Ken Gilet to challenge Michael Fenton for City Council seat

March 23, 2017 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

Ken Gilet



SPRINGFIELD – If Ken Gilet makes it to the City Council, he said he would work to lower taxes, reduce business regulation and work with the city’s police to make the streets safer.

In his first bid for office, Gilet is challenging Ward 2 City Councilor Michael Fenton.

Originally from New York, Gilet attended Pace University in Pleasantville, NY, where he received his bachelor's degree in psychology and later his master's degree in mental health counseling.

After moving to this area, Gilet had an office in downtown Springfield. As a psychotherapist, he told Reminder Publications that he learned about the city through his patients.

“I heard the good and I heard the bad,” he said.

What he heard convinced him to move here. After an eight-month search his family found a home in the city and moved here in 2015.

Speaking of taxes, Gilet supports an audit of every city department to “root out waste and fraud.” He was recently critical of the revelation the Department of Elder Affairs had illegally used grant money to pay for parking.

In a statement he released about the misuse of grant funds, he wrote, “I believe I can speak for many of my neighbors who are hardworking taxpayers in Springfield when I say, ‘I’m not surprised.’ Are we really to be surprised that the size and lack of oversight in our city departments has led to corruption and misuses of your hard-earned money? I wish that someday soon we would be surprised to hear of this sort of corruption. We should not come to expect this of our neighbors who head our city departments and we should not expect this of elected city officials who represent our interests.

“Springfield has one of the highest personal and business tax rates in the state while there are empty storefronts, single-family homes abandoned, and misuse of our tax dollars. They tell us that we “need to pay more to make our neighborhoods better, cleaner, safer.” They say we ‘need to pay more so this department head could.’ They say we ‘don’t have the money to pay for sidewalk repairs for years.’ They even say, ‘We don't have the funds to pay for more snow plows for our side streets.’ Are they really looking in the right place for the funds?

“The thing is they have been looking in only one place: our pockets. We cannot accept that anymore. I will not accept that anymore. I am calling for a systematic audit of our city government, starting with the departments with the largest budgets. Ending tax money waste and tax money theft is the first step in creating a budget that is efficient and fair to the hardworking families of Springfield.”

In terms of business development, he said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the economic impact MGM Springfield will make on the city and region. He believes city officials will have to work closely with police to address the concerns some people have about the casino.

He stated on his website, (www.electgilet.com) “I come from a strong, Christian family who has always believed in the inherent goodness of mankind. I carry that belief into my daily actions. Families are better able to decide how to spend the wages they worked hard to earn. So it is our duty to reduce the burden of increasing taxes for families and small businesses. The Springfield Police are everyday superheroes and we, as a community should partner with them to clean up the petty and violent crime on our streets. The role of city government is not to dictate the wishes of their big donors, but to communicate openly with the public and walk side by side with our communities to solve the problems of our city.”

He will take out his nomination papers on March 28 when they become available and said his motivation in running against Fenton is “to give my neighbors an option.” He added he would be willing to debate Fenton if given the opportunity.

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