Coffee with Clawson Candidates

Laura Slowinski, candidate for Clawson City Council

• BT Irwin

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Laura Slowinski is a lifelong Clawson resident whose first foray into elected office made her chair of the Clawson City Charter Commission from 2021 to 2023. In that capacity, she guided the total overhaul of the city's 80-year old charter. Now she is running for one of four seats up for election on the Clawson City Council.

For your hometown Clawson real estate needs, get KW Domain certified Realtor Erin Redmond at eredrealestate@gmail.com or call (586) 242-8419.

Expecting and new parents, certified postpartum doula and pediatric sleep coach Lynn Eads can help you and your new baby settle into your life together. Learn more at learnwithlynne.com.  

Get out and vote, Clawson! Learn all about how, when, and where to vote by clicking here or call (248) 435-4500x118.

SPEAKER_03:

Friends, hello, I'm B.T. Irwin, your neighbor in Clausen for 13 years now. Welcome to Coffee with Clausen Candidates, a limited podcast series that gives each candidate for Clausen City Council and Mayor their own episode. These are in-depth, but relaxed conversations in which all 14 candidates reveal their hearts, minds, and personalities. More on that in a minute or two. First, please know that the information you're hearing in this introduction is the same for all 14 episodes. So if you already heard it when listening to another episode, you don't have to listen to it again. Just skip straight to the interview. If this is your first episode of Coffee with Clausen candidates, I think the information I'm about to share with you in this introduction will help you understand the election coming up in Clausen this fall and how this podcast can help you choose who will get your votes. Before we get to that, you may want to know who is hosting this show and whether he's fit for your time and trust. Now, I'm not a professional journalist, but I do have a lot of experience interviewing public figures for the Christian News Organization where I work part-time. More important to Clausen folks like you, however, is my unusual level of involvement in Clausen government over the last few years. It started in 2020 when I accepted an appointment to the Zoning Board of Appeals. In November 2021, I was elected to the Clausen City Charter Commission, where I served until the people of Clausen adopted the revised city charter we proposed in November 2023. Through those experiences, I've gotten to know Clausen City government and many of the people who work in it. So that's me. Now let's talk about the election happening in Clausen this fall, 2025. This is your crash course. If you didn't know, this year's Clausen City election is historic for at least two reasons. First, it is the first general election to take place after the adoption of the revised city charter in November 2023. This fall, our city council is expanding from one two-year mayor and four at-large four-year members to one four-year mayor and six four-year members. Second, if the 14 candidates running for city offices in Clausen this fall are not a record, I'd like to see an election where more candidates ran. I can't imagine that we've ever had this many people running for office at the same time in Clausen. So this is a big election with lots of candidates running for more seats than Clausen has ever had on its city ballot. There are a total of six seats up for election in what will be a seven-seat city council come November 2025. I think it can get confusing, so I'm going to break it down for you. First, the office of mayor is up for election. The mayor chairs the city council and is a voting member of it. Until now, Clausen's mayor always served a two-year term. The revised charter, however, changes the mayor's term to four years to match the other members of City Council. Whoever the people of Clausen elect as their mayor this fall will serve from November 2025 to November 2029. Two candidates are running for mayor, incumbent mayor Paula Milan, who has been in office since 2021, and Clausen City Councilmember Sue Moffat. Next, there are four at-large city council seats up for election. Two of those seats are existing seats with expiring terms. Bruce Anderson and Glenn Shepherd occupy those seats, which they won as the top two vote getters in the November 2021 election. The two existing seats are for four-year terms, running from November 2025 to November 2029. And then there are two new seats that the revised city charter adds to the city council this year. Of the 10 candidates running, the top four vote getters will take the four at-large seats. The top three vote getters will serve four-year terms, 2025 to 2029, but the fourth place vote getter will serve only two years until 2027. This will happen only once. In 2027, that seat will become a four-year term like all the others. The revised charter calls for this unusual arrangement so that the city council eventually gets on a cycle of four of its seats being up for election every four years, and three of its seats being up for election every four years on a rotating basis. So in review, there are four at-large city council seats up for election this fall 2025, two of them existing and two of them new. The top three vote getters will serve four-year terms, and the fourth place vote getter will serve a two-year term. The ten candidates running for those four seats are incumbents Bruce Anderson and Glenn Shepherd, and challengers George Georges, Scott Manning, Meredith Peltinen, Billy Rinshaw, Heather Rinkovich, Laura Slewinsky, Alex Speeshock, and Scott Tinlin. Are you keeping score? We're up to five seats on the ballot. I said there are six, so here's the last one. Back in the spring, Councilmember Matt Benkowski resigned his seat because he was moving out of the city. Benkowski won his four-year term in November 2023, so he was to fill his seat until November 2027. When a city council member leaves office during her or his term, the revised city charter calls for city council to appoint a replacement who will serve until the next regular city election, at which time the public will elect someone to finish out the full term. Not long after Benkowski resigned, City Council appointed Richard Scott to fill the seat until the November 2025 election. On your ballot, this city council seat will be listed apart from the other four. Whichever candidate gets the most votes for this seat will serve out the rest of Binkowski's term that runs through November 2027. Scott is running to retain the seat for the next two years. Aiden O'Rourke is running to challenge him for it. So now that you know what is up for election in Clausen this fall and who is running, let's get to how this podcast might help you decide who gets your votes. I interviewed all 14 candidates, one episode for each one. I wanted to do something different from the other candidate interviews that are out there. Not to say that those other interviews are not helpful. I think they are quite helpful and I follow them myself. But I find that the usual candidate interview format to be too narrow or too short to really get to know the candidates as people. I like to know where candidates stand on the quote unquote issues, yes, but I really want to know what they know, how and what they think, what makes them tick, who they are as human beings. So I designed these podcast interviews to be friendly and relaxed and full of open-ended questions. I wanted the candidates to feel like they could open up and just talk about what they think is important and why. I also wanted them to be able to talk about themselves, without the pressure of needing to react to questions about issues and one-minute sound bites. I can say that I enjoyed every one of the 14 conversations as I sat across from candidates at places like the Clausen Historical Museum, Blair Memorial Public Library, and Cave Cafe in downtown Clausen. Even interviewed one candidate on a front porch. And I learned a lot from just about every candidate who opened up to me. So I hope you learn a lot too, and that in learning about the candidates, you'll fill out your ballot with confidence and even, dare I say it, joy. So without further ado, please enjoy this episode of Coffee with Clausen Candidates. I'm sitting here in the Clausen Historical Museum with my friend, Laura Slavinski. Gotta fully disclose that we've been friends since we served together on the Clausen Charter Commission from 2021 to 2023. And she has been a resident of Clausen for the better part of 50 years. So came here in 1975. That was 50 years ago. And she pointed out to me that there were, I think, four years that she lived outside of Clausen in that time. But 46 out of 50 years, that's pretty good. And I know we're going to hear some stories in a minute. Laura's first experience with public service was being on the athletics board and the PTO at Guardian Angels. And then, like I mentioned, she was elected in 2021 to be on the Claussen City Charter Commission, where she served as chair for both years leading up to the people adopting the city charter that is now our city charter. It's the reason why we're going to have seven city council members instead of five. And it's the reason why there's so many people running for city council this year, including Laura, who is our guest. Laura, thank you for sitting down to talk to us today.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you for having me, Brad.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. So 50 years, there have to be some stories. So tell us what is your Klauson story.

