Before reading Part 3, you are invited to click on this You Tube link Mullett Township Board Meetings The complete January 7, 2014 Board Meeting audio is now available in 4 parts for those who did not venture out. New for 2014, the comment section now has click-on links to the "good" parts. After cleansing your palate, or even if it leaves the same taste in your mouth, please come back and follow the "progress" as the Mullett Board crawled through calender year 2013.
The June 3, 2013 Mullett Board meeting convened at the East
Mullett Firehall. The Board made a long overdue first step to engage and better
represent the residents, taxpayers, and “registered” voters on the “other side”
of Mullett Lake. My only suggestion would be to attempt to deal with “local”
issues when they sit on the “other side”. Topinabee and the Topinabee
Development Association’s agenda for Topinabee have monopolized township
business for the last 5 years. Take a break. Tailor the agenda to accommodate
those residents who are paying for the gentrification of Topinabee while
squatting to use a pit toilet at Boy Scout Park.
The public comment opened with Mr Dennis Dukes delivering a
thoughtful, deliberate, and sincere request to take some action repairing what
he identified as “dangerous” road conditions, potholes, on East Mullett Lake Rd
and Deveareaux Lake Rd. His request was simple. Please pass a Mullett Township
resolution asking the Cheboygan County Road Commission to repair these two
county primary roads. Make the CCRC aware by formal resolution that there is a
safety hazard. When Mr Dukes later “interrupted” the board business discussion
to ask if that resolution would be passed, Supervisor Mary Anne Gale stated,
“not dealing with that now” and he was chastised by the Board “out of order,
out of order”. He responded with a “letter from my lawyer” threat.
Another attendee asked about resurfacing roads in Topinabee
and the promised ISO Certification of the township fire departments. ISO
Certification should be a priority item. Meeting the higher standards is not an
overnight task. It will save hundreds to possibly thousands of dollars on Mullett
residents’ insurance costs.
A lady identified only as Annette stated she was “sick”
about the new park in Topinabee. She speaks for the hundreds who feel the same
way. Thanks TDA.
Dennis Jonski drove from the west side to express his
concerns that Sutherland Rd end on Mullett Lake, near the Noka Café, was being
abandoned. Previously, the Mullett Board authorized Quit Claiming, giving free,
a portion of this roadway to Brian Callaghan, who had been attempting for years
to gain some free lakeshore property by adverse possession. Dennis stated he
had documentation that in 1986 the CCRC installed the PUBLIC ACCESS sign,
indicating 47 feet for the public to use. The Board assured him there nothing
to worry about. Supervisor Mary Anne Gale says “everybody wins”, Brian
Callaghan has a deed, but everyone can still use the property. How does the
song go? Don’t worry, be happy. Mr Jonski had a right to be alarmed. Give them
an inch, they take 47 feet. By fall, the PUBLIC ACCESS sign, indicating 47 feet
for the public to use was gone. The thieves even took the post. Later, before
the snow fell, another, or maybe the same thief removed the SWIM AT OWN
RISK-Mullett Township sign that had been screwed to a tree. The Mullett Board says don’t worry, be happy
as we allow the people on the lake to remove any sign that acknowledges public
access. As Paul Chapoton famously asked: Why are “these people” down here? Why
don’t these people just use the public park to get to the lake?
Mr Art Gariepy, part of the TDA contingent, stated the
Topinabee Beach Park project was being judged unfairly. He stated a person
cannot look at the foundation of house and decide whether it was good. The
landscaping and all the finishing touches need to be done. It’s all done now
Art. The snowfence looks great. The closed park is a community asset. For those
TDA members hoping to find a quote usable for their propaganda, that is
sarcasm.
The Board got down to business with more discussion on
MaryAnne Gale’s employee policy and the four informational kiosks for the Park.
The Board approved moving the TDA monument, the half-built
water feature. The Fleis &
Vandenbrink/TDA park design had placed it where the Wade-Trim/TDA “Streetscape”
parking lot will be. The fountain/monument move was done before Board heard
about it. Did anyone ever hear Board discussion or approval of the installation
of a bronze plaque on the backside of this “water feature”? Mysterious stuff
goes on behind closed doors. A Wishing well disappears and a plastic rock appears like magic.
The Board also approved snow-fencing the entire
Topinabee Park at this time. A month before the Grand Opening and Ribbon
Cutting ceremony, over on the “other side” of the lake, the Board decides to completely
close the unopened Topinabee Park for the winter.
Trustee Dennis Dombroski gave his support for an over-lay
zoning restricting pole barns. Supervisor Mary Anne Gale didn’t. End of that
story.
Supervisor Mary Anne Gale plays a “Mulligan” and decides not
to accept the offer from the CCRC for the Jewell Rd and Devereaux Lake Rd ends
to be transferred to Mullett Township ownership. Will these road ends be closed
for public access to Mullett Lake?
