Marina and the Hendersons

[XLFD]

The Father, The Son, and The Wholly Legal

Back in 2001, I remember John Henderson announcing to the rest of the Ludington Fire Department at a meeting that he was running for Mayor.  I innocently asked him in passing at the end of the meeting about whether he would still be able to serve on the LFD if he got the job.  He was an excellent firefighter, and I was concerned that he might have to resign due to a potential conflict of interest between the two jobs.  At that point he hadn't really considered it, but was going to look into it.
 
He was elected that fall, and it was noted that he definitely had to resign from the County Commission, and eventually it was judged ( by City Attorney Anderson(?)) that he was able to serve on the LFD, but could not be LFD's Secretary anymore.  It seemed reasonable at the time, and I was happy we retained a quality fireman.

But some people were troubled by this aspect.  As Mayor, he exerted employment/disciplinary control over the Fire Chief (his father -in-law) according to the city charter.  The Chief similarly exerted such control over the Mayor who remained a fireman.  Hence, the Mayor/firefighter bossed the Fire Chief who bossed the Mayor/FF who bossed the Fire Chief...  Both are in each others chain of command; meaning if one acts against the other, he has to worry about the other acting against him.
A circularity of power which could go against the public's interest and which Michigan law seems to invalidate by the Incompatible Public Offices Act, which say that one person can not hold incompatible offices as defined by:  Incompatible Offices Def..  State law, however, does offer a proviso for those cities with less than 25,000 people which allows a public employee/official to be a volunteer firefighter and someone who exerts control over the fire department at the same time  MCL 15.183. 

By no means does this relieve the ethical conundrum produced, but it allows the retention of a good firefighter in a small city who just so happens to have political aspirations.  It can, and did, however, invoke a measure of politics into the LFD which were sometimes uncomfortable to the members who joined to put out fires and rescue lives.

Nepotism:  Family Interest over Public Interest

In the above scenario, situations may arise more easily not only due to the incompatible public offices but also due to the close relationship the two share.  The concept of nepotism was part of former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox's Model Ethic's Ordinances for Local Government   AG of MI Ethics Ord .  Section 2-12 states an Anti-Nepotism Policy:  "

Unless the [name of governing body] shall by a two thirds (2/3) vote, which shall be recorded as part of its official proceedings, determine that the best interests of the [type of unit] shall be served and the individual considered by such a vote has met the qualifications for appointive office or employment, the following relatives of any elected or appointed officer are disqualified from holding any appointed office or employment

during the term for which said elected or appointed officer was elected or appointed: spouse, child, parent, grandchild, grandparent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, or the spouse of any of them. This Section shall in no way disqualify such relatives or their spouses who are bona fide appointed officers or employees of the [type of unit] at the time of the election or appointment of said officer to elective [type of unit] office.

  Many Michigan cities (such as nearby Fremont :  Fremont's Nepotism Law) and many other states have solid rules against hiring and appointing relatives.

Private businesses are often run by families, passed down through generations-- so why is nepotism bad in government?  Here's a short list of why, courtesy of City Ethics Expert, Robert Wechsler:

• Nepotism includes many of the basic government ethics issues:  conflict of interest, misuse of office, preferential treatment, and patronage.
• Nepotism undermines public trust by making government look like a family business run not for the community, but for the families in power.
• Nepotism is bad for morale within the government organization. It goes far beyond hiring. It remains a problem every time raises and promotions occur.
• Nepotism and its cousin, hiring friends, are the leading methods of keeping other ethnic and racial groups out of local government.
• Nepotism puts officials in an awkward position when they don't want to hire a relative, but feel it's expected of them. Nepotism laws protect officials as well as the public.

Nepotism also exacerbates problems. A culture of loyalty and secrecy flourishes within families. As does crime. Nepotism in government naturally leads to nepotism in contracting, which means a failure to competitively bid, or bid-rigging. This can cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year. (http://www.cityethics.org/node/811).

 

The Mayor And the Marina

 

Our city code calls for an elected Mayor whose main power is the making of appointments.  The mayor appoints people to fill most all of the boards and committees the City maintains, which are then almost always affirmed by vote of the City Council.  The Municipal Marina Board is one of those, and this board oversees the operations of the Municipal Marina, and meets monthly with the Marina Manager and City Manager. 

I was somewhat amazed to find out (through an FOIA request) that throughout the summer the City Marina has about 13 workers at the marina doing about 450 hours of work each week. This means that there is at least 4 workers there every hour of the week that they are open. 

What do these workers do?  Well, my request had also asked for document(s) that described the job duties that were performed by a certain employee there.  None was provided, although the payroll and other data were.  The marina manager has their job description, but the seasonal help does not.  So last year, over 400 hours each week were paid with public money to these seasonal employees who seem to have no defined job.  Who were these people, and where do they hide when you walk by the marina?