SPEAKER_04:

So yeah, you said we came here in 1975, and there were well, we lived with my aunt on Gooddale. And within the time that we've lived here, we've lived well, I've lived in six different locations. I want to name the streets because that's fun. Let's see if I can remember them. Gooddale, Broadacre, 14 mile road on Huntley, where my mom lives now. Let's see. On Allen, Coolidge. Oh, and there's one more. Well, there is one more. I did another interview and I listed all of them. But the fun part of it is I also went to six different schools.

SPEAKER_03:

In Clausen?

SPEAKER_04:

In Clausen. So there was so there was McDonald's School.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. That was on was that on Lincoln?

SPEAKER_04:

It was on Grant.

SPEAKER_03:

On Grant. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So McDonald's school was on Grant. That school, I only went there for like a day.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Because then they decided they would close it. And that school had a baseball field that was like in the back of the school. There was like a playground. And let's see, I went to Baker. So McDonald Baker. I went to Hunter. Hunter was a school. Then I went to Shum. I was a Shom Shark.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_04:

Now when I was a Shom Shark, we actually played at McDonald Field.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

And I'll come back to that.

SPEAKER_03:

I feel like I know where we're going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, it might surprise you. And after Shom, I went to the middle school and then I went to the high school and graduated.

SPEAKER_03:

That's actually seven. Wait, no, that is six. Okay. People can't see my fingers right now.

