Ludington City Council February 8, 2016: The Good Ole Boys in the Bubble

Presidential candidate Chris Christie famously referred to fellow candidate Marco Rubio as the 'boy in the bubble' over the last week for running a tightly scripted campaign, and on display at the last debate when Rubio seemed to be repeating the same lines over and over again in his performance.

"We know who the good ole boys in the bubble are up here.  They never answer your questions, they're constantly scripted and controlled, because they can't answer your questions."

The city officials who gather at Ludington city council meetings appear to be following Mr. Rubio, using their agenda and their memoranda from other city officials as their script, and avoiding anything that might take them off that platform during the course of the meeting.  At this meeting, I would once again encourage them to get involved in efforts to clean up our city and make it safe, or at least to do something. 

As at the last two meetings, they heard about the contamination at the PM Bayou and its consequences, and, as at the last two meetings, they totally ignored the facts presented to them, deeming them inconsequential through their deafening silence.  This should be at the top of their list of things to do, but what is the big issue on their agenda: making a resolution to send to the governor complaining about not being able to use public resources to campaign for local proposals in the 60 days before an election. 

The good ole boys in the bubble passed this unanimously without counterargument amongst themselves, yet tacitly agreed that environment pollution in the core of Ludington is nothing of importance.

A little bit of drama ensued at the outset when the mayor and Mayor Pro-Tem for 2016, Kaye Holman, were both absent.  The first order of business was for Clerk Deb Luskin to call for a vote for a temporary chairperson.  Dick Rathsack won the honor.

The night otherwise featured one other public commenter other than myself, Kaley Peterson (4:20 into the video), Director of Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital Foundation.  She provided a synopsis of their tenth annual benefit ball, which they hope to hold on August 5-8 in a pavilion at the west end of Ludington Avenue. 

It was an agenda item later in the meeting, where it drew some fire from Councilor Castonia (37:45 in) for taking up parking spaces and blocking the west end that so many people always tell the council they cherish.  His points were well taken, and he voted against the use, but the other councilors present were more forgiving.  Petersen would once again get up and address the issues brought forth, noting that this was not to be a yearly occurrence, but they wanted something special for their tenth benefit ball. 

In typical fashion, the city manager ignored the concept of competitive bidding, using a process that encourages cronyism, as detailed on page 24 of the council packet:

If you are unfamiliar with the steps of competitive bidding for public bodies, you allow multiple contractors to look at a detailed project and have them submit their sealed bids.  When they are unsealed, you look for the lowest bid, and verify that they have followed the particulars of the project. 

The only way you would not take that bid is if there is a valid reason stated for the public record for not doing so, at which point you go to the next lowest bidder.  Otherwise, you are wasting taxpayer money and deserve to be fired for not following the law as regards competitive bidding in Ludington.  John Shay, by not following the protocol invites charges of cronyism, since a contractor can easily sweeten the pot to be considered in a process that becomes subjective, not objective.

They approved the 'construction' of new mountain bike trails in Cartier Park, which seems fine because there is already a network of such trails out there already.  They'll scrape a little more earth off the surface and put a lot of extra signs up to totally ruin the experience for folks like myself.  Dave McLean, husband and complicit partner of serial defrauder Kathy MacLean, explained a little of what they were to do.

Around this, they had two annual reports given by the fire chief and community development director.  CDD Heather Tykoski bragged about the usual grant processes she busily works at so we can bring a fraction of the state tax money taken each year back into the community.  She once again gave an update on their subjective look at citizen's property throughout town so that they can adopt ways to better our community by taking more money away from us.

LFD Chief Jerry Funk gave his report with a snide aside against someone who was wearing his LFD shirt to the meeting primarily to show his support for firefighter Chris Turnbull, who got knocked out of his kayak near the dam at the state park this weekend and almost died.  At 23:00 in, the chief said:  "This list is all firefighters on the department, not someone that wishes they were or wannabes, but they are on the fire department." 

I came to the realization long ago when I resigned from the LFD after eight years that I couldn't be critical of the city government's machinations and remain on the department.  The LFD had City Building Inspector John Healy, Mayor John Henderson, Former Councilor Fred Hackert, current Councilor Nick Tykoski and a few who work(ed) full-time in various city departments.  I pity the chief for having to deal with politics from within and without his department, and so I understand why he has to be loyal to both, and view me as disloyal for speaking out. 

And I spoke out fairly strongly this evening, punctuating my comment with a challenge at the end.  But no one challenged the facts I brought to the table, nobody even disputed the three times I made fun of the local paper, for they know if they do, the facts will trump their inadequate defense.  Yet, by remaining silent they show what reckless, ineffectual, and apathetic creatures they are.   Despite one being an officer of a local environmental group and another an officer of MSU Extension who both deal with such issues.

