Ludington City Council Flagrantly Defies Open Meetings Act After Being Apprised They Had Done So!

[XLFD]

No video as of yet, and appropriate time-stamped pictures are being saved for later use, but at 1:00 PM this afternoon, the Ludington City Council decided to ignore a key provision of the Michigan Open Meetings Act(OMA) even after it was brought to their attention.   Such an act, completely ignoring the OMA during the same year when they have already admitted breaking this law, is an indication that a certain local body feels that it is above the law.  

 

At the end of the last regularly scheduled meeting on May 6th, the announcement was made that the Foster third-graders would be in at 1:00 PM for the next scheduled meeting on May 20th.  There was also noted a special historic district workshop that was to take place on May 16 with the historic district committee.  The announcement for both was done timely on their website, and the May 16 meeting was also posted on their meeting board at the Ludington City Hall.  But not the change in the May 20 meeting of the City Council which was still posted at its regularly scheduled time, 6:30 PM.  This was confirmed this morning at 11:20 AM and once again when I came to the improperly noticed meeting this afternoon at 12:45 PM to relook.  Nor was it so posted at the end of the May 6 meeting (I checked at the time). 

 

 

The Open Meetings Act says quite plainly in section 5(4) of the act that rescheduled meetings must be posted at least 18 hours before the rescheduled meeting takes place in a conspicuous and prominent place at City Hall.  Checking the area thoroughly, there was no such notice posted other than the one saying that the May 20 meeting was supposed to occur at 6:30 PM, and a generic placard in the breezeway that said meetings were held on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month at 6:30 PM. 

 

The City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews), also did their part to keep the rescheduled meeting a secret.  They had no articles about what would happen at the upcoming meeting on Monday before the meeting took place (as they typically do the Friday or Saturday before a regular meeting), they even specifically kept it off their community calendar printed in the May 18 paper, while specifically mentioning other meetings: 

 

 

But the newspaper does not really have the responsibility to the public to do this, the City of Ludington should be making sure this information is readily available as per the law.  And they generally do on their webpage, but the law is quite explicit about posting notice of meeting changes at their main building in a conspicuous place at least 18 hours before that meeting. 

 

Let's not forget, that not everyone has computer and internet privileges and so the only way for them to find out about meetings is to check the usual place that has notices (such as the COLDNews print edition which had nothing on it), the courthouse (which had no change of meeting notices for this meeting), or the Ludington City Hall (whom was derelict in this case of posting the change).  This is part and parcel of why the OMA exists, so that the public can find out about and come to these open meetings.  If you can't determine when a meeting is to take place, how can you participate in the democratic process?

 

So after nearly a five minute dissertation on the topic of morality of individuals and governments, addressed to the Foster Third Graders, their teachers and the City Hallers, I said thanks, paused, and asked his honor for a point of order, which he so graciously gave me, then I continued:

 

"Section 5(4) of the Michigan Open Meetings Act states that for a rescheduled regular meeting of a public body, a public notice stating the date, time, and place of the meeting shall be posted at least 18 hours before the meeting in a prominent and conspicuous place at the public body's principal office.  

 

A perusal of the City's meeting announcement board directly behind me had no such public notice at 11:20 AM this morning, or presently, for this meeting.  Hence, to go forth and have deliberations and make decisions on public policy in this meeting would be a direct violation of the Open Meetings Act and I suggest the city council do what's morally right and amend its agenda accordingly." 

 

And it was an ambitious agenda planned after the public comment period, which as of this writing is still not on the City's website.  There was no way to find out what was going to be happening at this meeting until you came to it (assuming you knew the changed time):

 

But without barely skipping a beat, the mayor duly noted my concerns and plowed ahead forward; every city council member, the city attorney, the city manager, the city clerk and treasurer, the police and fire chief, Assistant City Manager Jackie Steckel (deja vu, the LASD Board of which she is a member did almost the same thing) and all other officials and parliamentarians ignored the warning to not proceed with deliberations and decision making or be found in violation of the OMA, and nobody even bothered to double check the wall directly behind me, because they knew I was 100% right, and it would only confirm the denial of my fantasy of having a city government that respects the law. 

 

And so they glancingly deliberated and passed Ordinance 260-13, Ordinance 261-13, and approved the marina dredging bid (not to mention giving official first presentation of three other ordinances) in this illegal meeting.  Without so much as an explanation to the third graders sitting there for a civics lesson, where Mayor Henderson talked about open meetings at the front of the meeting. 

[XLFD]

Long term politicians delude themselves into believing they can do no wrong, and Mayor Henderson in his 12th year, did not want to have his last time with bedazzling the third graders spoiled by some upstart citizen reminding him of the law.  He has only disgraced himself and his office by doing so.   

[Willy]

Something doesn't seem quite right about all of this. They all knew the meeting was reset and knew it was not posted so why didn't anyone, especially the attorney comment about your concerns or make a statement that would somehow explain why the meeting was changed and not posted?  It's almost like they are trying to set you up and embarrass you because they somehow think they are in the right and they want you to make a big deal about it so they can somehow show you up like snotty kids will do. If they are just plainly in violation then all anyone can ask is, why are they doing this? What can they possibly gain by violatiing the OMA again and do it in such a blatantly obvious way? Ludington citizens have a cast of misfits representing them on the City Council and in the Mayors office. 

[XLFD]

City Attorney Wilson and Mayor Henderson exchanged some words while the speaker directly after me, Heather Tykoski, spoke of upcoming events.  Nothing more was ever said about the alleged OMA violation before the meeting was adjourned. 

The video should be available tomorrow, and it will be quite illustrative of the disdain they have for following the principles of open meetings, even when the law is pointed out to them, and a remedy is made available.  Wilson's unusual silence at the end of the meeting, without going into a legal spiel of why the City is not violative of the OMA is uncharacteristic of him.