The Place Where Ludington Talks
The MacLean Makeover Mystery Deepens
Late last spring, Dave and Kathy MacLean (below) proposed to do façade work at their downtown business and sent in an application to the state to get a façade grant. There was a problem, however, their limited liability company, KDMAC Ventures LLC, could not conceal the fact that she was an official of the City of Ludington, namely the treasurer of the Downtown Ludington Board which doubles as our Downtown Development Authority (DDA).
She tried to. Under penalty of written perjury she initially submitted for approval in front of the Ludington City Council saying that no city official would benefit from the grant, which Kathy Maclean would. Just in case that wasn't clear, the application later asked again whether an appointed official from the City of Ludington would obtain a financial interest in the grant.
If that wasn't enough, Kathy Maclean, as treasurer of the DDA, by law "shall approve all vouchers for the expenditure of funds of the authority." In the application it was admitted that the DDA was to supply $1000 for architectural drawings, a voucher needing approval from Kathy MacLean, if indeed this expense had been properly brought before the DDA for their approval, with MacLean's conflict of interest put into the record, along with her abstention from the vote.
None of that was followed, the $1000 gift was given to her administratively without any discussion at a public meeting. These were discussed in more depth in this article, expanded from a public comment on that topic: ... Lie on Their Applications
The article ends with the exploration of an enigma: According to an April 2011 article in the Daily News, those apartments were fixed up and ready to rent, which meant they had not yet had renters within them. On the application, they denied in June 2015 that they had any of the four rental units being occupied, in fact, they said their only tenant was Gordy's Skate Company on the ground level.
The state's rental rehab mandates are for the created apartments to be rented out during the first five years they come on the market when there are vacancies, these weren't being marketed then, nor have they been marketed since. Yet they were being declared vacant, so that there would not be any displacement, and possibly other factors that may have made their application less desirable to those doing the granting. Casual surveillance of these units last summer indicated a lack of occupancy, or at least everyone in the four apartments taking a vacation from Ludington.
City Manager Shay sent an 'amended' application to the council at the next June 2015 meeting which did note Kathy Maclean's officialdom, after he was caught, but the application still insisted there was nobody in the upper four apartments. I decided this was probably the case. The Maclean's got $140,000 for the rental rehabs, the city got their cut $35,000, and the units likely never actually saw a low income renter which is the target group for them. At best, I imagined, the units would see an occasional use as suites for Kathy's chamber buddies or David's construction pals during the summer and be unavailable for regular renters.
But then I, took out a nominating petition to run for the Third Ward, where this project lies, and found an interesting bit of information while seeing that they apparently have received their grant (surprise) because façade work is underway at 102 West Ludington in earnest. From a walking voter list made with the latest data from the state that I received it seems that three people are registered to vote from the apartments at that address.
Three women are reportedly living at these apartments, including one, Julie Ann Arnone who registered to vote at that address between the time the MacLean's made the application saying there was nobody to be displaced there then and when they started their construction (December 2015). This registration is confirmed at other sites with this information.
Ms. Arnone is a teacher at a private school who seems to have been raising a large family (5 kids) with her husband Jeff down in Pentwater until her recent move downtown.
Ms. Karmeisool is involved with a lot of community projects, writing occasionally for the COLDNews, previously serving as the Ludington Area Center of the Arts (LACA) executive director, overseeing the installation of rental rehabs at the old Oddfellows Building at 115 W. Ludington with her well connected husband, Ryan Spencer Reed who effectively own that expensive piece of real estate.
Ms. Plowe serving as a manager at West Michigan Community Health when she was registering to vote at the apartments, and before becoming a title examiner/abstractor at Western Land Services in 2014. Now she is listed as being based in Santa Monica, California (well known for its affluent single-family neighborhoods) in multiple professional websites:
Our state government supposedly furnishes money for rental rehabs to provide low income housing in the downtown area to those who need it. This trio of professionals who 'live' there, but likely do not 'live' there at all, are not folks with little financial means about them. One lives in California, one in Pentwater, and one likely lives above Mattress Max, if not at one of the Reed's estates.
But they can all vote in the Third Ward of Ludington, because four apartments which have been supposedly unoccupied (and will remain unoccupied) according to Kathy and Dave MacLean's façade grant application is where the state believes they live and vote from. These 'tenants' may officially be from my ward, but they, and especially their corrupt law-breaking landlords, repel me with their foul corruption.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by shinblind on
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Things work different at the Federal level rather than the State or Local level.
Does the Fed still offer monetary rewards for whistleblowers based on a percentage of funds recovered where fraud is involved?
When there is more than one party involved doesn't the Fed show leniency to the first one who opens up and talks, and goes down hard on the others?
Whatever is going on here I hope these ladies gave careful consideration to the fact of what a Federal Felony Fraud conviction would have on their families and careers.
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Permalink Reply by stump on
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I would like to see some of Ludingtons so called officials go to prison. A neighbor of mine falsified papers to and received government money under false pretense, He went to prison for 6 months, not the county jail, prison !!!! when released under house arrest with a ankle bracelet for 6 more months. Then had to pay back all the money plus court cost.
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Dianne, learn to pace yourself.
Wait till you discover the bowling alley block/ new firehouse fiasco.
It will be enough to make you wish you never left Cali.
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Permalink Reply by XLFD on
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Would that be million dollar "Legacy Park", you refer to, Verdad?
One can easily believe that the park project was projected through the Downtown Ludington Board (aka the DDA) by its long-term Treasurer Kathy MacLean, who has gleaned a lot of favors from that board without any kind of disclosure that she or her other job (the Lud/Scottville Chamber of Commerce) would benefit.
Another amusing thing I noticed later when running: Brandy Henderson's campaign headquarters was listed as an apartment above MacLean's bike shop, and it's where she claims she lives now, as seen in the 2017 City Calendar.
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Permalink Reply by AQUAMAN on
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What many of us Torchers have found over close to a decade Dianne, is that you used to be able to ask questions about common files and information on a current basis, and pick it up at city hall, no problem. Maybe a 10 cent per page copy would apply. Nowadays, with the current city mgr./attorney, they block most info. asked for requiring us to make a FOIA request. Then, the FOIA coordinator, now an $200/hr. attorney, either denies or partially grants some limited info., and with usually a very high fee. If transparency is so strict and difficult in a small town like Ludington, imagine Lansing or DC. This isn't wise nor legal mostly, but it continues, and the officials doing most of this get their jollies from it, then the LDN declines to even let the public know mostly, also in collusion with high officials most of the time.
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I live in a suburb of Detroit, the media totally supports people that question what the city is doing, equals higher ratings! The problem there is the local media would not even think of going against city officials, imho why things are so bizarre there!
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Well it looks like on paper that the people listed as living in the apartments are helping the Mccleans defraud the state of Michigan and us as tax payers also, maybe they will go to prison also. It all seems innocent by putting your name on an address , but they didn't look at the big picture or did they? Birds of a feather flock together .
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