Ron Bacon recently stepped down as mayor of East Lansing after newly elected members of the City Council were sworn in. Bacon was appointed to the City Council in 2020 and elected mayor in 2021. He declined to seek re-election this year.
Bacon has been involved with several key decisions in East Lansing, including the hiring of a new city manager and the formation of an independent police oversight commission.
WKAR’s Arjun Thakkar spoke with Bacon to reflect on his record serving as mayor.
Interview Highlights
On Bacon's proudest City Council accomplishments
I think a lot of my pride really comes from the young people. Obviously, we had some catastrophic things happening. February 13th was one of those. I think our city's response to the tragic shooting at MSU and the partnerships in the community, and our commitment to mental health and overall just community coming into play is really would be my proudest moment.
On his response to criticism
My approach is a little bit different. My background's a little bit more heavily into the private sector. And I think I view the pace of government, sometimes it's challenging. And I think that that's realistic. I think sometimes perception is reality.
On the advice he has for new councilmembers
I think just really looking at all members of the community and just trying to engage them. I think we have a unique community, obviously, being a college town, having young families, having an older representation, highly educated. We have some things that are real assets. And I think sometimes those assets get put in conflict with each other, sometimes politically or otherwise.
Interview Transcript
Megan Schellong: Ron Bacon recently stepped down as Mayor of East Lansing after newly elected members of the City Council were sworn in. Bacon was appointed to the city council in 2020. And elected mayor in 2021. He declined to seek reelection this year. Bacon has been involved with several key decisions in East Lansing, including the hiring of a new City Manager and the formation of an independent police oversight commission. WKAR's Arjun Tucker spoke with Bacon to reflect on his record serving as mayor.
Arjun Thakkar: So, Mr. Bacon, you've officially been off the Council for almost two weeks now. Was it hard for you to step away from the office?
Ron Bacon: Uh, no. It's been a pleasure to serve. I think when I started out, there was an option for the four-year and the two-year seat. I really set out to complete the tasks that were before us.
I came on to council during the pandemic and was looking forward to a couple additional years, but maybe outside of serving under those constraints. And I think it was it was a good two years and I really enjoyed that time. So nope, I'm looking forward to what lies ahead in the future, but I enjoyed the time and I think it went well.
Thakkar: How do you feel now that it's a reality that you're no longer serving as mayor and no longer serving on the City Council either?
Bacon: Yeah, I'll kind of always serve. My background, I always sit on various boards and commissions and nonprofits. I sat on the Human Rights Commission prior to serving on council, so I've always been engaged with the city and in different things around, as well as coaching and being a parent in the community.
Not a whole lot will change, probably just the day-to-day decision-making of the city, but I'll always essentially be involved and plugged in to the happenings of the city. And I'm available anytime to jump in and participate and help move the city forward.
Thakkar: What are you most proud of having accomplished in your three years on the city council?
Bacon: Yeah, I think a lot of my pride really comes from the young people. Obviously, we had some catastrophic things happening. February 13th was one of those. I think our city's response to the tragic shooting at MSU and the partnerships in the community, and our commitment to mental health and overall just community coming into play is really would be my proudest moment.
And then kind of my proudest activity is getting to interact with young people, both University Student Commission, high school, the elementary school people and just kind of learning their goals and visions for the future and engaging them. As well as, obviously capital projects, budgeting and that kind of day-to-day stuff. But, yeah, it's definitely the young people, and it's definitely being in position to help the community through the tragedies of February 13th.
Thakkar: The council faced substantial criticism this year from residents over its direction, including concerns about the wave of departures in the city's workforce and allegations of overreach from councilmembers. Now that you've stepped out of the mayor's seat, looking back, do you feel like you bear any responsibility for those critiques? Or do you think they're valid?
Ron Bacon: Yeah, I think, for me, my view of local government, my approach is a little bit different. My background's a little bit more heavily into the private sector. And I think I view the pace of government, sometimes it's challenging. And I think that that's realistic. I think sometimes perception is reality.
