Coffee with Clawson Candidates
Have a cup of coffee with candidates for elected offices in Clawson, Michigan, this fall 2025. Clawson resident and former Clawson City Charter Commission member BT Irwin sits down for friendly and relaxed conversations with all 14 candidates, asking them questions that shine the light on their Clawson stories, their character, and what they imagine and plan for Clawson (and how they will bring it about if they get into office). These interviews reveal the candidates as they really are (and not as they appear to be in campaign literature and soundbites).
Coffee with Clawson Candidates
Sue Moffitt, candidate for mayor, City of Clawson
In this episode, you'll meet Sue Moffitt, a longtime Clawson resident, former (2017 - 2021) and current (2023 - present) city council member, and candidate to be the first mayor elected to a four-year term.
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.
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 Moffitt. 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 ten 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 twenty twenty five, 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 Slawinsky, Alex Speeshock, and Scott Tinlan. 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 twenty twenty three, 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 in 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. We're here with Sue Moffat, one of two candidates running this fall, 2025, to serve as your next mayor here in Clausen. Sue is in the middle of her second go-around as a member of Clausen City Council. The people voted her onto a seat in 2023, so she's halfway through that term, but she also served on the City Council from 2017 to 2021. So she has six years of experience as an elected official here in Clausen. She's been a resident for 34 years. I know she's going to have a story to tell us about that in a minute. And as I mentioned, she is running for mayor, which I should point out to newcomers here in Clausen, maybe a little different from other cities and towns. And Clausen, the city manager, runs day-to-day operations of the city. And the mayor serves as a in a ceremonial office and as a kind of president of city council, where he or she is one of what will be seven voting members come this November 2025. Sue can explain this in more detail if she chooses. But here she is, or I should say, here we are, enjoying her front porch on a lovely September evening. Sue, thank you for welcoming all of us to your home. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00:I appreciate it. And thank you for doing this.
SPEAKER_03:It's a pleasure. Okay, so 34 years of residence of Clausen. What is your Clausen story?
SPEAKER_00:So back in the 1991, young couple looking for our first house. It was back in the day when like Royal Oak was the up and coming cool place. They had all the coffee houses and the cool stuff going on. And you know, we could not afford Royal Oak. So our we went to all these Royal Oak houses, looked at a bunch of stuff, and I know the real estate agents said, you know what? You need to look at this house in Clausen. And I tell the story, it's funny because she just sent me like a sheet, go on this street and look at this house in Clausen. And I drove by after work and there was a bunch of houses for sale, but I only saw this one. So it was like, okay, that was it. And it was, you know, I'm not very handy. And it was moving ready. We were like, yay, that's the house. And we so we put an offer, and literally it was during, I think like a couple weeks after the offer was accepted. Of course, found out I was pregnant with my first child. Oh, so wow. Yeah. So move when we find so we were living at the uh Amber apartments over on 13 and Crooks there. Moved in, I was pregnant. First child was born in January of 92, and we lived here, and then I had another child in 95. So we've lived here the whole time. Fourth of July is special to me too, because back when I was living those apartments on 13 and Crooks, could see the fireworks from the balcony of our house. So I remember, you know, we lived there for three and a half years. I remember looking, you know, watching the fireworks every year and then been to every 4th of July since we moved here and dragged the kids. Not, you know, the kids are moved out now, so I go by myself. But yeah, it's I've been here ever since.
SPEAKER_03:This is the house. We are on the front porch of that house right now.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You were looking at those fireworks saying someday I'm gonna, someday I'm gonna live close to those fireworks. And you made it.
SPEAKER_00:They've just been a part of the whole, you know, for a lot of years.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So one of the interesting things about elected officials in town, I notice, is that people seem to think they have no other work to do other than be on city council. And this is basically a volunteer position. It doesn't, it pays a little bit of money. Right. But most of our elected officials have day jobs. So what is your day job?
