Ludington City Council May 10, 2021: Audits of Maths and Masks

[XLFD]

The first meeting of the Ludington City Council in May featured the annual auditing by Ken Berthiaume and a couple of other first readings and event approvals normal for the springtime.  The main news coming out of the gathering according to the local paper, since these yearly audits are generally routine outpourings of numbers without any actions arising, was that the city council was going to move out of the ether of virtual meetings, and back to the city council chambers for the second May meeting.  

At the end of the meeting Councilor Bourgette would lead off the discussion on whether to have the next meeting virtual or in-person by saying:  "I just want to start out by saying that regardless of what was said in public comment, I've always made it clear the way I felt about in-person meetings. And I just feel it's time to do that, although I want to encourage all of the other councilors to not be bullied by any of the comments said. Go with what you feel, you will be much more respected that way."

Councilor Winczewski would be the only other to comment on the issue, saying that the numbers of cases had dropped enough that she was comfortable with doing it in-person, wishing that every councilor and member of the public would be vaccinated.  To be sure, the numbers of cases and hospitalizations the prior two weeks were around the same as when they originally decided to vote to go virtual in April using the county's unfounded local state of emergency.  With these two statements, the council voted unanimously to have the next meeting in person, just like they voted unanimously the last two times to go virtual.  The lemming nature of the council is clearly evident.

What was the bullying comments referenced by Councilor Bourgette which appears to have changed the minds of him and the rest of the council?  Well, since there were only two public comments made, with one by Alexander Kay wondering about the accessibility for the public of the community pool at the school for this summer, he must have been pointing to my comment which echoed my second comment from the previous meeting and went a few more paces this time in looking at city hall's own hypocrisy.  

XLFD (2:30 in):  "I'm not happy with the City's current decision to continue virtual meetings using a bogus local emergency as their sole reason to do so.  I visited city hall this morning and noticed in the bullpen where the various clerks and sundry officials gather, there were three people, all unmasked, going about their business. 

These officials may have missed the memo about the local state of emergency, but they should have been aware that the Michigan Department of Health has ongoing orders that require people wear masks when two or more people from different households gather together indoors, and aware that this city council passed a local resolution enforcing and reinforcing mask compliance on local businesses back on July 27, 2020.  

MIOSHA has regularly came down hard on businesses and even public entities with fines of up to $10,000 for non-compliance with the public health orders issued by the DHHS, many of these violations are for relatively minor indiscretions, like healthy people not wearing masks when gathered at their jobs. 

Ideally, I would want my local government to subversively counter the power grab executed by the state during this pandemic, but all that we've seen come from this city council is a resolution in support of a mask mandate on our beleaguered small businesses and a resolution buying into a fictitious local emergency that--surprise-- only affects gatherings held by Ludington's public bodies.  

Our healthy schoolchildren, minimally at risk to Covid-19, are being forced by the government to wear masks in class, wear masks while playing singles tennis, and wear masks outdoors while bicycling to school.  In our business community, people are being fined and fired for not wearing masks while on the job.  Why is this hypocritical entity creating mask mandates, peddling a fraudulent local emergency, and cancelling in-person meetings when the actions of their own personnel speak for themselves as to how they actually perceive the danger? 

Despite the declaration of a local emergency by the county, the city commission of Scottville has held four in-person meetings at the local Optimist Hall, I attended 3.05 of them.  Not one official or citizen, many of whom are rather old, has made any comment about feeling unsafe in that setting.  You guys will likely look at some numbers from a far-from-transparent health department, gaze at your navels, and declare that you're still afraid to face the public in an open forum because of the threat to the public health and safety for doing so.  This time, make sure the memos reach your front office staff." 

I don't see this as a 'bullying' speech, I would more label it as a frank assessment of city halls' inconsistencies, with maybe a hint of browbeating.  City Manager Foster delivered it with a lot less panache and flourish than I would have, dampening its effect further as a bullying device (I just cannot picture a refined, gentle, and cultured man like Mitch Foster delivering a bullying speech even if it was written that way). 

Nevertheless, the comment was effective in making city leaders worried about additional city hall mask audits with pictures being taken and potential notifications to MIOSHA and MDHHS, not to mention being further embarrassed by the hypocrisy of avoiding in-person meetings while allowing their peers to engage in unsafe workplace activities.  

