Five hopeful candidates will compete for three open Sault Ste. Marie City Commission seats in the November election, while Mayor Don Gerrie will remain seated.
The mayor ran unchallenged as the application deadline of 4 p.m. on April 19 slowly ticked by, subsequently posting the following to Facebook last week:
"Our election filing deadline has passed, and although I will be running unopposed, I continue to promise to do my best with Accountability, Integrity, Transparency & Honesty. I sincerely thank you for your continued support and am humbled every day to represent the community I love and where I was born and raised: Sault Ste Marie – Where Michigan was Born!”
Gerrie was elected to his first term in 2019 after serving 12 years as commissioner. His seat is anything but relaxing.
As representative for local government his face can be seen at various community events and meetings. He is the voice you may hear when calling the city with questions and/or concerns, or listening to commission meeting reviews.
Prior to bi-weekly Monday meetings, Gerrie will run through the city agenda with Sault Ste Marie City Manager Brian Chapman. Any flags will be addressed, along with concerned constituent comments.
“I think we work well together as a commission and governing body of the community,” Gerrie said about the commission. “It takes four votes to pass any administrative actions as a goal. We have worked very well to improve the community.”
It was a neccessity in the midst of a pandemic, which generated multiple unforeseen adversities.
“We had power outages in January of 2020,” said Gerrie. It was after we went into COVID. We went through a lot of changes in the city too. We had new department heads.”
He referenced the Carbide Dock Project, which remains stalled due to increased post-pandemic bids.
Gerrie said the city would continue applying for grants to see it through.
“It has been a productive three years,” Gerrie said. “Just in the last couple of years, we have had incredible projects that have taken place or will be taking place.”
24 regularly scheduled meetings and two special meetings were held in 2021 to total 25.65 hours, in which the city facilitated the construction of Center for Freshwater Research and Education, worked with Kokosing Alberici on West Pier improvements, secured brownfield funding for the MAC building, started the Downtown Access and Placemaking project along with numerous other initiatives.
Gerrie was active in other ways too, serving as director for the Sault Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Le Sault de Sainte Marie Historic Sites.
“The annual American Legion conference was last summer,” said Gerrie. “Several hundred people came. We hosted a mayor’s conference in the Sault last year. Sault historic sites support the growth of the community and region. We manage and operate a tower of history. Tourism is a very large part of our economy.”
He sits on the Michigan Municipal League board, representing elected officials and employees in cities and charter townships throughout the Great Lakes state.
“They are our lobbying group, and very involved in shaping legislation at the state level,” said Gerrie.
Additionally, Gerrie has acted as director for the Sault Area Chamber of Commerce’s and Northern Transitions and United Way of the Eastern Upper Peninsula. He has functioned as president and treasurer of the First United Presbyterian Church. He is a former member of the Sault Ste. Marie Jaycee’s Club and rotary club.
The mayor says he does it all out of complete admiration for the city and its residents. He loves pointing out all the city has to offer.
“We have an international border, employment, healthcare, governmental employment, resources available if people are in trouble, caring people, full time fire services,” said Gerrie. “If you are a senior or have health issues, we have full time paramedic services. We have diversity, four seasons, fishing, hunting, skiing, snowmobiling and other water sports. There are not a lot of things we don’t have. There are only 15 publicly funded universities in the state out of 1,073 municipalities.”
Lake Superior State University (LSSU) is one of the 15 public state universities.
“We are one of three international borders,” he continued. “We are the second largest city in the second largest county in the UP. We are the beginning of I-75 with easy access to Lansing. We have a small municipal airport and the airport in Kinross, trains and shipping. It is difficult to find something we don’t have.”
This year marks The Sault Area High School Class of 1982 graduate's 40th class reunion.
He left for a short time, having lived in Traverse City, Gaylord and Alma.
He attended Northwestern University before obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Alma College in 1991. The fresh college graduate began working in banks and lending institutions.
Since there is no place like home, Gerrie could not stay away long.
He moved back and began working for the USDA Rural Development Loans in 2003. He was promoted to area director in September of 2009, leading the team in rural loans and grant making projects, providing professional advice and credit guidance, managing customer finances and directly supervising two office locations.
Today, he's serving his second term as Sault Ste Marie City Mayor.
Fighting for the three open commissioner seats are Commissioner Ray Bauer, Mayor Pro-tempore Kathleen Twardy, Steven Habusta, Andrew Rubinstein and Scott Marble. Commissioner Tim Talentino did not run again.
