Junetweenth: June 2020's Ludington City Council meetings

[XLFD]

Normally, the Ludington Torch has been trying to chronicle every city council meeting as they happen.  During the Michigan Held Hostage (by flu), the '15 days to slow the spread and flatten the curve', currently in its 105th day, has had the governor issue executive orders that allow public meetings of that body to meet remotely and electronically.  I have been protesting these meetings by not attending them; my concern is that many people in our semi-rural area who don't have internet service due to their desire, finances, or just inability in this pandemic to get to a facility (like a library) are not able to attend.  This has not prevented me from commenting, however, in absentia.

This month of June there has been two meetings, each lasting more than two hours, held on Zoom.  Like many TV programs that use effectively the same technology to allow small groups to talk individually and remotely (such as 'The Five' on Fox News, above), the medium does not come close to generating the interactive and immediate conversations that normally go on around a table.  As one who regularly goes to the arena at city hall, the video experience is just not as exciting or interesting as the 'classical' meetings are.  With any luck, these will be back in about three weeks.

Until then, I will cover what was decided at these meetings, and spotlight some of the items of interest, including my public comments, which were fairly direct and doing their own spotlighting of items where the City could improve.  We begin with the June 22nd meeting.  The agenda had several items dealing with the intricacies of what to do with our normal tourist activities when the state has effectively shut us down for the most part.  

Eight votes (all passing unanimously) were taken over tax levy and millage rates.  Except for the police pension millage, they all remained the same.  The PP millage increased a full 10% (from 1.5 to 1.65 mils), reflecting the recent and expected retirements adding to the costs.  This raise is basically formulaic and kicks in automatically, so unless some mistake was made in calculations, the council couldn't really change it if they wanted to.  

Three first presentations were also made and were found in the council packet.  The first involved a new policy for 'police lines' and zones, undoubtedly created to address possible civil unrest in the future, since present policy is not so clear, but also useful for crime scenes or fires.  

The second was to increase sewer bills 14.9% extra than originally considered in order to allow the city to maintain and operate the sewer system into the future.  This will up the average Ludington citizen's sewer bill by over $10 per each billing cycle ($42 per year) if passed.

The third was to allow up to 30 short term rentals in the city, where each property interested would pay $500 to register and pay $1500 to operate for three years.  If more than 30 applied, there would be a random process used to figure out those 30.  Each of those three will be voted on likely at the next meeting.  

In other business, they agreed to sell a 30' X 140' lot to an adjacent neighbor at 404 E Melendy.   They approved an agreement to allow them to build a new fishing pier at Copeyon Park.  And they effectively gave the Jaycee's motor parade for the Fourth of July a thumbs down procedurally.  There will be no fireworks or parade this year by the Jaycees, but your ward councilor didn't need to vote it down-- so don't blame them.  

In public comment, Lauren Kreinbrink introduced herself as a candidate for prosecutor.  My comment dealt with the topic of favoritism:

XLFD (via Mitch Foster) (-2:20:30 in):  "The city council needs to admit that they have a problem before they can solve it. The problem facing them has been their long-standing acceptance of favoritism, whether it has the face of nepotism or cronyism. This council chose to ignore a low bid by a qualified company and instead hired a company owned by State Senator VanderWall in a rigged process that defied ethics egregiously and ignored laws meant to thwart such corrupt acts. When you pay the bills tonight, you will be paying Senator VanderWall $1000 in bribe money that he should never have been entitled to.

This is not an isolated case for the city council. When Mayor Henderson was an ex officio on the marina board with the power to appoint and fire its members and affect the marina manager's decisions, all three of his daughters found themselves a summer job at the city marina without any problems. Other supervisory staff of the City also found their kids employment at the city marina whether their name was Steckel, Barnett, or Britton. These public sector jobs were never offered to the general public to give them the equal employment opportunity they deserve from one of Ludington's main employers.

I mention that history, because history is still happening, with still no job announcements for a non-supervisory staff of 22 at two marinas. That's why the current roster is riddled with the familiar surnames of our City's public officials; it's a job mill for their sons, daughters and those of other politically-favored individuals. The sooner you own this problem, the sooner you can fix it.

