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May 2007 Postings 5-30-2007-05
ref 05-27-07-2 BACCO doesn't own
that pit Gene Carollo does.
5-30-2007-04
I've noticed that Kingsford city council
meetings work a bit different than ours:
When there is an issue discussed at a Public
Hearing, they not only listen but also keep track of letters received for
and against the item being discussed.
They do not make snide comments to the citizens
who get up to speak.
They do not disregard what the residents have to
say.
They table issues that have an obvious conflict
until it can be resolved in the best manner possible.
When I was a young Mountaineer, it was normal to
feel that long-standing rivalry with the Flivvers.
Now, I just feel envious of the Flivvers.
Vote for a change
in the next election; So Iron Mountain residents can again receive
the respect they deserve from their local government.
5-30-2007-03 Kudo’s to 5-29-07-04 my thought’s exactly. Also in case no one else noticed aside from the main Flagpole and the Courthouse and the Chamber of Commerce there was only ( 1 ) business in the Downtown area that showed respect and displayed our American Flag. Thank You Rocconi’s Ace Hardware !!!!!! Richard Dabb 5-30-2007-02
Response to 5-29-2007-05
You may be right. I shouldn’t be so judgmental.
Would it be fair to say there is enough documented evidence on this website
to claim that Mr. Marquart is "just handed checks"? I think there is.
Just recently, he was handed a huge check as a bonus, even after a
multitude of citizens complained about his incompetence to the council at
the same open meeting. That was unbelievable, to blow off Mr. Giguerre
at the same meeting, even insult him, and then turn around and
hand Marquart a 9% bonus. Don’t tell me you don’t know how many
things he has screwed up in this town - with documentation behind it.
What about Mr. Becotte? What can you tell
me about his contribution to our city? I know he was sold to us as a way to
save on engineering costs. That’s in writing. That has yet to happen. It is
obvious to me that he does not know the meaning of the word sewage, a
serious drawback to someone with the title of Director of Public Works.
He gets mileage checks handed to him on top of paychecks, too.
Do I really need to come up with more than we
already know about David Legge? Or Carl Little, Dave
Peterson, Gilbert & Associates, Eagle Appraisal, Rich
Brook? Are you trying to tell me that reassessment of property in Iron
Mountain is somehow not a duty of the "city assessor"? This
whole assessment situation is appalling, but would be funny if we saw it on
a TV show. We would be saying that something like that is so far-fetched it
could never really happen. But, here we are, having our pockets
picked with a job that was never correctly bid out, and not being done by
city employees, as stipulated. Read some documentation. It's there for
review.
STS Consultants
is on my list simply to illustrate the lack of engineering that Mr.
Becotte has done, and to raise awareness that they get city jobs that
are not competitively bid, hence, "handed a check".
As far as the city attorney, Mark
Woolard, and Brittany Hos(?), you may be right that I don’t have
much to go on to put them in the list. Look at the attorney’s results
as far as a background check of Mr. Marquart, though. What about the
rental ordinance? That had to be chopped up by a judge AFTER
it was rewritten a few times. Why do we even have Mr. Woolard, in a
position created just for him? With mileage? Ditto for Brittany?
With all of the "financial woes" we keep hearing about, you would think they
would not have created a bunch of new bureaucratic positions to suck up our
tax dollars, yet there they are. Yes, with the current state of affairs in
our city, I think there is a HUGE amount of unnecessary expenditure
of our tax dollars highlighted in this post. They are all "handed out
checks" that were not necessary before. It’s ALL NEW
expenditures. Think about it. You are being robbed blind.
It’s funny that they think they can brag about
the so-called "lower taxes." How much NEW expense is included just
in the things mentioned in this post? I haven’t even addressed the
fees raised or imposed for everything they could think of. Tax
cut, indeed.
5-30-2007-01
Does anyone know what the outcome of the DEQ
tests were of the ground samples?
5-29-2007-05 In Response to 5-25-07-01 5-29-2007-04
Mr. Marquart and Mr. Tousignant.
Yesterday was a special day for remembering our
armed services. There was a ceremony on the steps of the courthouse and
representatives were there from several neighboring communities. Where was
our mayor or city manager?
I was told that when you asked a man on the
street the question "What is going on this morning?" He had to tell you it
was a yearly Memorial Day celebration. Your response was as if you didn't
know.
Did you and our mayor not know about this event
and if you did, where were you as a representative of Iron Mountain? If you
honestly didn't know, WHY?
Our city government sure makes it's citizen's
proud!!
5-29-2007-03 After hearing about all the controversy regarding Iron Mountain’s city manager and council, I felt it necessary to attend a regular scheduled meeting. I must say I was astonished as to what I saw and heard from the public, city manager and council members. There were over 100 citizens in attendance at the May 7th meeting, in which at least ten addressed the council strongly voicing concerns regarding on-going issues in the city, none of which were positive. The biggest complaint centered on the current city assessor concerning the hiring of his felon brother-in-law and inaccuracies regarding his calculations in the reassessment. A long time, well respected, former mayor, council man and current TIFA board member brought forth a myriad of documented errors in the current administration. Even one former council member stated the atmosphere was like the TV show Fantasy Island. After every citizen spoke each received a loud round of applause, some even a standing ovation. So what do the Seven Dwarfs do, they award Snow White (the city manager) a 9% bonus to go along with his salary raise. Ladies and gentlemen of this community, you had better take notice of what is going on in this cities government. Please attend a meeting or at least visit the website www.ironmountainissues.org, but most importantly, vote so this sad fairy tale can come to an end. 5-29-2007-02 Keep your eye on that Hydraulic Falls water and sewer project. If TIFA let's that one get through them, they will be giving BACCO Construction Co. a $300,000-500,000 Christmas present.
They would be the only
beneficiary because they own the land this sewer and water
would service. The K-Mart Plaza already
has water and sewer and has no need for this project.
Doug Rigoni, Bacco executive sits on
the City Council. Bacco is the only beneficiary.
Connect the dots. We're watching
TIFA and Bacco and Doug Rigoni very, very carefully on this one.
5-29-2007-01
More sleight-of-hand at City Hall
Now we are going to get hit with a TV charge
of 5%. Marqurt says most cities in the UP already have it. So
what? It's a charge we didn't have to pay before, and we
wouldn't now if this council didn't levy it. It is another way to
extract money from us.
Council Member Dan Burke stated that the
1/10 of a mill cut was significant to some people. All together it
comes to less than $20,000 of a property tax levy of
nearly $5,000,000. That's less than 1/2 of 1%
of your city tax bill.
Behind your back, they slap on an
administation fee of 1% for the privilege of paying
your city property taxes. Cost to taxpayers,
$50,000.
They gouge us with an additional
$.15 per 1000 cubic feet of water for sewage treatment, plus
another $.25 per 1000 cubic feet of water used for some
kind of sewage improvement fund.
They added to the garbage collection
fee a while back that appears on our water bills.
Fees, fees, fees and more
fees. All passed quietly and adding up to
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, the only cut was the .7
mills by TIFA, not the City Council, and they fought that one
tooth-and-nail. The public knew a good thing when they saw it and
passed the Charter Amendment by way over 70%.
Handing me a dime while picking my
pocket for a dollar is not my idea of a good deal.
We have the most deceptive mayor,
city council and city manager in the history of this city. They have
got to go - all of them.
5-28-2007-01 Just scanning the site and noted post
5-27-2007-05 mentions City of Allen Park Suit concerning sewer back up. I would
hope the writer is not using that set of circumstances in the class action suit
and making a comparison to the City of Iron Mountains responsibility in the
Fleshiem Street sewer issue or the Grant Street water main issue..... sewer back
up into your basement drain from heavy rain in a combined sanitary and storm
sewer system that is at capacity from the rain..... and sewage being forced into
your outgoing sewer pipe under high pressure that causes it to blow out of your
toilet, saturating your home or.... water seeping into your basement from a
outside water main leak and water blowing up through your basement floor
destroying it and the plumbing in your home with enough pressure that the
toilets and vent pipes are ripped from is fasteners and jacked up through the
roof and the basement fills with 4 feet of muddy water,...... may be two very
different sets of circumstances. My point is I don't believe that it makes much
of a difference what the supreme court would say in the Allen Park decision. the
cases are not even similar. 5-27-2007-05
POHUTSKI v CITY of ALLEN PARK (116949) (To be
argued with JONES v CITY OF FARMINGTON HILLS) – At issue:
When sewer systems back up into homeowners' basements, must city governments
pay for the damage? The answer could affect a large number of Michigan
cities and homeowners. Background: The plaintiffs are a
group of Allen Park residents who brought a class action lawsuit in Wayne
County Circuit Court against the City of Allen Park. In February 1998,
sewage backed up into the plaintiffs' basements after 2.45 to 3.3 inches of
rain fell in the area over a 24-hour period. The plaintiffs argue that the
City of Allen Park must pay for the damage to their basements. The City of
Allen Park argues that Michigan's governmental immunity statute (MCL
691.1407(1)) bars the plaintiffs' lawsuit. But Wayne County Circuit Judge
Edward M. Thomas said that earlier Michigan cases recognize a
trespass-nuisance exception to governmental immunity -- in other words, the
judge found that the city, as owner of the sewer system, had a duty to
prevent sewage from invading private property. The City asked the Michigan
Court of Appeals to review the Circuit Court decision, but the Court of
Appeals issued an order on May 4, 2000, stating that the City had not
persuaded the Court of Appeals "of the need for immediate appellate review."
Now, the Michigan Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether MCL
691.1407(1) bars the plaintiffs' claims.
5-27-2007-04 I will not be posting any more comments on the outcome of the Trial this week and have removed some of the comments submitted. This site was not created for that purpose. Webmaster 5-25-2007-03
I'd like to comment on something said at
the last council meeting. The council was having a discussion on health
insurance. There were comments made about how they really should starting
making an attempt to build a fund for the retiree health care, and they
not hinted that previous councils should have thought of this long ago.
They (Marquart, Tousignant, etc.) were acting like they were the first
council to try to address this problem. What a load of BS!
That issue WAS addressed by a previous council, and they had a fund
built up to well over a million dollars for it, which I consider to be a
good start. If you refer to this link from the hot links page,
May 18, 2004 newspaper article
, you will see in the second paragraph that
this present council are the ones who destroyed that
already established fund. Now, they are acting like it's their idea to
"fix" something that previous councils ignored. Their comments on
this are the height of hypocrisy to me.
Furthermore, doesn't the mayor hold some kind of
position in the Michigan Municipal League? It should interest you to know
that the MML is FIGHTING a state bill to limit health
insurance. Their reason? It will take away cities' ability to attract
talented individuals to municipal employment. Wow, that actually makes
sense. However, it's exactly the opposite of what he is doing to Iron
Mountain employees and retirees.
5-25-2007-01
Another submission for the dumbest comment
award: When addressing the plight of Mr. Ron Giguerre and his sewage-filled
home, Mayor Tousignant said:
"We don’t just hand out checks."
Well . . . not if you are just a lousy citizen
without influential friends. But, here is a quick list of people that are,
in my opinion, "just handed out checks" by the City:
David Legge
- reassessment, convicted felon - over 5 grand a month for using a tape
measure
David Peterson
- reassessment, don’t know anything else about him
Carl Little
- reassessment
Eagle Appraisal?
- Marquart says so, but, does it even exist?
Rich Brook
- reassessment, even after rejection of his figures twice by the county -
forty grand in a month?
STS Consultants
- all manner of plans not bid out for
Bob Becotte
- DPW Director, but what does he actually do other than cover up sewage
dumping? What happened to his ability to do engineering for the City?
Mark Woolard
- does part of Marquart’s and part of assessors’ jobs
Brittany Hos(?)
- I have no idea what she does
City Attorney?
- I hope he doesn't get paid to sit at meetings and not chime in with legal
advice when he should.
Did I miss any? Probably.
5-24-2007-09
I have been talking to a lot of people through
general conversations lately and I can tell everyone on this web site,
----- the absolute consensus is that they will vote for anyone who is
willing to get rid of this Mayor Tousignant and City Manager Marquart!
