Watertowergate

[XLFD]

---Miller Time

 

Way back in the year 2000, the Ludington City Manager at the time, Jim Miller, decided to paint the insides and the outsides of the cities two water towers.  He arranged a contract with MK Painting Inc., of Lincoln Park, and was granted permission to do so by the council, two members who still serve to this day.  To do the Gaylord Street water tower, originally built in 1933, it cost the city $146,200 (including the repair of 100 linear feet of flashing on the outside of the tank bowl).  The Danaher Street tower, originally built in 1961 which also held 500,000 gallons of water took about the same amount.  The project went from May 10 to July 1, 2000.

 http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=6831
 http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=6376

 

---Smoke (and Mirrors) on the Water (tower)

Ten years later, the established City Manager, John Shay, decides to paint these towers once again.  Unlike the year 2000, the economy is not looking too good; home sales and values now are going down, unlike the trend in 2000-- this means less revenue for the city now and in coming years, and a need to be fiscally frugal.  The condition of the previous paint job is not looking too bad.  One needs to consider his decision may be due to the recent painting of the Scottville and PM watertowers and perhaps this effort is due to 'keeping up with the Joneses'.

Danaher' water tower, untouched as yet

 

A little research shows that steel-based water towers are recommended to be painted every 20 to 30 years, and it is not uncommon for some areas to go beyond that, particularly for inconspicuous ones, like Ludington's are (except for home football games).

http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/pickerington/stories/2010/...

 

So maybe this project is about 10 to 20 years before its time-- perhaps Mr. Shay found a great deal-- after all, many businesses are offering discounts to encourage this sort of thing.  Considering that the Gaylord water tower cost $146,200 to paint back in 2000, we need to consider inflation.  The inflation rate between 1-2000 and 1-2010 has been 28.37% (http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Calculators/Inflat...).  The $146,200 in 2010 dollars is thus $187,676.  So to get an equivalent of Jim Miller's deal (which occurred in a period where the businesses did not have to offer deals) John Shay should be expected to spend this amount or less on the Gaylord water tower.

 

City Council Boldly Follows Blindly

 

At the 12-21-09 City Council Meeting John Shay said:  "... the proposed contract with Utility Service Maintenance would have the City spending $151,000 a year on the maintenance of the two water towers (for 10 years).  The Gaylord Avenue tank would be a complete gut job, completely stripping the paint of the inside and outside and then repainting it, whereas on the Danaher Street tower, the company would complete the overlay on the outside only."  No competitive deals were publicly considered.  And this $1.5 million proposal was passed unanimously by the council as Ordinance 208-09, which has not been amended since.

 

As the Danaher tower only requires external painting and the company's maintenance package is effectively $30,000/year for 10 years (a fairly simple process which could more cheaply be done by city water employees with existing equipment), $1.2 million is used for painting, with about 2/3 of the job being done to Gaylord's tower.  Thus the cost for painting the interior and exterior of the Gaylord tower is around $800,000!  This is more than $600,000 greater than the Gaylord tower was painted back in 2000 adjusted for inflation--  Well over four times as much for the same work!!!

 

WTF?! (Water Tower Fraud?!)

 

For $1.5 million, a 500,000 gallon water tower can be built which won't require paint until 25 years (http://www.northcoastjournal.com/022405/news0224.html) The Smiley water tower down in Fruitport is being repainted a brilliant yellow this year for the low price of $200,000 (http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/06/smiley_face_wa...).  Other towers of similar size are being painted for even less.  The Gaylord tower was scheduled to be done in July-- two months later, they are still 'busy' at it.

Gaylord water tower, Sept. 14,2010

John Shay gutted proven programs and fired a few employees to help fund this project-- which shouldn't have even be considered for at least another ten years-- for a cost which should have been prohibitive.  Most of the extra money the City planned to make by hiking water rates 20% and sewage rates 8% on John Q. Public will go for the burden of paying for this. When added to the questionable restructuring of the city marina which cost $830,000, the City Manager spent $2.3 million this year in two costly projects which does not help one iota to the problems this community actually faces right now, or in the future.

