Name: Kathy Greaves

Age: 61

Address: 55335 S. Thompson Lane, Three Rivers 49093

Occupation: Nutrition Scientist

Incumbent: No

Family (optional): Son 25y

How long have you resided in the area you seek to represent? 1 yr

Why are you seeking the position of County Commissioner 2nd District?

• I grew up in a farming community. I’ve lived in communities that have been successful and thriving. I’ve lived in communities where people haven’t been able to get ahead. I believe local government has a role to play in helping their citizens to thrive and be successful. With budget cuts and increases in taxes and fees here in St. Joseph County over the last 4 years, I felt that it was my responsibility to step up and do what I can to make a difference.  
• I’m not a lawyer or a politician but I am a part of this community and I see where I can make a difference in St. Joseph County where others may have not succeeded and where COVID-19 has taken a toll. We need to make sure our farmers come back strong. We need to get our small businesses back up and running. The people of St. Joseph County are strong and resilient and we persevere. We can do this, not on the backs of the community but with grants and funding from outside the community; from state, local, federal, and nonprofit agencies. 

What is the role of a County Commissioner 2nd District, and why are you uniquely qualified to fill that role?

• The job of County Commissioner is to set policy, provide oversight and make sure you get the services you and your family need. The first job is setting policy which basically means making sure the budget is spent wisely on those people working to provide you services, on maintaining buildings and roads, and on making sure you’re getting the county services you need and deserve. Oversight, the Commission’s second function, basically means looking over the shoulder of those who are providing you services and programs to be sure they are provided in the most effective and efficient manner. And the third function, providing you those services, means that I will represent you and make sure those county services are working for you and for your family. 
• My plan is to grow the county, not shrink it and certainly not continue to squeeze our townships. I have significant experience writing and winning grant funding for both my education and my son’s church youth program. I will bring a different and fresh perspective to the conversation. I bring this experience to the Commission so we can figure out how to break through the system of letting roads and bridges fall into disrepair, cutting programs, and increasing taxes and fees. We don’t have to just use your tax dollars. We can look outside of the county for grants to fund our projects. I know our famers and small businesses need help and we need to find innovative ways to get money flowing into this county.

Are you familiar with the poverty rate in the district where you are running for office?

• Almost 16% of St. Joseph County residents live in poverty, with 18-34 year old women and kids under 5 years old being at greatest risk. In fact, 25% of children are living in poverty in this county. This is higher than both the state of Michigan and the national average. We also know that the pandemic has kicked the stool out from under many people who were just getting by. We have an obligation to help bring our people out of poverty.

Why do you think people are poor?

• There are a number of factors that contribute to poverty in this country and often keep families from being able to emerge from poverty. Many of these are systemic or “baked” into our economic system. Below are just a few of those factors.
• Job availability and low wages: With high unemployment rates and companies not hiring and/or letting people go, there is little opportunity to find work. Many jobs that are available don’t pay a living wage, one that allows a person to cover their living expenses at 40 hours a week. Folks with no, or a limited income (because of working for a low wage job) still need to pay bills. They still need to pay the rent or house payment and pay for food, utilities and other bills. These expenses, put on credit cards and paid with by loans, create an even greater financial burden on the family with no opportunity to catch up. If an unexpected expense arises, it can break the back of a family who had been just breaking even.
• Education: High school graduation and the number of years of additional education is directly related to a person’s economic security. Also, K-12 is funded by the neighborhood tax base. In poor neighborhoods, tax dollars aren’t available to support books and supplies, technology, school sports or even the salaries of teachers and support staff. Hence, each succeeding generation replaces the one before it without allowing for upward mobility or the ability to escape from poverty.
• Gender: Kids under the age of 18 and families headed by single women are at greatest risk of living in poverty. Historically, and even today, women earn less than men for the same work. Women also have higher hurdles to overcome for advancement in their careers than men.
• Race: Blacks and Latinos are at greater risk than whites and Asians to find themselves living in poverty. They earn lower wages than their white counterparts and again, have higher hurdles to overcome for advancement just because of the color of their skin.
• Health: Health is strongly related to income with poor people generally having a higher mortality rate, a higher prevalence of acute or chronic diseases and more emotional and behavioral stressors. Infant mortality, lead poisoning in children, diabetes & hypertension in adults, and racial disparity in our healthcare system all lead to poorer outcomes with sickness and disease. Lack of affordable health insurance, healthcare and medications, and the systematic dismantling of ACA also make it more difficult for those who are poor to stay healthy or keep their family healthy. Add to that the availability, expense and quality of healthy foods in poor neighborhoods and the lack of high quality, affordable childcare and the hurdles are sometimes far too difficult to overcome.

What does the County Commissioner 2nd District do right, and how do you intend to maintain or expand this?

