Barb Dempsey, a Mount Clemens city commissioner, speaks to assembled media with state and county officials ahead of the demolition of the Victory Inn motel on July 30, 2024. Dempsey will be ending a political career that began in 1989 after the Nov. 4 elections this year.
By: Dean Vaglia | Mount Clemens-Clinton-Harrison Journal | Published September 15, 2025
MOUNT CLEMENS — Over the past 36 years, Barb Dempsey’s life has been defined by holding public office. That ends this November.
Dempsey opted against filing for reelection for her seat on the Mount Clemens City Commission, effectively postmarking the end of her political career for Wednesday, Nov. 5.
“I just really felt it’s time that other people step up,” Dempsey said. “I’d like to see other people get involved in the community. I mean, I’ve been in it a long time. I’ve enjoyed it, I love my community, but it’s time to open up and get other people involved.”
Dempsey’s time on the City Commission began in 1989. A nearly-lifelong resident of the city — although refusing the title of “Clemenite” as she only came to the city at age 7 and briefly lived in Chesterfield Township after getting married — Dempsey joined the commission after serving on the city’s recreation board.
“When a position became open on the commission, I was asked if I would consider running for the commission,” Dempsey said. “And I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ … I didn’t have any major issues that I felt I wanted to change. I didn’t run on any particular issue. It’s just that my husband and I were both involved in the community and (running for City Commission) was like the next step.”
Her bid was successful, beginning a tenure on the commission that would last into the new millennium. With the exception of a few partisans and special-interest commissioners in that time, Dempsey said most of the commissions she was on worked as a team and largely operated outside of partisan frameworks.
“I always feel city government is probably the most direct government for the people,” Dempsey said. “(In) local government you are directly involved with your residents. You’re the first line in government. People can come in and see you at any time; they see you on the street and see you wherever you go. The further up you get the further you get removed from your residents, so I really think local government is so important. You get things done and you listen to your residents … I think it’s really important for people to know that and get involved locally. They can make a difference in their community.”
Being a city commissioner is a part-time job in Mount Clemens, and around 2004 Dempsey began transitioning out of her career at Saratoga Hospital (by that time incorporated into the St. John Hospital system) as a director of patient financial services. At the urging of Quinnie Cody — the Mount Clemens mayor from 1987 to 1999 and 2003 to 2005, and someone Dempsey respected greatly while a commissioner — Dempsey decided to use her newfound free time to run for mayor in 2005.
“When you were running for City Commission, a lot of times we ran as a group … Running for mayor you were by yourself,” Dempsey said. “It was not what I expected. I had a challenger, Karan Bates-Gasior. She had been on the commission, and we saw things differently, so it brought a lot of things to the surface. But it was a nice campaign.”
Dempsey kept up a streak of successful campaigns by winning the mayorship, though she would end up overseeing the city as the 2008 financial crisis and recession struck the region hard. As cities around Michigan saw local authority usurped by state-appointed emergency managers, Dempsey and city staff were put into the position to avoid such a fate befalling Mount Clemens.
“Our funds were down to less than $500,000 in our reserve,” Dempsey said. “It was a major struggle. It was hard times, and we had to make some big decisions. We closed our recreation department because that was something we felt we could do without. We switched to the sheriff’s department just before I got on, which I opposed at the time because I felt it was important to keep our own police department.”
To criticism of that time as “the years the can got kicked down the road” regarding funding improvements around the city, Dempsey says the city simply lacked the funds at the time to do much and needed to save what money it had, though she admits that put the city roughly 10 years behind in its maintenance.
“People were just surviving, but I have to say I think we all pulled together quite well,” Dempsey said. “In your worst times is when you really know how well you’re operating … It was not the best times, but we made it through, and I think all of us were better for it.”
Eventually, Dempsey would find her way out of office. Two challengers emerged in the 2019 mayoral race, and Laura Kropp was able to secure enough votes to deliver Dempsey’s first electoral defeat in 30 years.
“At first I didn’t know how to react to it,” Dempsey said. “It was like, ‘Oh, OK.’ It happens. I missed being involved and stepping back, because it’s not like in a lot of politics where you have until January to make that transition. In local politics, on the day of the election, you’re gone. It’s a quick break and I felt bad from the standpoint of all the people that I worked with for years and years … But I would say it took me about three months to acclimate to it. Life goes on.”
