The Place Where Ludington Talks
New Scandals of Newkirk's Scottville
Former Scottville City Manager Jimmy Newkirk before the bedlam
One must appreciate the transparency of the Interim Scottville City Manager Clarence Goodlein for broadcasting a major city scandal in an open memorandum, and we must also appreciate his wisdom for belaying it until the beginning of a new city commission administration. You will note that his memo shown below in full is pre-dated November 12, 2024, so that the current Mayor Marcy Spencer and Mayor Pro Tem Aaron Seiter, whose terms and commission tenure end tonight at 7:30 PM, are out of the picture in solving the problems that arise from the improprieties listed. A couple of vacancies in office still exist after this last Tuesday's election and whoever steps up will have to deal with it.
The carefully crafted memo above may illustrate why the proverbial rats are fleeing the SS Scottville at this time. We already knew that former Scottville City Manager Jimmy Newkirk was a bit unethical from the time he (with help from Seiter and others) orchestrated two lack-of-quorum meetings in November 2022, allowing Spencer to get back on the board despite badly losing in that election and quickly chosen as mayor. He would brag about that later. In this memo, we see why Newkirk's lack of ethical conduct, ignorance of city policy, and general incompetence became a severe liability to the city.
Don't be surprised if Newkirk did not make some of these decisions found and hinted at in the memo on his own and had help from the mayor and other commissioners acting in repugnance to the charter and other city policies. We have seen such dereliction repeatedly happen over the last two years by commission leaders who lack the honor and courage to play by the rules.
Because what you get in the end when city leaders don't play by the rules is the hot mess that Scottville is current in. Goodlein may not want to point fingers and assign blame at this point other than the obvious center of mass, but the problems in this memo, the budget shortcomings previously noted leading to the talk of making deep cuts in city services, and the time it took to notice the problems, are indications that the city commission should use its power to conduct an investigation so that what all has happened will not be likely to happen again at the expense of the people.
On the bright side, it has been widely reported that Eric Thue, an incumbent on the November ballot who received votes to keep that employment, would not accept his commission due to a recent devastating personal loss. Expect him to be back on the job tomorrow night, he has been a rarely acknowledged force in getting some order and accountability back into Scottville government.
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