Candidate Profile: Brandon Kolo, Royal Oak Commissioner

ROYAL OAK, MI — There are three open seats for Royal Oak Commissioner in November's general elections.

To help readers make informed choices, Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Brandon Kolo is seeking re-election for Royal Oak Commissioner. Here's how he filled out his profile:

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Age (as of Election Day)

36

Position Sought

Royal Oak Commissioner

Family

Wife Carly, children Henry & Kennedy

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

I am inspired by my mother who is a Circuit Court Judge

Education

B.S. Michigan State University

Occupation

Small business owner with speciality in environmental sustainability

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Royal Oak City Commissioner, Precinct Delegate, Chairman of the Oakland County Zoo Authority, previously Vice President of the Royal Oak Library Board.

Campaign website

www.brandonkolo.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

Royal oak is thriving, with opportunity and experiences for all. I want my children to grow up in a vibrant community with top-notch services. I believe we’re on the right track.

I bring the right mix of experience and vision to build on our successes. Over the next four years I will remain committed to strengthening our neighborhoods, ensuring high quality city services - including Police fire and EMS - and upgrading our infrastructure to be sustainable and meet the needs of not only today but tomorrow. We will do this while continuing to recover from COVID-19, and making sure our businesses and neighbors stay safe.

I’ll continue listening to residents' needs and always striving to improve what’s not working so Royal Oak remains a place where people want to raise a family, grow up, and age-in-place.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

This year, Royal Oak experienced a 100 year storm, the second to strike our city in the last six years. The intensity of storms is growing. Climate change is real. Solutions need to start locally.

Programs started now will keep water out of basements tomorrow, and gradually we will get better - which we must do because storms will continue in frequency and severity. As one of the last communities in the George W. Kuhn drain system, we must work collaboratively with neighboring communities and the County Water Resource Commissioner to reduce drainage flows to downstream communities such as Royal Oak

Of course infrastructure is only a portion of any green sustainability plan. Other actions, such as green roofs, an increase in city provided trees along easements, and a reduced carbon footprint are examples of programs that could be established and enacted into a city-wide sustainability plan to be incorporated into the master plan. Developers must have green infrastructure standards to build by. Green programs develop over a long term but are vital to improve the quality of life for not only Royal Oak, but our region and beyond.

Over the next three years, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend nearly 30 million in federal relief funds. As your commissioner, I am focused on spending this money for the betterment of our community with programs and projects that will touch all parts of our city.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Royal Oak has a lot of good things going for us, but we also have issues to address that require real, thoughtful, informed conversation. I'm asking for your vote so I can continue to bring resident voices and meaningful, earnest conversation to city decision making.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

While I am an incumbent, I feel that this is a question needs to be addressed.

Good decision making requires listening to those around you and making the best decision with the facts you have. This commission has been focused on keeping Royal Oak moving in the right direction.

With a shared common vision about moving royal oak forward, we are delivering results that residents want - improved city services, updating neighborhood parks, a state of the art police station, new city hall, Normandy Oaks with over 40 acres of park land for people 0 to 100 to enjoy, a renovation of our library, and now we're nearing completion of a downtown city park that will be over two acres in the heart of our city. By all measures, Royal Oak is a place people want to be.

Good governance requires active public participation, with easy access to information and open and transparent decision making. These are the principals we used to accomplish the great results we see in our city today. I will continue to make sure that all voices are heard to keep Royal oak moving forward.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

Royal Oak was a leader during the pandemic, ensuring our residents were safe and our business stayed open. Our downtown won the Main Street Forward Award, recognizing the efforts by Royal Oak to create new public outdoor space for restaurants & retailers to use, along with the Downtown Dollars program that provided direct relief to both residents and businesses alike. The pandemic is not over - we need to continue our leadership to ensure we all are stay safe and thrive.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

I’ll keep Royal Oak heading in the right direction by bringing resident voices and thoughtfulness to the commission, while focusing on:

Strong Neighborhoods
• Investing in parks & protecting greenspace
• Holding landlords and builders accountable
• Supporting neighborhood associations

Excellent Services
• Expanding senior supports
• Ensuring exemplary public safety
• Improving communication with residents

Improved Infrastructure
• Prioritizing environmental sustainability
• Building green stormwater systems to prevent flooding
• Expanding our tree canopy

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

As Vice President of the Library Board I have been part of a group that believes in sustaining and extending access to patrons in as many ways as possible. During my service, we established Sunday hours, increased programming, and now are starting an interior upgrade to modernize library services. I currently serve as chair of the Policy Review committee. Through this leadership we wrote the initial pandemic response policies that saw the library through the early days of Covid-19, and then worked as a team with staff to establish our reopening plan. During this time the Board has worked with staff to expand services, offering computers & hotspots to checkout, curbside pickups, and greatly increased digital offerings. I’ve gained valuable experience serving on the Budget and Strategic Planning Committees that prepared me to hit the ground running when I became a City Commissioner.

In 2019 I helped organize a community effort to provide feedback on a new multifamily development that replaced 15 single family homes in our neighborhood. I am proud that we were able to work with this City Commission and the developer to make changes to the proposed site plan that preserved the character of our neighborhood while improving housing stock in Royal Oak. By organizing community meetings, insisting on open dialog, and cooperation with our city leaders, new homes are under construction today. This is the leadership approach I bring as a city commissioner.

Professionally, I own a Project Management company, where we bringing people together to accomplish our goals, with experience in hospitality, retail, and environmental sustainability. I earned a B.S. from Michigan State University.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Be truthful - it's far easier than remembering a lie.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Before starting a family, my wife and I knew that Royal Oak was where we wanted to build our life together. For the last decade we have loved calling Royal Oak our home and I want to build on the things that make this such a wonderful place to raise our son & daughter.

As your commissioner, I will continue working to ensure Royal Oak remains a vibrant community that we're all proud to call home, whether raising a family or enjoying your retirement.

I ask for your support this November to keep Royal oak moving in the right direction.