SPEAKER_04:

They're up. But the house that I currently live in. This is such a cool cool story.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

The house that I live in, I so I used to be known for when I played baseball, I would swing the bat with one arm. I would let the other arm go. And there were errors. There were errors during that, but I would end up getting a home run.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, this one time I swung the bat so hard and it went all the way over to where our current house would is now. Like in that location.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And years later, my mom said to me, I always know you were gonna live there.

SPEAKER_02:

What?

SPEAKER_04:

Because that ball went towards the house.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Is your house where McDonald's school used to stand?

SPEAKER_04:

So it's in the back of it.

SPEAKER_03:

It's in the back of it. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, like our our fence.

SPEAKER_03:

Grant Park is where McDonald used to be.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Is the baseball field at Grant Park the same baseball field that you played on?

SPEAKER_04:

It is.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

It's not really a field anymore. They you still have the the back, the uh the gated part behind where like home plate would be. All that's still there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

But the grass is grown. Like that could be a field.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

If they wanted to make it a field.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I thought about that actually when they took out the field at Shalm and now they've taken out the field at Baker. Those are both gone now. And so we have a shortage of baseball fields. And I thought, but there's one over at Grant Park that could be used. And that is a cool story. That I didn't realize McDonald's school was there where Grant Park is.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. That is that's a great story. All right. That may be the winner so far for the for the best class in story. Thank you for sharing that with us. So I I want to know about your day job. A lot of people may not understand that our elected officials, it's not their full-time job. They, you know, they're basically like volunteers. You get paid a little bit of money, but you're basically doing it all for love. Talk about your your day job. Talk about what you're doing or what you will be doing when you're not doing city council work.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow, like that's a loaded question. Because on any given day, I can I'm a mom of two daughters. One's away at college, one's in high school. And the one who's in high school, she plays all the sports. So we're doing those things.

SPEAKER_03:

So you're a driver.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh not a hundred percent anymore, because she now has her license.

SPEAKER_02:

That's good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

She's driving herself. It's it's a really crazy feeling. Like the day that she got into her car and she backed up, drove away, and I ran out to look at her. And I just I just was thinking like that's such a cool feeling. It's like a scary feeling, but a cool feeling. So the other thing that I do is I spend a lot of time with my dad and my mom and family, and I can be taking them to appointments.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And I substitute at the school K through eight. So sometimes they call when they're in session and I sub. And I'm a volunteer at the parish, so I do stuff there. And and then just regular household duties, laundry, grocery shopping, doing stuff with the family. And we also a year and a half ago, we got a puppy. So we added a puppy in the mix. So that takes time too. But yeah, but she's amazing.

SPEAKER_03:

How's the puppy doing? Not a puppy anymore.

SPEAKER_04:

She's still sh I was told she's gonna be a puppy till she's like 15.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

So I don't know. I I hope that's not true, but you know, Rick and I were both my husband, we were both allergic to animals. And so during COVID a couple years ago, he did the research and found that she's a breed. She's a a poodle and what other she's a woodle. So it's a poodle. A poodle? Shoot, I can't remember the other the other. Oh, wheat and terrier and poodle.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

And the wheat and terrier, they are a hundred percent hyperallergenic.

SPEAKER_01:

Huh.

SPEAKER_04:

So are the poodles.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So having the mix, you know, we thought this could work. And so we took a chance, went and picked her up, and have we haven't had a problem.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice.

SPEAKER_04:

She's got hair too. She doesn't have fur.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

That helps. So she doesn't shed. It's amazing. And she's just a great addition to the family.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. That's awesome. So I want to know like what do you read? Where do you what do you put into your mind every day, every week? What do you read or listen to or watch? What's on your bedstand? What are you playing in your car? What audio books are you listening to? What are you taking in these days?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I read the Bible and I really love things that help me learn about new things. So I'll do podcasts and I'll read articles. I don't do much newspapers. I do some of that online, but I have to be really careful because not all of it is true. As you know. What are some other things? I like to do Seduko puzzles, anything that'll keep my brain busy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And I really love to talk to smart people because well, I mean, I love to talk to all people and not just smart people, but I just find people fascinating.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And it's amazing how you can have a thought and you can talk to somebody about that thought, and then they give you a different experience about what you're thinking.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And that just it just amazes me. Yeah. So I do enjoy doing that.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that particular uh podcast you like to listen to the most?

SPEAKER_04:

I like the New Heights podcast.

SPEAKER_03:

New Heights, what is that?