I have never seen so many animate people who are
plain fed up with these two men and members of this council!
I believe this city is finally waking up to the
evils in our city government and are now willing to do something about it
come election time!
Process is as follows:
(1) Tousignant loses election (He is history
and just a bad memory)
(2) Four new candidates will be elected that
have integrity and honesty and care about this city and it's citizens!
(3) First new business for the new council
will be to fire Marquart on the spot
(4) Begin the healing process of this city and
get back to brass roots of decent leadership again.
(5) Call a town house meeting and ask the
citizens about their needs, wants and desires and ask for support from them
so these needs can be a reality
(6) Iron Mountain deserves this and we
are going to get our city back!
Expectations of Marquart, Tousignant
and council members over the next few months
(1) They will try to raise money from a
few wealthy people in the community and try to buy votes.
(2) Marquart will use his free news media,
Radio, TV, and local newspaper to release so-called announcements of great
things he has done and what the future holds (This will be exposed for what
it is as he does it)
(3) Marquart and Tousignant will suddenly
become everyone's friend and even return calls from those who call to
complain.
(4) Marquart and Tousignant will probably
resolve to finally pay Mr Giguere for his sewer damaged home (I hope they
do) but will make it sound like they have been trying to fight for Mr
Giguere for all of these months and finally caused it to happen. It is
already too late for them to take credit for this so It won't help them,
although I hope for Mr Giguere's sake, it does happen this way.
(5) Marquart and Tousignant will write and edit
articles for their friends to place in the paper like in the past.
The citizens group in this city has
inside sources and the truth will be printed, with documentation on
this site, as they take these steps to deceive the public
Concerned citizens group for better government
5-24-2007-08 Tennis Courts north side, east side, 25 location, and City Park. Baseball east side, 25 location and under construction north side. And the cost of filling in the duck pond (wetlands?) staggering even if it is done with a grant, grants are our tax dollars I’m sure we could find better uses for the funds. Also look good at the site where the pond is at best you would have an area prone to settling kind of like a small scale Chapin mine. (PIT) 5-24-2007-07 If I may comment on the sewage issue - regardless of what was in the sewage, and how much environmental damage was done - the dumping was illegal, and it was authorized by Bob Becotte. He should be fired just for being so stupid, and Marquart should be fired for joining in the coverup attempt. 5-24-2007-06
Deer at City Park
Response to 5-24-2007-02
While I agree with what you are saying, I'd like
to add that keeping residents busy arguing amongst ourselves is a perfect
way to keep us distracted while they continue to do what they please.
However, if you've noticed, big
decisions get made when our heads are turned and sometimes they are
permanent. Irreversible.
They will claim to take public input, and yet
have their plans already drawn up.
Marquart and the council have been setting the
stage with the deer pen since October, 2005. If you check the minutes to
various meetings, and also the letter in the 2006/2007 budget proposal, it's
there in print. Setting the stage also includes those statements made about
mange, and how their enclosure is "cruel and inhumane" when the council has
been presented, over and over, with various ideas and monetary solutions to
improve the pen.
What gets me is the lying about it.
At the last council meeting, Marquart said it
was high school kids' idea, from January, 2007. Well, at the very least
Marquart recommended it April, 2006 in writing.
The council also discussed it December 11, 2006
and at the January 8th, 2007 meeting they had 7 people speak at public
comment: 2 people stated that they might want the pen
reduced (1 for a Winter park), 4 people wanted it to stay
in its entirety, and 1 wanted a wading pool. So that is
6 total out of 7 that did not want it entirely
removed.
When the council spoke at that meeting in
January, every single one of them thought the deer pen should be removed:
Robin said to get rid of them for financial reasons, Doug said the money
spent on feed could be spent on park improvements instead, Sally said the
"bowl area" could have summer concerts, Eden said additional recreation
space, Ken said the council should create a Master Plan...
Well, they did. They hired a consultant to draw
up that Master Plan and had it at the Pavilion open house which, according
to Marquart, only 3 people showed up for. Did any of you know that there
was a "Master Plan" to take out the deer pen available at the Pavilion open
house? I sure didn't.
As far as "getting public input", just
when does our input count? Certainly not at public comment time at a
council meeting. Not in the voice of the people in the Daily News.
Doesn't this make you angry?
The "Master Plan" is in the 2007/2008 budget
letter and will be under the direction of Mark Woolard, Planning and
Community Development, along with Parks and Recreation Committee.
The deer may mean a lot to some of you, or they
mean nothing at all. But what should mean everything
to you is that you have a chance to stop them from doing what they
please, and loudly let them know what you want.
Let them know that we are not listless and
dim-witted. Marquart thinks he can run right over us with all the
issues....well, here is some damage that hasn't
been done yet. Speak up, for goodness sake, one way or the
other.
Fighting for the deer does not mean that
any other issue is being ignored, I can promise you that. It's just the
principal of managing to stop something before it happens for a
change.
When is the last time that has happened in the
last few years for us?
Even though she tried to back-pedal her words,
Eden has said that 75 people at the council meetings were a tiny fraction of
the community and did not represent how the whole city felt.
Do 6 people represent better than
75?
So, please speak up to
your council person, at meetings, in the Daily News, Parks and Recreation
Committee, Planning and Community Development, etc. Maybe an overwhelming
amount of voices will actually be listened to.
However you feel about the deer
pen, please let it at least be our
decision and not theirs.
5-24-2007-05 “ Northside wont be ready for a couple of years.” The North side field is being done with volunteer labor I have not missed a single work bee that was held on a day off of work, I don’t get many days off, and I have put in a couple evenings after work. The field could be ready much sooner if some of the ones who will benefit the most or maybe some of the parents would get a little more involved. I don’t play baseball and don’t have any children in the area to use the field. I volunteer my time to this project for the benefit of others who are too busy to help (thank God I only work 60 hours a week and have some time to help). Maybe the next time they have a work bee you and a few of the parents could show and help. Vision 2020 is coordinating much of the effort I’m sure they would love to hear from you. 5-24-2007-04 Just thought it was rather interesting that City Manager John Marquart and the Mayor "Team Tousignant" laughed when it was mentioned they were the only three people that showed up for the city park pavilion "grand re-opening" last Saturday. I guess all their real friends were there! 5-24-2007-03 I see where the number of visits to the
PUBLIC FORUM on this website passed the 200,000 mark sometime today. 5-24-2007-02
I remember Mr. Corombos’ letter in the newspaper
not too long ago. He used the term "smoke and mirrors" to describe how this
administration plays games with the budget. I would like to point out that
they are using the same tactic on issues. They know they are up against come
determined competition this fall. So, what is everyone talking about? The
deer in City Park. They know that a large number of people have strong
feelings about it. It’s a distraction. And it’s dirty pool to use the deer
that way. Of all the things we could be talking about, it’s deer, because
THEY KNOW how much the deer mean to this community, whether they look real
or not. It's a very low thing to do, holding the deer hostage to distract
everyone from their constant blunders.
Let’s not forget those numerous blunders they
have made, most recently, hiring a convicted felon to come onto our
property, and then giving Marquart a bonus. Then, with the echoes not even
gone from that one, the sewage dumping incident. Hell, Mr. Giguerre has not
had his issue resolved yet. He was at the last meeting, too. Just the last
couple of months have had more huge blunders than a four-year term should
contain at most. Oh, almost forgot. Our tax assessor has, for two
consecutive years been strongly corrected by the county equalization
department.
Yes, it’s all coming back to me now. The deer
issue is a RED HERRING, people. You should know by now how they operate.
5-24-2007-01
Oh yes, an ending to the parade and picnic at the park sounds
wonderful… but WHERE are you parking everyone? Just go to the park
during the bocce games and you’ll see how limited the parking is. If you get
more traffic going thru that park, it will no longer be a safe playground
for our children.
I’d have to see some major planning for changes before seeing
more traffic going thru there. And I still can’t see it being cost effective
to fill in that deer pen. There are far too many level parcels in the city
and township that would be much cheaper to convert to playing fields. So,
whether the deer go or stay, how is it cost effective (or safe) to add more
fields there?
5-23-2007-06 Hello All: I would like to just point out some facts here. The post on 5-23-2007-03 asks why we should do this for kids that don't live in Iron Mountain. I can only speak for youth Football and tell you that we have around 100 kids play football each Saturday and practice during the week at City Park. These are just Iron Mountain Kids that live within the City Limits of the town. The Soccer League builds it's teams per the area in which the kids live, so my guess is that most kids playing are from Iron Mountain. Near 500 per year I figure. If you get a chance ride through the Lodal Park at Kingsford. 3 Baseball diamonds, 2 football fields, skate board park and a small play ground. Then drive over near Dr. Faulks office and you will find a Soccer field. Then drive over to Woodland elementary school and you will find 2 more Soccer fields. The Soccer field and Baseball Diamond out by the airport. 1 Soccer field by the Menominee River. Then take a drive to Norway and visit the complex at Marion Park, multiple soccer fields. Then take another ride over to Niagara and look at their facility. Overall Kingsford has at least 5 Baseball Diamonds and I am sure I missed a few. Iron Mountain has 1 regulation size soccer field and that's at City Park and 1 youth field at Crystal Lake. That's all we have! We have 2 Baseball Diamonds in the whole City, East Side and West Side. Northside wont be ready for a couple of years. My purpose here is not to get rid of the Deer. I just see a better use for the current Deer pen. Someone suggested to me that City Park would be a great place for a City wide 4th of July Picnic. The parade could come down Hughitt and end up in City Park. The afternoon could be filled with games and events held on a field located were the pond is now. This location would benefit the parents who have to watch a couple of kids between the playground and the field. The log building could be used for vendors to sell hot dogs and hamburgers. Its just an idea of how the area could be better used, That's all. Dean Lefebvre 5-23-2007-05 In Response to 5-23-2007-02 I did not draw the line in the sand you did. And as an example of what the council thinks of its constituents if someone in the audience talks out of line the gavel gets raped, but there was one case where a speaker had to wait for the mayor to quit talking to get the floor. This was a private conversation between the mayor and a non elected so called official during public comment if you want respect then give it. News flash People of Iron Mountain have so convinced by the artificial deer at the city park that they have been feeding them. They are said to like plastic and wax fruit. 5-23-2007-04
Before things get too far with the issue
of the Deer Pen:
Let's take a step back and analyze the last few
years. Somehow, decisions pushed by the City Manager and Council have
caused many separations in this city.
Whether it is Fire Department vs. Police
Department, Landlords and tenants, Downtown merchants vs. other business
owners, people receiving blight notices for flat tires, Special Interest
votes.....people are increasingly upset.
What is the common denominator here?
As long as the Manager, Mayor, and Council can
keep us all fighting each other, they can go about their business without
the distraction of us watching over them.
As long as they are condescending and ignorant
at the council meetings, it deters people from speaking up.
As long as they try to discredit the most
honorable men in town, they think they can continue to be dishonorable.
I don't want to fight other citizens over the
Deer enclosure. I certainly don't want the Council and Manager to lie about
their intentions, although I'm not sure they know how to do anything else
anymore.
We have to be very careful to not sink to their
level. Issues can be resolved with some honest discussion between the
residents, knowing that we all want what is best for our City.
There is always a solution, always.
We cannot let things like the Deer enclosure
become an issue of long-standing resentment; another thing to drive a wedge
between people. I won't let Marquart do one more ounce of damage
like that to my City.
Corny as it sounds, we really are all on the
same team here.
Honestly, we have to concentrate and keep an
"eagle eye" on our local government right now because they are not paying
attention to the creative budget balancing that Marquart is getting
away with.
There isn't a problem that can't be tackled, but
if November comes and half the town isn't speaking to each other...well, to
me that's more damage done than monetary damage.
5-23-2007-03
I won’t disagree that we could use more sports fields for our kids; but
here’s a question. How many of the kids using these fields live
within the city limits and how many not? Why is Iron Mountain
responsible for providing all of the athletic fields? Our athletic fields
will not bring in visitors. The deer do. Yes, the deer are an expense; but
doesn’t this council agree that we must invest money to bring in money.
