Voters heading to the polls in early November spoke loud and clear. They wanted change, especially at the City Council level. And they got it. Only Charley Johnson was returned to the council and will be joined by six political newcomers. Meanwhile longtime Mayor Tim Woolley and Clerk Cindy Bower were returned to office by huge, decisive margins.

There were also two “firsts” in this year’s election: Council Pro Tem Ron Thiede is the first “little person” to be elected in Taylor, and Councilman Gerald Thomas is the first African-American to serve on council.

The following is a breakdown of the City of Taylor’s newest elected officials, all of whom earned four-year terms in office.


Mayor Tim Woolley

Mayor Woolley earned his second four-year term in office by taking over 76 percent of the vote. His opponent, Herman “Butch” Ramik, received less than one-in-four votes cast and finished a distant second. Before serving as mayor, Woolley was on City Council for eight years – the last several as council chairman.

Mayor Woolley’s first term in office proved strong in several areas, especially public safety, infrastructure improvements and financial stability.

Under his leadership, the police department is now up to 78 sworn officers, reaching the budgeted number for the first time in many years. Much of that success came from an intense hiring campaign focused on higher pay scales and better benefits to lure and keep officers during an era when accomplishing those goals is very difficult. Police have also heavily invested in new law enforcement technology: drones, StarChase GPS darts, robotic dogs and artificial intelligence, Flock cameras and internal security networks.

City-related buildings and property have been rapidly improved upon. Lights were added to the walking paths at Heritage Park. The City renovated West Mound Church, after it was destroyed in a fire. The train car and caboose displayed in the park were completely renovated to their original historical specifications. But things hardly stopped there.

A new rentable Heritage Hall was created out of the old Heritage Park Activities Building. A new playscape and pavilion were built at the petting farm. Large-scale HVAC upgrades are being added to several buildings. The William Ford Senior Activities Center and its parking lot were renovated. New roofs and locker rooms were added in various buildings and Taylor Fire Stations No. 2 and 3 received total renovations.

In addition, all of these issues have been done under a tight financial umbrella, which saw Taylor’s fund surplus or “rainy day fund” increase to near 30 percent heading into Fiscal 2025-26. The City’s millage rate has continued to fluctuate between 25 and 26 mills and the community’s taxable value rose $95.5M to $2.7B. The City passed its last audit with flying colors.


City Clerk Cindy Bower

Clerk Bower was re-elected to her fourth consecutive four-year term with over 98 percent of the vote. She ran unopposed.

She is a Certified Municipal Clerk and a Michigan Professional Municipal Clerk, secretary of the Association of Wayne County Clerks, vice-president of the Taylor Goodfellows and volunteers for other various organizations.

She began her long career with the City at the age of 16 as a student co-op from the Taylor Schools. She had worked in various departments until her resignation in 2012, at which time she was appointed city clerk due to the retirement of Mary Ann Reilly.

Since becoming clerk she has successfully:
- Implemented Early Voting, beginning in 2024
- Obtained grants to implement Electronic Poll Book laptops and handicap accessible voting booths at the precincts.
- Streamlined operations of the Absentee Counting Board to decrease the time spent processing ballots.
- Created a working relationship with the local high schools to hire students as Election Inspectors.
- Transferred death records over to the Electronic Death Records System.
- Created Cemetery Clean-up Day opportunities to enhance the appearance of the City’s locally owned cemeteries.
- Offered free Shred Days twice annually to residents.


Treasurer Nicone R. Dragone Sr.

Treasurer Dragone is Taylor’s newest City Treasurer. He is a graduate of Taylor Center High School, Class of 1988 and grew up in Taylor and has lived in this city about 45 years, although he also spent time in Newport, Southgate and even Baton Rouge.

He is married to Sherry Dragone. He has a blended family of six children including Nicone Dragone Jr., Bianca Williams, Geno Dragone and Gina Dragone, along with stepchildren Michelle and Michael Baran. He also has seven grandchildren – Lorenzo, Mila, Ariana, Henry, Teddy, Ozzy and Chloe.

