Erik Rick (Mount Clemens City Commission At-large, Michigan, candidate 2025)

Erik Rick

Nonpartisan

Candidate, Mount Clemens City Commission At-large

Elections and appointments

Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

High school

Mount Clemens High School

Associate

Central Texas College, 2013

Bachelor's

Central Michigan University, 2021

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Navy

Years of service

1998 - 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Mount Clemens, Mich.

Religion

Agnostic

Profession

Retired

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Erik Rick is running for election to the Mount Clemens City Commission At-large in Michigan. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.

Rick completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Erik Rick provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on September 25, 2025:

• Birth place: Mount Clemens, Michigan
• High school: Mount Clemens High School
• Associate: Central Texas College, 2013
• Bachelor's: Central Michigan University, 2021
• Military service: United States Navy, 1998-2020
• Gender: Male
• Religion: Agnostic
• Profession: Retired
• Incumbent officeholder: Yes
• Campaign Facebook

Elections

General election

The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.

General election for Mount Clemens City Commission At-large (3 seats)

Roxanne L. Brown, Ronald Campbell, Laura Fournier, Paul Friedmann, and Erik Rick are running in the general election for Mount Clemens City Commission At-large on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Roxanne L. Brown (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Ronald Campbell (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Laura Fournier (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Paul Friedmann (Nonpartisan)
		Erik Rick (Nonpartisan)

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	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign themes

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Erik Rick completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rick's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm Erik Rick. I'm originally from Mount Clemens and have been back for several years after retiring from the US Navy.

I live with my amazing wife and two awesome kids (and two cats).

I've been serving on the City Commission for 2 years now.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I am all about teamwork. We can accomplish so much more when we create meaningful partnerships. We need to be able to work with every level of government, including our schools. We also need to coordinate with our businesses, non-profits, and faith community to maximize all of our work. We need to find more ways to engage with and inform our residents, and I also want to ask our residents to engage with us. Tell us your challenges so we can connect you with resources or roll them into our planning considerations.
• We need to make sure our momentum isn't leaving people behind, or erasing our past. We're improving roads, infrastructure, housing stock, recreation, safety, and regional collaboration. That's all great! However we need to keep our eye on parts of our City with specific challenges. Not everyone has a car. Some folks are on a fixed income. Other people aren't in stable housing. We need to continue being proactive in highlighting our history. We need to support groups that are sharing our past. We need to build history into our projects. We need to tell our story.
• Many hands make lighter work. I will continue to ask residents to be an active part of our City's progress. In whatever capacity you can, please help. Join one of our committees. Volunteer with a non-profit. Attend a community event. Tell someone from outside Mount Clemens something you like about it. Moving a City forward is never light work, but if we work together it'll at least be lighter.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Long term planning and investment to reduce costs.

It's not glamorous, but it's the kind of stuff that allows us the breathing room to dream big AND move those dreams forward.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

City Commissioner is as close to voters as it gets. We need to be able to effectively translate the day-to-day challenges to policy priorities for Lansing. That's how we can work with the State to get resources and avoid unintended negative impacts from State policies.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I really liked former Congressman Jeff Jackson (he's the Attorney General of North Carolina now). He did such a good job at explaining what was going on in Congress. Not with a bunch of anger and half truths, but a calm, professional, honest assessment. Even if people didn't agree with all his policy stances, his conduct set a good example on how to be a respectable professional.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, clarity, determination, and ideally some humility.

Oh, and a great deal of patience.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To make informed decisions in the best interest of the City and it's residents.

Make a responsible budget that leads to long-term savings without adding new burdens to residents.

Have open communication with residents, businesses, and other partners. Explain why decisions were made, get meaningful input, and collaborate.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I'll leave "legacy" to someone else. I just want to make things better in the City.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Probably the Challenger explosion. I was 5 or 6 I think.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I worked at Macomb Cable Network at the High School as a student producer from sophomore to senior year. It was a pretty cool high school job.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Probably the Magician series by Raymond E. Feist. It's a fun swords and sorcery series I grew up reading. Interesting characters and worlds.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Uncle Iroh from Avatar the Last Airbender. That guy could toss out inspirational lines like they were free.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Approaching strangers. I've never had trouble answering questions, or public speaking, but I've always felt weird just walking up to someone or cold-calling. It made my 3 years in Navy Recruiting a really hard time.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

I believe we have a responsibility to educate the public on what we are doing and why. It is important to do that through a wide range of methods, because there is no single way to reach everyone.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

Yes it is beneficial, but it isn't necessary. The more experience someone has the easier it will be for them to leverage other government resources. It also reduces the chances they will accidentally try to do something they aren't actually allowed to do.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

Communication, attention to detail, formal planning processes, and experience with legal or technical writing.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the local government?

It shapes the priorities of the administration. It also is the residents best way to ensure their voices are heard.

Candidates hear many personal stories from voters. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching or memorable?

I spend a lot of time answering residents questions on Facebook. For anyone who has been online there are some folks who are almost always going to be negative. However one of our toughest critics brought up an issue caused by a business switching over to LED bulbs. After the change over their perimeter lights were so bright they were flooding the neighborhood. Well, once we knew about it our City Manager was able to work with the business to adjust the lights (and they did some extra stuff to cut down on noise too).

It's nothing deep, but it was a chance for me and a resident who rarely agrees with me to work together and improve something.

What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?

The State changed how it determines eligibility for low interest loans for water and sewer projects. Now if a City sells water wholesale to another community (like we sell to Selfridge) the State will include those residents income in figuring out if the community applying for a loan counts as low income.

Mount Clemens median income is nearly double what it was, but it's still $20k a year less than the County average... So with this new formula any time we sell our water it would make it harder to get State dollars.

I reached out through the Michigan Municipal League and also got word to SEMCOG through the Mayor so these two hugely influential agencies can get that sorted out in Lansing.

It's maybe not the most exciting thing, but very likely will be the difference between us being eligible for a loan with 2.5% interest versus 4% or more. When these water and sewer projects cost tens of millions of dollars that difference adds up.

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