Robbing from the Poor: Ludington DDA Pockets Money from Charity Run

The Ludington City Council meeting of February 12, 2018 should be one worth remembering not for its agenda's content, but because of an allegation made in the first public comment, one official's response to it, and the willful complicity of the attending officials and media to say or do nothing.

Police Chief Mark Barnett was prepared for the worst, undoubtedly because I had just got, through a FOIA request, the Shop with Cop accounting of this last year, and he may have expected I found some irregularities like I did last year, with nearly $1500 unaccounted for, and thousands left lurking unspent in the general fund.  Towards the end of his invocation he pleaded:  "Father we ask your blessing for this meeting tonight. May all that is said here be considerate, well reasoned, and for the benefit of all."  

That would not happen this night, at least outside of the public comment.  The mayor signaled a change in their public comment modus operandi, by allowing participants to write down their name if they wanted further feedback from the council for their concern.  I was the first to get up, and I would put my name down.  As of this writing, I have yet to be contacted.  I got up at the 3:40 mark of the video and gave a comment over a grave concern of robbery by city officials:

February 12, 2018 Ludington City Council meeting from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

XLFD:  "Tonight you will receive the annual report from the community development director. On p. 24 of your council packet, you will note that the 5K race held on August 5th had 70 participants, Chief Barnett and others might even recognize that race as the annual cops & robbers race. Kevin Braciszeski noticed in the local paper that there was more participants than 70, they marked 83, led by Colson Falink who led robber Jared Lauber across the finish line.

On February 27, 2017, the Downtown Ludington Board aka the DDA announced the Cops & Robbers event among their 2017 events. On page 18 of that council packet it was noted that "We would also like permission to hold the second annual cops & robbers 5K on August 4th with the start and finish being located on the corner of Rath and Loomis. We will work with Officer Kuster on a route for this race. All proceeds will benefit the local Shop with a Cop program."

If the annual report is correct, and 70 people ran, the proceeds from the event would be $1725 just from entry fees, if 83 ran the proceeds would be $2075. According to the DDA, all of these proceeds would go to Shop with a Cop, but this didn't happen. I have recently received the accounting records for the 2017 Shop with a Cop program via a FOIA request and there is no donation from the DDA to the program. Zero dollars from the DDA or any other associated entities, when around $2000 should have been donated if they had honored their word, which is and was also broadcast on numerous Ludington tourism websites. Beyond the pie sale, gift cards from Meijer, and the tree farm donations, nothing came in to the Shop program over $1000.

For all of the people who entered this race believing their generous participation fee would go to providing needy families a better Christmas this year, they were deceived. I'm hopeful the Community Development Director can tell the public where the money actually went from the cops and robber event.  Thank you [end of comment].

After Monica Schuyler told the council about the Lakeshore Food Club and why it was deserving of being the beneficiary of money received from a different charitable event, the Lake Jump, Fire Chief Funk gave his annual report for 2017.   Then it became time for the community development director to give her report.  Surprisingly, it was preceded by a response to my concerns that started around the 25:25 mark of the video.  

CDD Heather Tykoski:  "As you know over the past couple of years we added communications and marketing managers so we are able to better track some of those details in the marketing department. Just to go over a few things and um, we normally don't address comments at this meeting, but I will address Tom's comments, I was beginning to feel a little left out, he hasn't attacked me in a while.

So we did do the Cops & Robbers run, we typically do that, and we've done that for the last couple of years. This year there was a turnover in staff with the police department with who was taking over the Shop with a Cop program. They determined they were not suited to do that program this year with the turnover, so all the money from that race, um went back into the race fund.

So our runners were all very well aware with that, and we did not market it as that, other than coming here, and we discussed that with Mark and the officer, and if, in the future they want to continue that race, we will continue that race, so we are very supportive of Shop with a Cop."

