Nepotism is the act of using your power or influence to get unfair advantages for members of your own family, it is a special type of favoritism/cronyism.  It's a practice that has become commonplace at city hall in Ludington because certain long term officials are allowed to commit it by their peers even after it's been pointed out.  The law does not prohibit a contractor from working for a city government where the contractor is closely related to an official with the ability to influence their hiring, but it does outline an open process to ensure to the public that it was done fairly and in the public interest.  In Ludington, this open process is never done and never officially recorded.

Back in 2010, Nick Tykoski (above) was a city official and a member of the Ludington Downtown Development Authority (DDA aka Downtown Ludington Board or DLB), he also served on the DDA's Signage Subcommittee.  His fiance at the time was the Community Development Director (CDD) Heather (Venzke) Tykoski, who has been the de facto administrator of that public body since 2008. 

Tykoski's sign company performed over $15,000 of work on signs for the downtown about half a year before the DDA decided to send other sign companies a request for proposals (RFP) and giving them a weekend to submit a proposal given rather obscure RFP instructions.  The only company to get a bid submitted in time was Tykoski's, who submitted his proposal long before the RFP was sent out to others. 

All city officials (and even the local newspaper) approved of this behavior, cementing their place in Ludington history as the most corrupt enablers ever.  They would solidify this position when they chose to adopt a policy early in 2011 to prohibit the exposer of the corruption from entering city hall, despite having no rationale to do so and without any due process.  In 2013, city hall effectively were forced to admit this, settling a federal lawsuit filed by the victim claiming First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated. 

Nick Tykoski's sign business has grown and changed names since but he has still maintained a favored status with the City's DDA, getting business from his wife for multiple projects without having to face a competitive bidding process (if the overall cost is high enough) or justification of why it is in the public's interest to accept their rates when the cost falls below.  This can easily lead to abuse when the wife is directly part of the company that is being employed, whether they make signs for masking upmake signs for DDA race series, making parking decals, etc.  It's always the same:  there is nothing at the meeting or in the minutes of either the DDA board or city council recognizing that favoritism, cronyism, and nepotism is being practiced or explaining why it is in the public interest to unfairly give them that business.

The latest act of nepotism/cronyism is caught in the council packet for the March 22, 2021 meeting.  Back on November 22, 2019, Water Plant Supervisor Kurt Malzahn fell into a pit at the Brye water tank and suffered injuries leading to his death a week later.  MIOSHA would later fine the City $5700 for four infractions dealing with safety issues which helped lead to the fatal incident.  One could argue that Malzahn, who was the chairman of the city's "Safety Committee" in an ironic twist, would have been the one official who would have been the most culpable in the city's hierarchy, had he not been the victim of the safety oversights.  

Nevertheless, the death was a tragic end to a long career of a dedicated public servant, which is why Malzahn's replacement and his staff were seeking to erect a commemorative plaque in his honor at the front entrance to the water plant, Water Plant Supervisor Jaime Hockemeyer announced this intention at a March 3 committee meeting.  

In looking at the Safety Decals website and Facebook page, there is no indication that they make bronze or brass plaques, trophies, or anything else involving engraving.  The bench plaques made at places like the West End Plaza, where the Tykoskis have one, were not crafted by Safety Decals.  Hockemeyer decided to contact them anyway, and their cost estimate indicates that it may not be in their bailiwick, as noted in this e-mail to the city manager a week later:

Safety Decals fails to show a proof, then quotes that it would cost them $1154.80 to make a plaque conforming to the 'layout and color observed in the other proofs' (inferring that they were shown the other submissions' proofs, at least, as a special favor).   Nick Tykoski agreed to donate half of the costs (and be able to claim that 'donation' on his taxes) to reduce the price down to $577.40, which is still over 28% more than the low bid of $450 from Franklin.  Franklin's estimate was 45% of the cost estimated in the committee; Safety Decals, who had a representative at that March 3rd meeting (Heather Tykoski) who heard this estimate had one very close to the $1000 total, before their 'donation'. 

Not surprisingly, the competitive bidding process was used and Safety Decals claimed it would take them two and half times as much money ($1154.40 to $450) to do what another company could provide, even when the other had to ship the heavy plaque from Pennsylvania rather than First Street.  This is where it could have ended, but the Tykoskis had other plans:

An anonymous donation to a losing bid?!   Let's use logic to consider who might make an anonymous donation to SD.  If it was SD or its principals, why wouldn't it be portrayed as an addition to their already-donated $577.40?  If it was done by somebody who wanted to help defray the costs to the City of Ludington, why wouldn't it have been directed to the COL in order to cut the price of $450 quoted by Franklin, down to $200, which is 64% less cost to the taxpayers than the adjusted SD price of $327.40.  

Why didn't Hockemeyer, Asst. City Manager Steckel or other officials question why this anonymous donor wouldn't apply their funds to the already lowest bid?  Could it be that the anonymous donor may have been somebody who has a long history of using public funds for her own private gain and who currently is helping to administer a $2.5 million project at Legacy Park where 1/10,000th of that bankroll would not be missed?  The March 18th Public Safety Committee meeting noted the 'unanimous' donation made after the reception of bids:

 

This violates the objective of competitive bidding.  Franklin was never given the opportunity to counterbid against a bid allowed after the closing date, not that additional bidding was allowed as part of the original plan.  So it was at least unfair, and since the bid of $450 was known by city management on March 10th, it is relevant to ask whether they passed this information onto their peer, Heather Tykoski, and allowed her the opportunity to whip up some phantom 'donated' money so that her company could achieve the low bid and local honor of making the plaque.