 

The question one must ask is whether he is so incompetent as a City Manager that he willfully wastes our hard-earned tax dollars on such overpriced trivia while ignoring our community's infrastructure and true needs or is he competently managing over unethical practices where around $1 million of public monies is finding its way into someones' pockets without being earned legitimately.
  

[XLFD]

Worse than that Aquaman, is that city politics is effectively being ran by non-elected outsiders. The three people who set the main agendas in Ludington, the City Manager, the Police Chief, and the Community Development Director/Downtown Labor Board/Downtown Development Director all came to Ludington via SE Michigan. Our new City Attorney, who oversees the legality of operations, is a GR man who works out of Manistee.

Both Chief Barnett and Shay graduated from Oakland University/CC, worked in SE Michigan and came to Ludington within a year of each other. They seem to cover for each other too. Ms. Venzke grew up in Monroe, ran a Girl Scouts organization in GR, and came here shortly thereafter.

One could say, without being too far from the truth, that Ludington has been 'colonialized' by outsiders, making our community in the image they would like, and with little regard to our wishes, customs and laws. This wasn't the case just eight years ago.

[Mary A.]

I wonder if any of them have lifetime Ludington ties, such as extended family, vacations every summer, etc.

[AQUAMAN]

Cannot "QUALIFY" to be a big fish in a big pond, to correct and articulate the record on the POWER Mongers here now. Big City outlanders, is what we have called them for some decades now. Similar to what we call the Epworthless groups, if you know what I mean?

[AQUAMAN]

"Making our community in the image they would like, and with little regard to our wishes, customs, and laws." Well said Masonco, hit the nail on the head! This is just the problem, we are not Oakland County, nor GR, nor Monroe, all big city backgrounds. Totally differing and in contrast to Ludington, and other small port towns in West Michigan. Over the years I have heard many of the same types call us Ludington Hillbillies, after all, we are so back-country here, uneducated in high finance and the way the real world works, how on earth could we be in the real know of life and business ways of how Ludington should operate? That condescending attitude prevails quite well right now, looking down their nose at the true townies. This waste on the Watertowers is a prime example of this "we know better than you" thinking and actions that undermines all our faith in good local governing.

[Sweater Cows!]

I am so happy I don't live in the CoL (City of Ludington).

[AQUAMAN]

Me too Sheila, but, I still have to go there to work, to shop, get gas, get mail, also mingle with friends and coworkers. The downtown's policies and politicians' treacherous tentacles reach out to all of us in Mason County, in one form or another, no matter the distance. JMO

[XLFD]

You dastard! When did you sneak under the hood and take this photo? Or were you one of the Utility Service Maintenance painters who made off like bandits with our tax money, LOL?

[AQUAMAN]

What a great pic. there RJE. I drove by several times and thought about it, but didn't have the fortitude to try this, figured the neighbors might report me as a homeland security suspect, and upset my entire day. Nice.

[XLFD]

Good for you, RJE. I noticed them still around the Gaylord Tower the other day, and figured they may still be painting the inside, but had they already done that when you talked with the guy? Seems like that would be what they did on those windy days.

[Mary A.]

How did you get this all in one shot, RJE?

[XLFD]

I was looking at some of my pictures I took earlier this spring concerning another issue, and found a picture of the Gaylord water tower in the background. Here is what it looked like just before it was painted.

Besides a little discoloration on its 'throat', which commonly appears shortly after many tower paintings, there is nothing outwardly apparent to me that required painting after only ten years. Three specific FOIA Requests about the competitive bids, and the UTC contract of this $1.51 million project have been denied. $1.51 million is a lot of money to be wasting.

[charlemagnetism]

its a little less colorful now. has a little less character imho. the orange and black striping let visiting teams know our colors out at oriole field. i saw scottvilles water tower the other day was impresssed by its glossy sheen and artwork. very thrifty are our neighbors who got this done for less than 50,000. anyone holding our cm accountable for this waste. only here at lud torch it seems.