She then continued her annual report as if there was no problem with her account of events.  But there is quite a bit wrong with it, which can be discovered quite easily.  Like all great political prevaricators, she begins with an ad hominem attack against the whistleblower and claims the victim mantel, by saying that they haven't attacked her in a while.  This not only implies that I have attacked her before in the past, but that I did it with my public comments or in some other way this day.  My public comment speaks for itself (as does the past claims of the CDD) it is not an attack by any means, rather a call for accountability.  

Then more whoppers follow.  She mentions some sort of turnover in staff of the LPD, but the SWAC program was a definite go from last year, with the City saying they would use their leftovers from last year for this one, and the organizer from last year, Tony Kuster, was not only working this year on it, but still one of the event organizers.  If anything, the SWAC program was more stable in 2017 than it was in 2016 and there was never any indication made public that it wouldn't be.

She was probably truthful in saying that the money from the Cops & Robbers (C&R) race went back into the race fund, but for her defense she says that the runners all knew that.  Other than the February memo she gave to the council, she tells us that the race was never marketed in support of the SWAC program.  Perhaps she may want to review how it was marketed by talking with her marketing manager, who marketed it as she indicated in the only place on-line where you could purchase the tickets for the C&R race:

I read "proceeds from this [Friday August 4, 2017] race will be given to the Shop with a Cop program", everybody except those who brought a ticket on race day would see this when they made their purchase of a ticket.  But wait, there's even more marketing for the 2017 race which sends you to the above link, such as the Facebook advertisement for the program (note where it sends you for details):

And then there's numerous local tourism websites that sends you to the Eventbrite site after telling the viewer that the proceeds go to SWAC, thus you get that message twice, such as these two:  

And some that just tell you about the proceeds going to SWAC without providing a link to the Eventbrite site:

So, they marketed the 2017 race through all of these media, and likely more places that have or will be eliminated to cover-up the CDD's duplicity, and the DDA's shame.  

For Heather Tykoski admits that the funds raised by a race designed to have all proceeds go to the Shop with a Cop charity went instead into a 'race fund' of the DDA, a government agency, rather than underprivileged families in our community that seventy or more people thought they were contributing to.  That is government-run fraud orchestrated by Ms. Tykoski and her minions and that money needs to be dispersed to what was originally their intended targets.  

It's additionally shameful that our other city officials and media are too corruption-blind to notice and call it for what it is.

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I think it is time that the People of Ludington put an end to purchasing Red Solo Cups for these bad actors.

Make it a LAW that, "Any and all drinking glasses will be clear. Only clear non-alcoholic liquids can go into the clear glass.

Transparency must not be hidden behind Red Solo Cups!!

Perhaps we should buy them a little more appropriate red cups instead:

 

Over $10,000 was paid out of the general fund in December (accounted for in January) for SWAC gift cards primarily.  Over $3000 was paid from the police fund to cover SWAC charges on the LPD's credit card at this last meeting.  I'm still trying to justify everything on the SWAC accounting records I was given, because you have all these various funds used, gift card usage, cashing in of some of those gift cards, donations to area schools, etc.  I think this could be done so much easier and with a lot more security for the funds if they had followed sound accounting principles that you make note of.

If you want to help look the accounts over, send me a PM, FS.

A hearty 'your welcome' to all the truth, knowledge and freedom seekers that believe they can expect more from public servants than what we've been getting in Ludington.  

You may be referring to MCL 125.1654(5) which says:  "All expense items of the authority shall be publicized monthly and the financial records shall always be open to the public."

One would presume the expenses should be made available monthly on line (and they typically are in the council packets), and that all financial records should be available whenever you go to city hall.  The first time I got financial records of the DDA way back in 2010 or so, I think it was the first time they ever produced them for the public.  

Great job of putting blondie on the spot X. She is such a fool. Playing the victim before she admits to her corrupt behavior.  I'm surprised she didn't shed a few tears and say "I'm just a girl being picked on by a big bully".

