Ludington City Council Meeting, August 11, 2025: Pillars of the Community

[XLFD]

The agenda packet for the Ludington City Council was incredibly light on controversial action for their first regular meeting in August, with nothing involving two major legal disputes appearing thereon.  These would be the differences arising from the AndyS construction that has devolved into attorney letters issuing back and forth with stern and/or threatening language, and the ongoing contentions coming from owners of a private marina that the city and state have been acting inappropriately in funding public marinas and ignoring environmental threats to our community.

Both matters would arise during the course of a meeting that lasted nearly an hour with only Mayor Mark Barnett being absent and all councilors present. 

Councilor John Terzano would give a blistering report on the timeline of the AndyS construction, portraying the contractors as deceitful and irresponsible in order to justify the City's stop work order.  This would start 20:40 into the meeting and last about ten minutes.  Perhaps the most ridiculous part about his diatribe was that the city had future plans to put in bike lanes on Rath Avenue which would be physically impossible with the width of the right-of-way on that block-- due primarily to the city allowing Dr. Riemer to use the overhang and pillar footprints of the prior building.  AndyS agents, if present, chose to remain quiet during the meeting, but obviously they should listen to Terzano's tirade and lack of disputing same among his peers as the city's stance, which they took great pains to discuss in private at the special meeting.

Jefferson Henry and Daniel Jensen would offer complementary public comments twice, of which the council would likely not consider complimentary.  Centering on the public trust being violated and conflicts of interest being prevalent in decisions made over recent history, they inferred that actions made by city and state agencies were to keep citizens ignorant of the extent of contamination in the PM Lake and the extent of the corruption in those agency's officials.  These are well worth the cost of listening starting at 11:40 in and 55:40 in to the meeting's video.  Read and view even more at the PM Lake Watershed Council social media page.

I would touch base on both controversial topics during my time at the podium this evening and a few more in regards to the legality of the closed session at the special meeting, lifeguards, etc.

XLFD:  "At last Wednesday's special meeting, I asked this council "Who retained Ronald Redick", and I was rewarded after the meeting was adjourned with the city manager saying it was her, and that was a relief, since if this council had done so, they surely would have done it at an illegal meeting, as this retainment for at least five months isn't part of their minutes.  Equivocatin' Kaitlyn in front of witnesses also told me that her retainer agreement with Mika Meyers and/or Redick would be in my inbox the following day, so that I wouldn't have to expend a FOIA request on it.  It wasn't, nor has it come since.  Your city manager has told the public multiple lies in her short tenure, this is just one more and reflects very badly on the city council that hired this mythomaniac.

Redick isn't part of our city attorney law firm, he isn't part of our risk management attorney stable, yet he is doing work under the mantel of the City of Ludington, representing the dictates of this council without having been legitimately hired by them.  An important part of the attorney-client relationship is that the agreement between an attorney and client confirms the scope of the representation and clearly sets forth the essential terms applicable to the engagement including the fee arrangement.  We don't have any record that this council ever hired Mika Meyers this year, yet we have five months of payments to Mika Meyers. 

Two lawyers on our council, not to mention our public extortionist city attorney in the interim, voiced no concerns about going into closed session to discuss an opinion written by an attorney that did not have an attorney client relationship with the City of Ludington, ever.  Such a relationship is required to invoke section 8(h) of the Open Meetings Act, for examining a written opinion of an attorney who has no duty towards the City of Ludington as a client makes that opinion just another non-exempt public record available through FOIA.  Ergo, the closed session was illegal, and Redick's assertion that he represents the City of Ludington is incorrect and unprofessional."  [END comment]

During her part of the agenda, City Manager Kaitlyn Aldrich would admit that what I said about her promise was true, but provided an excuse that she missed work the following day on account of being sick, and by Friday morning, I had already made a FOIA request for the retainer agreement and other records, so held off on her promise.  I doubt this was the case; she likely conferred with an attorney and figured out that she never had the authority to hire Redick without council approval in the first place.

