Friday, September 21, 2007

Six candidates in race for commission

Six candidates are expected to vie for four seats on the City Commission this November.

Incumbent Mayor Tom McDaniel and Commissioner Scott Moore will seek reelection. Shelli Weisberg, Gordon Rinschler, George Dilgard and Seth Chafetz also have filed petitions stating their intent to seek election to the commission.

Weisberg, a Buzz editor and lobbyist for the Michigan ACLU, has been elected to the Birmingham School Board three times, and has served on the board for 10 years. In 2004, she was appointed to the city's Historic District & Design Review Commission, which last year was split into two boards -- the Historic District Commission and the Design Review Board -- on which she still serves.

Rinschler, an automotive consultant, is a retired Chrysler executive engineer. He is chairman of the Historic District Commission and Design Review Boards, and spearheaded the effort to approve a $9.8 million bond issue to pay for underground parking at Shain Park.

Dilgard, a financial analyst, sits on the city's Planning Board.

Chafetz, a figure skating coach, was ousted from office while serving as mayor in the 2003 election. He was elected to the city's library board in 2005 after the City Commission declined to reappoint him to the city's Parks and Recreation Board.