September 15, 2025 • 20 mins
Mayor Gary Carey delivers his State of the City Address for 2025, highlighting "acceleration" as this year's theme to reflect the increased velocity of growth and development in Walker. Public safety remains a top priority with exceptional community engagement from police and fire departments resulting in a 22% decrease in major crimes over two years despite the city's rapid growth.
• The Fruit Ridge Bridge project will have the biggest impact on residents in 2025, serving 16,000 jobs within a two-mile radius and including a non-motorized trail for enhanced safety
• Walker's strategic financial approach relies on income tax for 65% of revenue, allowing services to improve without raising property taxes
• The city maintains minimal long-term debt, positioning it well for future investments in public safety infrastructure
• Youth engagement initiatives include a Youth Academy for high school students and a Next Gen program for young adults interested in civic leadership
• Widening Wilson M-11 remains a critical long-term goal to address safety concerns and traffic flow
If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the storiesand the ideas shaping our
community, from local innovatorsto everyday changemakers.
We're diving deep into whatmakes Walker a great place to
live, work and grow.
Here's your host, nicoleDiDonato.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, every year, mayor Gary Carey hosts a State
of the City Address.
It's a way for him to updateresidents, businesses and
stakeholders about the healthand progress of our city, from
public safety to quality of life.
Let's dive into the State ofthe City 2025.
Mayor Carey, thank you so muchfor being here.
Really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Thank you for having me back.
Yeah, must not have done it toobad the last night.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, no, no, of course You're a great guest.
We appreciate it.
So this year's theme isacceleration for the state of
the city.
Tell us why you chose that word, what it really means to you.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
We have had really over the give both you know the
previous mayors that were allvery close the momentum we've
had as a city that we've comeout of the recession of 2008 and
it just built over the yearsand now the decades, that the
momentum we've had just seemedto accelerate.
This past year the velocity ofwhat we were working on has
(01:20):
increased and I was asking citystaff, residents and business
owners, you know, before we putout the plans for the state of
the city, I mean, if you coulddescribe what's going on in
Walker.
One word I kept hearingaccelerate, you know, multiple
times and I just believe thatit's that velocity that has
increased.
And when you hear the feedbackthey said we just we've had a
lot of good things going on fora while, but things have just
(01:42):
seemed to accelerated lately,and so that we kind of centered
on that that word, you know forcome next year the city is going
to be running fine, but you dohave your majority of your
elected body changing over nextyear and there's a bit of a rush
too to make sure the things,the projects that we wanted to
get done and off the ground,we're able to get those started.
(02:02):
So it's not just the residentsand businesses that are feeling,
it's the elected officials,because there's this sense of
urgency of making sure that weleave it better than what we
started with, and that's reallythat ultimate measuring stick.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, very appropriate.
So one of the big things thatyou focus on public safety.
It's a top priority for ourcity and for you.
What have you seen as far asprogress-wise that just helps
ensure the safety of ourresidents.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
You know when I think of something about Walker.
You know, you hear, you know mypeers around the area and those
that know our community wellrefer to it as just that nice
place to be and we kept hearingthat word nice all the time.
And one of the things I'm mostproud of is the engagement that
both police and fire have withour community.
You see them at not just atevents, but when they're driving
(02:48):
through neighborhoods doingproactive engagements with the
community.
They know our residents, theyknow our businesses and it makes
such a big difference so thatwhen something does come up and
things do come up that we'rebetter able to navigate through
those things together.
We're better able to navigatethrough those things together.
So I so to me, like that, that.
That really is something I justthe most proud of is the
relationships and the engagementwe have with our community.
(03:10):
Police and fire both do aphenomenal job with it and
really a benchmark and you dosee that in other communities I
but I think that there's a kindof another level that our
departments have taken it up to.
I'm also proud of the fact thatyou know the last couple of
years when you look at our likeour type one crimes, the major,
the burglaries, larceny,aggravated assaults those are on
(03:33):
the decrease.
They've dropped like 22 percentover the last two years.
When you have a city that isgrowing and growing
exponentially, commercially,industrially, through its
residents coming into the city,when you have that trajectory
that you're going upwards there,there should be a corresponding
more things are going to comeup because you have more people
(03:53):
involved and we're going theopposite direction.
And I really come back to thatproactive community engagement
we have with police and firemakes such a huge difference and
because both departments do somuch together, the community
sees one united force and it'sthat they see that uniform, they
see the engagement they have.
And for those coming into thecommunity that might have some
thoughts of doing something thatwe just don't accept in our
(04:16):
city.
It's we kind of all standtogether there.
So I'm really proud of that andI'm proud of the progress our
fire departments made.
You know, we have just twophenomenal chiefs I would not
trade them for the world andthere's some great chiefs in
this area that I considerfriends and acquaintances and I
think that's important in that,um, we had a police chief that
served as an interim fire chieffor a while.
(04:37):
He had some background there.
It made a huge difference instabilizing our department and
really improving the morale thatneeded some help.