I think anytime you change top level leadership, there's going to be challenges and things that come with that. I think a lot of that was a little bit overblown. I think we made a decision to change the City Manager role, which is the responsibility and the employee of council. And I think it just had kind of some ripple effects that were, I can't say they were unexpected, but were challenging for the council.
But I think we've, we're coming back to approaching full employment again as a city. And all those things are kind of behind us now. So I'm hoping I set things up for the next council to move forward in kind of in rapid succession. And I think we got a lot of that solved for.
Thakkar: And on the allegations of overreach with the anonymous complaint. How do you feel about that complaint that came before the council?
(Editor's Note: an anonymous complaint this year alleged members of the City Council violated East Lansing's rules by circumventing the city manager to give direction to employees. Officials suggested the complaint was motivated by racism and, after conducting an independent review, concluded the complaint was "without merit.")
Bacon: Yeah, I have a lot of feelings about it. I think at this point, I'm going to move forward in a positive bend around that. I think obviously you can read between the lines. There's a lot of kind of overtones and undertones to that complaint and the nature of the complaint and the approach to leadership.
I think it's just because it's a different type of leadership. You're seeing your first person of color, be mayor as far as a Black person as mayor of East Lansing. I think that has its own unique challenges. And I think you're also seeing kind of the impact. We were the first ever majority-minority council in the history of East Lansing. So you're looking at myself and Dana Watson, first African-American members of council in 50 years, as well as the addition of Noel Garcia [Jr.] being Hispanic American. So it was the first majority-minority council, and I think that creates some anxiety for some individuals beyond government, so I'll leave it at that.
Thakkar: Do you have any regrets over the course of your tenure?
Bacon: I think you do. When you're a leader, you have to do what you can do with what you can see and the knowledge that you have before you. So based upon that, I'm satisfied with the choices and decisions that we made based on the facts presented before us.
I would say, you can always look back in hindsight and make some modifications or that kind of thing to those things. But I'm really satisfied with a lot of the changes, a lot of the positive direction moving forward. And really just our commitment to progress, and just being a different type of city being a different type of region, and being really good regional partners, both to Lansing, Meridian [Township], Michigan State and just being real active members of that regional partnership.
Thakkar: As you know, the newly elected council members unanimously elected George Brookover as mayor. What advice would you give to Mayor Brookover and the new members of the council?
Bacon: Yeah, I think just really looking at all members of the community and just trying to engage them. I think we have a unique community, obviously, being a college town, having young families, having an older representation, highly educated. We have some things that are real assets. And I think sometimes those assets get put in conflict with each other, sometimes politically or otherwise.
I think it's just time to kind of unify all the things that make East Lansing unique and strong and really pull them together in one coalition and just not really pick sides. But really just listen, see what that future looks like. And obviously the future, in my impression, is really with the youth and figuring out how to engage them, how to retain them and how to grow the community, kind of from the bottom up.
Thakkar: What will you be doing in your downtime now that you're no longer working for the city of East Lansing?
Bacon: Yeah, that's a wonderful question. My background, obviously, I'm involved in the community, both mentoring young people, coaching. I participate in various boards and nonprofits for sure. I'll just be open. I think that's a great part of our community. And I've always said with the city of East Lansing, everything in East Lansing that we need is in East Lansing. So I hope to be part of that brain trust and partnership in whatever the city needs. And as we move forward, I think we're going to see that we're kind of better together. And I'll just be a part of that. I'll be participating as a dad, and as a community member and just helping move the city forward.
Thakkar: Ron Bacon is the former mayor of East Lansing, His term on the City Council ended earlier this month. Mr. Bacon, thank you for your time.
Bacon: Oh, thank you very much.
This conversation has been edited for clarity.
Editor's Note: The City of East Lansing is a financial supporter of WKAR.