Let’s develop the park into an attraction. People love animals. Even little
zoos are popular. When we had Bruno and the buffalo, people lined up around
the fence to see them.
So, anyway, let’s talk about getting other areas involved in looking at
sports fields and tennis courts. Iron Mountain tax dollars shouldn’t have to
provide them all. There’s a whole lot of flat township land
out there that could be utilized that would cost less to develop that trying
to level off that deer area in the park.
5-23-2007-02 In Response to the Deer at City Park. Its a shame that some citizens are making claims that the Tennis Courts and the Soccer/Football Field are not being used. You are wrong. Stop by the Tennis Courts this morning and someone will be playing and again later on this afternoon. The Soccer/football field has been reseeded using money raised by our youth sports programs. I personally will be there this morning watering the grass with equipment bought with funds raised by youth sports programs. Yes the City is supplying the water, but I think we can afford to have 1 safe and healthy playing field in Iron Mountain for our children. Please do not draw a line in the sand and then dare citizens of Iron Mountain with a different opinion from yours to cross it. This accomplishes nothing and only starts a feud. If anyone would like to discuss this or talk about an alternative place for an additionally field please call me. Dean Lefebvre 396-2186 5-23-2007-01
At Monday’s council meeting, Tina Peterson
addressed the council about the deer pen at City Park. She said that most of
the people she has talked to want the pen to stay. After that, council
member Caudell responded by saying that all of the communication she
receives regarding the deer is in favor of getting rid of the deer. It was
then said by other members that, if they decide to pursue getting rid of the
deer, they will have another public hearing on it. Big deal, they never
listen to the people who actually voice their opinions openly, the way
government is supposed to work - the very reason for public comment.
I have a suggestion. When that public hearing
comes, the people who get up and speak should be the only comments that are
counted as public comment. Time and again, issue after issue, people get
up and publicly speak on issues, only to be told by council members that
they don’t represent the majority that they hear from privately.
This is supposed to be open government with open meetings. I don’t believe
those alleged private communications should be counted as public
input, simply because there is no way to verify if those alleged
communications ever took place. They can, and have used that excuse to
ignore public comment over and over again.
It doesn’t matter what the people say at public
meetings. It doesn’t matter how many get up and speak. It doesn’t matter how
strongly the sentiment is against what this council is trying to do. The
council always come back with comments about all of this alleged private
communication that supports them. That is not fair representation of
the people who exercise their right to participate in open government.
Truly, those private comments have absolutely no place in our government.
There is no way to verify they even occurred, and these ghost comments
are always used to overrule the open and public comments made by concerned
citizens. Issue after issue, that is the case. Doing that seriously
undermines the rules and process of our government, and may be one of the
biggest factors in the mistrust felt by so many citizens toward our city
government.
5-22-2007-04
Instead of getting rid of the deer at City Park
I have a suggestion. Cut the trees down to the south of the soccer field and
clear the land. Use the money from the sale of the timber and build whatever
kind of recreational field you want. I think we should ask Sally Jacobs to
bring this up at the next council meeting. She could sit in her living room
and watch all the kids playing. You'd like that wouldn't you Sally??
5-22-2007-03
Hot off of the latest council meeting, my new
submission for the dumbest comment award:
"The (city park) deer don't even
look like real deer." - Eden Caudell
5-22-2007-02 Seems odd to me that every time I am at city park I always see people coming in to look at the deer. I can’t recall seeing tennis being played more than a slight few times. I have seen many people taking photos of the deer haven’t even seen anybody watch tennis let alone take a photo. Soccer fields and football fields are large high maintenance limited use, used only by a few and only for a short season. And with the outrageous cost of water in Iron Mountain who is paying to water these. I will admit the bocce ball court was a great idea a rather small area which gets fantastic use, large turnouts and something an entire family can enjoy. I would hope that the council would do what the residents of iron mountain really want rather than what they really want. But then I still hope for world peace I think those two have about the same odds. VOTE in November it is our only hope. 5-22-2007-01
I was at the Iron Mountain council meeting last
night. I want to address something that was said about future costs for
retiree health care. First, the city manager said that they were able to
reduce the yearly cost for health care by changing plans. He said the costs
went from over a million dollars a year to around $600,000.00 a year. That
sounds like it was cut in half. Then, a few minutes later he was talking
about the future need to account for unfunded liabilities like health care
costs. When he talked about that, he gave the figures from BEFORE the health
care plans were changed. I believe he said the figures were from 2004,
and I think that was very misleading. Then, council member Van Laanen said
something that led me to believe they are planning on attacking retiree
health care again. Come on, council members, haven’t you destroyed their
future enough already, without swaying public opinion with misleading
figures to set them up for another cut they cannot afford?
5-21-2007-09
I can see it all clear as day. City Manager
John Marquart and the executive committee of the city council (Tousignant,
Van Laanen and Rigoni) are trying to figure out how respond to the
excellent and accurate portrayal of the mismanagement by this city
manager and city council by TIFA Chairman Ted Corombos.
They compose an inaccurate letter and don't
want their names attached to it. Hmm, who of the remaining four council
members might sign it. Let's see, the dimmest of the dim is Dan
Burke.
Surely, we can get him to sign it.
Dim Dan bites.
In his mere one and a half years on the city
council, he has been a consistent follower. Can anyone think of one
idea he has had that has amounted to anything? He leaps at the chance
to get his 15 minutes of fame at the expense of an Iron Mountain icon.
Sorry, Dim Dan, it didn't work and they used you.
Nothing you or the city manager or
the rest of the dwarfs that pass for a city council can diminish the
honesty and comon sense 30 that Mr. Corombos has displayed in his 30
years of public service to Iron Mountain and its citizens. You have all
demeaned yourselves in the process.
5-21-2007-08
The most
lopsided debate I can imagine would be between Ted Corombos and Dan
Burke.
If Dan
"Cheap Shot" Burke thinks he's up to it, let him post his acceptance of
the challenge on this website and I will take it from there.
P.S. I'm
not holding my breath.
5-21-2007-07
After reading the letter from Mr. Burke in the
newspaper tonight, I now reluctantly have to add him to the list of those
who must go. He was the only one that I saw as having potential to rise
above the mess and intrigue that the other council members are wallowing in,
until now. I thought his letter was in very poor taste - a councilman
launching a personal attack on a citizen, and in a public venue. Shame on
you, Mr. Burke. You badmouthed someone without giving any evidence to
support your innuendo. I guess you are learning well from your mentors. I
expect Mr. Corombos will respond at the meeting tonight.
Can someone out there who is more qualified than
me give us a definition of "abuse of power"?
5-21-2007-06
To Dan Burke
It is quite obvious that many citizens were
wrong when they suggested that you were the only hopeful left on the city
council that had a chance of becoming a good council member and whom we
thought was going to hold an open mind to what was said at the last council
meeting.
We hoped you might have enough guts to stand up
for what is right and wrong and see the lies that Marquart has told through
the years, but then again, foolish people we are! Marquart has you wrapped
up in his hands and controls your mind the same as the rest!
Attacking Ted Corombos is a big mistake Mr
Burke! He has more knowledge and creditability about this city and it's
failures and lies from our Mayor and Manager than you could ever hope to
have in a lifetime. In fact, if you could learn as much in a day as Mr
Corombos forgets, you would still be just as ignorant about what has been
done to this city during your seat on the city council!
Believe me, you are way out of your league when
it comes to attacking a man like Ted Corombos! His honesty and respect and
dignity is unchallenged in this community from those who know him! Obviously
you don't!
By the way ---
You asked Mr Marquart if he was familiar with
TIFA and he assured you he was. What did you expect him to say, "No Dan, it
is true I am not familiar with TIFA, but I do a good job of faking it!"
Would you have printed that response?
You are not worth responding to any more because
you are a puppet like the rest of the council.
After we remove Marquart and the Mayor after
election, You might be the logical one to also be dismissed because of your
support of an "out of control" and corrupt council!
Wake up Mr. Burke
5-21-2007-05 If anyone thinks Dan Burke wrote the Letter to
the Editor in Monday's Daily News it's because they don't know Dan Burke. 5-21-2007-04 Hello All: I have gotten some complaints about some comments not being posted. I have looked into the problem and can tell you that every suitable comment submitted is posted. The only thing that I can think of is if you visit this site often and do not have your internet setting to check for a new page ever time you visit you may not get that latest postings. Try refreshing the page. The Daily News has asked me to remove all links to their web site found on this site. This is unfortunate and I really don't understand the reason, since the Daily News is hosting a Public Website. I have removed the Link from the home page to satisfy the request. Webmaster 5-21-2007-03 In response to Dan Burke's Letter to the Editor: 5-20-2007-02
I would like to make one final comment on the
City Park issue, in response to the first part of post #5-19-2007-05. The
thought of more compromise with regard to City Park deeply disturbs me. Why?
Because it was that sort of "compromise" that got the size of the deer pen
drastically cut in favor of the soccer field that is already there.
Compromise is a dangerous, but innocent, feel-good sounding word in this
context. It has been used time after time to whittle away many aspects
of what the park used to be. We who remember what the park once was know
that we cannot afford another such compromise, because history has shown
that there is no compromise at all - just a gradual chipping away and
eroding of the park in the name of compromise and "progress".
5-20-2007-01
Post 5-15-2007-03 talks about how if there is
ever any controversy going on in the police department, it is always the
same officer involved. I am outraged by that obvious, below-the-belt attempt
at character assassination. Unfortunately, your post demanded an
airing of these other embarrassing items to counter your bias. There
are more, but this sample is more than enough to prove my point. And they
are all able to be verified if you know where to ask - you know, by checking
with someone who is not trying to cover something up.
Question:
What is, by far, the most infamous controversy involving the police
department in recent years?
Answer:
The trial of Phil Bal, which starts this week.
That’s one.
Aside from Phil Bal creating a huge controversy,
there is also the question of the controversial response by other IMPD
personnel to one of the incidents involving Phil Bal. That has been kept
very quiet. That’s two.
What about the part-time police dispatcher going
to police school on our tax dollars? Never approved, never reported on,
except on this website. That’s three.
What about what that dispatcher did in his
tax-dollar-paid-for motel room? Oh, some of you didn’t hear about that one?
Another one swept under the rug. Ask the local sheriff about it. He knows.
That’s four.
What about the police patrolmen losing their
union affiliation? Again, glossed over.
That’s five.
What about the drunken joyride by off-duty IMPD
personnel in a Kingsford Public Safety police car? Oh, didn’t hear about
that one, either? Funny, because patrol officers were suspended for it.
That’s six.
These are the biggest and most recent
controversies in the police department that I can think of, and not one
of them involved the officer who handled the sewage dumping incident.
Why are you, whoever you are, trying to single out one officer who is just
trying to do his job without kowtowing to politics? I think you knew all
about these other items, but you have a selective memory. Do you see a
pattern forming? The only controversies you hear of are about one
officer. The rest were kept quiet, in effect, singling him out. Why is that?
Is it just because he was not willing to lie down with dogs? That's my bet.
5-19-2007-05
When we get honest differences of opinion, reasonable people on both sides can usually reach a sensible compromise. Neither side will get 100% of what they want. In the end, both sides can say they are reasonably, if not totally satisfied.
I specifically refer to the deer in city
park versus shortage of soccer and/or football fields discussion.
1. - Over the years, both youth soccer
and youth football have grown to become large programs, not just in
Iron Mountain but county-wide and in Niagara as well. Therefore, it
is not just a self-contained Iron Mountain issue.
2. - Both football and soccer need
large, flat parcels of land. A certain amount of
additional flat land is needed for parking. Water
and rest room facilities are also desirable.
3. - The City of Iron Mountain does
not have a site meeting these requirements available. That
still leaves a number of other choices. (a) build
one, (b) seek the use of private land that may be
available under a mutually satisfactory lease and a hold harmless
agreement, (c) look for land outside the city
limits, whether privately, township, city or county owned and
negotiate a satisfactory agreement with the appropriate parties.
4. - The deer at City Park is a
tradition going back well before the Great Depression
I am told by many senior citizens.
