In Thursday's edition of the City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews), a Ludington city councilor took the local school district to task for doing something which appears to violate the law, as we had reported last weekend in regard to a flyer paid for by the school district (LASD).  Angela Serna, serving the Fifth Ward, explains first what happened with what she calls propaganda mailed by the LASD, then describes state election law that strongly frowns on such acts performed within 60 days of the election.  Then... read it for yourself (click on the article to enlarge):

The 'informational' brochure does fall flat on being an unbiased source, the forum letter explaining that deftly.  Her confidential source (not me, I'm more notorious than prominent) confirms what many suspect of diverse types of local public infrastructure/institutions:  years of planned neglect have led to the current 'crisis'.

Invest little in maintaining the water and wastewater treatment plant, spend tens of millions well after the state has found them insufficient.  Instead of using city marina profits to update docks over time, spend next to nothing and beg the State to intervene when it becomes a two million dollar project.  Want to improve the West End of Ludington Avenue into something other than a parking lot?  Let it fall into disrepair so that the State will be more likely to approve a grant to remove the eyesore created. 

In much the same vein, the State-controlled Harbor View Marina loses its private leaser, simply because they reached a point where they cannot ignore maintenance any longer, and the cost of such investment makes it unprofitable to continue their lease.  Force the money whirlpool onto the taxpayers, including private marina owners in competition with them, most who cannot afford boats due to their own high costs of housing, transportation, and taxes.  All of this isn't proactive, it's just fiscally foolish on public or public/private endeavors.

Former WSCC Professor (current Floracraft executive) Vic Burwell remarked early the next day on a Facebook page dealing with Ludington issues said about the plan behind the millage:  "It is a sound plan, well thought out, with thousands of people hours invested in visitations, consultations, state input, intensive research and inquiry, community involvement, collaborative thinking, and most importantly with the education of all the children, now and the future taken into consideration. FYI, there is NOTHING ILLEGAL about the informational flier.  Come to the April 3, presentation at Peterson Auditorium, to hear the facts and then decide."

He wasn't a law professor.  This was both unethical and illegal for the school to put out a brochure filled with-- to borrow Ms. Serna's rhetoric-- propaganda, thinly disguised as information.  Consider, what would you think if an incumbent school board member running for re-election spent $10,000 of school funds on flyers that were 'purely informational' and sent them just before election day? And let's assume the 'pure information' was that he was a great guy, with a great record and had an outlook for a great future, while informing us that his opponent was an inexperienced hack, with a bad record, who would lead the school to ruin.  It never says, however, who to vote for or vote against. Is that ethical and legal to do?  

According to my own reliable sources, Councilor Serna (above) has lodged a formal complaint with the Secretary of State's office over this use of LASD resources within 60 days of an election.  The Ludington Torch appreciates public servants like her that will stand up for the law and for what's right, an ethical failing of too many that serve this area.  

Views: 617

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

YAY for saying that, and thank you Angela! You are a real asset the city of Ludington and its citizens! NO on the school bond increase on May 7, especially with loss of jobs and residents.

Ted Weinert placed an interesting thought in a Facebook discussion about the millage:  "They got away from full time custodians at the Schools that use to do maintenance on the buildings year round, and they took pride in their work. In the summer they had a paint crew, a crew to do all the Gym floors, a crew that removed the wax on the floors and placed three coats of new wax and buffed it. Now they farm it all out your lucky to get the sidewalks clean of snow and ice in the Winter, Doors are locked and no custodian on duty that I saw when at the middle school basketball games. Buildings can be remodeled and fixed up. It all started by getting rid of the people that took pride in what they did."  

The 324 year old Wren Building is the signature building of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia with a construction history dating to 1695, it is the oldest academic building in continuous use in the United States.  With today's advances in technology, we can only construct school buildings that will only be useful for 40 years and then scrapped?  That's hogwash; a school is only as successful as the will of the teachers and support staff (including janitors and superintendents) working with pride in helping the next generation learn the basics and beyond.

If they neglected existing buildings, they will no doubt do the same for the new construction and improvements they want to tax us for. Europe has thousands of old buildings that are hundreds and even thousands of years old and they are still in use today.

Newgrange, Ireland

A prehistoric monument and the oldest buildings in Ireland. It was built during the Neolithic period, around 3200 BC or up to 5,100 years ago. Newgrange is older than the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.

Angela, or should I say Angel, I am truly impressed. Finally a councilor who cares about the voters and who has decency, common sense and a keen sense of right and wrong. It's almost shocking to see a Councilor do the right thing and follow the rule of law. Thank you Angela. I hope the dark side doesn't try to make trouble for you like they did with X.  M L G A

Thank you, XLFD, for reporting on this issue, and to Angela for taking notice and writing LDN. That article should get around to a lot of residents!

Superintendent Kennedy needs to be fired, and Angela needs to run for Mayor next term. This entire fiasco needs to be buried for good and common sense. God Bless her for saying the truth and being a good local citizen for us all now.

Aquaman, always be careful when assigning all the blame to the chief executive of a public institution.  Superintendent Kennedy is carrying out the directives of the school board, they want this millage passed and whether Kennedy wants it or not, he has to work towards that end too or risk losing his job.  It is not clear at this point whether he was involved with pamphlet-gate.

I think so too, Aquaman, wasn't it Kennedy who brought in the 21st century campaign or whatever? But maybe some on the Board have jumped on Board, chewing all the way. XLFD do you know otherwise who started the 21st century campaign?

Thank you, Mrs.Serna for watching out for the folks.

I appreciate the comments about Serna running for mayor and her efforts to block this ridiculous school plan, but I'd like to point out that this is a separate issue from her role as a city councilor. She is filing a complaint as a private citizen, not as her role on the city council. Even if she was mayor, there's nothing she could do about the school bond proposal as the Board of Education has jurisdiction over the proposal and Mr. Kennedy's contract, not the Ludington City Council.

That's a good point, WW, as usual, I may have mentioned it myself, along with the mathematics working against Angela to run for mayor.  Serna actually ran for a two-year term last fall to complete Nick Tykoski's four year term began in 2017.  In 2020, the odd ward seats will come up for election, along with the councilor-at large spot.  If she seeks re-election and wins her seat back, possibly in a rematch with Wally Cain or some other robo-councilor-wannabe, she then would have to run a campaign in 2022 to be mayor likely running against an incumbent.  

If for some reason she doesn't seek re-election (it's hard swimming against the current) in 2020, then she may be re-energized to seek the mayor post.  

I know the council has no say so over the school board, but Kennedy was instrumental, like most Superintendents, in pushing for this bond amount and issues to be on the ballot next month. He's steered them in this direction, and they bit and chewed it entirely.

RSS

© 2024   Created by XLFD.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service