Despite whatever feelings she initially felt in the wake of that loss, Dempsey was prepared to use the end of her time in office as a chance to take a break. Her husband had died in 2016 — an event that made her consider not running for reelection — and after 30 years nonstop in public office, no longer needing to tackle mayoral duties could allow her to adjust to how her life had changed in all that time.
Granted, there would be plenty of adjusting to do once the COVID-19 pandemic broke out only a few months after the election. Before long, Dempsey would find herself courted by “supporters from (her) past” about a return to public office. A successful 2021 City Commission campaign ensured their wishes came true.
The commission Dempsey found herself back on was not fundamentally different from the one she worked with as mayor only two years prior. Obviously, there were changes, such as working with now-Mayor Kropp — a relationship Dempsey said has been “fine” — but the faces of Ron Campbell, Laura Fournier and Denise Mentzer were quite familiar to her. The commission cast changed as her second stint as a commissioner rolled along. Campbell lost his seat, and Mentzer moved on to Lansing. Erik Rick was elevated from a regular participant during time set aside for public comment at their meetings to city commissioner in the wake of Mentzer’s departure, while Spencer Calhoun, Theresea McGarity and Jill Yore found their way onto the board in the same 2023 election that saw Campbell ousted.
In a sense, Dempsey’s 2021-2025 commissioner career can be seen as an “undoing” of her mayoral legacy. That includes a reversal of Recession-era cutbacks, such the closure of the city’s recreation department, which Dempsey is now cautiously thrilled by. Mount Clemens has expanded upon its recreation offerings in the past five years, taking ownership of the Cairns Community Center in 2022 and hiring Karl Haye to serve as the city’s recreation director this past April.
“I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful if (the city) can start bridging things back you lost over the years, that you can provide for your residents,” Dempsey said. “I think it’s great, and thank goodness we have the wherewithal and the finances at this point to do it, but I caution everybody.”
To Dempsey, everything in Mount Clemens is cyclical. Good times give to bad times, bad times give to good times. Outside support comes, outside support goes. Mount Clemens has been able to make use of federal COVID-19 relief funds, state financial assistance and public-private partnerships in recent years to fund its major projects — tearing down the Victory Inn motel, rebuilding the recreation program and performing long-overdue water infrastructure work ahead of joining the Great Lakes Water Authority — but Dempsey says the city must always prioritize its sustainability ahead of any projects it takes on.
Dempsey also stressed the importance of preserving a bit of the city’s unique atmosphere, something she fears may be at risk with the ongoing Macomb Place upgrades and the proposed redevelopment of the Clinton River waterfront.
“I think what’s happening downtown is a mixed bag, for me,” Dempsey said. “It’s kind of interesting, the change, but I also kind of sit back and think we’re losing our quaint little old town feel by modernizing everything. We’re kind of (becoming) like every other city and I kind of like the old feel of the way it was, but I know it couldn’t last; things are falling apart. People of Mount Clemens really truly care about their community, and I hope that continues. I hope we don’t become a suburb. It’s important to remember your heritage and we have a great heritage.”
Be her thoughts as they may on any development in Mount Clemens, she feels confident stepping aside with the City Commission that is in place.
“I think they work well together,” Dempsey said. “They’re not ‘yes people,’ which I think is important. They really research their things, and I’ve noticed that with Spencer and Erik, especially.”
Outside of her work in government, Dempsey gets involved around Mount Clemens in a variety of ways. She serves as the president of the Macomb County Historical Society, which operates the Crocker House Museum and Gardens at 15 Union Street in Mount Clemens. The house itself belonged to George Martin Crocker, mayor of Mount Clemens from 1879-1881, and it serves as a museum dedicated to the city’s history.
“The Crocker House is your history of Mount Clemens,” Dempsey said. “It’s a house that was built back in the 1800s and it’s a reminder of where we come from. I think you’ve got to know where you came from and what you cherished in the past to keep moving forward.”
While Dempsey’s immediate post-commission plans are to take some time off and perhaps winter in Florida, she’s not ready to make 2025 the end of her time with Mount Clemens. Whether it is helping to preserve the city’s history, serving on the 16th Circuit’s Veterans Drug Court advisory board or working with a number of foundations and organizations throughout the city, there’s plenty of reasons for Dempsey to stick around — even if she refuses to call herself a “Clemenite.”
“I think I can just say that I have been very blessed in being able to be part of a community that’s supported me for all these years,” Dempsey said. “I’ve just been blessed. My experiences have all been great experiences; good, bad and indifferent. I just hope other people can be part of a community. I’ve always felt part of the community.”