Government Heather

[XLFD]

At last night's Ludington City Council meeting I brought up the latest ethical lapse of the Ludington Community Development Director Heather Tykoski in my initial commentary:

"At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I once again must point out an unethical practice of a certain city official. In the latest invoice distribution report, a payment of $260 from the DDA funds is to be authorized for the purchase of arrows signs and mile markers for a Love Ludington race made out to Safety Decals dot com. The owner of safety decals dot com is the husband of the community development director, she submits the minutes from the monthly DDA Board meetings and has very good attendance. She is an ex-officio member of the DDA and serves as their contact person.

Yet in this instance, and roughly a dozen other instances of this type where her husband's company has sold goods and/or services of more than a de minimis amount to the DDA or the City government, she has yet to make a statement of her potential conflict of interest in participating in the decision to use Safety Decals dot com within the minutes she submits each meeting, nor has she submitted a written statement to the DDA and to the city clerk disclosing the potential conflict of interest and explaining why, despite the potential conflict, she was able to participate in making the decision fairly, objectively, and in the public interest.

Not doing so is a violation of state and local laws regulating the conduct of public officials, and makes the transactions appear as if she is furthering her private concerns over the concerns of the general public. How difficult is it to write a statement explaining the apparent conflict of interest and offer proof that the purchase from her husband's business made financial sense? It may be just me, but I think $260 for arrow signs and mile markers seems a bit high, as was over $100 for parking stickers back in August, so I for one would like to see proof that it was a good deal for us, and not just for this unethical couple that have served themselves quite admirably in their private business under their guise of being public officials."

This follows a recent revelation in my second comment at the August 28, 2017 meeting where the city made a similar purchase from Heather's husband's company of parking stickers.  As noted, either this company or former Councilor Nick Tykoski's other companies Tye Signs and Tye's Inc., has benefitted greatly from the City's Downtown Development Authority (DDA), spectacularly highlighted by a vote by them in 2010 to give Tykoski's company the $150,000 wayfaring signs contract, after a sham bidding practice conducted many months after the City had already paid the company over $15,000 without any bids (or notifications at DDA meetings, despite Nick and Heather's long term relationship at the time).  The money from that was taken back to the house they brought together.   

Multiple times between then and now have seen Nick's/Heather's companies benefit from the DDA or the City's other funds, without ever a statement by either of why it was in the public's interest.  Meanwhile, Heather (and others) have unethically and/or illegally allowed many other city officials to benefit their private interests, sometimes by receiving state grants fraudulently, like with the DDA Treasurer Kathy MacLean has twice.   Earlier this year she facilitated the Spence Riggs scandal where her friend was given the path to make his land investment quite profitable.

Heather Tykoski looks out after herself and her friends at the expense of everybody else, including the corporate entity of the City of Ludington.  Unfortunately, the ones at the head of that corporate body currently are included in her friends list, or otherwise think she is doing a great job because of the occasional grant money she brings in to do fanciful projects often of little use to the community.  

I couldn't help but think of her service to the community when I heard a song by Lady Gaga that fairly well describes her.  I did, as usual in my musical adaptations, take a little artistic license in making it into true political satire.  The first change was a minor tweak to the politically incorrect title, the rest followed.  Play the music as you follow along with the modified lyrics.  Note Gaga's Italian "Io ritorne" ('my return') has been changed to "Mio ritorte" which loosely translates to "my twistedness":

Haha, ha oh-ah
Haha, ha oh-oh-oh
Mio ritorte, Mio ritorte
Mio ritorte, Mio ritorte
Goverment Heather-eh

I can tell lies
If you just wanna be true
I can spend tax
If you just wanna be blue
I can get anything
I'll get you everything
Just call me baby
I don't wanna leave clues

As long as I'm your heather
(Queen of our great downtown)
As long as I'm your heather
(Hands on the grant)
As long as I'm your heather
(Safety Decals abound)
As long as I'm your heather
(Downtown!)

Yeah your my heather!
(Government heather)
Yeah your my heather!
(Government heather)

I'm gonna grease my palms today
I'm gonna grease my palms and prey
'Cause I know all love me baby
I know all love me baby

I could get contracts
Unless you're not my husband
I could get grants
Unless you're X's cousin
I could get anything
I could get everything
I could get fees
Unless you're already dead
(Ay, mi papito!)