February 8, 2016, Ludington City Council meeting from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

(5:35 in) "Over the last couple of weeks our city leaders have downplayed the incidence of elevated blood-lead levels in our kids of Ludington and Mason County when it's unfavorably compared to the state average and even the levels of Flint, Michigan.  We have been assured in the newspaper by our city manager that our processed drinking water is lead free after it's treatment, and that is to be expected of treated water. 

But then we wonder why Mason County had five times the rate of children with elevated levels of lead than Flint's county in 2013.  Our kids... five times the rate... of Flint.  Let that linger in your system for a moment, unlike lead that sits in your kids system forever, hampering their proper development.

In a series of articles in the newspaper this last weekend, we are told unequivocally by the newspaper that "Here, the problem is lead-based paint in old homes.".  They reiterate this unsubstantiated whim on their Facebook site:  "The water in Ludington and all surrounding areas test clean, the issue is lead based paint."  

The state study that showed Mason County has five times the rate of kids with elevated blood lead levels than Flint's county, confirms that they have 5% more homes that were constructed before 1978 than Mason County, therefore their kids have a higher probability of contacting lead in their home environment than our kids do.  Three of the five Michigan counties without any kids testing positive for high lead levels had older homes than Mason County.  Ludington's rate was even higher than the county's rate.  Ludington's rate was over three times the state average, a statistical outlier on the wrong side.

Ludington kids are not more likely to eat or roll around in paint chips than kids from the rest of the state, so let's debunk the official line that lead based paint in our homes is the reason.  I brought up one of those reasons at the last two meetings, totally ignored by this council and the alleged newspaper, relying on data from a Michigan DEQ report looking at contamination at the Pere Marquette Bayou.  I informed you councilors and your unofficial propaganda ministers that there is massive lead and other metal contamination at the bottom of this body of water located in the heart of Ludington. 

But I am not the first person to do so.  Ray Karboske took the effort to stop the reconstruction of the Washington Avenue Bridge in 2013 based on his knowledge that the removal of the pilings from the murk and the pounding in of new pilings would seriously jeopardize the environment where he has his marina and the rest of Ludington.  He had known from previous testing that there were environmental poisons in the sediments left over from the nearby municipal dumping grounds and factories of long ago. 

The work went on, and the murk got disturbed many times over the summer of 2013 from the construction, sending lead, mercury, zinc, copper, PCBs, assorted carcinogenic polycyclic  aromatic hydrocarbons, and other pollutants across the waters connecting to the bayou, including Lake Michigan.  Our city leaders, the DEQ, and the MDOT knowing full well most of the hazards they were unsettling and exposing to the whole community with minimal efforts at containment. 

In 2015, the DEQ testing of the sediments at the bottom of the bayou confirmed high levels of all metals considered as pollutants, including places that tested for lead at over 400 times the minimal reporting levels.  In 2013, those sediments were unleashed throughout our city's ecosystem where our kids swam, where they fished, where they walked along the beaches with their bare feet.  2013, the year our children's blood lead levels were the highest-- by far-- in Michigan.  2013, two years after our wastewater treatment plant and the Occidental Chemical Company failed to qualify for discharge permits for their treated sewage and nothing overtly was done by the city to correct it.  Both of those dischargers unhealthy effluent flows across the PM Lake, then out to Lake Michigan.

Just like Flint, our city leaders, the Daily Spin Machine and even the DEQ know of our environmental challenges and have consistently dropped the ball, while trying to paint a rosy picture covering the abject neglect of the public's trust and the health of our children.  Undoubtedly, the paint they are using is not only lead-based but fantasy-based.  Do something or resign.  Thank you."

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XLDF: Well said at the meeting. Great article written here in the Torch. Again, Ludington residents are very fortunate to have a watchdog like you on their side, obviously the government, both city and state don't care until you have their nuts near a grinder!

The DEQ must be in total and lockdown try to save them mode. I just got a response from them saying all is well in the bayou, a total 180 degree turn from this report! Which is a HUGE reason I printed two copies at great expense to have a hard copy! This man, Robert Wagner  WAGNERR1@michigan.gov commented as follows:

Thank you for your e-mail of January 21, 2016, to the governor’s office and your interest in environmental conditions at the Creamery Drain Bayou on Pere Marquette Lake.  The governor’s office has requested that I respond to your e-mail. The Remediation and Redevelopment Division conducted the sediment sampling September 2015 in response to the City’s request for assistance in evaluating the possibility of dredging the bayou to improve recreational boating opportunities.  The work was conducted at the request of the city and not in response to the sewer main break that occurred in 2008 due to severe flooding.  The results of the sampling indicate that sediment in some areas of the bayou contain metals and petroleum compounds.  However, based on the Department of Environmental Quality’s past experience in evaluating sediments, the risk here is not significant and the results are comparable to what is often found in an urban area where surface runoff from rain or melting snow can transport contaminants to a lake or stream.  It is possible that some contaminants may have been transported to the bayou as the result of the road washout and sewer main break that occurred during the flood of 2008, but based on the distribution of the contaminants in the sediment, the flood is not the sole cause. 