Treasurer Dragone has worked for Cox Automotive, Dent Wizard, Inter-Rail and AIM. He is a member of the Democratic Club of Taylor; was on the Zoning Board for five years; coached T-Ball in the Taylor North Little League; and is a former member of the Knights of Columbus.



CITY COUNCIL


Chairman Charley Johnson

This will be Charley Johnson’s fourth consecutive, four-year term on the council. At the end of this term, he will have served 16 straight years on council. This year he earned over 11 percent of the votes cast, 5,747 in all, a significantly high total.

Chairman Johnson has always been a popular vote-getter, but it hasn’t always been a smooth ride. After he was first elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2017, he had to overcome a challenge that took his name off the ballot in 2021 and he had to win a long-shot write-in campaign during the primary season. Nevertheless, he eventually won his third, four-term. This year he dominated the council race from start to finish and earned the chairmanship as the top vote-getter.

A lifelong resident, he is a 1980 graduate of Kennedy High School. He purchased Alert Plumbing from his father in 1983. He sold the company after 20 years, served the City of Taylor as its master plumber and currently holds the same position with Wayne County.

He is a member of Western Wayne Plumbing and Mechanical Association, which has accomplished such projects as new plumbing for the VFW (Taylor), St. John's Lutheran Church (Taylor) and multiple systems for needy seniors.

One of the founding members of the Taylor Veterans Museum and chairman of the Museum Commission, he is also Council liaison to the Planning Commission.


Council Pro Tem Ron Thiede

Ron Thiede is the first “little person” to be elected to the Taylor City Council. He is also the first such elected official in Michigan and only the second overall in the U.S. He has lived in Taylor his entire life. His mother was born and raised in Taylor, graduating from Taylor Center in its first graduating class.

Council Pro Tem Thiede has four siblings, three that still live in Taylor. He is single and recently adopted a dog named Saphire. He enjoys fishing and camping.

He is Taylor through and through:
- Board member of the Democratic Club of Taylor
- Taylor DPW 34 years (retired)
- Local Union 1128
- Former professional wrestler “Little Joe Bomber”
- Former Taylor Hockey Association board member
- Taylor Northwest Little League official
- Taylor Hockey concessions manager at the old Taylor Community Center
- Worked in the Taylor Recreation Department
- Harry S. Truman High School graduate 1979
- Varsity letter in wrestling.


Councilman Christian Armstrong

Councilman Armstrong is the youngest council member, just 23 years old. He has a background in legislative and constituent services, lending assistance, coordinating with state agencies, and supporting policy research.

That includes a strong grounding in public-facing service, including government operations and community problem-solving. He also has staffing and business management experience, joining the field immediately after high school, developing networking, communication and client-management skills.

Armstrong comes from a family of entrepreneurs, helping shape a business-minded, results-oriented approach to leadership. His family has deep, multi-generation ties to Taylor. His roots go back to his great-grandparents, Donald and June Grapes, with Donald being a World War II veteran and the first occupant of the family’s Taylor estate.

His grandmother Donna, a John F. Kennedy High School graduate, lived her entire life in Taylor. Armstrong has lived in Taylor for most of his life.

A University of Detroit Jesuit High School graduate, he is now assistant athletic director at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Academy (Detroit) where he oversees athletic department operations and is the seventh and eighth grade boys’ varsity basketball coach.

He is also a two-term member of the Taylor Parks & Recreation Commission and a board member of the Father Clement Kern Foundation.


Councilman Dan Wallace

Councilman Wallace and his two sisters were raised by working-class parents in Minnesota and Nebraska. He graduated from high school in Roseville, Minnesota, and majored in business management and accounting at The College of Saint Thomas in St. Paul.

After working for a Wyandotte-based chemical company in Washington and Oregon, he was promoted to a position in Michigan. For the past 30-plus years, he worked as a performance improvement expert assigned to automotive and food manufacturers.