As long as I'm your heather
(Queen of our little town)
As long as I'm your heather
(See here's my crown)
As long as I'm your heather
(Nick's my circus clown)
As long as I'm your heather
(Downtown!)

Yeah your my heather!
(Government Heather)
Yeah your my heather!
(Government Heather)

Send your grants to me,
Please MEDC,
I'll make you squeal baby
As long as you pay me

I'm gonna grease my palms today
I'm gonna grease my palms and prey
'Cause I know all love me baby
I know all love me baby

Yeah your my heather!
(Government Heather)
Yeah your my heather!
(Government Heather)

I could get contracts
Unless you're not my husband
I could get grants
Unless you're X's cousin
I could get anything
I could get everything
I could tax you
Unless you're already dead

I want some funds, government heather
(Queen of our great downtown)
Stop truthing me, government heather
(See here's my crown)
I want more funds, government heather
(Nick's sign sales are down)
Stop choosing not to fund me, government heather
(Get outta town!)
Yes!

[Willy]

Fantastic X. Your are very creative. 

If this is the kind of music young people are listening to then God help us. I watched the video on youtube that goes with this song. Talk about twisted. I hope parents are aware of what their kids are being exposed to. Below is a screen shot of the end of the video. Sick.

[XLFD]

The regular video and live concert performances of the song are a bit raunchy, that's why I supplied a neutral 'lyric' video to go with the music.  I do think it's always edifying to keep up with current music trends, and Lady Gaga, despite her weirdness, has some talent in creating entertaining product.  This song was back from her "Born this way" CD, which we have at the household, and hearing this recently had some subconscious part of my brain wonder "What the heck is a government hooker?"  

My idea was that it was somebody who would use the 'public body' they are part of in undignified and compromising ways just to make extra money for their own selves.  John Shay fit the role, but 'Heather' and her constant use of her office for personal gain without shame was just as good if not better-- plus it was closer to the actual title, not to mention she looks more like Gaga than John does (when he's not made up).  

Make no mistake, this is not an implication of her private life; to my knowledge she is a caring person, wife and mother who probably justifies her public actions as ethical because her 'John' runs interference for her.

[John Doe Jr]

She is a walking conflict of interest. 

[Willy]

In one way your right, she is like Lady Gaga in that she thinks what she is doing is perfectly OK and there many people who think so to. Lady Gaga makes money off her shady talent but Heather makes shady money off the citizens who trust her. Even though Lady Gaga is on the twisted side she probably is more honest and trust worthy than Ludington's own Lady Tykoski.

[Angela]

In all fairness, it was not her that requested the signs, but a poll of people from pasts Ludington Races that wanted more signage on the courses. It was a last minute decision by the people who volunteer with the races. The Love Ludington Race Series is a set of 5k races, chases and fun runs that raises money for the Love Ludington Fund. The Love Ludington fund is set up to support the Love Ludington mini-grant initiative and to support special events and projects organized by the Downtown Ludington Board. I believe all the money raised from the races goes into the DDA fund because that's the point of the race series. So Heather, nor is anyone else connected with the race series or the DDA taking money from the DDA or City funds, all the money used for anything to do with the races has been raised by entry fees into the races. People donate the money. So until you volunteer for it and learn what goes on behind the scenes, please don't assume anything. Heather is a runner just like the rest of us that particpate. She is not in charge of the race series, she volunteers her free time just like the rest of us.  

[XLFD]

With all due respect, I think you're missing the underlying point, Angela; this wasn't an unethical act because volunteers at the LLR series decided at the last minute that the signs were necessary.  It's unethical because the minimum legal standards for her husband making a profit from the business transaction with the COL/DDA were not met.  

Whenever a government department (like the DDA) decides on purchasing something over $100 from a business that is owned by somebody who is an official of that department or somebody related closely enough to that person, the person has an obligation to make a written statement explaining the conflict of interest, and why it doesn't apply here.  

Had this been a truly emergency purchase made in October or November, which I have a hard time swallowing due to there being only one DDA sponsored race in this interval, our Government Heather could have wrote her statement, attached it to the Safety Decals invoice her husband provided, and mentioned the emergency aspect in the next meeting of the DDA, where she would reflect the nature of it in the minutes she personally submits.  That's what's required by the city code, and is reflected in the state's 'standards of conduct for public officials'

Had this been the first time Heather and/or Nick had did something like this, a gentle reminder of those rules may have been in order.  Since there has been a dozen or more of these law violations, with plenty of warnings from me in the interim of pointing out the law, without refutation mind you, it's sinister on the City's and Heather's part that they don't take action to stop it.

