Ludington City Council Meeting, February 26, 2018: Guioco-ed Pianos

[XLFD]

February 26, 2018, may someday be called the day the music died in Ludington parks.  The profoundest outcome of the council meeting this day was the unanimous disapproval by the full council of the placement of two pianos in the semi-protected band shells of Waterfront Park and Rotary (City) Park.  A "Guioco Piano" is a chess opening which translates from the Italian as the "quiet game".  This night, the Italian-American who proposed the piano placements had his dreams of public pianos in Ludington quieted, for now.

The first thing you may notice about the meeting of the Ludington City Council is that it lasted nearly two-hours.  The second thing may be that Councilors Lenius, Johnson, and Krauch all wore very similar dress shirts.  Twenty minutes into the meeting, the annual reports for the water, sewer, and w/s maintenance commenced and continued for the next 50 minutes.  The written reports that go with the oral presentations are found in this meeting's councilor packet starting on page 19, be sure and open that link when you listen to that part of the meeting, if the topic interests you.  

Otherwise, the rest of the meeting had it's own points of interests, some of which intersected with the three supervisors' reports that go into detail and were conscientiously written.  Several citizens addressed agenda items, mostly dealing with the proposition by Ludrock's Ed Santarelli, who started off the conversation at 4:30 into the meeting somewhat dejected that his pianos were likely to be refused.  Ed humbly stated the mission of his group, thanked the councilors for considering the issue, and asked "Are we good?".  The council nodded that they were.

February 26, 2018 Ludington City Council meeting from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

John Terzano followed with what I thought was a very persuasive speech trying to debunk the reasons given by John Shay in his memo, which effectively said there was unacceptable liability, noise, and storage that came with the pianos.  Chris Fonnesbeck followed with an appeal to the music and arts lover, while trying to refute the reasons with commonsense appeals.

Jefferson Henry changed topic by getting on the utility issues dealing with the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and hoping for more help from outside agencies:  the EPA and the state's DEQ and DNR.  Most of the questions dealt with the outfall pipe.  He would later accept the WWTP supervisor's invitation to talk with him, and finished up his points in the second comment period.

I then approached the mike at 14:30 into the meeting and changed the issue to Ludington's water and the fraud I noted at the last meeting.

XLFD:  "In reading through the various water utility reports in the council packet, I am dismayed by the city's refusal to take credit for replacing lead pipes in a majority of the city's water main projects of 2017. I personally witnessed lead gooseneck pipes freshly removed from the ground in five of the nine projects performed last year, and yet nowhere is this fact laid out in the utility maintenance report. Many communities have set the removal of all lead pipes in their water system as a goal, some have realized that goal.

In Ludington, we have our second ward councilor declare there is no lead in our water system at last year's annual update after Daryl Plamondon and John Shay admitted there was quite a lot of lead goosenecks in the system. This same councilor would bring those lead pipes into a later meeting and declare them totally safe, which is factually inaccurate, then had everybody pass them around, never alerting them to wash their hands afterwards.

Similarly, we have our Fourth Ward councilor remarking how wonderful our water tastes and that the only problem is with those that bring up the problem in front of the council that the areas supplied by our water system have been leading the state in young kids afflicted with elevated blood lead levels for many years. Ironically, all five of the projects done last year that abounded with lead pipes were in his ward, as were the two women that complained of and brought in yucky tap water last summer. I can almost guarantee that the projects in his ward this summer will have similar findings. The lead issue must be addressed by this council as they are effectively the board of directors for that utility.

In the minutes you just approved [oops-- will approve], Ms. Tykoski states: the Cops and Robbers 5K run was "never marketed as the proceeds going to the Shop with a Cop program other than when it was brought to city council for approval". That was a blatant lie, multiple websites for the 2017 race marketed it as such, multiple websites sent those interested in running to go to an Eventbrite site to register, and that site, even to this day, says that the proceeds will be given to the 2017 SWAC. The DDA defrauded 80 runners, Ms. Tykoski knowingly lied at the last meeting to cover that fraud up. You approve of both.  Thank you."

Dee Payment went after Chuck Sobanski reminded people about signing the sheet if they want the council to contact them about what they spoke of (I put my name on it at the last meeting, and I'm still waiting at my E-mailbox for a response).  She echoed her friend Chris' sentiments and concerns.

Kurt Malzahn's water plant report was significant in that he explained a new policy they enacted this last year in residential water testing that shifted half of their test sites (10) over to places suspected of having lead goosenecks in their supply line.  His statements almost lead (no pun intended) one to believe that there may be some records of where these lead pipes in Ludington's municipal water system might be.  I will be seeking such records to share with the public, unlike they seem willing to do.

