MERLE HARMON running for Road Commissioner

Clare County residents are CUSTOMERS of the Clare County Road Commission not TAXPAYERS. That is and will continue to be my philosophy if elected as your 6-year term Clare County Road Commissioner.

Earlier this year, the county commissioners voted to change the Road Commission board from a 3-person to a 5-person board. I was selected from 14 candidates to one of those additional 2 members.

I have been a Clare County resident for 46 years, married to my beautiful wife, Jeanette, for 28 years and have two awesome daughters, Makenzie and Malorie.

I grew up in the quaint little town of Lake George where my parents (Fred and Carol Harmon) started a trash business with a pickup truck in 1974 known as Lincoln Sanitation. I worked with my parents until 1988 and then worked for Waste Management as V.P. of sales and marketing and then V.P. of operations before purchasing the family business in 2002 from my parents. Jeanette and I sold the company in 2014. These experiences taught me so much about customer satisfaction and the meeting with individual residents, commercial, industrial, and municipal officials. Just like an owner of any business, it requires many skill sets such as budgeting, forecasting, human resources, sales and most important; managing employees to assure that they share your vision along with providing excellent service to all tax payers CUSTOMERS.

Other reasons to vote for me include my experiences as a Lincoln Township Planning Commission chairman, Lincoln Township firefighter and the Township fire commissioner. Additionally, I am fortunate to have received recent written endorsements from municipal officials from the townships of Grant, Greenwood, Lincoln, Hatton and Sheridan, as well as the City of Harrison. I am also very proud to be endorsed by the Farm Bureau of Clare County.

In 2016, I approached the Grant Township Board to ask them for their support to form a committee to include a road millage on the ballot for improving the roads in the township. These efforts proved successful and the millage passed by a large margin.

For the past three years, I have been working in business development at Fair Salvage and Fair Waste Services which includes traveling throughout 24 counties. These travels have allowed me to appreciate the roads in Clare County and how they compare to other counties. Overall, we have very good roads and with your support, I am committed to working extremely hard with the other municipalities, commissioners, and road commission staff to improve them to the extent Road Commission budget will allow.

Please support me with your vote in the upcoming elections on Aug. 4 and Nov. 3. I will work extremely hard for every taxpayer CUSTOMER in Clare County to make a positive difference in your experience and perception of the road commission. Due to my appointment to the Clare County Road Commission Board, I am available to you until Dec. 31, regardless of the election results. Please feel free to contact me for any reason via email at ClareCountyRoads@gmail.com.

THANK YOU in advance for your most appreciated support in the primary and regular elections.