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CLAWSON — Due to expansion and other factors, the Clawson City Council is in need of new members, and to help guide the community on how to run for office, former Clawson Charter Commission member BT Irwin will be hosting a workshop.
During the May 6 election, Clawson voters chose to increase the size of City Council from five to seven members, which stayed consistent with the provisions of the new city charter that voters adopted in 2023.
The “How to Run for Office in Clawson” workshop is a nonpartisan event and will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon June 14 at the Clawson United Methodist Church, 205 N. Main St. The workshop fee is $17.85 per person.
“The idea is for people that are curious or want to run for a city office in Clawson, so that would be our City Council, mayor, school board, but they don’t know what to do,” Irwin said. “This is a nonpartisan event. I have had people ask, ‘Is this going to be a Democrat or Republican workshop?’ It’s neither. I am an independent and I have been for a long time. I have tried to pull people from different communities so that we can just focus on the facts here and how to get on the ballot. Here is how to run for a campaign, not as a Democrat, not as a Republican.”
The workshop is sectioned into four parts: “What is your ‘why?’” “How to get on the ballot,” “How to run, and fund, a successful campaign for office,” and “Making your action plan.”
Irwin said that he is also going to be having elected officials from other cities speak during a panel.
“I picked other cities so that we could keep politics, so to speak, out of it and just stick to the facts,” he said. “They are just going to talk about how to run a good campaign, how to raise money, how to get out and meet the public and how to promote yourself as a candidate.”
Ideally, people should be leaving the workshop with a plan, Irwin said, that helps them to figure out what they want to do, if they are ready to run for office in November, or maybe to wait for a future election.
Irwin has run for office multiple times. He served an appointment on the Clawson Zoning Board of Appeals and was elected to the Clawson City Charter Commission in 2021, serving until the residents approved the revised city charter in November 2023. Irwin has been in community nonprofit management and higher education for 25 years, where he recruits donors and volunteers and board members for projects. Irwin also organizes those teams to go into the community.
“I would not say I am an expert at running for office, so I don’t want to present myself as someone who knows a lot about running for office,” he said. “That is why I am bringing in other people who have had a lot more experience than I do, but just from my background as a teacher and a consultant and community projects leader, I know the right questions to ask people to get them to think about why they are doing something and how they might go forward.”
The workshop is not affiliated with the city of Clawson or City Council in any way, according to Irwin.
“We are doing the workshop not on city property because the city said they did not want us to do it at City Hall or the Hunter Community Center or something because it will look like the city is putting on the program,” he said.
Council member Sue Moffitt, who is not affiliated with the workshop, commented on the importance of spreading awareness on how to run for office, and what it takes to be on a council.
“We have a ton of seats to fill; in addition to the expansion of the council, we recently had a council member (Matthew Binkowski) resign,” Moffitt said. “In fact, we have seven spots to fill — only one person, and that’s me, is rolling over to the next year.”
Moffit emphasized the commitment that comes with being a council member.
“For most seats, it’s four years. It’s really important that people understand what they are committing to if they decide to run, and not only from the perspective of the time, but there are a ton of things that go into being on council,” she said. “It’s a time commitment to be prepared for the meetings and understand what’s going on and become, you know, start to become ensconced in the city management.”
When Moffitt was considering running for council in 2017, she remembered a part of a book that she read to help guide her in the process. She said she hopes Irwin’s presentation also includes information related to it.
“It was about things you never think about holding public office. And the thing I remember most from that book was that if you go to the grocery store and you’re in office, people are going to stop you and ask you about city stuff,” she said. “It’s not just like you go to the meetings and do your duty there; you become an elected official, and people will stop you and talk to you and you have to be prepared for that to become an ingrained part of your life.”
Moffitt said she is excited to see new faces on the council, and that the citizens of Clawson right now are vocal and excited about improving the city, which should make for a good set of candidates.
“Clawson is a special place. We have this new wave of amazing engaged citizens who, from as far as I can tell, are excited about the root of what Clawson is. Clawson is a special place, and that specialness needs to be preserved,” she said. “That group of people just brought such a refreshing excitement to our city politics. Knowing that there is an opportunity for a wide spectrum of folks, including those people, to sit up at the dais and help guide the city forward is exciting.”
The event fee covers food and other expenses, according to Irwin. But, if anybody wants to attend and cannot afford the fee, Irwin said they can contact him through the workshop web link at eventbrite.com and they can get help for the funding.
More information and tickets can be found on the eventbrite page.
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