Scottville City Commission, May 12, 2025: Living Within Their Means

[XLFD]

Back when former Scottville City Manager Jimmy Newkirk was running up city expenses without a commensurate increase of revenue, one person was going to meetings reminding city commissioners that they needed to live within their means.  It made no sense hiring a Grand Rapids law firm whose attorney would be charging over $300 per hour, including those long trips to and from Scottville.  It made no sense contracting out rental inspections at nearly $70,000 per year and having so little comprehension of basic math to figure out that even multiplying the cost of the service sixfold would not come close to recovering that money.  

Beginning last year after his hiring, experienced City Manager Clarence Goodlein has recognized that Scottville was living beyond its means and doing so in a way that would lead to the state taking over financial matters in the city if it was not corrected with sacrifices.  Those began with a couple of symbolic moves where he cut his hours (and pay) voluntarily, and the commissioners voted to forgo their salary until they could get the $450,000 deficit under control.  This netted a savings of maybe twenty thousand or so for a year, far less than what they needed, so they looked at the sacred cow in the room, dressed in blue.  

The Scottville Police Department was placed on the altar, and even though each of the six commissioners couldn't say enough good things about the chief and the department, each brought down the knife on the beating heart of the city's long-serving public safety agency.  Perhaps this was logical and even supported by the public (as seen in this poll), but for many it was too big of a price to pay for city solvency, which the move achieved.

Was it a necessary homicide to get the books out of the red?  The Ludington Torch had offered suggestions this winter that would have saved the city over half of what killing the SPD would do and likely make every citizen happier.  Changing the city attorney, dropping needless rental inspections, and a mostly painless reduction in the SPD of about 10% would have met their goals over three years had they did this.  The good news is that they effectively did this since we were last at the commission meetings since January.  This was noted in my first comment at this meeting to the city commission all present and about a dozen in attendance:

XLFD:  "At the last commissioner meeting I attended the decision was made to disband the Scottville PD in order to manage the city's bottom line and avoid the potential of a financial manager from the state.  In this packet, we learn that Steve Spangler is resigning and SafeBuilt's contract will be terminated, saving the city over $60,000 per year.  At the last meeting, you wisely dropped Mika Myers law firm as city attorney, who were bringing in over $100,000 per year from Scottville while doing a crappy job of legal counseling, and replaced them, unwisely, with another Grand Rapids law firm, once again overlooking the lower Curcio law bid without giving any rationale on the record for doing so.   

Nevertheless, this should lead to a significant reduction of legal expenses, probably over $30,000 per year.  I can proudly say that I was the only person on record who advised the Newkirk-led commission that hiring safeBilt and Mika Myers law firm went against the city's financial interests and the citizen's interests at the time they were under consideration.  

Since the beginning of the year, Scottville City government has saved around $300,000 on the 2025-26 budget over the 2024/25 budget on these three service changes.  Thanks to Headlee, tax rates are going down.  Scottville citizens and businesses, once threatened by their bloated government growing beyond its means, see a light at the end of the tunnel leading to prosperity.  [END comment]

Never let it be said that the Ludington Torch only finds fault with public agencies; when they do things that may be difficult and benefit the community, they will be rewarded with praise that's due.  Two other signs projected that night also shows that the city has become fiscally prudent as far as legal services go, perhaps saving as much as $20,000 or even more over the course of a year.

First, they had an empty seat where the city attorney would normally sit.  The items in the agenda packet showed that the presence of the city attorney would likely not be needed.  If the city had an hour meeting, having the old city attorney attend would cost the city about $1300 per meeting just to travel from and to GR and sit at the table.  If this happens 2/3 of the time, the city saves $20K per year just for that.  

Second, agenda item 11(e) was added to the agenda, shifting FOIA Coordinator duties from the city attorney to the city manager.  It makes zero sense letting FOIA requests be handled by attorneys, unless a public body is actively trying to hide public records from the people.  For every hour that the old attorney used to block all or part of a public record, the city was billed $330.  Goodlein will do this duty as part of his regular duties for this year and not cost anything more to the city.  The FOIA response pipeline will only be more efficient without an extra middleman slowing down the process.

At the meeting, the public heard about transitional topics following the dissolution of the SPD and the city building as a satellite office, and heard a report from County Commissioner Steve Hull about what was coming up at their meeting (summarized here).  

During new business, the commission adopted the 2025/2026 Budget incorporating some of the cost cutting measures already discussed and with slightly lower millage rates due to Headlee rollbacks.  A resolution was passed raising the monthly site fee at Riverside Park from $700 to $805, allegedly getting them more in line with other county parks offering monthly fees.  

Additionally, Goodlein was appointed not only as FOIA Coordinator for the city but also as Zoning Administrator (following SafeBuilt's departure leaving a vacancy).  He has experience in that role from his time in Flushing and Leroy Township.  They also passed a resolution in support of Custer's efforts to reduce the speed to 40 mph on US 10 within the village limits.  

The Ludington Torch would also monopolize the last comment period, where I would continue a theme of mine in which I feel is holding not only Scottville back from its full potential, but also showing they are not serious about improving their image in the eye of county residents: 

XLFD:  "Bravo on moving FOIA Coordinator duties to City manager Goodlein, this move improves efficiency and city economy. 

I haven't been able to make a Scottville meeting since January due to a scheduling conflict of Mason County's two city government meetings.  Before this decade, going back at least to the 1980s, Ludington would hold its council meetings on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month, Scottville reserved the first and third Mondays.  The former arrangement helped coordinate cooperation between the two cities, allowed citizens with interests in both cities to attend both meetings, allowed commissioners to attend council meetings and vice versa, and allowed media outlets with limited resources to report on both, with less confusion in the public as to which city did what when they report.  

The current arrangement doesn't seem to have any benefits other than thwarting the benefits just mentioned of the prior arrangement.  Is the commission's mission to operate against intercity cooperation, lighten attendance by the public and the other city's officials at meetings, and make it harder for media to report on city business?  I'd like to hear by the end of this meeting one good reason why Scottville should be holding its meetings on the same night and time as Ludington does rather than the practice made over at least four decades where they held their meetings on alternate Mondays of the month."  [END comment}.

Commissioners had the chance to answer my question, but they effectively did-- by not even trying to offer any reason.  An audience member with concerns in both municipalities praised me highly for my comments after it was made and after the meeting.  There is nothing gained for Scottville commissioners by moving the commission meetings to the same time and day as Ludington's council other than making it harder for the Ludington Torch to engage and instruct them in ways they might not always appreciate.  Maybe we should accept their refusal to change back as a badge of honor or thank them for saving us travel expenses and the time used to recap their meetings.  

But one can't help but think that the Scottville Chicken Ordinance allows only for a half dozen chickens to be at an address at one time, and that after November's special election, there should be seven commissioners at most meetings.  If they don't change their schedule by then, would their meeting location be in violation?