Owosso City Council · November 3, 2026
Preserve. Repair. Protect.
Six things I would work on first
None of these are mysteries. Every one is a decision the city has already faced or is about to. The Issues page lays out each one in full, with the facts behind it and what I would do.
Water bills
Listening to the public and trying to find solutions. Run water assistance through the income test the city already uses for permit fees. Clean and safe water should be affordable.
Roads
Thirty-nine of our seventy-one street miles are rated poor. Publish a work calendar and be more transparent about when work will be done.
Empty buildings
Adopt the vacant building ordinance already sitting with Council. One boarded-up corner takes value from every business around it, and the city pays either way.
Trash and recycling
State law requires curbside recycling by January 2028. Finish that decision and settle trash at the same time. One hauler, one bill, less wear on streets we are already behind on.
Data centers
Corunna wrote its rules in August 2026, before a single developer called. Owosso has no ordinance at all. Limits on water, power and noise belong in writing first.
Show your work
In 2024 the city raised connection fees with no cost-of-service study. A judge ruled them an unlawful tax, and refunds are on the table. Nothing gets voted on without a written recommendation and a number attached.
Listen first
Citizen comments should be addressed. When there is no citizen comment, we need to determine why. That is a failure of outreach, not of interest. I would go find the input instead of waiting for it.
Show the math
I will not promise your bills come down. I will promise you can see the numbers and reasoning behind every vote, before it happens.
Answer my own email
No staff between you and me. If you write, I read it and I write back directly. That is not a policy position, it is just how I would do the job.
No PAC money
I am not asking you for money, and I am not taking any from anyone with business in front of the council. Most importantly, I am not taking money from PACs that represent people outside of Owosso.
Read the packet
Every item, every meeting, before the vote. That is most of the job. A council that has done the reading asks better questions and makes fewer expensive mistakes.
Own the mistakes
I will get things wrong. When I do, I will say so plainly and say what I would do differently. That is a lot easier when the reasoning was public in the first place.
How I would serve
A neighbor volunteering to help, not asking for more money
Whatever you think of any single issue here, you should be able to see how your council reached a decision, and read the reasoning before the vote instead of after the bill.
Why I’m running
I’m a volunteer at heart, and that’s what I want to be on your city council
My wife and I came to Owosso and fell in love. We have spent most of our time here restoring the Amos Gould House, and I serve on the Downtown Historic District Commission and the Temporary Carnegie Library Committee.
What I have learned from those seats is simple. The decisions that go well are the ones where somebody did the homework first and put it in writing where the public could see it. The ones that go badly are the ones nobody wrote down.
Heard around town
These are things neighbors have said to me at their own doors. No names, because nobody asked to be quoted in a campaign. If something here sounds like your street, I would like to hear from you too.
Owosso is a great place to live. I want to see it preserved for generations to come.
The water situation is out of control. Someone needs to do something so we can live here with clean water and no fear our basements will flood.
Roads are awful. They need to be fixed.
So many people come from outside the city to speak at council meetings. They want to influence decisions in Owosso, but they don’t live here. They don’t speak for me.
Bring more businesses to the area. And protect us from flooding.
Frequently asked
Plain answers. If yours is not here, write to me and I will answer it, and probably add it to this page.
The questions I get most at the door…
A candidate for one of four at-large seats on the Owosso City Council in the November 3, 2026 election. My wife and I are restoring the Amos Gould House. I serve on the Downtown Historic District Commission and the Temporary Carnegie Library Committee, and I volunteer around town in my spare time.
Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and absentee voting is available to every Michigan voter. Four at-large seats are open, so you may vote for up to four candidates.
I won’t vote to move forward on a fee, a rate, a deferred repair, or a permit denial without a written recommendation from the responsible professional in the packet, and a dollar figure for what being wrong would cost. Council still decides. It just has to say why, in writing, first.
No PACs. I am not taking money from anyone with business in front of the council. I am not asking you for money either. I am asking for your vote and your vote only. My entire campaign runs on a shoestring budget provided solely by myself. I’m good with budgeting and I can do the same as a city councilmember.
Email me at contact@seanharrington.org or use the form on the Get Involved page. I read and answer my own email.
Election day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Four at-large seats are open. You may vote for up to four candidates. Please make Sean Harrington one of your choices.