While the Grand Marais mayor’s race is up for grabs, four candidates are running for two seats on the Grand Marais City Council in the upcoming election. Incumbent Craig Schulte seeks to retain his seat while Diane Greeley, Mike Smieja and Michael Garry have all signed up to run.
One time city councilor Tracy Benson filed for the city council election but opted out due to work commitments.
Voters will select two candidates on their ballots. The top two vote-getters will win seats on the council.
The city council members are elected at large, for four-year terms, with half the council up each election.
A ten-year resident of Grand Marais, Michael Garry, has served on the Planning and Zoning Commission for more than five years. He holds degrees in history and Latin from the University of Minnesota.
“I am a lifelong believer in the power of service to the community through local government and would like to extend my service in a new role as a city councilor. I am honored to have received a Letter of Support from the Cook County DFL.
“I see three key issues on which the City Council has a significant impact at this time: housing, jobs, and equity. Grand Marais, like all of Cook County, is built on the contributions of a broad range of community members from retirees to mid-life working-class families, business owners, professionals, young adults and seasonal workers. For the community to thrive, all of its members need access to high quality, affordable and safe housing.”
To learn more about Michael’s candidacy, go to his Facebook page.
Mike Smieja is a fulltime potter who owns a studio.
“I wasn’t always a potter. I’ve owned 12-plus businesses. After selling a marketing firm I owned for 10-plus years, I went to the University of Minnesota, where I studied Agriculture at the College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources and Marketing at The Carlson School of Management. I also studied Horticulture in the Masters of Professional Horticulture program. I’ve attended several City Council meetings over the last several years. After complaining about deaf ears, I got tired. You can either be part of the problem or be part of the solution. So after watching repeated actions that benefit the special interests of members of the council, I decided that I wanted to be part of the solution.
“I think we need to address the economic gap between the haves and have nots. We keep saying there is a housing and workforce shortage, but we keep making it harder and harder to keep service workers in our community because of fees and taxes, and ordinances that target lower-income individuals and families.”
Diane Greeley is a rural route U.S. Post Office mail carrier and a long-time volunteer who works with ATV issues in the county. She has lived in Cook County for most of her adult life, raising her children here. Diane said she decided to run because she wants to see more unity and transparency in the city hall’s decision-making process. She described Grand Marais as a hub of the county and promised to work hard to make this a better place to work, live and thrive, if she is elected.
As far as endorsements, Greeley told WTIP that she wanted candidates to run on their integrity, thoughts, and way of life, and not be endorsed by one party or another.
On workforce shortages, Greeley talked about the hard work people do to clean hotels, work in restaurants, and the low pay those workers receive. With the cost of housing and relatively low pay, the city needs to help bring in more businesses that pay a living wage. She cited broadband as a tool for the city to advertise, noting our broadband was better here than in some suburbs of the Twin Cities. She added that if anyone wanted to start a business locally, the city should endorse it and not stand in the way. For growth to occur and families to thrive, there needs to be a diversity of businesses in the community, she said.
Craig Schulte was appointed to the city council two years ago to fill an opening. He describes his time on the council as “a great learning experience.”
Craig and his wife Lynn raised two daughters here and today, both life-long residents of Grand Marais, own the Marathon gas station.
During his interview with WTIP, Craig described Grand Marais as an expensive place to live with ongoing challenges to find housing for seasonal workers. The EDA and other groups are working to solve this dilemma, he said, but more options need to be looked at. He suggested the city council should work on curbing spending and lowering taxes to help residents and businesses. As far as building a new liquor store/city hall, Schulte said that while something must be done to either fix or replace the structures, this might not be the time to do it in the middle of a pandemic.
Leave a Reply