Ludington City Council Meeting October 10, 2016: The Hilarity of Dirty Politics

[XLFD]

The agenda for the October 10, 2016 Ludington City Council meeting showed an extremely light and non-controversial load of things to be discussed and done.  The main thing on the agenda was to approve the purchase and cost sharing agreements between the City and the Pennies From Heaven Foundation (PFH) regarding the tract of land on Tinkham to be used as a fire station and centralized food bank. 

Only time and objective analysis over that time will tell whether either represents a move in the positive direction for Ludington.  Centralizing the food and resource distribution for poor folks is a bad move in my viewpoint, because the folks who need the services will now have to travel longer distances that they might not otherwise be able to do.  The food bank may save money and be able to offer more by having just one place, but it will come at a severe disadvantage to some of the clients.

Likewise, decentralizing the Ludington Fire Station from downtown to the northeast corner of the City will also inconvenience the clients they serve.  Response times for the most risky parts of Ludington will climb significantly, while the fire trucks and the responder's vehicles will careen dangerously through school zones and already very dangerous intersections near the new location.

These moves have all been part of a rather discrete development plan that tied this parcel in with the proposed downtown low-rent housing units.  From a logical city planning standpoint, it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do these projects, but they're going through anyway.

The Comments

The only other thing besides the proclamation of Fire Prevention Week was the approval of Pure Ludington Brrrewfest to happen on January 28 at Rotary Park.  At the 18:30 mark of this meeting, after the City Council passed the event without issue other than the location, Tom Tyron had a spirited talk about the amount of drinking festivals that have came to Ludington in recent years:

"Just a footnote. We have a substantial substance abuse problem in this town, with drugs and alcohol. Lot of that going on, and I get a little tired of anytime I come in here, you're approving some kind of Brewfest-- almost like: "Come to Ludington, get drunk". And I think you want to start thinking about that. I don't want to become a city of alcoholics... well. we have enough of them already, so just think when you approve this, what I have been saying all the time.

This Brewfest, this Oktoberfest, and Tentfest and Trumpfest. I'm not a man against someone having a drink, I just think you ought to temper this stuff. It's getting like it's almost every other month, or month, it's some kind of festival. It's something you ought to think about. It's like you're condoning this."

Although no official commented on this, it is a point well taken.  Back at the turn of the century, if you wanted to drink in Ludington you needed to go to the local tavern or liquor store.  But since that time, festivals, breweries, wineries, and hops farms have cropped up all over the area.  Such growth comes at a cost to not only the adults, but their kids, as drinking becomes synonymous with having fun at community events. 

Tom Tyron's fears were not addressed, however, the other citizen who commented this night would have his concerns addressed, in a less than appropriate way.  I have been vocal about the city's inability to report a large raw sewage leak back in 2012 over the last two meetings [review here for 9-12-16 and here for 9-26-16], and I was able to revisit that issue by referring to the previous meeting's minutes.  The conversation begins at the 2:25 mark, and the continuation of that comment occurs at 19:50, just after Tyron sits down.  They are transcribed below the video:

October 10th 2016 Ludington City Council meeting from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

"I am glad I can speak to you before you approve the minutes of the last meeting.  The last page of the proposed minutes indicate that "Shay presented information which addressed and refuted comments made by Tom Rotta at the September 12, 2016 city council meeting regarding the sewer force main break during the Thanksgiving weekend in 2012."

Refute is synonymous with disprove, and so I would encourage this council to not accept that language in the proposed minutes, because absolutely nothing was disproved or refuted of what I had said.  Further FOIA requests to state agencies and other additional research has determined that without question:

1) the City never properly notified the Pollution Emergency Alerting System or the MDEQ Branch Office of this leak or with the report of discharge form; it is not in their records, except possibly the E-mails of a DEQ official who never passed that information along.

2) no health department records exist showing they knew anything about this leak, no health department official has been named who waived E.Coli testing as John Shay claims. 

3) Even the 'phantom' notification to the health department said to have happened over 24 hours after the leak was discovered is left unexplained as to its untimeliness in the discharge form.

4) The local media was never sent the discharge report form 

5) the City has taken zero corrective measures to come clean on this major raw sewage leak. 

6) the City seems to have deliberately under-reported the leakage by a factor of three.  Neither Allard or Shay offer any justification of their low, yet still significant, figure. 

7) John Shay's description of corrective actions (bypass pumping) has changed since 2012.  This is likely due to him discovering the illegality of the action without permission from state and/or federal agencies.