It the only such enclosed area in the county. You can go there
anytime and have a very good chance of seeing deer. Generations of
residents and tourists have enjoyed and have fond memories of their
visits to the deer enclosure. I have yet to find a senior citizen
who remembers a time when there were no deer there.
If the city can figure out a way to have
both an additional football field and the deer, I
personally have no objection.
To get rid of such a
unique and long tradition would be a serious loss to the ambience
and history of our community.
Do we have the reasonable people
available to solve this problem? I don't know. If, as an earlier
post suggests, the city council is applying for a grant that would
effectively eliminate the deer, it would be another example of their
lack of concern for the wishes of a substantial percentage of their
constituency.
5-19-2007-04
Response to Mr. Lefebvre:
I sincerely understand what you are saying about
a lack of fields for our youth. I agree that they are needed and would
never begrudge that, and I admire that you have taken it upon yourself to
water the soccer field.
However, reducing the deer pen is not what the
city has in mind. They have been talking of disposing of the deer. The DNR
cannot let them be relocated because they have only known captivity and they
would have to be destroyed.
The council has already tried to say the deer
have mange, which is completely untrue, in order to justify the deer being
destroyed.
The Deer enclosure is an institution
in our city. It is an important part of our community culture. It is the
first exposure for many, many children to a "creature of the woods" and if
you've never seen a toddler's face light up as he/she approaches the deer,
you have really missed out.
It is also a quiet, peaceful place that adults
turn to when they need to just BE, to think. It is also a proven Habitat
for many species of birds and there are plenty of grants out there to
improve the Habitat instead of destroying it.
There must be other portions of
land in this city that can accommodate the need for sport fields.
Without an engineering degree, I cannot go
beyond throwing ideas out there for consideration:
1. Is it possible to take a youth-size field,
increase it's borders to include both sizes and have the perimeter lines
flagged for whichever age group is playing?
2. There are so many parcels of land available
and possible donations that could be made for the cause of needed
fields. Have all of these resources been exhausted?
3. Can existing field properties be enlarged to
accommodate a second field? For instance, the North Side field: I may be
wrong, but it seems there may be enough property to add another field and
parking there.
I understand what you are saying about the
traffic on Saturday mornings for Football. You are correct that making the
exit a two way street would be safer for the children at the playground. I
also agree that providing facilities for our youth sports programs is
very important.
However, does it have to be that something is
taken away to provide this? I believe there must be a way
to have both opportunities available for the residents of Iron
Mountain. There is a large portion of residents who wish to retain the
Deer Enclosure...can't we at least probe further to find a
way to satisfy both interests?
The Grants for youth programs that you mentioned
would work in any geographic location, not just City Park. Let's see if we
can find other property and keep the City Park Deer Pen for all to enjoy.
I will personally begin a search and inquiries
into possibilities for field locations. I realize that you have probably
already done this, but maybe land opportunities have changed since then.
Respectfully,
Tina Peterson
5-19-2007-03
Mr. Lefebvre, I don’t deny that youth sports is
a great thing. In fact, I completely agree with you. You say there is grant
money out there for new fields. Fine. I just don’t understand why you would
condone destroying a unique and beautiful natural park area for that when
there are other areas in the city that could be used for the same thing. Why
pick on our park? Why is high school sports more important than driver
education, for that matter? It seems to me that priorities in this town are
very screwed up.
I agree 100% with the things you said in the
past about having to spend your tax dollars to subsidize your competitors
downtown. I think that is an insane and unfair position for you to have to
be in. I must respectfully, but vehemently disagree with you on the future
of our City Park, though. We are losing something unique to Iron Mountain,
and, once again, the citizens don’t have a say in it. The council is
forging ahead with the plan to destroy it, even budgeting for it. Damn
them for it.
There has got to be another suitable place in
town for sports fields. I hate to say it, but, 1,000 people or not, the
sports side of the issue is just that, a side, a special interest at the
expense of anyone else who would use the park the way it was intended to be
used - able to be enjoyed by all, and all ages, not just a special group. To
me, a family outing with a picnic, playing on the playground, and a walk to
see the animals is something everyone could enjoy, and it’s equally as
important as the sports fields that could be built in another place. You
cannot recreate the natural park we are losing forever in another place.
This plan is just stealing another special thing from ALL of the community.
Thank you.
P.S. If there was enough support, I would
contribute financially to an injunction to stop the destruction of our
natural, beautiful City Park if that gets approved in the new budget. I
feel that strongly about it.
This is just one more item that convinces me we
have to clean house in the next election. I will be polling the challengers
to get their feel for this issue.
P.P.S. A recent post mentioned items in the
new proposed budget. Any chance of getting a copy of that posted? Thanks
again.
5-19-2007-02 I would like to respond to some items about City Park. My name is Dean Lefebvre and I am the President of the Youth Football League. I am one of those persons that would like to get rid of or reduce the size and move the deer pen. The problem the Soccer League, the Football League and the Little League are facing is we don't have enough fields. Currently the Soccer/Football Field at the City Park is the only regulation size field in town. The field at Crystal Lake is a youth size field. I have been watering city park in an attempt to keep it healthy until October. I gave a presentation to the Parks Committee last fall showing how we could fit another field and possibly a baseball diamond on the site that is currently used for the deer pen. There is a lot of Grant money out there to help youth programs and the cost tot he city could be minimal. The log buildings on the west side of the play ground could be used for concession stands. The traffic flow problem that I have is that on Saturday mornings and afternoons we have between 100 and 200 kids coming the football field. The traffic caused by parents coming into the park is a safety concern. There is no reason to send those cars around the playground. I asked the city to see if we could make the road form the field to B Street two-way. This would keep the traffic away from the kids playing in the play ground. We have around a 1,000 kids involved in youth sports. Providing the facilities for these organizations is important. 5-19-2007-01
About those minutes from the last council meeting
and the Budget Proposal:
I'm sure they aren't meant to
be so condensed that the public comment lost it's fire....but showing Eden
Caudell's recorded last comment as "the city council must represent all of
the residents" just plain ticks me off.
Her real comment was that the
75 or so there were a "tiny fraction" of the community and did not
represent how the whole city felt.
Now how in the world did that change into what
is written in the minutes?
And what happened to the Mayor's comments about
"writing out checks?"
Or Mrs. Jacob's false statement about the City
Park deer having mange?
I would swear that Mr. Giquere didn't say it
would cost $41,000 to fix his kitchen and bathroom...he was trying to defend
the mayor's comment about the original lower cost of his house by explaining
that he had remodeled these rooms along with wiring and plumbing. He
shouldn't have to defend himself in the first place.
I wish the true comments were recorded for
posterity instead of the "clean" and condensed versions.
Every single motion prevailed unanimously.
Why, why will our kids
now have to walk around drinking/drunk people on their way home from
school? Because Eden Caudell said it would be so nice to be able to have a
glass of wine outside during the day. Because the council members were not
even thinking about the repercussions, just about how "cool" it would be to
have alcohol served on the sidewalks of our city. During the Day.
Because Eden Caudell said that it would "bring
many people to the downtown area" if there was to be drinks served on the
sidewalks, and all council members heartily agreed.
You don't think that maybe, just maybe, her
place will soon be serving drinks outside?
Why aren't these comments of Eden's in
the minutes?
How many residents want this?
What is to stop every establishment from serving
alcohol outside eventually? Maybe the local taverns will now follow suit?
Heck, maybe Super One should set up a couple of picnic tables and a keg?
Is this growth? Will my child have to step into
the street to avoid the "wine drinkers" on his way home?
I am tired of their version of "growth" if it
means schmoozing away tens of thousands of dollars for titles that have
brought nothing. Tired of "growth" that means sucking money from one fund
to inflate another, tired of Mr. Marquart boasting of grants that benefit
one while the rest of the city bottoms out in potholes. Tired of Mr.
Marquart boasting about grants at all: they are out there, the city
has been getting them before he came along, and we will get them long after
he is gone.
Tired of him blaming any deficits on pension
funds that employees sacrificed and bargained for, that they took paycuts to
retain.
Tired of this council spending massive amounts
of money on consultants, studies and recommendations when they
never even think to ask the people of this city what they need or want.
The budget for assessor in the 2006/2007 copy
was $38,900. The actual cost? $222,060. The opening
letter in that 06/07 budget said that it would include
reassessment costs, even projected the tax increases as part of the
revenue.
There is $109,350 budgeted for 2008 for
assessor. Shouldn't the extra costs be over by then?
The letter for 2006/2007 also states that Mr.
Marquart himself suggests doing away with the Deer and deer pen in City
Park. He questions if that area can be better utilized to improve
the park, suggests an outdoor amphitheatre or adding to the ski trail. He
also suggests an interactive bio-ecology lab for students. (can't the deer
fit into that category?)
In the opening letter of the (2007/2008) budget
proposal, Marquart unfolds the "Master Plan of City Park."
I kid you not, that's what it's called.
The recommendation from WHOEVER
(another consultant?) is eliminating the deer pen, which is 4 acres, under
the direction of Planning and Community Development.
They want more facilities, better traffic flow,
and enhanced usage for year round activity.
What about the recommendation of the
people of this city?
Why in the world do you need better "traffic
flow" through a park where there is a large playground?
Let's think this through, shall we?
Scenario 1- Estimated cost to bulldoze giant
hill where deer currently are, demolition of all fencing, grading,
installation of tennis court : $300,000 -$400,000.
Scenario 2- Estimated cost to install tennis
court on completely flat, level area directly across dirt road from existing
tennis court (where the airplane used to be): Heck of a lot less!
Scenario 3- Where tennis courts are
really needed? The property by the school, near
Prospect and Ludington; where 3 courts could be together.....where the
school needs and wants it for High School matches.....not where the council
chooses....not where the deer have to be killed.
Currently, the kids are split up at 3 different
tennis courts when they play matches against other schools and the coach can
only be at one court.
How do you want to spend your money? Is
spending that $9000 annually on deer feed really breaking our city as much
as the council claims, or do they have something else in mind for that
property?
If whoever uses petty cash every month in the
city hall building stopped, that would save $300 to $500 per month from the
budget...Petty Cash gets repaid every month under Iron Mountain Water dept.
There's a start toward the deer feed.
One last painful slap about the Deer Pen: The
budget letter states they are applying for a DNR grant to get rid of
the deer.
5-18-2007-04
I guess being a council member isn't
such a low paying job after all if you know how to manipulate, hey
Mr. Rigoni.
Let's see: You take a $500
a year job. You get a $250,000 to $400,00
gift, depending on the size of the water and sewer lines the city is
proposing to run to your company's property off the Hydrauluc Falls
Road.
Ah, but maybe you can do better than that,
Mr. Rigoni. You can bid on the job, too. After all,
Bacco, a company in which you are an executive and
part-owner, frequently bids and gets city jobs.
Say you get the bid and make a mere 10%.
That's another $25,000 to $40,000. Then there is the
proposed road itself for another $500,000 according to the Daily News.
Let's give you 10% of that if you get the winning bid, or another
$50,000.
Not a bad performance for a four year stint on the city
council, Dougy boy. For your and your company's self-interest,
that is.
And we won't even get into the caper you
were a part of on the Kramer Road reservoir and water lines off of it to
your advantage. Not right now we won't, but in time it will all
come out.
No wonder you took out a petition to
run again. You are making far more money for your company PER-HOUR
being on the city council than you will ever make at your "day job".
5-18-2007-03
I took my grandchildren for a walk through City
Park the other day. They were absolutely thrilled to see the deer up close.
(I noticed they are shedding their winter coats - I wonder if that is the
"mange" that Councilperson Jacobs spoke about?) On top of seeing the deer,
we were all very excited when we saw a family of foxes playing around
near the pond. It seems that they have made a den in the side of the hill.
It was something that my grandchildren and I will probably never see again,
and what a great memory it will make with my grand kids. They were so
enthralled. Go see them soon if you get the chance. I sincerely hope
that we keep the deer at the park, and try to keep what is left as natural
as possible. Where else can you see wild animals around here? It’s the last
place left where you can see something like that. I think the park should be
advertised as a tourist attraction that gives the opportunity to see animals
up close. I wish there were more animals there like when I was a child. I
would also love to see a return of the goldfish pond with the bridge over
it. Put the sports fields someplace else and restore the park in its natural
beauty. Please.
