Township Manager Aynes Eased Out the Door at 2/9/2021 Board Meeting

I can't be the only person who noticed the disappearance from the Township website of former Manager Howard Fink's favorite work of fiction, the page claiming that Northfield Township voters had voted for "the Township Manager" form of government in 2012.

Quite the opposite was true. The 2008-2012 Board attempted to hire a Manager but did not complete the task. The core of that 2008-2012 Board was kicked out of office by Township voters in November, 2012.

It was their replacements on the 2012-2016 Board who hired Howard Fink as Manager. Four years of Township wide turmoil ensued. Biltmore rose and fell.

A reform Board was elected in November of 2016. Fink panicked. He fled to the relative comfort of Park Township, deep in Michigan's DeVos country. Door to Door Billionaires. Mercenary Mendacity.

FWIW, Fink's heightened interest in haircuts had telegraphed the fact that he had been shopping his resume and interviewing. As an anonymous attorney commented, Fink was a good interview.

Fink was tack sharp and underchallenged by Northfield Township He was a master of the cornerstones of municipal governance: policy prattle and government finance. His failings were a few social engineering tics, a facileness that rarely showed cracks or telegraphed doubts, a too willingness to lie when cornered.

Fink ran the Northfield Township Board like it was their idea. Fink shaped and controlled their perceptions. Fink fueled their fantasies. Fink owned them.

Throughout he remained true to his Liberal ideals, ideals I share. What are a few fibs between soulmates? With luck he'll someday land a position in a place befitting his underchallenged, underappreciated talents, a hyper planned upper middle class mecca like Pleasanton, California: diverse, education and educating valued, vineyards, close enough to a coast that sushi bars have something to work with, taco trucks to die for and municipal budgets meted out in acre-feet of cash.

January 6th, Insurrection Day, Local's Selfie at the Washington Monument Rage Rally

Long story shortened, the 2016 Board arrived with the promise of reform. Three fresh faces: Supervisor Marlene Chockley, Clerk Kathy Manley and Treasurer Lenore Zelenock.

Any promise of progress was soon crushed by the unholy evangelical marriage of Jacki Otto, Janet Chick, right wing extremist Tawn Beliger (pictured above at a Washington DC Protest) and the agnostic but loudly Liberal hating Libertarian Wayne Dockett

Otto and Chick dictated that the best way to control the new Supervisor was through another Manager. (A manager more easily controlled, it must be noted.)

If Fink had stuck around, the job would have remained his. That's how quickly they flipped.

Steve Aynes was hired. He was a nice guy. He knew his business. He spoke calmly and even mentioned the truth about the net costs of development at his public job interview. He knew what Fink knew but was less strident.

Thus began another four years of increasingly broken Board Meetings, a Supervisor bent, folded, spindled and mutilated by nonstop manipulation and deceptions large and small of the All-Republican cast of characters. Aynes was restricted to the signing authority of a gnat and micromanaged to a standstill. After approximately forever, the Board realized that Aynes was pinned down and hesitant to decide anything. Blame Board micromanagement. The Board led with the steadyness of a fish gasping for breath, flip-flopping on the bottom of a boat. The insane vacillation around the issue of doing something/anything/wtf about 75 Barker Road was only one example, exhibit A.

But wait! There's more!

Coming next, the story of Downtown Non-Parking and the Tsunami that's rolling down U.S. 23 toward the first downtown pot shop south of the Livingston County Line.

2/9/2021 Two Special Northfield Township Board meetings in One LiveTimeline (Aynes walks the plank)

LiveTimeline

CALL TO ORDER of 6-00pm Special Meeting

PLEDGE

INVOCATION

ROLL CALL

ADOPT BALANCE OF AGENDA

Public Comment: Lisa Lemble

AGENDA ITEM 1.

