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Rick Rafferty Runs for City Council

 

After finding out that only one candidate had applied for city council, Rick Rafferty and two other write–in candidates decided to run for a seat. WBKB sat down with Rafferty today to get to know the former police officer.

“I’m originally from near Cleveland, Ohio. I grew up there and went to the University of Toledo where I obtained a degree in criminal justice. I moved to the Grand Rapids area in 1995, and went to police academy there. I ended up being a police officer in Rockford, Michigan for near 10 years,” said Rafferty.

He says his involvement as a community police officer in Rockford gave him the experience with city government, which influenced him to consider running for city council.

“I worked with city council there in Rockford on several initiatives, including a business watch for business owners to get together and share crime prevention techniques, and also have a network in case there was a scam going on downtown they would all be involved. I also worked to develop youth programs and I just really enjoyed that,” he says.

As Rafferty described the main components of his campaign, he referenced the current two–way traffic issue as an example.

“I’m a leader who listens. This is just one thing that’s come up recently where there are questions if the city council is listening to the business owners and residents. I want to make sure that somebody gets on whose going to listen to the community and make time to explain to the community what’s going on.”

Two seats are on the ballot for the upcoming November election, including current councilman Shawn Sexton’s seat, as he is stepping down from the position, as well as councilwoman Cindy Johnson’s seat, who has filed for re–election. Join us next week as we meet the other two candidates running for city council.