Ludington City Council Meeting May 21, 2018: A Parade of Toms

[XLFD]

In the ten years I have been active in Ludington politics, I have adopted the pseudonym 'XLFD' as my name on social media to show that I was a member of the Ludington Fire Department until the corruption that has taken hold of our city government would not allow me to remain unless I turned my back on it, and so I became X-LFD.  An origin not as interesting as getting bit by a radioactive spider and developing a host of arachnid abilities, but it's my origin.  Ever since I have combatted corruption, wastefulness, and nontransparent government practices, primarily in the City of Ludington.

Near the end of the May 21, 2018 Ludington City Council meeting, a departing councilor made the connection that Tom Rotta and XLFD were the same person, almost as if he was just discovering that fact, along with my Facebook persona "Xavier Luft" (created because Facebook does not allow 'XLFD' as a name).  Perhaps he thought that disclosing all three names at the public meeting would dispel one or all of the demons he sees in each of my personas, but the recording shows I remained seated and amused at what Councilor Winczewski would label as "personal attacks" coming my way (if I had uttered them, naturally).  

But this meeting took over an hour, so there was plenty that led up to Krauch's diatribe, which we will review later when we have more of the data before our readers interested in what happened.

Councilor Johnson was sick, apparently worse than me, and shortly thereafter our second moment of silence was made due to the absence of Chief Barnett.  One might wonder if there is some sort of curse on those who do the invocation.  C. Dale Bannon led off the public comments wondering where the siren was going to be at, making the cogent point that the new fire station location would not be a good spot.

I followed with my own comments about the treasurer appointment at 3:00 in after passing to Councilor Henderson, Winczewski, and City Manager Shay a packet consisting of the relevant charter sections and the job description of the Interim treasurer position.  Why just them?  Take a guess, I reveal why at the end of my comment.  Your packet will consist of links to the relevant sections of the charter and the job advertised.

May 21st, 2018 Ludington City Council meeting from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

XLFD:  "Tonight you are scheduled to appoint an 'interim' city treasurer rather than the city treasurer that you are required to. What's the difference? Plenty.
Section 10.3 of the city charter tells us the powers and duties of the treasurer, other lesser powers and duties are elsewhere in the charter and code. Section 5 of the charter explains provisions regarding the treasurer, I highlighted certain points in the packet I gave you.
The job of interim treasurer is not equivalent to treasurer. In the charter, the treasurer is an autonomous entity who is equally accountable to the public, the council, the clerk and the manager. They cannot be fired, like any elected officer, the recall process must be used. They can appoint a deputy who is subject to the control of and may be fired by the treasurer.
The job description of interim treasurer (borrowed from Grand Haven) states that they are supervised only by the city manager, states that the treasurer is an at will employee, who can be fired by the manager at any time for whatever reason, and cannot be recalled. Fifteen arbitrary minimal qualifications are listed which are not found in the city charter. They cannot appoint a deputy, but can suggest disciplinary measures the city manager can use on the treasury staff.
Because the interim treasurer position contradicts the charter treasurer position in many ways, if you vote to make Tom interim treasurer tonight you will not fill a vacancy, rather you will be making an appointment of an employee to a position which this council has never created by ordinance, which it must do by section 10.8of the charter.
The five councilors I did not hand a packet to tonight were all initially appointed to get on the city council. When you were appointed, didn't you receive the full powers and duties of a city councilor? Or did you have to sign an employment agreement that said you were an at-will employee under the direction and disciplines of John Shay? In case you were, I gave a copy to John Shay, you can ask him about what's in it after you follow his recommendation tonight and go against what the charter clearly states. Thank you."

After my comment, Tom Fulker, the Building Inspector who leads the rental inspection team gave an update and answered a lot of questions from the council.  After discussing the worst cases, he was asked whether there has been anything negative he's seen from the rental inspection process.  He couldn't think of any.  The loss of many rental units and the inflation of affordable rental units are hard to see, as are landlords scraping enough discretionary money to afford these inspections.  

The council then went to committee reports, paid the bills, then agreed to a $1.5 million construction contract with Patron's Construction, pending a $1.2 million loan from Rural Development.  A resolution seemingly agreeing to sell the fire station lot then passed, if you notice in the council packet, this does not mean they have a buyer at this point.  The resolution effectively takes the future sale of this $500,000 lot out of the discretion of the city council and into the hands of the city manager.

The appointment of Tom Ezdebski was the next item, with Attorney Wilson trying to explain why the council couldn't put the position up for vote this fall.  Councilor Henderson started the effort to 'clarify' that the City Treasurer would have the full powers and duties of the City Treasurer, and that's what the council eventually voted for, rather than their unlawful Interim Treasurer position.  The Ludington Torch will make sure that Treasurer Ezdebski will not be an at will employee under the thumb of the city manager.

