Lansing NAACP Speaks Against Perceived Bias from Council

A representative from the Lansing NAACP branch spoke during public comment at the Tuesday (Jan. 16) East Lansing City Council meeting to express concerns about bias from some members of Council, particularly in the decision not to elect Dana Watson as mayor pro tem. Watson also shared some of the troubling experiences she has had and reflected on the current state of the Council and city.

The discussion-only meeting went on to feature presentations by city department heads about the 2024 priorities they’ve set for their respective departments. 

Lansing NAACP branch shows support for Dana Watson. 

During public comment, James McCurtis, the communications chair for the Lansing NAACP, spoke on behalf of the branch to condemn Council’s decision not to elect Watson as mayor pro tem. McCurtis was reading parts of a letter the branch wrote and sent to the city. 

“We feel like it was an injustice and a disservice for the Council not to appoint Dana Watson as the mayor pro tem given her experience,” McCurtis said. “The Council’s decision to ignore Ms. Watson’s resume screams that its commitment to diversity and inclusion only matters when it suits you.This experience illustrates how some people using government exercise their privilege regardless of a person of color’s expertise, commitment and service.”

McCurtis continued to say it appeared the city was making strides when it comes to diversity, fairness, equity and inclusion. However, snubbing Watson of the mayor pro tem position signaled a halt to that progress. 

“One can surmise that East Lansing city government is not welcoming of diversity or inclusion and does not wish to hear the voices of nearly 10% of those represented, people of color, in their city,” McCurtis said. “We are demanding that future Council elections have a process in place that will honor and embrace equity and inclusion.”

At the first meeting following the November City Council election, Council voted 3-2 in favor of naming newly elected Kerry Ebersole Singh mayor pro tem over Watson. Singh garnered votes from also newly elected Councilmembers Erik Altmann and Mark Meadows, along with her own vote. Watson was joined by Mayor George Brookover in opposition. 

The decision came despite Watson having served more than two years on Council, holding the position of mayor pro tem previously, serving on the city’s Planning Commission and Human Rights Commission, and having participated in the city’s Emerging Leaders Program. Singh works as the Executive Vice President and Chief Talent Solutions and Engagement Officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Prior to being elected, Singh had not served on any city boards or commissions. 

The discrepancy of experience was raised by some speakers at the meeting following Council’s vote in favor of Singh. They said they thought Watson deserved the position and passing her over was especially egregious when some candidates campaigned on institutional knowledge.

“During their campaigns, Erik Altmann and Mark Meadows ran on a platform focused on the importance of institutional knowledge,” Human Rights Commission Chair Karen Hoene said at the Nov. 28 meeting. “Dana Watson is the embodiment of institutional knowledge.”

During her public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, Watson read from a statement to address the situation and her feelings about the direction of Council. (See and hear Watson’s statement in the video from the meeting, beginning at the 20-minute mark.)

“It’s been a difficult time with this Council,” Watson said. “The very first day, their action was cited as being racist and I was the recipient of that. As a Black woman representing Generation X, I have experienced racism on multiple levels… In the workplace, personally, in the schools.

“Racism can happen on many levels,” Watson continued. “It can be interpersonal, personal, institutional and structural. It’s not always easy to pinpoint.

“But I’ve gathered my thoughts on the Council’s harm to me personally and the impression they’ve left on the community and I’ve been saddened and embarrassed for the community because actions like these that are left unchecked destroy the progress of the community,” she said. “A few people, including myself, wondered about our sense of belonging in the City of East Lansing.”

Watson also said she has had to reflect on being a feminist and the complex intersecting components of racial and gender discrimination. 

“I can’t separate that I’m a woman from that I’m a Black person,” she said. “Coming to terms with white feminism and what neutral feminism means, in comparison to mine, again has been something I’ve had to reflect on myself.”

Watson closed by highlighting past injustices within the city, like housing discrimination, and how Black residents and leaders are still working to close the equity gap. She also spoke about the importance of representation in a diverse community like East Lansing. 

“Racism can be covert and it can be overt,” Watson said. “Anti-racism is an action of yours that grows from your thoughts and shows in your decision making.

“My resilience is real and my voice and perception is here to stay.”

Singh briefly addressed Watson and Council’s vote to make her mayor pro tem in her comments. 

“I just want to say my door is going to continue to be open,” she said. “I think we’ve known each other in a different life… [I’d be] happy to have dialogue and a conversation, so you can maybe get to know more [about] what I’ve been involved in across my career.”

Singh also said she has a “door open to work on a variety of issues” and she reflects on each public comment shared at meetings. 

Department heads share priorities for the coming year. 

City department directors gave short presentations that shared priorities for 2024 and are part of a lengthier strategic planning effort in city government. This work will continue when Council reconvenes at 9 a.m. Saturday (Jan. 20) for a strategic planning work session. 

“This is kind of the foundation before Saturday’s strategic planning among the City Council,” City Manager Robert Belleman said before the presentations began. 

At the meeting, nine of the city’s 11 department heads presented, with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and Organizational Culture Director Elaine Hardy and Finance Director Penny Wright absent from the meeting. The pair will present to Council on Saturday, Belleman said. 

This report will cover the first three presentations: the City Clerk, Fire Department and Communications Department. The other six presentations will be covered in a later report. 