SPEAKER_00:So I am director of benefits for a chemical company. So back in we were just talking about this at work the other day, how we were talking about the other HR professionals I work with and how we ended up in the profession of HR. And I always say, for whatever reason, I I do attribute it to a bewitched uh episode. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I always said I was gonna be showing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I always said I was gonna study. It was personnel back then when I graduated. So a lot of people end up in hate HR because they did a bunch of other stuff and landed in HR. But I went to college at Wayne State and studied. Back then, you got a degree in business administration with a concentration in personnel and labor relations, right? So that's that was the degree I went after. I worked for nine years for an engineering firm right over there on Elmwood in Rochester, actually. As that was like my first real HR job as a human resources director. And I always talk about as a human resources professional, I found that I could make the biggest impact for the managers by finding the right candidate, right, that they were looking for. But I could make the biggest impact on the employees by making sure they understood their benefits and what they could and couldn't do for them and how they worked. So when I left that job, I carried on in a benefits specialist path. And so I always say I've worked on every side of the benefits table. I worked for a benefits administration firm as their director of administration. I worked for a small tech company that was trying to build a benefits administration platform as the product owner. I worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield for as a contractor for a period of time. I've been on every side of the benefits table. And I I, you know, it's the amalgam of everything that I think that I'm good at. You know, it's got some compliance and some legal stuff, and it's got people relations, and it's got, I do a lot of uh traveling with this job. I go to the our different locations and do open enrollment meetings and and teach people about our benefits and what they can do for them. So it's it's become the, like I said, the perfect amalgam of all the things that I think I I'm excel at.
SPEAKER_03:That's awesome. Who doesn't love benefits?
SPEAKER_00:Right? Everyone hates them. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I uh no, I seriously, I just I just left a job at the end of last year and did not realize that they were putting money into a retirement account for me until about two weeks ago, and I got a call from the benefits people, and they're like, you know you've got$4,500. And I'm like, I don't know that. So hey, yay, benefits.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's the auto-enroll of your 401k. There you go.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. So I just like to, I I work in journalism and I'm a I I'm a reader and I I consume information every day. Information and inspiration. I just like to know, you know, where what do you like to read? What do you pay attention to? What do you watch? What are you putting into your your mind these days?
SPEAKER_00:So it's funny when you say watch because I've got I've got two TVs in that house and I and I pay a cable bill, but I don't ever watch TV. Like I'll I'll stream stuff, but I'm more likely to sit on my iPad and stream stuff. But I'm a I'm a computer person. I get up in the morning and after I take my dog, Her Majesty Scarlet, out to go potty, I sit down at the computer and I, you know, I check my emails, I check my city emails, I check LinkedIn, I check Facebook, but then there's a variety of news outlets that I look for information there. I get stuff in my email, different newsletters and news updates and that kind of stuff. So I really consume stuff just basically through the computer.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, me too. Is there what's the like what's the last really good book you read?
SPEAKER_00:So I love to read. The the first book that comes to mind was I read this book called The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I love time travel. I like a good time travel book. And so the premise of this book is that back in the 1800s she's sort of cursed. And that two things she's cursed with. She lives forever, she cannot die, but people forget her as soon as she walks away.
SPEAKER_02:Oh no.
SPEAKER_00:So she has to go through life. For example, there's a part of the story when she rents a room at a boarding house, right? So she's up in the room and she's trying to rest, but the keeper has walked away and then comes back up to the room and thinks she's a squatter. And so she has to make her way through life, that being remembered and and being immortal. And then she finally finds someone else who's cursed similarly, and they recommend her, and it's you know, love stories.
SPEAKER_03:Is it uh how old is the book? Do you know?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, no, I don't. Friend recommended, it's several years old.
SPEAKER_03:But everybody's going to the Blair Memorial Public Library to look for it.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I I highly recommend it. It was great book.
SPEAKER_03:What's it called again?
SPEAKER_00:The The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
SPEAKER_03:The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Okay, there you go, everybody. Go check out that book at the library. So there are several thousand people who could run for office in Clausen. There are 14 of them on the ballot this year. You know, I'm sure plenty of people thought about it and for whatever reason decided not to run. Why you and why now?