• I believe that the current County Commissioners want St. Joseph County to be a great place to live, work and play. Where we might disagree is how to get there. I ask you to read my responses to Why I’m Seeking the Position and Why I’m Qualified as well as the many questions that follow this one to see where I intend to improve and expand our county.

What could the County Commissioner 2nd District do better, and how do you intend to facilitate this happening?

• Again, I ask you to read my responses to the many questions above such as Why I’m Seeking the Position and Why I’m Qualified and those that follow to see where I intend to improve and expand our county.

What is your position on the Black Lives Matter Movement?

• Our country was built on civil disobedience. We fought to overthrow tyranny and the unjust treatment of many by a few. From the tea party to the end of slavery, giving women the right to vote, and giving Blacks the right to vote as well as their rights as citizens of this great country. We have now come to another breaking point in our nation’s history because our work to keep our constitution true to its word is not yet done. I believe the BLM Movement is a way to bring a clear message to this country that systemic racism must end, and we all have a role to play in ending it.

What do you think are the central issues behind the Black Lives Matter Movement?

• The BLM Movement advocates for non-violent civil disobedience to protest police brutality and racially motivated violence against Black people. The Movement also brings attention to the elements of systematic racism within our society. Blacks and other people of color show up in life at a disadvantage when standing next to someone who is white. The color of a person’s skin creates an immediate (sub)conscious reaction that generally puts them at an immediate disadvantage. The term “Black Lives Matter” is often misunderstood to mean that your life is not as important as a Black person’s life. We’ve heard the analogy that when firetrucks are called to a neighborhood house fire, they don’t spray water on all the houses but the one that is on fire. When, for example Blacks are twice as likely to be killed by police than whites and white officers are three times as likely as black officers to use a gun in a black neighborhood, there is a house on fire and we need to focus on putting that fire out.

What is your position on police reform?

• The police and sheriff departments spend most of their time responding to 911 calls. These calls vary from violent crime to giving out speeding tickets. It has been said that police work is a “bundle of services” with very little of it involving violent crime. In fact, in most towns, less than five percent of police/sheriff responses are for violent crimes, while one third of calls are for non-criminal events such as traffic (~15%), property crime (~15%) and medical (8%). The proportion of responses in a community differ depending on the characteristic of the city, e.g. rural/urban, size, demographic makeup, etc. 
• We are asking our police and sheriff communities to respond to situations that don’t require their expertise. In fact, they’re being overworked. They are being asked to respond to situations in which other skills may be a better fit. For example, we might want mental health experts to respond to people in stress or who are homeless, whereas the police or sheriff departments are more equipped to respond to violent crime or major traffic accidents. Two questions being asked that could guide reform are ‘What situations are we asking our police and sheriff’s department to respond to?’ and ‘Which of these situations require armed police response and which can be responded to by people with skills more specialized to deal with the situation?’ We don’t need to over-tax our police and sheriff personnel. We need to find the right people for the jobs that need to be done. Sometimes that means having the sheriff on site and sometimes it means having a mental health expert to respond to a person in distress or a traffic controller to direct traffic around an accident or construction.

What is your take on the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

• We have people in our community that are vulnerable…our elderly residents, those with weak immune systems, those with illness and disease that put them at risk for easily becoming ill when the rest of us are strong enough to resist illness. This virus is one that we can’t see. It spreads silently and the result of catching it varies greatly. Your son or daughter may not have even known he/she had it. Your husband or wife may become sick, similar to the flu and recover after a couple of weeks. You may become very sick, end up in the hospital and find that you have heart and lung conditions that last the rest of your lifetime. Your elderly mom or dad may die. It strikes people differently and we can’t predict how it will affect you personally. We also can’t see this virus so we don’t know if the person standing next to us in the store has it or not. 
• The easiest way to prevent the spread is to wear a mask. It’s not comfortable. It’s not cute or may even make you seem weak. But, if we think of it as giving us the freedom to walk around our community without the fear of bringing something home to our family or parents that may have lifelong consequences both with our health and financially, we could see it differently. Beating this thing is about making sure it doesn’t catch a ride with any one of us to infect our family, friends and others in our community.
• I’m afraid that our US government didn’t respond to the severity of this situation quickly enough and with the seriousness that it deserves. Our government can direct big business to make enough testing equipment, PPE and medical equipment to meet the needs of the entire country. Only the national government can coordinate the responses in such a way that equipment and personnel can be deployed to those communities that are hardest hit. They have done neither of these things. They now take care of themselves by testing everyone who they will come in contact with and by isolating from the rest of the world but they don’t do the same for the rest of us. It’s easy to not wear a mask when you live in a bubble knowing that everyone you meet has already been tested and immediately knows if they are virus-free or not. It’s not always easy for us to get a test. It also sometimes takes days to get results back. What do you do to keep from putting your family and friends at risk during that time between testing and results? It’s also not fair that we are asked to show our political spirit by not wearing a mask and putting our health and the health of our families at risk, especially because we don’t know who in our daily lives may have the virus. 

