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November 1, 2012

Editorial: Wheelock for 4th District

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Newcomer Chandra Ross figured she would need to knock on 3,500 doors in Grand Traverse County's 4th County Board district to have a chance to unseat incumbent County Commissioner Addison Wheelock Jr. With two weeks to go she was just 1,000 houses short.

Wheelock said he has sent out some postcards, put up a few signs and spoken at a few meetings. But after 18 years on the Long Lake Township board and 14 more at the county level, he already knows a lot of those people, and a lot of them know him.

That knowledge — who he works for, what they expect and the practical limits of county government — has earned Addison Wheelock an eighth term on the county board.

Ross is a nearly lifelong resident who brings energy and smarts to the race, plus the accumulated wisdom of talking to hundreds of 4th District residents. She's wary of the proposed septage plant assessment and thinks the road commission gives west-side roads too low a priority. She calls herself a strict fiscal conservative.

Wheelock says the ongoing challenge is to determine what services the county can continue to do well. He thinks the county has to do more to get balanced geographic leadership on the road commission.

As to the proposed septage plant assessment, Wheelock says that while he doesn't favor it, he believes the plant is a public service and must be paid for.

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