Scottville Optimist Board Claims Covert Power Grab on Optimist Hall by City of Scottville Leadership

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Vice President of the Scottville Optimist Board Julie Van Dyke dropped a bombshell at the opening of the public comment earlier tonight at the Scottville City Commission meeting.  She summarized the Optimist Board's findings in reading the following letter on the board's letterhead, finishing by giving a copy to each of the city commissioners.  The Ludington Torch got their own copy after the meeting which reads:

                                                                   Visual of potential improvements to Optimist Hall and adjoining park

To: City of Scottville Commissioners & City Manager

It has come to the attention of the Scottville Optimist Board of Directors that our original strategic

plan for the former Optimist Building & park is currently being undermined by the existing City of

Scottville leadership. We understand that they have begun to explore alternative options for the

future use of the building outside of our intended sale agreement to the Scottville DDA. This has

all been explored and begun without the consent of our club or the knowledge of the DDA board.

We are also aware that the City of Scottville leadership has begun discussion and taken action

toward potentially dissolving the Scottville DDA. This action appears to be a direct move by the

city leadership to gain control of the building ownership and remove the DDA board from any

decision-making authority with regard to the planned community center. This action is

unacceptable to our board, and we felt it imperative to communicate openly with our members

and other stakeholders within the community.

The Scottville Optimist Club views this action as a fundamental change to the original intention

and donation of the building and grounds. It is our understanding that if the City of Scottville

chooses to dissolve the DDA, according to the 2007 adopted ordinance 31.56 “termination of

authority” properties and assets owned by the DDA would belong to the City of Scottville. In our

opinion the appearance and timing of this situation is too convenient to be coincidental and would

appear to constitute the theft of the building from the Scottville DDA and the local businesses they

represent.

We, as a community, have already realized one of the negative ramifications of these actions

which involves the relationship with a local non-profit organization. City of Scottville leadership

misrepresented the existing ownership of the building and misrepresented the current status of

the planned community center project while interacting with the director of that organization. This

opportunity would have been exciting for the City of Scottville, however, the approach taken and

information withheld by city leadership has undermined that potential positive future outcome from

ever becoming a reality under the current city leadership. In addition, the existing pledged

donations of nearly $250,000 are now in jeopardy as a result of these interactions. The

relationship that has been built between the Scottville DDA and the Community Foundation for

Mason County, Pennies from Heaven Foundation, Scottville Optimist Club, and other donors is

now at risk. This intentional and active undermining of the existing project should be met with

public scrutiny and in full view of all parties involved.

Scottville Optimist Board of Directors

Joe Knowles, President – Julie Van Dyke, VP – Diane Watts, Secretary

Although the identity of the 'city leadership' planning matters of public policy secretly outside of open meetings is not disclosed in the letter, we have learned from Julie Van Dyke that there appears to be three involved with the shenanigans (pictured):  Mayor Marcie Spencer, Mayor Pro Tem Rob Alway, and City Manager Jimmy Newkirk. 

These people need to be investigated and held accountable if they are guilty of operating against standards of conduct of public officials and violating the Open Meetings Act.  Coincidentally, all three were named officials in my lawsuit filed last year against the City of Scottville and six officials, with Spencer and Alway alleged to have violated the OMA and Newkirk alleged to have violated the Freedom of Information Act.  

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Update, courtesy of Riley Kelley of the COLDNews:

Newkirk told the Daily News that, while there has been some outside interest in the Optimist grounds, the city has not inked any deals and has no plans to dissolve the DDA. “Another opportunity was explored because the price is going up. We didn’t seek anything; the city was approached by a nonprofit entity that was looking for space, so we explored it,” Newkirk said. “We didn’t ink anything. It’s not our building, it’s a DDA building.” However, he added that “nothing’s happening” with the planned park, noting that estimates from prospective developers have varied “wildly.” “We need to do our due diligence to protect the city and spend money wisely,” Newkirk said. “It’s still a DDA project, and it will be — nothing’s changed. But if you don’t explore other options and stay focused on one project as prices increase and costs increase, sometimes you have to … see what other opportunities are available, and that’s all that was done.” Newkirk said “nobody’s trying to undermine” and “none of those discussions have even taken place,” but he added that, ideally, work on the Optimist Park project would break ground sooner rather than later, as the building is becoming more of a burden to maintain. “If the DDA can bring their plan together, more power to them,” he said. “But I’m not sure that the original plan is cost-feasible anymore. They’ve been stagnant for quite some time with donations. “That’s pretty much the extent of the discussion. We took some time to listen to another opportunity … and that’s about it.” The Scottville Optimist Club sold the Optimist Hall to the DDA at a 50% discount for roughly $50,000 in 2020.

Newkirk appears to be saying that his actions were innocent and within his duties to the COS, so it now falls to the Optimists to show that it wasn't.  We hope that this can be a transparent process of discovering the truth, but Newkirk wasn't able to even answer a simple question offered last night on whether he fired Police Thief Murphy, or whether Murphy quit on his own volition.  The one count of my lawsuit which deals with Newkirk denying a non-exempt public record in violation of FOIA shows an ongoing weakness of the Scottville city manager: lack of communication.  It could be a fatal weakness for his career.

[Willy]

Very interesting development in Clowntown. Thanks for the information.

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The latest update is that Chief Murphy is still working, they didn't elaborate on whether he had been fired or that he had quit, but this is Scottville where actions of public officials are kept private whenever possible.  Reliable word on the street has it that Newkirk and Murphy had a heated argument and it's likely that both may have occurred:  "You're fired, Chief", "You can't fire me, I quit."  Scottville City Hall is Mason County's Peyton Place.

Murphy probably came to his senses when he realized his power trip on residents would be over, Newkirk probably came to his senses when he figured out that Murphy had enough dirt on him and enough support of the clowncil to turn his career in Sweetwater sour.  There's always such danger when one corrupt official tries to oust another.