Scottville Quietly Solves the Outsider Nuisance Problem for 2022

[XLFD]

Scottville City Hall has cleverly addressed their biggest problem left over from 2021 by a simple act which will undoubtedly be approved at the next city commission meeting on Monday.  Before we look at their solution, let's look at what their perceived problem was during this last year.

Beginning in the first meeting of the year on January 4th, 2021, the Scottville City Commission (aka the City Clowncil) has had a regular visitor from out of town at their regular meetings held twice each month.  During the first three months those meetings were held virtually on Zoom and that visitor (this reporter) seemed to be treated differently at each successive meeting. 

I quietly observed what happened on that first meeting of 2021, where there appeared to be a coup being plotted by city officials to remove their city manager under a specious claim that a deadline was almost missed.  The steps those officials took during this period showed little regard for procedural issues found in both the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Meetings Act (OMA), which would activate this local activist into action against such lawlessness.

The second January meeting had me commenting on the observation that the clowncil went into virtual closed session with several other officials at the special meeting held earlier that day without stating on their motion who would be in the closed session with them-- they kept out the embattled city manager from the session, but appear to have invited at the least the interim CM and the city attorney.  The incompetent city clerk put down in the minutes that I 'felt it was unclearly posted that it would be closed to the public' rather than they had violated the Open Meetings Act by inviting some of the public into their closed session without noting that in their motion or in the minutes of that special meeting.

At the 2-1-21 meeting, I had a prepared comment at the end but was not recognized, at that point I thought it may have been a technical issue that did not allow them to see me with my hand raised, as they had changed their virtual meetings to show only black squares where the public was.  This issue was resolved at the next meeting by them putting my full critical comment in the meeting minutes.  This didn't seem to go over well, so the clerk went back to a very incomplete summary for the first meeting's minutes in March.

The supposedly-technical gaffe that shut me out and up in the prior meeting was replayed at both sides of public comment at the March 15th meeting, I did everything and more to get recognized, but I was ignored by the mayor pro-tem, Rob Alway, during both comment periods.  Clearly a violation of my OMA rights, nobody addressed my questions to them trying to find out why I was completely ignored both times posed directly to all city officials.

The prospect of in-person meetings at the April 5th meeting had me prepared with two speeches, but the clowncil had decided to (without a public vote) eliminate the city charter mandated first public comment period.  Additionally, the unqualified city clerk would not even summarize the comments of those who spoke at the meeting.   The clowncil went from having two public comment periods with at least a summary of what was brought up by the people in the minutes to a comment period at the end after all the clowncil's business had been done and the names of those who spoke, without the issue(s) they brought to the clowncil.

This violation of the city charter would be 'authorized' at the next meeting with a consent agenda vote which was far from the charter amendment process which requires a public vote.  This unlawful policy has not changed since that period, drowning out those citizens in Scottville who would want to go to these public meetings and express their thoughts about their city and get them put into the record before the clowncil went about their business. 

At that point, one might think the clowncil couldn't silence the public and their visiting critic any more without taking that last comment period out of the meetings, but they rose to that challenge by throwing me out of their first meeting in May for quietly holding one of the most inoffensive small signs you've ever seen.

The city clowncil has not ever expressed any regrets for doing that unlawful act, but they have wised up enough not to overreact when I've brought in larger signs showing their recurring violation of their own charter.  This reporter has continued to regularly go to clowncil meetings since, having a process server as a companion one night to drop off a nine count lawsuit against the City of Scottville and five city officials for their violations of OMA and FOIA.  

In the latter part of this year, I have had to make a difficult choice because of my growing interest in the local school district's policies and attending the school board's regular meetings which fall on the third Monday night of each month, just like the second monthly meeting of the Scottville clowncil.  The intelligentsia of Scottville's City Hall has noticed that absence apparently since they have decided to make a change to their meeting schedule for next year (the 'simple act' I mentioned at the beginning of this piece).

A look at their public documents over the last five years show that the city commission has kept to holding their meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month (barring a major holiday on that day), to my knowledge this has been the rule since the last millenium even back before I was even born.  This has worked well with my schedule since it does not conflict with Ludington City Council meetings which fall on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of months.  Until now-- for on Monday the Scottville City Clowncil will do one more cowardly move and move their meetings to the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month, thereby shutting down the ability for anybody to attend both meetings.

This is not only an incredible change in tradition, it is an intentional change in tradition.  This schedule conflict makes it more difficult for the local media to cover both meetings, makes it more difficult for the two Ludington and Scottville governing bodies to cooperatively act together, and makes it become a difficult choice for the many people and entities with a common interest in both cities to address those bodies on issues coming up at the exact same time. 

So why would they create such a conflict unless it was to alleviate the pressure that was put on the city clowncil during 2021 and would undoubtedly continue in 2022 if they didn't take such a drastic measure?  

[AQUAMAN]

Incredibly unbelievable Scottville, you clownsil members are just ridiculous. Never seen or heard anything like this in my lifetime, esp. here locally.

[XLFD]

Yep, and this is from the minutes of Ludington City Council's last meeting:

Sorry Mitch, it doesn't look like Scottville wants to deal with your councilors or me.

[Willy]

Amazing X. A new low in political maneuvering. One has to admit that it was a clever move. Corrupt but clever. It would be very interesting to find out exactly who came up with the idea of changing the meeting schedule, when it was discussed and why it was changed? Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky. Scroll down to the eighth question of the sneaky link.

[XLFD]

That's a good conversion of a clown comic, but I'm afraid I might be the brainchild behind this.  

At the first November meeting, I apologized in my comment for missing the prior meeting due to needing to attend the LASD Board meeting.  I then missed the next meeting for the same reason.  The gears obviously started clicking in their collective clown heads that if they scheduled their meetings at the exact same time as Ludington council meetings, they would eliminate the big noise out of the west.  I definitely will have to adapt.

In the meantime, you have served as my muse to see who actually thought this up among the city officials.  City Attorney Carlos Alvarado was assuredly involved, since he in all probability drafted the resolution, but was he alone in this plan?  I will see what I might find with my usual tool for opening government, the FOIA request.

[Willy]

What if the school board changes their meetings to coincide with Scottville and Ludington? Wouldn't surprise me at all.