Pickleball and Picking Personnel Present Problems in Pere Marquette Palaver

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Pere Marquette Charter Township (PMCT) has avoided the spotlight over controversies ever since the successful recall election of former Treasurer Karie Bleau in November 2023 following the resignation of her husband, former Supervisor Jerry Bleau, also facing recall at the time.  At their board of trustees meeting this week, controversies arose over a couple of different topics on the agenda.

The first occurred as the board of five trustees (Treasurer Sarah Iteen was absent) considered the three candidates up for selection by the board to replace resigning Trustee Andy Kmetz within the 45 days required by law for such appointments.  Three quality candidates applied for the opening:  Jennifer Doggett, Ron Soberalski, and Mike Wedding.  The last two meetings featured interviews with each; this meeting was the last scheduled before the 45 day limitation.  The minutes of those meetings were included in the agenda packet for this meeting.

Before the decision was the township's initial public comment period and two spoke centering on one of the candidates, the presumed favorite, Ron Soberalski, who served on the board before as a midterm replacement.  Perennial attendee Tom Murphy noted that anyone who wants to serve on the board should regularly come to the meetings and be familiar with the ongoing issues, noting that Soberalski was the best in this regard for his past experience with the board and as a member of the planning commission.  

Margaret Greiner, representing her views and the views of some of the county's Republican Party who also were in attendance (Sheila Genter and Daniel Jensen), warned the five Republican trustees that Soberalski appeared to be a faux Republican, pointing out that he has been strongly affiliated with the Democrat Party and platform as latest seen by his running as a Democrat for a trustee position in 2024.  

When this action item came up, Supervisor Kelly Smith praised all candidates (all in attendance) but moved to appoint Soberalski, and it was seconded by Trustee Jim Nordlund.  Trustee Megan Tresnak began the discussion over the choice by arguing that the board should consider using other people so as to make other citizens more likely to apply for openings, rather than be dissuaded by the appointments of successors who had familiar faces.  She would second Greiner's assertion that the convenient party change by Soberalski made her question his sincerity.  Clerk Rachelle Enbody agreed with her assessment and noted that the voters would ultimately make that choice in August and November. 

Nordlund would speak next, offering that party affiliation was not that important at the township level when it came to what was in front of them.  Smith would defend that, and note that having some diversity of viewpoints and opinions on the board would be an overall positive move.  Trustee Henry Rasmussen would add that Soberalski had proven himself as a conservative Democrat during his time on the board, working to better the township.

Tresnak would push back more before a vote was called for, a vote that was mostly anticlimactic with the two women voting no, the three men voting to appoint Soberalski.  He would not be immediately given his oath and seated at this meeting, as other local public bodies regularly do in similar situations.

This squabble over candidates and their qualifications would re-emerge in a different form with the same factions after the uneventful second reading and passing of two ordinances pertaining to franchising and zoning.  A motion to consider engineering services of $29K for a proposed pickleball court at the new Conservation Park (on Old 31 just north of the Twin Bridges, as seen above) came up for approval and the clerk balked.

Enbody was concerned that the potentially $330,000 project was not properly planned and had not been part of the overall recreation plan, which was more focused on trails and did not have pickleball courts as one of their priorities.  Smith recognized those concerns, noting that this was part of future long-range capital improvement projects, pushed forward a year by the immediate covering of $30K of the cost by a grant from the Community Foundation of Mason County and a $50K donation by an anonymous donor expressly for the purpose of installing eight pickleball courts (four initially).  

Smith would push the measure through after having to weather the storm of allegations against whether he followed processes properly.  If this project is realized, it would offer up to eight acrylic pickleball courts for the park and serve as a potentially bigger draw for that park-- which might be preferable to trails traversing an area that still shows a lot of evidence of environmental damage from the past and the din of a nearby highway.  Even so, Enbody made a good point that such a costly project should be better planned and vetted than it was.

Another thing that may have been better planned was the timepiece the township uses for its meetings, the above clock on the wall of the meeting's chamber.  It is often noted before the meeting begins that the clock is attractive enough, offering a look at the gears inside it in metallic shades.  The problem noted is one of contrasts-- it's often hard to make out the time on this clock because the metallic hands often blend into the clock's background. 

Finely engineered, looks good, operates well, but nearly useless to folks because its parts often blend in too well with each other.  That seems to describe some public bodies as well where each member thinks the same; let's hope that this township can continue to operate in high gear.