Eric Bartkus Lowell City Council

The residents and businesses in Lowell are very fortunate to have outstanding individuals serving us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The more I talk with Chief Hurst the more I am impressed with his dedication and leadership. The Chief routinely works the night shift due to staffing issues. His team has always been helpful when I called. Detective Aubrey Culver was instrumental for suggesting the license plate cameras to help during Amber alerts. I hope they are never used but appreciate having them. The entire police force is to be honored.

A number of people have asked me about the money spent on police. Currently 25% of the Lowell general fund is spent on police which is exactly the same as Allegan, a similar city with a lot more money. St. Joseph is at 33%, Portland 32% and Ionia 45% (police and fire). I know that Chief Hurst is very careful with his budget, including buying used vehicles when new was an option. He (and the DDA) have recently purchased improved body cameras, Tasers and Flock cameras for Amber alerts. This is all money well spent.

Regarding having a dedicated police force, I lived in the township for 23 years and my 911 calls to the Sheriff sometimes took 20 to 30 minutes. My calls to Lowell took less than 4 minutes. The Kent County Sheriff average response time for Cascade township in the fall 2022 was 22 min 50 seconds. (source Cascade twp website). Lowell would be longer coming from the Ball street HQ. I do not support contracting police services to the county. I really appreciate having a dedicated, well-trained police force on call. I fully support the LPD.

Regarding the Fire Department and First Responders, Chief Witherell and the entire team at the fire department are top notch professionals that help people in the worst of times. It is a special person that runs to fires and accidents to help those in need. They are to be honored!

I was in the back seat of a serious car accident when I was 15 and had my legs crushed. The fire department had to use the jaws of life to free me from the car. I would have died if there had been delays. Firefighters Charles Putney and Daniel Rybiski showed me the department’s state of the art jaws of life at the Riverwalk festival. I am very thankful that so many fine dedicated people desire to serve us, are well-trained and have good equipment.

Your city tax dollar pays for 1/3 of the fire department (Lowell and Vergennes township the other 2/3’s) and it is money well spent. I fully support the Lowell Fire and Emergency Services Authority!

Last but not least, our city staff do a fantastic job keeping the city running well. We are fortunate to have long-time dedicated employees Sue Olin (Treasurer 30+years), Sue Ullery (Clerk 26 years), Lori Gerard (Assistant Treasurer 24 years), Amy Brown (Deputy Clerk) and Mike Burns (Manager 8 years) in the office. They have always been very helpful to me. All of the staff at the Public Works, Cemetery and Water Plants are equally hard working and dedicated to the city. I worked in water treatment at Amway for six years but still learned a lot about water from a 20 minute talk with Ralph Brecken! I don’t know all of the city staff but it is clear to me that they provide many great services cheerfully and are careful with our tax dollars. I promise to always support and honor our Police, Fire and City Workers. Eric B