We have a new chief coming inand brought from outside the
area.
He doesn't know what he doesn'tknow, but what he does know is
fire and he also knows lawenforcement, how to work with
them, so it's made a hugedifference in that.
(04:57):
Really, what the community hasseen and all the significant
investments and change, that'sall for the better right now and
just a lot to be proud of rightnow.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, there is, and some change is also coming with
public safety.
As far as, what do you seegoing forward?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
So when we look going forward, police it's going to
be continuing to do what we do.
You know we've added a secondcommunity engagement officer
because you know Officer Harkinwas getting it stretched so thin
and you know now that we haveOfficer Glass as well helping
out with that, and so we've gottwo of them, one handling north,
one handling south.
They backfill for each otherand who knows, maybe there's a
point in time that there's athird one there.
I don't know, there'sdefinitely a demand and a need
(05:37):
for it.
But then I see FIRE.
You know doing demand and aneed for it, but then I see fire
.
You know doing the same type ofthing and that proactive
community outreach.
You know we had, have just had anumber of fires that are a
little bit more unusual thispast year that those numbers are
up for.
As far as structure fires go,one of the big things we're
doing right now is, from aneducation perspective, is making
(05:58):
sure people with the smokedetectors they're checking the
batteries, that they're hookedup and that you have them in the
right places.
And we're doing that, you know,very collaboratively with the
public in that messaging is justso important.
So I just like how we're thatproactive.
What do I see going forward?
Keep doing what we're doing,but even do more proactive than
(06:18):
maybe we're doing now, as itcalls for it, and you know both
departments tend to do ittogether, so it's kind of a neat
thing.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Can't have enough being, you know, proactive and
education out there for yourresidents.
That's great.
You were mentioning the growth,of course.
We've seen a lot of growthhappening with our business
parks, the infrastructure aswell.
What do you think is going tobe like the biggest impact that
residents will feel coming outof 2025?
Speaker 3 (06:41):
That's an easy one the Fruit Ridge Bridge.
You know that's when you, whenyou look at that and those that
aren't aware, within that bridgeyou have, within a two mile
radius, you have approximately16,000 jobs and that impacts
Ottawa County, that impactsAlpine Township and the city of
Walker and even the city ofGrand Rapids to a point, pine
Township and the city of Walkerand even the city of Grand
(07:02):
Rapids to a point.
It's really important that werecognize that Walker Avenue was
done, you know, some time agoto that five lane bridge to
accommodate what became theindustrial park, the start of
that growth down there.
And as things have gone furtherto the west, we run into that
same thing.
You had a two lane, 19, I think59, 1960 Eisenhower era bridge
(07:23):
that really had not onlyoutlived its usefulness, it
really was becoming a safety anda danger to our public.
And you know we worried aboutis this going to be?
If you have a prospectivebusiness, come in and they're
looking at the area, which theyquite often do, and you're part
of that VIP kind of recruitingtool and you got to take them
across that bridge.
(07:45):
That's not a good thing, it'snot a good representation of the
city, but I believe that'sgoing to be an impact.
It's not just our residentstransverse in it.
I've got grandkids I see acouple of miles North of there
and it's it's been a bear of asummer to get through.
We knew that we, but we had torip the bandaid off and get it
done.
So I believe that impact isgoing to be the single biggest
thing.
And one of the other epiphaniesI had the other night I went out
recently they were pouring oneof the second deck, second
(08:07):
bridge pours for that deck outthere and just got to watch that
like a little kid in a candystore and seeing them pour I
mean they're pouring a lot upthere and seeing just the skill
and the attention to detail butreally the effectiveness that
they had and moving along quickas their point up there.
I'm looking at this up thereand I also looked over at the
non-motorized trail off to theside of this on the west side
(08:31):
and when you look at and look atthe size of that and we have a
lot of residential growth andcommercial growth up in that
area, industrial growth, theconnection to the trails to the
north, there People don't haveto be in the road, they're in a
safe spot off to the side and webelieve that when we talk about
a quality of life in Walker,that's a focus.
We're not taking over the roads, we're just adding off to the
(08:53):
side of them.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, that'll be a welcomed addition, and can't
give residents props enough forgoing along with this, you know,
for being great.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
It's been an interesting summer because
normally you think you'd behearing a lot more complaints.
You might hear a little bit ofa grouse in like like every
month or two, but it's notsocial media.
For the most part it's beenvery quiet.
We've been trying to be verysupportive of our businesses up
there and encourage them Don'tforget about them being there,
and you think of the AGO gasstation up there and encourage
them.
Don't forget about them beingthere and you think of the AGO
(09:24):
gas station up there, and soforth.
Just those things that we tryand do.
But I think that's the sense ofdoing what's right to help the
community out here.
We knew it was going to suckthis summer and it did and still
kind of does, but we're almostthere.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
We are Almost there.
The lights at the end of thetunnel, absolutely.
