Merriam City Council and Mayor Pape - FIND YOUR COUNCILMEMBERS HERE

Back row: Jason Silvers, Jacob Laha, Bruce Kaldahl, Reuben Cozmyer; Front row: Amy Rider, Whitney Yadrich, Staci Chivetta, Christine Evans Hands.

CONTINUED VISIOn

• Provide excellent Fire, Police and EMS services that will keep our community safe.

• Not only refrain from raising taxes, but look at ways to provide tax relief; especially to our senior citizens who are on fixed incomes.

• Maintain our infrastructure of streets, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, street lights and storm drains.

• Address flooding concerns in various locations throughout the city especially in downtown Merriam.

• Continue to Improve walk-ability and bike-ability throughout the City. Progress has been made but there is much more to do.

• Address resident’s concerns about speeding in our neighborhoods. This may require a redesign of our streets when they are scheduled for overlay or repair.

• Continue to Increase the energy efficiency of our street lights and city structures and provide grants to our residents that encourages them to do the same.

• Explore ways in which we can assist our senior citizens to stay in their homes or provide affordable housing for them and our lower income population. We will continue our numerous grant programs and partner with the County.

• Plant more trees as we continue to do our part to reduce carbon emissions. We will continue the tree grant program.

• Install electric vehicle charging stations where appropriate.

• Improve communication between City government and our citizens as we continue our efforts at transparency.

• Explore all options to get Downtown Merriam out of the flood plain and develop it into a thriving destination location that takes into consideration both new development and the existing business.

proud to call merriam my home

I have lived here for 60 years and plan to live here many more. I want all citizens to know that they made the right choice in locating in Merriam. The City has changed a lot since I moved here in 1965. Antioch used to be a two-lane road with ditches on both sides. There were no curbs, nor gutters.  There were very few sidewalks and storm sewers. Our Fire Department only had 3 paid firefighters and the rest was comprised of volunteers.

I started my career in Merriam as a Volunteer Firefighter in 1976 and became a paid firefighter in 1977. I served my entire career in Merriam. I worked my way through the ranks and retired in 2014 as your Fire Chief/Fire Marshal after serving 38 years. During this time frame, I learned how to serve the public. That deep desire has never gone away.

I ran for City Council in 2015 and became a Ward 4 representative and was re-elected for a second term in 2019. In the middle of my second term as a councilmember I ran for Mayor in 2021 and was elected to lead our city. I want to continue serving this Community for four more years. We have done a lot to make Merriam better, but the task is not done. We can never stop trying to improve.