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.


Saturday, March 14, 2015

M-27 Storm Sewer Hides Under TDA Parking Lot

Tom (FOIA that) O'Hare thinks its all a big secret.
 Sorry Tom, your secret is out.

The Mullett Township Board authorized a payment of $33,600 to Wade-Trim last year for preliminary design work on this year's version of Tom O'Hare's TDA/Topinbee Village Streetscape and a grant submission to MDOT for a Transportation Alternatives Program Grant (TAP).

Please don't confuse this "streetscape" with 2010's Tiger II Grant "Green Corridor" "streetscape" application seeking $2.8 million dollars. Don't confuse it with 2011's downsized $1.2 million dollar Tiger III Grant "streetscape" application. Please don't confuse these applications with any of the numerous other grant applications, one actually submitted by the TDA without the Mullett Board's vote, by Tom O'Hare and his flunkies.

How much did the 2010 Tiger II Grant "Green Corridor" "streetscape"plan and grant application cost? Ask Tom O'Hare.

How much did the 2011 Tiger III Grant "streetscape"plan and grant application cost? Ask Tom O'Hare.
  
What did Tom O'Hare get this year for your $33,600 in tax dollars paid to Wade-Trim? Not this application to the MNRTF for "various recreational improvements". That cost you another $2,500. 

On December 17, 2014, a FOIA request was made to Mullett Township Clerk Rachel Osborn. The request was for the notes, meeting minutes, and some emails between "streetscape" committee members. The request also asked for the Topinabee Streetscape plans and the plans for the Topinabee Beach Park parking lot expansion to be furnished as PDF documents. An earlier FOIA'ed email from Wade-Trim clearly indicated that plans had been sent as PDF attachments to an email.
Referring to my December 17, 2015 FOIA request, my request for "streetscape" design plans was made as simple as possible:A PDF, TIFF, JPEG, or other electronic form that is scalable and reproducible with readily available consumer software is preferred.  Clerk Osborn's statement at Tuesday night's meeting that I requested large design plans was false.

5.Please provide a copy of the latest "streetscape" design plans including the "parking plan" proposed as part of a MNRTF Grant Application in the November 13, 2014 "Summary of issues resolved to-date" A PDF, TIFF, JPEG, or other electronic form that is scalable and reproducible with readily available consumer software is preferred. Paul Repasky of Wade-Trim is welcome to directly forward this by email attachment to:

Is Mullett Clerk Rachel Osborn actually so technologically challenged that she cannot forward an email? Can we believe Rachel Osborn's LinkedIn Profile or is it as fabricated as the TDA Beach Park parking lot MNRTF Grant Application?

Rachel Osborn

Clerk at Mullett Township
Saginaw, Michigan Area
Government Administration
Previous
  1. Dayton, Ohio
Education
  1. Indiana University South Bend

Experience



Clerk

Mullett Township
– Present (6 years 5 months)


Delta Control

Dayton, Ohio
– (11 years 11 months)Sales Engineer selling real time manufacturing control systems (computer control) and switching devices to panel makers, industrial heaters to the plastics industry, was a manufacturers rep

Skills

  • Microsoft Office
  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • Research
  • Legal Research
  • Outlook
  • Legal Writing
  • Public Policy
  • Policy Analysis
  • Editing
  • Community Outreach
Mullett Township Clerk Rachel Osborn, skilled in all these disciplines, was apparently unable to push that little arrow icon and forward an email message until now. After paying $63.25 by the always required USPS Money Order and eventually receiving the 24" x 36" design prints, the most interesting thing was what was missing: the TDA parking lot plan. 

 An indignant email...

At the March 3, 2015 Board Meeting, Mr Rapasky stated that MDOT had "looked at the over-all plan that included all this", referring to the parking lot, but "are not signing off on anything outside of their right-of-way". Clerk Osborn asked "did we mention this storm water that will be in part of this parking lot that will eventually be tied into the streetscape?". Clerk Osborn's states that the "storm water is a large part of the cost of the parking lot"..."it's a big item" and Mr Rapasky verbally concurs "it's a large part of the cost". Mullett Township Supervisor Gale then asks of Mr Rapasky, "will the trust fund (MNRTF) pay for a storm sewer?". Mr Rapasky replies "we're applying for it ..(mumbles)(unintelligible)" . 

...sent to Clerk Osborn and CC'd to everyone from her fellow Mullett Board members to DNR Director Keith Creagh asking about the missing parking lot plans received a response. 

An email forwarded by Osborn; she mastered forwarding an email; from Wade-Trim's Paul Repasky with the "storm sewer" plans attached as a PDF.

Attached please find a pdf copy of the storm sewer design working drawings. I did not intend to mislead or not include these drawing.  I have never included them with the “streetscape drawings” due to their incompleteness.

It's a miracle.  A 24" x 36" print sent as a PDF. What will they think of next? What does this "storm sewer" plan actually show?


It shows storm water drains along M-27, red arrows, connected with storm sewer lines, red lines, strung along M-27 from just across from the fire hall to just north of the pavilion. The red collector line is routed right through the last groves of trees near the pavilion. That only means more trees lost.
The big secret? The entire Topinabee Beach Park "recreational improvements" project being fraudulently foisted on the MNRTF is really the MDOT storm sewer hidden under some more asphalt paving. All those red-marked storm sewer lines hidden under the new pavement. A MDOT TAP Grant will not pay for this and the MNRTF should also not be paying for this with funds that are supposedly earmarked for recreational use. 

It will result in a net loss of grass and more trees removed or killed and additional polluted highway run-off directed straight into Mullett Lake.  Remember this promise.
 The Mission of the Topinabee Development Association is to preserve and enhance the unique historical character and charm of Topinabee