December 18th Update: With budget season fast approaching, a page has now been added with links to Mullett Township's recent bi-annual financial statements as filed with the Michigan Department of Treasury.
The first Regular Meeting of the newly elected Mullett Township Board on December 4, 2012 was Tuesday night entertainment at its best.
As part of
the open to the public meeting, the self appointed Mullett Township Board member
Tom O’Hare gave another report of his group’s activities and meetings he had
attended as a TDA member.
It was abundantly
clear by all who attended the two open November meetings held by this newly
elected Mullett Board that no one appeared adverse to community improvements.
The only difference was what improvements were seen as a priority and by whom. One unidentified individual saw a need for new
toilet seats on the open pit privies at Boy Scout Park.
At the other end of the
scale, Tom O’Hare and the TDA felt the Mullett Township Hall, with recent paint,
newly sided gables, and with both new exterior and interior lights needs a new façade that
matches the TDA Master Plan. A Master Plan created by a Grand Rapids design
firm with such limited local knowledge that the TDA Master Plan labels M27 as
Straights Hwy and ignores the eclectic architectural mix, aging, and history
that make Topinabee, Topinabee.
The individual that
suggested new toilet seats did not price them at the Do-It-Center, but Tom O’Hare
felt he was within his self-appointed powers to go to Design Architects Forum
and receive an estimate of $75,000 for a new façade. I would suggest that if the TDA truly feels the Township
Hall needs $75,000 worth of “make up” with a new false front; they might have a
cookie and bake sale or even reach into their own pocket and contribute some to
that $75,000 goal. All of that is really
dependent on the majority of Mullett Township residents and the Board agreeing
that a new false front on the Township Hall is a “priority” need.
Mullett Township
taxpayers have already contributed, to paraphrase; the maximum match of
$120,000 allowed by law with the TDA designed Beach Front Park capped at a $400,000
total by the MNRTF. Mullett residents have watched the previous Board approve numerous
TDA “streetscape” grant applications, some as grandiose as $2,400,000 for less
than a mile of M27 that required a Mullett Township “match” of several hundred
thousand dollars.
That match, and there
have been numerous legally committed matches over the past few years all served
only to ‘tie” up funds possibly better spent on real Mullett Township
needs.
The single-mindedness
exhibited by Mr O’Hare and the TDA reminds me of the animated character
“Scrat”, that wild eyed saber-toothed squirrel who spends eternity, or at least
the entire Ice Age movie franchise, chasing his always just out-of-reach acorn
as the rest of the world goes on.
I only hope the new Mullett Board does not
spend another four years helping Mr O’Hare chase his nut to the exclusion of real
priorities. I’ll step
down from the stump and carry on with what was for the most part, clearly
Supervisor Gale’s meeting.
Supervisor
Gale’s first order of business was addressing the needless waste of taxpayer
funds paying per diem and mileage charges for Board members to attend meetings
just to get out of the house. The duplicity of attendance at most of these
meeting is clearly not required. If there are issues on a meeting’s agenda
important to Mullett Township, have one Board member attend. That reinforces
the need for Mullett Township to have a working agenda for all meetings and not
some fill in the blank form.
As taxpayers, we are sitting on the unpaid side of
the table at Board meetings and our time is equally valuable. The annual
attendance at the MTA convention by all of the Board is also an unnecessary
expense. Past practice of all Board members and even Deputies’ being encouraged
to attend is ludicrous. As new Board members, Supervisor Gale and Treasurer
Flory should be this year’s designated attendees. They will learn, network, and
bring new eyes to the meetings. The other Board members who have attended in
the past have not exhibited any knowledge gained or even
reported on their attendance.
There was
some discussion on who, and who could not, have a Mullett Township credit card.
By law, it appears both the Clerk and Treasurer must post a Surety Bond and thus
seem naturals to have access to a card. Clerk Osborn’s resistance to allowing
someone else to occasionally open the purse strings in time of need is uncalled
for. Her past behavior selecting and buying books from the Library Fund,
ostensibly for the Topinabee Library, and having them first delivered to her
home address contravened Michigan’s Library Laws and is not a demonstration of
her knowledge of Michigan law.
There was a
motion passed to give ALL Board members a $500 discretionary spending limit for
items or issues requiring “immediate” resolution or repair. Before passing this
poor practice motion, areas where possible conflicts of interest might occur were
discussed and dismissed. The Board felt any conflict of interest was eliminated
by advising a Board member that if he noticed a needed repair that he could do,
he should then ask another Board member to “authorize” the repair and payment
to him. Will this be abused? Of course. It should not even be
allowed and this is why Mullett Township needs both a formal purchasing, bid, and
procurement policy and a plain language ethics policy.
A sizable
agenda of business items were handled efficiently and without too much
controversy although the Board would be advised that every new item brought to
the table does not need immediate approval. A case in point is another Resolution
dictated to the Board at the meeting by the unelected Board member Tom O’Hare committing
Mullett Township to meet with and “explore” a Trails Town Service Grant.
The need for and the proposed Resolution had not
even been forwarded to all Board members and has the feel and that old familiar
smell of behind closed doors negotiation.
Ask the Board
if you can dictate a Resolution to them and have it passed; all in a five
minute period. That promised change to provide “open” government in Mullett Township
may be only an empty promise.
