January 19, 2026 • 18 mins
A clear plan, a steady hand, and a community-first mindset—Mayor Gary Carey opens up about how Walker stayed focused through change and turned long-term planning into everyday wins. We talk about the five pillars that guide our decisions, why public safety sits at the top, and how a once-sparse industrial park became the tax base that funds more officers, a full-time fire department, better parks, and stronger infrastructure.
We share the backstory behind those big moves: partnerships that made shovel-ready land possible, the FedEx facility that sparked momentum, and a pro-business stance that still screens for the right fit. Then we get into the hard parts—trade-offs of a full-time fire service, from staffing to facilities and long-term funding, and how shifting medical calls from police to fire unlocks capacity where it matters most. On housing, we break down the master plan’s push for balance, the financial realities of rental versus single-family in a city like ours, and why every approval must be weighed against ten-year consequences.
Looking ahead, we lay out the leadership transition in City Hall, from the city manager’s retirement to commission seats that need steady, policy-minded people. If you’ve served on a committee or want to learn, now is the time to step up. We also highlight regional wins—dedicated Rapid bus routes in Walker for the first time and Metro Council support that helped us build smarter. Through it all, we come back to civility: disagree without breaking trust, and keep the city pointed forward.
If this conversation resonates, subscribe, share with a neighbor, and leave a review to help others find the show. Ready to get involved or have a topic we should tackle next? Email us at podcast at walker.city and tell us what you want to hear.
If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:07):
Welcome to Maiden Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the stories,and the ideas shaping our
community.
From local innovators toeveryday change makers, we're
diving deep into what makesWalker a great place to live,
work, and grow.
Here's your host, NicoleDiDonato.
SPEAKER_00 (00:26):
Gary Carey entering his final year as mayor for the
city of Walker.
So we're looking back on whatall he's accomplished during his
tenure, but also what lies aheadfor his final year in office.
And regarding the final year inoffice, unlike your
predecessors, Rob Verhulan andMark Heisinger, you are not
electing to seek higher office,correct?
(00:46):
Nope.
SPEAKER_02 (00:47):
Just kind of like the in-laws sometimes when they
stay too long.
We want to uh uh make sure Ithink there's a shelf life.
And uh um quite frankly, the theprivilege and honor it spent
serving as mayor of the city isum i is without comparison.
And um it's it's not to diminishthe the need for, I think, good
uh uh good leadership at thestate and federal levels.
It just it's not something thatuh um is appealing at this time
(01:09):
because it's gonna be hard tomatch what uh we've all been
able to accomplish over theseyears.
So uh plus I think I have a wifeand family that wants their and
a day job business career thatwants their uh their their their
person back.
SPEAKER_00 (01:21):
So yeah, you fit a lot in.
So you've been serving the cityof Walker in some capacity since
2013, correct?
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
Um and actually, yes, even going back to 1999, I
started on my first committee uhwith the uh start on the
historical committee and uh verygrateful and I I probably don't
give her enough credit.
Uh uh we had her for a shorttime period uh as Mayor Barb
Holt at the time as a citycommissioner.
She had uh uh champion appointedme to the historical commission,
(01:48):
and uh um that really startedthings and was really passionate
about the local history.
And Walker is so rich in thatarea and the uh the families
that are still there.
Some of those are fourth, uh,you know, fourth generation, um
uh going back that far.
So it's been a been quite ajourney and then taking the
going from the appointed to theelected office in uh January
2013 when um then mayorVerheulen went to the State
(02:11):
House and just been a domino uhseries over the years of
different events that uh uh keepmoving you into a different
role.
SPEAKER_00 (02:18):
Sure, sure.
And 2019 came and that was whenMark Heisinger was elected into
the State House, and that's whenyou officially took over as
mayor.
SPEAKER_02 (02:25):
Yes.
Yep.
Definitely little did we know wehad about a good year under our
belt before the world got turnedupside down that following year.
SPEAKER_00 (02:31):
Yeah.
So what were you walking into atthat time?
It's probably hard for us toremember a life pre-COVID.
SPEAKER_02 (02:36):
Yeah, I think when you walk, think 2019, um,
fabulous leadership, and I justyou know, blessed with um when I
look at what um, you know, if uhRob for Healing did as mayor,
there would not be a bettermayor for the things that we
went through.
We went through some of theeconomic challenges, um, you
know, the loss, um, the thedarkest day in our city's
history losing uh uh Trevor Slotum, you know, in the line of
(02:58):
duty.
Um when we think of the thoseyears, I don't believe there's a
better leader to see us throughthat because he kept us right
down the middle of everything umand just was a very um um you
know, just balancing uh leaderfor uh for the community.
Um and then um we had parv inthere for a little while, and
then Mark came in, and that wasa time that we were starting to
(03:18):
come out of the economicdoldrums, the recession had
started to diminish.
And Mark and I both had businessuh backgrounds is more of that
entrepreneurial background, anduh just a lot of those uh
private sector traits andlessons learned were able to be
applied to that.
