Houghton City Council 2026: five candidates for four seats, what they told voters about downtown safety and the jail millage, and where to vote

HOUGHTON, Mich. — Five candidates are running for four seats on the Houghton City Council on Nov. 3, and three of them used a League of Women Voters forum this week to make their case on downtown traffic, city services and taxes.

Mayor Robert Megowen, who became mayor this year after the death of Mayor Bob Backon, Councilor Rhiannon Schmidt and Matt Siegel, director of the Michigan Tech Writing Center, took part in the Copper Country League of Women Voters forum Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the Orpheum Theater in Hancock, according to TV6 and the Mining Gazette. Candidates Chad Arney and incumbent Mike Needham, who are also on the ballot, did not attend. The council race is nonpartisan.

Names here are spelled as TV6 and the Mining Gazette reported them; the Houghton County clerk’s election page did not post a city candidate list, so check your sample ballot at the Michigan Voter Information Center.

What they want to do. Asked for a top goal, Megowen said: “I would like to keep Houghton and the surrounding areas growing economically and provide a safe environment for the young and the old.” Siegel named the basics. “Infrastructure, streets, water, sewer, and sidewalks... Public well-being, police and fire staffing and training and equipment... Quality of life,” he said, adding that balancing them “takes honest trade-offs made in public and in good faith.” Schmidt, a public health nurse with the Western U.P. Health Department who joined the council in April to fill Backon’s vacant seat, said she wants to make downtown traffic calmer so people feel safer walking and crossing streets, and told the Gazette she would also like to expand the community garden and possibly add a community fruit orchard.

Downtown safety. Schmidt said the city could work with police on flashing lights to warn drivers about people crossing and floated speed cameras downtown, the Gazette reported. Siegel, a longtime cyclist, said Houghton’s streets feel unsafe on a bike and that residents and businesses deserve “clear rules and fair, predictable enforcement” on night parking. Megowen said the issue returns every year in a college town with new students learning the roads, and that he will keep working with Police Chief Donnelly on enforcement. “You just have to work on keeping people safe and then enforcement is the goal, slowly but surely,” he told the Gazette.

Listening to residents. Megowen said people talk to him more freely outside City Hall. “When I’m in my gardens and my bibs, people will talk to me. If they see me with a jacket or a tie, they won’t talk to me,” he told the Keweenaw Report.

The taxes on the same ballot. All three forum participants supported the Copper Country Intermediate School District’s special education millage, the Gazette reported. Siegel and Schmidt supported Houghton County’s jail bond, while Megowen declined to take a position on it. The special education proposal asks for 0.2903 mill for 20 years, 2027 through 2046, to replace a levy that expires with the 2026 tax bill, and would raise about $601,033 in 2027, according to the ballot language posted by the county clerk. That works out to about $29 a year for every $100,000 of a property’s taxable value. Our earlier story breaks down the $28 million jail bond.

Where Houghton votes. City of Houghton Precinct 1 votes at the Houghton Fire Hall and Precinct 2 at Dee Stadium, according to the county’s notice of election. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. Early voting for all of Houghton County runs Saturday, Oct. 24, through Sunday, Nov. 1, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at the county early voting center, 19741 W. Sharon Ave., the county clerk said. City Clerk Amy Zawada handles absentee ballots for city voters.

Michigan’s deadline to register online or by mail was Oct. 19; you can still register in person at your clerk’s office with proof of residency through 8 p.m. on Election Day. Absentee ballot applications are due by 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, by mail or online, and in person by 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2. County canvasses must finish by Nov. 17, and the Board of State Canvassers certifies by Nov. 23.

Sources:
TV6/WLUC, “Hancock, Houghton city council candidates answer questions at public forum,” Oct. 20, 2026 (five candidates for four seats, attendance, goals quotes), https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2026/10/21/hancock-houghton-city-council-candidates-answer-questions-public-forum/
The Mining Gazette, “Meet the candidates,” Oct. 21, 2026 (backgrounds, safety ideas, positions on the ISD and jail millages), https://www.mininggazette.com/news/local-news/2026/10/meet-the-candidates-2/
The Keweenaw Report, “Houghton council candidate share ideas for working together with residents to improve safety, infrastructure, and development,” Oct. 21, 2026 (Megowen quote, nonpartisan race; spells the name Siegal), https://keweenawreport.com/2026/10/21/164370/
Copper Country League of Women Voters, forum listing, https://my.lwv.org/michigan/copper-country/event/hancock-and-houghton-city-council-candidate-forum
Houghton County, Notice of Election, Nov. 3, 2026 (offices, polling places, polls hours, city clerk), https://www.houghtoncounty.net/docs/11_3_2026_notice_election.pdf
Houghton County, Copper Country ISD special education millage ballot language, https://www.houghtoncounty.net/docs/ballot_ccisd_2026.pdf
Houghton County, Early Voting Site for the Nov. 3, 2026 election, https://www.houghtoncounty.net/news-view.php?target=461
Houghton County Clerk, 2026 Elections, https://www.houghtoncounty.net/clerk-2026-elections.php
Michigan Voter Information Center, https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/
Photo: Chris857, “Buildings in downtown Houghton, Michigan.jpg,” Sept. 12, 2018, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buildings_in_downtown_Houghton,_Michigan.jpg

Houghton · Election 2026 coverage

Tags: Houghton · Election 2026 · City Council · Copper Country · Special Education Millage · Voting