Ralph Blasier

ESCANABA — Escanaba City Council Member Ralph Blasier has announced his campaign for reelection to the city council. Blasier submitted an explaination of what he believes his qualifications are for the position as well as a biography including both his professional and personal achievements. His announcement is as follows:

I Ralph Blasier, am now announcing that I am seeking re-election on November 2 to the Escanaba City Council. I have served on the city Council for eight years, and I have taken this responsibility seriously.

I have accepted assignments from the mayor that are important to our residents. I am currently appointed to the following committees and boards:

1. Electric Advisory Board. The board established the solar power project at the Delta County Airport. The council is exploring the use of grant funding to expand the solar project at the airport. Every additional solar panel will make a small reduction in our consumers’ electric bill.

2. Planning Commission. The commission is currently evaluating whether there is a need to overhaul the city zoning ordinance.

3. Delta County Solid Waste Authority (DSWMA), voting member. The authority worked to improve recycling. I typed this on September 28, and I learned later the same day that the DSWMA will receive a grant from the State to expand recycling even more. The DSWMA will issue a press release with details in a few days.

Board actions are always a team effort, and I am not claiming sole credit. However, I do use my concerns for the community and my communication skills to contribute to each board I am on.

I am working with city management and other council members on downtown development, especially at the east end of Ludington Street. Our city cannot wait for potential developers who fail to demonstrate commitment to the city by real actions. The city is composing a request for proposals that it will issue in about 30 days. There are four potential developers: One approached me, I approached one, one approached the manager, and one approached the county. More news soon, I hope.

The city council regrets having to raise water rates. The state has mandated that Escanaba replace 4,000 water service lines that have a short, 18-inch, lead pipe in them. Each replacement costs thousands of dollars. The total projected cost for these replacements is $16,000,000 (at today’s prices). Initially, the state was not funding this effort, but I learned today that the state will grant Escanaba $1,800,000 from COVID relief funds to help.

The city continues to repair sanitary sewers to reduce rainwater intrusion that sometimes causes overloading of the wastewater treatment plant resulting in spills into Little Bay de Noc. Escanaba already has excellent quality drinking water. The city is currently planning to expand and improve the drinking-water treatment plant

The safety of our residents, the efficient and wise use of your tax dollars, and the development of our downtown is essential to our community. While I admit my conservative opinions, I believe my eight years as a council person demonstrated that I use common sense as my guide.

I attended Michigan State University for a degree in biochemistry. Through years of schooling and training, I earned my medical degree and completed orthopaedic specialty training Wayne State University (WSU).

During medical school, I enlisted in the Michigan Army National Guard. Near the end of my orthopaedic education, I transferred to active duty in the United States Navy for five years, where my focus was treating injured Marines. Marines seem to have a lot more injuries than sailors. I served in Guam, the Philippines, Japan, and California. I rose to the rank of Commander. Serving in the Navy and using my surgical skills to help these injured men and woman was an honor that I shall not forget.

My first civilian job after the Navy was Chief of Orthopaedic surgery at the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital and member of the faculty at the University of Michigan (UM) Medical School. After eight years in Ann Arbor, I moved my practice to inner-city Detroit and became Chief of Orthopaedic surgery at Sinai-Grace Hospital of the Detroit Medical Center Corporation (DMC) and was promoted to head all orthopaedic education at the DMC. I became faculty at the WSU Medical School. I served as Chief of Orthopaedic surgery at the Detroit VA for five years. At UM and WSU, I trained orthopaedic surgery residents, by doing and demonstrating orthopaedic operations. In my 50s, I went back to WSU night-school, while I was a full-time orthopaedic surgeon, to earn my law degree.

In 2010, my wife and partner, Mary (nee Schram) Blasier, suggested that it was time for her to return to Escanaba where she grew up. In fact, she was in the last graduating class from Holy Name High School. (I am happy to see this school is back!) Mary always considered Escanaba home, and she knew we would make Escanaba our home someday. Well, that day was October 1, 2010, when I began working as an orthopaedic surgeon at OSF St Francis Hospital.

Mary and I soon became involved in community-service activities. A particular and important moment for us was when Delta County got out of the animal control business. Mary and I, and several other concerned citizens, stepped in, and formed a not-for-profit corporation, the “Delta Animal Shelter, Inc.” which took on the duties for the care of the dogs, cats, horses, and other animals who were injured, abandoned, or abused. Mary and I remain active in this cause.

During my eight-plus years at OSF, I performed approximately 9,000 “patient visits” and performed over 1,200 surgeries. I mostly fixed broken bones, I repaired many rotator cuff tears, and I replaced arthritic shoulders. I developed a method to fix certain hip fractures under local anesthetic with no blood loss in less than 30 minutes. This procedure minimized post-surgery complications. I am not aware that anyone else in the U.P. fixed hips this way. By being a surgeon in Escanaba, I had the opportunity to help our community by treating “patients,” and I was able to meet many fine people, of whom several are now our friends and neighbors.