So he really got us started onthe catapult thing.
So, really what I inherited, andeach one of the mayors will tell
you the same thing, it wasrunning great when we got here.
(03:40):
Um, Rob went through some reallychallenging times in his 12
years serving as mayor, but whenI look at that time, I inherited
really something that wasn'tbroke.
There wasn't a need to come inand fix things.
We knew um we were gonna have toaddress some public safety
things as we were evolving as acity.
Um, we knew that we had shovelready land um in a large part of
the city on the north end, andwe knew that that could be a um
(04:03):
a really uh quantifiable ROI ifwe made some infrastructure
investments up there.
Um so I think it was it wasbroke, don't need to fix it, but
there's some things that wecould, you know, do from there.
And then uh, you know, gotthrough that first year and uh
learned a lot, you know, learneduh that proverbial where the uh
the bathroom was and the lightswitch was because uh you
learned how to not do things.
(04:25):
And uh um, you know, coming froma family and uh had some local
government involvement over thedecades, um, I thought I I knew
a lot and I really didn't knowas much as I thought when I got
in there.
SPEAKER_00 (04:35):
So it's probably something to say when a position
or folks teach you more aboutthat role as you're kind of
going through it.
You do learn a lot, bring a lotwith you.
Um, what about those umpriorities?
Uh kind of right from the start.
You said public safety, we'relooking at the infrastructure of
our now industrial park.
What were some of the thingsthat, if any, had changed
through your tenure?
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
You know, I I think when we look at the uh the
priorities, when we do the stateof the city every year, we stay
to the the stick to the the thefive pillars as I call them.
Um they're really not just mypriorities, they're the
community's priorities.
That it reflects um our job aselected officials is to
represent our community.
And um, one of the neat thingsis those five pillars really are
going to be probablytransferable from mayor to
(05:16):
mayor, city manager to citymanager.
Um, public safety is at the verytop.
We want we're a safe, welcomingcommunity.
Um we don't put up with a wholelot of nonsense um um with uh um
it's the it's sometimes it'ssmall ticky-tac stuff that
builds into bigger things.
Um so we really don't um acceptthat very well as a community.
Um we take a very proactive andvery um community uh presence on
(05:39):
the police side of things.
And you see our officers out inthe neighborhoods, not just
stopping by the lemonade stand,but actually talking with the
kids, asking about their schoolstuff and things like that.
People know each other.
And I think the fire has justbecome that same way.
And since we've gone to thatfull-time model, um it allows
them to be able to make moreconnections with the community.
And that just that juststrengthens strength strengthens
(06:00):
us all throughout uh thatprocess.
SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
Yes.
And um, you were mentioning justhow important also uh building
out that industrial park.
I mean, that is something a partof our city that when you came
into office, it was still prettyvacant land and now it is almost
built out six years later.
SPEAKER_02 (06:15):
It's crazy, but that it really it started um that
that started well over a decadeago.
And uh it you know, at one pointin time, what what is now
Rivertown Mall could have endedup where um um up where the
state police uh post is in theFedEx building.
And um, you know, the the FedExbuilding really, I think, was
that catalyst to start things uhum and it was a great uh
(06:35):
partnership.
Not many people know thatthere's a uh uh we leveraged the
city of Grand Rapids in a what'scalled a 425 district up there
that allowed us to build out theinfrastructure and make it
shovel ready for businessesorganizations to come in there.
But that that FedEx, so goingback to, I'd even say Mayor
Virhulin uh and Holt andHeisenka, I mean that it's these
things have built over time.
(06:56):
Um so really walking in andmaking sure that we maintained a
focus of pro-business.
Um, I love I you know I feellike the mayor has to be that
chief sales officer of the cityand the chief cheerleader.
Um, so I love getting involvedwhen we have prospective
businesses looking to come intothe community and they ask about
things like crime, uh the crimerates and the school uh
relationships, they ask abouthousing, and those are things
(07:18):
that that you're dealing with ona daily basis to be able to have
those conversations.
You you're able to sell thecity, you know, and tell them
really it it really this is umwhy you want to come here.
Um and not every business isgonna be the right fit for us
either.
SPEAKER_00 (07:32):
Yes, yeah.
Well, how do you translate tothe growth up there into just
the everyday lives of familieshere?
You know, how do you kind ofbring it down to that level, why
it's important that we diddevelop that area?
SPEAKER_02 (07:42):
Yeah, I when when I think of the development up
there, probably the best analogyI could give is um we have a car
that we're all riding intogether, a bus we're all riding
in together.
The gas that's gone into thatbus for us to be able to drive,
to ride together has been thatgrowth up there.
That tax base um impacts us inso many ways.
(08:03):
It's allowed us to hire moreofficers.
It's allowed us to go to afull-time fire department, kind
of made us, pushed us over thatledge that needing to do that.
Um, it's allowed us to makeinvestments into our parks and
trails.