Dignan makes a motion to go into Closed session: "Pursuant to MCL 15.268(a) to consider the dismissal, suspension, or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, or to consider a periodic personnel evaluation of, a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual agent, per the request of Mr. Steve Aynes this will be a closed hearing"

Manley:< Motion passes 7 to 0
(The transition to closed session happens in fits and starts)
Jennifer Carlisle shares on her desktop the Notice of Closed Session. This will remain visible in the public zoom meeting room for the next hour+, well into the 6-30pm special meeting.
Boardmembers vanish from public room
Aynes appears: "Jennifer, it's you, me and Lisa, huh?"
Dignan reappears: "Jennifer, are you there still?"
Dignan disappears,
Aynes reappears at the top of the public facing zoom window
The Board remained in closed session for 51+ minutes. Part of that 51 minutes elapsed during the four or five minutes of transition following the vote.
The stream as it transpired was recorded continuously and uninterrupted to the Township Livestream account as the 6-00pm stream. The Boardmembers left public chat, secure from public observation in a separate zoom virtual meeting room.
For the purposes of this LiveTimelined stream, I eliminated the need for viewers to either watch 51 minutes of nothing or to guess where the meeting resumed. I cut out most of the 51 minutes of silence, empty room, and dead screen. The 51 minutes I replaced with a 30 second title.
The 51 minutes was streamed untouched to the Township Livestream recording of the 6:00pm special meeting.
There is one exception to the contentless-ness of this 51 minute interval. Manager Aynes did not attend the closed session. Physically, he remained in his Township office, fitfully reading bundles of paper. The zoom thumbnail reflecting his activity remained visible at the top of the public facing zoom meeting screen during most of the first closed session. So I time-compressed and overlaid his action-packed 51-ish minutes of office work onto the 30 second title. Aynes was muted. There was no audio.
Dignan reappears in public zoom room.
Boardmembers reappear in public zoom room.
Open session resumes.

AGENDA ITEM 1. Closed session: Pursuant to MCL 15.268(a) to consider the dismissal, suspension, or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, or to consider a periodic personnel evaluation of, a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual agent, per the request of Mr. Steve Aynes this will be a closed hearing

The Board enters into and remains in closed session for 31 minutes. This 6-30pm stream was streamed continuously and recorded in its entirety to the Township Livestream account as the 6-30pm special meeting.
Apart from Aynes' difficulty in reaching the closed session zoom anteroom, nothing was happening onscreen in the public zoom meeting, so I compressed it into a 20 second onscreen message.
Dignan, then the other Boardmembers reappear

AGENDA ITEM 2. Possible action as a result of Closed Session

Dignan: Motion to amend the Township Manager's employment agreement as follows, Should Mr. Aynes resign from his position, he shall be entitled to the severance amount referenced in paragraph 9.b of his employment agreement dated July 31st, 2017, contingent upon him entering into a severance agreement. Is there support?

Manley: I'll support
Dignan Motion by Dignan Supported by Manley. Roll call vote, please.
Motion passes 7 to 0

Dignan: I'd like to make a Motion. I move to amend the Township Manager's employment agreement as follows, Should Mr. Aynes resign from his position, the Board shall have the right to place him on paid administrative leave for the duration of his 30 day resignation period as set forth in paragraph 9 of his employment agreement dated July 31st, 2017.

Otto: I'll support.
Dignan Motion by Dignan Supported by Otto. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, Miss Manley will you call the roll?
Motion passes 7 to 0

Dignan: Finally, I'll make a motion. I move to accept the resignation of Mr. Aynes from his position as Township Manager, effective immediately, and to place him on paid administrative leave for the period of 30 days, after which time he will be entitled to his severance amount referenced in paragraph 9.b of his employment agreement dated July 31st, 2017, as long as he executes the release in the severance agreement.

Manley: support
Dignan Motion Supported by Manley. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, Roll call vote, please.
Motion passes 7 to 0
Dignan: Mr Aynes, we appreciate the time that you served this community and we wish you well. Thank you Sir.