A Fire Dog and Police Pony Show at the October 12, 2026 Ludington City Council Meeting

[XLFD]

The agenda packet for the October 12, 2026 meeting of the Ludington City Council was a very fraudulent representation of what would be happening at the meeting.  Two of the three action items were removed, the third was a rote ordinance for approving an electrical vehicle charging station at the Lakeshore Food Club.  A special presentation was added to review the work of the Ludington Fire Department (LFD) the agency responsible for 3/4 of my name, and a resolution in support of the Ludington Police Department (LPD). 

It was as if they were still marketing for a police and fire protection special assessment, which they unanimously gave up on at the last meeting, and were dismissing the regular program for a 108 minute infomercial on why the city and its public servants were your buddy, rather than people that just tried to rob you of more of your wealth.  It seems that at the last minute, they had realized a lot of material came out at that last meeting that severely damaged the reputation of the LPD, so much that Police Chief Christopher Jones, who we commonly call Police Thief Jones for his repetitive acts of fraud and public extortion, was absent.  It left us wondering whether it was because he was just the coward we know he is, or just that he wasn't a good enough actor to participate in the Fire Dog and Police Pony Show that the meeting turned into.  

For after citizens and business owners Jeff Henry, Ray Karboske and Daniel Jensen gave their own concerted presentation during public comment on how important it was to involve the taxpayers more intimately with the city's reported financial woes and hiring of a financial director, this reporter wanted direct accountability at what was brought up at the special meeting in regards to impropriety by the police and current city financial managers.  Read their full comments in the meeting transcript, my first comment follows the video:

XLFD:  "Happy Columbus Day.  Those who attended last Tuesday's special meeting experienced a rare treat.  They saw the city council reverse itself just one week after they made a very serious mistake.  We saw a fearmongering and apathetic city manager intent on taking as much taxpayer money as possible, turn into a caring insomniac.  Four councilors reconsidered their initial votes to inflict pain on our taxpayers, apparently because hundreds of pleas for mercy finally pierced their thick eardrums.  This was a very good thing to happen, but because city leaders no longer allow two public comment periods during special meetings, for no good reason, we citizens and taxpayers weren't able to express our thanks, or at least our relief.

City leaders will not disclose how much money they wasted just getting to the point where they abandoned their cause, nor will they acknowledge that the Plante Moran law firm they have spent tens of thousands of dollars on using as consultants were never properly contracted with by getting this council's approval as required by charter.  But city leaders have apparently decided to effectively take the Fifth on two accusations made last meeting coming from a former city councilor and a police pension board member.  

It was related that we are giving out $25,000 in signing bonuses to recruit police.  This amount is equal to what a person earning just under $14 per hour would bring home each year, and it's an insult to the taxpayers who fund such excess.  This was stated what is happening with LPD under Thief Jones, by a respected member of the police pension board, who also told us that our police captain was double-dipping-- receiving both a pension of $53,000 and a salary of $85,000.  This poor excuse of an officer has been coming to your meetings and so I asked him point blank after the meeting-- because you representatives would not do your job-- whether he was double-dipping and he refused to answer, just like all of you when Mr. Fellows brought it to your attention.  A majority of you wanted to raise our taxes just two weeks ago to fund these immoral excesses and your silence on the ethics of it all is deafening [END comment].

If I had another meeting or two, I would have brought up the harassment issues that Jason Miney leveled against Jones at the special meeting, that was probably why Thief Jones decided to wash and perm his hair rather than make the meeting.  One can best sum up his bravery with a ballad originally sang by a Monty Python bard to make Sir Robin famous after his courage was tested:

Brave Thief Chris Jones ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Thief Chris Jones turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Thief Chris Jones!

His surrogates would rush to the defense of the LPD at the meeting, which is why a meeting that could have fit within a half hour time slot lasted nearly two hours.  It was like a bad horror movie that consisted more of stock filler than meaningful content.  Jason needed to stay down, Freddy needed to retreat to his own dreams, Hannibal needed to be content with one meal.  

To their credit, city officials would try to justify the double dipping of Captain Mike "My Caveman" Haveman and the $25K signing bonuses, both stealthily leading to the city's current financial conundrums, which leads people like the three other commenters to ask for full reconciliations and transparency.  The self-policing city officials are doing on themselves are obviously not working when they covertly do this unethical, immoral, and possibly illegal activities by a department that is supposed to protect and serve us-- and follow the law. 

The defense of the officials would fall flat and would seem to have worked against them; one could even see that in the reactions of those who remained quiet on the topic.  Back during the term of Councilor Angela Serna, we saw the city weaponization against honest dissent happen a couple of times to an official who spoke frankly about poor performance of her peers on the dais; taking such a stand puts targets on an honorable official's back, her in Ludington.  

But the dog and pony show began in earnest after the first comment period to paint the LPD as something very special, starting with a presentation of the LFD's year in review, because nobody has made any bad claims lately about the integrity of our fire department.  This would last a little over 15 minutes and feature plenty of former mayor and current Fire Chief John Henderson's anecdotes geared to be favorable towards the LPD, their sister in the field of public safety. 

After this, they passed the only item of business left on the original agenda already noted, and then Councilor John Terzano gave a lengthy lecture on public service.  As the minutes rang up, I wasn't probably the only one hoping that each official would start patting each other on the back considering themselves the saviors of us all and without them that we citizens would be little better than savages.  A good public servant needs to have the humility to understand that their position is totally dependent and paid for by the common folks and that they are merely servants to the overall will of the people.  Like any master, we expect our servants to know their proper place in the cosmos.  

