Scottville City Clowncil Meeting, December 27, 2022: Always the Clown

[XLFD]

The agenda packet for the December 27 meeting of the Scottville City Commission failed to be available until about noon on game day and it had a few 'surprises'.  One was that they were planning on selecting a commissioner to fill the partial term that opened the day after the election when nobody was elected to fill the spot; the 43-day vacancy could not be filled without holding a special election according to the city charter, as noted here. 

The second surprise was that they had no candidates nor their resumes noted in the agenda packet for the position when there was actually two who applied on December 22.  The last surprise was the absence of any action on the amended blight ordinance which had a public hearing on the twelfth and was introduced in October.  The rewriting of this ordinance imposed worse fines and punishments on the people of Scottville for failing to maintain their property up to the commission's high standards, one of outgoing city attorney, Carlos Alvarado's last gifts to those paying his ample attorney fees.  Perhaps city leaders had an epiphany that this wasn't a good thing to hit their taxpayers with at Christmastime, or maybe it was just a simple oversight that will be corrected at the next meeting.

The meeting began at 6:30 PM at city hall with a noticeable absence of Commissioner Yeomans, which made a deadlock unlikely on the selection since there would be five rather than six votes.  It would also give an edge to the 'Alway contingent' of the commission consisting of the members who were not characterized as Molotov-throwing revolutionaries in Alway's November 14 resignation letter.

Reports were limited to the city manager, who noted that the substantial Sparks grant applied for at the last meeting for Riverside Park electrical upgrades had already been approved and commended the DPW and Jabrocki's for their snow removal efforts over the last week, before bearing the bad news that Ludington had raised their water and sewer rates and they would likely have to increase theirs in like amounts (7 and 4.5% respectively).  And to the interim police chief, Katrina Skinner, who pointed to school issues like the rise in truancy cases sent to the prosecutor and establishing K-12 threat assessment procedures in the schools in order to stress that she could devote more time to these issues if they would hire a new police chief.

The moderately attended meeting went on to the first item of new business, appointing the commissioner.  It was revealed to the majority of the commission that Marcy Spencer, the former mayor, and Susan Evans, from the Planning Commission, had applied.  Commissioner Ryan Graham asked why their applications weren't part of the packets and wasn't given any good answer as he and some others on the commissioner (and the general public) had no idea what was to be offered that night.  Almost immediately, Spencer was nominated and seconded (by Seiter and Former Clowncilor Alway) both who seemed to know fully who applied before the meeting took place. 

Without Yeomans it was a fait accompli, with Graham and Pettit voting no for a 3-2 acceptance, Graham depicting his 'no' vote as a nod to the November election where Spencer got the least numbers of votes of those on the ballot.  The rest of the business was mostly routine:

-they approved the purchase of LIDAR radar equipment, allowing for a directional speed determination for city police units rather than the built-in units that only pointed straight ahead

-they looked at the 5-year Park & Recreation Plan, setting a public hearing to be held on January 23rd on the way to approve the 9 goal plan required to be eligible for many grants.  This plan is not yet made available to the public on the city website.

-they passed a resolution setting 2023 dates for their DDA meetings

-they considered an offer from Jeff & Tracy Barnett to purchase a sliver of property towards the south end of town for $4500.  Nothing final was determined for a property that had an interested party offer (and withdraw) a $15,000 bid when they had plans on a marijuana facility in that area.

This led to the public comment period, where I was the only one who spoke.  I touched upon three or four things that had bothered me:

          12-27-22 invoices to be paid, including $4819 to the CA and $254 to Former Commissioner Rob Alway's company for 'advertising'

XLFD:  "Couldn't help but notice that the new city attorney claimed nearly $5000 for lawyer matters during this last 15 day pay period.  To my understanding, former City Attorney Tracy Thompson had many years with the City of Scottville where his annual fees for lawyer matters were less than that.  Such bills are not surprising when this clowncil in October voted to retain this Grand Rapids firm over a Nunica law firm with equivalent municipal experience and a quality attorney who would charge about half of what Mika Meyers does.  Why were you so careless with the people's money?

One of Attorney Nettleton's first failures was his advice to the clowncil to not hold a special election as soon as possible to fill the two vacancies that exist on the clowncil.  City officials were aware that a vacancy would exist after the November election for a partial term.  That needed to be filled within 30 days of the vacancy, a period that expired early this month.  When Clowncilor Alway resigned officially on November 14th another vacancy was created according to state law and court precedent.  The commission had an opportunity to reappoint him or appoint someone else on December 12th, they didn't and so his office needs to be filled by a special election as the vacancy is over 30 days old.

His presence on the commission table may confuse the citizenry into thinking that he's still an official, to avoid that I would hope that he wears his clown band outfit to succeeding meetings and caper about like the court jester he appears to be in claiming a seat that is no longer his.  I will promptly file a quo warranto lawsuit to declare that the seat filled tonight and Mr. Alway's old seat is illegally occupied and need to be filled following a special election in accordance with city and state law. 

The prohibitive costs of special elections and lawsuits could have easily been avoided if Clowncilors Seiter, Copenhaver, and Alway didn't play stupid games throughout November and if your new attorney was actually interested in following the law rather than going after more money." [END]

Some explanations are in order.  The difference between attorneys was significant, the selected attorneys bill $325 per hour and probably charge for the drive to and from Scottville from GR.  The Curcio firm offered services at $185 per hour and a shorter drive-- if needed since they were amenable to attending meetings through electronic means.  Citizens will see gigantic legal bills as long as Mr. Nettleton keeps showing up at these meetings.

As noted here, the commission failed to select replacements for the vacancies happening on November14th within the 30-day time frame.  One could say the expensive legal counsel actually prevented the commission from conducting business in November on the assumption that 3 members were not a quorum.  It was after Alway's resignation and Pettit swearing to her oath of office, as seen in the city charter:

The commission was down to five members after the oath was administered, and the three present (Graham, Yeomans, and Pettit) constituted a quorum at that point in time.  Same thing the next meeting.  And it's all because Alway's resignation made an immediate vacancy and the city attorney would not allow the sitting city commission to act.

Did Commissioner Seiter and Copenhaver conspire to take part in a pointless protest to miss the two November meetings in the mistaken belief that city business could not be conducted, namely the 'official' acceptance of Alway's resignation and the likely appointment of two people who would reflect the values of what would be the commission majority?   It sure looks that way, and it appears that the city attorney allowed the charade to continue while earning over $3000 for those two lost meetings.

Former Clowncilor Alway showed at the end of the meeting that he wasn't above ad hominem attacks on his detractor making a big deal about my residency (I always note I'm from Ludington before I speak) and of how I don't represent the rest of the city, where-- from his megalomaniacal perspective-- he is loved and worshipped by all.  In an effort to prove his point, he noted a recent discussion he had to bury the hatchet with Commissioner Graham where they came to some greater understanding of their similarities and work through their differences.  

When he looked towards Graham for confirmation that they were on the same page, there was a slight pause and he did confirm that 'they did talk' and left it at that.  After the meeting, I talked with several of the attendees.  By the nature of their comments, they were unanimously in approval of my speech and disapproval of the overbearing former commissioner.  Who knew?

[Willy]

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