After the rest of the utility reports were finished, the finance committee approved an office machine lease contract and their bills of the last two weeks, John Shay (1:13:00 in) went over the budget amendments, which amounted to a fair surplus as noted in the packet.  

The piano issue shortly thereafter came up, and for something that I thought may have a chance with the full council, because of the credible public comments and the lesser credible reasons cited, was fairly quickly decided.  Councilors Henderson, Bourgette, and Winczewski all spoke favorably of Ludrock and its founder but pushed Santarelli to partner with downtown businesses instead.  Ironically, immediately after this, they unanimously approved of a Music Saves Lives benefit concert to be held at Waterfront Park. 

In their final acts, they approved signage along Ludington Avenue for the West Shore Art Fair, then approved the 2018 DDA events (basically the same as last year without a Cop & Robbers 5K), and then a little bit of unexpected controversy in approving the New Year's Eve fireworks.  Councilor Cain raised an issue of safety about falling firework debris, Councilor Winczewski also was concerned, and they made and seconded a motion to table approving it.  They invited the police and fire chief to address the issue from what has happened over the years.  After points were made Councilor Johnson joined with them in a losing cause.  The same factions voted to allow the fireworks right afterwards.

These votes should have had three people abstain due to a conflict of their public offices.  Councilors Lenius, Henderson and Johnson are members of the Downtown Ludington Board, which was the agency looking to the city council to approve of the events and the fireworks.  The DLB is subordinate in these votes to the city council, and when either of those DLB members vote as a city councilor they violate the Incompatible Public Offices Act (see MCL 15.181(2)).  

With the three abstentions, the tabling motion would have failed with a 2-2 deadlock, and the permission motion would have failed with a similar deadlock.  This will be brought up at the next meeting.  

Jeff Henry thanked the water plant supervisor and the council for continued cooperation in keeping the PM watershed clean.  At 1:47:30 I made my second comment transcribed here:

XLFD:  "The council today rejected the placement of two pianos at Rotary and Waterfront Parks on recommendation by the Parks Committee. The major concerns noted in a memo by John Shay was that there was potential liability issues involving the possibility of kids climbing on the pianos falling off and getting hurt, and concerns about the noise generated by the pianos disturbing other users of the park.

When this council considered approving the splash pad in Copeyon Park at their August 22, 2016 meeting, John Shay noted that in order for the City to be held liable for any injuries the City would have to be grossly negligent as the City is protected under governmental immunity. The issue of noise never came up, despite the fact that the City's quietest park was being voted on to become the city's future noisiest park, which would detract from it's historical role as a quiet fishing and shady picnicking place inside the city limits.

With city official Tom Coleman's recent admission that healthy trees were chopped down at Copeyon Park because of the splash pad, we have the city behaving quite differently in regards to the two issues, even when the high costs of maintaining and operating the splash pad would be borne by the taxpayers. if this council wants to purport itself as acting upon the interests of the citizens, they should at least become consistent. Thank you."

Instead of addressing the fraud of the DDA, the cover-up lies of the community development director, or whether Tom Coleman was in error in contrast to Councilor Krauch's past claims, the diminutive Fourth Ward councilor instead commented on my pronunciation of Copeyon as being wrong.  For once, I'm fairly sure the councilor is right-- Chuck Sobanski at numerous meetings has called it Copy-uhn instead of how I traditionally pronounce it as Coh-pee-yun. 

My mother who has lived in Mason County all of her 85 years, recalls that being the way his name was pronounced, as have many other people who have lived in the area.  It's kind of like the three pronunciations you hear for Cartier Park.  I've contacted a few Copeyons on Facebook in order to come to a more definite conclusion.  I surely wish the council would similarly investigate the problems I and others bring to them, but I guess their major goal is to protect us from noisy accident-inducing pianos that take up too much storage space.  At least I got an appreciative hug from the generous Ed Santarelli after the meeting.

[John Doe Jr]

DDA budget is doing twice as good as projected thanks to stealing $2000 from needy kids...

[XLFD]

One wonders why there is a need to skim everybody's taxes with 12% Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and 2 mils from the downtown area, when the DDA can rob from the underprivileged kids.  I've said before, you can't spell 'ThIeF' without a TIF, now you can't spell 'DefrAuD' without a DDA.

[John Doe Jr]

Arrests are down because the ones that should be arrested are still working for the City.

[Willy]

Thanks for the post on the Council meeting X. I can see a problem with putting the pianos at those locations. I wouldn't want to live near them when people start banging on them in the middle of the night. As far as the lead pipes are concerned, I've thought all along that the City knows where every foot of lead pipe is located. Records should say when lead pipes were first installed, then it's only be a matter of sifting thru old records to find out what services have been replaced with copper or galvanized since then. It would take a while for the City to review it's information but it can be done, if they want to. It is something that needs to be done eventually so why not pay some clerks a little over time and find out where Ludingtons lead pipes are located. Then make a plan to begin replacing the lead pipes, starting with water services to houses that have children in residence. The Council really needs to get the lead out.