This last one is the most relevant, as John Shay said in front of all but two of the officials in front of me now that raw sewage was bypass pumped into the PM Lake on November 26, 2012, the same 24 hour period when this process was actively performed by them and their contractors.  That was caught by the reliable eye of Ludington TV and also put into the minutes of that meeting, that's unrefutable.  At the next meeting, those minutes as written, were approved by the full council.

Nobody from the State or Federal Government authorized the pumping and dumping of vast quantities of raw sewage into the recreational waters of this state.  John Shay authorized it, and admitted he did in front of us.  He is liable for the criminal penalties the state allows for such discharges [I was notified my three minutes were up]"

"This is a continuation of my original comment.  He is liable for the civil penalties to the state and other private persons who were adversely affected by his unauthorized decision.  These may cost him millions of dollars, and may cost the city the same since this council unwisely did not verify that he had the authorization to take the steps he did. 

When this City and PM Township were besieged for two months by sewer odors emanating from the wastewater treatment plant gagging folks over two miles away from the plant, our city leadership assured us this was solely due to the system being overloaded with biological oxygen demand waste.  Can we presume that this was the extent of the problem given that they failed to properly report a two million gallon leak of raw sewage in 2012 and practiced an illegal bypass pumping operation which they have the audacity to deny now?

The record of city council meetings clearly shows that the cure for this malodorous malady was never brought forth to this council.  The costly purchase of the system required the approval of the council by the Open Meetings Act, but it was never forthcoming.  The record clearly shows it was not an 'emergency' purchase when it was made.

What we have is dirty water because of the city's illegal ativities, dirty air because the city has neglected routine maintenance of the wastewater treatment pant, and dirty government because city hall hid the facts from the citizens by violating the Open Meetings Act.  Thank you."

The Response

The previous meeting's response by John Shay was poorly crafted and proved the seven points I brought forth in my comments.  The mayor had called for adjournment as the meeting reached 25 minutes, but my opponent in the Third Ward Councilor race had to interject his wisdom.

Councilor Les Johnson:  (25:05 in):  "I'd just like to ask Mr. Shay if he has ever been arrested for any of those things that you supposedly did wrong on... on the Creamery ... sewer thing?" (Shay laughs and nods no)

"You've never been arrested so you probably didn't do anything wrong right? OK, I just wanted to make sure."

Ludington citizens' health was compromised, so let's have a good laugh about it, because we were the cause of it and are liable for it, at least that's what Councilor Johnson thinks. 

According to Les' logic, a serial murderer like the Zodiac Killer who has never been caught probably didn't do anything wrong.  So instead of addressing the veracity or relevance of any of the seven points where the city manager or his subordinate, (Pentwater Village Manager) Rob Allard are accused of failing to do state-mandated actions, he instead puts forth a naïve view saying that if you get arrested your guilty of something, if not, then you're innocent. 

He then compounds his inept reasoning with a failing memory of the Creamery Corners drain, which is just a few blocks from his house.  After the clerk reminded the public that they had limited time to register if they hadn't already, the diminutive and fearful Fourth Ward councilor weighed in:

Councilor Mike Krauch:  "Your honor, I think with Debbie's comments and Councilor Johnson's comments, I think, you know, we are a bit in the silly season with the election, there's lots of salacious allegations that get thrown around and we all got to see that in the presidential debates and occasionally we all get to see it right here in this room and so, you know, I hope our candidates for local office take the debate to a reasonable place and present the city and Ludington well between now and November 8th."

Being that salacious is synonymous with sexually arousing, it appears that Little Mikey gets turned on by raw sewage spills, that he and his partners do not bother cleaning up.  Instead of addressing any of the seven deficiencies of the City's actions in any meaningful way, Little Mikey decides to once again turn his back on his fellow residents of the Fourth Ward while doubling down on the stupid chips already played by Councilor Johnson. 

Unlike the Chicago transplant who has served the Fourth Ward for three years without a single vote cast by any resident of that ward, I believe a reasonable place is to address rather than avoid the issues that affect our health in all aspects.

[John Doe Jr]

These councilors are more deplorable than the Chief's prayers'

[AQUAMAN]

I'll second that motion too Streeter, it's a joke that we continue to see orchestrated and forced on the public in every sense of the common legal citizen and taxpayer in this small and regressive town of ours nowadays. It's a total SHAME and DISGRACE to have to witness, sad, and disgusting continuance of illegal and unethical proceedings by the CM and others that have implanted us and say they alone, have "true credibility", like Steve Miller for one at WMOM. Wake up people, XLFD has proven his statements and critiques of this body over and over again!