Um, quite frankly, it's alsoallowed us to build out
infrastructure and makeconnections where there weren't
those before.
And um, so there's it just it'sum grateful to my predecessors,
(08:26):
really grateful to city staff,really grateful to our planning
commission at times, zoningboard of appeals.
Everybody's had a hand in thisprocess um in really bringing
this all together.
But uh that has been one of ourgreater success stories, I
think, over the last fewdecades.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Yeah, it certainly has.
A lot of partnerships there.
Um and now a lot of discussion,uh, you had mentioned just uh
briefly about housing, a lot ofdiscussion over housing as our
master plan kind of unfolds,looking for places to put more
people as folks want to move toWalker, West Michigan in
general.
It's not a Walker issue.
But um how have the commissionand you have been kind of
balancing what's appropriate forthe area?
SPEAKER_02 (09:01):
Um it's a delicate balance.
Um, you know, we're we're um youyou have a lot, um we don't have
as much of the not in mybackyard, the NIMBY movement
that uh you'll hear the termused at times.
We don't have as much of thatbecause I think people do
realize the houses that theylive in at some point in time
were new to an area and therewas older houses there that they
(09:21):
didn't want them going in there.
So it's kind of this dominoeffect over time that uh we we
all see it at some point in timein our um in our lifetimes in um
that that balance is we have tostay true to our master plan.
And really we've with our recentupdates to the master plan, we
have focused on balanced growth,um, a balance of um, you know,
(09:43):
uh single home ownership versusrental as well.
For a city made up the way weare financially, there is an
impact when we when we start totip too much on a rental side of
things, so that um there'sthere's a that financial impact
is something we're hyper awareof uh from a city perspective.
It's not that we don't want it,we've encouraged it um and we've
approved them where it's alignedwith the master plan and it it
(10:05):
it's keeps that communitycharacter.
Um, we'll do that, but we'rereally those single family homes
from a tax base perspective foragain for our city that might
not apply to othermunicipalities, is um we have to
be very strategic and how weapproach that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:18):
Yeah, it is a delicate balance as you had
mentioned.
SPEAKER_02 (10:21):
And there's always trade-offs with those too,
because it's um when you approveone thing, there's there's
there's always gonna be thatcounter effect.
And it could be a number ofdifferent things, you just don't
know what that is, and you haveto think strategically what is
this gonna happen what's thatcounter effect gonna be one
year, five years, ten years fromnow?
And we have to think of thosethings because once you start,
you really can't undo that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:41):
Absolutely.
And that's kind of what you'vealways uh been talking about as
we speak is just the streetstrategically playing chess, not
checkers, really having to thinkso far in advance.
Yeah.
Um yeah, kicking off the finalyear of your term, um, kind of
probably surreal to be herealready.
Um, what are you excited aboutinto 2026?
SPEAKER_02 (11:01):
Right now, I think the top of the list is the um
really focus.
It it's the priority is to stay,you know, stay the course.
The ship's sailing in the rightdirection.
I think we're going at the rightpace.
Um, believe, you know, we we umwe're gonna have some some
leadership, some successionplanning at the city this year.
Um, you know, we just the recentannouncement of our city manager
(11:21):
retiring at the end of February.
Uh Daryl's been a uh stabilizingforest for us, been a fantastic
city manager.
Um, that's a key role becausereally that's the day-to-day
operations of the city.
That's who's leading the city.
They set the culture within CityHall.
Um, they're the ones that reallyum um act as the uh um the voice
of the commission.
And the commission reallydoesn't need to be in there
(11:42):
during the day, or the mayor forthat matter, that this is really
that's the person leading it.
So that's a critical.
So succession planning is gonnabe a big, and we have some other
department heads that will seeretirements this year that are
um longtime members of the cityand have played critical roles.
They're they're gonna beimpossible shoes to fill, but we
have to find a way to fill themthe best we can.
Um, and then I I think the otherthing too is we have a lot of
(12:03):
turnovers at our city commissionthis year.
And we're really looking for thepeople that maybe are in
committees already and have hadsome semblance of serving and
know what policy and goodgovernance looks like, um, that
uh um maybe that they step intothose roles.
Um so that has me actuallyexcited, has me a little worried
too, make sure we get uh, youknow, the the people coming out
(12:24):
to the right priorities um andwanting to serve the community.
But then I think too this year,you're gonna hear a lot about
public safety as we get into thethe course of this year.
Um, you know, there's a numberof things, but I think at the
top of the list, uh the first ofOctober, we converted to a uh
made that transition to afull-time fire department.
We've wanted to do this for aperiod of time.
We hit that breaking point, weneeded to do it.
(12:46):
We have a tremendous lead inbringing uh Chief uh Schultz up
here uh into West Michigan, andhe has exceeded expectations at
every every uh um uh cornerwe've turned.
And um in going to thatfull-time department, you know,
it's like we we talk about thosetrade-offs.