[stump]

I think what X is saying is that the city of Ludington knows there is a problem of the existence of the lead goose necks within the city water system ,but as of this time the city has yet to say as other cities have " WE HAVE A SEIOUS PROBLEM IN OUR WATER SUPPLY AND WERE GOING TO FIX IT!!!!!!?   Even one of the councilors states there is no lead goose necks in our water system while holding one up in her hand.

[Willy]

I think the CIty is going to use the excuse that they cant replace the piping because they don't know which houses have lead services. All I'm saying is that, with a little bit of effort, the information can be and should be found.

[XLFD]

God bless you, stump, with all those blank stares of the people in front of me when I give a speech at the council meetings, I think I need some kind of translator.  They just don't get it. 

Here's a simple solution and could be done by our utility maintenance people in their down times or by some grant-- for Heaven's sake we have received about $20,000 for some guys to go around and chronicle what trees we have in the street's right-of-way, a simpler thing like this should be entertained.  

Lead gooseneck piping areas are frequently bunched together, if one property on a street section has one, chances are they all do at least up to the next intersection.  Open up and check the city shut-off valve (CSOV).  If you have a galvanized pipe leading towards the street center, chances are you have a lead gooseneck.  Do that with two CSOVs per street section just to make sure they match each other with either galvanized pipe or not.  Map out your result. 

Present your findings to the public and stress that if you have an expected lead gooseneck leading to your house to exercise proper precautions so that young kids do not get mindfricked up for life.  Discuss a plan to remediate the situation rather than the current plan which is to attempt to justify the problem as a non-issue.  Test homes with suspected lead pipes rationally, by letting the water sit overnight, then letting the water run for a minute or so, to see whether there is any lead leaching at the gooseneck.

[shinblind]

This should be real easy.

The city could look at the demographics of where the "lead children" live. 

They could put up a big city map in the city manager's office and put push pins at each location.

Then they could go back to the data from previous years and put in different colored pins for each year.

Then they would have an indication if there are any neighborhood hotspots.

Common sense that should have been undertaken years ago. 

But denial and buck passing and "damn the 'lead children' West End Scheme ahead" seems to be the standard operating procedure.  

Time to get the lead both out of city hall and the children.

[stump]

Back a few years ago I had my water service to my residence replaced. At that time I talked to the city worker when they shut off the valve from the main. The guy said the city water department had records from back into the 1800's on each house and when something was done  such as valve replacement or service work done . Maybe even water shut off for non payment , don't know about that part..  At that time the lead issue had not came up or I would have asked if my main tap was a lead gooseneck . So, if the city worker was truthful about water department record keeping , I would think there would be a map of all lead gooseneck connections easily available to review.

[AQUAMAN]

Well, what we have is another debacle of city standards and thinking when it comes to admitting any faults in the city infrastructure, plain and simple. It's this kind of thinking, and lack of actions, promoted by Shyster Shay, that will never be admitted, nor fixed, as long as he is the leader at city hall. As for those two pianos for two parks, it's a no-brainer. There are hasps at hardware stores that can be bought and installed with locks to prevent any usage after a certain time of day, simple to do. They may even have an advanced electronic type now that would lock the cover on the keys by timer. There are also blankets and covers that would prevent such usage. As for storage, that's also a joke. The building on second street is huge, and if that won't work, what about Gold Coast Storage, and Larsons Storage? Can't anyone on the city council start thinking for themselves without the Shyster always putting his two cents in to be negative?

[XLFD]

Thanks for that information, stump, if I run into a brick wall with my FOIA request, I may need to ask you who that worker was. 

As for piano storage, I think the city officials are concerned about on-site storage, that is, putting the pianos in the secured storage areas near the amphitheaters at both parks.  The COL has a lot of storage potential at their warehouse just north of Whittier between Harrison and Rowe, most of what they store there is picnic tables, barricades, and barrels for city events, but they got room for a lot more.  Ain't no problem for them to move these in and out during the season, but move a piano once in and once out?  Impossible, LOL:

It is my understanding that DPW workers regularly go to both parks to empty garbage barrels, stock, lock and unlock bathrooms, etc. so if an extreme weather event was coming that may result in damage to the semi-protected pianos, they could place a canvass cover over the pianos in their course of activities.

[stump]

Unless pianos have been made out of a different material , pianos don't do moisture from weather or humidity to well. They are made out of veneer wood . Covering with a tarp wouldn't help much and if you have ever moved a piano you just don't just easily roll them in and out through doorways.