5-18-2007-02
This is addressed to all those who want to know
the truth about the alleged sewage dumping incident. It is always an option
for you to use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain any
government documents you wish to see. In this case, I would suggest
demanding from the City the following items:
*The original police department report, plus
attachments, photos, etc. for the incident.
*The original fire department report, plus
attachments if any, for the incident.
*The initial DEQ report if any, and any follow
up reports.
*The health department report, including water
sample results.
*Any official document that says what was
dumped was not untreated sewage. Conversely, any official
document that says what was dumped was untreated sewage.
I, personally, would like to see anything in
writing that led Mr. Marquart and Mr. Becotte to believe they could say
that what was dumped was not raw sewage. Also, pay attention to any dates on
any reports when checking for that.
5-18-2007-01
Response to 5-17-2007-08:
What are the REAL issues? I notice that you did
not offer any as examples. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but the tone of your
post suggests to me that none of us know what the REAL issues are. Just
the fact that you don’t see getting rid of the current mayor and city
manager as REAL, MAJOR issues leads me to that conclusion. So, what are
the REAL issues?
For starters, how about if the new candidates
try to address the major issues and stumbling blocks created by the
incumbents? That’s a no-brainer, and will take a lot of time and effort to
fix. The list on this point would be too extensive and long-winded to
include here. The challengers know what those points are, and I’m
sure they will come out in the next few months.
Next, instead of prettifying the downtown and
attracting fluff at the expense of all else, how about a concerted effort to
attract real industry that will bring new money into this area?
How about a pledge to follow and abide by the
entire City Charter instead of creative interpretations whenever it suits
the questionable purposes of the council and manager? You know, actually
take their oaths of office seriously? How about adding a new sentence to the
oath of office: "I shall not lie about any City matters." Too bad
that was not in already; it would have been easier to get rid of them
sooner.
Next, just about everything Tina Peterson said
in her post that announced her intentions to run for city council.
How about a sincere pledge to respect the people
of Iron Mountain, and the employees of the City? Then, to see it actually
happening?
Finally, how about finding a way to hold the
current council members and manager accountable for all of the problems they
have caused? How about a thorough investigation? How about publicly
announcing their lies and half-truths about many issues they have shoved
through, and an apology to all of the people they have "wounded"? How about
criminal charges if they are warranted?
In short, the REAL ISSUES in this election are,
first and foremost, to fix what the Fab-four broke, and to hold them
accountable for it. When trust with
the citizens is reestablished, we can then move forward as a community.
Unfortunately, all else is secondary to what Tousignant, Rigoni, Van Laanen,
and Jacobs - and Marquart - have done to this city in the last three and a
half years.
5-17-2007-09
Reading the minutes from the last Council Meeting (May
7, 2007) was interesting. One of
the first things I noticed was that it said: “Carl Little - 709 Blackwell
Ave., Gladstone – Asst. Assessor said…”
Who gave him the title of Assistant Assessor? Is he certified
as an assessor? I’d sure like to see that certification. If he calling
himself an assessor (even an assistant assessor), he must be certified.
The second thing that caught my eye was the Old Business. The
Sidewalk Café Ordinance. Talk about a conflict of interest when it was moved
by VanLaanen and supported by Caudell to adopt the Sidewalk Cafe
Ordinance. Let’s let everyone who wants an ordinance passed be able to
support those motions. She should have abstained from that vote completely.
Especially since her tables and chairs blocked handicapped access to the
sidewalk most of last summer. They can pass all the ordinances they like. If
those tables prevent handicapped passage on that sidewalk again this year, I
will personally contact the State of Michigan for their views on what the
Café is doing with the City approval. They might just like to hear how “un-cool”
Iron Mountain is when it comes to their handicapped citizens.
In fact, I’d like to see our board members get into a
wheelchair and try to negotiate around those huge planters that are also on
the sidewalks on ‘A’ Street by City Hall; or try to get past those signs
that are permitted to be placed on the sidewalks in front of businesses and
on the corners.
The third item I have questions about is where City Manager
Marquart informed the Council that Vision 2020 was requesting City Council
approval to move forward with the construction of a privately constructed
multipurpose building that will include indoor bocce courts, restrooms and a
concession area for the North Side Ballpark. The motion was approved
unanimously. So, is this going to be a privately owed building (and
business, with the concession stand) on City property? Was there a public
hearing on this? Isn’t that required by the Charter? Maybe I just missed it.
5-17-2007-08 I am glad we have the chance to make some changes
in this coming election. 5-17-2007-07 Recently heard that Bill Revord has a hidden agenda. Can anyone explain what that agenda is? Also, What happened to the bike path around Lake Antoine and the grant money. Just curious. 5-17-2007-06
Do I smell another
scandal in the making? Last
night's Daily New, Wednesday, May 23, had an article at the
bottom of the front page entitled IM to repair Hydraulic
Falls Road. It was misleading in the sense that it will be
a realignment of that road, not a repair job. That's minor.
What caught my attention is
the last sentence of the third paragraph. It reads -
"TIFA money will be used for utilities
work."
What utility work, I wondered.
There is no water and sewer line on the Hydraulic Falls now, so
why would any suddenly be needed, whether it's realigned or not.
There are water and sewer lines on
US-2. Any development from the K-Mart plaza to Pizza Hut (a
pretty good chunk of land) can easily be developed off of those
lines right now. Why are utilities needed at all and who would
benefit?
Want to guess who owns the land
immediately behind the K-mart Plaza site? Give up?
It's Bacco Construction. Doug Rigoni, an executive of
Bacco, currently sits on the city council.
Wouldn't it be nice to get a half-mile of water and sewer lines
from the highway right onto your property at zero cost?
Would it increase the value quite dramatically without Bacco
spending a nickel? Absolutely. There is no other purpose for
the utilities that are proposed.
Does the TIFA Board
understand what it may be getting into here?
Has it committed to this
project as the article implies?
What is the cost for a
half-mile of utilities?
Over the years, I
believe TIFA has spent its fund quite sensibly, although I don't
pretend to know every project they've been involved in. I'd
hate to see them get swept up unknowingly in this possible mess,
but I will not hesitate to take them to task if they do. I'll
have lots of company.
Bacco has done millions of
dollars of work with TIFA funds, all legitimatly through
competive bidding, but also presumably profitably. To turn
around and try to get a freebie of this magnitude because they
have a part-owner sitting on the city council is indeed
scandalous.
5-17-2007-05
Response to 5-15-2007-06:
I had put together an outline for a pre-election
"town hall meeting."
One idea I had was to have a city-wide poll,
possibly on-line, having the residents rate issues in order of importance to
them prior to the meeting.
I would like to see it held at the IMHS
auditorium with students involved in tallying up the polls, revealing the
results, and also involved in the questions.
I agree that Mr. Corombus would be an excellent
moderator, and I would suggest a co-moderator such as Denny Chartier or Mrs.
Boddy.
The current council and city manager would be
invited as a panel. The challengers would have a chance with this forum to
introduce themselves and their ideas.
Most importantly, the citizens will have
the opportunity to ask questions and be heard.
After the meeting, the residents could fill out
a short survey rating the meeting and perhaps write down what they
would like to see in the format. Those results would be published in a
timely manner.
I believe it's important to have student
involvement: they are the future decision-makers, and current issues affect
whole families, not just the adults in the community.
Let's build on this....let's hear more
suggestions for this meeting.
By the way, at the last city council meeting,
Mrs. Jacobs had said that the deer at city park were reported to have
mange. This is false: they were simply shedding their
winter coats. I wanted to set the record straight as mange is a very
serious and contagious affliction.
(And kudos to all who defended a city police
officer.)
Sincerely,
Tina Peterson
5-17-2007-04
This election is our only chance to rid
this city of the corruption and arrogant attitude of this council and to get
rid of Marquart and Tousignant.
Everyone who reads this web site needs
to recommend it to any and all people you know are eligible to vote this
August primary.
If this administration can do this much
damage and waste the hundred's of thousand's of tax dollars since they took
office and caused this much division and desention, imagine what they will
do if they get back in office for another term?
They must be stopped!
The following people can stop them!!
Dale Alessandrini --- Past council
member with great knowledge of city government, not afraid to speak out
against right and wrong, is for the people of this community and can be
trusted! (Good bye Marquart!, hello honesty)
Dave Farragh--- Past city employee who
also is against this administration and knows what they have done and
continue to do to this city. He is knowledgable about city water
works, street department and functions of the city that will benefit the
people. First thing on the agenda will be to help get rid of Marquart!
Tina Peterson --- Have personally known
her for many years! She has had a rough time in her life and knows how to
persevere. She is a fighter! She is honest, reliable, not afraid to speak up
for what is right and wrong and speaks with poise and control. She is
believable when she speaks and loves to help others people who are
discriminated against. She will be good for this community and will help us
get rid of Marquart!
Bruce Rosen --- Very honest, reliable,
is fed up with business as usual and wants to bring genuine change to this
community and get rid of the corruption. He has common sense, will not be
intimated and is not afraid of this manager and mayor! He will not be a yes
man, nor will he allow the mayor and manager to control the council and
intiminate others. He will help this city get rid of Marquart.
Bill Toedter. --- Bill is one of the
hardest working men I have ever known. He is absolutely not afraid of the
Mayor, Marquart or any council member and is willing to spend any amount of
his own money to fight corruption in city government. He came from a poor
family and got what he has right now the old fashion way --- he worked his
butt off for it! He is honest and hates discrimination and will do a good
job for this community. He will help us get rid of Marquart!
Go citizens -- Go Go Go (Corruption
coming to an end, --- honesty on the way!)
5-17-2007-03
Response to post 5-17-2007-02:
Yes, it is too bad that all seven cannot be
replaced now. But, no need to wait two years for the mop-up operation. If we
get four new council members seated in November, it will be as simple as
following the City Charter to send Robin Tchokreff packing. We’ll see how
many unapproved absences it takes to accomplish that.
As far as Eden Caudell, she has shown her true
colors, so why wait? A recall is always an option there. I say leave Dan
Burke alone for now. He is new to politics, and he is learning the ropes
from the wrong people, that’s all. Give him a little longer to prove
himself, hopefully with a better class of people to learn from. By better
class, I don’t mean more money, I mean more integrity and honesty.
5-17-2007-02
I am very pleased that five good citizens of
Iron Mountain have filed petitions to run for the City Council.
I know three of them quite well and the
other two less so, having met them within the last six months, All
five of them are dedicated to more open, citizen-responsive government.
Like thousands of us, they are tired of the
closed, secretive, self-serving, arrogant government we have now.
They are tired of the deceptions, lies, poor
decisions, unnecessary spending, and rapidly growing bureaucracy.
My only regret is that only four of the five
can be seated. It's too bad all seven council members aren't up for
re-election. I guess we'll have to wait two years for a mop-up
operation.
Pick any four of the five. You won't
be sorry. They are, listed alphabetically,
Dale Alessandrini, Dave Farragh, Tina Peterson, Bruce
Rosen, Bill Toedter.
5-17-2007-01
Is post 5-15-2007-03 suggesting that
a police officer isn't supposed to report sewage violations to
the PROPER authorities?
It sounds to me like that poster was
suggesting the police officer should have huddled with Marquart and
Becotte to cover it up. That would have been a
hidden agenda and a coverup.
Now I'm wondering. What was the
hidden agenda of the poster?
5-16-2007-04 Can anyone tell me how we can find out if the DEQ
is still investigating the dumping of material from the sewers? I want to know
if they took soil samples, in addition to the water samples; and if they are
looking into where Mr. Marquart has authorized such material 5-16-2007-03
In response to 5-15-2007-03
Why does it seem that when there is a controversy involving the IMPD that one particular officer is always involved. Maybe because only one particular officer has enough sand to stand for what is right.