Okay, our our residents andbusinesses have wanted full-time
fire, they've asked for it for along, long time.
(13:08):
We finally have it, okay.
Where do they sleep?
What happens when we havedifferent genders?
And we do, you know, so there'sso there's these these these
trade-offs that there comes withexpenses there.
Um, that um you just don't putyou know beds and room dividers.
We have temporary sleepingquarters right now because we're
figuring out what does this looklike and how are we gonna pay
for all this?
But the key thing is we have thebodies in there to do that.
(13:30):
And uh our fire departmentstarted to take more medicals um
and take that over from thepolice.
That frees the police departmentto up to do other things um that
are mission critical to their uhum um to their focus.
So um I'm excited about thatpiece, but probably get arms
around what's it gonna look liketo how do we pay for this um
long term and how do we putsomething in place that's
(13:51):
sustainable that allows us to beable to flex with the growth of
the community over time and uhreally uh uh solve the problems
and challenges that come up aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (14:01):
And it could be an exciting time for folks maybe
who are listening um that wantto step up into this role.
What types of people are youlooking for uh as leaders,
commissioners, things like that?
SPEAKER_02 (14:11):
Anybody.
It could be it could be abusiness person, it could be a
CEO of a company.
We have those living in ourcommunity.
It could be um, you know, aperson that's a stay-at-home
parent, um, uh male from itdoesn't matter.
I mean, that there there's somany traits that they can bring,
but but I I I believe thatlearning the walker way has been
getting onto a committee, um,learning how to um set
(14:34):
governance, policy making,understand the implications like
that that if we do this, this iswhat could happen down the road.
Understanding that, not justknee-jerk reactioning and and uh
um getting behind a fad, atrend, or some social issue.
We we stay out of that stuffbecause we understand those
long-term implications couldcould be very troubling down the
road.
So getting people involved sothey can understand that and
(14:56):
understand what it's like tocollaborate, problem solve
together, and uh uh go throughthat.
So we're looking for people toget involved with those
committees and commissions.
Um, we will find a spot for youif at all possible on most
committees um uh right now.
So um raise your hand.
I want it to be heard.
The city website's got all thelinks on there.
You've got all your electedofficial cell phone numbers
(15:17):
around there, reach out to themand ask them, hey, I'd be
interested in doing this,they'll help make the connection
for you.
SPEAKER_00 (15:22):
Yes.
We know a lot of people, youknow, may voice concerns and
such, and this is a great way todo it is to make change.
Um, and you were speaking ofpartnerships and boards.
Uh, you sit on quite a few (15:30):
the Rapid, um, the Zoo Borge on
Balzoo.
So we have a lot ofpartnerships, Grand Valley Metro
Council, all of these regionalpartners.
How important was that um inyour tenure?
SPEAKER_02 (15:41):
Absolutely critical.
Uh it it it's one of the thingsI learned from Mayor Verhuulin
and from Mayor Heisinger aswell, for their time that had be
involved, be present.
Um, you learn to collaborate andreally I would say biasedly, I
think we have some of thestrongest partnerships that we
do in the area because of that,because we're that involved with
things.
Um, it allows us to see not justthe microclimate of Walker, but
(16:03):
that macro climate of WestMichigan and beyond, and we can
all help one another withthings.
And uh so I I think that'smission critical.
I'm very proud of the successwe've had with um, you know, the
Metro Council's been gr, youknow, great and all their
support that they've had withour infrastructure projects,
amongst other things.
But then also um, I think of therapid, you know, for the first
time the last uh year or so wehave the first time ever we've
(16:26):
had dedicated routes for therapid in the city of Walker, not
just to pass-throughs, butdedicated to the city.
Um that's a pretty cool story aswell.
unknown (16:34):
Great.
SPEAKER_00 (16:34):
And uh talking about your legacy, you know, again,
I'm going back to that finalyear.
What is it that you want to toreally leave people, the
businesses, the um thepartnerships, the residents, our
city departments?
What what are you kind ofthinking?
SPEAKER_02 (16:48):
Um I I I look at it not as a personal legacy, it's a
community legacy.
Yeah um, not about uh any oneindividual.
Just it's this this is aboutwalkers, about community.
Uh we're the the the civility wehave with one another, the
ability to work together, theability to have a discussion
when we disagree on things.
It could be, you know, who's gota better basketball team this
(17:09):
winter, Michigan or MichiganState?
And right now I think Michigan'sleaning there a little bit, but
but but we can have thesediscussions and not get bent out
of shape about things.
And um so I think about legacy,we've been through the pandemic,
we've been through some of thesocial justice challenges that
uh that have impacted othercommunities.
Um, we have stayed right downthe middle.
That ability to be civil withone another.
(17:30):
We don't always have to agreethat that's okay.
I kind of like it that waybecause we do learn to conflict,
uh, you know, resolve things uhas needed.