Also, when you hear aboutgrowth, residents may worry
about taxes.
So how are we able to providebetter services every year
without having to raise thatreally and even attract new
businesses as well?
How does that all go together?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
That's a great question and, for the record, I
didn't prompt you with that, soyou can look that ear out.
I like that because it's agreat question, because I don't
think our public realizes we arean income tax city.
Public realizes we are anincome tax city that accounts
for 65% of our revenue to helppay for the expenses we have
with police, fire, public works,the parks, trails and all of
that.
65% of that only 9% of ourrevenue for the year comes from
(10:12):
state revenue sharing.
We have and then you have anumber of other sources, other
sources, but that income tax isthe big thing Our focus on
bringing jobs into the city andthat growth.
This is where that, that thatstrategy is paying off.
And you know it started againPrevious mayors I've just
carried the torch from what theyhad already started.
(10:33):
You know, mayor Verheulen,mayor Huizenga really
accelerated that on his end asthe economy really improved and
that recruiting those businessesto come in.
That's why that bridge was soimportant.
Those jobs coming in there helpkeep.
Our property tax only accountsfor 9% of our revenue.
So I know that there's aroundthe country right now and some
of the surrounding states andthere's even some talk within
(10:55):
Michigan about abolishing theproperty tax.
I do believe on record it's abit of a misguided approach to
understand the why behind it butyou have to pay for those
services, somehow misguidedapproach to understand the why
behind it but you have to payfor those services.
Somehow we're set up in abetter spot to be not as exposed
to any changes there becausewe're so relying on that income
(11:17):
tax when the economy is good andit has been and when those jobs
have been coming in, we've putourselves in a good spot.
So when we look at things welook at like with the library.
That's one of those things thatwe looked at.
Do we do a millage or do webond for this?
We had no bonds out at the timeand we had no long-term debt,
which is unheard of in localgovernment.
So we elected to take that riskand it's a very calculated risk
(11:42):
that we elected to bond for thelibrary.
We're going to have somesignificant needs coming up in
the near future A lot of itaround public safety, um, as we
make that transition, what'seventually going to become a
full-time fire department?
We're well into that already.
We need to have bunk houseswithin um and you have to have
gender, you know, male andfemale, both in there, um, and
(12:02):
we have to have appropriateliving quarters, but they also.
And the female both in there,and we have to have appropriate
living quarters, but they also.
It's not just putting a bunchof you know, cots in there and
places to sleep.
It has to be a place that youcan recruit, because we're all
competing for the same, thatsame talent pool, which is
shrinking, so we have to havethose amenities that.
Oh hey, I could come.
I could come spend a 24 hourshift here a few days a week.
Those types of things areimportant, so there's going to
(12:24):
be some significant costs there.
I believe we put ourselves in agood position because we're not
incurring unnecessary debt andwe don't have that long term
other than the library that wejust started.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yes, and I think Mayor Huizenga has mentioned
Senator Huizenga has mentionedthis you certainly have too is
when you guys make decisions.
You're not playing checkershere, you're playing chess.
It's kind of for the long run,you've got to think years into
the future, and why is that justso important to do that?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
You know it's, every action, every decision you make
has a counter effect to it.
And I really and I'll go backto Mayor Verhulina's time, and
that was when I was just gettinginvolved in local government.
I was on one of our citycommittees you learn that art of
looking forward into the futureand too often local government
doesn't do that.
They they the short-term fix,what looks good to appease the
(13:12):
voters and get people reelected.
That's not the approach we'vetaken.
There was sometimes peoplemight not have understand it, it
might've been more painful atthe time, but over the years and
decades it was going to pay off.
So it started there.
Mayor Heisinger had the samebelief.
So they really I learned fromthem how to do this properly and
help you know.
But we have a city staff.
They know what they need to do.
We're just there helping makesure they've got the resources
(13:34):
and the support there to getthat done.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yes, and a big thing, with all the changes going on
as well and throughout yourmayoral term, how do you make
residents, or how do you allowthem to feel, more informed,
part of the decision, part ofthe decision making, all of that
stuff.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I don't know of very many municipalities where the
mayor and the city commissionhas their cell phone numbers out
there and they're thatapproachable.
I could be sitting atPeppermill or be in Sobeys Meats
and people come up all the timeand approach you, or in the.
I love it.
That's, that's why you tookthis office.
You're there to serve thepublic and, um, I just for me
(14:12):
the that approachability that wehave and the accessibility we
have, um, call us and if wedon't answer right away, maybe
we'll get back to you right away.
Um, we might not always agree onsome things.
Um, you know, I've always usedthe analogy of of um, your
favorite flavor of ice creammight be chocolate, mine's
vanilla.
How do you get that twist coneout of that?
(14:32):
And sometimes it's this red andblue thing.
How can we get to purple?
And we both feel like we've wonsomething out of it.
We approach those discussionswith that mindset and it's not a
oh boy, I've got to take aatecitizen.
Call Number one.