The city council had an easy out position so that they could deny me the credit (or blame) for getting the council back to facing the public again.  They could have pointed to the list of events that the DDA have tentatively scheduled for this year, approved at this very meeting, and state that the council was also moving back towards 'normal'.  Instead, they gave an unconvincing numbers argument and acceded to the 'bully' fully after claiming they would not. 

To be sure, the council did some other busy work, like revising a 2014 ordinance that dealt with the designation and regulation of local flood plain areas, and the yearly authorization of fire protection services outside of the city limits (such as Epworth and parts of Hamlin and PM Townships).  They had a couple of first readings of two other ordinances, one hiring Mr. Berthiaume for another five years of auditing services, and the other reorganizing the community development department.  I touched on this during my second public comment and the mayor's announcement of police week which officially took place: 

XLFD:  "Let me applaud the proposed ordinance regarding reorganization of the community development department following the retirement of Carol Ann Foote.  Niles is a Michigan city slightly bigger than Ludington which recognizes that community development is an interdisciplinary activity which combines short and long-range community planning; economic and community development; zoning administration, grant reporting and analysis; mass transportation planning and operations; and historical preservation and education.

To synchronize these diverse fields they have one overall manager; that currently doesn't happen in Ludington, where those departments are separate and ran by different people, often without any harmony amongst them.  Certain projects can be performed better if one supervisor is able to coordinate the City's specialists in the six general aspects of community development so that those efforts dovetail into something special.  The city manager position appears to be the best fit, since you have someone who is readily accountable to this council and already in a supervisory position over the City's existing departments.

Let me further commend the Ludington Police Department at the beginning of the locally-declared Police Week.  When I became active in local politics about a dozen years ago, the LPD was regularly getting into legal trouble for using excessive force.  Over time, the department has markedly improved its procedures, its transparency, and its image.  It has earned community support, by its renewed efforts at supporting the community in accordance with the law.  Noting that I am under no duress, I salute the LPD and hope they keep trending the same way in the future [END]."

Mitch Foster had a moment of mirth when reading the 'under no duress', perhaps getting the minor joke regarding my 'confession' or perhaps because he's like someone I know in the legal field who is always inclined to say 'dress' rather than 'duress'.  

What wasn't a laughing matter at this meeting was seeing that the audit noted the ever increasing amount of pension liabilities, with MERS, police and OPEB approaching $10,000,000, up from $8.4 million in 2018 and no talk of remission of this duress in any kind of planning stage.  

[Freedom Seeker]

Thanks X for the entertaining assessment of the Council meeting.  I am lazy to listen to the Council and even lazier when it's on my two inch phone screen in Hollywood Squares or Brady Bunch version.  Just reading, I saw "no bullying" so I'm disappointed if Mr. Bourgette was hinting at your comment.  I'm thinking the reaction might be to jump off the cliff like a lemming following some backroom whining by Councilor Winczewski who undoubtedly took a lot of heat for the hypocrisy of appearing unmasked in a picture in the LDN during a "county state of emergency".  That's the thing with the governor, many of her staff, and those who think they are powerful, don't have to follow the rules while the rest of us suffer or be fined or jailed.

 Hello hypocrisy, not bullying.  Thank you for stating it statesmanlike.  

Blah blah blah through the mundane.  Wake me up at the pension liability.  I heard on the radio something like COL has $34 million in revenue reported.  Is that possible? 

[XLFD]

The yearly audits actually give a good accounting of all the money that was spent and received by the COL.  The number on the radio seems rather high, but recent years have probably seen some annual revenues/expenditures in that range with the major renovations done at the WTP and WWTP costing tens of millions.  p34 of the packet shows a $34.8 million number for 2020.   

Pointing out the obvious lack of clothing on the emperor is not bullying.

[Willy]

Your analysis is right on the money, X. Instead of the Council paying attention to accurate reporting regarding their actions and then doing some self reflecting regarding their behavior, they turn on the messenger and take a defensive attitude. This is a major flaw with many if not most elected as well as appointed officials. This is a good read and summary of the CIty Council and actions by City Hall. The pension numbers are startling for a City the size of Ludington when most of the citizens will never see anything in comparison to their own pensions, if they have one. Life is good for public employees. Thanks taxpayers.