Commission of Sins: 2013 Edition

[XLFD]

Welcome to the third annual Commission of Sins report.  In late 2010, the Ludington Torch put out the first such report showing that the City Charter of Ludington was not being followed as per the appointments of certain boards  Commissions-of-Sins.  This was followed up last year where among other things, City Councilor Les Johnson was noted as being appointed to three different boards/commissions, one that expressly prohibited him from being on any other  Commission of Sins 2012: Still Sinning.

This year, the voting to seat the boards came just before the admission by the City that they "technically" violated the Open Meetings Act in 2011, doing so without serious regret.  With this admission and two previous critiques of the appointment process on the two occasions noted, based on the clearly written rule of law in the city charter, one might presume that the problems were corrected this year. 

 

Those people would presume wrong.  Ludington Mayor John Henderson has kept many of the prior infractions of the charter intact, and added some new ones.  Showing the veracity of the idiom that when you violate one clearly written established rule, it is a whole lot easier to justifiably violate any other established rule.  Does it not?

"Hell, there are no rules here--we're trying to accomplish something."   -Thomas Alva Edison

BOARD OF REVIEW

All five appointees are electors of the City, but three of the group (highlighted) are appointed officials serving on other boards and agencies.  All boards were officially seated at the 1-21-2013 meeting on one vote, so 'at the time of their appointment to the Review Board', Wallace Cain and Lyla McClelland were also serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals.  Fred Hackert, as we have previously noted, is not only an appointment on the Marina Board, but also is an appointed officer on the Ludington Fire Department.

PLANNING COMMISSION

Two members of the Planning Commission do hold other municipal offices, Kirk Josvai (whom I recently praised for wisdom) serving on the Cable Advisory Board, and Mike Nekola serving on the Community Development Block Grants Committee.   Will any of these 'specialty committees' have a bearing on how they conduct themself on the Planning Commission?  More than likely not, but it is possible, and it it outside the clearly-defined rules of the Charter's provisions.  To increase diversity and play by the rules, two other people should be chosen for those groups.

COUNCILOR LES JOHNSON

I hate to single the councilor out, particularly when he has reduced his four hats from last year down to two hats this year, but he still has more on his plate than he should.  After serving on the Board of Review last year, in violation of the Charter and State law MCL 15.182, the Downtown Ludington Board (DLB)/ (DDA), and a lesser Board, he now is just on the DLB.

Though the above law MCL 15.182 allows for a public officer or employee (thereby including a City Councilor) to serve on the local DDA, there are numerous conflicts of interest that can and will come up, including, but not limited to these following strictures concerning those entities:

MCL 125.1654  section 4:  "a member of the (DDA) board may be removed for cause by the governing body (city council)."

MCL 125.1655  section 1: "The board may employ and fix the compensation of a director, subject to the approval of the governing body of the municipality"

MCL 125.1661 section 1g: "The activities of the authority shall be financed from money obtained from other sources approved by the governing body of the municipality"

MCL 125.1680 section 1:  "An authority that has completed the purposes for which it was organized shall be dissolved by ordinance of the governing body."

Councilor Johnson's memberships on both organizations complicates the various situations and may give the appearance of impropriety and/or conflict of interest on any City Council vote that may affect the DDA he is secretary of.

This reluctance by Mayor John Henderson to follow the rules of appointment given in the Ludington Charter and the Michigan body of law over the course of time, should make one wonder why he holds his dicta so proudly above the laws we the people have made to make these boards and committees work for the people and superseding/neglecting the duty the Mayor's office has as chief executive officer of the city of Ludington.

         Fortunately for Mayor Henderson, Scottville Mayor Joe Baxter used each of his cups at the local bar before this competition.

[Willy]

Well done X. LDN should be taking lessons from you on how news reporting is done. Hey, Begonche, you can learn a thing or two from X.

[XLFD]

Stevie B has a much more reasoned approach in what he seeks from public bodies.  He's found that talking to public officials before filing FOIA requests can get the information one seeks, as per the attachment.  That's generally true if the information one seeks is to defend the public body from other journalists, but false if you are actually investigating the appearance of impropriety perpetrated by the public body. 

[Jane]

Jeez Tom, don't you know if you just 'talk' to public officials before doing a FOIA they will tell you everything (ahem-they want you to hear), I guess the LDN does not realize unlike themselves you want the truth, not the city/ldn's spin machine version things.

[XLFD]

The Einsteins at the COLDNews editorial board rationalize that when the FOIAed public records do not match the public statements of Ludington City Hall, then it's obviously Rotta's fault.