City Clerk

Clerk Marie Wicks gave the evening’s first presentation by running through the heavy election slate in the coming year. She outlined the four elections the city will hold this year: February’s Presidential Primary Election, the May election that will almost certainly decide a school millage renewal, the August primary election for county and state offices, and then finally the General Presidential Election in November. 

“We really don’t catch a break this year,” Wicks said. “The great thing is that we have the best team that I think I’ve ever worked with in this office.”

Wicks said she plans to promote early voting to reduce line lengths on election day. The clerk’s office will work with partners like the League of Women Voters, MSU Vote and Voters Not Politicians to reach Michigan State University (MSU) students. 

One strategy Wicks said the city will use when promoting early voting before the busy general election is to get away from the typical voting hours and use different hours during the 14-day early voting period. 

“I would like to have a fun evening where we start to vote at 6 o’clock in the evening and maybe conclude at midnight, and maybe do something fun with that,” Wicks said. 

Other priorities outlined by Wicks were digitizing records, implementing online business licensing and retaining department staff. The city also needs to figure out a succession plan for a new clerk, as Wicks said she would like to retire again at some point. However, she said she promised Belleman she would stay on board until “it’s time” and the “right people are in the right place.” 

“I just can’t sit by the sidelines anyways in this busy election year,” Wicks said. “You would’ve been stuck with me one way or the other.”

Wicks also said the city used to upload the election results right from the Hannah Community Center. However, a county requirement dictates that the memory devices containing results must be manually transported to a county facility. Wicks does not believe this change is for the better, as it now takes longer for results to get to the public and could carry security concerns. 

“In November, I drove those results down,” Wicks said. “I couldn’t get on 127, I had all the results in my car for the election. If some crazy person, you know, waylaid me or I hit a deer, and I saw one on the way back, that to me is the most unsecure way of doing things. Yes, we [still] have paper ballots.”

“We have two memory devices,” she continued. “I think we can upload and save a report, just so we have it, in case something happens.”

Wicks also said she’s asked for a sheriff’s deputy to transport the results or to receive a police escort. 

“That may be necessary in November,” Wicks said.

Communications Department

Communications Director Carrie Sampson presented on behalf of her department. Sampson said the city is looking to hire another communications specialist as well as an Emergency Management and Public Safety Communication Coordinator, which will be hired in partnership with the police and fire departments. 

Sampson said the department will hold stakeholder meetings with businesses, seniors, neighborhood presidents and more to get feedback on how to best communicate city news. 

The communications department will also coordinate media training for Council members, directors, administrators and others who frequently speak with media. 

The next priority outlined was to create generic social media announcements and run them on weekends and days without news releases. These announcements could cover board and commission meetings, departmental updates and more. 

Finally, Sampson said the city will start a series of one-minute videos to share city news. 

“It’s kind of based on the idea that there is a lot of popularity with TikTok and Instagram and Facebook Reels,” Sampson said. “People are watching things instead of reading content.”

Meadows said when he was first elected to serve on Council in 1995, there were around nine members of the communications team. Now on the city website, there are only two team members listed, Sampson and a graphic design assistant, with the department growing to three once the city hires a communications specialist.

“We were broadcasting our own television shows and posting commentary during elections,” Meadows said. “The budget got away from us as our budget went down.”

Meadows asked Sampson how many members would ideally be in the communications department, because he believes it’s a critical element of connecting with the community. 

“We’re lucky that we have a community paper that actually communicates because I don’t think the other news sources actually pay much attention to us,” Meadows said, referring to ELi. 

Sampson said adding the communications specialist is a great start and she would like to see how the department functions with the additional team member.

In response to a question from Singh, Sampson said what city communications would look like in her ideal world. 

“My dream would be to have everyone in the community signed up for our email newsletters and really excited about what they’re reading,” Sampson said. “People coming up to me in the grocery store saying ‘Hey, that was a great article.’”

Fire Department

East Lansing Fire Department (ELFD) Chief Dawn Carson was next to address Council. She started her presentation by saying the fire department’s Emergency Service Vehicles (EMS) will add ventilators to accommodate ventilator dependent patients. The new equipment will need to be installed and employees will need to be trained, but ELFD will become the first fire department in the metro area to have ventilators. 

Carson also hopes to improve ELFD recruitment by holding a fire camp for junior high and high school girls. The three-day camp, named “Camp Irons” will look to grow the number of women in the fire department, as only about 5% of staff is currently female. Around 20 participants will have the chance to try on fire gear, pull hoses, climb ladders, become CPR certified and more. (A similar camp was held in Lansing last August at the Lansing Fire Department (LFD) training tower and Lansing Community College (LCC).) 

The fire department is also working on two outreach programs. One program has ELFD employees installing fire detectors free of charge in East Lansing residences that need them. The other program is in collaboration with the East Lansing Police Department (ELPD) and educates city employees on how to respond to Active Violent Incidents (AVIs). This includes how to treat the injured, “Run-Hide-Fight” tactics and the development of a reunification center and procedure. 

Responding to a question from Altmann about call volumes, Carson said ELFD’s call volume was up about 1,000 runs relative to the last five years and is expected to continue to increase. She said more staff and another ambulance would help with the increased responsibilities. Carson said the reason for the trend isn’t clear, but it appears the department is getting more calls to assist seniors. 

ELi will be covering the other six presentations in a later report.