SPEAKER_04:

That is a football podcast. Oh with Kelsey, uh the brothers. The Kelsey brothers.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that uh Jason and Travis?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

I like I like listening to that. When my daughter and I learned about a Netflix show and it was about quarterbacks.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04:

This was, I don't know, this was about four years ago-ish. And we watched it, and neither one of us were really football fans. But at the time she wanted to learn about flag football. So we were watching those shows. And when we learned about the shows, we just started watching football.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

It kind of morphed into that. And then they had more. They had different positions that came out after that with Netflix. And so that just kind of we just started watching football games. And it grew to we liked watch, I like watching the Chiefs, we like watching the Lions. My husband Rick likes to watch the Tigers. And this was a new experience for us because our other daughter, we didn't really watch many. We did we watch performances.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And when you ask the question, like what else do I listen to? I like listening to my daughter sing.

SPEAKER_03:

She's a freshman in college this year, right?

SPEAKER_04:

She is.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. And a good singer. This I know.

SPEAKER_04:

She's a good singer. She's decided to kind of table that for a little bit, but I think she'll get back into it. Yeah. We'll see.

SPEAKER_03:

We hope so. We hope so. All right. So there are several thousand people in Clausen that could run for office, but only 14 are going for it. And you're one of those 14 who's decided, yeah, I think I'm willing to do it now. So why you and and why now?

SPEAKER_04:

You know, after the experience of being on the Charter Commission, I can I can honestly say that was one of the best experience I've ever had.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_04:

And the r the best reason, the best reason for that, I think, is because there were eight other people that were dedicated of coming together and we formed our community. We came together and we didn't all agree. And we discussed things. And and I remember thinking sometimes we would have it in our head, like which way we're gonna vote on something, and then we would discuss it, and then we would end up changing our mind because of that. And I and I did hear some people say, wow, they did a lot of discussing, and the motions were all alike. There wasn't a lot of emotion, there wasn't a lot of motions that weren't passed. And I think the reason for that was because we discussed everything and we took our time and we researched and we talked with our attorney. And anyway, it was such a good experience. I really just want that experience to be the same on a council. So I'm really hoping that happens.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. I was there. It was yeah, it was pretty, pretty cool. I mean, for a civics nerd, it was cool, but the the deliberations around some fairly small things, but it was in a charter, was for a nerd like me, exhilarating. And everyone, everyone made up their minds to get along and be very business-like about it. So yeah, that was a great experience. I I just want to know when you think about if you when you imagine yourself serving on city council, say you get elected, who are the role models you look to or the models you look to for the kind of public service that you want to give? Like the that person is what I want to be like when I'm on city council. Who who comes to mind for you?

SPEAKER_04:

There's a judge, a district judge in Royal Oak. His name is Judge Derek Meineke. And for me, the girls had him as a coach in elementary school.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

He was a really good coach, but the way that he treated the kids, the way he was with the parents, and how he serves, he just he's always looking for a way to do good, to volunteer and to make things better. And I've always admired that about him. Yeah. So I think he would be he would be the person. Yeah. I mean, I could say, out of all the people that were on the charter commission, all of those people also were I will I look up to them and I admire their service. And I admire that they came in, didn't take a dime, and used their knowledge and talents to help us move forward and go through the whole entire charter.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I have people ask me recently, you know, how how many meetings did you guys have? Like how much time did you spend on that? And and I know because I logged it, it was 47 meetings.

SPEAKER_03:

47 meetings.

SPEAKER_04:

47 meetings. Yeah. And some of the meetings, they didn't last just an hour.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Sometimes we were there hours and had to make a motion to stay longer.

SPEAKER_03:

Does that include the like the workshops and the like the public hearings that we did? And you know, there was time spent away from the meetings, obviously, doing research and preparing for meetings. You were the chair, so you had to put more work into it away from the meetings than any of the rest of us. So did you come up with the number of hours that you kind of guessed guesstimated?

SPEAKER_04:

Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I can't even I don't know. To answer your question, the 47 meetings did include the workshops and hiring of the attorney and and and all of that. But I never thought about all the hours that I put in. I remember that Sophia was in school at the time and she was studying local government.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And because she was young and she was really into it, it made it a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Good timing there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, to have the conversations that I had with her. And even today, she'll say, I know that voice. Is that so-and-so? You know, listening, I'll listen to the meetings if I can't go.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And she'll say, I know that voice. And she's usually right.

SPEAKER_03:

That's awesome. I let me ask you this. Since we're talking about the charter, one of the things that obviously very few people ever read an 84-page charter for their city unless they're a lawyer, right? Or they're in government. And I think it was 84 pages, the charter as it was when we started working on it. And then there were people that didn't even know we had a charter. That's what I found. Is there a lot of people like, I didn't even know we had a charter. So what is one thing that one really important thing about city government here in Clausen that not you feel like not enough people know about that they ought to know about? And how might we how might we inform the public here of that that thing that if they knew about it, it would be really important to how we function as a city?