[XLFD]

Nobody has a monopoly on credibility, and there is no question that the records show a pattern of official non-compliance over the spill, and what is becoming a cover-up of that spill and the unauthorized bypass pumping associated with it.  The indifference and condescension of the officials who try to make light of it should be a great incentive for those who prosecute this in the near future and speaks for itself about the disregard the current administration has towards the health and welfare of the people who pay their inflated salary and benefits.

[Willy]

City Council and Shay seem to have a monopoly on stupid. After being presented by X with critical information about misconduct by the City Manager all they can come up with are moronic utterances that equal what can only be described as monkey speak.

P.S

Jackie the attorney from Seinfeld was one of my favorite characters.

[AQUAMAN]

Gotta wonder how and why Johnson and Krauch come up with these incredible incompetent answers to excuse law breaking by Shay! How do you ever get arrested for something no one has reports on to know that you didn't report it? Did Shay in fact NOT KNOW by law, and his training and experience, that he was by law supposed to make those timely reports to various agencies? At least the Health Dept. locally? It's obvious to me, and should be to any common sense onlooker, that the city council isn't interested in even looking at these allegations further at all. The least they could do is refer this entire matter of illegal dumping from 2008 & 2012 to the city legal council, BEFORE they sweep it under the rug again. Instead of that, and Krauch himself being a legal eagle, just ignore and keep making shallow excuses for his conduct, or lack thereof. In doing so, ALL the city council members now involve themselves in an illegal coverup, whether that's their intent, or not. And of course, this dumping of raw sewage, isn't the first and only coverup by Shay, and his accomplices in the city council, very disturbing, and sad for our town. Lastly, I applaud Tom Tyrone for also speaking out against so many local drunk festivals our council keeps to approve of. Maybe the LPD needs new customers because they are running out of locals to arrest? Thanks Chief.

[Willy]

Good points Aquaman. I was thinking the same thing, that the Council is now complicit in a cover up. I hope people are paying attention to that dim bulb Johnson. His electricity seems to have been turned off a long time ago. Of course Krauch is known for not caring about his Ward by his actions and in-actions while a Council member. Shay's been lucky, he's surrounded himself with incompetent Council members who are easily swayed.

[AQUAMAN]

You know, Les Johnson spent quite a few years in Citrus City, Fl.. What did he do there all those years after leaving Ludington? Can't find info.. He stated when he ran for election when Brent Scott quit, that he wanted to contribute to Lud's. growth in businesses here. He has belonged to the Downtown Development board, and I see no improvements from his contribution. He also stated, in 2011, that he wanted the public input, and anyone contacting him would be listened to in earnest, and he would look at the pros and cons. Then he would make an informed decision. He has also stated he supported Lifeguards back at the beach. He also supports HOF silos downtown, to keep the plant in town, not at an industrial park. He also supports more development of S. James St., where AJ's Party Store is located, he also owned that. Methinks Johnson started out with the right ideas, mostly, but forgot something. He's originally a local, not an outsider, or is he after living in Fl. for so many years beforehand? He has also said that Shay is nearly a perfectionist in his job duties of recent. I don't see that at all. Les doesn't act nor talk like he did when he first ran for office, and to me anyhow, hasn't kept any of his former candidate promises after several years on city council. Esp. after the most recent mtgs. where X and several others have been verbally attacked by him for nothing more than cheap jollies. Is this how you want to be remembered Les?

[AQUAMAN]

Correction, Citrus Springs, Fl., population not given, but must be nearly Custer or less. Nothing near there either, Orlando, Tampa, Ocala, all far far away. Was Les hired and working in city government, or cop? Something doesn't add up. As for Shay being a perfectionist: fine, I think many of us aspire to be the best we can be; but that doesn't fit Shay at all. He thinks "he's perfect without fault". Big Difference imho. Anyone EVER see him admit to ANY FAULTS? EVER? NOPE! Okay now Heather, you can report me again for threatening comments. Being faithful nowadays?

[Willy]

Les Johnson should have stayed in Florida. He can't understand what X is trying to do and he belittles X every chance he gets in front of an audience. He's a first class Ahole. As far as Shay being a perfectionist, I always considered a perfectionist as someone trying to do things the right way without mistakes. That certainly doesn't describe Shay at all. He may be a perfectionist at covering up misdeeds and corruption but not much else.