Today, November 4th, is election day. Students have school off, and everyone over eighteen has the chance to vote.
There are five people running for the Fraser City Council: Matthew Dantes, Crystal Fletcher, George-Michael Higgins, Lora Michael, and Patrick O’Dell.
The five of them have been campaigning to get their names out into the community and encourage Fraser citizens to vote for them.
Three of these individuals took their campaigns to Fraser’s annual Trunk or Treat at Ram’s Horn on the Saturday before Halloween. Patrick O’Dell, George-Micheal Higgins, and Crystal Fletcher dressed up to pass out candy and connect with the citizens of Fraser to encourage their support.
“I pride on myself being very accessible to talking to people. I like to talk to people,” Patrick O’Dell said. “It’s probably one of the most important things as a council person. You need to be accessible and listen to your residents because they’ll tell you what they want.”
O’Dell is the current mayor pro tempore. He is running because he wants to continue to make Fraser a better place. Throughout his past four years on council, he has been trying to make improvements, like working on the McKinley Barrier Free Park. He believes his work is not done; he is running again to continue his improvement mission.
George-Michael Higgins, while never being on council, has attended meetings regularly for a year or two. He is running for council because of his involvement in the city, and because he has lived in Fraser for years. “I feel like I have a stake in the city,” he said.
“I think it’s nice to be present and being out and talking to people, because you get to hear a lot of what’s on their minds, with the city, what’s going on with the local roads and the neighborhoods and the water bills, or you know, what’s going on with the school district,” Higgins said. “That’s all very important, to hear from the people directly.”
Crystal Fletcher agrees. “It’s one of the biggest things. Your job as city council is to represent your community. I want people to ask me about things… I’m one of those people that love to give back. I definitely think that that’s going to be important as a representative on city council,” she said.
Fletcher has lived in Fraser her entire life. She wants to get more involved in her community. Her biggest goals on council involve taking care of the plumbing and electrical problems and improving Fraser’s downtown center. Fletcher also has a couple of interesting projects in mind, like a dog park where dogs can be free to go off leash. She wants to help her community and give back.
All of these connections and campaign efforts paid off for Fletcher, Higgins, and O’Dell. Citizens were allowed to vote for the top three candidates, and final results show that the three of them were successful. The city of Fraser has now elected these candidates for the next term on City Council.
