After spending roughly the past year in Washington D.C., alumnus Kyle Smith ‘12 has returned to Hillsdale — this time as a city employee.
The Grand Rapids native graduated with majors in political economy and German. He chose the former because it provided a unique understanding of public policy issues.
“It’s an interdisciplinary major. You see the world in a way the more pure people don’t,” Smith said. “How politics and economics relate, what are the relationships between the two, the strengths and weaknesses of both.”
Smith gravitated toward these issues during undergraduate studies, said Gary Wolfram, professor of political economy and Smith’s adviser at Hillsdale.
“He always moved towards the public policy arena. It was his background and interest,” Wolfram said.
In D.C., Smith worked as director of communications for the National Right To Work Committee. While he shared the group’s mission, neither the job nor the city suited him.
“I had to do a lot of fundraising work, which I wasn’t very good at,” Smith said. “I left Washington because I wanted my focus to be state and local government, where one person with not a lot of resources but a lot of dedication can actually make a difference.
“You don’t have to be a Harvard grad or a senator’s son to have an impact on the local level.”
Just as Smith sought to leave Washington, the position of zoning and planning administrator in Hillsdale became vacant, and the city began seeking applicants. Smith heard this, applied, and was hired. City Manager Linda Brown said she hired him because of several promising traits.
The job mostly entails dealing with municipal code and city ordinances: the laws that govern Hillsdale locally. Day-to-day, that includes monitoring permits, taking legal questions about city ordinances, and meeting with the city attorney and appointed committees. Since this is Smith’s first month, he said he wants to get used to the job first, but plans to reform the ordinance process.
“Cities have tended to make things easier for the complainer and harder for the doer,” Smith said. “It’s easier for someone to complain about a sign going up that’s too big, but it’s harder for someone to put up that sign.”
Smith said that he wants to reverse that.
So far, he’s doing well in his new job, said Brown, even though the position’s vacancy before his filling it deprived him of a mentor. Senior Kristen Aho, Smith’s fiancée, was not surprised he was already excelling.
“Even in college, it wasn’t just about getting a grade for him. It was about figuring out the problem,” Aho said. “He is passionate. He really wants to help the Hillsdale community.
Wolfram said that he thinks Smith’s returning to Hillsdale bodes well for the city, especially considering recent college efforts to connect to the community.
“You can only pick a narrow topic and spend a lot of time on that topic if you’re on D.C., whereas here Kyle will do all sorts of things,” Wolfram said.
“I don’t see the idea that you have to leave Hillsdale to have an impact.”
jbutler@hillsdale.edu