SPEAKER_00:So, in all honesty, and I've said this before, when I saw the groundswell of grassroots engagement around the special election and people taking a look at what's going on and saying we need something different. We need different approaches to the city charter and to the will of the people. And I honestly think that I can be the person that can help lead that charge. You know, we have a we have a movement growing in this city. We have 10 people running for four seats. We have two people running for another seat. We have a community that's excited and engaged and wants to be part of stuff. And they need they need a leader who's going to embrace that and who's going to listen to everyone and help, you know, bring that change. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Do you feel like uh you've you've lived here for 34 years? And I was talking to somebody last week about the number of people running for office in Clausen right now. And they were talking about in their city they they don't have very many people running. I think maybe as many people are running as there are seats, which means they're gonna get on. Right. Have you seen over the last is has there been any change in civic engagement in Clausen over the last few years? Do you feel like there's kind of a trend moving in that direction?
SPEAKER_00:So there is a change. And I think there's a couple things that we're seeing. Number one, we're not seeing the same old, same old. You know, when I ran in 2013, we had a lot of or 20, I'm sorry, 2023. We had a 2017 is what I'm trying to say. When I ran in 2017, we had a lot of familiar faces, right? People who've been around for a long, long time. Even again, when I ran in 23, there were some again familiar faces. But these are these are all new names that we have out there. People that just kind of popped up around the special election or whatever. So I like that there's just this new spirit.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think that's really exciting. Not that there's anything wrong with the people been around because that's our history, right? But having that new, it's like it's the next step, right? We're reinventing ourselves, and that's that's the only that's the only way things sustain, right? Is I I always like the quote, the only constant is change, right? So so you could if you don't change, you stagnate and die. But with change, there's new possibilities.
SPEAKER_03:I'd like to know uh who are one or two people after whom you want to model your public service? Like when you look at folks and say, that's how I want to be, who are those people for you?
SPEAKER_00:So I've thought a lot about this question and changed my answer a bunch of times. But this is the answer I've given you today. I got two people. The first person, I'm gonna say my dad. You know, growing up, my dad was involved in a lot of things. He was a union steward, he was very involved in the church. We had, you know, charitable works, all kinds of stuff. And the thing that I think is most important that I learned from my dad is when you do good works, you do them in the cloak of anonymity and you do them because they're the right thing to do. You know, the whole thing, if you're gonna give money to a homeless person, you give it for the sake of giving. There's no judgment, there's no, you just do things because they're the right things to do. I've often said that I think my father was in my mind an example of a true apostle because he he just did what he what was right and cared for other people and uh gave of himself all the time. The other one's not so high and mighty, but this is where I landed. So are you familiar with the show Parks and Wreck? Yes, Leslie Nope. And the reason I say that, the reason I say that, number one, because she's a political figure, sort of, she's fictional, but she embodies like if you watch uh Parks and Wreck, like Pawnee is like Klausen, right? Leslie Nope loves her city. And Leslie Nope is a civil servant hands down, and she she she takes the the criticism and she tries to make things right and she's trying to do good things. I am not as crazy and dedicated and organized as she is, but but she's she's what a civil servant should be, right? That you're not there, she's not about herself, and she's not about like grievances or setting the score right. She is just there to serve, right? And that's I mean, that is the ideal, right? That you're only there to to make the city better, to to revel in how great you think the city is. She's just she's a pure person. And so I would say her.
SPEAKER_03:Leslie Nope. I was gonna ask you for a headshot of yourself for the cover for this episode, but maybe we'll grab one of her instead.
SPEAKER_00:I I will send you one.
SPEAKER_03:So I want to get down to the nitty-gritty of governing the city of Claus. And what is one thing about how the city works that the public ought to know, but most folks don't know? And how I how might we change that?
