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Community Corner

Utica Council Candidate Hurchalla: 'I Care About the City'

This is the third article in a series profiling the five candidates running for three seats on the Utica City Council.

As a city councilman, Bernard Hurchalla isn’t one to come in and start demanding a lot of changes, he said.

Given the fact that property revenue has declined with a slumping housing market, Hurchalla believes the city can only keep at the status quo, providing “a nice, even flow of services” without raising taxes.

“I care about the city,” he said, noting Utica’s tight financial situation. “I’m dedicated and I want to do (the job of councilman).”

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Besides Hurchalla, Jeffrey Carter Sr., Chuck Cuddington, Barbara Montag and Faith Terenzi also are running on the Nov. 8 ballot for three city council seats. The council consists of six nonpartisan council members serving four-year terms, and a mayor serving two-year terms.

Hurchalla, 67, and his wife, Linda, have five children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandson. He has lived in the surrounding Utica area for 41 years, he said, moving to the city 23 years ago from Sterling Heights.

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He retired nine years ago from working maintenance for Chrysler.  

Presently, he works as a paid-on-call firefighter and medic for the Utica Fire Department. There, he handles many administrative matters on the Emergency Medical Services side.

Hurchalla opposes consolidating Utica’s essential services -- namely, its police, fire and public works departments – with neighboring communities.  Losing those departments would cause Utica to lose its identity.

He is an active volunteer for St. Lawrence Catholic Church and the Utica Lion’s Club, where he is club secretary. He also is a treasurer of the Utica Firefighters Association; he would bring the same fiscal responsibility to the council, he said.

As for city infrastructure, he would like to see the Van Dyke Avenue bridge over the Clinton River repaved. The road is maintained by the county, but the city could add more pressure to get the project completed, he said.

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