Um, but um yeah, I think thatthe legacy is one more about
community until the next personis that baton gets past uh next
fall, is um they'll do fine,they won't mess it up, they'll
be fine because it's about thecommunity as a whole, it's not
(17:51):
about one individual.
SPEAKER_00 (17:53):
Yeah, I love that.
Uh just knowing that we can allreach common ground.
You've always kind of preachedabout that, whether you're up at
the commission, we'll all get toa final consensus.
Well, we still have plenty ofmonths with you still in 2026.
We look forward to all that iscoming, and we appreciate your
insight into what we can expect.
So, here Carrie, thank you somuch.
Thank you for having me.
And we appreciate you joining usas well.
SPEAKER_01 (18:13):
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 walker.city.
Maiden Walker is the officialpodcast of the city of Walker,
Michigan.
(18:33):
You can find Maiden Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Maiden Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the stories,and the ideas shaping our
community.
From local innovators toeveryday change makers, we're
diving deep into what makesWalker a great place to live,
work, and grow.
Here's your host, NicoleDiDonato.
SPEAKER_00 (00:26):
Gary Carey entering his final year as mayor for the
city of Walker.
So we're looking back on whatall he's accomplished during his
tenure, but also what lies aheadfor his final year in office.
And regarding the final year inoffice, unlike your
predecessors, Rob Verhulan andMark Heisinger, you are not
electing to seek higher office,correct?
(00:46):
Nope.
SPEAKER_02 (00:47):
Just kind of like the in-laws sometimes when they
stay too long.
We want to uh uh make sure Ithink there's a shelf life.
And uh um quite frankly, the theprivilege and honor it spent
serving as mayor of the city isum i is without comparison.
And um it's it's not to diminishthe the need for, I think, good
uh uh good leadership at thestate and federal levels.
It just it's not something thatuh um is appealing at this time
(01:09):
because it's gonna be hard tomatch what uh we've all been
able to accomplish over theseyears.
So uh plus I think I have a wifeand family that wants their and
a day job business career thatwants their uh their their their
person back.
SPEAKER_00 (01:21):
So yeah, you fit a lot in.
So you've been serving the cityof Walker in some capacity since
2013, correct?
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
Um and actually, yes, even going back to 1999, I
started on my first committee uhwith the uh start on the
historical committee and uh verygrateful and I I probably don't
give her enough credit.
Uh uh we had her for a shorttime period uh as Mayor Barb
Holt at the time as a citycommissioner.
She had uh uh champion appointedme to the historical commission,
(01:48):
and uh um that really startedthings and was really passionate
about the local history.
And Walker is so rich in thatarea and the uh the families
that are still there.
Some of those are fourth, uh,you know, fourth generation, um
uh going back that far.
So it's been a been quite ajourney and then taking the
going from the appointed to theelected office in uh January
2013 when um then mayorVerheulen went to the State
(02:11):
House and just been a domino uhseries over the years of
different events that uh uh keepmoving you into a different
role.
SPEAKER_00 (02:18):
Sure, sure.
And 2019 came and that was whenMark Heisinger was elected into
the State House, and that's whenyou officially took over as
mayor.
SPEAKER_02 (02:25):
Yes.
Yep.
Definitely little did we know wehad about a good year under our
belt before the world got turnedupside down that following year.
SPEAKER_00 (02:31):
Yeah.
So what were you walking into atthat time?
It's probably hard for us toremember a life pre-COVID.
SPEAKER_02 (02:36):
Yeah, I think when you walk, think 2019, um,
fabulous leadership, and I justyou know, blessed with um when I
look at what um, you know, if uhRob for Healing did as mayor,
there would not be a bettermayor for the things that we
went through.
We went through some of theeconomic challenges, um, you
know, the loss, um, the thedarkest day in our city's
history losing uh uh Trevor Slotum, you know, in the line of
(02:58):
duty.
Um when we think of the thoseyears, I don't believe there's a
better leader to see us throughthat because he kept us right
down the middle of everything umand just was a very um um you
know, just balancing uh leaderfor uh for the community.
Um and then um we had parv inthere for a little while, and
then Mark came in, and that wasa time that we were starting to
(03:18):
come out of the economicdoldrums, the recession had
started to diminish.
And Mark and I both had businessuh backgrounds is more of that
entrepreneurial background, anduh just a lot of those uh
private sector traits andlessons learned were able to be
applied to that.
So he really got us started onthe catapult thing.
So, really what I inherited, andeach one of the mayors will tell
you the same thing, it wasrunning great when we got here.
(03:40):
Um, Rob went through some reallychallenging times in his 12
years serving as mayor, but whenI look at that time, I inherited
really something that wasn'tbroke.
There wasn't a need to come inand fix things.
We knew um we were gonna have toaddress some public safety
things as we were evolving as acity.
Um, we knew that we had shovelready land um in a large part of
the city on the north end, andwe knew that that could be a um
(04:03):
a really uh quantifiable ROI ifwe made some infrastructure
investments up there.
Um so I think it was it wasbroke, don't need to fix it, but
there's some things that wecould, you know, do from there.