From what I have seen this man do over the years, and I will add I did not always agree with him, he stands for what he believes is best for the entire community. And for a man to have such dedication to the public he has my complete support. We need more like him. 5-16-2007-02
Hey folks. Poop happens in other places, too.
Check out this humorous youtube clip, and insert "Iron Mountain" and "city
manager" in the proper places. (need sound turned on)
5-16-2007-01
The deadline for filing for the
City Council was 4:00 PM Tuesday, May 15.
The following people have filed:
Incumbents: Sally Jacobs, Doug
Rigoni, Jeff Van Laanen, Ken Tousignant
Challengers: Dale Alessandrini,
Dave Farragh, Tina Peterson, Bruce Rosen, Bill Toedter
If no candidate withdraws within 3 days,
there will be a Primary Election on Tuesday, August 7.
Only one candidate will be eliminated in the
Primary Election.
5-15-2007-08 To the writer of post 5-15-2007-03, the hidden
agendas seem to me to be at City Hall. 5-15-2007-07
Response to #5-15-2007-03:
I am not at all understanding you.
First of all, the sewage is not a "controversy"
of the IMPD. It involves Mr. Marquart, Mr. Becotte, and the citizens of
Iron Mountain who don't want raw (read: unprocessed)
sewage materials dumped in various places across our city
for God knows how long.
Investigating a call coming in about a truck
dumping sewage on city property is doing your job, not
having an agenda.
Trying to organize help for an elderly lady is
called being a human being, not having an agenda. Her
basement was knee-deep in mud, her upstairs walls were cracked, her toilet
was blown upward, the roof vent was near blown off...do I need to go on?
If I have somehow misunderstood you, I
apologize.
If I haven't, shame on you for taking time to
criticize people who have given of themselves to help others.....while the
true person with an "agenda" has ripped this town apart.
Shame!
5-15-2007-06
Citizens
If anyone has ideas about how to set up a city
wide town conference debate with all of the running candidates participating
in this debate, please write a few suggestions on this site.
I was wondering about the high school as a site
for this.
As a concerned citizens group, we want to have a
city-wide debate about matters that pertain to this city and hear from those
who are running for city council and their ideas. Also to debate Tousignant,
Rogoni, VanLannen and Caudell and see how they handle others holding them
accountable for their actions where they are actually allowed to talk and
ask questions with out a gravel pounding on the desk.
This of course would be the opposite of the
chance they give to the citizens to discuss their ideas. We will have this
debate, but I venture to say that the above puppets of the council will be
afraid to appear in public without Marquart's presence!
Mr Corombus would be a good person to operate
the debate so all candidates will have a chance to express themselves
fairly.
By the way, I have heard that many of the
council members are suggesting that all of the controversy that is now
taking place in Iron Mountain is because of LandLords and their
organization! This is just another ploy to hide behind the truth and place
the blame of their corruption on someone else. Caudel says the LandLords are
mean spirited people! Look at yourself and the council members honey!
Please let us know about our idea and Mr
Corombus, will you help us?
From a new citizens group to elect a better
council.
5-15-2007-05
I guess I’m off the current subject, but I want
to bring this up while it's fresh. Ted Corombos recently had a lengthy
article in the newspaper. It was very informative, and on a very complicated
subject - TIFA. Mr. Corombos explained how certain sidewalk corners would
not be paid for by TIFA because they are outside the district. He also said
that a few projects brought up by Marquart were rejected because they either
were not in the plan, or they involved work on private property, which TIFA
cannot do.
So, why am I writing? Just this. There are new
sidewalks being poured today on Cedar Avenue in the TIFA district. I seem to
remember an area resident successfully petitioning the council a few years
ago to vacate the city right of way in that area. Doesn’t that make the new
sidewalks a project that TIFA is paying for on private property? Maybe
Marquart DID slip one past the TIFA board?
5-15-2007-04
Post #5-15-2007-03 says"
"Why does it seem that when there is a controversy involving the IMPD that
one particular officer is always involved.
I am not condoning the reaction of the sewage, but I do question the hidden
agenda of this particular officer."
Um, what controversy involving the IMPD is
currently going on? I know there is a big controversy with the city manager
and public works director trying to say crap is not crap, but there is no
controversy on the way any IMPD officers handled
their end of it. Nice try, junior spin-meister. Always twisting,
always spinning, always trying to morph the issue into something else, never
the truth. You must be someone in our current government. If you are,
it is highly unethical of you to be personally trying to discredit a city
employee.
5-15-2007-03 Why does it seem that when there is a controversy
involving the IMPD that one particular officer is always involved. 5-15-2007-02
The posts on this site are getting BETTER
and BETTER.
Some very knowledgable people in
many different disciplines are chipping in. I think it's great.
With the hundred of watchdogs on this
site and the many social and business networks throughout the city,
very little goes unnoticed. I can never remember a City Council or a
City Manager under closer scrutiny. All
of it needed and deserved I might add.
I join the many others who have praised
those who established and are operating this website.
You are performing an great public
service by providing this platform.
5-15-2007-01
The Escanaba Daily Press
has a long history of taking Editorial
Positions on local issues. The Daily News could
gain more respect by following their example. The Escanaba
Daily Press uses editorials with some
frequency in taking firm local positions. They are gutsy.
A recent editorial, which was also published
in past Saturday edition of The Daily News is just one
example. They took the acting City Manager to task. In fact, a week or
so earlier, they were praising the acting City Manager
as being deserving of being appointed the position on a permanent basis.
Why the change of opinion? New
evidence.
There is absolutely nothing wrong
with changing your outlook and viewpoint when NEW EVIDENCE so dictates.
It is nothing to ashamed of.
Ignoring new evidence
in reshaping one's viewpoint is definitly something to be ashamed of.
It shows lack of capacity,
willingness or the integrity to do the right thing when the
preponderance of the evidence so dictates.
That is the position the Iron Mountain City
Council finds itself in, either by design or ignorance, probably both.
If they cannot see the many errant judgements, lies and abuse of his
position that John Marquart has taken, they certainly are neither fit
nor deserving to be in office.
Consider the comment by Council Member Eden
Caudell that 75 people at a city council meeting, with
about 20 expressing their opinions, is not significant to the
council. Based on their silence after the comment, the rest of them
must have agreed. Further, and even more telling, was their vote, not
more than 15 minutes after the first Public Comment period, to give
Marquart a 9% pay raise.
The voters will sort this out in the
upcoming election. Those up for election will find that the voters, as
a group, are fully capable of analyzing the massive amount of EVIDENCE
that has piled up and will be brought to public attention, not
only on the City Manager, but on their actions as well.
You can't hug a skunk without
getting sprayed yourself.
5-14-2007-04 Excuse me for getting off the subject. But I drove by Occhietti canyon at 1200 Grant Street yesterday and it made me wonder when will the frost be out of the ground in Iron Mountain? 5-14-2007-03
Post # 5-14-07-02 has brought up such a good
point about the other materials that would be in the sewer pipes.
I hope there will be some answers to the
questions we have about the dumping. How long and where? Was every single
place/time documented? Can those places be tested?
Is this why I kept getting mailed the yellow
postcard about our city water? Is this why my water has to smell like a
swimming pool?
Why is it that Kingsford's Water never had one
single test that came back with any bacteria....and their rates are lower?
Why are we always stuck having to feel like
"Sherlock Holmes" about things that should be open, honest, and public
information?
5-14-2007-02
Don’t Mr. Marquart and Mr. Becotte realize all of the number of possible
contaminated materials that can exist in untreated sewer waste, including
any water used to rinse out a sewer pumping truck? It isn’t just the typical
human waste (and all the disease that can be associated with that alone);
but also vomit, blood, all sorts of cleaning soaps, household beach, a
variety of domestic and industrial cleaning chemicals, pesticides, & other
poisons, hair care products & colorants, paints, legal & illegal drugs, and
whatever else individuals and businesses tend to wash down their drains and
toilets. Remnants of all of these can be contained in anything that
comes out of our sewers.
If these things have been dumped for years, there is a real risk of
contamination to our groundwater. What areas of our city have been
fertilized with this already? Are our children playing in these areas? Of
course that likely won’t concern Mr. Becotte, since he and his family don’t
live around here, or Mr. Marquart who won’t be around long enough to
experience any long term effects; but it concerns me. They know where it’s
being spread, we don’t.
This is an outrage! I cannot believe that anyone would believe that even
rinsing out a sewer truck would not be a risk. I certainly hope that the DEQ
is investing all of this thoroughly; not just around the pit. Is the Council
sitting back on this one too? What about their children, grandchildren,
etc.? Do you know what they’ve been exposed to?
With two Council members married to doctors, I’d love to get those spouses
opinions on this health issue.
5-14-2007-01
Good Gosh.
I know at thing or two about sewage, and I could never recommend that the stuff you get out of a sanitary sewer during a cleaning operation be used for fertilizer. Sludge comes from the sewer treatment plant as a byproduct of the treatment process and has indeed been used as a fertilizer. The City of Milwaukee bags and sells theirs as Milorginite; I would use Milorginite as a turf fertilizer but not on my tomatoes. But what we are talking about here is that Obviously We can’t not admit that it’s a sludge like substance. Raw sewage is conveyed to the sewer plant through sewers. After going through the plant you end up with treated effluent and sewage sludge. Until it passes through the plant it is raw sewage, period. Sewer lines do not provide treatment. They do not remove pathogens. Sewer plants do. So slice it or dice it all you want but if it came out of a sewer line it is raw sewage. The pit water got a clean bill of health. The stuff that was dumped on the ground is a vile mixture that was loaded with pathogens, as I am sure that tests run on it will show. If the City has been using this as fertilizer I think another investigation is in order, lets see, how many investigations does that make that did not happen and will not happen until January of 2008. The new council will have to be masters at prioritizing and at managing multiple priorities. 5-13-2007-09 To the author who posted the following comment on
5-13-2007-01: 5-13-2007-08
I wondered just how long have we been
having problems believing John Marquart and this council, so I did some
research at the library. Check out this quote from a Daily News article from
the fall of 2004:
"Keeping you informed", by John Marquart:
" . . .the writer alleges that the city is being
run in a way that would put Mr. Capone and Mr. Gotti, both gangland
criminals to shame. Nothing could be farther from the truth. All issues are
openly discussed and decided upon."
He was already finding it necessary to defend
his actions, and was giving his version of Nixon’s "I am
not a crook" speech, mere months into his stint in Iron Mountain. It's
almost laughable now, isn't it? People knew way back then what was
happening, and no one has done a damn thing in three years. And here we
are.
5-13-2007-07 Again, this one is for first-timers. Others are well aware of the full article because of the link on this site. I hope.
This is in response to David Legge’s and Carl Little’s letters. I have taken excerpts from a Barstow news article to defend the alarm that Iron Mountain residents felt in Mr. Legge’s hiring by our Assessor, Rich Brook.
Since our reaction of not feeling safe was under attack, instead of the hiring of this man, I wanted to prove there was reason to be fearful.
Friday, March 29, 2002 Charged in Barstow, CA: David Legge. An Identity theft scam that victimized more than 100 residents left Mr. Legge and Marsee Newton charged with 44 counts of producing fake driver’s licenses, fraud, stealing bank account numbers, and manufacturing and using counterfeit checks.
He stole people’s mail and used check-making programs or high tech equipment to make counterfeits.
$300,000 spending spree during the two months in Southern California.
Legge even took a checkbook from someone he befriended. He took an 87-year-old man’s checkbook from the Rimrock Vill Convalescent Home and stole about $5,400 from him.
He reproduced Bradco Companies’ checkbook and stole between $5000 and $7000, cashing some checks in Nevada. Investigators said Legge’s falsified Washington state driver’s licenses and counterfeit checks were good enough to fool even someone with a trained eye. They said the fakes were high quality and that Legge gave people the feeling of confidence.
So much loot had been acquired, that Legge had rented a U-haul truck to haul it around.
Legge is thought to have started his scam in Washington State, then on to Arizona, Nevada and finally on to Southern California.
