Kiwanis Club Members in audience 4 10 2018 880w415h

Unhappy Kiwanis Club Members watch the Township Board grind their Dreams to Dust under the weight of Ineptitude, Infighting and Inertia

Perspective by Jim Nelson. 

Trustee Otto's ignorance-fueled arrogance plumbed new depths in her attack on the Land Preservation Committee's three month old Facebook page.  She attacked the page, insinuated the worst, and in a stunning demonstration of the full ugliness of her motives, asked what was on it. "Yeah, what are you putting on there?" Otto didn't even know.

What made Otto's attack seem just plain perverse was that she couched it in terms of fear of the unknown, fear of innovation, fear of change, fear of doing anything new or different.  Nobody else had a facebook page.  People might discuss issues!  What made Otto's attack ironic is that the cost of burying LPC notices and publications in the Township Website exceeds the Zero dollar budget granted the all volunteer Land Preservation Committee.  The Board hasn't given the LPC a single dime.

Later, Township Attorney Brad Maynes explained to the Board that the Township Attorney takes directions from the entire Board, not from individual members.  Our Township Attorney schooled local faux Conservatives on the meaning of the Constitution's First Amendment.   If you were listening, there was an underlying subtext.  Boardmembers were warned not to repeat the scheming of previous Boards.  That is my interpretation; Maynes was circumspect.  Otto's blustery attempt to reframe the debate was warded off by Trustee Zelenock's patient and quiet questioning of the Attorney.

Otto fretting cam1 20180410 02 52 25 06 800w351h

Otto frets while Chick gets lectured about the ethics of Boardmembers' relationships with the Township Attorney.  This is within moments of Otto claiming that she had merely seconded Trustee Chicks' misbegotten Motion to suspend the 1st Amendment rights of her fellow Trustees, Chairperson Chockley in particular.

There were other heroines of this meeting. 

I will finish this report later.  There is a backstory to be told.  I do not claim to completely understand it.  Some of this evening's conflict is rooted in the efforts of long time community contributors, the Kiwanis, to make something out of Downtown Whitmore Lake eyesore 75 Barker Road.   For reasons unknown to me, the DDA also wants 75 Barker Road.  Supervisor Chockley somehow got into the middle of this and left Kiwanis members extremely frustrated.  The Township Building Department bigfooted the building's habitability.  The Kiwanis want to host their resale shop at 75 Barker but voicing that wish forced a change of use designation which forced code mandated upgrades.  An accessible restroom would be one significant cost.

Choose your side.  On the one is the grass roots community organizer, the Kiwanis, who it could be argued have earned the right to take on the project.  They have deep roots in and affection from the Community.  People would rally behind them.

On the other side is the DDA.  If the "North Park" "synthesis" project ever happens, the DDA will become the richest player in Whitmore Lake, fueled by TIF tax dollars siphoned away from schools, public services, capital equipment maintenance, township hall and fire station roof replacement, road maintenance, etc..  All the money will be controlled by an unelected, politician appointed body.  What's not to love?

Your LiveAgenda will lead you straight to the high points of the meeting, HD and Close Captioned.    

What goes into a LiveAgenda?  This is what the VideoNorthfield edit of this meeting looks like.  I added one camera to the Township's single camera feed.  For a look at a complicated finished video, check out the 3-27-2018 Board meeting, where Tetra Tech presented its Cost of Sewer Services Study.

Editing workflow 2018 04 10 800w268h

 

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