She also revealed that the previous five months of retainer dealt with a cemetery issue under petition by Terry Grams currently filtering through the local probate court.  If that is the case, then the city has spent over $3000 to retain Mika Meyers' Richard Wilson  (and even more hours of their risk management attorneys) for a civil suit that only asks for the city to correct a procedural mistake in the past that they made and refuse to correct in the present.  You may recognize Grams as the courageous citizen who took on the city's deer cull with a lawsuit back in early 2024 that ended with the city calling off their last year of the cull.  This resistance by the city to do what's right in this cemetery issue is probably a result of their frustration with Grams interfering with their royal hunt; meanwhile, the rest of us pay an illegally retained attorney to fight a reasonable petition that asks for no money, only an equitable judgment.

Will we see two retainer agreements for two different Mika Meyer attorneys when we receive our FOIA response?  Unlikely, but even if we do, neither will be valid as they both lack council approval.  When our elected officials remain silent while their powers get usurped by their appointed official, they do not represent us or the law.  In my second comment, this reporter would officially become a column-ist:

2019 Google Earth capture of pillars for the old Michael's on the Avenue Building, the difference between the footprint of these and the new pillars in relation to the curb is maybe one inch, tops.

XLFD:  "Google Earth has a nice feature that allows one to choose a place on a map and look at its recorded history.  One can use this app on the corner of Rath and Ludington and see whether the AndyS development has violated their early agreements with the City in the relation to their pillars and overhang.  What I see is substantial compliance, thicker and safer columns, and I hope the City can move past its seemingly incurable control issues and remember that they are supposed to be public servants who try their best to help local businesses investing in our community succeed and do this in a transparent matter.  

But this actually is not a surprising move, our city government actively works against many of our local businesses, and against the public safety and welfare when they choose body recovery over rescue at the beach, and pollution over solutions in the PM Lake.  Fellow citizens other than I have approached you over the last year, detailing how the city has gone against the citizen's interests by engaging in grossly unfair competitive practices against longstanding private businesses and allowing for the ongoing poisoning of our children by ignoring contamination of our lake.

Just think of what could have been accomplished by the city had they not gotten into the business of running public marinas, saving the public tens of millions of dollars in subsidization of enterprise zones who are encouraged to operate without regard to breaking even, knowing that Mother State of Michigan will come in with millions more to incentivize future failure.  While men and women die at Stearns Beach because you can't divert money from the beach patrol into funding a lifeguard crew..."  [ENDed comment]

Pillars too close to the curb?  The photograph of the curb in front of the Blu Moon (above) shows that the city isn't too disturbed about encroachment near, and even over, the curb for other downtown businesses, this one on US 10 (South James Street), as is this configuration near the Sand Bar:

Ironically, these two businesses would be in competition with AndyS for the tourist dollar.  Further up the highway, but still in the downtown, is the city's contribution to going over the curb with a permanent structure.  Aren't they worried about snowplows here too?:

The City has never registered any issues with these, to the contrary, the DDA fought hard to get outdoor dining and green space in the City right-of-way throughout the downtown.  The contention by AndyS' attorney is that their pillars are in the place that their city-approved site plan said it would be.  I believe them over a city that doesn't want to prove otherwise.  With city leaders failing to recognize that a lifeguard program would be superior in all ways to the parking lot attendants they currently hire and failing to recognize that public marina enterprise zones are just money pits for public dollars, they surely cannot see that this is substantial if not full compliance.

In other business, the council would approve a new purchasing policy, touting it as a win for transparency (it's not, it's a win for administrators and offers more places for potentially hiding purchases from the public).  It would formally back the Jaycees Letter of Intent for a 2025 Prosperity Award grant of $250,000 from the Consumers Energy Foundation and the city attorney would explain the city's process of getting quiet title of the Utility Building site (east of Thompson's Marina) so as to make selling the property easier in the future.

After Henry's and Jensen's notifications during both comments of widespread and pervasive contamination in the PM Lake and after I had portrayed recovery of bodies from the beach as the city council's ultimate desire in governance (without argument, because rescue of drowning children is not their cup of sangria), and after being called out with Councilor Kreinbrink for ignoring her knowledge of chemistry and environmental contamination issues, Councilor Kathy Winczewski offered her deaf "one good thing":

"The beach, the beach, the beach.  Have you gone down there yet this summer?  Now during these lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer is the time to go.  The warm air on your face, the sunshine on your face, the children playing, and the gentle sound of the waves hitting the shore.  Sitting in a lawn chair with a great book to read and a lake breeze in your hair, taking a pizza to the beach and watching the sunset and the car ferry leaving its dock.  Go now, because before long, we'll be donning our sweatshirts and jeans."

