Ward 2 Council Member, City of Ypsilanti · Appointed January 2024 by Desiraé Simmons · Never previously elected · August 4, 2026 primary vs. Amy Rondel
How He Got There
Patrick McLean was never elected to office before his current council seat. He was appointed to fill the vacant Ward 2 seat in January 2024 by Desiraé Simmons. He has an Ohio area code. The August 4, 2026 primary is his first electoral race. His opponent is Amy Rondel, who has zero documented public footprint in The Ypsilantian's archive. McLean was endorsed for Ward 2 by former Mayor Paul Schreiber — the same Schreiber who hired Frances McMullan in 2007 and called her "a fine interim city manager" in 2012.
Key Votes & Positions
McLean is documented as almost certainly voting YES on Resolution 240 — the June 16, 2026 encampment removal vote. He is documented as a Friends of Rutherford Pool member, connecting him civically to the Normal Park neighborhood where the Ruben Peeler standoff occurred in January 2026 — the same neighborhood his unarmed responder program vote was supposed to serve.
Documented Connections
Desiraé Simmons — Appointed By
Simmons appointed McLean to fill the Ward 2 vacancy in January 2024. He now sits on the same council as Simmons, but is documented as likely to vote differently on the encampment resolution — illustrating that appointment does not guarantee ideological alignment.
Paul Schreiber Endorsement
Former Mayor Schreiber endorsed McLean for Ward 2. Schreiber hired Frances McMullan in 2007 and praised her as interim city manager in 2012. McMullan served under Schreiber from 2007 through the end of his term in 2014 — during the period when her credit card access was first established (though the documented theft began in 2019 under the permanent City Manager card).
Friends of Rutherford Pool — Normal Park
McLean's civic involvement includes the Friends of Rutherford Pool — a volunteer organization supporting the volunteer-maintained public pool in the Normal Park neighborhood. The pool is one to two blocks from the site of the Ruben Peeler standoff (West Cross Street, January 4–5, 2026), where Metro SWAT surrounded a Black man experiencing a mental health crisis for two days before he surrendered peacefully. McLean's vote on the $1M unarmed responder program — the policy designed to address exactly these situations — is documented in council records.
June 16 Encampment Vote
McLean is documented as almost certainly voting YES on Resolution 240. Combined with King (YES) and possibly Brown (uncertain), McLean's vote could be decisive in whether the resolution passes — setting up Wilcoxen as the true swing vote if Brown holds firm.