Long-time Brighton resident Joyce Powers has announced she is running as a write-in candidate for the Brighton City Council in the November general election. Powers served on the Brighton Area Schools Board of Education for four terms after retiring as an Ann Arbor Public Schools librarian.

There are five candidates on the printed ballot for the fall election, which takes place on Nov. 7th. The candidates include incumbents Shawn Pipoly, the current mayor pro tem, along with Kristoffer Tobbe, Jon Emaus and Renee Pettengill, plus challenger Susan Backhaus. Backhaus is the former Susan Walters Steinacker, who has run unsuccessfully for council several times. Emaus and Pettengill were both appointed last year to fill vacancies.

Powers has been a regular fixture at recent meetings of the City Council and Planning Commission, mostly on the issue of the city’s plans for the Mill Pond. She is vehemently opposed to wholesale changes in the site plan for the Mill Pond, including the recommended destruction of several shade trees, and has called plans for the band shell and amphitheater too grandiose. Powers is also credited with spearheading the Brighton Area Women’s History Roll of Honor. (TT)