Clawson Council Appoints Alec Speshock to Fill Vacancy, Rescinds Lame Duck Commission Appointments
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 15, 2025)
Clawson, MI – With the election of Sue Moffitt to the Mayor’s position, Clawson City Council was tasked with appointing a resident to fill the council seat she held. And on Dec. 8 the Council unanimously appointed Alec Speshock to the position.
Speshock has been a Clawson resident for about 5 years. At the time of applying he served on the DDA Board as a Member at Large, though he had to resign before being sworn in to the council. He also serves on the board of the Lion’s Club, and is the President of the Clawson Chamber of Commerce. Both the Lion’s Club and the Chamber are nonprofit entities that are separate from the local government.
Before moving to Clawson, Speshock lived in Berkley, where at the age of 16 he served on the City’s Tree Board.
Four people applied to fill the Clawson City Council vacancy: Scott Manning, William Renshaw, Glenn Shepard, and Speshock.
Prior to the appointment Manning, Shepard, and Speshock answered questions by members of council at the Dec. 8 meeting.
Speshock shared his background, which includes banking and real estate. “Being able to look at numbers is a fun thing,” he said. “I know a lot of people really love it or really hate it, but I actually really enjoy it… I like seeing the breakdowns and how everything works out.”
When asked what he thought the top three issues were for Clawson,Spesock shared concern over infrastructure including roads, sewers, and city-owned buildings. He also highlighted the need to evaluate the budget, aiming to find “where we can save, what we can do better on.” And lastly he hopes for more transparency, stating that he wants to “make sure I hear all sides…allow people to speak what they believe in.”
This is the first time that the City of Clawson has had a seven-member board, a change that was approved by voters in a recent charter change. Voters also declined to re-elect the former mayor and council members, giving the city a fresh leadership team.
Council member Scott Tinlin suggested that the next highest vote-getter in the last election should be considered for the vacncy, which was then-council member Glenn Sheppard. However council members Meredith Peltonen and Heather Rinkvich expressed that voters were told to vote for not more than four candidates, and that had voters been given the option to vote for five, the vote totals would have been different.
“The overall results showed a choice for new leadership,” Rinkevich said.
The current council has also been faced with navigating decisions made by the departing mayor and council who held a special meeting just days before leaving office to approve a lucrative contract amendment for the City Manager as well as filling board and commission seats, including those that were not yet vacant.
At the Dec 2, 2025 council meeting, they voted to rescind two of the appointments: Jennifer Perkins for the Zoning Board of Appeals, and Nate Herra for the Planning Commission. By reversing the votes, those terms both now end on Dec. 31, 2025. Council members expressed that it was not to preclude those members from being re-appointed, but simply putting the decision back in the current council’s hands.
In terms of the City Manager contract, the City Attorney has shared the opinion that the contract amendment was voted on at a public meeting, that had been appropriately noticed, by the sitting council at the time. Council member Rinkevich put forth a motion to seek outside legal opinion about the contract, but other council members voted no.
Learn more about the City of Clawson at https://www.cityofclawson.com/