 

 

This is the top part of a sample weekly payroll from last year.  The typical employee went to LHS (not surprising), and if they're old enough will likely be going to college, with GVSU being attended by at least five of them.  If you are at all familiar with Ludington politics, you'll see a lot of surnames that look familiar. 

From what I've gauged through peoplesearch, Allard, Wroble, Britton, and Barnett are offspring of -Wastewater Treatment Supervisor Rob Allard, Public Works Crew Leader Dave Wroble, Building Inspector Ed Britton, and LPD Chief Mark Barnett.  If you check their names out on Facebook, you'll find that most all the MM workers are friends with each other.  You'll also happen to notice that two have the last name of Henderson.  Yes these are two of John Henderson's daughters, Brandy and Chelsea. 

It seemed kind of weird that an equal opportunity employer like the Municipal Marina would be so stocked up with Hendersons and City employee's children, so the last month, before the marina season began, I did some research.  Remember there are at least 12 seasonal jobs available, and I have made some FOIA requests regarding employment at the marina.  Checking the LHS job bank, Michigan Works!, the LDN help wanted ads and the City website, there was no call for seasonal help at the marina. 

Undaunted, the first half of this month, I sent an undercover teen to check at the Marina itself.  I myself had cased the Marina by walking around it four different times during the hours they were open before this.  You would figure there would be staff outside getting the Marina ready.  But even though past year's payroll records indicated there would be 3-4 people around at that time of year, I didn't see anyone outside either time. 

Neither did my help.  They went inside and found one person who I am presuming to be Mr. Christensen, the Marina Manager. They were informed by him that the jobs at the marina were taken for this summer, but they were given an application they could fill out.  It was a generic application form, letting us know that they were an Equal Opportunity Employer.  When asked about the job's duties, it seems they were defined as "to do whatever he or the boaters needed to be done". 

Summary

 

Public employees and officials have a duty to work for the public good rather than use their position for their own-- or their family and friends-- good.  The Municipal Marina Board, complete with City Manager Shay and City Councilor Holman, allow the Ludington Municipal Marina to be guaranteed summer employment for the children of the City's officials/employees and their best friends.  These positions cost the City $70,000 each year.  There was a time when these positions were actually advertised to the public at large and perhaps anybody had a chance at these easy summer jobs; now you just need the proper pedigree.

Our most powerful elected official, Mayor John Henderson, thinks it is fair to be able to control who is on the Municipal Marina Board, have the Board okay the expenditure of nearly $830,000 taxpayer dollars on an unnecessary marina improvement of his devising, and have them hire his daughters (since 2005) without giving you or your children a fair opportunity for employment. 

If so many of Ludington's leaders are able to look the other way at such unfair hiring practices taking place right under their nose, you have to wonder what other evils they can overlook. And what extent is the damage that has been done to the morally good people of City Hall, who have to accept the situation just so they can keep their jobs, or worse, become corrupted themselves by figuring out how to make 'the system' work for them as well.

[Willy]

XLFD

My hat's off to you. That is an excellent piece of research and a terrific job of explaining your findings. I think it's becoming clear why you were banned from Chity Hall and received no help from any elected officials. It is astounding that Ludington is getting close, if not already there, to being a corrupt little town. Put all the information you have gathered together including the water tower and there appears to be a real "60 minutes" situation taking place. These people are sticking it to the citizens. Here's a good question, where the hell is the renowned and award winning Ludington Daily News. This paper is rapidly losing my respect. I am pretty sure they moniter this forum so there is no excuse for that ad filled piece of cellulite to not check into all this shady type of dealings, unless of course they are in on it. I am very proud of you X. 

 

P.S. Where are you Wanda. Unless your part of the problem, I suggest you do your job and help X any way you can.

[Willy]

Here's an after thought. Is it possible that the reason the marina was backed by officials and built with the huge amount of tax payers money was to help provide employment for their friends and family members.

[XLFD]

One could say expanding the Marina would justify the hiring of even more employees, no doubt. 

I think, however, the Transient Docks project was planned more because the City Marina's coffer was bulging and they were approved for a matching fund from the state DNR. 

I really feel sorry for those who run, or wish to run, private marinas in this state.  Unlike local public marinas, they can't get generous grants of state taxpayer money (check eligibility for the type of grant the LMM received nearly a half million for: Eligibility for MI DNR Grants ).  It creates an unlevel playing field when your competitor can draw from both state and local funds without having to earn the money through free enterprise. 

[Eve Alone]

When he was compiling this article, X had so much stuff on this and some other related stuff, that I had to have it explained three times before I could separate it all.  He gave out the tip of the iceberg on just the marina issues here, and it reads really well.  The dots do connect, and even though it reads long, you did a great job, X. 

