The figures are in. I didn’t do a historical check on spending, but I’m fairly certain that we broke all sorts of School Board expense records this year.

First, the cost of the May 8th election for the Novi School District was $13,518.22. This is pretty much in-line with previous years. Where we saw the big spending was at the candidate level.

The figures break down as follows:

Dave Brown and Craig Parker spent under $1000 each, thus were not required to report. Both did, though, receive $375 from the Novi Education Association (teacher’s union), as did Jeff Nielson.

Word on the street is that Carol Jean Crawford has withdrawn from November’s City Council race. Normally, we’d see this as a negative, as everyone is now running unopposed. Fortunately, Dave Landry, Bob Gatt, Kathy Crawford and Dave Staudt are proven leaders in our community and have been for a long time. We’ll be in good hands!

As anybody who reads this blog knows, I had no intention of running for City Council this fall. I have written it dozens of times and told anybody who asked. I have recently changed jobs and I expected a very tough four person race between three incumbents (Lynne Paul, Toni Nagy & Bob Gatt) and Kathy Crawford. I fully expected to be working to support Bob & Kathy and to take an active role on getting the Library Bond approved and to get a new library built.

Things took an unexpected turn on Friday, June 8, the deadline for filing. I received a call from a good friend who advised me that I should check with the clerk at City Hall to see if anybody had entered the race other than Bob & Kathy. I found out shortly thereafter, that there were only two candidates for three positions. At 3:00 pm I drove to City Hall expecting to find that Lynne and Toni had decided to file at the last minute. What I found was that nobody had done anything yet. Shortly thereafter, Carol Jean Crawford walked in. We sat an chatted for about 45 minutes. I have respected for Carol for several years, even though we are frequently on the other side of the issues. I finally came to a point where I needed to make a decision. Read the rest of this entry »

Tick, tick, tick: The deadline has now passed. Moles at the County Clerk’s office have just told us that the following folks will be running in November’s Novi city races:

Dave Landry – Mayor (Incumbent) – Will run unopposed.

Bob Gatt – City Council (Incumbent)

Kathy Crawford – City Council

Carol Jean Crawford – City Council

Dave Staudt – City Council

Incumbent candidates Lynne Paul and Toni Nagy have decided not to run for re-election.

Stay tuned for more on this later…