Saline City Council Candidate John Heller

John Heller

Family

Single

Education

Graduated with honors from Saline High School;  BA, Cum Luade, from Eastern Michigan University (Political Science and Journalism)

Employment

Worked part-time for the Saline Department of Public Works, and later, The Saline Reporter, while in college. Retired as a dispatcher for the Saline Police Department after 25 years of service. Have worked part-time for approximately the past 33 years for the Saline Area Schools Athletic Department, keeping score or serving in various other capacities at numerous athletic events. Currently working part-time as a teller at United Bank and Trust.

Government Involvement

• None

Community involvement

• None Listed

Why are you running?

I entered the race because I did not want to see the Saline Police dispatch center closed, which the current council was considering.  Beyond that, I believe that being born and raised in Saline, my experience working for the city for about the past 30 years, and covering local government, including City Council, for the Saline Reporter while I was in college, uniquely qualify me to serve on Council.

In my view there is really only one top issue facing the city, although it touches many areas.

What Are The Top 3 issues Facing The City And How Should Council Address Them?

It is the allocation of city funds.

In fact, it goes to the heart of why I originally entered the race for council. I did so because the current council was considering closing the Saline Police Dispatch Center and combining its functions with the Pittsfield Police Dispatch Center. I felt that this was terrible misallocation of funds when the council was still funding non-essential items like the Celtic Festival.

Although the current council subsequently chose not to close police dispatch, it continues to misallocate funds to the the Celtic Festival (even though the festival committee still owes the city $34,102 from previous festivals) and political junkets (sending the mayor and two council members to a conference at a cost to the city of $1,817).

While the dollar amounts involved with each of those items may be small, I believe it sends an awful message about the state of city finances in these fiscally challenging times. By spending money on items like those, it gives the the public the false impression that the city has plenty of money for essential services, when, in fact, those services may be threatened due to declining property values and decreased funding from the state. (As a side note, if the current council is wondering why the legislature and the general public doesn't believe that local governemnts need the revenue generated by the personal property tax, it need look no farther than its spending on the Celtic Festival and political junkets.)

Therefore, instead of funding frivolous things like the Celtic Festival and political junkets and considering cutting essential services like police dispatch the council should be striving to cut the unnecessary and protecting the crucial in all areas of public funds allocations.

(This page will be updated as we publish the candidate's answers to the questions we posed.)