Elect Glenn Shepard

10/03/2026

With the passage of Ordinance 804, I'm glad the city will allow overnight on-street vehicle permit parking. Last year, after a conversation I had with one of our citizens, Michelle Roffe, I felt it was long overdue to bring this topic up in Council. Ms. Roffe had done quite a bit of research on this and I encouraged her to bring it up at a council meeting last September. At the same time, I spoke inividually with our City Manager and Mayor and promoted the idea. This is how local governing should work: Listen to the residents on issues that matter to them, encourage them to speak up at a Council meeting, then champion the cause on behalf of the resident in open debate. Some issues may succeed, many will fail. But as long as there is open dialog with facts and data, and honest discussion, we can make the improvements the city needs.

My one concern is how long this one item took to become an ordinance. This should have been decided on within four months of first discussion, but instead took one year. Too many items have been brought up within the last year that have no constructive purpose, such as the process for proclamations. Getting off track on irrelevant topics is not the City Manager's fault. He has consistently stayed on task, but has been requested to follow on trivial concerns and bogged down with councilmembers that seem confused on how to govern. I hope this council can improve and collaboratively work with administration with a positive attitude to better serve our citizens and pass useful legislation like overnight permit parking.

09/22/2026

I went to the streets affected by tree removal this morning. I counted 69 trees with markings for removal. And as I suspected, more than 88% of the trees are Norway maples. As I mentioned before, many of these should have been removed before this project started due to damage and blight.

But let's say we kept all of the trees. What would happen to them? Unfortunately, soil compaction from construction would damage the roots and create an irreversible spiral of decline in about 5 years, requiring the city to remove the trees anyway. I wish WDIV had also shown the condition of the road surface and reported on the risk to tree health from construction.

Once construction is complete, I plan on assisting city administration with appropriate tree selection and placement. No longer will we plant just one type of tree just because it was convenient at the time.

For reference:
https://site.extension.uga.edu/bartow/construction-damage-to-trees/?hl=en-US

https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/site-disturbance-and-tree-decline?hl=en-US

Construction and major landscape renovations can have a negative impact on existing trees, but the damage is often not immediately visible. We commonly see trees, in close proximity to the construction zone, die within five to seven years of building a new home.  In many cases, trees should be remo...

09/22/2026

I'm curious what the protocol was for marking trees for removal on the north end of town. Most of those trees are Norway maples, likely planted 40 years ago when the city bought Norway maples en masse and planted about 900 of them at one time.

Sadly, most of them have been victim of poor tree trimming over the past 30 years by contractors following an outdated, and misguided city tree trimming guide. That guide has since been revised to prevent poor trimming which compromised the health of Norway maples. But the damage was already done. For some reason, these trees were trimmed upwards of 20-25 feet to resemble the shape of elms. The problem is, they're not elms, they're Norway maples, and have a very broad and low branched canopy.

In my opinion, any tree that was compromised by poor trimming should immediately be removed. One other thing to consider is many of these trees will not survive the extent of construction and soil disturbance during infrastructure replacement. They will likely suffer decline and ultimately fail, but take several years to do so. It may just be best to remove them now, and replace them with new, more appropriate different species of trees that will rapidly grow once planted.

07/16/2026

Stay safe everyone from the smoke. Please don't blame our Canadian neighbors. 😄

Here's a quick guide for levels of air quality:
air-quality-guide-for-particle-pollution.pdf

07/12/2026

I see a lot of emotional reaction to the potential that Clawson voters may actually approve the sale of Renshaw Apartments. If the measure passes in November, the voters of Clawson will be fiscally prudent. The sale will not be immediate as some would like to project. In fact, it might not even happen.

Let's look at the numbers on why selling Renshaw is a good idea. Renshaw consists of 15 units, each approximately 600 square feet with one bedroom. The current rent collected totals about $88,000 annually. A budget of $400,000 exists to maintain the day-to-day operating expenses of the building. Currently, two apartments need renovation at the cost of $73,000 each, costing more than a third of the $400k. Keep in mind, the $146,000 benefits just two residents, who pay $490 a month. In addition, the property is valued at $1.5M if put on the market.

We currently have a Parks and Rec Master Plan that will require the city to address the condition of Hunter Community Center. In addition, our athletic fields, used by our High School and Middle School kids, are in need of updating. The question becomes: what is our priority as a community? Do we set aside approximately $2M and spend hundreds of thousands of additional dollars in repairs solely for the benefit of fifteen residents, with additional refurbishment costs that will increase over the next 10 years? Or do we allocate those funds elsewhere and invest in the other 2,000 seniors not living at Renshaw with new senior amenities, and in our youth with the appropriate athletic playing fields our children deserve? I think the choice is clear.

07/06/2026

Vote NO August 4th on the countywide millage enhancement. We are currently benefiting from the recent millages raised to improve our campus buildings and assets. But supporting our schools with these millages was our choice, not someone else's from another school district. If this passes, it will set a bad precedent for larger school districts to lean into the pockets of taxpayers in communities other than their own. It will also be hard for the city to raise money specific for Clawson projects if the need arises. Vote NO August 4th.

07/04/2026

Happy Independence Day! Clawson always celebrates the 4th better than anyone.

06/09/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17HrxGKqT8/

05/21/2026

Coulter and Woodward need to give the community administrators what they need to run their governments.
https://www.facebook.com/share/18qj9ELMWN/

The 7 Investigators were the first to tell you about the fight for transparency by one local leader who says Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter and his administration are refusing to give his township key information.

STORY: https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/oakland-county-leaders-under-fire-more-township-officials-join-fight-for-transparency

05/11/2026

Just curious who read the rationale by Ms. Peltonen on why she voted against the Flock contract renewal? Wondering what your thoughts were? How do you feel about her suggestion of an uncertified 24 hour surveillance camera on top of Clawson Manor?