By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
The two vacancies on the Otsego City Commission have been filled.
At the regular city commission meeting on Monday, April 18, Jason Smith and Chuck Moore, Jr. were sworn in. They join Mayor Stacey Withee, Mayor Pro-Tem Laurie Krueger and Brent Milhiem on the five-person board.
The seats filled by Smith and Moore run through November.
Here is a closer took at the city’s two newest commissioners:
Chuck Moore, Jr.
Moore’s roots in Otsego run deep.
“My sister Jamie (Merriam) and I are third generation (Otsego residents), my kids make four generations my grandkids will make five generations,” said Moore, 50. “I love this city and I want to give something back to it.”
Moore, a 1990 Otsego High School graduate, married his high school sweetheart, Jenny Wykstra, in 1992. The couple shares three children.
Nearly three decades after graduating from OHS, Moore went back to school, earning his associates degree in business from Kalamazoo Valley Community College in 2019. Two years later, he received his bachelors degree from Western Michigan University.
Moore currently works with Ginger Titus and Matt Goodwin at Edward Jones in Otsego. He also bartends at Four Rose’s Café on Wednesdays and Fridays, noting that he stays “very busy.”
“I worked hard to raise my family here in Otsego and I believe my leadership in customer service will be an asset here on the commission,” he said. “I have an interest in helping the city and the voters. I want to serve and give back to our community.”
Moore’s first order of business will be to learn his role as city commissioner and to fulfill his duties to the best of his abilities.
“I do not have any preconceived plan or notion of what I should do to affect what’s going on with the city at this time,” he said.
“The most pressing issue I believe the city is facing right now is the yearly budget. (We need to deal with) the shortfalls, making sure the community understands how we got where we are and what we are going to do overcome those challenges.”
Moore plans to make a decision regarding whether or not to run for re-election after he becomes better acquainted with his role as commissioner.
“I can’t make any promises right now,” he said.
Jason Smith
Smith, 35, is a 2004 graduate of Plainwell High School and a 2009 graduate of Indian Wesleyan University. He and his wife Tara—who share three daughters—have resided in Otsego since 2010.
Prior to moving to Plainwell with his family in 2001 at age 14, Smith lived in Brazil for seven years.
Smith currently works at Friendship Wesleyan Church in Otsego, serving as pastor of student leadership development. He is also the president of the Otsego Rotary Club.
“As a father and a pastor, I care deeply about the community I live in,” Smith said. “A couple of years ago, Kelley Dendel and Cyndi Trobeck inspired me to get involved practically with the things going on here in Otsego.”
In addition to his work with the Otsego Rotary Club, Smith also joined the Otsego City Planning Commission last year.
“I have been encouraged by the love and passion of the people,” he said of his experience with the planning commission. “And when I saw there were openings for the city commission, a couple of close friends mentioned that it might be a good fit for me to invest and serve the community I love so much. So, I applied.”
Smith’s vision for Otsego includes growing the population, business opportunities and unity of purpose in the community.
“I personally see the board of commissioners as a group of servants whose purpose is to manage and be good stewards of the city entrusted to them,” Smith said. “It’s my hope that we are a people who lead in such a way as to leave behind a legacy of solid character and wise forethought.”
And while he hasn’t given much thought to the election in November, Smith said he would be honored to run for re-election to the city commission.