And then uh, you know, gotthrough that first year and uh
learned a lot, you know, learneduh that proverbial where the uh
the bathroom was and the lightswitch was because uh you
learned how to not do things.
(04:25):
And uh um, you know, coming froma family and uh had some local
government involvement over thedecades, um, I thought I I knew
a lot and I really didn't knowas much as I thought when I got
in there.
SPEAKER_00 (04:35):
So it's probably something to say when a position
or folks teach you more aboutthat role as you're kind of
going through it.
You do learn a lot, bring a lotwith you.
Um, what about those umpriorities?
Uh kind of right from the start.
You said public safety, we'relooking at the infrastructure of
our now industrial park.
What were some of the thingsthat, if any, had changed
through your tenure?
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
You know, I I think when we look at the uh the
priorities, when we do the stateof the city every year, we stay
to the the stick to the the thefive pillars as I call them.
Um they're really not just mypriorities, they're the
community's priorities.
That it reflects um our job aselected officials is to
represent our community.
And um, one of the neat thingsis those five pillars really are
going to be probablytransferable from mayor to
(05:16):
mayor, city manager to citymanager.
Um, public safety is at the verytop.
We want we're a safe, welcomingcommunity.
Um we don't put up with a wholelot of nonsense um um with uh um
it's the it's sometimes it'ssmall ticky-tac stuff that
builds into bigger things.
Um so we really don't um acceptthat very well as a community.
Um we take a very proactive andvery um community uh presence on
(05:39):
the police side of things.
And you see our officers out inthe neighborhoods, not just
stopping by the lemonade stand,but actually talking with the
kids, asking about their schoolstuff and things like that.
People know each other.
And I think the fire has justbecome that same way.
And since we've gone to thatfull-time model, um it allows
them to be able to make moreconnections with the community.
And that just that juststrengthens strength strengthens
(06:00):
us all throughout uh thatprocess.
SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
Yes.
And um, you were mentioning justhow important also uh building
out that industrial park.
I mean, that is something a partof our city that when you came
into office, it was still prettyvacant land and now it is almost
built out six years later.
SPEAKER_02 (06:15):
It's crazy, but that it really it started um that
that started well over a decadeago.
And uh it you know, at one pointin time, what what is now
Rivertown Mall could have endedup where um um up where the
state police uh post is in theFedEx building.
And um, you know, the the FedExbuilding really, I think, was
that catalyst to start things uhum and it was a great uh
(06:35):
partnership.
Not many people know thatthere's a uh uh we leveraged the
city of Grand Rapids in a what'scalled a 425 district up there
that allowed us to build out theinfrastructure and make it
shovel ready for businessesorganizations to come in there.
But that that FedEx, so goingback to, I'd even say Mayor
Virhulin uh and Holt andHeisenka, I mean that it's these
things have built over time.
(06:56):
Um so really walking in andmaking sure that we maintained a
focus of pro-business.
Um, I love I you know I feellike the mayor has to be that
chief sales officer of the cityand the chief cheerleader.
Um, so I love getting involvedwhen we have prospective
businesses looking to come intothe community and they ask about
things like crime, uh the crimerates and the school uh
relationships, they ask abouthousing, and those are things
(07:18):
that that you're dealing with ona daily basis to be able to have
those conversations.
You you're able to sell thecity, you know, and tell them
really it it really this is umwhy you want to come here.
Um and not every business isgonna be the right fit for us
either.
SPEAKER_00 (07:32):
Yes, yeah.
Well, how do you translate tothe growth up there into just
the everyday lives of familieshere?
You know, how do you kind ofbring it down to that level, why
it's important that we diddevelop that area?
SPEAKER_02 (07:42):
Yeah, I when when I think of the development up
there, probably the best analogyI could give is um we have a car
that we're all riding intogether, a bus we're all riding
in together.
The gas that's gone into thatbus for us to be able to drive,
to ride together has been thatgrowth up there.
That tax base um impacts us inso many ways.
(08:03):
It's allowed us to hire moreofficers.
It's allowed us to go to afull-time fire department, kind
of made us, pushed us over thatledge that needing to do that.
Um, it's allowed us to makeinvestments into our parks and
trails.
Um, quite frankly, it's alsoallowed us to build out
infrastructure and makeconnections where there weren't
those before.
And um, so there's it just it'sum grateful to my predecessors,
(08:26):
really grateful to city staff,really grateful to our planning
commission at times, zoningboard of appeals.
Everybody's had a hand in thisprocess um in really bringing
this all together.
But uh that has been one of ourgreater success stories, I
think, over the last fewdecades.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Yeah, it certainly has.
A lot of partnerships there.
Um and now a lot of discussion,uh, you had mentioned just uh
briefly about housing, a lot ofdiscussion over housing as our
master plan kind of unfolds,looking for places to put more
people as folks want to move toWalker, West Michigan in
general.
It's not a Walker issue.
