A Letter to the Leaders of Scottville

[XLFD]

If you've been following the political situation in Scottville, you noticed a lot of odd things happening in November.  Five city commission seats were up for grabs, four people were on the ballot for three four-year terms, the incumbent mayor lost; the half-term seats had only one write-in candidate running, they won, but one seat was left unfilled.  Rob Alway was reelected, but he promptly resigned on the 14th in a letter to the city manager and a letter to the citizens of Scottville.  He would allege that the only 3 members to show up at the two scheduled November meetings (which were both cancelled for not having a quorum) were going to lead the city in a bad direction, to put it mildly.

The first meeting in December had the reappearance of Alway on the commission without nary a ripple in the fabric of reality, reminding one of the episode in Bewitched where the actor playing Darrin Stevens (Dick York) was replaced by Dick Sargent without anybody in the series noticing a difference.  Frankly, it's more like that time in the prime-time soap Dallas where Bobbly Ewing is killed at the end of one season and at the end of the next, he's back showing up in a shower and we eventually find out that a whole season plus was just a dream his wife had, so everybody accepts him as they did before.

                                                                                 'Robby' Ewing of Scottville

If your counting, Scottville had two vacancies in their commission, one vacancy occurred on the 4th, the other the 14th of November.  The commission could have corrected the latter by choosing a replacement at the December 12th meeting, but they didn't.  They chose to dream that Alway never resigned, and they took their fantasy even further by claiming they could select someone to fill the 11-4-2022 vacancy at the 12-27-2022 meeting.  The city charter disallows the commission to choose anyone 31 days after the vacancy occurs.  The commission is at five members and will be so until a special election is held to cure the vacancies, as this is the only way to do so after a 30-day vacancy.

As of this point, the commission hasn't shared an agenda packet for the 12-27-2022 meeting, but it is likely that they will continue their course of action, which is dreaming that Mr. Alway never resigned and allowing him and other commissioners to fill a vacancy unlawfully.

Back on December 18th, I wrote an email to City Manager Jimmy Newkirk, with copies sent to other commissioners and the new city attorney.  Like Rob Always letter to the citizens, I have also made this an 'open letter' with the publication of this article.  Labelled "Notice of Intent to file lawsuit if the City of Scottville maintains its course", I lay out the law as written by state legislators or passed by past city commissions or citizens voting on charters or their amendments.  The Scottville City Clowncil will meet at 6:30 PM on December 27 at Scottville City Hall.

Jimmy,

If you're like me, you're enjoying the Christmas season, so let me be brief in explaining the issues plaguing your city that will require correction by the City of Scottville beginning at the next commissioner's meeting or if not, by court order.

The November 3rd election saw two two-year terms come to the vote, there was only one candidate that filled one of them.  That other seat was effectively vacant on the 4th of November.  At the December 12 meeting, where Attorney Nettleton was present and should have known better, the commission effectively declared a 39-day vacant seat as newly vacant, but they do not have that power.  As I instructed at that meeting, the city charter with authority granted to it by the Home Rule Cities Act states plainly that the seat was vacant after the election.  The seat can only be filled through a special election if the commission hasn't filled it within 30 days.

If you select a new commissioner at the next meeting, and I have seen your ads in the MCP and LDN purporting to do just that, I will initiate a quo warranto lawsuit against this appointee as they will have illegally usurped the office.  I will win hands down.

Additionally, I couldn't help but notice Rob Alway was voting this last Monday as if he was still a member of the commission.  Commissioner Alway resigned quite publicly on the day of 11-14-2022, by statute MCL 201.3(2) a vacancy was created when he resigned, independent of any other action.  The city charter has limited ways to fill a vacancy when one happens (appointment within 30 days or special election).  Now that it's 34 days after that resignation, a special election is required.

If the City wishes to believe that Mr. Alway and anybody appointed at the next meeting is legitimate, they can do so at its own peril, but I would advise that you take roll call votes during the next few months before both are disqualified by the courts and their votes are also.

I will likely append a supplemental count on any required lawsuit that will seek to reestablish the commission's recognition of their meeting procedures defined in said city charter that places the hearing of the citizens towards the beginning of the meeting, before any business is considered, and consider any other housecleaning task to fix what has been broken by city officials not acting in accordance with the law."

[Willy]

Thanks for the update X. I don't know how you can follow all of this political nonsense. I sure have a hard time doing so.

[XLFD]

The trick is you got to take out some of those walls they put up to discourage you from finding the truest path:

[Willy]

You're right about that X. That's the only way to find the truth in a corrupt Government. When I posted this maze I didn't think there was a solution but after wasting my time and giving myself a headache trying to solve it, I finally found the path.

[Freedom Seeker]

Good depiction Willy with the convoluted maze! I agree, the politics are so flip-flopping it's too much to follow the details for the outsider. Add to that another long-winded, wishy-washy article by Mr. Alway tonight, it's more confusing. I feel for the citizens of Scottville in this upheaval.  At least he's putting a disclosure showing his conflicts of interest at the beginning.

[XLFD]

Thanks for alerting me to that 'explanatory article' in the MCP, he must have put it out rather late, I checked it out around 11 PM last night to see how he might characterize last night's meeting.  Here's how he finished it:

If he stands by the statements made on that letter and that he has always (no pun intended) made the right choices, why is he back on the clowncil?  This is an effective admission that he resigned and his mistaken belief that he had the power as a normal citizen of Scottville to rescind that resignation after he gave up the office in grand fashion.  The only title granted by his taking of the oath of office when he hadn't the position of commissioner any more is that of the village idiot.  He continued to show that last night after I questioned and ridiculed his 'authority'.  You don't want to miss the Ludington Torch's recap of that meeting, the COLDNews was conspicuously absent.