I have found through my years of dealing with Ludington City Hall, that their records are far from being open to the public and their dealings are far from transparent.  Yet more than three years after they were hit hard financially by a settlement dealing with their inability to follow the Open Meetings Act (OMA) and the Whistleblowers Protection Act (WPA), they still routinely violate the OMA, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and the rights of those who petition the government for public records.  This is unacceptable and leads to a conclusion that has been supported many times by the public records that they have been willing to reveal: that they are hiding shady dealings and corrupt activities.

 

If elected as Councilor at-Large I will push strongly for what I call the Ludington Open Government Initiative (LOG In.) to reverse the recent trend to conceal City Hall's public records to the populace (by changing the FOIA policy in December 2010, by ignoring the salient points of three FOIA appeals beginning in April 2010, by continuing to charge illegal fees in FOIA replies, and by restricting the ability of curious citizens to go to City Hall to inspect public records in the name of 'workplace safety') and open City Hall to the public view, even if they don't want to look.  This initiative will be two or more ordinances that will have the following amongst them:

 

+++ All tax and fee rates that are increased must be voted on by the council.  All (recent) ordinances involving the raising of taxes or fees by the inflation rate or other trigger, hereby have those provisions repealed.

 

+++ All public meetings involving city officials, including committee meetings of the City Council, all Official Boards/Committees (DDA, Municipal Marina, Police Pension, et. al.), will have public notices posted not only at City Hall, but at the City website, minimally.  If it does become a practice to exclude involved members of the public from City Hall, another site should also be used for posting.  OMA 15.264

 

+++ All public meeting proposed minutes shall be available for public inspection within 8 business days after the meetings they refer to.  These shall be available through the City Clerk at that time, and will be posted on the City web within 5 business days afterward.  Approved minutes shall be available 5 business days after the meeting they were approved with any corrections noted as per law, and be available on the City website as well.   OMA 15.269   If this is not complied with:   OMA 15.271

 

+++ The City Clerk being the "custodian of all documents and records pertaining to the City of Ludington including City Council minutes, ordinances, traffic control orders, deeds, contracts, and agreements." shall be the logical choice for being the FOIA Coordinator, freeing the City Manager from this duty.  Just like it's done in many other Michigan cities.  Instead of using an open meeting of the City Council for any FOIA appeals, the chief executive will now have that power.

 

+++ All city/LPD forms that are likely to have FOIA exempt material on/within them will be restructured, if necessary, so that any such info would be in the same area.  When making reports and other paperwork, officials will attempt to highlight or bracket [] potentially exempt material as per the FOIA.  LPD officers will be trained to note when such material is exempt and when they would be not exempt. 

 

+++ All fees that a FOIA request requires shall be meticulously detailed by the FOIA Coordinator as will any material that was claimed exempt.  Such exempt material shall be further described by what exemption is used. 

 

+++ The City FOIA policy will be reviewed so as better to reflect the State FOIA law, Federal FOIA law, and the Federal OPEN Government Act of 2007.  Each public meeting shall strictly conform to the State Open Meetings Act. 

 

+++ All salaried city officials/employees will have those salaries published and displayed at the City website at the beginning of each year.  If their year-end result is a greater amount , the City Treasurer must detail why for each such official/employee.

 

+++ All policies and ordinances will be duly accredited to the person or people who developed it.  That way the citizens will know who to credit (or blame) for it.

 

With today's crowd still in the hallowed City Halls these nine reforms-- with nary a duty, fee, or tax imposed on any Ludington citizen-- will have a hard time passing without some popular mandate.  Help me out. 

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