Kent County Land Bank director Dave Allen is now the commissioner-elect for Grand Rapids Third Ward residents.
Allen received 65 percent of Tuesday’s vote against local pastor and Bates Place Ministries director Bryan Blakely.
Allen says responsive police and fire services and equity issues are among key priorities.
"(I want) [t]o make sure that city services, city policies, city procedures are carried out fairly and equitably and so we’ll look at those - some of those things are falling through the cracks in the Third Ward," he says. "And try to find some tangible ways to make [addressing issues] happen.”
Allen says another priority is getting to know his fellow commissioners.
Half of the city’s commission will be made up of new faces in 2016, after Grand Rapids voters approved term limits for local officials last November.
