Democracy in the Krauch-hairs

[XLFD]

Yesterday, you likely celebrated Memorial Day, a day used to remember the people who died while serving their country in the armed forces in order to keep America free, and protect its democratic and republican ideals (not to be confused with the political parties of the same general name).  It was hard for me to celebrate the ultimate sacrifices our local heroes, buried in local cemeteries, gave for these ideals when our local officials are giving their best efforts to thwart those standards against the will of the local electorate, many of whom are unwary of their subterfuges.  

The latest outrage comes with the resignation of Ludington City Councilor Michael Krauch, which shouldn't have come as much of a surprise since he announced earlier this year that he would not run this fall for his seat.  Three challengers had already come forth at that time and were scheduled to face off in a primary in August in order to reduce the candidates to two.  Krauch is moving to Missouri to start a new job and is effectively resigning on June 15, and according to the last sentence in the above link, the council would need to select a replacement.

This seemingly contradicts what the charter says, but the City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) was also under the false assumption that the council would need to choose a replacement.  The May 24 edition on p. 3 says: 

"Shay said that they will look to fill the position in the same way they did the interim city treasurer, by asking residents of the Fourth Ward to submit a letter of interest in the position.

"We will be putting a notice out, asking any residents of the Fourth Ward if they want to serve until the end of this year and submit a letter of interest to the City.  But that person, whoever it is, would only serve until the end of this year," Shay said... a new Fourth Ward seat would have to be selected within 30 days , by July 15... "Ultimately it's up to the city council as to who they would select.  But the charter requires the council to fill the position within 30 days," Shay said."

Our nation has a Constitution to guide what happens in government when such things as vacancies occur, each of the 50 states have their own constitutions to detail what happens at the state level.  In Michigan, home rule cities like Ludington have a charter defining what they need to do when vacancies occur.  In every case we must follow the rules, we cannot be falsely guided by what one or more officials declare otherwise, in contradiction of the law.  We fail to be a nation of laws when that happens and become a nation of corrupt leaders who would dictate what they would personally like the law to say.  It's not a good route.

The laws of filling vacancies as defined in Ludington's charter is not too complex, which can lead those who would pervert the law for their own ends to attempt their debauchery.  It should be understood that the intent of the charter is to promote American values and ideals.  With that in mind here is the charter's section on vacancies:

If Shay did not neglect the second sentence of the second paragraph, he would be fine with what the council's duties are.  However, The three Fourth Ward candidates are already scheduled in a city regular primary election slated for August 7th, about ten days less than 60, where the charter says there is no need to appoint any officer.  Strictly speaking, the primary election winner could assume office for the rest of the year and continue onward until the term ends if they also win in November.  As the Fourth Ward citizens would like representation, this is the best interpretation.

If the primary winner loses in November, they would need to cede the office at the end of the year to the victor.  There is no need for the council to wound the democratic process by choosing their own Fourth Ward pick prematurely and against the rules, we already have enough candidates showing enough interest to go through the election process.  

Additionally, however, the second highlighted point comes into play, as Krauch's office will officially become vacant at a time when another elected office is vacant, the city treasurer.  According to the 4-30-2018 MCP, Linda Rogers' treasury position becomes vacant on July 15, while her last day on the job is June 13.  These two vacancies are both pending, and they both fall within 60 days of a city election.  Multiple vacancies shall be filled by a special election, and in either case, no position needs to be filled because both are within 60 days of a regular city election.  

Citizens should rightly be incensed because Rogers had made her intentions known last year that she would be resigning just after her ten years of service mark, in order to get her lucrative post-employment benefits added on to her already lucrative employment fringe benefits that amount to nearly 82% of her salary. 

Instead of letting the public know in December 2017 that the treasurer position would be wide open this year for interested Ludington citizens, they had the city attorney trying to find a way to not get the position on the ballot for 2018, and city hall not letting the position be 'officially' open until after the deadline to submit petitions for the regular election go by. City Attorney Wilson's attempt to say state election officials said this position could not get on the ballot for 2018, was false.  Like a good, but unethical, attorney, he tried to get them to admit something by throwing out an unreal scenario, and then read something more into the answer to it.  

Both the machinations of Wilson as regards the treasurer, and the scheme of Shay to get a council/manager-appointee in to the Fourth Ward seat become totally invalid when the city charter is properly read to say that the multiple vacancies must be filled by special election, meaning that the normal primary for Fourth Ward becomes a 'special primary' which blooms into a 'special election' in November. 

The additional vacancy actually clarified the rules and nullified the city attorney's earlier flawed arguments even more.  Remember, this treasurer and John Shay allowed Richard Wilson to overbill the taxpayers for over three years while the shyster was working surreptitiously with city contractors to avoid council and citizen oversight.

It also mandates that the treasurer position needs to have a special election called for it, and that the choosing of Tom Ezdebski for the position that opens up less than 60 days before a city regular election was unnecessary.  It will provide the city with a treasurer during the interim between the time of this fall's special election.  It remains to be seen whether the city council will provide for a 'special primary' for the spot, since this is neither mandated by state or local law.

If our city leaders will not follow the city's charter, they must be constantly reminded of their negligence to follow the rules, and citizens must insist that the rules be followed and their rights to timely and lawfully elect their representatives be allowed to be retained.  

[Willy]

Excellent article X. I read in the paper that one of the things Krauch thinks is great is the splash park. Ludington area has numerous beaches, rivers, lakes and of course access to a 22,000 square mile pond which sits to the west, however only Krauch and those like him are mesmerized by a concrete wading pond. Spending money, time and effort on a splash park in  a town surrounded by water is as stupid as it gets. People like Krauch have an unlimited capacity to not see the big picture. If there could only be one reason the people should be glad he's leaving it could be his support for frivolous infrastructure projects instead of important safety concerns, such as, lead pipes.

[XLFD]

Thank you, Willy. 

In the article, it appeared that Krauch was wanting to write his legacy as being tied in with the splash pad and last year's water line replacements across the Fourth Ward which was necessitated by the addition of the cogeneration plant as a water customer.  Those improvements would have happened even if he was 100% against them, however, I hope that the splash pad does become his true legacy. 

The splash pad project could have went through open and proper channels designed to have a project of that magnitude properly vetted for particulars.  However, thanks to Councilor Krauch's chairmanship of the Cemetery, Parks, and Recreation Committee (CPRC) keeping it shielded from the public, many issues behind such a project never came before the public or even the Planning Commission, as it should.  This leaves the COL open to a lot of liability and a lot of unforeseen expenses even before the splash pad is built.  

[Freedom Seeker]

The title of this article says it all, unfortunately some on the city council and in non-elected positions at the city seem to be lacking knowledge of true democracy, even though they think think they are an open and honest government.