[Angela]

I don't think you get what I'm saying. Number one, the DDA doesn't sponsor the race, number 2: the money used to buy the signs was money DONATED/Raised from entry fees from prior races. So like I said, none of the money used was tax payer money. The volunteers raised the money from prior race entries. It was not Heathers decision AT ALL to get theses signs, it was us volunteers and yes it was a last minute decision, but regardless. Because all the money used was donated money we could go where ever we wanted to get the signs from, but went local because of turn around time & lower cost. Thankfully we had more then expected numbers of runners this year which made the sign purchase possible. The signs also help direct runners on the course so the volunteers can do other things related to the race. So unless you want to volunteer to direct runners on the course for our next year's 4 races, please stop trying to find wrong in everything that Heather or the city does. You are wrong on this one.

[XLFD]

Angela, all of the money was public money, it all came from the DDA operating fund, as noted in the meeting's invoice distribution report at the top of this article, where I reproduce it here.  The check to Safety Decals was made from the Ludington DDA funds, which gets well over $100,000 each year from its own millage and from 12% Tax Increment Financing (TIF) (a dirty little secret, over $50,000 of the TIF is taken from the county government, WSCC, and other county taxation authorities).  

The money that paid for these signs were authorized by the DDA, likely with direct effort made by Heather and Kathy Mac, the Treasurer of the DDA.  Does the DDA act as a middleman for redistributing donations and sponsor money?  Absolutely, but the vast majority of DDA funds are directly from the city's and county's taxpayers.  

[AQUAMAN]

And to Heather, it's just another financial transaction, no regard to ethics nor decency, just get more funding into her husbands companies. She needs to go to jail imho, and get fired from the DDA.

[Angela]

The $260 DID NOT come from FEW operating funds...how many times or ways do I need to explain it to you? Each face that we put on, 4 in total, people pat money to run theses races. Anything that is bought for the races, signs/medals/ bibs etc....comes from money raised from PRIOR races, any money left over goes towards the Love Ludington fund which can be used for whatever they see fit for downtown special events etc.....I'm sure they have something set up somewhere that states how much money in the DDA fun came from/was raised by race series. Just because you can't see the fine print doesn't mean it's not there. Stop trying to make THIS event into something it's not. 4 volunteers for the race series, which did not include Heather, agreed to use money raised from PRIOR races so we could have these signs for future races. Each race has at least 60 register runners, at $25 per runner, $35 if we do a 10k. We raise the money, we volunteer our time. People want to run races and will pay for them. As race committee volunteers we can do whatever we want with them money as long as it's for the race series or goes towards the Love Ludington mini grant initiative / or events organized by the downtown event board. Shit ain't free ya know.

[XLFD]

I think we still have a bit of gap in our understanding of the situation, Angela.  I don't have the invoice from this most recent transaction but this former invoice from Safety Decals paid by the DDA operating fund will perhaps go to prove my point.  Payment by the Ludington DDA, also known as the Downtown Ludington Board, comes from the same source city hall pays all of its bills from, the pooled revenues and credit of the City of Ludington.  

On the invoice, you will see Government Heather has signed her initials, this is what happens when payments get authorized by an official, but here the $13,000 invoice is made out by her husband's company, she is the lone authorizer, and it gets sent to the address they share.  No, she will save costs and just bring the City check she just authorized back to her hubby; how thoughtful of her.

The same thing would happen here.  The DDA has an established line of credit, when you give residual money to the DDA/DLB/LL it goes into their revenue column.  And even though it may be the LL coordinators who want the signs and markers, Government Heather signs her initials on her husband's invoice, and she does so in violation of ethics laws if she does not publicly state in writing that she had a potential conflict of interest, and the reason why it wasn't an issue in that particular case.  

This would be the case even if every single volunteer of LL wanted the signs done by Safety Decals; the fact that the money is in a public body's coffers requires that the authorizer that happens to stand to benefit from the transaction must acknowledge that and explain why their private benefit is in the public interest. 

[Angela]

Shoukd say DDA operating funds not FEW