SPEAKER_04:

That's such a good question. I think I might have two different answers. But one answer just comes to mind because we were talking about it is I want them to know the charter. Because, like you said, people that I talked to, they were wondering, what is it?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And why is it important?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

They didn't they had no idea it's the law of the city. But is it really the law of the city? And then the question comes, are we enforcing it?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

What are we what are we doing about the things that we're not enforcing? And if we're not enforcing it, is it costing us money? So those are a couple of questions I think that should come to mind. But one of the biggest things I think for the for what the people ought to know is where to go to get the information. I have people ask questions that I can go directly to the website and I can tell them where on the website it is. And I found out recently they're revamping the website.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

They I think the I got this from Nick, Nick Stepnix. He's the city manager, the assistant city manager. And I agree with them. I think that they got a lot of people who said it just needs a little bit of updating. And I really like the steps that they've been taking. So I want people to know you can go and you can find the agendas for all the different boards and commissions for past and present. You can find the meeting notes afterwards, you can find the packets, you can find who's on the boards and commissions, who are the employees of the city, how do you get a hold of them, what kind of hours they they're at the offices. And then you can also find out if you miss a meeting, where can you go to watch the meetings? And I still have people who don't know that there's a second YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_03:

Some people who are listening to this right now don't even know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_04:

So Yeah, so fill us in. So the city, from what I understand, they used to cable, I'm not sure what the term is. They used to put the city meetings on cable somewhere. And that kind of went away. I'm not sure why, but could find that out, that answer out. But they decided to start taping the meetings and they put them on YouTube. And the meetings go all the way back, I don't know, pretty far. And with the revamp of the website, I recently found out that if you want to go back pretty far, you have to click on I want access to the archives.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Which wasn't how it was, but they just changed it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

But then there was a reason there's two YouTube channels. Because normally the company that does the recordings, they only could have one live at a time because it's one per channel. So they opened up another channel for us during the charter commission because the charter commission was the same as a planning commission. And they're now that's where they're located. But that's why the second channel.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And they're all on there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And so I hope that people, if they want to view them, they can go back and view them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And they can see and listen to some of the conversations that we had. And that is what I want the city to know. I want them to know how to get this information and how to use it for confirming things.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_04:

So they're not listening to other people. They can actually go and find the information and confirm it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I want to tell people you don't have to go to Facebook to find out, to find actual real answers to your questions about the city. It is all there for the finding. I want to talk about, I want to talk about what do you think is maybe one of the biggest, most consequential challenges facing us in Clausen right now? And I want you to put on your teacher hat and just lead a 101 class on what are the origins of that challenge, what feeds into it, and how might we as a city and city government, over the next, you know, city council term or two, address that challenge in a way that makes lasting change for future generations here?

SPEAKER_04:

That's a great question. I think our biggest challenge in the city doesn't have to do with taxes. It doesn't have to do with true. And meetings and agendas. I think what it has to do with is we should all be listening to one another. And recently I know there have been people coming up to the podium, and they're not really able to get what they want to say out. It might be because of the three-minute time limit, or it might just be that they're afraid to come up and say things because they don't want to be cut off, or they don't want to say something that is offending. But there's a lot of people out there who have really good things to say. And I think our city would benefit from not wondering whose side are they on. Are they Democrat? Are they Republican? Are they independent? Are they somebody in the city who could be throwing stuff out there that's not even true? And I find that there's a lot of history in Clausen. And I just wish that collaboratively we could start listening to one another and learning from the history and the lessons and all work together for the good of the city.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I think that's our biggest problem right now.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And it it may have been for a while now, it just seems to be more of an issue right now.

SPEAKER_03:

Seems to be an issue everywhere. So we're, you know, we and Clausen are swimming in a bigger stream of you know, the state, the country, the world. One of the things that I I'm not shy about saying here is that I'm very proud that the Charter Commission was such a civil professional body, and that we were able to accomplish so much. When when the seven people were elected, and then two people were written in, nine of us were elected to the Charter Commission, which is bigger than city council, I'll point out. For two years and do something as complicated as a charter and end up, I think, mostly being friends and being putting something out there that the people liked and voted for. So I look back on thinking, I think, what did we do? You know, what were some of the things that we did? Because it's one thing to say, I wish that the culture could be different on city council, for example, or it could be different in our community, and that we would listen to each other. But I keep trying to think about, well, what it was it that happened on that charter commission that made it so that we listened to each other and that we worked through our differences and there was space given to everyone to contribute, including those that, you know, there were public meetings. We were always happy to hear from people. So I mean, you were there too, and you chaired it. So let's get practical here. If if we want to see change to the culture of governing here in Clausen, I mean, what maybe what are some of the lessons you learned from the Charter Commission and other parts of your life that you think, well, if we would do this, if we would practice this on city council, for example, or adjacent to government, it might make a difference to get us from where a lot of people feel like we are now to where we all might like to go, but we don't seem to know how to get there.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I think one of the reasons, or one of the things that I can think about right off the top of my head is to be prepared. Coming to a meeting, make sure that they're I would read things before the meeting. You know, you have the packet that you get. I think everybody's reading the packet. You know, I don't know. That could be helpful. But just deciding no matter who's up there or who's talking, to be respectful to one another. I think we decided that we didn't even have to talk about it. It was just something that everybody did. And I remember as chair, there were a couple of times where people were talking over one another, but it wasn't because they were doing it to be unkind. I I think what it is is they were excited about what they were saying. And then I remember to just kindly say, you know, well, hold on a second, let her finish or let him finish, and then you can go after.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So I don't know if that's a Roberts rule of order.

SPEAKER_03:

It actually is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And I don't know what you would call it, but I just really think that that was a big part of it. And just being respectful. I remember that there were some people who came in. Remember when we had those meetings where the public had come in, or even some employees could come in and discuss. We would give them we set a time limit, which I don't think we ever really went over.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't remember enforcing that.

SPEAKER_04:

We didn't enforce it, but because we wanted to hear what they had to say. And I think we did say, I'm pretty sure we said, you can have three minutes. And if they went over the three minutes, it wasn't very often, but it did happen, and we never interrupted anybody.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So that might be different in council, but I don't know. I think if people are if they would like to come up and say things, and if they got like if they were afraid to do that, but they got up and they let them, I think people wouldn't be afraid to get up anymore.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And I don't know, it was such a good experience when we had it. I like you, I can't really pinpoint like one, two, or three things, but those are the things that I remember. And I do remember there were people who came up and were not very kind about wanting to change the charter. And every one of us listened to why. And when we, you know, we all took notes and when we came across whatever their concern was, we really thought about what they said. And I think I wouldn't say it changed our mind, but I think when we thought about what they said, we really took it into account how we were gonna vote because of it after deliberating. So I thought that was that was hard to do.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Because nobody likes it when you when you're working and spending all this time and volunteering and getting together and being away from your families. Nobody likes to come in and have somebody tell you they're doing something that you don't like, or you're they're doing something that, yeah. And I just feel like just having that conversation and being able to trust one another, to be transparent and say that what's really on your mind in a respectful way, that would really go a long way on the council.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah. You're helping me as you talked about it now. I thought about how it seemed as though the nine people on the charter commission were very curious about their job. So when when that when we listened to people, my memory of it is that there wasn't a sense, uh I didn't get a sense that people felt like they had an agenda they had to protect or a personal reputation to protect. Everyone seemed, I remember even critical comments being received with questions, like tell me more, or even when we deliberated and we didn't agree on something and it was something that was really important, there seemed to be a lot of natural curiosity in the room. Tell me more about that, explain that more. I want to learn more. And that seemed to just be the habit all the way through was just curiosity. And I don't know, I feel like these days there's a real shortage of curiosity in general. Everybody feels like they're supposed to have an opinion and then defend their opinion. And so they're too busy doing that and to have the time to be curious about anyone else. But now that I think back on our experience there, I feel like it was just everybody was so curious. Tell me more. I want to know more. Explain that to me, help me understand. And maybe it's because none of us were lawyers and we were working on a legal document, we all felt a little bit out of our depth. So it was just kind of like, yeah, I need to know more because I don't, you know, that's why we hired an attorney. And maybe not knowing helped us be a little humble and curious. But yeah, that was an awesome experience. I want to talk about opportunities. So, challenge now to opportunity. If you could pick like one opportunity that we have ahead of us here in Clausen right now, that if over the next few years, city government and the people of Clausen could work together to capitalize on that opportunity, what would that opportunity be and and how might we capitalize on it together?