Councilman Wallace has lived in Taylor for 28 years, while raising three sons, a dog, and two cats. He has volunteered for many community- and charity-based organizations, going back to being a self-professed audio-visual nerd in elementary school. He shows up early to help setup and stays late to help cleanup.

His activities over the past few years include:
- Knights of Columbus member and fundraiser volunteer
- Volunteer worker for Taylor Goodfellows, Taylor Animal Shelter, Downriver Foster Closet, Heritage Park Cleanup, and Memorial Day Flag Placing
- 101+ unit Red Cross blood donor
- Worship lector, musician, and Eucharistic minister (EMHC)
- Active supporter of various community causes

For recreation, he enjoys bicycling, motorcycling, camping, cooking, and working out at the Taylor Recreation Center.


Councilman Gerald Thomas

Councilman Thomas, a graduate of Osborn High School in Detroit, is the first African American to be elected to the Taylor City Council. Born and raised in Detroit, he served in the United States Army. He was a recipient of the Army Achievement Medal and the Good Conduct Medal and graduated at the top of his class in the Primary Noncommissioned Officers School.

He moved to Taylor in 1986 and has spent nearly four decades serving in a variety of capacities. He was an Auxiliary police officer and Auxiliary firefighter. As a retired City of Taylor employee, he also served as deputy treasurer under the late Wayne Avery. He also worked in several other city departments.

He also served on the 2006 Master Planning Steering Committee and as vice president and president of AFSCME Local 1128. He was vice president of the Taylor School Board, president of the Board for the Taylor Exemplar Academy and spent 21 years on the board of directors for Total Community Credit Union.

He also serves on the Tax Increment Finance Authority/Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, otherwise known as TIFA.

He’s also a professional landscape, fine art, sports and portrait photographer.


Councilman William “Bill” Patts

Councilman Patts has called Taylor home for more than 55 years. He grew up in Pennsylvania until graduation, then moved to Taylor to be near his mother.

He has been married to Caroline, a former councilwoman, for 51 years. They raised two daughters, Samantha (Sumpter Township) and Andrea (Brownstown). They have four grandchildren – Rebecca, Matthew, Vincent, and Colton – and a great-grandchild, CJ, with another great-grandchild on the way. A son-in-law, Ron, is a former Taylor Police officer.

Some of Councilman Patts accomplishments include:
- Employed as a Print Technician for the Taylor School District for the past 26 years. He’s also an usher at Comerica Park during the Detroit Tigers baseball season.
- He helped negotiate Teamsters contract at U.S. Silica.
- Taylor precinct chairperson, inspector, and absentee ballot inspector for 21 years.
- Member of Goodfellows.
- Taylor Northwest Little League coach in the Farm, Major, and Senior divisions. Also, JR. VP for the Taylor Northwest board.
- Masonic Lodge 595 member.


Councilman Chris Clark

This will be Councilman Clark’s first term on city council. He is a 2002 graduate of Baptist Park High School. He attended Henry Ford Community College for one year before deciding to enter the construction trades. Later, he graduated from Irene’s Institute as a massage therapist in 2009.

Since 2024 he’s been installing siding for Excel Home Improvement and takes subcontracted jobs for a logistics hospitality company, which contracts with Ford Motor Co. events when they are releasing new products to the public.

That work focuses on managing media and influencers throughout the events, allowing them to have an amazing experience along with capturing necessary content. He’s also a partner in Bee Happy Honey, which markets honey and lip balm.

Chris has lived in Taylor his entire life. He grew up in the same subdivision that he currently lives in. He grew up down the street from his grandparents. When he married they bought a house in the same subdivision – three generations in that same area.


The new council members were sworn into office in time to hold their first regular meeting early in November. At that meeting, they approved a return to the Study Session schedule, which calls for study sessions to be held the day before regular Tuesday council meetings (for the most part) throughout the year. The sessions will be held beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Mondays, in the room directly off the City Council Chambers. The public is welcome to attend the study sessions.