But um how have the commissionand you have been kind of
balancing what's appropriate forthe area?
SPEAKER_02 (09:01):
Um it's a delicate balance.
Um, you know, we're we're um youyou have a lot, um we don't have
as much of the not in mybackyard, the NIMBY movement
that uh you'll hear the termused at times.
We don't have as much of thatbecause I think people do
realize the houses that theylive in at some point in time
were new to an area and therewas older houses there that they
(09:21):
didn't want them going in there.
So it's kind of this dominoeffect over time that uh we we
all see it at some point in timein our um in our lifetimes in um
that that balance is we have tostay true to our master plan.
And really we've with our recentupdates to the master plan, we
have focused on balanced growth,um, a balance of um, you know,
(09:43):
uh single home ownership versusrental as well.
For a city made up the way weare financially, there is an
impact when we when we start totip too much on a rental side of
things, so that um there'sthere's a that financial impact
is something we're hyper awareof uh from a city perspective.
It's not that we don't want it,we've encouraged it um and we've
approved them where it's alignedwith the master plan and it it
(10:05):
it's keeps that communitycharacter.
Um, we'll do that, but we'rereally those single family homes
from a tax base perspective foragain for our city that might
not apply to othermunicipalities, is um we have to
be very strategic and how weapproach that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:18):
Yeah, it is a delicate balance as you had
mentioned.
SPEAKER_02 (10:21):
And there's always trade-offs with those too,
because it's um when you approveone thing, there's there's
there's always gonna be thatcounter effect.
And it could be a number ofdifferent things, you just don't
know what that is, and you haveto think strategically what is
this gonna happen what's thatcounter effect gonna be one
year, five years, ten years fromnow?
And we have to think of thosethings because once you start,
you really can't undo that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:41):
Absolutely.
And that's kind of what you'vealways uh been talking about as
we speak is just the streetstrategically playing chess, not
checkers, really having to thinkso far in advance.
Yeah.
Um yeah, kicking off the finalyear of your term, um, kind of
probably surreal to be herealready.
Um, what are you excited aboutinto 2026?
SPEAKER_02 (11:01):
Right now, I think the top of the list is the um
really focus.
It it's the priority is to stay,you know, stay the course.
The ship's sailing in the rightdirection.
I think we're going at the rightpace.
Um, believe, you know, we we umwe're gonna have some some
leadership, some successionplanning at the city this year.
Um, you know, we just the recentannouncement of our city manager
(11:21):
retiring at the end of February.
Uh Daryl's been a uh stabilizingforest for us, been a fantastic
city manager.
Um, that's a key role becausereally that's the day-to-day
operations of the city.
That's who's leading the city.
They set the culture within CityHall.
Um, they're the ones that reallyum um act as the uh um the voice
of the commission.
And the commission reallydoesn't need to be in there
(11:42):
during the day, or the mayor forthat matter, that this is really
that's the person leading it.
So that's a critical.
So succession planning is gonnabe a big, and we have some other
department heads that will seeretirements this year that are
um longtime members of the cityand have played critical roles.
They're they're gonna beimpossible shoes to fill, but we
have to find a way to fill themthe best we can.
Um, and then I I think the otherthing too is we have a lot of
(12:03):
turnovers at our city commissionthis year.
And we're really looking for thepeople that maybe are in
committees already and have hadsome semblance of serving and
know what policy and goodgovernance looks like, um, that
uh um maybe that they step intothose roles.
Um so that has me actuallyexcited, has me a little worried
too, make sure we get uh, youknow, the the people coming out
(12:24):
to the right priorities um andwanting to serve the community.
But then I think too this year,you're gonna hear a lot about
public safety as we get into thethe course of this year.
Um, you know, there's a numberof things, but I think at the
top of the list, uh the first ofOctober, we converted to a uh
made that transition to afull-time fire department.
We've wanted to do this for aperiod of time.
We hit that breaking point, weneeded to do it.
(12:46):
We have a tremendous lead inbringing uh Chief uh Schultz up
here uh into West Michigan, andhe has exceeded expectations at
every every uh um uh cornerwe've turned.
And um in going to thatfull-time department, you know,
it's like we we talk about thosetrade-offs.
Okay, our our residents andbusinesses have wanted full-time
fire, they've asked for it for along, long time.
(13:08):
We finally have it, okay.
Where do they sleep?
What happens when we havedifferent genders?
And we do, you know, so there'sso there's these these these
trade-offs that there comes withexpenses there.
Um, that um you just don't putyou know beds and room dividers.
We have temporary sleepingquarters right now because we're
figuring out what does this looklike and how are we gonna pay
for all this?
But the key thing is we have thebodies in there to do that.
(13:30):
And uh our fire departmentstarted to take more medicals um
and take that over from thepolice.
That frees the police departmentto up to do other things um that
are mission critical to their uhum um to their focus.