The change to the agenda to have people write their name in order to be contacted shows just how out of touch these Councilors are. If a person asks a question and puts forth concerns to the Council on certain issue it stands to reason that the concerned citizen would be contacted anyway without having to ask permission. These Councilors are numbskulls.

As for the race, why is it called Cops and Robbers? Who represents the Robbers? nstead advertising a run with thieves why not drug dealers or pimps. Cops and Drugfies, Cops and pimps or Cops and Ho's. how stupid. How about Cops and unsuspecting citizens being scammed.

I reported fraudulent behavior by a city official in my comment, supported it here with documentation, left my name and contact information (actually I noted they have that info already), and I still haven't been contacted by the LPD or the Board of Ethics over two days later.  Guess the new system needs work.

It was just seven years ago today that I really got under the CDD's skin by releasing the fifth of a series about the Ludington DDA called Signs of Love where I pointed out how her husband's sign company got a $150,000 sign contract (later found to be without any contract) without a competitive bid process being used, along with other irregularities.  That was exposing corruption at it's worse, and it led to an almost immediate attack on me by multiple unelected forces within the city, resulting in the Workplace Safety Policy.  

Because of that policy, I lost my job as a direct result, and I fought the unconstitutionality of it in federal court (successfully, they settled for $15,000); it also gave me the resolve to confront what I consider bad-intentioned unelected forces that run this city by going to each council meeting and pointing out their latest dereliction of duty, unlawful act, or ethical lapse.  They've never disappointed me by failing to give me enough material to work with.

I missed the interview, but I'm sure Kendra of WMOM, who was at the meeting on Monday, didn't challenge her at all with her abrasive comments therein and admission of simple fraud with the Cops & Robbers race.  Any inkling from her of whether this money would ever be honorably given to its proper owners (needy kids in the SWAC program)?

You know, if I started out this season by saying that I would give all proceeds from my roadside firewood business to the local Salvation Army, definitely get more money from other generous people thinking their purchase would go to this charity, and then at the end of the season decide that I need all the money to offset my expenses for the year and prepare and transport firewood for the next year-- I could never do that. 

I'm shocked that the dozen people on the DDA Board can live with their conscience.  Former Mayor Henderson, chairman of the DDA, do you endorse fraud?  WMOM's Steve Miller, do you want all the community good that WMOM does be tarnished by your inertness on this issue?  Everyone there, to borrow a phrase from Chief Barnett, should be ashamed of yourself.

Well said, Freedom Seeker and X.

Some years ago when Heather Venzke Tykoski, from GR, saw a thread here on this forum where we talked about her husband's unfair $150K contract, how she and Nick got a house for 1/2 the appraised value, and had the assessor reduce the taxable values for property taxes also to 1/2 value, and immediately had expensive gates and 6' fence installed around the perimeters, to block any view of the house, she went on a rampage with the courthouse. The explicit nature of her dealings were probably only seen by few, but her paranoia went thru the roof. What she tried to do, after complaining to her partners Shay and Barnett to arrest us, was to apply for a PPO order against X, and several others on here, and try to also get this forum shut down entirely. Luckily, those attempts failed miserably, as none of it was true, at least to the extent she complained, and with no solid proofs. Obviously, she is in deep denial and still paranoid to this day, shallow and arrogant behavior.

Exactly Aquaman. I hope she leaves with Shay.

I am still impressed with the size of the ego of our Community Development Director in calling my initial public comment as an attack on her.  As Freedom Seeker pointed out, there is nothing in my comment other than a question of where the money went that the DDA raised and was supposed to go to underprivileged kids.  At the end, I expressed the hope that the director could explain that, as it was nowhere in her annual report where the money went, and the DDA is supposed to have their financial records always publicly available, even without going through the FOIA process.  

If there was an attack in my comment it was on the DDA/COL's policy of not being accountable and not being honorable to their obligations, in this case to the SWAC program.  

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