Matt Bentley hands his candidate paperwork to City Clerk Katy Price Monday night. Courtesy | Isaac Kirshner
Matt Bentley, a Hillsdale native, will face the acting mayor
Matt Bentley announced he will run for mayor of Hillsdale in the August special election, and he’s “singularly focused” on stopping plans to create bike lanes and other road changes in the city.
“I don’t like bike lanes,” Bentley told The Collegian. “They choke out a city, and once they get their foot in the door, they don’t go away. They clutter the traffic and our deteriorating roads, and nobody needs them. They’re fake, and they’re not safe for drivers or bicyclists.”
The city will hold the special election to elect a mayor in August, and Bentley could be joined by a fellow councilman in the race. Acting Mayor Joshua Paladino told The Collegian he plans to submit paperwork soon.
“I will file for mayor in the coming days,” Paladino said.
Bentley, a 58-year-old who represents Ward 2, grew up in Hillsdale, graduated from Hillsdale High School in 1985, and attended the University of Michigan. He returned to Hillsdale from Ann Arbor in 2020, driven back home by Ann Arbor’s pandemic measures and adoption of bike lanes. Bentley joined the city council in November of last year after winning an uncontested race. He announced his candidacy at Monday’s city council meeting.
“I’m running my campaign to stop the ‘road diet’ and the bike lanes that come with it,” Bentley said in an interview.
The “road diet,” as the city calls it, would remove one lane from each side of Broad Street to make room for bike lanes and a middle turning lane for both directions. The changes would also end access to Hillsdale Street from Broad Street. At a feedback meeting in January, Zoning Administrator Alan Beeker promised to incorporate resident feedback before seeking approval from the city council.
Bentley called the city’s system for funding road repairs “arbitrary and unfair.” The city picks dilapidated roads for repairs by designating streets in poor condition as Special Assessment Districts. To fund the projects, it taxes residents on the street as much as $5,000.
The council approved a measure last month to make road repairs less expensive for property owners by lowering interest rates, capping initial costs, and extending the payback period. But Bentley said those reforms don’t go far enough.
“It adds undue expenses to an already expensive tax burden,” Bentley said. “We’re maxed out on our property taxes. We’ve improved it by extending the payoff period and lowering the interest rates, but we can and will do more.”
His campaign manager, Isaac Kirshner ’22, said he thinks Bentley’s local roots make him a strong candidate.
“Matt knows Hillsdale,” Kirshner said. “He’s from here. He knows people in town and they know him. His folks live just down the street. He understands what Hillsdale’s been through, and I believe he has a vision for a strong future, one which doesn’t leave the town and the people of Hillsdale behind.”
Bentley said he has not wanted to live anywhere else since returning in 2020.
“I have 40-plus years of familiarity with this town,” Bentley said. “I’ve lived in many places, but I’m glad I’m home.”
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