The next issue was a 'compensation study' performed by an outside consultation firm, Municipal Consulting Services.  They will effectively review the current job descriptions and compensation that city employees/officers receive, and about $1000 per position later, they will adapt the descriptions and give a compensation range.  It sounds foolish enough to me that I commented on it later.  The council passed it unanimously with only good things to say about it.

The rest of the agenda was rather routine:  a amended WTP contract, the April building & zoning report, an service level agreement between the COL and Lakeshore Water Sports, a Relay for Life proclamation, and the September COLDNews Boat Show were all approved by council without meaningful comment.  

Bannon led off the second public comment, effectively giving a deserved shout out to the local boy scouts for their job over the years at the Relay for Life.  Chuck Sobanski (52:50) had even more concerns about the splash pad and its effect on the normal users of Copeyon Park, and how many of the fishers he sees there all wonder about the missing fishing pier.  He noted that 50% of the storm sewers in the Fourth Ward seem to be plugged, segueing into the new challenges posed by the recent move of the Salvation Army.  Then it was my turn.  I had to adapt my comment due to the fact that the council apparently gave Tom Ezdebski the full powers and duties of treasurer, which was an unexpected turn in my book.

XLFD (53:30):  "There is perhaps no other Ludington citizen that can match the experience, integrity, and work ethic that Tom Ezdebski would bring to the office of city treasurer. However,  the council still has time to call for a special election for city treasurer this November despite how the city attorney wants to interpret the law.

Besides his already impressive resume, Tom will have the power of incumbency, so that I predict the election will just be a technicality in giving him a popular mandate to serve as an elected officer, accountable to all, rather than just one person.
I'm also disappointed that this council has approved nearly $13,000 of taxpayer money to hire a compensation consultant, or roughly $1000 per position reviewed. I can tell you right now that having fringe benefits at the rate of 80% of your salary is too much, that the amount of unfunded pension liabilities is unacceptable, and provide a list of Michigan cities and townships bigger than Ludington which pay their city manager less than ours, and do not even have an assistant city manager, like us. I won't even charge you for my consultation, even though it will be far more honest than the consultant's, who understand that you want to justify your own pay and benefit raises and adapt his findings accordingly.

The ending comments had Shay saying that the siren issue was still unsettled, followed by the Fourth Ward Councilor who said

Councilor Krauch: "Despite the protestations of Mr. Rotta, or XLFD, or Xavier Luft, or whoever you are tonight, where we're going to invent provisions in the charter and invent procedures that don't exist, I appreciate our city attorney's efforts to go through to interpret the law and talk to folks in Lansing to get the clarifications, and so we welcome Tom... Ezdebski, and you know I just... love it when I get to sit here and listen to the nonsense from this particular individual, who never ceases to amaze me for his ability to find a parade and rain on it. Thank you."

I would suggest there is little to interpret on the city charter passages that say:  "Elective officers so appointed shall serve until the next regular election, at which time an election shall be held to fill the remaining period of the term of office."  City Attorney Wilson has yet to produce anything from any election official in Lansing that says we are forced to wait 2.5 years for democracy to take place.  I guess Krauch, a failed attorney from the Chicago area, trusts as-yet-introduced Lansing bureaucrats and our Manistee/GR-based City Attorney over the clear wording of our local law.  

Perhaps the rain on Krauch's parade is the firehose I train on the unlawful and unethical conduct that Ludington City Hall is famous for, in an attempt to put out the fires of corruption that has taken hold and just won't subside.  Krauch is either unwilling or just too lazy to see the vast differences between the position advertised and the charter position of treasurer, or read the charter and call bullpockets on Wilson's flawed interpretation-- like Councilor Henderson did at the last meeting. 

Krauch has apparently realized he has nothing useful to offer this community in his current position and announced his retirement effective June 15  after the meeting.  Definitely going to go to the next meeting and hear his parting shots, I will speak highly of him myself.  No, that isn't a dig on his diminutive size.  

Councilor Winczewski would end the meeting with a couple of things, first putting out on the table the possibility of changing the first public comment to be open for non-agenda items; if you recall, it was Krauch's brainchild to restrict the first comment period to agenda items.  Councilor Cain backed the idea, noting that it is often hard to distinguish whether a comment is agenda-based or not, and a notably-hurt Krauch defended his legislative baby. 

I think the people running the city have figured out that restricting the first comment to agenda items has made me look even more through the council packets for shenanigans in public policy, rather than looking at pet projects of my own, which I am forced to restrict to two minutes at each meeting.

