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Scottville City Hall, MCC School Board, Face Key Personnel Issues
On the evening of March 18th, 2024, a rare doubleheader was held in Scottville, with the city commission holding a special meeting at 6 PM and the Mason County Central School Board holding its regular March meeting at 7 PM.
The meetings themselves were much different in overall character, with the commission meeting's only item of business to go into closed session to discuss their city attorney's written opinion on some undisclosed topic. As typical of this commission, they came out of the session to make one cryptic vote to accept the city attorney's recommendation as discussed in the closed session.
The public was not intrigued, with only me and a reporter from the COLDNews present. This marks the fourth straight time I have went to the commissioner's meeting and not seen one regular citizen in attendance. Nevertheless, there was some background chatter in the community about what necessitated this special gathering that was more reasonable than most rumors.
It seems that the city manager's contract renewal is quickly approaching, and it has become a hot topic for the commission, with other key staff members threatening to move on if Jimmy Newkirk is allowed to keep his job at the top. The absence of all city staff, including the regular attendees Newkirk and City Clerk Kelse Lester, added credence to such rumors. All commissioners were present and Nathan Wolfe, not the regular city attorney but from the city's retained law firm, were present, the latter serving as the clerk in the closed session. But before they were able to get behind the security of a closed door, this reporter gave some advice in his public comment:
XLFD: "Commissioners, I'm on the understanding that tonight's special meeting has been convened in order to ultimately consider one of two paths for the City of Scottville's future. One of those paths involve the extension of City manager Newkirk's employment contract, which may seem reasonable if you can ignore the voices of all those members of city staff and the public who have had negative experiences with the chief executive of the city and his temperament. That path could lead to disastrous results, with the resignations of key staff members and the continued distrust and dissociation of the general public from city government.
The other path is not much easier to take as the city commission would have to replace a city manager once again, among the continued public perception that the commission may have acted rashly and capriciously in the firing of City Manager Courtney Magaluk during her maternity leave in early 2021. The commission would be effectively rolling the dice again if they decide to change city leadership, but the odds would be in their favor this time, as not rolling the dice could create multiple vacancies to fill and those positions might be hard to replace with quality individuals knowing that they may have difficulties with their boss along the way.
I was one who looked around and saw nothing blatantly wrong with City Manager Magaluk to retire her number. I can't say that with Jimmy Newkirk. He openly bragged to my city's city manager and a city councilor about preventing November 2022 meetings from having a quorum and in his admission implicated a couple of commissioners in his conspiracy against open government in Scottville. A city manager shouldn't be intimately involved in creating schisms between this commission and doing so unethically.
Two paths. Choose wisely for the future of Scottville."
The commission took a little over 40 minutes to consider their options and accept the direction given by counsel. Whether this was a good decision or not, we likely won't know until the next meeting or until Newkirk or some other staff member bears the repercussions of that decision and airs their issues with it on social media. This is a bad way to run a public body, secrecy from start to finish; which is why nobody in the city wastes their time going.
As noted, the school board meeting was much different, with the high school library's ample confines filled with parents, students, staff, and the board. This reporter heard more chatter regarding this meeting before its inception, being alerted that a group of several parents would be broadcasting their grievances with school policies not being followed and coaches that were just not living up to their potential.
Board President Jim Schulte could not make the meeting in person, so Trustee Gena Nelson initiated the meeting, which was rather convivial through the usual routines, that was until she gave the last call for public comment. And then the floodgates opened.
Getting a diverse group of parents together to reasonably petition their school board under a common cause in this day and age is like the proverbial herding of cats. But it happened this evening in that library as six parents aired their grievances with school policies being ignored or just plain broken regularly by certain members of the school's coaching staff. Those parents had also put their concerns in a letter signed by all of them, suggesting there were others that were too "fearful to speak up". The content of that letter was discussed in greater detail over the course of this meeting.
Coalitions of parents like this are important when it comes to either making sure school policies are followed or in changing policy. Under such pressure, the board wisely relaxed the usual structure of public comment and allowed for the dialog that generally needs to happen before such issues can be resolved in the public school setting. Like MCE with similar coaching issues, the trustees adapted their meeting to better understand the issue. According to several, they were unaware of the matters brought forth.
The temperatures elevated with both Superintendent Jeff Mount and Principal Jeff Tuka called out as liars and do-nothings. The language was spicy at times, primarily from the parents relating language the coaches reportedly used. Charlie Ruiz called another coach out on an alleged assault on his son that had him paying for massive medical bills.
Sandwiched between the two sessions of public comment, the board reported that they would be moving future board meetings to the Community Room (known as the old shop room by many school alumni) and have decided that they will aim for having another bond election come May 6, 2025.
Former City Commissioner Ryan Graham, who was instrumental in the almost-successful November 2023 "Vote Yes" drive for the two school bond issues, indicated in public comment before that was declared that he was through with working for that cause and that it was doomed to failure since they can't seem to control their coaches, while others echoed his sentiment.
Whatever course the school board decides to take in what is at the heart of it, a personnel issue, their choice of paths will be no simpler than that of the Scottville City Commission and could be a lot costlier if done without respect for the wishes of those they serve. At the end of the night, both public bodies are each facing tough choices in regard to their personnel, and any path taken will be fraught with its own perils.
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