Tell the readers about yourself

 

My name is Karen Simmon, I have lived in the city for a little over 12 years now.

I work for Ferris State University in Facilities Management where I manage construction and renovation projects,  so I act as the owner's representative between Ferris and the various clients that we work with. I think having that background has made me very knowledgeable when it comes to infrastructure and planning construction projects. I was on the Parks and Recreation Board for the city for a number of years and I am on the Planning Commission right now so that job experience kind of helps me with the Planning Commission.

I'm passionate about volunteering and participating in the community where I live. I like to learn and I like to be more informed so as I represent the citizens, my role, if elected to the city commission, isn't to have my own agenda but to listen to our residents and citizens. 

 

Why are you running for Big Rapids City Commission?

 

So I always knew I wanted to run for office and this election came up and I thought why wait another couple years, let's try it and let's go for the experience and see how it goes. Obviously I want to win but I'm also doing this to get out there and meet people and hear more from people in the community. 

 

What issues do you think the city of Big Rapids is facing currently and if elected, what do you think to solve those issues? 

 

So the biggest issue I think faces the city right now is the recent 2020 census results, where Big Rapids’ population has decreased by almost 3,000 people.  So that's a very significant drop and those numbers are tied to Federal funding and grants. One option Big Rapids has is to contest the results of but that is also a long process and it's expensive. More importantly, if we are down by 3,000 citizens, why are we down by that much? and how can we start to make that up? and what can we do?. So that's one thing and then affordable housing is just so important, I can't tell you the number of times that I'll be on Facebook and people say “hey you know, we're moving to the city, where we can live?” and the answer is we have to go about 30 minutes out of town. So as a member of the community and someone who believes in living in the city, we just need to find a way to have housing for those people. 

 

Where do you see the City of Big Rapids in the short- term future? 

 

We already have a great grant writer for the city, so I would like to see us continue to grow that Grant application because that's funding we can use in the next two to three years. We definitely need to figure out how to deal with that census issue but then also make some Investments and look at  things like affordable housing, affordable daycare options.