He was finally caught when residents noticed their mail being stolen and police stopped a van matching the description. Legge produced a fake license, the van was searched, and the deputy found three computers, a fraud kit, forged checks, and 20-30 fake Washington state driver’s licenses; all with Legge’s photo. He also had an Improvised Explosive Device in the van, but denied that he was going to blow anything up. He told the deputy that it belonged to someone else and that he stopped them from using it.
Legge was tied to cases in 6 different Southern CA counties. Investigators said “This guy was everywhere, along the way he took whatever information he could gather.”
Investigator Cornell also believes that Legge sold software and fraud tools on the street. Legge faced a maximum prison term of 30 years if convicted as charged.
There had been outstanding warrants in Arizona and Washington in 2002, and at that time the Investigator said he expected more warrants from other jurisdictions to be issued.
I just don’t think it was an overreaction for any residents to be alarmed by having someone with this past, recently paroled, to be in our neighborhoods or be near our mailboxes, the city computers, etc. I also believe that Mr. Little has no right, being a resident of Gladstone, to tell Iron Mountain residents who they should feel comfortable with. Mr. Legge's letter used religeon as a weapon and felt very threatening, very creepy. I don't understand how the Council/Mr. Marquart can still keep Mr. Brook on after he knowingly hired someone with this criminal record. It's like hiring a sex offender to run a daycare. 5-13-2007-06 I know that people who frequent this forum are aware of what the truths are. This is for the first-timers:
In response to the letter written in last Saturday’s Speak Out entitled “Consider the source.” And also to Mr. Marquart’s article. While I would normally hesitate to answer a letter where the author has not signed their name, this particular letter needed to be addressed as it was filled with mistruths. The “idiots” you speak of that involved three government agencies to test the materials dumped and test the Chapin Pit water….would you be saying that along with concerned citizens, workers from the Fire Dept and Police Dept are idiots? Because these are the people that wanted to make sure that we were safe from contamination. The “wild goose chase” that you speak of….do you mean the DEQ test that confirmed the material was sewage? You mistakenly stated this was an opposition to the administration: it was people not wanting sewage dumped on land in the city. Period You can read the initial feedback from Mr. Becotte, reported Thursday and Friday on the front pages of the Daily News: Thursday: "it was water used to wash out the truck...it was not sewage." On Friday: "it was sand, silt and water.....It is spread on property all over the area." Well, as I said, DEQ tests confirm that it was sewage. In Saturday’s paper, front page, Mr. Marquart states that it is a “practice the city had carried out for many, many years. I don’t know why someone decided to make an issue out of it now.” Marquart states that “the city has been using the same disposal sites (near the Chapin pit) for many years. We have never had a problem before.” At the end of the article, Mr. Marquart says that “the city values the property around Chapin Pit. We would like to develop a trail system for residents to enjoy. We want people to have access to this natural area.” I don’t know, I would rather the city not spend the $200,000 that he had requested for a trail system amongst his disposal sites...I really can’t see how that would be approved by any government agency. More importantly, what are the long term consequences for the “many, many years” of sewage/sewage mixtures being dumped? Also, the article states that sludge material from sewer lines has been used on property as fertilizer. I may be wrong, but I thought there was a process it must go through in between inhabiting sewer lines and coming in contact with our property. A good question for the DEQ. I feel it is important that we should never be made to feel afraid to ask questions of our local government. Especially questions that possibly concern not only our health and welfare, but the generations after us. 5-13-2007-05
On Sewage:
This whole sewage controversy has gotten almost to the point of deciding
what the meaning of the word "is" is. We seem to have a public works
director who is playing with (or maybe just doesn’t know) the meaning of the
word "sewage". And we have a city manager who may or may not know,
but has chosen to go with Becotte’s altruistic definition of the word. Then
there is the oh, so careful insertion of the word "raw" here and
there as something to fall back on later, if need be. Then we have "other
debris" involved, appropriately vague enough to use in the back-peddling
stage, if necessary. Finally, "sanitary" and "fresh water"
were also used. SPIN, BABY, SPIN.
Somewhere in all of this you should begin to see
what a Political Science degree is really all about.
On David Legge: "We can’t not admit that it
happened." I’d like to add that one
into the running for the dumbest comment award.
5-13-2007-04
Best example of the Beauty of
Brevity I have seen in a long time was post
# 5-12-2007-08
Three short questions put it all in
PERFECT PERSPECTIVE. Good work, 08
5-13-2007-03
Mr. Legge, in his letter to the editor, stated
that he has paid his debt to society having completed his prison sentence
for 44 counts relating to identity theft and the fact that he cleaned out a
bunch of innocent peoples checking accounts to the tune of $300,000. He also
stated that he has made full restitution.
What constitutes having paid ones debt to society? I believe that it requires Mr. to have served his time, and completed his parole. Let’s not even go to making full restitution. To do so would require making good on over $300,000 on the thefts he got caught on let alone for the ones he got away with. It approaches delusional thinking to think that FULL restitution has been made. The following link will bring you to Mr. Legge’s Offender Profile on the Michigan Department of Corrections’ web site. http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=631088 The following is a summary. DAVID KEITH LEGGE Current Status: Parolee Supervision Begin Date: 01/18/2007 Supervision Discharge Date: 01/18/2010 Date Paroled: 01/18/2007 SUPERVISION CONDITIONS 01 - Contact agent no later than first business day after release 02 - Must not change residence 2.1 - Complete Sub Abuse Treatment Program as referred by agent 03 - Must not leave state 04 - Not engage in any behavior that constitutes a violation 05 - Comply with alcohol and drug testing ordered by field agent 06 - Not associate with anyone you know to have a felony record 07 - Must not own or possess a firearm 7.0 - No checking account, charge account or credit card 7.2 - Pay Supervision Fee pursuant to PA 184 of 1993 08 - Must not own, possess or use any object as a weapon 09 - Make earnest efforts to find and maintain employment 10 - Must comply w/special conditions, written and verbal orders If Mr. Legge keeps his nose clean, does not commit any major crimes, and complies with his supervision conditions he just might be able to say that he paid his debt off on the January 19, 2010. The statements made in that letter are disquieting to this writer. It is like the City owed him a job and his record means noting because of a partially paid of debt. I can’t begin to understand what is going on in the mind of someone that would write a letter like the one I read in the paper but it does creep me out. 5-13-2007-02 I always thought that Jeff VanLaanen was the
smart one on that council - the voice of reason if you will - but now I have
to wonder. How could he possibly say that he thinks Marquart is doing a "great
job"? Jeff, do you have any idea what a city manager is supposed to do? He's
farmed out half of his duties to hand-picked employees in new positions,
alienated everyone except those who make 5-13-2007-01
My hearty thanks to The Daily
News for the Saturday editorial on the Escanaba City
Manager situation. Be assured it was not accidental or
coincidental to our situation that they chose to run it. Most
likely, it went right over the heads of our brain-dead, Marquart
worshipping, city council.
They can't connect two dots, much less
three or four. They, themselves, have made so many legally
questionable decisions they would get swept up in their own
investigation. They don't have the trust among the
citizens that they would do it honestly if they did do an
investigation. It would be regard as a whitewash.
The chokehold many people believed the
Marquart-Tousignant duo had on the local media can no longer be
claimed. Aaron Harper of WJNR, Pooja
Lodhia of TV6, and The Daily News can now,
in my mind, all be classified as fair. I didn't always think so. I
don't think Linda Lobeck of The Daily News
ever was in their hip pocket, though. Sometimes I
wondered about the editorial side, but no longer.
Some of the quotes by Becotte and
Marquart regarding the recent sewage issue were reported as they
were given. If they turn out to inaccurate or outright lies, I
expect they will be reported as such eventually.
Iron
Mountain does need a full fledged, thorough, in-depth
investigation. I have confidence it will happen only by a
new city council beginning next January. It has already been
suggested on this website. It will be after Marquart is fired
and most, hopefully all, current members up for re-election find
themselves in "former city council member" status.
The investigation of this Iron Mountain
administration will make interesting reading, listening and viewing
well into the future. The media will love it.
5-12-2007-09
That was a very well done post by
Tina Peterson announcing her candidacy for the Iron
Mountain City Council.
I would hope all other challengers do the
same.
Incumbents should also be welcome, but I
doubt they would want the kind of scrutiny this website would put them
under. They would have to defend their votes.
5-12-2007-08
TO ALL IRON MOUNTAIN VOTERS
If you owned a company with 60 or
so employees would you:
Ask the current City Council to be
your Board of Directors? Yes __ No ___
Ask Ken Tousignant to be Chairman of
that Board? Yes __ No ___
Sign up John Marquart to be your
Chief Executive Officer? Yes __ No ___
End of questions
5-12-2007-07
I had to laugh when I saw this story online.
There must be a little (very little) book full of catch phrases, with a
"things-to-do" list included. I'm reminded of the clever carpetbagger post
from a few months ago.
Dormont Article
5-12-2007-06
Isn’t today’s editorial interesting? It’s from the Escanba
paper about their City Manager; yet the Daily News opted to put it in plain
view in our paper.
Perhaps our own Council is supposed to take it to heart and “appoint
an objective, skilled person to investigate these claims on its behalf”,
instead of allowing Mr. Marquart to do his own supposed investigating of
every issue that comes out.
As the article says: “A manager need not break any
specific laws before he is unfit to be a manager, especially in the public
sector.” and “The old adage is where there’s smoke, there may be
fire. The smoke in this controversy is growing, and, to protect city workers
and city residents, council must take every step to insure there is no fire.”
Because, “If it doesn’t, it’s failing in its
duties.”
5-12-2007-05 Obviously the writer of the article in the Speak
Out section cannot read properly. None of the reports I've read say that the
DEQ cleared that property. Only the water samples were cleared. Besides, this
truck is used to flush out sewers; so, what do Marquart and his supporters think
will be in that truck when they rinse it out? To say that the truck wasn't
dumping sewage is like saying your toilet is not contaminated after you've
flushed it. Would you let your kids play in it? I'd like to know what
properties are being fertilized with this stuff year after year like Marquart's
article says. We're fertilizing public areas with waste from our sewers? 5-12-2007-04
Well done Pooja Lodhia.
It's nice to have a fair and honest media
presence and someone who isn't afraid to ask the hard questions. Perhaps the
other media outlets could learn a lesson from this reporter.
Keep up the good work!
5-12-2007-03
I see in the Saturday speakout that someone has
labeled a well-respected police officer as an idiot, because he had the gall
to report illegal dumping to the proper authorities. I also heard the
morning news on Frog Country, where Marquart claims the DEQ has given the
city a clean bill of health. The DEQ criminal investigation unit was in town
on Friday to BEGIN their investigation. That fact can be verified
simply by calling the police, fire, public works, or health departments.
Caution: you may not get a forthright answer from the DPW, depending on who
takes your call. Marquart is deliberately mucking up the issue by trying to
equate the water sample testing with the DEQ report, which has not
been completed.
Marquart claimed on the TV 6 News last night
that there may have been some sanitary sewer debris included in the dumped
materials. So, Marquart actually clarified for us that it was from a sewage
- not storm sewer - line on TV 6 last night. I don’t know about you, but
if that load came from a sanitary sewer, I consider it to be untreated
sewage, no matter what it is made up of. He is spinning in overdrive,
folks. By the way, "sanitary sewer" is a little misleading, isn’t it? It
does not mean the sewer is sanitary. It means the sewer that takes what goes
down our drains and toilets to the treatment plant. I'm also wondering why
we would have so much sand, rocks, and "other debris" in our sewers.
My guess is that "other debris" was mighty squishy and smelly.
