome visitors and ships to Muskegon as Chairman of the County Board.
Smith: Our airport, bus system, and the port area are separate entities within the county, all vital to tourism and recreation within Muskegon county. Maintenance and other administrative duties for these areas have been separate, but I support a study to analyze the feasibility of combining these areas into one authority, where maintenance, management and other areas could be more efficient in achieve cost savings. Savings that could help promote and improve our county parks, summer programs, historic sites and Muskegon events. Creating warm and inviting parks will bring people from our own community into areas they might not have otherwise visited. Cooperation with community groups is important as well. I worked with A.B.A.T.E. Region 5 in a clean-up of property along Seaway Drive, making an area safe for camping during Bike Week. We need to look at our counties' many organizations, seek their involvement and acknowledge them for their good works in making our recreational resources better.
Hartell: Michigan is the " Great Lakes state" BUT was also the " Winter Wonderland" I hope someday to make it the truly #1 vacation place during ALL seasons.
Kaijala: The County should support all the active businesses and venues that make up the Counties rich resources, not just the Muskegon lake front.
Also on MLive:
Two Republicans vying for 92nd House seat in Muskegon County
Muskegon County Sheriff faces challenger in Democratic primary
Norton Shores’ Muskegon County commissioner faces primary challenger
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