Ludington City Council Meeting November 9, 2015: Kids at Play

[XLFD]

"I find it amazing that somebody that has all the answers to taxes-- can call everybody out on their taxes-- doesn't pay any city taxes at all."  -- Councilor Gary Castonia, 43:45 into 11-9-2015 Ludington City Council meeting. 

It seems very revealing of the city council's mindset when a councilor makes a statement like the above about a citizen bringing up issues about unfair taxation, by effectively declaring that the citizen should remain quiet and uninformed about anything involving taxation.  If Councilor Holman had actually attended the meeting, she undoubtedly would have cheered and added her own insult to a citizen who got up twice with his share of questions-- and the only answers he had amongst them were to follow the charter, the voice of their constituents, and other rules.

The attendance of the meeting was sparse compared to recent meetings, and only two public comments were made.  Nevertheless, the docket was busy with a public hearing for a non-existent "Homeowner and Rehabilitation Program Grant" (detailed below), the presentation of the 2016 Budget along with the City Manager's message and the setting of a public hearing on December 7 for the budget, adopting a Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) and Mason County Emergency Plan (MCEP), adjusting campground rates up $2 for Cartier Park, accepting a property management deal with Consumer's Energy for a Copeyon Park substation, and other things already noted here.

There really wasn't much substantive discussion by the officials over the non-controversial subjects of this meeting that were passed unanimously when it came down to a vote.  Even with Wally Taranko and Liz Reimink present to answer any questions of the HMP and MCEP from the councilors, but there were none.  That in itself was rather unfortunate, because I am sure the public has some questions about it, being that it was created outside their general purview.

Even though I spoke first, Tom Tyron at 7:05 into the meeting spoke strongly and succinctly as usual regarding the rental inspection ordinance the council passed last meeting.  Unlike the County of Mason, the City of Scottville, and our surrounding townships, the City of Ludington does not allow the citizens the right to speak after the council has done their actions for the night.  Paired with their policy of not answering questions during the public comment section (and rarely thereafter), this illustrates their elite and unaccountable mindset. 

November 9, 2015 Ludington City Council from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

Tyron:  "I was quite disappointed in the vote last (meeting), although I anticipated what was going to be.  I am going to work as hard as I can to get this thing rescinded, and that means working hard at your folk's next election getting you knocked out of office.  And that's what democracy is.  You don't seem to understand that the voters of this community... what you did was wrong, and I don't agree with it, but I will do the democratic thing.  Thank you."

I'm not exactly sure which district Mr. Tyron is in, but I encourage him and others to get and keep motivated in getting the current council out before more of your rights are taken at the local level.  My comment began at 2:20.  As usual, I try to start out as positive as I can be about things before launching into my critiques of the city's public policies.

XLFD:  "I must commend the city's budget team whom over the last two years offered up a budget at the first meeting in November as they are required to do by the city charter.  Just two years ago, the city budget was made publicly available the day before Thanksgiving and voted on the next Monday, fully violative of five of our city charter's provisions designed to make an open and accountable budget process.  The previous eight years to that had also seen one or more of those charter provisions ignored, so I am pleased that the City has reversed its course in that regard.

Unfortunately, I do not see this council reversing its trends on "housing initiatives".  Last meeting, five councilors went against the public's will and voted for a very flawed Rental Inspection Ordinance.  They heard and largely ignored the pertinent questions of landlords, tenants and others. 

They heard and completely ignored the small business owners who came before this body and spoke of the negative ramifications to their business, to their clients, and to the market of what they provided for the community. 

They heard and completely ignored the pleas of the tenants who had the courage to come in front of these five and tell of their very real concerns about losing their domiciles for a variety of reasons, but all due to the ordinance.  With fear in their eyes, they related how they, their families, and their friends may be priced out of their housing, and the reality of finding no local alternative because of the shortage of low rent housing already existing.

If this is a great thing for tenants, why can't I locate a one that advocates for it, and why was it so easy to get a petition of over 100 tenants to rise against it?  Likewise you won't see any homeowner come forth and say this is a great thing, simply because they are too fearful of their own home being invaded by agents of the city in some vague ordinance in the future.  True, some city officials may come forth and agree with their appointers and approvers without telling us of their official status, just as we have seen with Joe Moloney, Ray Madsen and Lyla McClellan, because they believe any such law would not apply to them. 

