The Calm Before the Sturm and Drang at PM Township

[XLFD]

The agenda packet for the 8-8-23 meeting of the Pere Marquette Charter Township (PMCT) Board of Trustees had no items of business for the board to consider at all.  Despite this fact, the meeting was very anticipated because of the announcement shortly after the last meeting that PMCT Treasurer Karie Bleau took out recall petitions on two of her peers:  Clerk Rachelle Enbody and Trustee Ron Soberalski. 

Many folks expected there to be a bit of talk on this subject and other related issues concerning the treasurer and her embattled husband, PMCT Supervisor Jerry Bleau (both already guaranteed recall elections in November against a qualified candidate), who have launched a strategy of recent counter-attack against people high on their enemies list.  This has manifested itself in cease and desist letters from their attorney in an attempt to stifle dissent, using FOIA as a broad-sword in order to tie up the clerk and other PMCT resources, and the two recall petitions, designed to either dilute the ballot, minimize their own recall reasons, and/or some other nefarious reason (read more here). 

The three trustees not yet recalled have been mostly silent on the sideshow, being that it heated up in earnest only since the last July meeting, but it was rumored that one was going to be taking a stance with a prepared statement.  Likewise, Trustee Soberalski, no stranger to adding items onto agendas at meetings, was almost guaranteed to comment on the happenings and about this Friday's recall clarity hearings being held by the Mason County Election Commission at 10 and 11 AM for the clerk and then him.  

The Bleaus were set to be beset upon at this meeting, not only by their peers, but by a growing group of citizens that are adding things together and getting a different result than the PMCT treasurer-- much like the township's former auditor.  With all this midsummer heat on, did the Bleaus come to this meeting to flex their newly found strength, real or imagined?  Nope, they claimed bereavement leave, and missed the meeting.  Both of the Bleaus in their mourning should be thankful that their relative passed away at such an opportune time, and hopefully both have solid alibis at the time of the passing.  

Another figure missing this evening was the local newspaper's reporter on the PMCT beat, Riley Kelly.  He has made a career move to a bigger market to the south, and his absence from future meetings will unfortunately be permanent.  Kelly has done some great reporting in the township over what's been happening, and even though he's less gonzo than this reporter, his absence and even-handed articles will be missed by the township's residents.  The newspaper appeared not to have a representative this afternoon (the meeting took place at 4 PM).  

Without the Bleaus and without any controversial issues in front of them, the trustees worked through the various reports and announcements in a relaxed fashion.  Township activist Tim Iteen, who successfully headed the effort to get both Bleaus on the recall ballot this fall, noted the comfortable atmosphere that existed at this meeting in his short comment at the end, and certainly, Trustee Henry Rasmussen contributed more to the discussion than I've ever seen him do before, while Andy Kmetz showed poise and reserve as the supervisor pro tem.  

Other than generic reports from Sheriff Kim Cole and PMCT Fire Chief Larry Gaylord, the board would briefly touch on topics regarding the park manager position and addressing the continuing problem of being able to be heard by the audience.  Trustee Nordlund wondered about wearing voice amplifiers like some preachers do to be heard and others discussed moving meetings back upstairs in the future, but nothing was settled.  

Had the Bleaus shown up, there may have been some fireworks from both the board and the audience, which was substantial even without action items.  When given the first opportunity to comment, Ludington resident Lyla McClelland would introduce a blight issue at 88 Nelson Road, behind the strip mall and just outside the city limits in PMCT, where she reported a lot of junk and abandoned cars/buses mostly hidden from the nearby roads by trees.  

She would add a little more during the second comment, and was supported by PMCT Connie Anderson with concern and noted that it was often hard for the township officials to keep up with it as witnessed by their efforts with Pallet Recycle and the Outcalt property on PM Highway/Old 31.  

This reporter would be the only other one to comment.  I had prepared a working summary of what was going on from my viewpoint, which is admittedly limited by my again limited involvement with PMCT politics for just the better part of a year.  Fortunately, I have done research by looking over meeting minutes for years and talking with a diverse group of folks from PMCT and then interpolating a line between all the dots I have received.  

It was disappointing that I couldn't get feedback from either of the absent trustees, who I had hoped would be able to appreciate their part in it, but it was well received by several in the audience and probably at least a couple of trustees, who thought it had a lot of truth to it, and a little wry humor:

XLFD:  "Corrective Action Plans.  Never really heard of this topic until I read about their importance in two recently filed recall petitions submitted by the township treasurer.  Apparently, when the auditor figured out a billing error made by the treasurer, it became the duty of the clerk and one trustee to create a corrective action plan, to correct an error minimized over the last year by the treasurer and supervisor.

From my reading of the approved minutes of meetings and considering other facts, the treasurer and supervisor roundly criticized one of the recall targets for bringing in the auditor who had earlier resigned due to conflicts with the treasurer, and have that auditor discuss what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future.  That sounds like the first part of making a corrective action plan, yet the treasurer was moved enough to draft a rebuttal letter against the auditor and the recall target and enter it fully into the minutes, rather than offer any suggestions of how to create a corrective action plan so that she didn't make more mistakes like that in the future.  

Drafting corrective action plans for treasurers is not the task of one trustee, or even the clerk, this is more of an administrative task best left to the township supervisor and treasurer to create with input from the staff, and then consider it for passage by the full board. Perhaps the township supervisor and treasurer should be recalled for avoiding that task-- oh, that's already happened.... Nevermind." 

It is unclear whether the Bleaus will take more bereavement leave if their recall petitions are given their last rites on Friday.