We don't have a whole lot ofthem.
We all know where the problempoints are and then really I
think the approach to hey, I'maccessible, I'm approachable,
(14:56):
come out there.
So I think for us it'ssomething that maybe we take for
granted a little bit, but we dothat yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And just in 2025, you're really trying to engage
the youth and even, just likethe younger professionals who
are just starting out in theircareer, really helping to kind
of bring that pipeline intofolks who want to serve their
community and others.
What have you been doingspecifically to get that done?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
So this past year, something I've wanted to do for
some time finally got it off theground was the Youth Academy
for High School Juniors andSeniors.
The ground was the YouthAcademy for high school juniors
and seniors, and then the secondwas with our next gen, for our
younger adults in the communitythat want to get involved in
elected office.
Making a jump from doingnothing to elected office,
that's hard and you're going tomake some mistakes on the way.
(15:44):
We'd rather try and get peoplein committees learning how to.
What does good policy look like?
Chess versus checkers, thosetypes of things.
But then I also believe thatability to you know work
collaboratively with others thatyou might not agree with.
And there's times that you knowour city committee we don't
necessarily agree, we know weneed to get to a common spot,
(16:05):
but we get there.
We've all served on thosecommittees and had you know, we
cut our chops that way.
So we believe, like these, someof these programs are making it
going to make a big impact inthe coming years.
You know it's the thing thatthat you know, the biggest thing
for me that keeps me awake atnight.
If there is a thing, it's thatI want.
I want our people to go home atnight.
Our, our police, our fire, ourpublic works and they're out
(16:26):
there doing construction sitesand so forth.
I want our people to go home totheir families at night.
We owe that to them.
The second thing that keeps me,you know, makes me sometimes
wake up the middle of the nightis who's next?
Who are those people?
And I think, coming in with um,I'll, I'll call this one out
coming in with agendas, um, it,it all.
You're always set up to failand you're not going to get
(16:47):
support for this.
You're going to be that personon an island by yourself and not
get a darn thing done for anumber of years and, wonder boy,
this really stinks and justmake it a toxic environment.
We've really mitigated thattype of risk within our elected
body.
We haven't always got it right.
I think you know, as ofdefinitely the last decade or so
, that we've really, you knowwe've got some good stories out
(17:08):
of there.
You know you've got a couple ofmayors that have gone on to
serve with Distinguished at theStatehouse former city
commissioner at the Statehouselevel as well.
So we it's a good breedingground for this.
You know we know how to workwith other people.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
That really says a lot.
Yeah, final question as well Ifyou could set one bold goal for
Walker in your final year ofbeing mayor, which is the 2026
year, what do you think thatwould be?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
You know there's a lot, a lot of that.
There's still a lot of thatelephant that I want to eat and
I know I'm going to leave officewithout having tackled all of
it.
The big thing for me is goingto be the widening of Wilson
M-11.
And that's a topless and it'snot going to be the widening of
Wilson M11, and that's a toplessand it's not going to get done.
It's probably not going to getstarted before I walk out the
door next fall.
But if we can get.
(17:55):
There has been, there continuesto be.
You know the attempts to get aspart of appropriations package
at the state level.
We've talked to our federallegislators about it.
There's not a discussion thatwe have at the state or federal
level that this is not a part ofit.
The problem is, I think it'sgoing to take a combination of
state and federal.
(18:16):
Walker might have some skin inthe game for that, but we know
it is the biggest pain point wehave in the city.
Alpine is solved, lake Michiganis solved.
You can't fix traffic.
It's on those busy roads, butthose are big, wide roads.
We don't have that Wilson.
And when you have spots whereit's five lanes down to four,
down to two, back to four, backdown to two.
It just it makes no sense andit just creates not it's not
(18:39):
just choke points, it createssafety hazards.
But everybody's wondering howdo we pay for it?
And I think you know when welook at part of the state of the
city We'll be talking a littlebit, just acknowledging the
discussion around the aquarium.
You know the possibility of thatgoing in South Walker, no
guarantees at all.
It's being looked at as one ofthe potential sites and due
diligence is being done.
(18:59):
It's going to be it's probablygoing to be a year or two before
all of that is complete and wehave to look and say does this
make sense?
But as part of that, you can'tput something that's going to
draw two to three millionvisitors a year.
You can't put something downthere without winding Wilson,
probably improving that bridgeset up down there as well, so
(19:19):
across the Grand River.
So you know part of the deviouspieces.
Can we devise these plans andlook at what the cost is going
to be and if things work outwith that big project, great.
If they don't, we have theplans.
We at what the cost is going tobe and if things work out with
that big project?
Great, if they don't.
We have the plans.
We know what the cost is goingto be.
Could we maybe even start to dothis in sections over a 10-year
span?
What have you?
And I do believe that'sprobably going to be a good
10-year plus project.
(19:40):
But if I can leave officeknowing there's momentum behind
that, that will be hard to stop.
