Newcomers Join Plymouth City Commission After Uncontested Vote

The Plymouth City Commission will see two new faces this year after an election that was far less contested than the the 14-candidate race with which it shared a ballot. 

Newcomer Diane Bogenrieder and Planning Commissioner Meg Dooley will join incumbents Ed Hingelberg and Mike Wright.

Bogenrieder and Dooley replaced outgoing commissioners John Barrett and David Workman. on the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools Board of Education. Workman, who is president of the Farmington Education Association, will focus on his work with schools.

Hingelberg said he doesn’t expect much to change with the commission as it transitions with its new members.

“We lost two members and we’re taking on two very good members,” he said.

Bogenrieder said she met with several of her future colleagues for the first time today while campaigning outside the Plymouth Cultural Center, where the city’s four precincts voted and was impressed with what she saw.

“Spending the day with them, their personalities and how they treated others, I was impressed with their generosity,” she said.

Wright said the commission had reached out to Bogenrieder and Dooley to help ease the transition.

"Even the nature of the race being non-competitive, we had already reached out to both Megan and Diane and began introducing them to everything else going on," he said. "We feel pretty comfortable they can hit the ground running."

The commissioners each earned four-year terms with the exception of Bogenrieder, who finished fourth in the election and earned a two-year term.

As a newcomer to the Plymouth political scene, she said she found the campaigning experience “fascinating.”

“It’s exciting to be part of forward thinking,” she said. “I’m glad to be with these people.”

Dooley also was excited to begin her term on the commission.

“I’m just looking forward to being on the commission and honored to be able to serve,” she said.

Plymouth City Commission 2011 Election Results