A Quick Tour Of Mullett Township

Mullett Township News & Views-Promoting Open Government in Mullett Township

There is also the Mullett Township Party Line or you make drink the Kool-Aid from the Topinabee Development Association "Artesian" Well

Mullett Township is a general law township in Cheboygan County, Michigan. The population was 1312 in the 2010 US census. The township and Mullett Lake are named for John Mullett, who with William Burt, surveyed much of the area between 1840 and 1843.

The commercial center of the Township is the quiet unincorporated Village of Topinabee located on the west shore of Mullett Lake on M27 highway. The village is a trailhead for the DNR Trail with off-street parking and restrooms.

The village has a Post Office, Convenience Store with gas pumps, Public Library with 24 hour outdoor WiFi, an artisan-owned woodwork shop, a breakfast cafe and a bar and grille. Township owned buildings include the Library, Township Hall and Fire Hall, and an unused former school building on Lea St.

Recreation needs are served with a beachfront park and covered picnic area, free public boat launch at the north end of the village, a small public access to Mullett Lake across from the Nokia Cafe and tennis court, ball-field, and playground equipment at a public park located up the hill on Lea St.

The east side of Mullett Township is largely rural, with no commercial development. Township services include a Fire Hall and volunteer East Mullett Lake Fire Department.


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

If You Ask No Questions-They'll Tell You No Lies

The Truth is Free


Mullett Township taxpayers may request a Free map of the proposed Light District, please specify JPEG or PDF. 
       mullettownship@yahoo.com





What is the Mullett Board afraid of? The Truth?

The link provided here directs you to a page on this site with the 2015 Light District Assessment Rolls. The rolls were originally published on the "official" Mullett Township website (blog). Now that site only has this:

To view the Mullett Light District assessments for 2015 go to this page.   

A bad link that delivers only this message:

Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist. 
 
UPDATE: PM February 8th, 2015-The "official" Mullett Township website (blog) now has a link to a list of names. All valuations of parcels and any reference to mills has been removed. Was there too much truth?

To see your proposed costs, now apparently estimated at .34 mills, and the accuracy of your parcel records, click on this link to view the Mullett Board's bright idea.

A large number of concerned citizens, Mullett Township residents and taxpayers, attended the February 3, 2015 Hearing with a scheduled 15 minutes to voice their comments to the Mullett Township Board concerning the formation of a Special Assessment Lighting District. 

The Board again ignored "best practices", provided no valid reason justifying a new district,  any overview of the perceived benefits, or any proof of demand from the public that justified the Board initiative to form the district.

 Instead, Supervisor MaryAnne Gale stated that the assessor, legal counsel, and the Board were there to answer any questions. What a legislative tool the Mullett Board has now adopted. 

The Board says they are going to do something and you are free to ask questions to try and determine what they plan to do. If You Ask No Questions-They'll Tell You No Lies.

The lies will be discovered later. Meanwhile, you may now view the documents that allegedly allowed the Mullett Board to charge you taxes for lights for the last 65 years. The law that covered Special Assessment Districts then was Public Act 246 of 1931. A law that was enacted 18 years before the "Historic" Lighting District was formed was apparently ignored. 

The notation MaryAnne in the upper left corner of the first document is there because Mullett Clerk Osborn provided these copies to Supervisor MaryAnne Gale. As of February 3, 2015, the January 22, 2015 FOIA request for these documents from Mullett Clerk Rachel Osborn was unfulfilled. Supervisor Gale provided the copies of a public document that you are now free to read. Miraculously, less than 24 hours after they were finally provided, they are posted here for the world to see. One less secret in Mullett Township goverment.



The first document, an excerpt from an unknown original dated February 3, 1949 says, "leave the lights on as-is until the hearing date". Clearly, street lights were installed and operating without benefit of any public hearing and the establishment of a special assessment district. The second "excerpt" allegedly sets a hearing date of February 15, 1949. 

Was the "light district" ever legal? 

Most likely not. If it was, would there be any real reason to form a "new" light district?

Is this why Mullett Township Clerk Rachel Osborn did not want to make these documents public? Are these 3 pages the sum total of Clerk Osborn's extensive research into the historic "lighting district"?

We still have more questions than answers?? 

 The majority of the public attending the February 3, 2015 hearing opposed the lighting district for a variety of reasons. 

Some wanted dark skies, some wanted lights that caused less light pollution, some wanted fewer lights, some wanted no lights. Some questioned the expense and why the proposed district was growing larger. Some questioned the obvious attempt to move from an assessment charge based on value to a fixed charge of "approximately $15 per parcel".

Not a single person stood and publicly endorsed the district as presented. Did this influence the Mullett Board?

 No. They think they are smarter than all the people in attendance. The Board initiative to establish a Special Assessment Light District forges ahead.