SPEAKER_00:You know, and I loved your intro because you hit the nail on the head, and that is that is that we are a strong city manager, weak council form of government. But residents, and I to some extent rightly so, they want to be able to go to their council because they're their elected official. You know, it's it's the residents to council as council is to the city manager, right? They want to be able to go to the council to get things done. But at the end of the day, any member on the council can't call up the head of DPW and have something done, or he can't call the police chief and have something done. So we are at the mercy of the city manager. And I can tell you over the course of my tenure on council, there's a couple times when residents have reached out to me, you know, for for whatever reason, and I've said, I can't help you with that, but let's let let me forward your message to the city council, or I'm sorry, to the city manager, and I'll get a nasty email back. You need to be doing your job, and why aren't you doing your job? And like people getting are are are accusing me of passing the buck. And I know that it feels like that to the residents because they just want solutions and they feel like they should be able to go to their elected officials, but at the end of the day, I can only have the effect that the city manager is going to let me have the effect on on resolving their so their issue. So I think that's an important thing. The city council is the legislative body, really, whereas the city manager, you know, does the administration and and everyone, especially with the advent of the new charter, the only two positions that report to the council are the city manager and the city attorney. There used to be more, but that's not the case. Everything else, everything else is under the purview of the city manager.
SPEAKER_03:So when people, as people are listening to this, and some people may be learning this for the first time, explain to those folks like how then does change happen? Like, I mean, we're looking at a road right now, and everybody talks about roads in Clausen. Maybe that's that's a big one, but oh, there was a stop sign. Here's here's maybe a better one. The stop sign that they put in down by the school last school year at at uh Washington and Phillips, right? At Washington and Phillips. So that was a citizen-initiated change. I don't know if that had to go through city council. I don't remember, but explain how the process works for people that don't know.
SPEAKER_00:So that actually goes to the traffic and safety board.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:They they meet on a regular cadence, and the traffic and safety board has citizens on that board. It's also an extension of the police department, right? So people, there's public comment, and people can bring their concerns and issues. I have friends who live over on Lincoln and they've been concerned about the people cutting through because Lincoln goes from Livernoy to Rochester, right? And people zoom down there. And they started off at the traffic and safety board with their concerns, and then that raised the issue to the police chief, and they met with them, and there was a bunch of stuff. But yeah, that's the place where those things start.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00:But but but your question where I thought you were going initially is a really important one because I think that's an issue. Where do people go if they need help? And and I think that that's definitely an area for improvement. You'll hear me say, and I've said many times, we need an a pathway for citizens to get solutions and not just answers. You know, that we need something, right? I mean, because we you know, we a council meeting a couple meetings ago, there was a family. The whole family came to the council meeting because their son had earned money over the summer to buy a car. And so they're excited, they finally had the car, but oh no, the cars don't fit in their driveway anymore, right? Yeah, so they went, they did the right thing. They went to the DPW first and said, What can we do? Can we, you know, expand our driveway? Can we put a concrete slab slab down? What can we do so that our cars will fit in the driveway? And they answer everything they asked them if they could do. The answer was nope, can't do that. Nope, can't do that, and no solutions. So they came to council to say, Hey, we need we need permits so we can park overnight on the street. They're just they're looking for solutions. Almost every time, you know, again, when we had the short-term rental workshop, right? And and there was someone who came to talk about short-term rentals, but in the course of her discussing that, she talked about how the owner of the short-term rental nothing to do with people renting it and having parties. It was something they did to the physical the the lawn, or there was they put a concrete slab, but it was over a little bit on her property, and she was mad about it. And she had gone to city to the city offices a couple times to talk about it, and no one would do anything for her. Time and time again, we hear residents that get stonewalled, and and that's the frustration, right? Me as a council member, I can't do anything. So they should be able to go to the city and get a solution. And only the city has power over making that change.
SPEAKER_03:So what happens then? Like what how do we how do we fix that?
SPEAKER_00:You know, I have some ideas. We'll have to see, you know, it even if I'm not elected mayor, I'm on the council for two more years. So we'll have to see what the makeup is and see how many people that are on the council consider that an issue that needs to be addressed and and how we enact change to make that happen. You know, it could be that we create a new board of residents and city officials so that they meet on a regular basis and people can bring their concerns. It could be something as simple as setting metrics as part of the city manager's evaluation process that, you know, you how many unresolved issues can you be? You know, there's a woman who's come to council for 11 years asking for help with her sewers. We just got another email from her the other day. These are taxpayers, it's their city and and they need to be able to come and get solutions. And and that's not to say, you know, yeah, there's gonna be stuff that are just stuff, right? But at least to walk away and feel like they've been heard or there's some mediation, but not just uh no, we can't help you because that's not what everybody pays their taxes for, right? There's gotta be something else.