So um I'm excited about thatpiece, but probably get arms
around what's it gonna look liketo how do we pay for this um
long term and how do we putsomething in place that's
(13:51):
sustainable that allows us to beable to flex with the growth of
the community over time and uhreally uh uh solve the problems
and challenges that come up aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (14:01):
And it could be an exciting time for folks maybe
who are listening um that wantto step up into this role.
What types of people are youlooking for uh as leaders,
commissioners, things like that?
SPEAKER_02 (14:11):
Anybody.
It could be it could be abusiness person, it could be a
CEO of a company.
We have those living in ourcommunity.
It could be um, you know, aperson that's a stay-at-home
parent, um, uh male from itdoesn't matter.
I mean, that there there's somany traits that they can bring,
but but I I I believe thatlearning the walker way has been
getting onto a committee, um,learning how to um set
(14:34):
governance, policy making,understand the implications like
that that if we do this, this iswhat could happen down the road.
Understanding that, not justknee-jerk reactioning and and uh
um getting behind a fad, atrend, or some social issue.
We we stay out of that stuffbecause we understand those
long-term implications couldcould be very troubling down the
road.
So getting people involved sothey can understand that and
(14:56):
understand what it's like tocollaborate, problem solve
together, and uh uh go throughthat.
So we're looking for people toget involved with those
committees and commissions.
Um, we will find a spot for youif at all possible on most
committees um uh right now.
So um raise your hand.
I want it to be heard.
The city website's got all thelinks on there.
You've got all your electedofficial cell phone numbers
(15:17):
around there, reach out to themand ask them, hey, I'd be
interested in doing this,they'll help make the connection
for you.
SPEAKER_00 (15:22):
Yes.
We know a lot of people, youknow, may voice concerns and
such, and this is a great way todo it is to make change.
Um, and you were speaking ofpartnerships and boards.
Uh, you sit on quite a few (15:30):
the Rapid, um, the Zoo Borge on
Balzoo.
So we have a lot ofpartnerships, Grand Valley Metro
Council, all of these regionalpartners.
How important was that um inyour tenure?
SPEAKER_02 (15:41):
Absolutely critical.
Uh it it it's one of the thingsI learned from Mayor Verhuulin
and from Mayor Heisinger aswell, for their time that had be
involved, be present.
Um, you learn to collaborate andreally I would say biasedly, I
think we have some of thestrongest partnerships that we
do in the area because of that,because we're that involved with
things.
Um, it allows us to see not justthe microclimate of Walker, but
(16:03):
that macro climate of WestMichigan and beyond, and we can
all help one another withthings.
And uh so I I think that'smission critical.
I'm very proud of the successwe've had with um, you know, the
Metro Council's been gr, youknow, great and all their
support that they've had withour infrastructure projects,
amongst other things.
But then also um, I think of therapid, you know, for the first
time the last uh year or so wehave the first time ever we've
(16:26):
had dedicated routes for therapid in the city of Walker, not
just to pass-throughs, butdedicated to the city.
Um that's a pretty cool story aswell.
unknown (16:34):
Great.
SPEAKER_00 (16:34):
And uh talking about your legacy, you know, again,
I'm going back to that finalyear.
What is it that you want to toreally leave people, the
businesses, the um thepartnerships, the residents, our
city departments?
What what are you kind ofthinking?
SPEAKER_02 (16:48):
Um I I I look at it not as a personal legacy, it's a
community legacy.
Yeah um, not about uh any oneindividual.
Just it's this this is aboutwalkers, about community.
Uh we're the the the civility wehave with one another, the
ability to work together, theability to have a discussion
when we disagree on things.
It could be, you know, who's gota better basketball team this
(17:09):
winter, Michigan or MichiganState?
And right now I think Michigan'sleaning there a little bit, but
but but we can have thesediscussions and not get bent out
of shape about things.
And um so I think about legacy,we've been through the pandemic,
we've been through some of thesocial justice challenges that
uh that have impacted othercommunities.
Um, we have stayed right downthe middle.
That ability to be civil withone another.
(17:30):
We don't always have to agreethat that's okay.
I kind of like it that waybecause we do learn to conflict,
uh, you know, resolve things uhas needed.
Um, but um yeah, I think thatthe legacy is one more about
community until the next personis that baton gets past uh next
fall, is um they'll do fine,they won't mess it up, they'll
be fine because it's about thecommunity as a whole, it's not
(17:51):
about one individual.
SPEAKER_00 (17:53):
Yeah, I love that.
Uh just knowing that we can allreach common ground.
You've always kind of preachedabout that, whether you're up at
the commission, we'll all get toa final consensus.
Well, we still have plenty ofmonths with you still in 2026.
We look forward to all that iscoming, and we appreciate your
insight into what we can expect.
So, here Carrie, thank you somuch.
Thank you for having me.
And we appreciate you joining usas well.
SPEAKER_01 (18:13):
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 walker.city.
Maiden Walker is the officialpodcast of the city of Walker,
Michigan.
(18:33):
You can find Maiden Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
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