What is your take on the COVID-19 response in your district?

• The county emergency manager and health department have done their best to keep the community engaged and educated with the resources they have available to them. I applaud their efforts.

Do you support increased pandemic testing and tracing measures?

• I do support increased COVID-19 testing and tracing with testing measures that provide immediate feedback. What this means is that we know immediately if someone has or had COVID-19. For those who have the virus, we will be able to find out who they were in contact with and let those people know about their risk, get them tested and keep the virus from spreading to others in our community. The sooner a person knows when they have the virus, the more quickly they can get medical care to reduce the possibility of severe consequences and also immediately shut down the spread to friends and family at risk for severe illness or death.

What will be your response to the climbing rate of jobless claims?

• We need to get people back to work who have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 crisis and who have been chronically unemployed or under-employed. We need to also pay people a living wage; a wage in which they work 40 hours a week and can pay their bills, and have extra left over for emergency situations or to enjoy things like dinner out or even a yearly vacation.
• The state and national governments need to step up and take responsibility for their parts. The state can’t continue cutting community budgets and expect us to grow jobs and money out behind the courthouse. Big business, especially those who have recently accepted a bailout from the national government, need to be responsible for keeping our citizens employed and for paying them a living wage. 

What do you think are your prospective constituents’ biggest everyday challenges?

• The economy
• Healthcare
• Local infrastructure
• The worsening of these challenges with the spread of COVID-19

What measures will you work to put in place to address those challenges?

• First, we must get COVID-19 under control in this county, and particularly in the Sturgis community. The spread of the virus will end up shutting down our community, including our schools and college, stores and restaurants, and local services and programs. We cannot let this virus beat us! What that means is doing what it takes to stop the spread, which is as simple as wearing a mask when we’re in indoor public spaces.
• The economy: 
  • Taxes and fees are going up while programs and services are being cut.
  • I will work to expand the 131 corridor of shops/restaurants/services to bring jobs and money into our county.
  • I will use my grant winning experience to work to develop funding opportunities with federal, state, local and nonprofit partnerships/grants.
  • I will work with townships to create a county-wide tourism strategy to draw visitors into our county and potentially give each township the ability to create its own unique adventure. Developing a tourism economy can help to turn around our economy. 
• Healthcare:
  • There are many who live in St. Joseph County who don’t trust the medical care they receive at our local hospitals and clinics.
  • I will work with local health care facilities and boards to better understand the concerns of our citizens. This will allow us to reduce the need for ambulance trips to local hospitals other than our own and keep our local hospitals and care facilities working effectively and efficiently.
• Local infrastructure:
  • In St. Joseph County 10 bridges are rated “Poor”, including The Covered Bridge. The Portage Plant Dam is also rated in “Poor” Condition and as having “High” Downstream Hazard Potential.
  • I will work to keep roads, bridges and dams well maintained rather than waiting for an emergency by developing and enforcing a “Dam and Bridge Upkeep Plan”.
  • I will also work to be sure everyone who wants and needs home broadband internet has it. With kids having to do classes from home and many employees having to set up shop at home, access is more important than ever.

With public revenues already significantly impacted by COVID-19 and the economy, how will you address cashflow problems for the public bodies in your district and under your watch?

• I’ve reviewed the 2020 budget that has been made publicly available and I don’t see that any departments have extra resources to be cut without impacting services to our community. 
• We will need to apply for funding grants from state, local, federal and non-profit agencies to match and improve the funds we currently have available in our budget. I have experience writing and will use those skills to keep our county funded.

What is your favorite thing about the district in which you are running?

• The people. St. Joseph County is filled with warm, friendly people who treat you like family.
• The amazing environment that we live in, from lakes and rivers to forests and parks to vast farmlands. Many have to drive to get there, we just have to walk out our front doors.
• The easy going, relaxed atmosphere of our restaurants, stores and services. And that takes me back to the first reason why I love St. Joseph County.
• I love riding my bikes…both my bicycle and my motorcycle. I love to get out on the water with my kayak. On the weekends and evenings you can find me out doing something on our land, whether it’s working in the garden, blazing a trail or just clearing another patch of poison ivy.

What else would you like us to know about you?

• My commitments to you: 
  • I will LISTEN to you
  • I will make our county budget work BETTER for you!
  • I will get you the services you need and DESERVE!
• I am committed to transparency:
  • ○      Commissioner meetings aren’t convenient for residents to attend or to provide input. I will advocate for “The Public’s Voice” at the beginning and end of meetings and find ways to get your comments to Commissioners even if you can’t attend meetings. I will advocate for “The Public’s Voice” comments/issues to have formal responses from Commissioners to ensure issues are properly addressed. I will advocate for Commissioner meetings to be live-streamed and saved online so you can see them if you weren’t able to attend or if you want to hear them again. 🙂