Following the 18-minute sermon, Councilor Kathy Winczewski would present a resolution of appreciation for the LPD heralding the department.  The LFD report and this ceremony would cover close to 40 minutes of time that the assemblage could have spent at home listening to political attack ads. 

But then came City Manager Kaitlyn Aldrich with her own pablum.  She would start by addressing some recent comments in social media (not any I know of) in regard to people seeing city vehicles outside of the city limits and offered potential reasons about why that could be.  We advise all citizen auditors to fully document any situation where you see city vehicles being operated outside the city limits in the middle of the workday and well beyond when they would be going home.  The taxpayers are footing the vehicle leasing costs the city has inflicted upon us, we need to see that those vehicles are used only for official business, and possibly for home-to-workplace transportation the rest of the time. 

Aldrich showed why she should never be in the realm of public service by her prepared statement defending My Caveman, first saying about his employment contract:  "This is incredibly personal information... keep in mind that when you're talking about someone's finances, it's very uncomfortable... We owe him the same respect and consideration that we would extend to any city employee."

Though she would at one point admit that everything she talked about was publicly available information (see here for Haveman's 2023 salary), these statements made it clear that our current city manager is the biggest cockroach around and illustrates why citizens pleas for transparency and accountability are falling on a pair of deaf ears.  She defended the double dipping:

Contrary to her assertions, this 'double dipping' arrangement is unethical on many grounds. 

First, it treats a pension as a massive bonus rather than a post-employment safety net.  Collecting a retirement benefit while simultaneously working full-time in the same role should be viewed as a manipulation of the pension system. 

Second, when a department allows a captain to draw both a top-tier salary and a robust pension simultaneously, it creates a massive localized financial burden. Taxpayers are effectively paying almost double for a single position, diverting public funds that could otherwise be used for hiring more officers, updating equipment, or improving community services.

Third, applicable here as this has been a well-kept secret for years, these specific re-hiring arrangements usually require the explicit approval of police and city administrators who rarely use open, competitive hiring processes. This creates a strong perception of a "good old boys' club," where elite command staff use political connections to secure lucrative personal deals that are completely unavailable to rank-and-file officers, who also lose the potential for their own upward mobility.  

Lastly, it allows for pension spiking, did My Caveman maximize his Final Average Compensation (FAC) by cashing out years of accumulated sick leave, vacation time, and longevity pay just before 'retiring'?  Did he use this "spiked" calculation to secure an artificially inflated lifetime pension, and then immediately step right back into his old salary?  Why should this not be viewed as a compounding ethical violation of public resources?

She also claimed that in 2023 "It was negotiated again and reviewed by the Finance Committee and ultimately approved by this body."  We found notes from a Dec. 4, 2023 Finance Committee meeting where Haveman's contract was discussed and it never mentioned anything about collecting his pension and working as captain.  Neither would it be clarified at the December 18, 2023 meeting:

Nothing in the contract itself indicates that double-dipping will occur, as seen here beginning on p. 128, which is probably why it became a warning call from Pension Board Trustee John Fellows this year.  The only thing My Caveman is protecting and serving is himself and his bank account.

Councilor Tim Large should be commended for bringing the $25,000 recruitment bonuses up for discussion and the city manager seemed less prepared to answer this question, she would say:  

"There's a $25,000 hiring incentive now if you're a certified and that is within the existing LPD budget that is not coming back and asking city council to allocate more financial resources to the police department it's because the police department has been down so many officers for so long that there is money in the budget to afford to offer the hiring incentive; if an officer comes to Ludington and receives a hiring incentive, it guarantees them to stay with the LPD for five years."

Warren Wilson wrote a brilliant essay, published by police-friendly Police1.com that explains why recruitment and other bonuses do not solve any problems.  The idea as noted in his title is to fix what's broken instead.  He expounds on various reasons they don't work, such as bonuses:

--Don't fix the real problem

--Encourages mercenary bonus hopping

--Still come out of the budget

--Kill morale

--Attract the wrong crowd

Like any good analysis of a problem with an improper solution, he offers true solutions:

--Train leaders, not just cops

--Be honest and demand honesty

--Recruit wisely

One doesn't see the current leaders of the LPD doing any of the above.  What we see is the top cop courageously running away and another honestly double-dipping from the city's budget that we begin to see clearer as to why the city is so cash strapped even when the burden on Ludington taxpayers doubles the inflation rate over the last four years.  Our officials have forgotten that their masters deserve fiscal responsibility, accountability, and transparency, not more official bullshit flying around council chambers in a dog and pony show like this meeting turned out to be. 

[Daniel Jensen]

Leelanau County taps former Mason County administrator as interim finance director – 9and10News.com
https://www.9and10news.com/2026/10/14/leelanau-county-taps-former-m...

[XLFD]

This is interesting.  If Ludington had its way, I'm sure it would love to hire Fabian Knizacky as their initial Finance Director, a position they have posted and closed.  The article says that Knizacky will only work until mid-January, is that a signal that he expects to have other employment at that time?  

Frankly, I think Knizacky (if hired) would stay only long enough to validate the position, should the position be created by the city council, assuming the charter proposal on the ballot is passed.  Knizacky has shown through his years of service that he is an honest and honorable person and a bit of a perfectionist, I doubt that he would stay on long as he would get sickened by the way city hall is currently ran.

I also believe that he would understand the city charter enough to know that if the voters do the smart thing and reject the charter amendment proposal, that he would reject effectively being a deputy clerk who makes twice as much as the elected clerk.