Bob English’s bid to provide power to the Topinabee Pavilion
and maybe the irrigation pump is approved with a cap of $5,000. David Ogg, the
“liaison” for the Board and Park Project Coordinator, with the full knowledge another
electrical firm has already been hired without any Board approval, sits silent
while English is awarded this $5,000 contract. The other contractor wires the
pavilion starting the next day. More taxpayer funds wasted as Bob English
redoes some of the new work to satisfy Mullett Board expectations. Can Mary
Anne call another “Mulligan”?
The Board “postpones” a decision on a trash dumpster. How
many “Mulligans” are allowed?
Now, finally, here is some business relevant to the “other
side” of the lake. The Board, after many years, decides Boy Scout Park will
receive some DNR style pit toilets. Where? When? The Board decides to first
develop a site plan before installing the toilets. If this was the Topinabee
Beach Park, wouldn’t David Ogg just pick the potty location and if there was a later
problem, drag that pit over there?
At another Special Meeting held on June 9, 2013 the Board
had to deal with another question of adverse possession by a lakeshore property
owner. Guess the word was out. The Mullett Board is giving away lake property. After
parking on railway or DNR property for years, the Nissleys took advantage of Mullett Township’s recent acquisition of
a parcel for Park expansion and filed an adverse possession claim. The driveway
was clearly open and adverse use under the law, but the DNR only recognizes
structural encroachment as adverse possession.
The Nissleys never filed against the DNR
because the DNR would have said: move your drive off DNR property. Ignoring
previous Board practice of issuing easements or licenses to use with
restrictions, Supervisor MaryAnne Gale gifts a driveway to the Nissleys. She also approves spending up to $5,000 to restore
the drive and cedar trees that the “liaison” person and Project Coordinator David
Ogg had allowed the general contractor to destroy.
Public comment at the July 1, 2013 Board Meeting opened with
a question to Supervisor MaryAnne Gale. Is Bill Morgan (former Supervisor)
attending the Cheboygan County Road Commission meetings? MaryAnne said no.
Let’s see. Reviewing the CCRC minutes on-line, since MaryAnne Gale was elected,
as she says, by a 2 to 1 majority, she has apparently attended two (2) CCRC
meetings. At the annual CCRC/township’s meeting, basically mandatory, where the
CCRC confers with township leaders, former Supervisor Bill Morgan accompanied
her. During the same time period, Bill Morgan attended ten (10) CCRC meetings.
I’m sure Bill attended some at his own time and expense simply because he, like
many of us, is interested in Mullett Township. The count is: elected township
Supervisor, 2 meetings, concerned citizen/retired township Supervisor, 10
meetings.
The sad, sad truth is Supervisor MaryAnne Gale again dropped
the ball after professing her alleged concerns about safe roads in east Mullett
Township. The Old School Rd Safety Grant which is in Mullett Township was
discussed and dropped due to inadequate funds at the June 6, 2013 CCRC meeting.CCRC Meeting-Old School Rd Where was the Mullett Township Supervisor or any representative from Mullett
Township? Not at this CCRC meeting. Sorry MaryAnne, the CCRC says no "Mulligan". It was laying there and you failed to play it.
The “Streetscape” Plan “A” is approved “with tweaks” to move
ahead after Tom O’Hare held court at the Topinabee Library to seek public
input. Asking Tom O’Hare to seek public input on one of his and the TDA’s
initiatives is the same as asking the Big Bad Wolf to poll Little Red Riding
Hood. The Big Bad Wolf comes back and says: She loves me. Wade-Trim was
approved to work on the TDA “Streetscape” and some park on the “other side” of
the lake.
July 15, 2013 was a somber “Special Meeting”. Stuart
Hancock, $14.50 an hour Mullett Township Facilities Manager, had quit.
Supervisor MaryAnne Gale alleged he had not found a “friendly environment in
the community”. Personally, other than saying good morning once or twice, my
only interaction with Stuart was an offer of a lift one morning when I noticed his
truck would not start as he was leaving work for the day. That was sometime
between 9 and 10 AM. The topic of discussion in Topinabee was: How does a
person put in an 8 hour day, and apparently accrue another 60 or 70 hours of
over-time in few months, without being seen during the daylight hours? Pretty
good job if you can find it. With the Board’s uber-employee gone, Mary Anne
Gale is seen placing toilet paper in the restrooms and the hiring process
started again. Another MaryAnne “Mulligan”?
Because of the very limited public participation at this July
15, 2103 meeting dealing with the determination and hiring of another employee,
the complete audio files are now posted on You Tube. Here is the link July 15, 2013 Special Meeting Please remember as you listen to the discussion, and there are 4 parts, this same
Board, only a few months prior, had supposedly determined the needs of the
township and the duties of a “Mullett Township Facilities Manager”. Do it right, or
do it over; what is the Board’s mantra?
