First Ward Appointment, Third World Appearance

[XLFD]

Today at 4 PM the Ludington City Council meets in special session in order to interview the two men who applied for the First Ward Councilor seat, made vacant by the death of Richard Rathsack in late December.  In 2016, the council held two other special sessions to interview applicants for both the Fifth and Sixth Wards.  The agenda for the regular meeting in the evening shows that the new First Ward Councilor will be seated, finding his place among three other appointed councilors filling out terms and gaining their full powers as a councilor in the same manner.

Who are the applicants?  We learned on Friday that former County Commissioner Joe Lenius was one, and that John Beckett was the other.  The City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) article announcing the meeting tells us nothing about the two 'candidates' other than their names, the council packet tells us absolutely nothing about either.  Associate Lenius with Nader's Motel and Beckett being an ear doctor.  Neither has ever voiced a concern at a city council meeting.

If you are like the 99.9% of Ludington's registered voters who cannot or will not attend the untelevised special meeting, you will not know anything about either candidate (unless you know them personally) when a successor is hand-picked by six people who don't even live in First Ward. 

Half of those six councilors chosen in the same way, will make the decision rather than anybody who lives in and cares about the First Ward.  Look for the city council to go the predictable route and choose Lenius for the underlying reason that the county commission took in 12 year city council veteran Gary Castonia late last year using the same undemocratic process.  Beckett will be overlooked by his selectors overtly because he is not as experienced or qualified in government as Lenius, but the unspoken disqualifier will be that he would seem too virtuous of a choice and not able to fit in with the current city leadership.

Third world dictatorships have more democratic processes than this travesty perpetuated by our Grand Rapids/Manistee-based city attorney's interpretation of our city charter.

[Willy]

It really doesn't matter what the City Attonrney's opinion is on this situation because it is within the Council's power to initiate a special election to fill the current vacant council seats. This is very telling as to the mindset of the Council. They would rather ignore the principled stance of letting the people choose their representatives. Instead the Council thumbs their noses at Ludington's citizens and continues to self perpetuate their anti citizens legislation by refusing to let the voters exorcise their right to choose.

[XLFD]

The county commission experience of Lenius was the only advantage noticed by the council after they motioned for him to be the next First Ward Councilor, before the council voted 6-0 to select him.  

Tonight I met John Beckett for the first time, not to handicap his future chances, he seems like a nice man ready to serve the community.  Joe Lenius is more than capable with his four terms of experience at the county, but according to this April 2014 COLDNews article, Joe did not seek election because he wanted to really retire:   I’ll be almost 68 by the time my term is done,” Lenius told the Daily News Monday “I have a place in Florida and I only get there one week a month and I thought it would be time to retire.  I enjoyed my time (on the board) and do not regret any of it,” Lenius said, “but it’s time to hopefully slow down.”

Four years later, at 72, he's taking on what many would believe is a more stressful position with two meetings at least per month instead of one.  Will he still be spending more than one week in Florida per month and try to fulfill his duties in serving the First Ward? 

His commute is quite a bit longer than Rathsack's trips from Midland when he served that ward.  Shame on the councilors for ignoring Lenius' snowbird tendencies and four year predilection to retire.  The First Ward should have a full-time resident with a specialty of hearing.

[shinblind]

Absentee Councilor on Parade.

Maybe he can attend the meetings electronically.

Is he the second or third current councilor with ties to Ludington's hospitality business?

I wish Joe well and I hope that he surprises me with some independent thought although if he had displayed that tendency he would never had been selected. 

[XLFD]

The last two councilors have been hoteliers, and Brandy Henderson's other job at the CVB is mostly funded by the county's room tax, so your three count is accurate.  Consider any short term rental ordinance as a non-starter with this group as it stands.  

About the only thing I can recall about Lenius' eight years on the county board that stood out was that he was one of the commissioners who stuck the county taxpayers with over $16,000 in health insurance annually while he could easily afford his own Cadillac plan.