Lastly, the economic development and DDA operating funds have continually posted over the years a variety of payments to Safety Decals (aka Tye Signs) while the full-time employee and contact person for both, Economic Development Director Heather Tykoski, happens to be married to the company's owner and benefits directly when they are employed by the City. Is there ever any mention in the minutes of this conflict of interest, and is there ever any attempt to get a better deal for the people?  Your ongoing silence is ongoing violence."

My second comment was read after the council voted unanimously to allow the Harbor Front Condo Association to access the pool and other facilities in the Harbormaster quarters at Harborview Marina for a yearly fee.  This marina recently went from a privately managed operation to a publicly (City) managed one.  I reviewed the agreement made last year and made some pronouncements:

XLFD (via Mitch Foster) (-6:45 in):  "On November 25th the council approved of the state's 25 year lease of Harbor View Marina to the City without any resolution or ordinance involved, in violation of existing policies. Regardless, this lease forbids the Recreational License Agreement pursued by the City and Harbor Front PCA at this meeting. Simplifying legal terms, section 12 of that lease states in regard to assignment and sublease:

"The City shall not allow any other party to use any part of Harbor View Marina for any purpose whatsoever without first obtaining prior written consent from the State of Michigan."

The public and this council has not been shown any sort of written consent from the state, and so if this agreement is passed tonight without that consent, I will be contacting them tomorrow and let them know you're willfully breaking the lease.

Getting past section 20 of the lease which prohibits the employment discrimination that I earlier commented on, and which the City Marina is also bound by in other agreements, we also note that section 24 makes such agreements unnecessary and permits the public to use Harbor View Marina facilities on an even keel:

"The City may peacefully and quietly have, hold, and enjoy Harbor View Marina, provided that the use of Harbor View Marina by the City is maintained open to the general public."

I'll see you poolside."

They of course, ignored my concerns, and I am waiting back on a FOIA request to the City for written consent to the City/Condo agreement before I ask the State of Michigan to nullify the lease for the lack of diligence by the City of Ludington.  

June 8th

This meeting didn't really have a lot of interesting output coming from it even though it lasted over 130 minutes, kind of like the last five Michael Moore movies.  Most of the items dealt with the effect on events due to Covid-19.  A few fitness facilities got approval for using public facilities, several events were either cancelled or given the go-ahead as long as they follow the executive orders.  Those can be read in detail here.  

The major point of discussion was about the parade, which they tabled until the next meeting.  The bigger points of interest were in the public comments, where I continued my monologue on the City's corrupt contracting procedures with our state senator:

XLFD (via Mitch Foster) (- 2:07:00):  "The City of Ludington has courted State Senator Curt VanderWall to do a favor or advocate for their issues on at least seven occasions documented in the minutes and notes of various city meetings. Three of those times happened after he was elected State Senator the other four times were when he was a state representative. Chronologically working backwards:

1) B&L Committee 4-2-19: Foster will be contacting Senator Curt Vanderwall to discuss the possibility of the State to help cover costs incurred by the City for the MacAdoo case
2) LCC, 12-10-18: CA Wilson personally thanked Curt Vanderwall for his assistance in obtaining the letter from Governor Snyder [regarding LMC grant].
3) TAB, 11-13-18: Board draft a letter to Curt Vanderwall on their stand on this proposed bill
4) CPRC, 8-30-18: Steve Brock stated he felt [service dogs on the beach] should be discussed at one of the regular meetings the City Officials have with Rep. Vanderwall.
5) MMB, 8-16-18: [Marina manager] has not heard anything back from Curt Vanderwall [on the new dock project].
6) MMB, 5-17-18, Christensen called Curt Vanderwall and explained our position to see if there was anything he could do [about the dock project]
7) LCC, 6-12-17, City Council send a letter to State Representative VanderWall [etc.] calling on them to take action to shut down Line 5.

Six of you seemed to think that it was worth violating the city charter's provision on competitive bidding in order to contract with Senator VanderWall's private company over the significantly lower bid put before you by Tru-green. If you six have a hard time admitting to your own conflict of interests, then consider Senator VanderWall, who, like you, has sworn an oath to the state constitution.

Article 4, section 10 states simply: "No member of the legislature nor any state officer shall be interested directly or indirectly in any contract with the state or any political subdivision thereof which shall cause a substantial conflict of interest."