SPEAKER_04:

I think a great opportunity would be to educate the council members. Meaning, is is there, and I don't even know this because I'm just not sure, but is there like a one-on-one course for local government? Is there a, you know, somewhere that you can go to take some of these classes so that you can be better? I it seems like some of the people who are currently up on council, have they had the training? You know, because maybe they haven't. And I think about that. And that's one of the first things. If I get elected, I'm going to ask the question. Robert's rules of order. Is there a class?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Is there a class on budgeting? You know, I've worked with budgets before, but has everybody, you know, everybody doesn't always have the same talents and knowledge. So I think that would be the very first thing that I would do and say that the the council would benefit from that. And and I think after that, you just get things rolling and figure out what they need. But I think educating the people who will will be elected will that will really make the city shine.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Because I think the people will they'll feel more comfortable in what they're doing instead of wondering, should I be doing this?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Maybe just having some class or something, and maybe they give that out. I'm not sure. And I maybe I won't find out until I get elected if I get elected.

SPEAKER_03:

Maybe. I mean when we I know I keep going back to the Charter Commission, but we started that from scratch. And it was a, I mean, it was a steep learning curve for all of us to figure out how to act as a public body that there had not been one before. But uh, and I was on the zoning board of appeals. I was appointed to the zoning board of appeals, and there was no, there was no primer, you know, no orientation for that. It was just, you know, plot, you're on the zoning board of appeals now.

SPEAKER_01:

Really?

SPEAKER_03:

You know, so my first meeting, it was okay, I'm here. I, you know, I looked at the packet, but I didn't know how business was conducted. So I what I hear you saying is that our people who are appointed and elected to office and are working in city government, the opportunity may be that they actually learn how city government operates inside and out. And I'm saying that to you in particular just because we worked on a charter together. Yeah, that was quite an eye-opener for for both of us uh working on the Yeah, because I don't think that we had any training when we were on the charter.

SPEAKER_04:

They had zero. And that that was a commission.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. It was it was all it was all on us to figure out how to how to how to organize and get it done.

SPEAKER_04:

I remember wondering how we even got emails. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_03:

It was for those listening at home, it was a really complicated process that took a while to iron out all the all the bugs. It was it was it was something. I I I could tell stories, but and you'd put those would probably jog your memory, but I won't now because that's not the point of this podcast.

SPEAKER_04:

But educate but educating the people who are on the council, I think that would be a benefit to the city.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. So you may have already answered this. Uh one of the questions I've been asking each candidate is, you know, apart from the personalities on the can't council, which you have no control over those personalities and how they manifest, you know, what is what is something that you think council could practice as a city council that would make a real difference in how council performs as a body that represents the people of Clausen and does the people's business?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, the the one thing that comes to mind is kind of how we run our household, and that's we're all a team. And there are days that some people on the team are struggling to be a team member. Like they may struggle one day, but the other three team members, there's four people in our family, the other three team members pick up the work.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And there's no judgment. It's just what are the days gonna look like? So I think if the council practices being a team and includes the other employees as a team and they all work as a team, I think that would I think that would be really different than how it is right now. Yeah. And I'm not saying what they're doing right now is wrong or different, or you know, I'm not really even judging that. I'm just saying from what I see being part of a team is kind of like an extended family. And when you do things together, I mean, heck, they could do you know, maybe they do this. I don't even know. But I'm I'm thinking they don't.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Well, let me ask you about that, because there's a we're not singling out any individuals here. I think that's what you're trying to avoid doing. But as long as I've lived in Claussen and there have been a lot of people on city council, there there is a culture in any organization, any body that outlasts the individuals that serve, right? And so you come into a culture, you kind of learn how things operate, you take that culture into yourself, and then you become part of, you know, propagating that culture to the next generation. So I think anybody who's familiar with our city council knows there is a culture there. And I'll leave it to those that are listening to this to define what that culture is. So imagine you get elected, now you're one of seven on that city council. And like you just said, I'd like for us on city council to operate as a team, right? Rather than we're opponents, we're we're a team of complementary parts. You know, what do you think you, as one person on a seven-person city council, could do to kind of engender that team culture or promote that team culture?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, listen, I'll say this. I don't think there's a person in the world that ever says to themselves, hey, I'm gonna get up today and do a crappy day at work. I'm gonna I'm gonna have a crappy day and I'm gonna do bad at work. Nobody says that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And so I think if we trust that each other has each other's backs, be you know, if we're just respectful to one another and know that not everybody's gonna be on their A game and that's okay. And once we understand that and work with it and learn how to be in that environment, and you and I would start with myself. That's what I would do is I tell my husband and I tell our kids, oh, we don't really tell them, but we show them. So even when they were younger, and we would have people ask us, How in the heck are you getting them to eat their vegetables? Or how are you getting them to drink water? And the answer is always the same. I do that. So if I want them to do something, I have to show them how. So I do it myself.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And so that's what I would do on council. I would say, this is the environment that I want to be in. I want to be a team member, and this is what I'm going to do to show them that's how you do it. Not just that's how you do it, but that's how I want to be, if I want to be in that environment.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so let's have fun here at the end. I, you know, my wife and I, we have all these big ideas that come up once in a while for things we like to see in Klauson. And you know, anybody who's listening to multiple episodes of this knows that one of them is just to transform City Park at Christmas time, just fill all the trees with lights and make like this magical winter wonderland. And I've always wanted to have an ice cream stand, you know, at the park in the summertime. And we just don't have the energy, money, and time. So along those lines, if you somehow, if Clausen came into this windfall of money, right, all of a sudden energy, money, and time are just not an issue at all. And you could do any fun thing that would benefit the people of Clausen. Uh something you could build here or a program you could start here, something that you could bring to Clausen that just everybody would love and enjoy together here in Clausen. What's what is your what is your idea?

