Ludington City Council October 25, 2021: Raises and Praises

[XLFD]

At the Ludington City Council meeting on the night of October 25, the city manager would receive his first three year extension of his contract. receiving a modest 3% raise and positive reviews by the council.  As former councilor David Bourgette noted in the public comment period that modesty might be gilded a little by $4000 performance bonuses he now qualifies for.  Nevertheless the approval of that contract was unanimous and without significant discussion.  

Three ordinances came in front of the council for their first reading, their main tenets:

1) City park rule changes banning smoking and drinking in park playground areas where it is currently allowed

2) Defining the harbor's channel and allowing the harbor master (police chief) to permit anchorage off docks for up to a week on permission.

3) Amending rental inspections to apply to HUD approved rental units, if the City does not receive their approved inspection report.

Those proposed ordinances and more can be found in the meeting's packet, please attend the next meeting to voice your perspectives to the council if you strongly support or oppose such actions.  I would make my opinion known about the hike in rental inspection fees, also during the first comment, but first I congratulated the night's winner:

October 25th, 2021 Ludington City Council meeting from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

XLFD:  "Let me formally congratulate City Manager Foster on the expected renewal of his three year contract, he has done a commendable job of leading the City of Ludington over the last three difficult years and deserves some recognition from one of city hall's harshest critics.   

This meeting's criticism deals with the proposed doubling of rental inspections and no-show fees to cover the rising costs of the rental inspection program.  It's instructive to look at the program's history provided in the packet, and note that the first round of inspections began in 2016 and ending in 2018 should have had the most expenses as the rental units were being registered and inspected for the first time, with all the added initial startup costs.  Inspection expenses those years average about $28,000.  

In the next three year cycle, expenses averaged about $31,000 each year.  This lead up to 2022 which indicates $49,000 will need to be spent to re-inspect rental units, most of which will be inspected for the third time.  Even this figure seems small when the expense ledger claims $39,000 will be spent for salaries while claiming those salaries have only $3000 in benefits.  Ludington full-time job benefits equal over 75% of their salary, which indicates the $3000 should be closer to $30,000 and the overall cost of the program would be around $76,000, nearly tripling the average cost of the program for the first three years.

One of City Manager Foster's weaknesses is that he has allowed job positions at city hall to be fluid and undefined making one dubious of these recent figures.  New full-time officials filling new full-time offices are being created outside of what the city charter permits.  Rental Inspector Shaun Reed was hired on as a full time rental inspection official without the approval of the city council, violating section 10.8 of the charter which says "the positions and duties of Administrative Officers for which provision is not made herein, shall be established by ordinance."  Up to Foster's benediction of Reed, there was no office of rental inspector at city hall, it was strictly contractual with Tom Faulker's company.  

Making this a permanent office without council approval by ordinance is illegal and is the primary reason why the costs for inspections is skyrocketing.  You have effectively penalized area landlords, small mom and pop business, many that were hit very hard by the pandemic and the eviction moratorium, deep in their pocketbook by this illegal promotion within your ranks.  Kudos to Heather Tykoski for suggesting that the inspections rise by a modest $10, and fie on Councilor Terzano who recommended the doubled cost of $100, the gentleman on the panel who stated this fee was reasonable as he resides in his half million dollar house which will never suffer an inspection or its prohibitive cost [END comment].

Mayor Miller surprised me by giving me a little additional time to finish my last paragraph when time ran out in the middle of it; historically, I have been cut down mid-sentence.  The main item I keyed in on was the hike of fees from $50 to $100 for inspections, from $20 to $25 for registrations, and $75 to $150 fines for no-show appointments.  I expected other landlords to come to the meeting and express their concerns after a long period that has surely been financially difficult for them, but they never showed. 

Perhaps they realized that their participation would be fruitless, however, there may have been some commiseration from some councilors if they did.  Councilor Winczewski broadcast that she thought the raise should have been to $75 for inspections.  The only excuse for them raising the rates at all is solely due to them funding full-time wages and benefits of an employee rather than the per inspection cost of a contractor-- that doubles their costs, and Shaun Reed's salary is all being paid for by the landlords and tenants that will be inconvenienced by inspections for the third time starting next year.

Officials can tell you until they're blue in the face that this is for public health and safety, but don't believe it.  Rental inspections were started to reduce the amount of rentals and escalate the average costs of remaining rentals.  This allows them to tap into public funds (local, state and federal) to make projects like the Bowling Alley block development, Lofts on Row and other recently proposed housing projects feasible.  Housing shortages and higher average rents allow these projects to be the norm rather than unsubsidized development.  In the long run, it's unsustainable and leads to a larger burden on the rest of us, even non-landlords.

Several updates were given:

1) Municipal Marina Board President Fred Hackert resigned from both that position and his lieutenant job at the fire department.  Mayor Miller expressed an interest on recognizing officials who have spent over 25 years in their positions, including Hackert who had four decades plus in the fire service.  

2) Addressed an organized group that came to the last meeting concerned about 5G towers being put in Ludington.  Councilor Terzano pointed out they have very little power in deciding on the issue, since the state is permissive on such towers and the city is ultimately under state law.

3) Noted that their 30th and last short term rental location was claimed, and that they desired to see how this worked during its first year in 2021 in early 2022.

4) City Manager Foster posed to the council some figures as to how much work and capital would be needed to do a city charter revision.  Afterwards, Councilors Winczewski, Cain, Johnson and Stibitz gave informal provisional approval of proceeding further into the process rather than giving up on it.  At the end of the meeting, Lyla McClellan (who says she served on the Whitehall Charter Committee a while ago) offered her services, as did C. Dale Bannon. 

In other business, the council set a committee of the whole meeting, open to the public, at 7 PM on Monday, November 15th to discuss the garbage-removal contract with Republic Services and the small cell wireless issues.  They approved the holding of Brrrewfest on January 29, 2022 by the chamber, a drinking festival postponed this year.   

Additionally, Jeanie Halliday discussed the possibility of allowing dog walking at Stearns Park in the morning before 10 AM in the second comment period, and it was announced that leaf pick-up will begin by the end of the week.

Unfortunately, I've been busy this week with fall tasks and didn't get this recap up until the end of the week too.  Next meeting will be on November 8th.