SPEAKER_03:Just to be just to clarify the example you gave a moment ago about someone who who called you or reached out to you and said, do something about this. And you explained on my own, I there's not anything I can do, even though I'm on city council. Collectively, does city council have because the a moment ago you talked about, well, let's look at the makeup of the council after November. So collectively is there more power for the council to say, okay, this is the change that we'd like to see from the city administration and on city services. But it really depends on the council working as a body to get that done.
SPEAKER_00:If they feel it's important enough to say that we need to find a solution, like I said, if we're gonna start a committee or we're gonna set metrics or we're gonna, I don't know, do some something else. It's you know, it's the the the the whole council's responsibility to see if that's an initiative that's big enough for them, that we're gonna work brainstorm workshop and find a pathway to create those pathways.
SPEAKER_03:Got it. Okay, that's good, that's good clarity. So I want you to, we've talked about a few issues already, but I want you to pick what you think is one of the biggest, most consequential challenges we face here in Clausen. Tell us why that challenge is so big and consequential, and then put on your teacher hat and give us a 101 on the challenge. How did it emerge? What's feeding into it, and how I how might we as a community do something about it?
SPEAKER_00:So again, I I put a lot of thought into what I was gonna pick for this. And after uh kind of brainstorming with a friend of mine, I think the thing that is interesting to understand. When you look at Clausen, 2.2 square miles, right? We are surrounded by Troy, Madison Heights, Birmingham, Royal Oak. But we're a bedroom community. 70% of this community is made up of single resident houses, right? 30% is made up of commercial properties, but a large a large amount of that are apartments, right? So and and just as a side story's are commercial properties.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Haven't thought of it that way before.
SPEAKER_00:So they are, and we have a lot. And and when the first time I ran and I did door hangers to every single, I was shocked getting into the bowels of the city. And I was like, we have a lot of apartments here, right?
SPEAKER_03:And they're done that, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right. So so you whittle down that 30% to the amount of businesses that we have business revenue from. And it's not that much, right? But you look at Troy, right? They've got tons of businesses they're getting higher tax business revenue from. Royal Oak does, Birmingham does. All of our surrounding communities have a revenue source of businesses where all we have is our residents. And you hear time and time again, justifiably, that our taxes are high because they are, but we still have the same infrastructure needs. We've got to pay for our police. And we got, you know, we have a volunteer fire department, but we we make payments into their pension. We have to keep the city buildings running and and all the people that it takes, the DPW and our pay for, you know, trash collection, all those kinds of things. And our only source really of revenue primarily is the taxpayers. Yes. And so there's nothing we can really do about that because Clausen's largely built out, right? Where we don't have a lot of room for anything else. But I think the understanding the residents understanding sort of, you know, why some of our taxes are higher. It's because largely that we don't have the businesses to feed the coffers. And then making sure that we're transparent fiduciaries of their money. You know, I I was talking to a a resident this weekend and they they made a comment. I don't know if you watch council meetings, but I always ask a lot of questions because I ask a lot of questions.
SPEAKER_03:But but very entertaining anybody who hasn't.
