Was Ludington's First Committee of the Whole Wholly Legal?

[XLFD]

Not a lot of people knew about it, but 90 minutes before the start of the regularly scheduled August 13, 2018 meeting there was another Ludington City Council meeting taking place in the basement at city hall.  What was on the agenda?  Was it an open public meeting?  How did it differ than a regular meeting?  The City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) was on hand at least to answer those questions and reported on it in the next day's paper:

(the first column is also in this COLDNews e-article) 

A look at the committee shows that all 7 city councilors are present other than Councilor Bourgette who made the later meeting.  So a quorum of the Ludington City Council was present and they were discussing public policy issues, but not voting on them (this is much like 'work sessions' held by the City of Manistee). 

This is a public meeting, and is ruled by the Michigan Open Meetings Act (OMA).  Did it meet the requirements?  Let's look at how it was posted first, a link on the home page of the City website takes you to this newsflash posted well in advance, one would probably believe that such notice was also posted on the City bulletin board at the same time:

A look at the previous meeting's minutes shows no alert of this meeting, nor is there anything on the COLDNews electronic media about this meeting nor did it show up in the printed community calendar on the day and days before this meeting.  Nor does the city website show that it was ever noticed as a non-regularly scheduled meeting.  I have been informed that a citizen who subscribes to meeting notifications did not receive any notification about this meeting

But even with all those oversights, including any sort of indication what is on the agenda for this special meeting, this almost meets minimal proper public notification procedures as delineated in section 5(4) of the OMA, but not quite:

"The public notice on the website shall be included on either the homepage or on a separate webpage dedicated to public notices for non-regularly scheduled public meetings and accessible via a prominent and conspicuous link on the website's homepage that clearly describes its purpose for public notification of those non-regularly scheduled public meetings."

The public notice was not on the home page, nor was it on the NRSM page, and so is in violation of the OMA.  When you consider it's omissions on other notifications and any stated purpose or agenda, this isn't an attempt to improve the image of the City in terms of transparency.  I and many other people who keep tabs on city government were caught totally off-guard on this meeting; this needs to change for future Committees of the Whole meetings.  One would think they are not currently facing an OMA lawsuit.

Since this was the first Committee of the Whole held at city hall, the notice should have also notified the public that it was open to the public and they had the right to address the committee under rules established and other rights available under the OMA.  As typical, city hall has not collected and published their rules of order for these COTW, just like they haven't codified such rules for the council since Ludington incorporated itself.  This would be a good exercise for them at their next regularly scheduled meeting.  

[XLFD]

Added recently is a link in the City's Documents on Demand system that has the agenda for the first COTW meeting.  Noticeably absent is any period for public comment, so even if you had wanted to go to this meeting, they weren't going to hear anything you had to say unless perhaps you informed them that you had a right to address this meeting of the city council because of the OMA.  

One wonders if Councilor Brandy Henderson is committed to and really believes in communicating with the public, why does she take part in so many committee meetings that offer no opportunity for the public to actively communicate and participate in them?  Even the city-friendly Michigan Municipal League stresses that these meetings must observe these rules and include the public and allow them to participate.  It gives the public the perception that city hall will do what they want regardless of the public's input.

[shinblind]

As is my civic duty to aid the City of Ludington in their search for a new city manager, instead of having to meet illegally to discuss the situation, they should have started with the premise what is the average salary for a city manager.

Not $122,000 as former city manager John Shay was paid.

No.

Not above this amount, as self serving Shay stooge Steve Brock claims that,"...wage will likely go up for the positions, and that paying the city manager more will make the job more attractive to potential hires."

Huh???  It is not a beauty contest Brock, get over yourself, we have been down that road with the last manager.

Not $100,000

Nope.

Lets try $86,259.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=City_Manager/Salary

That's for a manager we could find with 10 years of on the job service, not someone who still needs their training wheels.

Instead of offering $130,000.+++

Lets start with a base salary of $75,000 and see who might be interested in the job.

Here is another helpful hint, put an ad on Craigslist's  advertising for a city manager.

And then actually do some work verifying their credentials. 

Instead of relying the "good ole boys" from the "Michigan Municipal League of which Ludington is a member" to do the thinking for the council.

This council is so pathetic and incompetent, we would be better served with a bunch of Magic 8 Balls.

[Freedom Seeker]

Said so well, shinblind.  Exactly what I was thinking about the city manager salary.  At least Wincewski raised an objection about offering an interim so much to start.  And who knew that cm has a car allowance also?   Where can one find the magic eight balls? 

[Brad]

The Magic 8 Ball would be much like the councilors since most answers are basically a YES.

[Freedom Seeker]

So funny Brad! Thank you for that. I forgot about those Magic 8 balls! I think whoever is setting Open Meeting policy is stuck on "Better not tell you now," and one running the meeting:. "Reply hazy, try again ". Lol.

[Willy]

Magic 8 balls, that's funny. However, Mastic A holes might be a better description.