MORENCI — Municipal elections for the city of Morenci will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Mayor Tracy Schell is unopposed for re-election. Two incumbents are seeking re-election to the city council, and three additional candidates are vying for a chance to serve. There are three seats up for election this year.
The candidates are Kori Christle, Gail Cleghorn, Brad Lonis, Gary Pfund, and Kandice Speiser. Christle and Speiser are the incumbents.
Kori Christle has served on the council since 2022. She was initially appointed to a vacancy and then elected in 2023 to fill the remainder of that term, and is now running for re-election to a full four-year term.
She works as a revenue integrity analyst with Hackensack Meridian Health. She is a member of Kiwanis of Morenci, and also serves on the board of the Morenci Education Foundation.
“I have a strong sense of responsibility to community and love to be involved and engaged with the community in which I live,” Christle said, adding that she decided to apply for the council vacancy in part because her youngest daughter would be finishing high school soon and she would have time to devote to it.
Christle said she is particularly interested in the areas of downtown development and housing. She would like to see a vacant buildings ordinance passed to keep business areas safe and attractive, and she said she would also like the city to take steps to mitigate Morenci’s housing shortage, making it possible to attract new families and homeowners.
She added that fire and emergency medical services are a large and important part of the city budget. “I would like to ensure these services are here for the community for years to come by working with department directors, advisory boards, the city administrator and surrounding townships to ensure solid funding for these vital services without relying on the city’s general fund to make up any funding shortages,” she said.
Christle said Morenci has great leadership in its city administrator and department heads, and she would like to see the momentum continue.
Gail Cleghorn is retired, and previously worked for 20 years as assistant store manager of home improvement at Sears. “That work gave me a lot of experience with leadership, organization, and problem solving skills that carry over into serving the community,” she said.
Although she has not held public office before, city government runs in her family as her father, DeWayne Rendel, served as both a council member and mayor. Growing up with him “gave me a good understanding of how local government works and the responsibility that comes with representing your neighbors,” she said.
She serves on the Merry Lake Property Association board, and while working at Sears she volunteered with Family House in Toledo.
She said she was driven to run for office by seeing Morenci struggle with empty storefronts, declining school enrollment, and instability in some city departments.
“I don’t want to see Morenci become a place people pass by instead a place they want to call home. I believe fresh ideas and new approaches are needed to move us forward,” she said.
As her top priorities, she listed attracting and supporting businesses, repairing streets and sidewalks, improving transparency and communication, and supporting the schools through economic growth so that more families view Morenci as a place to live and raise children.
Brad Lonis is the shop manager at Adrian Mechanical Services, but he’s probably better known in town as Morenci’s fire chief, a role he’s held for 15 years. He’s been with the department for 32 years.
“I’ve always had an interest in local government,” he said of his reasons for running. “I was born and raised here, I went to school here, I’ve lived my whole life here and raised my family here.”
His past experience in government includes four years on the school board and one year on the planning commission.
Regarding the biggest issues facing the city, Lonis sees one of them as how to keep up with aging infrastructure and be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to fixing problems. He’s also concerned with the prospect of marijuana tax revenue diminishing.
He said he would like to look at different funding mechanisms to offset the cost of fire department and EMS operations.
As a city department head, Lonis said, he has experience with how city departments work. He added that he’s sometimes seen the council get too deep into trying to manage day-to-day operations, and he said that’s something he wouldn’t do.
Lonis said he’d like to see a policy that anyone serving on the council or a city committee has to be up to date on their taxes and any other obligations to the city.
Gary Pfund is a lifelong resident and former Morenci Area Schools board member. He is retired, but previously worked for the city and also worked for ProMedica managing a variety of departments such as maintenance, security and transportation.
Pfund said that he was drawn to run for public office in order to see if there are better and more efficient ways of doing city business. He also said making decisions based on money that comes in from marijuana revenue sharing is a concern.
As the most important issues facing Morenci today, Pfund listed finances, accountability for city departments, and infrastructure.
“Our infrastructure needs to be improved for the health and wellbeing of our community,” he said.
Pfund said he doesn’t think the city is doing enough to get businesses into town to employ people.
As the city’s top priorities for the next four years, he listed the scheduling of infrastructure repairs, enforcing city ordinances, and spending the city’s money in ways that benefit everyone.
Pfund’s volunteer activities in the community have included coaching Morenci summer youth softball.
Kandice Speiser is running for re-election and has served on the council for about six years. She was originally appointed to fill a vacant term and then elected to a full term. She works as a nurse for Veterans Affairs.
As the most important issues Morenci is facing today, Speiser listed having fun and safe activities for young people; public safety; cost of living; business growth in both the downtown and the industrial area; maintaining relationships and helping current business owners succeed; and looking for ways to keep emergency medical services solvent.
The future of marijuana revenue is another concern, though it’s one she said the council is discussing.
“With the possibility of other states around us passing new laws, I feel it’s important to be proactive to prepare for the decrease in funds,” she said. “We have been discussing and working on strategies for a couple of years in anticipation of this happening.”
Speiser said she believes the city is on a good path, and had praise for city staff. “We have an amazing staff here in Morenci who truly care and put in hours upon hours of hard work to help in such amazing ways,” she said.
She said she views her role as voting on behalf of the entire town. “I’ve voted in ways that would not be beneficial to me but would be beneficial to our town as a whole,” she said. “I am willing to explain my votes on a particular issue or concern. One thing I’ve learned on council is that things are not always as they seem. Decisions can often be frustrating and difficult to make, but at the same time are what is best for our town.”