I'll feel a lot better, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
We know you guys have spent years advocating for this
and we know you won't stop onceyou're kind of done.
So thank you so much.
Also know that you're a busyperson.
We really appreciate your timein getting to know a little bit
more about the health of thecity of Walker, so thank you,
mary.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Thanks for having me again.
Yep, I know.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the
Maiden Walker podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast, or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walkercity.
Maiden Walker is the officialpodcast of the City of Walker,
Michigan.
You can find Maiden Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the storiesand the ideas shaping our
community, from local innovatorsto everyday changemakers.
We're diving deep into whatmakes Walker a great place to
live, work and grow.
Here's your host, nicoleDiDonato.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, every year, mayor Gary Carey hosts a State
of the City Address.
It's a way for him to updateresidents, businesses and
stakeholders about the healthand progress of our city, from
public safety to quality of life.
Let's dive into the State ofthe City 2025.
Mayor Carey, thank you so muchfor being here.
Really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Thank you for having me back.
Yeah, must not have done it toobad the last night.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, no, no, of course You're a great guest.
We appreciate it.
So this year's theme isacceleration for the state of
the city.
Tell us why you chose that word, what it really means to you.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
We have had really over the give both you know the
previous mayors that were allvery close the momentum we've
had as a city that we've comeout of the recession of 2008 and
it just built over the yearsand now the decades, that the
momentum we've had just seemedto accelerate.
This past year the velocity ofwhat we were working on has
(01:20):
increased and I was asking citystaff, residents and business
owners, you know, before we putout the plans for the state of
the city, I mean, if you coulddescribe what's going on in
Walker.
One word I kept hearingaccelerate, you know, multiple
times and I just believe thatit's that velocity that has
increased.
And when you hear the feedbackthey said we just we've had a
lot of good things going on fora while, but things have just
(01:42):
seemed to accelerated lately,and so that we kind of centered
on that that word, you know forcome next year the city is going
to be running fine, but you dohave your majority of your
elected body changing over nextyear and there's a bit of a rush
too to make sure the things,the projects that we wanted to
get done and off the ground,we're able to get those started.
(02:02):
So it's not just the residentsand businesses that are feeling,
it's the elected officials,because there's this sense of
urgency of making sure that weleave it better than what we
started with, and that's reallythat ultimate measuring stick.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, very appropriate.
So one of the big things thatyou focus on public safety.
It's a top priority for ourcity and for you.
What have you seen as far asprogress-wise that just helps
ensure the safety of ourresidents.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
You know when I think of something about Walker.
You know, you hear, you know mypeers around the area and those
that know our community wellrefer to it as just that nice
place to be and we kept hearingthat word nice all the time.
And one of the things I'm mostproud of is the engagement that
both police and fire have withour community.
You see them at not just atevents, but when they're driving
(02:48):
through neighborhoods doingproactive engagements with the
community.
They know our residents, theyknow our businesses and it makes
such a big difference so thatwhen something does come up and
things do come up that we'rebetter able to navigate through
those things together.
We're better able to navigatethrough those things together.
So I so to me, like that, that.
That really is something I justthe most proud of is the
relationships and the engagementwe have with our community.
(03:10):
Police and fire both do aphenomenal job with it and
really a benchmark and you dosee that in other communities I
but I think that there's a kindof another level that our
departments have taken it up to.
I'm also proud of the fact thatyou know the last couple of
years when you look at our likeour type one crimes, the major,
the burglaries, larceny,aggravated assaults those are on
(03:33):
the decrease.
They've dropped like 22 percentover the last two years.
When you have a city that isgrowing and growing
exponentially, commercially,industrially, through its
residents coming into the city,when you have that trajectory
that you're going upwards there,there should be a corresponding
more things are going to comeup because you have more people
(03:53):
involved and we're going theopposite direction.
And I really come back to thatproactive community engagement
we have with police and firemakes such a huge difference and
because both departments do somuch together, the community
sees one united force and it'sthat they see that uniform, they
see the engagement they have.
And for those coming into thecommunity that might have some
thoughts of doing something thatwe just don't accept in our
(04:16):
city.
It's we kind of all standtogether there.
So I'm really proud of that andI'm proud of the progress our
fire departments made.
You know, we have just twophenomenal chiefs I would not
trade them for the world andthere's some great chiefs in
this area that I considerfriends and acquaintances and I
think that's important in that,um, we had a police chief that
served as an interim fire chieffor a while.
(04:37):
He had some background there.
It made a huge difference instabilizing our department and
really improving the morale thatneeded some help.
We have a new chief coming inand brought from outside the
area.
He doesn't know what he doesn'tknow, but what he does know is
fire and he also knows lawenforcement, how to work with
them, so it's made a hugedifference in that.
(04:57):
Really, what the community hasseen and all the significant
investments and change, that'sall for the better right now and
just a lot to be proud of rightnow.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, there is, and some change is also coming with
public safety.