It sounds like a great message, but when you are a public official who has the ability to lead the city's effort to clean up the contaminated harbor and provide lifesaving services for those children playing in the water, it tells all of us that you have no intention to consider the public health and safety of your community, that is, your duty to the public.  You just don your rose-colored sunglasses and tell everyone around you that there's nothing to fear, nothing to hear.

[Daniel Jensen]

Oh..! The hazmat suit days of summer..!
nobody on the road, nobody on the beach, I feel it in the air, the summers out of reach, empty lake, empty streets, the sun goes down alone, Im driving by your house, though I know, your not home

But I can see you, your brown skin shinning in the sun.. you got to close to edge.. and, now.. your gone...! So remove.. your, summer.. shades, repent for whatya done.. and, help fix it, today..!

[XLFD]

Vintage Don Henley, slightly modified.  He was disappointed with the Eagles, we are all disappointed with the EGLE's.  Here's a reworking of one part of another of his hits that could apply to this meeting:

We got the bubble-headed dirty-blonde, she'll always lie
She can tell you 'bout city corruption with a gleam in her eye
She's not interested when children die
Give us dirty water

[stump]

Any guesses on the amount of the lawsuit Dr.Riemer will file against the city for loss profits for the summer of 2025 and beyond? Apparently the city didn't do its due diligence on what it has allowed in the past and present as shown in the pictures on south James st. Now Rath is a fairly well traveled street in down town but South James is a State high way US10 .I suppose those steel fences are to protect the drunks from walking out onto the road.

[XLFD]

This could give local attorney Blake Riemer some additional work.  There is plenty in City Manager Aldrich's press release about this that could further break down the amicable relationship between city and developer:

“The city is excited about this project and looks forward to the energy and investment it will bring to our downtown.  However, the stop work order was necessary to address a serious health and safety issue, involving the columns that support the second-floor overhang. These columns have been constructed approximately one foot too close to Rath Avenue – in violation of the approved site plan – such that they pose a risk of collision with city snowplow blades, and are also likely to cause impacts with vehicle doors that open toward the columns, when a vehicle is parked out front. The city has requested that the developer submit a corrective action plan to bring the locations of the columns into compliance with the approved site plan, and the city looks forward to receiving that plan soon. When the developer has fully corrected this serious site plan violation, the stop work order will then be lifted, so that this project can again start moving forward toward completion. We remain committed to supporting responsible development and ensuring that all construction projects prioritize public safety and adhere to approved standards.”

First off, we have already seen that car doors and snowplows could hit structures on S, James, and we should also note that certain fire hydrants in the downtown are situated worse than these columns are-- but we don't see the city rushing to move these into compliance with laws passed since their inception.  Second, the pillars of AndyS are adjacent to a right turn lane, these lanes aren't generally meant for doors opening up, and even so, many other structures along streets are within striking distance of a car's wingspan and the city hasn't taken dramatic action to push them back further.  

I went downtown last night reviewing what I think is a bigger safety issue highlighted by this quarrel, I sense another article will be coming out before the weekend on it.

[Daniel Jensen]

One would think the city should have hired Clay Olmstead, he's right next door. But then look at how they bypassed the city attorney, Ross Hammersley, and hired Mika Meyers for the Court of Appeals case involving Harbor View Marina, conflict of interest.

[XLFD]

An unanswered question here is why Rossss didn't represent the city in this case.  One thinks he could have done so without inherent conflict and additionally he would have ingrained knowledge of Ludington's zoning laws, having helped draft the Unified Development Ordinance which is being relied upon as the legal authority for the city's points.  My guess is that "Sewage" wouldn't allow himself or anyone else in his law firm to get caught up in this schoolyard quarrel because it would not be a good look.

But if you drag some dollars in front of a Mika Meyers attorney, they are on it like a shark sensing blood in the water.  I doubt the city ever considered Olmstead because of their proximity to this project.  Can you imagine the animosity that might develop over this dispute, and being next door, sharing an alley, to the source of the discomfort?  Olmstead would be too smart to ever consider taking this one, even if he was approached.