The Ramifications of a County Commissioner Castonia

[XLFD]

With Bill Carpenter vacating his seat on the county commission in mid-June due to moving out of his district (effectively covering the 4th, 5th and 6th wards of Ludington, plus some of PM Township), the county advertised for a replacement and only got one person to apply:  Ludington City Councilor Gary Castonia (below), as related in today's print copy of the City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews).

Like Ludington, their legislative body must fix a vacancy in office by appointment of somebody from the district within thirty days (unless a regular election is within two months), and so unless they decide to ask again for applicants, and receive at least one more, Castonia will have the job.

But Gary Castonia cannot serve as both a city councilor and a county commissioner without a host of complications and conflicts; if the offices aren't deemed incompatible by the IPOA he may find himself limited to act in affairs involving both the city and county, at least until the end of 2018 when he is term-limited out from his councilor position.  He may be accused of breaching the public's trust in either position without even trying to do so.

This would make one believe that he would likely resign his city council post, which would bring up an issue at the city which would not be well-defined.  At the very end of June, Wallace Cain was voted in by the city council to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Fifth Ward Councilor Nick Tykoski. 

With another vacancy on the city council the city charter notes that multiple vacancies of elective positions require a special election to fill those vacancies.  One could declare that since the Tykoski vacancy was filled before another was created, that a special election is not needed, as multiple vacancies did not exist at any one time. 

But one could also declare that even when "fill-ins" are chosen by the council, those seats are still technically vacant, as no elected officer is in the position.  So if and when Castonia resigns, a special election should be held.  This seems more in line with the city charter's character and intent, which says our city council is a democratically elected body.

City councilors could stagger their retirements and give us a governing body composed of a majority of council-appointed councilors who could hold their quorum for up to nearly two years.  Surely that is not desirable in a democratic republic, nor desirable to the citizens of Ludington who have a councilor that nobody in their ward voted for.  If you want your public officers kowtowing to and appeasing other public officers rather than addressing your concerns, letting them pick your councilor is the way to go.

[Willy]

My guess is that his salary and benefits will increase dramatically when he becomes a County Commissioner. Not a bad move for him since he will be barred from serving on the Ludington council after his term is up. The problem is that his biased style of carrying out his public servant duties will continue at the County level so the citizens will not be getting a reprieve from Castonia's special brand of ignoring the public's concerns and his obvious fixation on nepotism and helping out his buddies.

[AQUAMAN]

Where and when does this BS end? He's a poor excuse for a human being, and with his son's druggie connections, burning houses down etc., with no inspections of the incident, and all the LPD affiliations to boot, shit! Then the child care home disgraces? 

[stump]

Gee Aquaman, why don't you tell us how you really feel about him. LOL