As far as, what do you seegoing forward?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
So when we look going forward, police it's going to
be continuing to do what we do.
You know we've added a secondcommunity engagement officer
because you know Officer Harkinwas getting it stretched so thin
and you know now that we haveOfficer Glass as well helping
out with that, and so we've gottwo of them, one handling north,
one handling south.
They backfill for each otherand who knows, maybe there's a
point in time that there's athird one there.
I don't know, there'sdefinitely a demand and a need
(05:37):
for it.
But then I see FIRE.
You know doing demand and aneed for it, but then I see fire
.
You know doing the same type ofthing and that proactive
community outreach.
You know we had, have just had anumber of fires that are a
little bit more unusual thispast year that those numbers are
up for.
As far as structure fires go,one of the big things we're
doing right now is, from aneducation perspective, is making
(05:58):
sure people with the smokedetectors they're checking the
batteries, that they're hookedup and that you have them in the
right places.
And we're doing that, you know,very collaboratively with the
public in that messaging is justso important.
So I just like how we're thatproactive.
What do I see going forward?
Keep doing what we're doing,but even do more proactive than
(06:18):
maybe we're doing now, as itcalls for it, and you know both
departments tend to do ittogether, so it's kind of a neat
thing.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Can't have enough being, you know, proactive and
education out there for yourresidents.
That's great.
You were mentioning the growth,of course.
We've seen a lot of growthhappening with our business
parks, the infrastructure aswell.
What do you think is going tobe like the biggest impact that
residents will feel coming outof 2025?
Speaker 3 (06:41):
That's an easy one the Fruit Ridge Bridge.
You know that's when you, whenyou look at that and those that
aren't aware, within that bridgeyou have, within a two mile
radius, you have approximately16,000 jobs and that impacts
Ottawa County, that impactsAlpine Township and the city of
Walker and even the city ofGrand Rapids to a point, pine
Township and the city of Walkerand even the city of Grand
(07:02):
Rapids to a point.
It's really important that werecognize that Walker Avenue was
done, you know, some time agoto that five lane bridge to
accommodate what became theindustrial park, the start of
that growth down there.
And as things have gone furtherto the west, we run into that
same thing.
You had a two lane, 19, I think59, 1960 Eisenhower era bridge
(07:23):
that really had not onlyoutlived its usefulness, it
really was becoming a safety anda danger to our public.
And you know we worried aboutis this going to be?
If you have a prospectivebusiness, come in and they're
looking at the area, which theyquite often do, and you're part
of that VIP kind of recruitingtool and you got to take them
across that bridge.
(07:45):
That's not a good thing, it'snot a good representation of the
city, but I believe that'sgoing to be an impact.
It's not just our residentstransverse in it.
I've got grandkids I see acouple of miles North of there
and it's it's been a bear of asummer to get through.
We knew that we, but we had torip the bandaid off and get it
done.
So I believe that impact isgoing to be the single biggest
thing.
And one of the other epiphaniesI had the other night I went out
recently they were pouring oneof the second deck, second
(08:07):
bridge pours for that deck outthere and just got to watch that
like a little kid in a candystore and seeing them pour I
mean they're pouring a lot upthere and seeing just the skill
and the attention to detail butreally the effectiveness that
they had and moving along quickas their point up there.
I'm looking at this up thereand I also looked over at the
non-motorized trail off to theside of this on the west side
(08:31):
and when you look at and look atthe size of that and we have a
lot of residential growth andcommercial growth up in that
area, industrial growth, theconnection to the trails to the
north, there People don't haveto be in the road, they're in a
safe spot off to the side and webelieve that when we talk about
a quality of life in Walker,that's a focus.
We're not taking over the roads, we're just adding off to the
(08:53):
side of them.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, that'll be a welcomed addition, and can't
give residents props enough forgoing along with this, you know,
for being great.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
It's been an interesting summer because
normally you think you'd behearing a lot more complaints.
You might hear a little bit ofa grouse in like like every
month or two, but it's notsocial media.
For the most part it's beenvery quiet.
We've been trying to be verysupportive of our businesses up
there and encourage them Don'tforget about them being there,
and you think of the AGO gasstation up there and encourage
them.
Don't forget about them beingthere and you think of the AGO
(09:24):
gas station up there, and soforth.
Just those things that we tryand do.
But I think that's the sense ofdoing what's right to help the
community out here.
We knew it was going to suckthis summer and it did and still
kind of does, but we're almostthere.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
We are Almost there.
The lights at the end of thetunnel, absolutely.
Also, when you hear aboutgrowth, residents may worry
about taxes.
So how are we able to providebetter services every year
without having to raise thatreally and even attract new
businesses as well?
How does that all go together?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
That's a great question and, for the record, I
didn't prompt you with that, soyou can look that ear out.
I like that because it's agreat question, because I don't
think our public realizes we arean income tax city.
Public realizes we are anincome tax city that accounts
for 65% of our revenue to helppay for the expenses we have
with police, fire, public works,the parks, trails and all of
that.