SPEAKER_00:But they mentioned, they mentioned that like recently when the financial director was making amendments, they're like, you're the only one that asked questions. And I think it's important to not only ask questions to make sure I understand, but to have those conversations in open public so that people under watching and understand what we're doing with their money. And it's really important to show that you know we're not friggering it away, that we're using it prudently, that we're we're we're following the accounting standards and we're doing the things that we're supposed to be doing with their money because it is it's the residents that are keeping the city running.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. I I'll have to ask you about that. I I once in a while I've heard people, because I've worked at a lot of nonprofits and I've worked in the church world, and and people will once in a while talk about, well, I don't know what's going on with the money. And then the administrators will say, well, it's all out there. It's all there, you know, if you're interested in seeing it. So I feel like there's a balance between uh going and finding information and having the information given to you in a way that you can understand. And so I hear you saying that there's somewhere in that spectrum of the the information is out there, you can find it, but making it more accessible and understandable to folks would maybe help people understand the value they're getting from their tax dollars.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. And not just the value, but also what's being done. You know, there's we have those budget meetings, which are really they're okay, I was gonna say they're interesting, and that that's not the right word, but they're very, they're long and they're informative. But if you want to know where the money's been spent and who needs what, they're worth watching because we have those conversations and we that's our opportunity to ask questions about those types of things. So, and and then again, at the council meeting, anytime that there is some sort of financial thing being discussed, it's incumbent upon the council to ask questions so that the community hears answers, things that they might be sitting, you know, at their armchair watching online or whatever, like, well, what about what are we doing that? You know, it's it's important that we ask those things so that all those answers are out there and in the public.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, good, good point. So I asked you about a challenge we face here in Clausen. Now I want to ask you to give us a crash course on one of the biggest opportunities that we have in front of us. What opportunity, if city government and residents can come together and take action on it, uh, would be a real game changer for Clausen now and for generations to come.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna say again, this exciting grassroots movement. You know, I again I was talking to a friend at work, so shout out to Michelle. I was talking to our friend at work about my thoughts on this. And if you look on my street here, you know, I just told you about moving in, being pregnant, having my kids here. When my kids were little, we had little kids on the street. There is not a single little kid that lives on this street. Really? Yeah, and and and to some extent, like I'm the problem, right? I'm a 34-year-old, I'm in my 60s, I'm kids are gone, I'm living here, there's no turnover, right? I can point out to a bunch of people on the street who grew up in Cross and never left Lady Two Houses Down, she lives in the house she grew up in.
SPEAKER_01:Isn't that right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. So that's one of the the great things about clausen, but it's also unless we have new people with new ideas, it goes back to what we said at the beginning. Unless we have new people with new ideas, we stagnate. We have this group of people who are excited, not just about Clausen, because you know, Clausen to go off on a tangent for a minute, Clausen is a unique place. People say, I live in Clausen. You don't hear people going, Yeah, I live in, you know, Royal Oak or whatever. People are passionate about Clausen as they should, because it's special. It just is. We have whatever. That's not the point. The point is that this grassroots movement is going to help shape what they want their government to be and what they want their government to do for them, and that's gonna lay the foundation for the future. I remember so so I remember when I ran in 17, I had just seen Hamilton in Chicago. Oh wow, right, and I was all, you know, I'm giving up my shot and I want to be in the room where it happens and all that stuff. But talking about that group of people who had the courage to stand up and say, that's wrong, and this is what we want, right? That's what we were founded on. And we have a group of people who stood up and said, That's wrong, and this is what we want, and this is how we want it to work going forward. Like that's exciting stuff, right? That's what this country is made out of, and we have it happening right here in Clausen that they want to make it their own. They want to craft their own future, they want to say what it's gonna look like. And it's not bad stuff, right? It's it's all it's inclusiveness and it's make it run right, listen to the will of the people, let's follow the charter. It's all good stuff.
SPEAKER_03:Is there anything I I mentioned to you before we started recording? I had lunch with all the clergy in Clausen today. And we talked a little about in in our lunch conversation about what's going on in Clausen right now. And they were specifically talking about prayer. You know, what can we pray for? Um Scarlet is stuck everywhere.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so hold on. Can we just untangle Scarlet for one second?
SPEAKER_03:It happens. Scarlett, yeah, you tangled up.
SPEAKER_00:She is she's it's this really long feather she's got.
SPEAKER_03:Let me take off the phones and reach back to you.
SPEAKER_00:Unfortunately, you can edit there. You sure can.
SPEAKER_03:Or Jamie won't. Oh, there it is. It's amazing what a dog can do.
