Grand Rapids City Commission candidate Steve Tibbe wants to make a part-time role on the commission his full-time job.

Tibbe says that if elected to the vacant First Ward seat in November, he would make his work on the City Commission his full-time job. He even went so far as to say that he would forego a re-election campaign if it interfered with his work.

“I am totally content to be a one-term commissioner,” he said. “I want to work for the people. I don’t love running a campaign. Campaigns are expensive; they’re exhausting. It doesn’t make sense to me. I want to do good enough in my first term that I don’t have to run a big campaign if I get elected for a second term, but I’m very content to do a one-and-done.”

As a Grand Rapids native, Tibbe has been involved in community organization in the city for over a decade, while owning and operating a small business, working as development manager for GRNow and serving as the director of operations for Fans of Valley Field, a preservation group for a Westside baseball diamond. 

Tibbe’s campaign website lists housing, local business and community safety as key priorities. He said his long history of service makes him an ideal selection to join the commission.

“My biggest perk or selling point would be that I’m heavily involved in the community and I have been for over a decade,” he said. “All in all Grand Rapids is great, I love the city, I want to just continue my involvement. And I think this elected position is the next step.”

His desire to work full-time comes from a belief that the current City Commission is responsible for the “disenfranchisement of citizens” by not delivering action when residents demand results. This, he claimed, leads residents to “eventually check out” of local politics altogether.

Members of the commission are compensated as part-time workers, and starting in 2025 made a base salary of just $33,527. Because of this, most commission members have additional employment outside City Hall to make ends meet.

Currently, only First Ward Commissioner AliciaMarie Belchak works on the commission full-time, and is responsible for the entirety of her constituency due to a vacancy left unfilled by the commission. Former Commissioner Drew Robbins vacated that seat earlier this year in favor of a campaign to join the state House as a Republican. 

“I think there’s quite a bit of catching up that is going to be needed,” Tibbe said of the commission. “One of the reasons I believe I am the best candidate for this position is my involvement with the community over the past decade paired with my availability to show up more than a part-time position.”

Tibbe said he hopes to encourage cooperation on the commission and pointed to the stalled First Ward vacancy appointment process, for which he was a semi-finalist, as proof of division on the city’s legislative body. He said he hopes to work cooperatively with the commission, despite the fact that several of its members have publicly endorsed his opponent Lindsey Perez-Plescher.

“I think the commission is on a trajectory that needs to collaborate together so that they can get things done,” he said. “I know government is slow, but I think we need to speed it up and be a little more nimble and try some stuff because we’re growing at a fast rate.”

In the Aug. 4 primaries, Tibbe earned 24.1% of the vote, and Perez-Plescher received 59.6%. Although the City Commission is considered a nonpartisan role, the Kent County Democratic Party has endorsed Perez-Plescher, who uses the Democratic crowdfunding tool ActBlue to accept donations.

Perez-Plescher was a finalist for the First Ward vacancy and the commission had previously moved to appoint her to the seat, though that motion failed. She did not respond to a request for comment from The Grand Rapids Herald.

Write to jackson@grherald.com

This is part of a running series on candidates running for local office.