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Decaturish invited candidates and their supporters to submit letters to the editor in advance of the Nov. 7 municipal election. This letter was submitted after our deadline.

Dear Decaturish,

I am writing this letter in support of Dr. Charles Jenkins and Mark Perkins for Clarkston City Council in this year’s election.

Several members of the current city council have no interest in governing or leading this city, as proven by the recent events surrounding former City Manager Shawanna Qawiy. They sat by and did nothing as she created and fostered a toxic work environment for City Hall and our Police Department while also completely mismanaging her job. It was only after local news outlets (led by Decaturish) started publicizing these facts and several police officers and other residents expressed their outrage at council meetings that the council finally took action.

Clarkston’s Police Department is now on the road to recovery. While that was the most glaring example of how some of our current council and mayor dropped the leadership ball, it certainly wasn’t an isolated incident. The expenditure of over $100,000 of taxpayer dollars on a consultant for a zoning rewrite that was almost completely ignored, and the disrepair of infrastructure such as surveillance cameras, are only two further examples of why we need new leadership.

Dr. Charles Jenkins and Mark Perkins are both uniquely qualified to help turn our city around and restore it to a time not that long ago when we were publicly praised for our progressive policies, not ridiculed for incompetence. Dr. Jenkins’ experience as a psychologist will shine a light on the mental health needs of our diverse community, and Mark Perkins has previous experience on the council, where he proved his skills as a collaborative problem solver. This is why I am voting for Dr. Charles Jenkins and Mark Perkins for Clarkston City Council.

— Rich Pasenow, Clarkston

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