By James Windell
Lisa Krupiarz may not be a life-long South Haven resident, but there’s one thing that she has to her credit. At nearly every South Haven City Council meeting, Krupiarz will not only show up, but she will have prepared a speech to deliver to the city council.
That experience was one of the deciding factors in her decision to run for the seat now occupied by Joe Reeser on the city council in Ward 1.
“I’ve been attending city council meetings regularly for the last few years and I come with prepared comments, and I make those comments,” she says. “But I got the feeling that I could do all that preparation and get up there and sound really great, but it doesn’t bring about change. I realized that the only way I could influence change was to have a vote. So, I decided that since I already do the work, I should turn in my petition and try to win a seat on the council.”
She has been a staunch advocate for a long time for the city to exercise greater control over the signs that are placed on the front lawns of houses in South Haven. However, that would not be her number one priority on the city council.
“My platform is that I represent voting residents in Ward 1,” she says. “In my going door-to-door and talking to people, they don’t have a problem with short-term rentals.”
But housing is an important issue. “That is probably my number one priority,” she says. “To have housing that is affordable for young professionals. I have felt like that all along. If you don’t have the housing here, then it limits the housing that is available for people who may want to move to this area.”
Krupiarz and her husband moved to South Haven in 2017. “I was born in Kalamazoo and lived there until I was five, then we moved to Dearborn for my dad’s job. When I was a senior in high school, we moved to the Lansing area for my dad’s job.”
After graduating from high school, she attended Michigan State University where she got a degree in Foods. After graduation, she got a job with the Michigan Department of Public Health and later was a food inspector with the Department of Agriculture for a couple of years.
After marriage, she and her husband lived in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. Krupiarz returned to college to get a teacher’s certificate. She ended up teaching in Arlington Heights Schools for about 14 years.
She says that the city’s priorities are her priorities. In addition to affordable housing for teachers, firefighters, and police officers, she is also concerned about short-term rentals and beach safety.
Regarding short-term rentals, she says that “We definitely need a better job of enforcement of city ordinances.”
However, in general, Krupiarz indicates that she wants to speak for Ward 1 residents. “What’s important for me is what is important for Ward I residences,” she says.
