City Councilman Adam Stockford thinks it’s time Hillsdale had a businessman as its mayor.
Throughout his mayoral campaign, the Hillsdale county native has stressed that the purpose of the mayor is to be a guiding voice for the City Council and a vehicle for economic development within the city. With his background in business recruiting for Elwood Staffing, Stockford said he believes he is the right man for the job.
“I do business development, workforce development, workforce recruiting,” Stockford said. “I think — and I think most people would agree — these are the things that this city needs the most right now.”
As mayor, Stockford said he would also try to bring burgeoning industries like food processing to Hillsdale and would try to seek out more aggressive ways to combat the opioid epidemic in the county.
Most importantly, however, Stockford said he would attempt to expand the city’s economic development efforts. As he sees it, the plan for economic development the City of Hillsdale has pursued under Mayor Scott Sessions’ tenure will not revitalize the city or equip it for lasting economic prosperity. Projects like the renovations to the 42 Union Apartment building, the Dawn Theater, and the upcoming Hillsdale Brewing Company have all been secured under a series of state and federal grants.
“Make no mistake about it: grants are subsidized on failure,” Stockford said. “Is that something that I think we should build our whole economic development around? Absolutely not. We want to get away from grants. We want to not need the grants.”
In particular, Stockford said the TIFA grant for the city to buy the Dawn Theater could potentially put the city in a position where the city is not just focused on the building’s private management, but also on its private ownership. Stockford said he believes purchases like this are imprudent, and go against the tightened city budget that City Manager David Mackie has been implementing over the past few years.
“If you can’t afford to heat the house, you shouldn’t be going out and buying a mustang,” Stockford said.
Although critical of Sessions’ support for grants funded by the Tax Increment Financing Authorities (TIFA) and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Stockford said he believes a pursuit of grants that help people in tangible ways are good for the community. He cited the recent grant to repair Mead, Vine, Garden, and Rippon Streets and other streets in the city through crack filling and resurfacing as an example.
Successes like this, however, are not enough to keep Stockford from opposing Sessions’ attitude toward his own office.
“In four years, I’ve never seen Scott once — and this is regardless of who the city manager is or who the city administration is — I’ve never seen him challenge them on anything,” he said. “I’ve never seen him ask any questions. I’ve never seen him take a stance opposite of what their official policy was.”
Stockford pointed out an incident regarding the proposed reappointment of former Board of Public Utilities director Rick Rose that split the city council in 2014. Sessions supported the reappointment, which Stockford found troubling, since he believed Rose was intentionally insulating himself from the city’s oversight and allowing the BPU to become a bloated and inefficient entity.
“It was then I just saw that Scott and I were on very opposite sides of the spectrum on a whole lot of issues,” Stockford said.
Around the time Stockford made the decision to run for mayor, he was already a student studying at Hillsdale College and raising a family.
“When Adam transferred here, he was juggling a lot — a young family, a full time job, going to school — I was always encouraging him to balance things out and I admired his ability to succeed,” Stockford’s advisor Professor of Politics Mickey Craig said. “He grew up here. He really does love the college and the city and wants to make Hillsdale a better place.”
Before entering politics, Stockford had already lived a full life, first as a boxer and then as a professional musician. In 2004, amid family troubles, he was diagnosed with late stage Lymes Disease and had to quit working for several years.
“I was about 25 when I went back into the workforce, but of course I had ruined my credit and was broke and just trying to pick myself back off the ground,” he said.
He met his wife in 2006 and said he married her determined to contribute to their hometown community.
“I was a sickly, 140-pound 26 year-old stock boy making $7.50 an hour sweeping floors and stocking shelves at a gas station. We got engaged and got married. Then I told her, ‘Marry me; I’ll take care of you. I’m going to go to Hillsdale College and I’ll be mayor of this city and someday I’ll be a United States senator.’ She must have thought I was completely crazy,” he said with a chuckle.
While at Hillsdale College, Stockford interned as a social media intern at The Madison Project, a political action committee and worked for former Congressman Jim Ryun, R-Kansas.
Stockford won his Ward 1 city council seat in 2014, a position he ran for to oppose a proposal to impose an income tax hike on all residents.
“There were quite a few of us, a younger crowd who wanted to get in because of some criticisms of what was happening at the city level,” he said.
As a councilman, Stockford said he believes it is his duty to directly represent the voice of the people in his district. Additionally, he prides himself upon his availability and his openness to his constituents.
“We’re up there to transfer the wishes of the populace,” he said. “We’re up there as representatives of the residents.”