John Cupps

My name is John Cupps (Jr), though most people know me simply as Chief or Jr. I was born and raised in Harbor Springs, went to Harbor Springs schools k-12, and attended Northern Michigan University. Today, I own and operate our family construction company alongside other members of my family and crew.

Over the years, I have served on several local boards and organizations, including the Home Builders Association, the Chamber of Commerce, and Harbor Springs City Council. I have also volunteered for many community causes. For the past 36 years, I have served with the Harbor Springs Area Fire Department, including the last 10 years as fire chief.

I am seeking a return to City Council because I want to help bring people together, try and restore some balance and trust, and address some of the challenges facing our community. In recent years, too much negativity has affected Harbor Springs. Social media can be a valuable tool, but it can also become a weapon that divides people rather than bringing them together.

I believe in family, community, personal responsibility, and treating one another with respect if respect is given. My family’s roots in Harbor Springs go back well over 100 years, and I have seen a great deal of change. Some changes have been positive, while others have created new challenges. The community itself has changed and so has its balance. We have become a resort community and its difficult to manage that at times.

I do not claim to have all the answers. However, I know that what has been happening over the past several years is not sustainable. We need a more constructive path forward, and I hope my experience, commitment, and deep connection to Harbor Springs will allow me to help make that change.

• Previous City Council experience, 4 years. I sat on the Parks Board for 2 years.
• I was on Chamber board for 4 years.

• Challenges I see coming… City Electrical Grid update. That is a major upgrade that is needed and will be up to city staff to keep things on track.
• City Infrastructure…City has a good plan already in place and we need to continue to progress and plan for future
• Preservation of downtown. This is a touchy subject and has a variety of opinions tagged to it. So much has changed over the decades and we need to find a balance between old and new. Not everyone will agree with this but need to find balance.
• Tourism and influx of people over the summer months. We’ve been over marketed the past several years. People are flocking to Harbor Springs Area, more every year. Our marina, our surroundings, it’s a beautiful area to visit. How do we manage it…can’t stop it, so we need to plan for it.
• Housing…Unfortunately this is a never-ending issue and will continue for years to come. Rentals, housing markets, and other things have contributed to the city having fewer full-time residents, and the age of those full-time residents has increased. Younger families cannot afford to live in the city and even in our surrounding townships. This will be a topic and battle for years to come. I don’t have a good answer for this one.

• I’ve mentioned this in a few other questions briefly…
• This topic will be forever changing from year to year. We’ve become a destination to visit from people all over the world. I think about 1/3 of the city is only year around residents. City continues to improve on its ability to handle the influx on seasonal visitors. Where I think the city could help itself is come up with a better way of charging for services from those who don’t live within the city. It’s not fair for the city residents to absorb all or much of the cost.

• City Budget is a very complex thing. Some things are cookie cutter and roll over every year, other things are more detailed. City uses a CIP program where they look at different projects and evaluate them based on priority and that has worked. I think things are good. I think if we allow the City Heads to do their jobs and continue to maintain the city infrastructure as they have, we will be ok.
• I know a hot topic is city sidewalks. City has a structure in place and replaces sections around the city as needed every year. They will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, I know not everything gets done at once but things do get done.

• I think the overall structure is good. Minor changes have been made recently and I think the only other change to be looked at would be to add West and Little Traverse representatives to Parks board. They both pay a minimal fee to city for usage of parks so having a representative on board would be a positive.

We need to allow City Hall to do their jobs, not micromanage as has seemingly been done in the past few years. Honesty and transparency, which I feel has been done but needs to be continued. Face-to-face communication, being present at meetings, understanding that not everyone is right or wrong and not everyone is going to be happy with everything. Use social media as a tool for information and communication not a weapon for debate and doubt.

I’ve previously sat on council for 4 years, I’ve been involved in the community at different levels for many years and currently sit as Fire Chief and I run a successful construction company. I’m hopeful for all these experiences to play a roll.

Sunrises and sunsets, smell and beauty of and spring and fall. Small town character and feel majority of the time. Safety and friendships.