Newly elected mayor Mark Meadows is sworn into city council on Nov. 17, 2015 at East Lansing City Hall. Mayor Meadows was on city council before, from 1995 to 2006, and was mayor for eight of those years.
—Mark Meadows was unanimously elected mayor of East Lansing at the Nov. 17 East Lansing City Council meeting. The new mayor pro tem was also unanimously elected to be Ruth Beier by council.
Meadows was re-elected after serving on council from 1995 to 2006 during which he was mayor from 1997 to 2005. Ruth Beier has been on council since November of 2013.
In addition to swearing in the new mayor and mayor pro tem, City Clerk Marie Wicks administered the oath to two new council members — Erik Altmann and Shanna Draheim.
Council member since November of 2013, Susan Woods was also present at the meeting.
Each candidate had their own take on issues that need to be addressed with the new council ready to go.
Mayor Mark Meadows
Wearing the same tie he had on when he was initially sworn on to council in 1995, Meadows said council had laid out their initial agenda through the setting of a number of public hearings.
The mayor said the most important issue to get started on is that of the vacant buildings on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Abbott Road, noting on the campaign trail most residents talked about this being a major issue.
“I think that my position as mayor is just kind of running the meeting and it’s the five council members that will move things along," Meadows said. "I think that there’s a common objective among the council members.”
Mayor Pro Tem Ruth Beier
Beier said she would like to work on ethical issues of council members, the vacant buildings on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Abbott Road as well as issues of the city's unfunded liabilities.
“The way our structure of government works is we all have exactly the same power. One of us is called mayor, one of us is called junior mayor, but we really all have the same amount of power," Beier said. "What’s going to help me is having like-minded people on council. Not my positions.”
Erik Altmann
Altmann called the vacant buildings on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Abbott Road "demoralizing" and said it has taken far too long to get these problems fixed.
Pushing issues of transparency is also on Altmann's agenda. He said he would like to see all city council meetings televised, including work sessions.
Shanna Draheim
Draheim said she has a few environmental issues she would like to work on as a new council member and that she is looking forward to some development projects council will make decisions on over the next six months.
Draheim said she is all for encouraging downtown development.
Susan Woods
Woods said she is committed to ensuring East Lansing is vibrant, active and as well-rounded as possible.
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