City Council picks finalists for First Ward vacancy

MONDAY, Jan. 31 — Three people who want to be the appointed replacement for First Ward Lansing City Councilman Brandon Betz will advance tomorrow to another round of interviews with the Council.

All eleven people who applied for the Council vacancy were interviewed by the Council tonight. Using paper ballots, the Council winnowed the field down to its top three picks. Those finalists — Caitlin Cavanagh, Brian Daniels and Ben Dowd — will now be called back for a longer round of 30-minute interviews that begins at 6 p.m. tomorrow at City Hall. Readers can watch it live online. 

With each Council member recording their top three choices tonight in no particular order, Daniels was the clear favorite among the Council with all seven Council members naming him among their top contenders. Four Council members listed Dowd as a top choice; three listed Cavanagh.

After tomorrow’s interviews, the Council will pick a winner. Betz’ replacement will need four votes since the Council is down to seven members. The appointment will last through Dec. 31. A special election in November will determine who fills the final year of the four-year term, which expires in 2023.

City Pulse also interviewed the finalists. Here’s what we know about them:

Caitlin Cavanagh

Cavanagh, 33, bills herself as an “internationally renowned expert in juvenile justice,” and is an assistant professor and associate director at Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice, where she focuses on parent-child relationships and the criminal justice system. She’s also an adviser for the family division of Ingham County’s 30th Circuit Court, a volunteer-in-training for CASA for Kids Inc. and vice president of the nonprofit Steiner Chorale in East Lansing.

A Lansing resident for six years, she has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from University of California Irvine. She is a volunteer election worker and a feline foster mom through the county animal control office.

“I come from a family of public servants and I have always wanted to continue that generational legacy through service to the Lansing community,” she said. “I really see myself as a community-minded person and as a public servant. I see the City Council as a natural marriage to my volunteerism and career expertise.”

Top priorities: Mitigating gun violence, including more police training; equitably distributing city resources and local grant funding, particularly pandemic-related cash for small businesses; “infrastructure.”

Brian Daniels

Daniels, 35, is a U.S. Army veteran, a Purple Heart recipient and the founder and head trainer of Empower Lansing, a boxing and fitness studio. He is on the Parks Board; the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce included him on its “10 Over the Next Ten” list.

Daniels grew up in the Churchill Downs neighborhood. He studied at Lansing Community College and the American Academy of Personal Training.

“I work every day with all different kinds of people. One thing I always notice is that people never seem to feel heard. One of the biggest issues is that we’ve all stopped listening to each other and just want to argue,” he said.

Top priorities: Helping create unity and seek solutions to gun violence; ensuring new housing projects remain affordable and existing ones stay up to code.

Ben Dowd

Dowd, 39, is an associate director at the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan, the interim executive director of the Old Town Commercial Association and a board member of Suits and the City in Lansing.

Dowd has lived in Lansing for seven years, the last 18 months in the First Ward. He has degrees in business management and human resources from Colorado Technical University and worked in banking for about 15 years.

“There’s a need for strong representation on the Council in Old Town, on the north side and the rest of the ward,” he said. “In some cases, there has been a lack of collaboration and communication with the Council, and I think I have the ability to step in and be a strong advocate and a voice for the ward.”

Top priorities: Increasing the number of officers assigned to community policing and bolstering departmental transparency; strengthening resources for small businesses.