By Scott Sullivan
Editor
For all this year’s sound and fury, little changed in local elections this year.
Saugatuck voters returned three incumbents but replaced another with a past council veteran in the Nov. 5 city council race for four open two-year seats.
In Douglas, all four incumbents faced down two challengers, also for four open two-year seats.
Saugatuck Township retuned its entire board to serve four more years uncontested.
All five announced candidates for the Saugatuck Public Schools Board of Education won by write-in votes,.
Saugatuck City
Coming back will be Mayor Lauren Stanton, who tallied 316 votes; Scott Dean, 307; and Gregory Muncey, 284.
Former council member and mayor Chris Peterson, with 293 votes, claimed the fourth slot over incumbent Helen Baldwin, 275.
Falling shy in their bids were challengers Sherry Tedaldi, 268; and Joe Leonatti, 223.
City clerk Jamie Wolters reported 679 of 849 city voters, or 79.98 percent, exercised their franchise. Of these, 362 were submitted by absentee ballot, 146 were cast during the nine-day early voting period and 171 voted on election day.
Stanton, Dean and Baldwin ran together on the issue of passing a 20-percent short-term rental cap in the R-1 Residential district. Joining them was Holly Anderson in this summer’s 4-2 majority.
Muncey and Russ Gardner voted against the cap, claiming the city should have first conducted an economic-impact study of its possible effects. Peterson, Tedaldi and Leonatti shared those views.
Other issues raised during the campaign concerned:
- The resignation of, and subsequent contractual payout for former city manager Ryan Heise;
- Council creating a conservation easement on the 170-acre old airport property, allowing its conversion into a public park with trails; and
- Whether the majority four were conducting themselves transparently before arriving at decisions.
Late October’s confirmation that the state was investigating a complaint against a nonprofit, EPIC, funding Baldwin, Dean and Stanton’s drew pre-vote controversy also.
Former mayor Ken Trester complained Oct. 16 that the EPIC, directed by another former mayor Leigh G. “Garnet” Lewis, hadn’t filed a legal organization statement.
Dean, on behalf of his other running mates, called that controversy “a tale of two advocacy groups engaging in the debate over STRs in Saugatuck.”
He described EPIC’s advocacy “commonplace” and referred to Saugatuck Neighbors, a similar 501c4 nonprofit backed by local realtors that has sued the city concerning its recent cap.
Another wrinkle came Oct. 17 when the majority bloc chose Joe Clark, a fellow cap advocate, to complete a term through November 2025 vacated in September by Logan White.
Several commenters, including Gardner, felt choosing Clark over five other applicants, who questioned the cap, was a pre-decided and foregone conclusion.
Barring changes, a 4-member majority — Stanton, Dean, Clark and Anderson — will remain on council here, serving with Gardner, Muncey and Peterson.
Douglas
Current mayor pro-tem Randy Walker led the field with 513 votes. Also re-elected were John O’Malley, 461; Greg Freeman, 460; and Neal Seabert, 452.
Challengers Dana White, 359; and Jeff West, 249 failed in their bids.
Walker, Freeman, O’Malley and Seabert will again join Mayor Cathy North, Matt Balmer and Jerry Donovan holding seats next year.
Saugatuck Township
Back for four years will be supervisor Abby Bigford with 1,691 votes; clerk Cindy Osman, 1,692; treasurer Jon Helmrich, 1,684; plus trustees Stacey Aldrich, 1,674 and Brenda Marcey, 1,566.
Saugatuck Public Schools
All five announced candidates — incumbents Amanda Frank and Frank Marro II plus newcomers Lisa Greenwood, James “Jay” Wood and Mary Ihle — will comprise the school board this coming year.
The first four ran for four-year seats; Ihle will complete a partial two-year term.
In Other Races …
All three lakeshore communities bucked the national trend favoring Democrats Kamala Harris and Tim Walz over Republicans Donald Trump and J.D. Vance for president and vice president.
Saugatuck city went for Harris-Walz 439-225; Douglas 744 to 305; and Saugatuck Township 863-737.
The municipalities handed majorities too to Democrat Elissa Slotkin over Republican Mike Rogers for the open six-year Michigan U.S. Senate seat: Saugatuck city by 435-231, Douglas 742-298 and the township 1,521-1,122. Slotkin won overall as well.
Numbers here were comparable in the 38th District state House campaign, with Democrat Joey Andrews topping Republican Kevin Whiteford in Saugatuck city 412-252, Douglas 734-308 and township 1,471-1,166.
Incumbent Andrews also prevailed in that one overall for the two-year seat.
