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Politics & Government

Carter Looking to Return to Utica Council

This is the first in a series of profiles on the five candidates running for three seats on the Utica City Council.

In November 2010, the Utica City Council appointed Jeff Carter Sr. to fill the city council seat vacated mid-term by Jerry Baker, who resigned after moving out of the city.

It was Carter’s first term as a city councilmember. Now, the 48-year-old Utica resident hopes voters will keep him on the council come this November.

“There’s a lot more behind the scenes than you think about this job,” he said, describing the council seat as “a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.”

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

Carter, who moved to Utica as a child 41 years ago, said he comes from two public servants. His father was a Detroit police sergeant who worked hospital security even after he retired. His mother was a U.S. postal carrier.

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He and wife, Nancy, have two children. In his free time, he enjoys camping, fishing and collecting model trains (another love passed down from his father).

Carter works for Milliken Millwork, a wholesale distributor of doors and windows. At Milliken, Carter described himself as a “go-to guy,” having worked in several capacities including shipping and receiving, loading, stocking and delivery.

Though the city budget is “bare to the bone,” Carter said during a recent candidate’s forum to be televised, he doesn’t favor raising taxes right now.

“The best thing is to maintain,” he added. “We’re there, we’re making it and hopefully things will get better. With the state cuts the way they are, this is all we can do.”

Carter firmly opposes consolidating the city’s first-response departments or the Department of Public Works with neighboring communities, saying it would be the “worst thing.”

Looking ahead, Carter has no plans of leaving Utica.

“The kids are even talking about moving into some houses around the area when they get old enough,” he said.

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