The Village of Empire hosted a candidates night at Johnson Park Pavilion Tuesday.
All candidates running for the village council election in November were asked to provide an opening statement along with answers to the same questions throughout the two-hour event. Topics range from their vision of Empire to short-term rentals (STR) to waste water management to name a few.
Candidates for village president include incumbent Sue Palmer and challenger Dan Davis, to serve the village of 375 people.
Candidates for village council include Soni Alysworth, Maggie Bacon, Linda Chase, Andrew Clements, Theresa Howes, Jessica Shelton, and Ella Skrocki.
Palmer, who moved to the area in 2014, defeated Davis in the 2022 election.
“It’s critical to remember that learning and growth are essential to progress. Addressing these (building) vacancies, promoting economic development and ensuring housing options for young families are vital steps in shaping the vibrant future,” Palmer said.
Palmer won the majority vote in 2022 with 172 compared to Davis’ 132 votes.
Davis will be looking to regain his seat after losing the write-in campaign that hindered him because of a filing error.
Davis has been involved in Empire politics for nearly two decades and served as president for two years.
“The reason I’m running is because a lot of the residents have urged me to run. I originally wasn’t going to, I thought I’d served enough. I changed my mind. The biggest reason I’m running is because I love Empire,” Davis said.
The forum had nearly all attendees besides council contender Sonni Alysworth, who could not make it because of his commitment to coaching football at Glen Lake.
“I started the first STR committee trying to preserve the village ... The fact of the matter is the village is No. 1,” Alysworth said. “I apologize for not being able to make it. I’m coaching football. It’s all volunteer work and I made the commitment and I’m following through just like I did for the village previously.”
Alysworth was previously on the board for six years in the 2010s.
Maggie Bacon is striving for another term on the council after dedicating much of her professional life to education and data science as she continues to work with students. She mentioned her focus on the new master plan being a road map for the future of the village.
“Our residents want Empire to grow in ways that make sense for Empire, which may be a little out of the box, may be more visionary and forward-thinking,” she said.
Linda Chase, who grew up in Empire as Linda Deering, is vying to keep her spot on the council since she was elected four years ago.
“It’s in the blood … my brother, my sister-in-law, my other brother, my dad it seems like everybody was working some part of the village, whether it’s council, or helping the village with other tasks,” Chase said.
Ella Sckrocki, the youngest competitor in the race, has been living in Empire since she was 7-years-old. She owns Sleeping Bear Surf, located across the street from Joe Friendly’s.
“That gives me an incredible opportunity to learn and listen to not only village residents, but visitors and seasonal residents who all love, care and appreciate this village so very deeply as I do,” Sckrocki said. “I keep coming to a sense of devotion (for why I’m running).”
Andrew Clement came to the area 13 years ago with an extensive background in graphic design.
“Design is about finding the best solutions, about asking questions and working with others, generating ideas and testing those ideas. It’s fun and creative and provides solutions,” he said. “I like Empire as it is but change is inevitable. It’s coming. We need to be ready for it. We need to be flexible and creative and we need to work together to handle it.”
Jessica Shelton has been in Empire for three years and is running because of her love of the village.
“I moved here as a way to be in a community with people who love nature and want to protect and support this beautiful village that you guys have built so well so far. My background is in design and design thinking really brings a lot of different viewpoints, advantages together to try to find the best solutions using creative and sometimes unconventional terms,” Shelton said. “My hopes for the council are to encourage cooperation and growth and the engagement within the community that we already have. I hope for continued economic development.”
Theresa Howes has lived in Empire since 2005 and has served as a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China. She spent her career as an economist, working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Commerce Department Office as a U.S. trade representative.
“I spent my career bringing diverse groups of people, countries, congress, public industry groups together to support solutions that would resolve complicated or very contentious issues to get everybody on the same page and do what was best for as many people as possible. That is what I’d like to do here in Empire,” she said.