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, so anybody who knows me, and if you don't know me, you know that I'm a huge Disney fan.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

I guess I should start out. Is it okay if I tell my story why why that is?

SPEAKER_03:

Of course. It's your episode.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. Well, when I was five, my mom took my brother and my sister and I to Disney World. And when we were there, it wasn't like today where you had to make an appointment to go see Mickey Mouse.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

You know, or you had to sign up. Mickey Mouse was in a clothing store.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

And my mom was looking at some clothes, and my brother and I I don't, I think my sister was looking for clothes too, but my brother and I, it was those clothes racks where they were round and they had things hanging. So you could literally go in between them, get in the middle, and hide. Well, Mickey Mouse came into the clothes store and he like tapped me, and he was playing hide and go seek with me. So I would go in between, you know, where going underneath the clothes rack, and he would kind of sneak over and tap me and find me, and then he would run away, and then I would try to chase him. And I was only five. So it was the most fun I've ever had. And ever since I've just been a huge Disney fan. And some people will say, Oh, Disney Disney, you know, the happiest place on earth. But for me, it is the happiest place on earth because we've always had fun there because we we've been several times with the girls. But anyhow, it kind of leads me into what we would do with the city of Clausen if we had an infinity infinite infinite amount of money and space. I would bring Disney to Clausen.

SPEAKER_03:

Claus and Disney.

SPEAKER_04:

Claus and Disney. And we would have places for the seniors to go. We would have water parks and movie theaters and performances. And there would be something for everybody. We would have places for the kids to do artwork to get to know how to do animation. Gosh. And every single holiday we would decorate. It just I think the best feeling in the world and the best thing to see is to see somebody smile and know that they're happy. And I think kind of just wrapping this up is I think when people are listened to and they know that they matter, I think that makes them happy. And I think that makes them smile.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Awesome. Never see every one of these answers I'd never be able to predict. So never would have guessed. Bring Disney to Clausen.

SPEAKER_04:

That was a fun question.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I don't know which neighboring city we'll annex to make that happen. You know. When you wish upon a star. Laura Slavinski is uh sitting here in the Klausan Historical Museum with me. The sound you hear in the background is old furniture that we're sitting on extra antique furniture. We've been rocking away talking here. She is a candidate for Clausen City Council this fall 2025, and I've enjoyed visiting with you today. Laura, thank you for sharing with all of us.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, thank you for having me on. This was a lot of fun, and I really appreciate you doing this.

SPEAKER_03:

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_04:

It's amazing. I can't wait to hear the other episode.

SPEAKER_03:

Me too.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you. Yes, bye for now.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you for listening to this episode of Coffee with Clausen Candidates. Remember to check out the other 13 Clausen candidates in the other 13 episodes. And if you found this podcast to be valuable to you, please share it with a neighbor in Clausen. Don't forget to support our local sponsors who made this podcast possible. Special thanks to Blair Memorial Public Library, the Clausen Historical Museum, and Cave Cafe, all in Clausen, for letting us record 13 of the 14 episodes at their locations. Make sure you go visit every one of them and tell them thank you. The Coffee with Clausen Candidates Podcast is written, directed, hosted, recorded, and edited by B.T. Irwin, and produced by James Flanagan at Podcast Your Voice Studios in Southfield. Visit the Clausen City Elections page at cityofclauson.com to learn how, when, and where to cast your ballot this fall. We'll post a link in the show notes. Get out there and vote, Clausen. Until next time, grace and peace to you and all your Clausen neighbors.

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BT Irwin

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