 

But can I still get that job you promised me if you get elected, ROFL.

[AQUAMAN]

I'm just getting to this thread and also have to congratulate the writer for an excellent find on local Nepotism right under our noses, and for years already. This sort of "right in your face" Nepotism is really shocking and underhanded, at best. At worst it's the core of a rotten apple that needs culling out, and if this isn't direct ethical conflict of interest, I guess I don't know the meaning. Calling this to the attention of voters this fall certainly has to make some out there start blushing, if not seriously affect their future in local city politics/jobs. These MM jobs years ago were advertised for employees, first come, first served, not doled out by the city fathers in high positions of authority to their kids. Question: this will be the 7th season for the Henderson girls, are they not graduated yet, or is this a permanent job for them until they get married or move away from Dad?

[XLFD]

Consider this common sense solution to two problems:  The hours for our full time lifeguard program two years ago were 3 lifeguards for 8 hr./day, 7 days a week, during the summer.  Up to 168 hours a week if the weather is good.  If we started a program whereas the lifeguards would go to the beach on 'nice' days, and go to the Municipal Marina on 'bad' days (when most boaters would stay in port-- meaning more demand for marina help).  On 'nice' days (when many boaters would be asea or spending money on land) the MM could function with a couple workers instead of four or more. 

The end result:  no new expenses involved, no one inconvenienced, less cronyism/nepotism at the marina, and the lifeguard program is nestled securely in the marina fund, never* to be taken away again by a penny-wise/dollar-foolish City Manager, a two-faced Mayor, or a misguided City Attorney.

[AQUAMAN]

Makes a person WONDER! If someone had the time and energy to invest in researching ALL the related names and jobs held by city workers, I just wonder how many more kids and adults were given special consideration for hiring? Many of these hired kids are no longer kids either, and certainly come from well to do families that DON'T need the extra income. Thusly, we have several well known political/public appointee families that have many of their kin at the public trough, and cannot justify the need, nor the expense to taxpayers. It grossly cheats those local families that have earnest need where parents may be unemployed, forfeiting homesteads, etc.. Is this the Ludington we want for the future too? Makes a person WONDER!!!

[XLFD]

One can read the minutes of the various agencies of our city over the last few years to see that City Councilors, DDA members, Marina Board members, etc. really have no concern for the 'down and out' folks of the city.  For example, just since 2008: 

They can welcome the Michigan State Housing Authority spending large amounts of money updating low-income seniors dwelling, Longfellow Towers (The Arbors), but then create an onerous, illegal "Municipal Services Fee" Tax that triples the local tax burden on the new owners.

They can offer Tax Abatements to the rich entrepreneurs they favor, but hold special truth-in-taxation hearings to raise the taxes on the rest of us to make up the temporarily lost revenue.

They can dole out over $100,000 a year for themselves and their favored businesses with DDA money from local taxpayers from all over, and neglect all other struggling businesses outside of that zone, or not favored.

They can remove the liability on rich landlords to have to pay delinquent water bills to the city, and put an extra $250 deposit cost above all other fees a struggling family has to have to move into the city of Ludington.

 

I could go on, but can any of those elected officials come on this watchblog and tell us what they are doing for people outside their privileged clique and their families?  I just can't find that through the policies and ordinances they're passing.  

[Lisa O'Brien]

Personally I think the renters should have to put a deposit for water bills, just because you have a rental property does not make you rich. Hopefully having to put a deposit down will help make the renters more responsible about water usage.

[XLFD]

I was an apartment manager for low-rent housing here in Ludington, and dealt with a fair share of people who were lucky to have much more than $250 to move in.  We had water and most utilities figured in with the rent. 

But if each utility requested $250 deposits from an individual living unit to just start them up, then we're talking  $750-$1000 just in utility security deposits, before rent is figured in-- even if you have spotless credit.  Figuring in a rental deposit and first months rent, people would need nearly a couple thousand just to move into a shoddy efficiency apartment.   

There just aren't a lot of would-be renters around here that fit that template.  This policy just helps make hopeless and homeless people, because they are priced out of being able to rent.

[Sweater Cows!]

Who ever Sierra Britton is she is not one of Ed Brittons kids. His kids are much older. The youngest is a couple years younger than me and the oldest is quite a few years older than me. Grandkid or relative maybe but def. not any of his kids.

[XLFD]

Thanks for the verification.  I originally used the term 'offspring' to refer to the familiality of the above mentioned marina help, since the best you can get from some people search engines are 'relatives', and the connection isn't necessarily a parent-child one, nor are they always reliable. 

So if I have mistakenly ascribed any such relation I hope these can be corrected by people who know the families better than I.