65% of that only 9% of ourrevenue for the year comes from
(10:12):
state revenue sharing.
We have and then you have anumber of other sources, other
sources, but that income tax isthe big thing Our focus on
bringing jobs into the city andthat growth.
This is where that, that thatstrategy is paying off.
And you know it started againPrevious mayors I've just
carried the torch from what theyhad already started.
(10:33):
You know, mayor Verheulen,mayor Huizenga really
accelerated that on his end asthe economy really improved and
that recruiting those businessesto come in.
That's why that bridge was soimportant.
Those jobs coming in there helpkeep.
Our property tax only accountsfor 9% of our revenue.
So I know that there's aroundthe country right now and some
of the surrounding states andthere's even some talk within
(10:55):
Michigan about abolishing theproperty tax.
I do believe on record it's abit of a misguided approach to
understand the why behind it butyou have to pay for those
services, somehow misguidedapproach to understand the why
behind it but you have to payfor those services.
Somehow we're set up in abetter spot to be not as exposed
to any changes there becausewe're so relying on that income
(11:17):
tax when the economy is good andit has been and when those jobs
have been coming in, we've putourselves in a good spot.
So when we look at things welook at like with the library.
That's one of those things thatwe looked at.
Do we do a millage or do webond for this?
We had no bonds out at the timeand we had no long-term debt,
which is unheard of in localgovernment.
So we elected to take that riskand it's a very calculated risk
(11:42):
that we elected to bond for thelibrary.
We're going to have somesignificant needs coming up in
the near future A lot of itaround public safety, um, as we
make that transition, what'seventually going to become a
full-time fire department?
We're well into that already.
We need to have bunk houseswithin um and you have to have
gender, you know, male andfemale, both in there, um, and
(12:02):
we have to have appropriateliving quarters, but they also.
And the female both in there,and we have to have appropriate
living quarters, but they also.
It's not just putting a bunchof you know, cots in there and
places to sleep.
It has to be a place that youcan recruit, because we're all
competing for the same, thatsame talent pool, which is
shrinking, so we have to havethose amenities that.
Oh hey, I could come.
I could come spend a 24 hourshift here a few days a week.
Those types of things areimportant, so there's going to
(12:24):
be some significant costs there.
I believe we put ourselves in agood position because we're not
incurring unnecessary debt andwe don't have that long term
other than the library that wejust started.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yes, and I think Mayor Huizenga has mentioned
Senator Huizenga has mentionedthis you certainly have too is
when you guys make decisions.
You're not playing checkershere, you're playing chess.
It's kind of for the long run,you've got to think years into
the future, and why is that justso important to do that?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
You know it's, every action, every decision you make
has a counter effect to it.
And I really and I'll go backto Mayor Verhulina's time, and
that was when I was just gettinginvolved in local government.
I was on one of our citycommittees you learn that art of
looking forward into the futureand too often local government
doesn't do that.
They they the short-term fix,what looks good to appease the
(13:12):
voters and get people reelected.
That's not the approach we'vetaken.
There was sometimes peoplemight not have understand it, it
might've been more painful atthe time, but over the years and
decades it was going to pay off.
So it started there.
Mayor Heisinger had the samebelief.
So they really I learned fromthem how to do this properly and
help you know.
But we have a city staff.
They know what they need to do.
We're just there helping makesure they've got the resources
(13:34):
and the support there to getthat done.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yes, and a big thing, with all the changes going on
as well and throughout yourmayoral term, how do you make
residents, or how do you allowthem to feel, more informed,
part of the decision, part ofthe decision making, all of that
stuff.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I don't know of very many municipalities where the
mayor and the city commissionhas their cell phone numbers out
there and they're thatapproachable.
I could be sitting atPeppermill or be in Sobeys Meats
and people come up all the timeand approach you, or in the.
I love it.
That's, that's why you tookthis office.
You're there to serve thepublic and, um, I just for me
(14:12):
the that approachability that wehave and the accessibility we
have, um, call us and if wedon't answer right away, maybe
we'll get back to you right away.
Um, we might not always agree onsome things.
Um, you know, I've always usedthe analogy of of um, your
favorite flavor of ice creammight be chocolate, mine's
vanilla.
How do you get that twist coneout of that?
(14:32):
And sometimes it's this red andblue thing.
How can we get to purple?
And we both feel like we've wonsomething out of it.
We approach those discussionswith that mindset and it's not a
oh boy, I've got to take aatecitizen.
Call Number one.
We don't have a whole lot ofthem.
We all know where the problempoints are and then really I
think the approach to hey, I'maccessible, I'm approachable,
(14:56):
come out there.
So I think for us it'ssomething that maybe we take for
granted a little bit, but we dothat yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And just in 2025, you're really trying to engage
the youth and even, just likethe younger professionals who
are just starting out in theircareer, really helping to kind
of bring that pipeline intofolks who want to serve their
community and others.
