Eakin believes himself to be the best candidate for village president due to his believed quality leadership within the position. He points out to the work that he had overseen when the village has had flooding issues and his coordination with U.P. Engineering and OHM to tackle projects for the village. He said that he believes he works well with groups such as these because of his experience as a small business owner and his history of working in unions. Eakin also believes he has demonstrated his dedication to serving South Range from his 14 years as a firefighter with the South Range Fire Department.

In terms of what Eakin wants to execute during another potential term as village president, he wants to ensure that ordinances carry weight in terms of the rules and regulations they present for the community. He wants to move towards bringing on a part time police officer to patrol South Range to give the community a sense of security and for citizens and have faster response times to any emergencies within the area. Eakin said that it might be possible for the village to offer a certain amount of funds towards another officer for the Houghton Sheriff’s Department and during certain times that officer will patrol South Range.

Eakin explained that the village has trouble with children and teenagers getting out of hand with speeding dirt bikes, regular acts of vandalism at 7th Street Park, speeding vehicles down Baltic Avenue, chickens and roosters that roam around town and citizens’ pets who make messes in neighbors’ yards. Eakin said these are issues that a police officer could hold more weight in enforcing ordinances rather than just a letter or fine from a local politician.

Eakin also wants to better the overall look of South Range and believes a community garden could be a good starting point. He does want an effort to clean up certain properties and junk cars and address deteriorating buildings in South Range but there needs to be something appealing added instead of just the unappealing removed. He pointed to Houghton’s gardens as an example and would like to emulate them. Eakin believes a garden would be a good way to encourage community service from the residents and bring them together for more socialization. He is also interested in the idea of growing vegetables in the community garden in order to provide some crops to residents. Once South Range begins getting cleaned up, Eakin wishes explore more ways to bring in more recreational activities to the community.

Eakin

Eakin said that the village also has to consider raising the wages of public workers for South Range. He pointed out that the village raised the wages three years ago, but other communities surrounding South Range are competing with them for those workers since anyone from anywhere can apply for public worker positions. He reiterates that he believes his experience in the type of work the public workers partake in makes him more relatable and easier to communicate with, and that he extends this to other workers within South Range.

“I’ve lived in a same house, as I call it shack, for 33 years,” Eakin said. “And I’m never leaving town. I’m a Houghton High School graduate from 1987 but I’ve been here. I’ve been in Adams Township more years than I’ve been anywhere else. I just want to keep helping the community to become better and cleaner and vibrant and presentable for more businesses and the main street too. I want to see the the main street thrive again with business. I guess in a nutshell is what I’m all about.”

The woman challenging Eakin for the position, Parolini, believes that a change in leadership is what the village of South Range needs to more efficiently progress towards bettering itself. She wishes to advance to the higher position to continue the good the council has done but to ensure that inaction does not become normal within the council. Parolini said that she is now retired and that the extra time on her hands allows her to dedicate more time than others to the village hall.

Parolini shares the same concerns as Eakin does regarding ordinances. She addressed the same issues Eakin pointed out with the troubles of troublesome youth, vandals and residents’ animals. She believes that the village would benefit from concentrating on ways of implementing ordinances addressing the animal complaints, make sure residents maintain their personal property and use residential properties as residential instead of commercial business. Parolini said that a part time police officer would greatly benefit the community and assist in bringing a secure presence to the village.

Parolini’s desire to see South Range cleaned up she believes can be made real by thinking of ways to encourage residents to keep their property maintained. She brought up the idea of holding contests like Christmas decorating or lawn beautification each year for a drive to keep one’s yard visually appealing. She wants to extend the visual appeal outside of private properties as well with a community garden and points out that she is dedicated to executing actions to improve the look of South Range with her being the one who plants and waters flowers throughout the village.  

Parolini wants to invite more people to partake in actions like these and believes it would be a good idea to get the students of Jeffers High School involved for community service. She said it would teach the students more about community involvement and could raise their pride for the area they are growing up in. Parolini also pointed out that it will give students involved in woodshop classes or greenhouse activities real life experience and that the village could see students put together park benches for the main street and decorate the garbage cans.

Parolini however believes that her greatest strength that qualifies her for the position is her grant writing abilities. While U.P. Engineering writes grants for the village, Parolini points out that U.P. Engineering has to work with a multitude of communities and thus cannot focus on just one location. Parolini believes that if she can take on the grant writing with a full concentration on South Range, that she can have more and better opportunities to seize grant money opportunities for South Range and its residents. Her writing experience includes assisting in the writing of the Adams Township Master Plan.

Parolini thinks that it is best for the village to also look at the amount of properties being used as short term rentals. She said that she is not opposed to short term rentals, but too many of them can effect the schools. Houses that do not have families residing within them throughout the year are not sending any children to the local schools and thus threatening the schools’ enrollment numbers. She said that she does not want to see South Range turn into a “giant hotel” and she does not want to see real estate costs rise to the point where no potential newcomers can consider making South Range their home. Parolini wants South Range to be a community potential new residents and established residents are proud of.

“I like to give back to my community,” she said. “I live here. I want to be proud of the community. I want other people to want to come and live here, because it is a nice little village. I mean my grandparents started businesses here in the 1900s so it’s been in my family forever.”