Introduction
My name is Pam Weil and I am running for Ingham County Commissioner for, your district, District 9.
I know Ingham county; I like it here and have chosen to spend my life here.
When our current Commissioner, Carol Koenig, reached out to me to say she would not be running again in 2020 and that she would like to see me run, I knew it was the right time.
I am inspired by the election wave of amazing progressive women, like Pramila Jayapal, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib or Ilhan Omar, who speak our truth.
It is time to take action, to push back on this negative, corrupt political climate.
If not now, when!
Please join me!
Commitment
My role as your county commissioner is to represent us, the residents of District 9.
I will stay in touch – Communicating information on issues in front of the Commission.
I want to hear from you – Encouraging participation through regular notification of public comment opportunities.
My Work
I understand service operations, the underlying work required to provide services. I work in IT service operations, project, disaster recovery and continuity management. I retired after 38 years at MSU and now run a flexible small business which will allow me to commit the time needed to be an effective Commissioner.
My work life has been spent developing and implementing operational processes and building and executing project plans. My disaster recovery work has given me additional understanding of cross-organizational requirements and possibilities
My Life
We moved to Ingham County, Cherry Lane, MSU Faculty Housing, on my first birthday. My father, Bob Weil, was an artist, musician and professor in the MSU Sculpture Department, was hired as part of the opening up of the university to black and Jewish faculty. My mother, Judy Weil worked as a social worker in Detroit before my birth and later, motivated by her strong support for women’s reproductive rights, worked at Planned Parenthood as well as WomanCare women’s clinics in Ingham County.
When I was five, we moved to the Flower Pot neighborhood, My parents were interracially married at a time when it was still a crime in many states. East Lansing, had active housing red-lining and restrictive covenants, my parents were only able to buy a home in East Lansing with the righteous assistance of the good people of Edgewood Church, and the housing rights lawyer, Karl L. Gotting.
I attended school at Red Cedar Elementary; while my classmates were predominantly white and I was not allowed in the homes of some of my classmates because of my race, I was lucky to have many classmates and friends from other countries. This early experience with people and cultures from all over the world was a gift that allowed me, early on, to see through the rhetoric, to the reality of friendship, race and identity.
The deep impact civil rights have had on my personal experience made clear to me the impact that people and organizations can have on individual lives when they are willing to act on their beliefs; and that laws and norms can and should be improved and maintained thorough, good information, oversight and transparency.
I rented houses with friends in East Lansing and Lansing’s Eastside, We bought our house on Delridge Road in 2004 and my son, Blake, started school at Marble Elementary the following year. He graduated from East Lansing High School last year.
Professional Certifications
- Disaster Recovery Institute, Certified Business Continuity Professional
- TQS / ITIL / Agile / Project Management Practitioner
[framework of best practices for delivering services] - MOR IT Leadership Program
- Michigan State University, Certified Manager/Supervisor
Community Leadership
- East Lansing Parks and Recreation Commission
- Chair, 2020 – Present
- Vice Chair, 2016 – 2019
- East Lansing AARP Age-Friendly Communities Steering Committee member – 2019 – Present
- Ingham County Parks Board
- Chair, 2010 – 2012
- Vice Chair – 1999 – 2010
- Lansing Potter Park Zoo Board – 2008 – 2012
- MSU Women’s Advisory Committee for finance personal and operations [WACFPO]
- Chair, 2004 -2005
- MSU Task Force on Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence – 2005
- Coordinator Friday Night Music Series Old Town – 1993 – 2001
- East Lansing Emerging Leader Program – 2009