What have you been doingspecifically to get that done?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
So this past year, something I've wanted to do for
some time finally got it off theground was the Youth Academy
for High School Juniors andSeniors.
The ground was the YouthAcademy for high school juniors
and seniors, and then the secondwas with our next gen, for our
younger adults in the communitythat want to get involved in
elected office.
Making a jump from doingnothing to elected office,
that's hard and you're going tomake some mistakes on the way.
(15:44):
We'd rather try and get peoplein committees learning how to.
What does good policy look like?
Chess versus checkers, thosetypes of things.
But then I also believe thatability to you know work
collaboratively with others thatyou might not agree with.
And there's times that you knowour city committee we don't
necessarily agree, we know weneed to get to a common spot,
(16:05):
but we get there.
We've all served on thosecommittees and had you know, we
cut our chops that way.
So we believe, like these, someof these programs are making it
going to make a big impact inthe coming years.
You know it's the thing thatthat you know, the biggest thing
for me that keeps me awake atnight.
If there is a thing, it's thatI want.
I want our people to go home atnight.
Our, our police, our fire, ourpublic works and they're out
(16:26):
there doing construction sitesand so forth.
I want our people to go home totheir families at night.
We owe that to them.
The second thing that keeps me,you know, makes me sometimes
wake up the middle of the nightis who's next?
Who are those people?
And I think, coming in with um,I'll, I'll call this one out
coming in with agendas, um, it,it all.
You're always set up to failand you're not going to get
(16:47):
support for this.
You're going to be that personon an island by yourself and not
get a darn thing done for anumber of years and, wonder boy,
this really stinks and justmake it a toxic environment.
We've really mitigated thattype of risk within our elected
body.
We haven't always got it right.
I think you know, as ofdefinitely the last decade or so
, that we've really, you knowwe've got some good stories out
(17:08):
of there.
You know you've got a couple ofmayors that have gone on to
serve with Distinguished at theStatehouse former city
commissioner at the Statehouselevel as well.
So we it's a good breedingground for this.
You know we know how to workwith other people.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
That really says a lot.
Yeah, final question as well Ifyou could set one bold goal for
Walker in your final year ofbeing mayor, which is the 2026
year, what do you think thatwould be?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
You know there's a lot, a lot of that.
There's still a lot of thatelephant that I want to eat and
I know I'm going to leave officewithout having tackled all of
it.
The big thing for me is goingto be the widening of Wilson
M-11.
And that's a topless and it'snot going to be the widening of
Wilson M11, and that's a toplessand it's not going to get done.
It's probably not going to getstarted before I walk out the
door next fall.
But if we can get.
(17:55):
There has been, there continuesto be.
You know the attempts to get aspart of appropriations package
at the state level.
We've talked to our federallegislators about it.
There's not a discussion thatwe have at the state or federal
level that this is not a part ofit.
The problem is, I think it'sgoing to take a combination of
state and federal.
(18:16):
Walker might have some skin inthe game for that, but we know
it is the biggest pain point wehave in the city.
Alpine is solved, lake Michiganis solved.
You can't fix traffic.
It's on those busy roads, butthose are big, wide roads.
We don't have that Wilson.
And when you have spots whereit's five lanes down to four,
down to two, back to four, backdown to two.
It just it makes no sense andit just creates not it's not
(18:39):
just choke points, it createssafety hazards.
But everybody's wondering howdo we pay for it?
And I think you know when welook at part of the state of the
city We'll be talking a littlebit, just acknowledging the
discussion around the aquarium.
You know the possibility of thatgoing in South Walker, no
guarantees at all.
It's being looked at as one ofthe potential sites and due
diligence is being done.
(18:59):
It's going to be it's probablygoing to be a year or two before
all of that is complete and wehave to look and say does this
make sense?
But as part of that, you can'tput something that's going to
draw two to three millionvisitors a year.
You can't put something downthere without winding Wilson,
probably improving that bridgeset up down there as well, so
(19:19):
across the Grand River.
So you know part of the deviouspieces.
Can we devise these plans andlook at what the cost is going
to be and if things work outwith that big project, great.
If they don't, we have theplans.
We at what the cost is going tobe and if things work out with
that big project?
Great, if they don't.
We have the plans.
We know what the cost is goingto be.
Could we maybe even start to dothis in sections over a 10-year
span?
What have you?
And I do believe that'sprobably going to be a good
10-year plus project.
(19:40):
But if I can leave officeknowing there's momentum behind
that, that will be hard to stop.
I'll feel a lot better, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
We know you guys have spent years advocating for this
and we know you won't stop onceyou're kind of done.
So thank you so much.
Also know that you're a busyperson.
We really appreciate your timein getting to know a little bit
more about the health of thecity of Walker, so thank you,
mary.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Thanks for having me again.
Yep, I know.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the
Maiden Walker podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast, or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walkercity.
Maiden Walker is the officialpodcast of the City of Walker,
Michigan.
You can find Maiden Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
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