By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
“I am a man who likes to cross the t’s and dot the i’s,” said Kentwood Mayor Stephen Kepley as he watched the poll numbers roll in from the 2017 election results at his evening campaign headquaters at Kentwood’s Paris Cafe & Desserts.
By 8:30 p.m., Kepley had a secure lead of 3 to 1 to his challenger Scott Urbanowski. It was a lead that Kepley never relinquished with him winning his bid for a second term with 2,116 votes to Urbanowski’s 696.
“I am really excited about the next four years,”Kepley said. “I truly love serving the citizens. I love the city, the residents and the neighbors.”
Kepley said he believes it is a team effort of the city managers and department heads who have made the positive decisions to push the city forward and he is excited about seeing the “positive changes we can make in Kentwood” over the next four years.
“Ultimately, I did not convince enough people that Kentwood needed change in the Mayor’s Office and that I was in the best position to make that change,” Urbanowski said in a released statement. “Nevertheless, I’m grateful to everyone who voted, volunteered, or donated in support of this young person with no elected experience or establishment support.
“I am glad that I was able to spark conversations about issues that matter; to help boost interest in local government; and to get to know Kentwood and its people even better.”
Challenger Emily Bridson had to wait a little longer before celebrating her victory last night. Bridson held a 2-to-1 lead over incumbent Gerald DeMaagd for most of the night with her winning the 1st Ward City Commission seat with 890 votes to DeMaagd’s 451.
“I am really excited about this opportunity,” Bridson said from her campaign celebration at Peppino’s South. “I have met so many people and made a lot of new friends. I have a greater understanding of a lot of priorities from what they love about our city and what they would like to see changed. I am going to work on a strategic plan to address those changes.”
Bridson said she is very honored to have gone through this process. “I want to thank Jerry for his service,” Bridson said. “I am excited and looking forward to to working with Mayor Kepley and the commission.”
In statement released this morning, incumbent DeMaagd said:
“Emily Bridson has won the Kentwood 1st Ward City Commission seat by substantial margins. She conducted a textbook campaign, and executed well. She is smart, capable, and deserves the win based on her efforts.
“I think there is a further story here though, given the level of outside influence on both the mayoral and commission races which are officially non-partisan. The pre-election campaign reports filed with Kent County show that 53 of Bridson’s contributors were from other cities outside Kentwood, and only 5 from Kentwood (plus herself). Post-election campaign reports aren’t due until Dec. 7. Allegedly she was endorsed by the UAW (United Auto Workers), although she did not advertise it. On the other hand, the mayoral candidate, Scott Urbanowski’s campaign literature does state that he was ‘ENDORSED by the Kent County Democratic Party’.
“Although these actions are perfectly legal, it does show the amount of outside interest in what is essentially a local race.
“As a candidate, I received several calls from voters about my position relative to national issues. They say all politics is local… but I think that for Kentwood it’s actually the reverse: All local politics is now national!“