SPEAKER_00:All right, be free, Scarlet. Oh, sorry about that. Okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, we are recording. Good. So, gotta find that train of thought. Oh, yeah, this. So I I I think I've I've felt it and I tried to be a part of it as well. I was having lunch with the clergy, and we were talking about kind of being at an inflection point because you have new voices emerging. There is there was a conversation about it could lapse over into cynicism, right? Cynicism is nothing ever changes, nothing's gonna change. A fairly low view of human nature and the possibilities, or optimism, which is change is possible, I can be part of the change, I can make that happen. And so the the conversation is about this prayer that people will choose optimism, right? And taking action because they can and because it can lead to good things. So, to follow up what you said there, like what are some things that that we could do, whether in government or not in government, to kind of kindle that flame and fan that flame and you know, put some wheels on this thing and get the momentum moving in the right direction and sustain that for a long time.
SPEAKER_00:I think uh being open to conversation, right? And and something we need probably not just in Clausen, but across the board is is having conversations and conversations aren't just about saying what you want to say, it's listening to what the other person. I'm remembering, oh, I the there's a book about I think it's a dog's life or something. And I'm I'm remembering pieces of a quote about how when people are having a conversation, they're saying what they want to say, and they're not listening to what the other person is saying, they're just thinking of what they say next. And and and I hear I feel myself doing that sometimes, but but it's it's important to not do that and say your piece, but then let the other person say what's on their mind. And I think the other thing is is we're all gonna have differences, but there's also things that are common amongst us, right? And and working towards the common goal. And what better common goal than preserving and sustaining Klaus and going forward? You know, so I think those things, you know, finding out where we have common ground and finding out, you know, again, everybody's goal, everyone running, are all 14 of us running are running because we believe in Klaus and and we want to we want to keep it moving.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. So I want to last last question here, not the last one, but the last one about serious city government stuff. What's one thing that you think would improve how city council functions in service to the people of Clausen? And you've touched on this a little bit. And I want to say, apart from how personalities manifest on council, which is not something you can personally control, what changes might make city council better at representing the desires and needs of the people and better at deliberating and deciding on the people's business?
SPEAKER_00:So a couple things. Some of what I've already touched on. I think that finding finding a pathway for the council to be able to help residents. Like I again, people go to their elected officials, not because they think we're cool or anything like that. People come to us when they have an issue or a problem. Like no one sends us a note. Well, that's not true. Sometimes people send us a note, hey, you're doing a good job. But in general, people aren't like just saying hi or whatever. People are reaching out to their elected officials on a regular basis because they have a problem and they want help with something. And so having the council have some ability to meet their constituents' needs, I think is important. And so, whatever that looks like, like I said, if it's a committee or whatever that looks like, having us having us not just be the ceremonial body that, you know, blathers up there during the chambers at meetings and and shows up at functions and that kind of stuff, but but have us be able to really do something for the people who trusted us with their vote, I think is an important thing. And then I think, you know, creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable coming to chambers. And people like me, and I and I'm gathering a little bit like you, like I'm I'm I'm not shy, I'm comfortable talking in front of groups in general, but what we know that public speaking is one of the biggest fears, right? It's it's a difficult thing for people to come and speak at the mic. So having it be just a warm and welcoming, like, you know, everyone come, let's let's talk, let's feel comfortable. Back in the day, when I first served on council back in 17, they used to have before council meetings, they would have coffee with council. So that so remember we would all we would all get there like a half hour early, and it was more of a like a relaxed environment where they could say what they wanted to say without having to, you know, it's not nothing official, no one's making decisions, but they could feel like their council members were approachable and talk about stuff and not have to go to the mic, but be able to be heard. So things like that I think are worth looking at, bringing back, you know. The council members should be people that you feel comfortable coming up to, you know, you're walking, I'm walking the dog, or you know, at the I was at the grocery store on Saturday and someone tapped me on the shoulder. Are you Sumoffet? But that's how it should be, right? They should be comfortable, whether it's, you know, at the grocery store or at the restaurant or in the chambers. It should be, we're neighbors, 2.2 square miles. We're not far from each other, and it should be a warm and welcoming place. And I think that's really important.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so talk speaking of warm and welcoming, my wife through the years and I have had all kinds of crazy ideas for things we wish we could do in Claussen if we had unlimited money and energy and time. Like we've, you know, Tracy has wanted to deck out the entire city park and Christmas lights. You know, she's like, what do you think it would cost to just fill the park with Christmas lights? It'd just be so magical. And you know, I've wanted to open an ice cream stand in the concession area at the Claussen City Stadium for for years. So we have all these ideas. If you had, if you had unlimited access to unlimited resources, energy, money, and time to do like one fun community enhancing project here in Clausen, what would it be?