The perceptions in this bidding process, the 'unanimous' donation that doesn't make any sense, and the involvement of one of the bidders in the discussions at the March 3rd meeting has tarnished the commemorative plaque dedicated to Kurt Malzahn even before it has been cast. 

Superintendent Hockemeyer and City Manager Foster should be encouraged to investigate further into this mysterious thirteenth hour 'donation' and why it could not be applied to cut the city's cost by 64% and have the plaque be done by skilled artificers, not by skilled artificers (definition 2). 

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More like a "plague" of nepotism and stealing bids. Disgusting that Safety Decals is so high in the first place that they then make themselves look like Good Guys 1 to "donate" half the cost. Then mysterious "Good Guys 2" to come up with another $250 "donation." Makes one wonder why they went to all that effort to lose over $800 to make a sign. Maybe they already had it "in the works" before someone caught them not securing competitive bidding. Will it ever end?

One looks at the councilors at these meetings and all of the other officials present and wonder why they would attach a 'Good Guys' label to a company that would otherwise charge the City 250% of what another company shipping an item from another state would.  To me, and other reasonable people without tickets on the Ludington corruption train, it would throw into question all of those other no-bid contracts for signs and decals the City routinely gives to Heather's side business as being similarly overpriced, or more so, since there is no competition. 

I like Jaime Hockemeyer and how he's reformed the water plant mindset that wasted over a million dollars on water tower painting back in 2010, I think he wanted a bidding process that was fair before Councilor Johnson directed him at SD and he had to either accept the bidding irregularities that happened or be ostracized by the real person in charge at city hall.

Oh really? I missed that detail. Can you explain more about possible pressure from Councilor Johnson steering to SD? Was that in minutes? Thanks. X, another exposure that should awaken what has been going on down at OUR city hall.

Sorry X, I missed your link.  In second look it is recorded that Councilor Johnson "suggest" Hockemer to look into Safety Decals.  So, I wonder if Hockemeyer already had the two lower bids at that time?

Am curious, is there already a plaque at the Water Treatment Plant dedicated to Kevin Anthony Martinez, the young man (20) who died in the plant rebuild 06/01/2017? And if not why not?

Martinez tripped on the roof of the plant and fell through the skylight.  OSHA investigated that and determined four violations dealing with training and fall-protection on the subcontractor Rudy's Plastering & Drywall from Hudsonville.  These amounted initially to $28,000 and were reduced to $14,000 on appeal.  Thirty foot fall onto concrete.  

He may have left a literal mark at the Water Treatment Plant that day, but there is no indication that Mr. Martinez has been memorialized since-- which is too bad since you might think Kurt Malzahn would have learned something about better protecting himself and his employees from falls without losing another life, rather than getting nabbed by MIOSHA two years later for effectively the same thing.

Rest in peace, Kurt Malzahn and Kevin Martinez. Kurt's was such a tragic, unnecessary death. Seeing pictures of the manhole he was entering, it didn't take a safety expert to see at least two glaringly obvious safety violations. The plaque should memorialize that "safety matters too."  Sometimes it seems our city's focus is so high in the clouds with lofty ideals and big beautification projects that they don't have time to come down to earth and deal with real needs. I hope the plaque reminds employees everyday of the importance of safety on the job.

Nepotism goes on and on, w/o any at all repurcusions at all. This is just SICK! And Just against all MORALS AND ETHICS AND COL CODES

Exactly, Aquaman. I find it amusing that SD would go to such convoluted means to snatch a small (financial amount) contract for a product they don't normally supply. I think Jamie Hockemeyer was on the right track with Franklin Mint, a well-known reputable maker of metal plaques and a very competitive price.

But, again, friends or relatives giving friends contracts. Happens everywhere, all the time. That's what our governments, local, state and federal have come to.  And locally some justify it because it keeps the money in town and they think they can do the best work. But sorry Mr. Johnson, we don't know what is best without competiive bidding in a fair manner.  And coming back to rebid exclusively is not a fair manner.

If SD wants to cut the price back after looking at everyone else's
bids, and get anonymous donors, let them have at it, at least there were two other bids to cut them down. That's better than them just getting a free-ride high-bid with no limits. It's about as convoluted as the secret monies swirled around for the splashpad donations with no accounting because they were "private" and now more of it going on to fix up the mess of improper discharge into PM Lake.  Another big donation of labor by an inside group, and we know it's really all swishing back around to raise our water and sewer and taxes in the long run and even almost immediately.

We can get upset about these corruptions, we can stand up and voice our concerns. We can try to run against these corruptions, be publicly humiliated for speaking up for righteousness sake, and we might make a little progress and then be censored. Evil is a huge force. Is is conquerable? In our own lives, we have a better chance to chose right, to set our destinies, but with government entities on a roll of corruption, maybe not.

OR then, we can do nothing because we've learned it does little and slow good, sit back and watch fate take place and say that the Hand of God finally brings Justice in some little ways now, maybe, or in big ways too. But in the final analysis, all will answer to the one Judge and it doesnt matter how many Mercedes you've stockpiled, or how many memberships at exclusive clubs you own to keep out the riff raff you despise while stepping on the poor, it's how you love your neighbor, in every decision you make. And therein will be a PLAQUE of the Book of Life for Ever, with justice and liberty for All.

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