She finished with a report from her recent trip down to the Elected Officials Academy sponsored by the Michigan Municipal League in Grand Haven (where the City borrowed the interim treasurer job description), and spread some of their propaganda around, including a graph commonly used by the MML.  Here it is, it seems to show that Michigan was the only state that didn't grow it's revenue during that period:

What's quite often left off in the discussion of this graph by the MML and their mission to get local governments more of the public pie in Michigan is what was happening during this period that may seem like ancient history to some of you who have a hard time remembering Jen Granholm.  From 2002 to 2007, Michigan went through a one-state recession. Michigan was down one out of every 11 jobs.  The year 2002 would be the high point right before the bubble burst, then was further burst in 2008, this time with the rest of the country.  

Economist James Hohman argues that local government revenues were remarkably resilient during that time and currently due to increase in property tax revenue that more than offset the losses from state revenue sharing.  Effectively, even during the 2002-2007 one-state recession, Michigan cities did okay.  Looking specifically at Ludington they had revenues of $5,416,233 in 2012, and in 2002 it was $4,494,800.  That's nearly a million dollar increase in local revenues, an increase of over 20% during a time when the rest of Michigan municipalities were hurting:

But there I go raining on the city officials' parade again.

[Freedom Seeker]

The best news in some time is that know-it-all, holier-than-all, nose-up-the- attorney and-city manager rear-end, Krauch is resigning. But what shenanigans will be made by an appointment again? That is true non-sense and anti-democratic. So glad Krauch will be gone soon nonetheless.

[XLFD]

Even better, you won't have to worry about running into oft-crusty ex-councilor Krauch after his retirement.  WMOM news reported this morning that Krauch will be moving to Missouri to start a new job.  For those who didn't like his leadership at MSUE and wished he would resign from that position, your prayers have been answered.  I can only say:  "I would also like 5 minutes in a room alone with him, I would tell him how much I am going to miss him; actually would not need that long! Maybe 10 seconds."  

Krauch is probably dialing Chief Barnett after interpreting that as a threat.  Thin-skinned, thick-hided Mike will not be missed, except by John Shay and Dick Wilson.  Unfortunately, those idiots will misinterpret the clear words of the charter. section 5.2:  "No vacancy need be filled if it occurs within sixty (60) days preceding a City election."  The primary for his position is held August 6, his resignation is effective June 15.  That's 52 days. 

[Freedom Seeker]

June 15 is a Friday.  I guess that Krauch will serve the people of Fourth Ward until that day?   Does that mean that June 5 is the last meeting he will be able to attend?

In reviewing the tape, the cackles by Mayor Holman and the City Attorney, after Krauch's derogatory statements are a true showing of the lack of respect for citizens.  And after the meeting ends you can hear Holman and Wilson? speaking about "the comment about raining on a parade" and Holman says, "that was just too much."  Holman has been a source of the problem for many years with such an attitude toward any citizen who takes time to speak about anything.  The city is wrong and has been wrong on so many things for too long.  I hope Holman and Wilson get the deserved rain where it should be.  

I'm glad that Councilors Cain and Winczewski at least acknowledge that the citizens should not be pinholed into discussing concerns in Krauch's pinholed world according to Krauch.

Winzewski attempts to say that they are OK in following the OMA.  I guess she failed to learn a few lessons at the conference.

[XLFD]

In reviewing the issue of whether a special election is mandated or not, please note that whenever I argue that the letter and the spirit of the law indicate that it is, I cite the laws and legal definitions that undeniably point to that fact.  Wilson, and other officials echoing his opinions, use their own authority and Wilson's uncited election officials as the reason why the law in our charter and state election law do not apply, so that their peers can choose the next elective official rather than the public.  That's what corruption looks like, when officials trump laws.

Since February 27,2017, Councilor Krauch has missed nine regular city council meetings, being absent roughly a third of all those meetings-- always excused, of course.  With all he needs to do before carpetbagging down to Missouri, don't expect him to be present at the next meeting-- unless his best buds throw him a going away party like they did for Gary Castonia and charge the taxpayers for it.  Don't be surprised if the 'key to the city' Mayor Holman presents to Krauch looks a lot like the key to her apartment at Sherman Oaks:  "You can come back anytime and stay as long as you like, Magic Mike."

[stump]

Could XLFD hurt Krauch's feelings, or did he actually see the light that is dimming over the councils heads because of the shadow of Shay and tricky Dick's corruption . Being a lawyer he probably doesn't want to loose his license , if he even has one now, when shit hits the fan.

[XLFD]

I would love to have had that power, but Krauch's downfall is that he has a hard-to-define character/personality flaw that rubs others the wrong way at times, even peers who share similar beliefs.  He also has the awareness that many in this area just simply do not like him for his careless tirades, anti-citizen stances, and shallow reasoning he displays at meetings where he actually attends.  