SPEAKER_00:So I'm gonna tell you a backstory to my answer.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, okay. I like backstories.
SPEAKER_00:So I was a single mom from the time my youngest was seven and my oldest was 10. And money was always tight. Yeah. And during that time, I knew I was getting one Christmas gift, one birthday gift, my mom would call me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:What do you want for your birthday? What do you want for Christmas? And I would always answer, I want a gift card to a grocery store because I knew if I could take care of the basics, like I had a lot of responsibilities. Grocery was a basic, you know, electrical, all that stuff, taking care of all the fundamentals. Then if I could get that taken care of, I would have a little bit of fun money. My fun money was always, I this is I'm a nerd, but I used to love when I could take the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. And it was usually a$50 gift card for the grocery store or store,$50 for Chuck E. Cheese, right? You'd get the coupon for the pizza and the pop and that kind of stuff. And so, so that would give me the flexibility in the budget to go do something like that. So, on the assumption I've been given a big pot of money and I don't have to worry about any laws or regulations, what I would like to do is give everyone a holiday for a year on their taxes. Because then everyone, because everyone has their own thing. Like when the kids were little, mine was Chuck E. Cheese, or maybe they need the roof and they're stressing about that. So that everyone could have their own little gift and what they wanted to do with that little holiday and and choose for themselves what would work for them and make them really super happy.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. You know, it's you made me think of back during the pandemic when there were all those cash payouts that came from the federal government, I think. One of the things I noticed as I walked around town, and then about that time I was campaigning for something. So I was going door to door, and I came home and I told my wife, I'm like, there are so many new porches and front doors in Clausen right now. And I was pretty sure it's because all that extra money that people had during the pandemic, they were putting new roofs on their houses, new front porches, new front doors, decks, driveways. I saw so many home improvement projects during that time. So if everyone had a tax holiday here, I wouldn't be surprised if they uh they improved their their property right here in Clausen.
SPEAKER_00:Or or maybe even taking that, you know, that second honeymoon they never had, or or you know, whatever. It's whatever would make each individual happy because everyone's got their own story, everyone's got their own dream, right? To make just imagine making everyone's little dream come true. Like that would be awesome.
SPEAKER_03:One of the first times I ever came to Clausen was to go to Caesar Land. Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:When you started talking about Chuck E. Cheese, I thought, okay, there's a campaign promise. We're gonna have a Chuck E cheese here in Clausen. And I was like, you know, the first one of the first times I ever came to Clausen was to go to Caesar land. And I wonder how many people listening to this remember Caesar land at the it was at the corner of 14 Mile and Crooks, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was in that that shopping center there. Yeah, my kids had birthday parties there, and it was also we have a lot of really great pizza places in Clausen. True that, but we don't have a little Caesars, like for a five dollar hot and ready, like we don't have one. There's you know, it's what 13 in Campbell, right? It's kind of far, but we used to have Caesars over there, and we used to have there was one in Kmart, remember over there over there where the theater is now. Yeah, yeah. You could get a hot and ready like that, and we can't anymore.
SPEAKER_03:Everybody's liking what they're hearing right now. Chuck E. Cheese, Caesar Lynn, New Texas, little Caesars in Clauset. If that's all they hear, if that's the only clip they hear, look out. Well, Sue Moffat is one of two candidates running for mayor here in Clauset. Sue, thank you for letting us all hang out with you on your front show.
SPEAKER_00:And I appreciate you accommodating it in the green Scarlet and Chicago Tangle. Scarlet was on the podcast too. All right, thank you so much. I appreciate this.
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 Boy 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.