 

After sediment contamination was confirmed in the bayou, division staff worked with city officials looking for possible sources of state funding to assist with dredging.  Unfortunately, we have been unable to secure any funding due to the limited resources available for navigational dredging in the state.  At this point we are unaware of any plans on the city’s part to dredge the bayou.  We recommend that you follow up with city officials if this is a concern.  If you have questions on the environmental data gathered, please contact Mr. John Vanderhoof from the Remediation and Redevelopment Division Cadillac Office at 231-876-4459 or via e-mail at vanderhoofj@michigan.gov.

My head is still spinning so if I make errors my apologies.

No money? What about the money Granholm and the federal government allotted for this in 2008 that these crooks spent elsewhere!

No Money? What about the 1.5 million spent painting the water tower?

No money? Where did the 1.2-1.8 million come from to  improve the two city owned marinas and insure we are boarded up and many other marinas to come!

How can this be happening in the United States? I could understand if we were a communist government but we are supposed to be free enterprise and SHOULD not have to compete against our government.

This situation is so very sad! We were just business people operating lawfully and then the storm of 2008 happened where that waste water plant took out everything in its path, raw sewage, roads, several of our docks and as a result our business that was a big reason that fishing became an industry in Ludington. Only to be shut down by the same city that all we cared to do was help build and support. Where is our support? Everything is all still there in the bayou and we cannot operate. Not even an "im sorry" although that would not matter.

Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding all of your bank accounts closed and taken by your government. Everything you worked for all gone. You did nothing but go to bed and wake up the next day. This is what is real and basically explains our situation. What can we do?

Strength has always been in numbers but more so in this situation its with the deep pockets of our city and state government. This is a terrible situation for us and here I am venting and contemplating our next move, if any...... 50 plus years and ready to be boarded up.

And they don't have a waste water permit and have not since 2011. Wow, welcome to the newest landfill in Ludington the PM bayou, where you can dump all you want and be backed by the state and DEQ! If only I could get this all dumped on the city owned marinas, wonder how long it would take to be cleaned up?

Maybe I should open a stand nearby to sell medical masks and nose plugs?

 

Thanks, Jfc123.  I expect some kind of response by the city and the COLDNews sometime this week to assure the populace that their unsupported COL 'facts' are better than the state-supplied facts and studies I've been using.  If you noticed, I took some subtle and not-so-subtle digs at our local Pravda in my speech in their efforts in supplying us with misinformation and homilies.

jfc123. I think that what they are trying to say is that this type of contamination has been going on for years and is so widely spread throughout the State that their policy has been to ignore it because it's to big to solve and to expensive to rectify. It would cost the taxpayers billions of dollars. This is where we have landed as far as  ecology is concerned. The Government is more interested in mythical global warming scams than they are with actual hazards that may be right out our front doors. I hope this isn't the last word on this from the State because if so the City Council, Shay and Mayor will all be gloating at how their incompetence has been validated by State officials.

As usual, a terrific article X.

Even tho Rubio repeated himself, I was happy to hear it because he was dead on. All of the other candidates should have said the same thing over and over. What Rubio said should be one of the banners displayed by the GOP but we all know that's not going to happen. Obama is indeed purposely trying to bring America to it's knees.

This type of bidding process or the lack of as performed by the City  has been a standing tradition in Ludington for a long time. One has to wonder why they continue to ignore the rules they are required to uphold.

It's to bad that Jerry Funk must publicly display his ignorance and prejudices on a regular basis. What shirt people wear is none of his business so Jerry please shut your yap about the shirt. Most of us are sick and tired of hearing about your obsession with XLFD wearing a shirt he deserves to wear. 

By not addressing the issue of PM bayou publicly they are thumbing their noses at the citizens of Ludington. If this situation gets out of hand and becomes another "Flint or Love Canal" they will almost assuredly be run out of town on a rail. There is something wrong with these people. For some reason they refuse to communicate with the public and make all of their decisions in the back room. If they are considering the Bayou situation then why aren't they saying so instead of acting like mutes. Ignoring the problem only tarnishes Ludington's reputation as a family friendly town. A friendly town with with moronic politicians.

As usual, another terrific response to my modest article.
The Republicans (and even the Democrats) learned nothing about the dangers of infighting from the last time around. The moderators of these Republican debates seem to want to encourage it. It probably makes for better TV ratings than an hour and a half of just decrying the horrors of Obama and the wealth of good Republican candidates.
When the city officials don't address a relevant topic like the PM Bayou, they make a bigger statement than they would if they actually addressed it. Silence is often more meaningful than words.
It's even more thunderous when city official and loyalist, Chief Funk, would rather point out his issues with me rather than the PM Bayou issue, since he is undoubtedly aware of the contamination by now and chooses to 'ignore' rather than 'share'.

Thank you for thanking me for thanking you.

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