Letter to the Editor. By Wallace Cain, Ludington.
Tom Rotta is suing the City of Ludington again. This time for not properly posting a city council meeting notice in May and thus being in violation of the Open Meetings Act [The lawsuit is about seven city officials willfully making decisions and deliberations at a gathering that was not properly posted by law, after being reminded strongly of that fact]. I was at that meeting [He was, it was videotaped.]. The meeting was held in the afternoon to allow 3rd graders from Foster Elementary School to see how our city government works [And, boy, did they ever!]. I do not know the merit of the law suit [obviously, nor does he decide to defend his boss' untenable position]. The intent of the Open Meetings Act is to prevent governing bodies from deliberating and acting in private [the entire OMA preamble: "AN ACT to require certain meetings of certain public bodies to be open to the public; to require notice and the keeping of minutes of meetings; to provide for enforcement; to provide for invalidation of governmental decisions under certain circumstances; to provide penalties; and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts."] At no time during this city council meeting was anything done in private. The meeting was announced in multiple venues [though not posted/announced on the courthouse bulletin board, in the LDN, or the legally required posting board at City Hall].
I have attended most of the city council meetings the past two years. At most council meetings Tom Rotta unleashes his vitriol on our city government for his allotted 5 minutes of public comment [it would seem vitriolic from his official standpoint]. He has constantly and consistently called the Mayor, the City Manager, the Chief of Police and most of the city council members corrupt, greedy, incompetent and apathetic [this is an exaggeration. I do not personally attack any of our public officials, just their public policies and actions. That is my right to do so. I do not get up and personally attack any other citizen for exercising their rights when they see corruption, greediness, incompetency and apathy in our government. That's what Wallace is in the process of doing.]. I attended the mayoral debate among the 4 candidates this past summer in the park and I attended the final debate between the remaining two candidates at City Hall last month. No one questioned the candidates about any of the countless allegations raised by Tom Rotta [which, as the COLDNews hosted and moderated both debates, is just more evidence that the local newspaper wishes to ignore and downplay the corruption in our city hall, and our effectiveness here in bringing awareness to the public.].
Imagine being a public official and having your integrity questioned twice a month with no recourse [no recourse!? Imagine being a citizen and having your integrity questioned twice a month when Ludington city officials personally attack you at the end of these meetings, and misstate the record, with no opportunity by you to publicly respond.]. A qualified resident that wants to be involved in government and serve our community might have second thoughts about doing so [Is he talking about me, or anyone else who (*gasp*) may get up at public meetings and speak out against public policy or acts? If you are following the rules and acting in the people's interest, you get nothing bad from me.]. Imagine if you are a business owner looking to locate a new factory in our area. If you were to listen to Tom Rotta or perchance stumble upon his blog, you would think our city was having serious problems [particularly since you and the city officials can't offer any clear rebuttal of his arguments when you talk at these meetings]. The business owner might think twice about bringing jobs to our city [then let's fix those problems with our government ASAP. Look at how the City of Ludington has treated our business owners that run our private marinas. They use the people's money to go into direct and very unfair competition with them. They then house charter boats at the City Marina against their covenants and the intent of the law. Fix that and other roadblocks our City Hall is putting up to other lawful businesses, and reduce the tax burden to all businesses, not just your own, as I proposed at the meeting, Wallace!]
Tom Rotta has every right to express his opinions and to sue the city. These rights are inviolable [Wake up and read the Workplace Safety Policy and my loss of the inviolable right to vote and to attend open meetings to express my opinions for fourteen months due to the whims of your bosses, Wallace]. They are hard won and sacred [and just as easily lost and defiled by corrupt governments, like Ludington's]. But we should all be aware that his speech and actions are hurting our city [a premise without support, which contradicts his previous comments. Akin to the COLDNews glorifying the FOIA, and then denying a citizen's ability to use it for its stated purpose]. His speech and actions make it that much harder to run our government and to serve our city [...in a corrupt manner]. His speech and actions are costing us unnecessary legal fees [Laughter squared. The City leaders ability to follow the law and respect the property and rights of the people is costing us unnecessary legal fees, not my speech and actions]. His freedom of information requests are excessive [The corruption I have found in our government through the FOIA is excessive, and well-documented here at the Ludington Torch over the last five years]. His speech and actions are causing harm to the City of Ludington [you stated that point four sentences earlier when you said they are hurting our city. Let me write your next line, Wallace: "His speech and actions are injurious to the City of Ludington". Bring some meat to the table at the next meeting, Mr. Cain, I don't like all the empty calories.]
Wallace Cain Ludington
http://www.masoncountypress.com/2013/11/26/letter-rottas-actions-ar...
[Wallace Cain is a recent member of our Ludington community, arriving from Switzerland in 2010 to help Floracraft in Ludington. Floracraft is a frequent beneficiary of tax abatements, tax breaks, and other considerations from Ludington City Government, and mentioned twice in my public comments at the meeting. Tom Rotta was born at Paulina Stearn's Hospital in Ludington, and has lived in Mason County almost all of his life. His speech and actions are remedial to the City of Ludington's ills.]
