George V. Saylor III: Manistee/Benzie Judicial Candidate Steals Money from Ludington Taxpayers Under False Pretenses

[XLFD]

On December 16, 2013, a gala event was held at the Ludington City Hall for retiring three term Mayor John Henderson as recounted in the minutes of that meeting.  Among the understated events of that meeting was a $20 per hour raise for the City Attorney for special projects, while they were rehired with less duties than before, as seen in this snippet:

The official city council packet for that meeting (12-16-2013 Council Packet) on page 9 and 10 do not reflect this change, in fact it shows that they would still be doing 'criminal work' (double entendre not intended) and working for only $185 per hour on special projects.  So effectively the city council voted to approve this contract placed in their packet without prior knowledge of the $20 raise for 'special work', here's what the packet's City Attorney Agreement shows:

 

 

 

Now at the actual meeting at 24:45 in, Mayor Henderson did get the motion to approve the agreement found in the packets seconded before revealing the last minute change to the numbers by saying:  "that motion did include the change in contract from 185 to 205 and no criminal...".   One could technically say the incautiously worded amendment after the motion needed to be re-motioned and voted on again to make it official, and that our city attorney law firm should be still getting $185, and working criminally (again no double entendre intended), but that is a matter of little significance in what will be presented further.   

 

Today's City Attorney is often a law firm hired on retainer, which generally absolves them of most legal culpability and gives them little accountability to the people, as they are hired like the City Manager in a short term contract that is renewed each year in Ludington.  Their typical duties are drafting ordinances, attending meetings to represent their public office, advising officials of legal parameters and other routine legal work.  

 

The contract allowed them to charge up to $185 from 2011 to 2013 (and up to $205 if we attach legitimacy to the 12-16-2013 contract voted on) for what is deemed 'special projects', effectively all non-routine legal work that comes to them from city officers (see full CA agreement above for more clarifications).   Thus, when they charge for these special projects, they can charge no more than their contracted amount.

 

19th Circuit Court Candidate George V. Saylor III being offered a high five by his fellow law firm buddy Richard M. Wilson

 

The problem is, usual meticulous and precise City Attorney Richard M. Wilson forgets that the agreements had $185 per hour (until this year) when he bills the City of Ludington's treasury (provided by the area's taxpayers).  In this January 2011 invoice he charges $195 for his services, not just once but throughout and for him and for his partner (legal not domestic) circuit court candidate George Saylor III who looks to have been spending a good deal of time on the meaningless Medical Marihuana Ordinance.

 

That $195 billing continued throughout the years (and just in case you may think the rate was $195 in 2011, take a look at the agreement for 2011 which has it at $185.  Look at the next month invoice, and the last day of 2011 invoice, and every invoice in between and you'll see the $195 rate being charged, and some interesting 'special project' work.

 

Who oversaw those overcharges?  Hasn't the city bragged a couple of times that it has at least two sets of eyes looking at and two people signing these invoices?!  But here it's always just City Manager John Shay signing the invoices and getting approval for these improper charges. 

 

The year 2012 begins with exactly one time they charge $185 while Wilson and Saylor claim $195 while waging war against someone looking to get information about Nick Tykoski's shady dealings with the City via the FOIA.  The year ends with a bunch of $195 charges by Wilson, with just more of the same throughout by both.

 

The year of 2013 showed some changes, not in the agreement's salary cap, which was still $185 per hour, and not in the rate that Wilson was billing, which was $195 for a wide variety of projects, but in the degree of those charges in this bill shown here just a month before they got voted a new raise to $205 an hour.  19th Circuit Court judicial candidate George Saylor III is actually billing, via his partner (in law, and apparently in crime) the taxpayers of Ludington $330 per hour to send harassing letters to two Ludington citizens trying to get the pair to settle for a lot less than they were entitled to by dint of their victory in the Michigan Appeals' Court. 

 

 

The rest of 2013 saw the anti-contractual $195 rate throughout, and mercifully, this year they have only been charging the $205 rate which was in the questionably amended new agreement. 

 

So what we have is our City Attorneys from Manistee unlawfully charging the Ludington citizens up to $145 more per hour than they are otherwise entitled to and this being granted to them by City Manager John Shay for at least three years.  

 

Frankly, City Attorney Dick Wilson can parse the very laws and ordinances into meaningless drivel in an effective way for the uninformed and the city council, but somehow he cannot catch this mistake even though the city kept the same rate $185 for all that time? 

 

Earnestly, City Manager Shay can be a policy and numbers wonk when he wants to be, but cannot decipher that a nearly doubled $330 per hour charge is inappropriate for George Saylor's professional time?!

 

And City Attorney George Saylor (did I mention he was running to be a circuit court judge for Manistee and Benzie Counties?) who runs on "Managing Taxpayer Funds Better" 

 

Actually knowingly robs the Ludington taxpayers for at least three years by having his partner claim a rate that is almost double his normal rate and accepting the money therefrom.  Maybe the experience he claims in his advertising is not the right experience, just like his opponent infers:

 

To my friends in Manistee and Benzie Counties:  George V. Saylor has impressed me as someone without the morals, fairness, and temperament to be an effective judge, and this thread proves that he is unscrupulous in his matter of receiving fair and legal remuneration for his services as a public officer.  This could be taken as a criminal act by Saylor.

 

Personally, I have spent 160 minutes getting deposed by Saylor when I had sued the city to receive documents through FOIA; he covered nuisance issues that never had an impact on the case.  He insisted that my proxy also receive the same treatment, threatening both of us with criminal prosecution for avoiding his harassment to her even when we filed a timely Motion to Quash Deposition that the judge never ruled on (because George's law firm partner Craig Cooper, the judge's son, was also on the city's team).  And according to Wilson in an infamous E-mail misdirected to me, Saylor's intention that day was to make us cry. 

 

In my honest opinion, Saylor (and Wilson) should not ethically qualify to be an attorney, let alone a judge.  

[XLFD]

This controversy was brought up tonight, but nobody addressed the issue.  Unlike the Brian Whitman charity event that Assistant City Manager Steckel embroiled herself with, which the City had a well-choreographed response, and my latest FOIA request which they avoided going into any detail with as far as their insufficient response went. 

[Willy]

Wow. Amazing job X. You have, in my opinion, uncovered just the tip of the iceberg regarding questionable and unethical practices and potentially corrupt dealings of the City officials. If not for you this story or I should say deceit would never have been discovered. It would be very hard for those involved to claim that errors were made because of how long this has been going on. Well done.

[XLFD]

Tip of the iceberg is a good phrase to use here, Willy, because some of those city attorney billing records (of which I displayed a small subset of what I have) are chock full of goodies to show how the city attorneys and city manager are not good for the citizens or the City of Ludington. 

Just so you know, this data and more will be released to the Attorney Grievance Commission so it will be on file with them.  The AGC is a service ran by the State Bar to air your grievance(s) against unprofessional conduct performed by attorneys.  They rarely do anything substantive to clear the state of crooked attorneys, but at least it gets on their record. 

Once the video comes out, everyone should be amused that Councilor Holman goes off on me appealing my umpteenth FOIA request without addressing any of the four questions that had to be asked about the reply, but doesn't even bat an eye to the three years of overbilling the City Attorney did during the same time my requests were being made.  The amount of money being overbilled by the City Attorney during this time far eclipses the amount of any legitimate (and even illegitimate) FOIA fees incurred by me or my proxy to the city during that time.

[julia rain]

All attorneys are crooked but Ludington hired the most crooked firm in the area.