Alpena Mayor Matt Waligora to Resign at End of 2023

Alpena Mayor Matt Waligora has spent the last 12 years serving the Alpena area. Once December 31st rolls around, he will pass that title on to someone new.

Waligora announced his resignation as mayor at the Alpena city council regular meeting on Monday evening, as his term was originally extended for a year, but this did not fit his timeline.

“When I have a plan and I’m in an exit, I kind of stuck to it,” said Waligora. I just really didn’t see a major purpose, I guess, for me to stay for another year if I intended on getting out now.”

Waligora said if he had stayed on for the extra year, he would finish some things he had been working on, but then would start new things he would not end up finishing.

In those 12 years, Waligora has experienced the ups and downs of being a mayor, but has appreciated every moment.

“It’s one of those things, but it has been quite a while,” he said. “When I look back at my first two years, that definitely seems like forever ago, and maybe part of that is because we’ve had such an incredible turnover with the city.”

In his resignation letter, Waligora mentioned the countless different people who he has served with over those 12 years. He says each of those people have made him better.

“It makes a huge difference;” he said. “I think it’s really important to network and know your community, your state level representatives, and federal level of representatives when you need them.”

Waligora is not sure what comes next, but he knows he will still be a part of Alpena.

“When I took this position, I didn’t really do it to fill a void that I was doing – and then you do it for so long, so who knows what I’ll feel like in January?” he said. “But I’ve got a lot of other interests that I’ll probably pursue.”

As of December 31st, 2023, Mayor Matt Waligora’s 12–year tenure as mayor of Alpena will come to an end.