New Mayor Will Joseph is ready to 'put his own stamp on things'
Mayor Will Joseph stands outside on Jan. 14 at Mount Pleasant City Hall.
When City Commissioner Will Joseph walked into City Hall Jan. 7 for a city commission meeting, he was almost certain he would walk out that evening as Mount Pleasant’s next mayor.
Joseph was elected mayor at the city commission meeting. He was nominated by Commissioner Kristin LaLonde and went on to win the majority vote 4-3.
“I was sweating it, but I knew I would be nominated and would have the votes,” the mayor said.
Joseph’s quick ascension within local government began while working a part-time job at the Mount Pleasant City Water Department and finishing up his studies at Central Michigan University.
Former Mayor Allison Quast-Lents told him to “get involved” and join the city’s planning commission at Citizen’s Academy— a program designed to provide people who live, work or own a business in the City of Mount Pleasant an opportunity to expand their knowledge of the structure and functions of their city government, according to the Mount Pleasant website. The 2019 Citizen's Academy is still accepting applications.
After serving a year and a half on the planning commission, Joseph ran for city commission and lost by a small margin. He described his first campaign as a learning experience. Joseph was elected in 2017 after employing a second, more experienced campaign.
“I remember (the day I was elected) pretty clearly,” Joseph said. “I went to work at the water department, and I made it a point not to check any of the polling results and thought just to live like a normal day.”
Joseph's girlfriend talked him into checking the polls around 11 p.m. on the Isabella County website, which he kept refreshing every ten minutes until the final results were published, he said. He described the feeling of winning his position on the commission as an “adrenaline rush,” and said he could not sleep with all the excitement and congratulatory phone calls.
Joseph said he had similar feelings when appointed mayor.
“I knew there was a lot of work ahead of me,” he said. “There are new challenges ahead and, given the new dynamic within the commission, it will be an interesting year.”
Joseph returned to his hometown a week after being elected mayor and said his mother was excited to hear that her son was getting the opportunity to be Mount Pleasant’s next mayor. His father was proud but had a different outlook on the appointed position.
“Being mayor doesn’t pay a lot, so my dad was kind of like, ‘you have to find a career,’” the Brighton native said. “He had a quiet excitement about him.”
Fresh out of college, the Central Michigan University alumnus is part of a city commission that, collectively, has more than 20 years of experience. Current Commissioner Kathleen Ling has previously served as both mayor and vice mayor.
“A lot of people think I have a calm sense to me in general and on the city commission ... but underneath I get nervous before every meeting even if it's the most mundane stuff,” Joseph said. “Some performers have been doing performances their whole life, yet they still get nervous before every performance.”
With the heightened sense of responsibility that comes with being mayor, Joseph said he will be even more susceptible to his weakness as a public speaker and may be exposed to an excessive level of scrutiny.
The mayor said he has received a lot of positive feedback but knows there's some negative feedback.
Shortly after being elected mayor, University of Michigan student and Mount Pleasant native Tiana Gillis voiced her opinion of the current method used to elect mayor, making the statement that Joseph would not have been elected had the public voted rather than the commission.
“As a Mount Pleasant citizen, I really wish (Mount Pleasant citizens) had the opportunity to elect the mayor and vice mayor for the city, rather than the city commissioners sitting on the board electing them for themselves,” Tiana Gillis said. “I think we would have different results than we had tonight.”
Despite this comment and others, Joseph believes his preparedness for challenges, passion for Mount Pleasant citizens and nonpartisanship makes him best suited for mayor and said he would not have put his name forward in conversation if he thought differently.
“My goal right now is to be the best mayor I can be,” Joseph said when asked if he could live the rest of his life in Mount Pleasant. “I am not looking at the door saying, 'I cannot wait to get out of here,' because I have a lot of roots and connections in this community.
“If in the future there is a calling for me to step into a higher political position, I will handle it then."