You people, and Senator VanderWall, have ignored the public interest in making the good people of Ludington pay more for a service that you should have contracted with the low bidder, by city law. You have wasted your money, our money, in order to appease somebody with power. This is his corruption and yours, and it's ugly. Prove me wrong.

Annul this contract or the attorney general, or I, will do it for you." 

The second comment was acknowledging our fire chief's 50 years of service and in replying to another comment that was in the packet:

XLFD (via Mitch Foster) (- 3:15 in):  "Congratulations to Fire Chief Jerry Funk who has protected Ludington citizens from matches and mayhem for 50 years and two days and who has been recognized for his years of service tonight. The chief comes to nearly as many council meetings as I do, so I am hopeful that he can be properly recognized in-person by the community at the next meeting for his service longevity.

I would also like to briefly respond to Gwen Markham's letter criticizing our county sheriff for his stance of using common sense on enforcement of executive orders. I have been critical of Sheriff Cole for his conduct in the past because he hasn't always valued civil rights as much as I would like. I was calmed by his common sense approach that put value on civil rights and the Constitution over some rather arbitrary rules coming from one person treating Mason County like Wayne County.

If Ms. Markham wants to stay in Oakland County, where the death toll from covid-19 has risen from 947 to 1014 since her letter was drafted, to Mason County, with no deaths, simply because she does not value civil rights as much as our sheriff does, it's her loss."

Thankfully, unless the whims of our governor say otherwise, we should have a regular meeting in July.

[Willy]

Wow, that is one long post X, but a very entertaining one. I especially liked your comment regarding the marina and public use. It is hard to believe that the bidding process is still so corrupt and with a state official involved as well. I have to admit that the letter from Gwen Markham is extremely irritating. Typical out of Towner who knows better than locals what is best for them. I hope she doesn’t settle up here when she retires. What Ludington doesn’t need is another know it all outsider. Does she think people up here will jump when she uses her bully tactics. We all can get along just fine without her Oakland County attitude.

[XLFD]

In covering two meetings that had nearly 5 hours of content, it's actually more condensed than my usual meeting synopses.  As for Gwen's letter, in retrospect, what she said was less troubling to me than the fact that of all the gathered officials at the meeting, including a police chief, the only person that defended Sheriff Cole's stance on common sense and constitutional rights was the dude that has been lambasting the sheriff the last ten years on his lack of dedication to the two values he finally defended.  Another one of those miracles of 2020.

[XLFD]

Thanks for your viewpoints, I can see why Excalibur was entrusted with the Lady of the Lake.

I have found out that there was no written consent from the state for that agreement between the City and Harbor Front PCA, so I'm hopeful that it will at least require a do over once (if) the consent is sent, and hopefully will be negated by the state since the facilities talked of in the agreement are now public to all.   I can tell you from past experience, the state DNR is every bit as bold, corrupt and/or dumb as the City of Ludington, perhaps more so, and they are likely to do nothing other than lambaste the public for interfering with their Harbor View mess. 

The state is going to be sinking millions of dollars into both Ludington public marinas over the next few years, extending their middle finger to those private marinas that don't have unlimited cash flow that they're putting out of business.  

The STR ordinance is another joke, give $2000 up front to the city for being able to operate a STR for three years for the city doing absolutely nothing other than creating more needless paperwork.  I will be finding out in the future, should this pass, who are the lucky ones to get the 30 STR slots, and try to reed between the lines.

Gwen mentions her status in the first sentence of her second paragraph, undoubtedly to add weight to her opinions.  Listening to her 2020 campaign interview, this Democrat commissioner mentions climate change, green energy, and other progressive buzzwords throughout.  Not too surprising she comes out against a small county sheriff who stresses common sense, basic rights, and Governor Gretchen's overreach.

[Willy]

I see the new city marina docks are almost finished. What a waste of taxpayers money. Thanks for posting Gwen’s video. She’s a typical lefty. Worried more about climate change than the people who elected her. My advice to her is to sell her property in Mason county and be a leftist pain in the as- somewhere else. Of course she might fit right in with Ludington lefties who turned Ludington upside down with huge debts and wasteful projects. Yes, Gwen, planting 20,000 trees should solve a lot of problems and may even save the planet.