Race for Pontiac’s Next Mayor: McGuinness vs. Williams
As Pontiac prepares for its upcoming mayoral election, the race is heating up between two prominent candidates: former city councilman Kermit Williams and current city council president Mike McGuinness. Current Mayor Tim Greimel is making a bid for U.S. Congress, leaving the mayoral seat open for new leadership.
In the August primary, McGuinness took the lead with 45% of the vote in a competitive race. He highlights Pontiac’s improved financial status, with reserves exceeding $49 million, as a foundation for his plans to enhance public services, including street maintenance and drainage improvements.
“We got to make up lost ground over the decades when our backs were against the wall financially, and a lot was cut down to the bone of city services,” McGuinness stated. His vision includes boosting local event participation, expanding job training programs, improving senior services, and establishing a youth recreation center.
McGuinness also noted, “We are at a high watermark in terms of tens of millions of dollars for infrastructure, for recreation, for all sorts of quality of life improvements, including the movement from Oakland County, where they are bringing hundreds of county employees and expanding their footprint back into downtown Pontiac.”
However, McGuinness’s past includes a legal controversy from 2011 when he was accused of document forgery to mislead voters. He was convicted and sentenced to probation, community service, and a fine of $1,000. McGuinness cites personal experiences, including his father’s struggles with mental health, as driving forces behind his campaign, emphasizing the importance of resource allocation for community impact.
Meanwhile, Kermit Williams, who garnered 25% of the primary vote, is a lifelong Pontiac resident with 12 years on the city council during challenging financial times. Williams aims to address the lingering impact of frozen federal pandemic funds, ensuring they benefit the community, particularly seniors and youth.
Williams’s platform emphasizes housing development, aiming to build 1,000 new homes in the next four years, along with infrastructure improvements such as repairing the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge. He also plans to enhance transportation and road conditions using Pontiac’s financial reserves.
Williams, co-director of the nonprofit Oakland Forward, played a role in advocating for Michigan’s 2023 extreme risk protection order law and the Oakland County public transportation millage. Reflecting on his journey, Williams remarked, “But everything that I am, everything that I will be, is because of the city of Pontiac helping to give me the opportunity to do these things.”
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