And why should they?  I mentioned a vacant lot at 1001 South Washington last meeting that had its yearly taxes go from being consistently around $40 to going above $1000 in three short years after Edgar Struble's Nolan Family Investments LLC took ownership of it.  It was zoned the same, no improvements were done to it or on the neighboring lots, but still its value increased by a factor of 25.  None of the officials here deemed it as a problem-- something to look at and address.  So I will address it further.

                                                       2003 to 2014 Property Taxes for John Shay's ritzy house

 

City manager John Shay moved to Ludington in 2003 and brought a house in the Forest Hills area about the same time the Washington property exchanged hands.  The taxes on the property were at $4010 in 2003.  They moved down dramatically shortly thereafter, moving below the $3000 mark and was at $3018 in 2014.  His taxes dropped 25%, during the same time the Washington property's taxes increased well over 2500%.  Could someone from the city or the assessor's office tell me how this works?  

         The Tykoski house's tax records, where a vacant house was purchased and improved upon in mid 2010 but lost value

 

This isn't the sole example.  At 201 N. Washington, the old Olmstead house was purchased by the Community Development Director and Councilor Tykoski back in 2010.  The tax bill in 2010 was $5694, but after the purchase and additions were made to the house by the Tykoski's, its taxes dipped dramatically, contrary to what normally happens.  The yearly property taxes have dived nearly 40% to $3474 last year. 

With such drops in their property value for no apparent reason whatsoever and the incredible increases for most everyone else outside of the city hall bubble, it seems clear that the 'housing initiatives' that the city wishes to apply for will make the city manager's and the community development director's properties, that have lost so much value, be poised at the head of the line for some of the grants we may be receiving from the state.   Our new displaced and homeless citizens will have that to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  Thank you."

So you can see, when Councilor Gary made his statement, he was given some facts about people getting favorable taxation while most everyone else's taxes have raised considerably.  A correlation between the two positions I mentioned and their tax benefits is easy to see, when you compare it to their neighbors and the city as a whole, and especially, the vacant lot at 1001 Washington which has no reason to appreciate 25-fold in three years.

But I wasn't through.  They did allow a public hearing on applying for certain specific grants, and yet the grants that they put out for public notice told the public nothing about what was being applied for and misled what the grants were for.  But before I explain further, why not let myself do the talking at the meeting (9:30 in):

XLFD:  "The purpose of this public hearing from the on-line and newspaper public notice is to "obtain public comment on the application for a MSHDA Homeowner and Rehabilitation Program Grant to address housing initiatives in the city of Ludington". Unfortunately, the city and the local media has not provided any information as to what the Homeowner and Rehabilitation Program is, nor about how it will be used and beneficial for the citizens of Ludington. 

Funny thing is, is that you can look at MSHDA's website, google "Homeowner and rehabilitation program", and talk with MSHDA's representative and you will find nothing about Homeowner and Rehabilitation Grants.  They don't exist.

In the councilor packets, it shows the resolution for the application of grants, but it is not for "homeowner and rehabilitation program grants" but instead for "Homebuyer Purchase & Rehabilitation Grants". 

Since this meeting has been noticed for non-existent "Homeowner and Rehabilitation Program" Grants, and not for the "Homebuyer Purchase & Rehabilitation" Grants, it will be improper and unlawful passing a resolution for Homebuyer Purchase & Rehabilitation Grants, as that will not have been given proper public notice.

I encourage this council to table the vote on this resolution until the meeting can be properly noticed in accordance to law and protocol.  Perhaps our city leaders can tell the public in the meantime what this 'housing initiative' is all about, whether one of the councilors may have some conflict of interest in it, the name and title of the third party administrator, the eligible neighborhoods involved, and why they are covertly trying to get the resolution passed under an assumed name."

Our Community Development Director did make an appearance at 11:50 into the meeting, she immediately led off with saying she discussed this in depth at the previous meeting.  Granted she had discussed several things in depth at the last meeting, but not the "Homebuyer Purchase & Rehabilitation" Grants which was not what she said this public hearing was going to be about. 

Here she explained that they had no third party administrator yet, but were looking, and I believe she stated there were four properties involved.  Planning Commissioner Madsen's new Robert Street property is likely one of those, if I know these people and their unethical ways.

What is the worth of a public hearing about something when the public is given false information as to what it's about, and no information at all unless you were at the last meeting?  As per usual, the council ignored my advice, and I am currently in talks with MSHDA.  Please give them a call at Telephone: [phone]
Toll Free: 1-855-MI-MSHDA
               (1-855-646-7432)

 

And let them know that you were disenfranchised from responding to the public hearing because the public notice was in error as to what program was being applied for. 

