New to Farmington Hills, Doyle Runs for a City Council Seat

When Seth Doyle III moved his family to Farmington Hills a little over a year ago, he left behind a 10-year history of involvement in his Detroit neighborhood.

"I've always been a community-minded person," said Doyle, who is one of seven candidates seeking three, four-year terms on city council. "I felt this would be a good time for me to step up."

He believes being new to the community will be an advantage on council. "I think a fresh perspective is going to be helpful," he said, adding he gained leadership experience by working his way up to the position of Deputy Chief with the Detroit Fire Department (DFD). "At those various levels, I've dealt with city councils and budgets."

Doyle said he and his wife, Monique, chose the city because of the school system and quality of life. He added, "I like the greenery and the scenic quality of the area. I'm a 'hills' kinda guy. I like that variance in the landscape." As a council member, he said, he would work to maintain that quality of life and see the quality services remain "viable, strong and responsive."

Since retiring from DFD after 25 1/2 years, he has been a practicing attorney. Not surprisingly, he supports the public safety millage, a 1.7 mill question also before voters on Nov. 8.

"Both chiefs (fire and police) and the city manager have laid out a very strong case (for the millage)," he said. He believes the funding will allow the city to maintain current staffing and operations, while not over-burdening taxpayers.

Doyle would like to see the city move to zero-based budgeting, which wipes the slate clean with every new fiscal year. Directors and managers then build their budgets based on what worked in the previous year.

"It will allow the council, the city manager and the citizens to see what's effective, and to justify why a particular department or program should be funded at a particular level," he said. "From there, the decisions about what to cut and where to cut become a little clearer."

Before the city cuts employee wages and benefits, Doyle said, he would look at getting the most out of private contracts and potential reductions in all other areas. He would look at shared services, but item by item "if it makes sense financially for the city. I think shared services is something that needs to be looked at very closely ... that gets into a bigger issue of regionalism."

Doyle said he believes city officials should do all they can to support the schools and work with the to attract new businesses to the community. He believes that will all help attract more people to do what he's done – move to Farmington Hills.

"In order to get them here, we need to have a clean city, a safe city, with good community services," he said, "but also a good business mix, so citizens' needs are met ... If we don't continue to bring people in, our tax base will be affected, and there will be a continuing strain on the city council and city staff to do more with less."