I sense Krauch is moving once again to start over once again, just like he did in moving from his Illinois attorney position to a Michigan rural MSUE director, because he realizes that his flaw will hinder him from further advances and only lead to more grief for him and his family.  I would suggest that if anybody is interested in purchasing his house on Melendy Street, you should have the crawlspace checked closely before you buy.  Just to be safe from prosecution later on.

[XLFD]

Many thanks, IHaveaNotion, for taking time out of your busy schedule to observe and report your observations about the current happenings in a city which you would probably have never heard of were it not for the strange synchronicity occurring that brought you to our Ludington Torch in the first place. 

I sincerely hope our leaders take notice of how somebody who has never been here looking in on more than a cursory level can feel the way you do.  Please accept my invitation to someday come up to Ludington during the more clement months and experience all the great things it has to offer.  You may understand why I feel the need to alert and protect it from a non-representative leadership whose primary objective is to exploit the area and its peoples.  

[Willy]

Krauch may think X rains on his parade but there is no doubt that Krauch at every opportunity pe_'s on the City Charter and Ludingtons's citizens. Am I missing something here? How can an the interim appointed position of  City Treasurer have the same influence, powers and decision making as the actually elected City Treasurer job, you know the one,  that position that is duly elected and approved by the voters. Who the heck are they trying to fool. These are two different jobs. If they weren't there would be no need for a phony job description. What a mess. Wouldn't it be nice to wake up one morning and discover that Ludington's leaders have finally grown up and are acting like responsible adults instead of temper tantrum children. Good bye Krauch. Don't let the chiggers bite your rear. I hear they're infested with them down there.

[XLFD]

You definitely know I'm going to review the 'amended' employment papers between the COL and Tom Ezdebski to make sure that the job Ezdebski will eventually have in June/July will be the city treasurer job.  In listening to the councilors, the impression I got was that they were voting to give him full powers and duties of the treasurer, which is not what the original pre-made resolution said.  

Krauch's departure means the council will need to find another bulldog to pointlessly harass public commenters that actually try to respectfully hold their leaders to account and otherwise be good citizens.  Councilor Cain would be the likely candidate, but I think he would trail Krauch (and his predecessor Castonia) in tact and knowledge and effectively come of as a rude version of Councilor Moonbeam.

[AQUAMAN]

My first comment goes to X, our favorite speaker/comment man that went to this mtg. very ill and sick, probably even more than Les Johnson, and he deserves all our praise and goodwill, which is more than this city council and Mayor could even imagine. Next, I see absolutely NO reason for a compensation consultant to spend $13-15K on for a ridiculous job of simply approving salaries and benefits for officials that is already abhorant and extravagant to say the least. And what is he going to do? Not approve of their present status? That would simply get him fired, and perhaps not paid, what a freaking joke! As Chuck Sobanski stated, that money needs to go for the Copeyan Park fishing dock, not some BS!  Again, now in leaving the city council, Krauch had to get in his last insults to the public commenters, and he, is a worthless POS that needs to go, and good luck in Mo., the show me State that has integrity that he sorely lacks in all areas of conduct and ethics, typical Lawyer, just like car salesmen and politicians. When Moonbeam Kathy, 4'10"/165# makes her stage again, she wastes valuable time to address current issues that are for locals best interests, but she continues anyhow for her own ego.  Lastly, when Mayor Holman bursts out in laughter about the insults put on X, she shows her inability to be a leader and ethical herself, she's a loser, and POS in her own right. And do you think anyone on the compensation team is going to note that Shyster Shay was applying recently for a job that paid less than what he makes now? Think about that too!

[Freedom Seeker]

UIf Holman doesn't have enough knowledge to be embarrassed for herself, you might think she should have gained wisdom with her (12?) years of public (degradation) service. Wisdom comes with age but she acts still like a high school bully. And for Wilson to egg her on is unprofessional and disgusting. Holman should have replied to Krauch that personal attacks at a public meeting should not be tolerated, but instead she and the city attorney cackle.

A good public servant listens with unbiased mind to all sides of an issue and reacts professionally in consideration. The sooner Holman and Wilson leave the council, the better off Ludington will be but being paid by Shay is probably part of the problem.  Wilson is paid by Shay and Holman looks to the bullyship of Shay like a school kid.

[XLFD]

Any infirmity I may have when these meetings come up needs to be weighed against the debasement to citizen's rights, ethics, laws, and sane public policy taking place at the meeting.  I am buoyed by the providence of the Almighty and the goodwill of many other concerned citizens. 

I always look forward to the frank and honest comments by Aquaman, Freedom Seeker, Willy, Brad, and others that take time out of their busy schedules to take notice, and offer their own commentary here, where they don't have to worry about the unkind words of a corrupted, out-of-touch councilor addressing you when there is no lawful opportunity to publicly respond.