An amusing sideshow went on during Mrs. Tykoski's comment, with her young child wandering about the city council chambers.  It seemed rather unprofessional and counter to proper parental procedures to let the toddler be unattended during her comments.  It's too bad she doesn't treat the rest of us with such indifference, and treats us as children who don't know any better than her what's best for us.

[Willy]

You are so correct about the fact that the Council does not allow questions to be discussed and answered. They figure most folks will forget  what happened at a meeting that took place 2 weeks in the past. Its amazing how unresponsive these people are. Ludington, ground zero for bad Government.

[AQUAMAN]

Quite right again Willy. I would like to make one modification though, it's gone from bad governing, to bad dictating now. This most recent ordinance proves just that. The public came in droves and with petitions for not passing it. The elite condescending dictators said yes and passed it irregardless of the people's wishes. Ludington is now becoming a strong dictatorship, not a democracy or republic as the constitution provides for. How many more fiasco's of this nature will the public endure, before it wakes up, and throws out the crooks? We have witnessed this very same thing getting worse and worse over the last decade. It's going to get a lot worse into the future if everyone leaves the city council on cruise control. a LOT WORSE imho! 

[XLFD]

The Ludington system of public comment does not lead itself to any form of communication between the citizens and their officials.  A good mayor of a transparent city government would encourage the citizenry to answer questions and provide answers to the best of his (and his fellow officials) ability. 

You can ask as many questions you want on public policy in your initial five minutes, but you won't get any answers then, and you likely won't get any answered in the meeting, and if you do, you are totally locked out of following up on their answers.  Citizens asked a lot of unanswered questions throughout the RIO debacle; it frustrates them to the point that many gave up, which is exactly the city's current game plan.

[XLFD]

I'm making some headway into getting the public hearing re-noticed and re-voted upon by noting some of my concerns with MSHDA.  Heather Tykoski makes a comment about four prospective homebuyers and homes being considered for these HP&R grants, and yet, the application to the state for the grants hasn't been submitted yet, nor has any notice provided to the general public been given about HP&R grants (only a different notice targeting current homeowners-- "Homeowner and Rehabilitation Program Grant").  How did these prospective homebuyers know about this program before public revelation and get picked prior to application?  

It's a question they find interesting too.

[Willy]

Thanks for the information. Love Reagan's quotes.

[XLFD]

The quote is very applicable now that the city has decided to create a rental inspection program and claim that it's for grant eligibility when they have not yet introduced any grant programs that make cities with 8000 people need to have a RIP.  This was the proverbial sugar cube in front of the horse (or back end thereof) known as the Ludington City Council which tempted a majority to vote for it.

[Barry R. Schrader]

Well we now have 4 empty rental units and one and one half months before the ordnance goes into effect. With almost no one willing to wast their time at the city commission meetings talking to the wall, attendance was very low on November 9^th.

Rather than talk to the wall I am suggesting we actually state what we want and do not want.

We do not want change. That is why we live here.

We do not want your big city ways.

We do not want to be bothered by others “do gooder” plans.

We do not want kayak launch ramp asked for by three tourists. We wanted a dog play ground asked for by real city residence. (Oh, maybe that is why it was refused.)

We do not want 5 story all wood condominium just because a city commissioner owned a lumber store.

We do not want to be way overcharged for water tower painting when our students can do it for free. . . . . and at night.

We do not want Ludington to be a gated community as one of the city commissioners suggested. Gated community? That means the city commissioners, the tourists and those (who come from somewhere else and have been paid a reasonable wage) who can afford to buy and keep up nice homes are allowed in and the rest of the present Ludington City Residence (workers and the retired) locked out?

And most of all

We do not want to be removed from our homes!!!

Please ask the city commissioners to leave us alone and “move” to that big city they seem to want so badly.

[XLFD]

I've asked them for years to competently perform their core tasks, but John Shay, Heather Tykoski and the rest of the team know better.  We need to spend millions on developing the west end of Ludington Ave., but we spend very little on maintenance of our water system, except an outrageous $1.5 million to paint two water towers and a water tank in Amber Township that didn't need repainting.  This while we let our MDEQ discharge permit expire in 2011, and have miles of 100+ year old pipes, some made of wood, serve as our conduits. 

When they aren't raising our taxes and fees, snatching away our rights and property, they are asking for grants from the state for their rich friend's who use fraudulent tactics to qualify for them.  City hall has some reform coming up, but people have to recognize the problem.