Scottville Opens Up a Little

[XLFD]

As one who lived in the City of Scottville as I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I am hopeful that it can succeed during the hard times it's facing right now.  A lot of that success will hinge on how well the city government is attuned to the voices of the people that make up the city, so they can both be resilient in the struggles that they have faced it in the last few years, and the scary future made even scarier by the Covid-19 shutdown.

This Monday, July 6th, after three months of holding meetings using the Zoom medium (basically an on-line visual chat), the commission was all set to go back to in-person meetings.  However, their usual venue inside city hall was definitely not big enough to properly social distance, even if only the usual officials attended.  Instead they used the Scottville Optimist Hall, with several tables spread out for the commission, the city attorney, the city manager and the city clerk.  With several chairs scattered in front of them for the public.  

I had only really heard about this meeting through hearsay, since the online local news agencies did not have any preview of the meeting, despite having one of their chief editors on the commission.  Likewise, the City of Scottville website and Facebook page did not have anything at all about it either.  The last agendas and minutes put up on the City's sites were from before Covid-19 hit back in early March.  

These facts were the main precipitators of my visit, since I have found that a non-transparent government is often a government not working effectively for its people.  So after grabbing a load of firewood for selling back in Ludington, I dropped by the Optimist Hall on my way back in order to respectfully urge them to open up for everyone's sake. 

And so after a public comment by Katrina Skinner of the Scottville Police Department, who was somewhat dejected for the lack of US flags flying in the City over the holiday weekend, I spoke off the cuff on why it was great for everyone involved to have agendas available before meetings, preferably with all the materials the councilors review, and have minutes available on their website as soon as they can.  It shouldn't take but a few minutes to do since they already have that material given to each councilor, and likely already in electronic form from all those zoom meetings where that would be the appropriate way to get them out.

I reminded them that during this time of crisis, citizens feel more remote from their government naturally, so the best way to engage them is to give them information so they don't go to meetings blind about what's going to happen, ignorant about what happened last meeting, and at a loss to participate meaningfully.  Near the end of the meeting, Commissioner Alway agreed with the assessment and City Manager Magaluk agreed to get those agendas and minutes up to date and put on the website by the next day.  She did so too.  I'm hopeful that the next agenda will have additional materials with it, and be published at least the Friday before the meeting.

The meeting itself was fairly meaty on issues, but didn't last all that long.  There were two public hearings on proposed ordinances, which kind of shows why the public doesn't know alot about public actions, since they are even vague on the agenda-- which was made available to the public the day after the meeting was held.  

In the future one can hope they simplify the two ordinances down into something the citizens can digest, because citizens can look up the code that's to be changed, but they don't have any idea what the add-on is, unless they have some inside info.  These two hearings were postponed until they could be looked at again by the Planning Commission.  Oddly, the last one came out of the subcommittee (including Mayor Bruce Krieger, Marcy Spencer, and Alway) without a recommendation according to Commissioner Alway.  These will both be brought up once again in front of the council, so hopefully, they will be better understood.  

Mayor Krieger appointed the Parks Committee members, one being the mayor's wife, which should have been noted for the record at least since he voted with the rest of the council for the appointments.  

The biggest vote of the night was to come as the commission would consider who would be the new city attorney to replace Tracy Thompson, who has served the City of Scottville admirably for quite a while and at a very good price.  The two contenders oddly enough were the same two contenders that vied for the same position in Ludington earlier this year.  The Grand Rapids firm of Mika Myers going against the combined firms of Carlos Avarado and Olson, Bzdoc, etc. out of Traverse City.  

In a very non-transparent discussion where neither of the two law firms had been personally interviewed by staff/commissioners nor were the rates compared, the commission went with Alvarado & Olson,Bzdoc, etc. after Commissioner Alway made a motion to.  Commissioner Alway forgot to mention that the Alvarado Law firm has been advertising on the front page of his website for many years, here's a recent screen capture:

He doesn't do the same for Mika Myers.  Rob might not think that he should admit to his own conflict of interest in choosing and then voting for somebody who pays him for advertising each month, but he should.  It justifiably makes the process look rigged from the start:  no interviews, no price/value comparison, nothing given to the public, a commissioner who would benefit from the appointment making the motion to appoint.  It's a ridiculously corrupt process.

The meeting wound down from there with a closed session to evaluate the city manager, which again had a minor glitch.  A closed session for such a review is permissible only if the person being reviewed requests a closed hearing (MCL 15.268(a)), this wasn't made clear to the public before they were moved out of the hall for the closed session.  

And I was prepared to get out of Scottville and unload my wood, except that I started talking with a resident who was at the meeting, and after 15 minutes of that I got a phone call that kept me around even longer.  I was within site of the Optimist Hall entrance that we were ushered out of, maybe 40 yards away, when I saw the councilors start leaving the building.  

Apparently they had finished their closed session and voted to adjourn the meeting, but that too is a problem.  In order to adjourn the meeting, or make any other decision, they would have had to go back into open session and take the vote to adjourn.  The 'public' still waiting outside (me) was never given the opportunity to be called back in to the open session they needed to be in to make that vote to adjourn.  Scottville, you still have a ways to go.

[Willy]

Good find X. Alway had better open his eyes so he can see the double standard and potential corruption he portrays by being a news agency and government agent at the same time in the same jurisdiction. Is he so oblivious to the obvious? Alway, either your an independent news agency or a government news agency. You can't be both or maybe you can.

[Freedom Seeker]

Good point Willy. Alway should resign from city council, imo. I appreciate the quickness of the MCP, maybe not always completely accurate and seemingly quite biased, but at least it is there. I've learned to listen to the other side, even the liberals. It's good preparation for an argument. Oblivious to the obvious sounds like city of ludington mo also.

[XLFD]

It's extra difficult for a journalist to remain objective about local politics when he's a driving force within it, this conflict has crept into Rob Alway's reporting since getting involved with politics in the Planning Commission and then the City Commission of Scottville.  As a public officer, he had a duty to note that Carlos helps pay his bills directly, it's similar to all the problems that Brandy Miller has faced in her term because many of the votes that came to council directly affected her other jobs with the chamber of commerce and the Ludington CVB.  

Neither official has been very good at mentioning those conflicts and/or abstaining from votes, though Brandy has improved.  Rob generally does a good job of reporting the news timely and accurately if it's outside politics.