5-12-2007-02 I would like to announce that I am running for City Council My name is Tina Peterson, I live at 616 East "B" Street, and I am 41 years old. I am a widow with a daughter in college, a son in high school, and I have an Applied Science Degree in architecture. Honestly, on Monday night, running for City Council was the furthest thing from my mind. However, if there is any chance to be a part of taking our city back, I will put my heart and soul into it. We seem to be facing an impenetrable brick wall: a mixture of officials who do not care what is destroyed and those who choose to remain oblivious to it. If there were to be 4 new individuals who were unafraid to disassemble this tangled growth, there would be a new beginning, a fresh chance to put things right. Besides the many hard-line issues such as near-criminal cover-ups, budget expenditures that make no sense, and a seeming lack of interest in what our community actually wants, this group of people, led by a man who has somehow become their boss, has taken our tax dollars and given us arrogance in return. I personally am fed up with being told by Mr. Marquart that he has somehow led us into growth and development, as I have watched local businesses pick up and leave for neighboring areas. I have witnessed this man almost single-handedly pit our Fire and Police Departments against each other, all in the name of $200,000. It seems as if more than this "saved" amount has been spent on overtime, training costs, extra gear, police bonuses, etc.—not to mention the added dubious budget lovelies like tens of thousands of dollars in consultant fees for various ideas and plans for projects that may never materialize, plans that seem to be at the whim of the current administration. What I have not witnessed are any truthful explanations, answers or documentation about any of the issues when our council, mayor or city manager have been “called on the carpet.” I wish the residents knew of the fear tactics, intimidation, lies, spins, and manipulations that this City Manager has used on certain upstanding citizens in our community. They have lived in fear of losing their pensions, benefits, even their jobs if they were to speak up against him. They have families to support, as you and I do, and their hands have been tied. I want to be a part of lifting that veil of fear. I wish the residents knew the truth behind what Mr. Marquart and friends did to the Fire Department. I believe that all will become known in November. I understand fully that a city budget is not a simple or streamlined thing, but I believe the tools needed to address it include common sense, honesty, and the willingness to listen to those who have expertise and experience. I believe that you can never afford to be frivolous with tax-payers’ money. The way things are today, every penny counts in our own household budgets—we need the absolute most "bang for our buck" from our tax dollars. While on one hand you have the business side of being a member of the City Council, on the other hand you must have the ability to recognize whom you are working FOR. Each resident who lives in this city is a valued individual. Together we add up to a community. It doesn't matter if your income is high or low: we all contribute to what makes our city special. I have had the opportunity through the years to witness the many caring individuals who give of their time to those less fortunate in our community. I have been the less fortunate. I am humbled by the generous hearts that care so deeply for their neighbors here. We all wish for that spirit to continue. We choose to live in a small town because of that spirit. I feel that continuously being torn apart, feeling helpless and at the mercy of people who are out of touch with us does not promote that spirit. These things may seem idealistic, but a bit of idealism sprinkled in with the day-to-day reality we must always face seems like a good recipe to me. Some Ideas that I have: 1. Besides trying to use local businesses as much as possible in bidding out various contracts, I suggest a ceiling, or “cap” on the percentage above the original bid that the Contractor can submit. There have been many situations where the percentage has come back as much as 50% above the original bid. Just to make sure that contractors are not bidding low to get the job and then adding on later, I think a cap would ensure a more honest original bid. I know there can be unforeseen circumstances, but that must be somehow written in to protect the contractor. 2. Interactive Council Meetings-Town Hall Meetings: If the new City Council meetings were to provide citizens with the necessary outlet of dialogue, there may not be a need for a Town Hall meeting. However, I still see it as a good idea; especially if there were a large number of citizens that wished to address issues. Some cities actually take this information and report back to the residents on the progress being made—a type of “report card.” These situations produced a very harmonious relationship between the residents and their government. 3. Issues like the deer at City Park: Have any of the Council members even addressed the possibility of wildlife organization resources that may be available? I am of the thinking that I want the deer to stay. I believe they are an important part of our community and mean a great deal to many residents. They have not been cared for properly if the council's focus has only been on how to dispose of them. I believe it's worth the research to see what we can provide for them to keep them healthy and to keep the natural scenery of this area intact. I am going ahead with my own research into what can be done. Possibly, existing soccer or baseball fields in other locations can be added too (if land is available) to provide more playing space. Think: Niagara or Lodal Park, but a bit smaller. 4. I agree wholeheartedly with a previous letter about televised Council meetings and had that on my list of ideas. The high school also has a media class that may be able to participate, which would be doubly educational for them. Many other U.P. Cities have been doing this for years. 5. Involve local schools in some design projects. There is a wealth of untapped talent at our high school and soon at Bay West. Students would benefit with extra credit and experience, supervised of course, and we would have a head start on preliminary designs. Proper and appropriate compensation could be given to the department. These are just a few ideas. I apologize for being long-winded. I promise I would not do that as a sitting Council member. If you agree or disagree with what I have said, feel free to contact me at my email address: I would be happy to hear from you and even happier if you would sign my petitions. Sincerely, Tina Peterson 5-12-2007-01 Response to 5-10-07-13 5-11-2007-11
For a man that so “full of it”, it’s interesting how John
Marquart keeps running into Sewage problems.
5-11-2007-10 I went up to the bat cave area to see with
my own eyes and there was a pile about 8'x8' and it smelt like crap, it looked
like crap, oh 5-11-2007-09
Patric Arnold in post 5-10-2007-14 asks
whether viewers here think the Mayor should resign and/or be held
accountable for allowing the corruption that has taken place.
1 This mayor is so arrogant and out of
touch, he not only won't resign, he is very likely to fill
out a petition, run, and actually expect
to win.
2 He and Marquart are so joined at the hip
he can't possibly point a finger at Marquart. He is
stuck with supporting Marquart. The
two of them have cooked most of the whacko
ideas together.
3 Supporting Marquart alone should do him
in, but he has way more than enough
baggage of his own.
4 I feel bad for his mother. She has
worked hard for many years to build up a business and
his actions are hurting that business.
At the same time, I suppose she is partially responsible
for giving him a paper shuffling job
and I would guess a fairly hefty salary for doing very
little and a lot of free time.
5 I can't picture him ever accomplishing
anything on his own. He just "ain't got it" upstairs,
except in his own mind.
6 The voters will take care of him in
November. Don't underestimate them. He thinks they
are so simple-minded that he can
actually BS then into getting re-elected. They aren't and
he won't.
5-11-2007-08
This is from the TV6 News
Website tonight:
"Iron Mountain residents got some good news Friday. The recent dumping
of material by city-contracted workers did not contaminate the water in
Chapin Pit. Tests confirm that.
However, there's still controversy over exactly what the workers dumped near the pit earlier this week. The Department of Environmental Quality says its tests confirmed that the material was sewage, which is illegal. City officials, despite the tests, continue to insist it was not sewage and they did nothing illegal. 'What was put into those areas was sand and silt and rocks and debris and a lot of fresh water, probably some sanitary sewer debris,' says City Manager John Marquart. 'However, it was not, as has been reported, raw sewage.' DEQ officials say they are proceeding with their investigation the dumping."
I don't even need the blood pressure Meds anymore. Maybe Valium? 5-11-2007-07
If Brook is as honest as Carl Little tries
to portray him, why didn't he approach Marquart about the possibility of
hiring Legge and explain the status of his brother-in-law. Marquart
then could have given him and up or down on it, or better yet, explain
it to the city council, and let them make the final decision and let
the public know.
Brook hides his brother-in-law's record from
Marquart, apparently. I say apparently because that's the way
Marquart portrayed it. If Brook had told him, Marquart wasn't going to
admit it in any case.
Further, Brook and Marquart had cooked up
such a convoluted sweetheart deal in the first place that anything is
possible. Neither of them has any reason to be trusted by the public by
now.
Carl Little has selective memory, but
then look who hired him --- his buddy Brook.
The concensus of public opinion is sucking all of them
deeper and deeper into the quicksand every day, along with the city
council. All of them are finally getting their due.
I think I can finally see a little
light at the end of the tunnel. As November approaches, it will get
much, much brighter.
Without this website, I am positive that the
momentum that has been building would never have been possible. As a
long time resident, I want to thank the webmaster and any other people
who have put the time and effort into such a noble cause. Thank you all
!!!!
5-11-2007-06
DPW
Director Bob Becotte is not quite in the same class of spinmeisters as
Marquart. He screws up with The Daily News and Frog Country by saying
it's no big deal and a dead issue, but conveniently forgets that to tell
them he instructed the company where to dump the sewage laden water.
By time
Pooja calls him, he suddenly goes mum, probably after a blast from
Marquart. Marquart, never lost for words, also couldn't seem to get his
tongue working. Neither would comment to Pooja.
If Marquart
had given the order on where to dump he would (a) have denied ever
giving it, and if that didn't fly, (b) it would become an honest
misunderstanding, and (c) if any city employee had been witness to the
conversation, he would immediately tell that employee "you didn't hear a
thing" and/or "I can make your life miserable."
Where
Marquart screwed up is that he hired Becotte without giving him his
spinmeister manual to read and memorize.
No matter.
They era of Marquart's glory days with the media is over. Same for
little Kenny.
5-11-2007-05
In response to 5-10-2007-13:
Stop attacking Mr. Giguere.
You have been trying to discredit this resident
for many posts now, swinging back and forth between accusing him of asking
for too much to rebuild...to accusing him of not being able to rebuild for
$40,000.
My sense is that you are either a member of the
current administration or are related to them because no other resident
would be spewing the venom you have been.
We all know that it could have been any one of
us that this may have happened to. We all know that this $10 rider you
speak of that the "smart folks" all have is something that most residents
truly aren't aware of in their policies.
Mr. Giguere's situation is not that
much different from Mrs. Ochietti's--one is water, one is sewage--but damage
is damage. She was fortunate to have a community rally around her, even
though a very fine police officer caught Holy Hell from Mr. Marquart for
doing so. Do you realize that this police officer's job was even threatened
by Marquart because of his neighborly actions? He was accused of making the
City look bad? As if they needed someone else to make that happen...
I realize that there were also many fine people
who helped Mr. Giguere, and they may not have received as much recognition,
so kudos to them.
I just don't understand why you are trying to
rake this resident over the coals, treating him like a criminal. He has
been patient for 5 months and he was personally promised by the Mayor in the
very beginning that there would be compensation.
How many of us could deal with this situation if
it were our homes and not feel enraged? I give Mr. Giguere credit for how
calm he has been able to be. I just can't say that I could be able to be
that way if it were my home.
So, Mr. Poster of 5-10-13, I think it's time you
realized that you aren't even a minority on this issue....you are just a
"one."
As for what you had the audacity to write about
the Fire Dept. issue, the truth will come out soon about that. They did
indeed have the town behind them, but Marquart put out a
spin-of-a-lifetime just weeks before that election. I sincerely
cannot wait until every single citizen is fully aware of every lie that was
told by that man. I cannot wait until every citizen knows what our Fire
Dept and Police Dept have endured from Marquart.
And if you sincerely think your tax dollars
aren't being wasted by the city council, you obviously haven't been reading
the Vendor reports or following any of the reassessment issues.
I pity you.
5-11-2007-04
Kudos to Pooja Lodhia of Channel 6 for a
great job the the sewage issue.
Pooja has definitely earned her stripes
as a fair, balanced reporter.
No one can accuse her of being in
Marquart's pocket any more.
The video clip that was aired on TV 6 is
immediately below.
Turn on your speakers, click on the link below
and listen.
Below is the written account from the Channel 6
website.
5-11-2007-03
I want to know who is getting what kickbacks to make our
Manager and Council, who claim to want to grow Iron Mountain, pour hundreds
of thousands of dollars into Delta County’s economy.
We have Bob Becotte, Rich Brook, Gilbert & Associates, Eagle
Assessing, Carl Little, David Legge, and now possibly this unidentified
sewer inspecting company (and who knows who else) taking our tax dollars in
the form of wages to spend in Delta County. How does that help Iron Mountain
to grow? And why isn’t our Public Works inspecting our sewers? Suddenly we
need to contract help from Delta County.
Shouldn’t they at least be keeping the money in Dickinson
county, since Iron Mountain is the central shopping area for this county? We
do have capable people here who could use the jobs. Maybe many could afford
to fix up their property with these kind of wages. But it looks like Becotte
and Brook must get to pick and choose from their friends and relatives in
Delta County to be paid to do work here and get paid from our tax dollars.
Why would a Council that was elected by us and claim to have Iron Mountain’s
best interest at heart agree to let all of that money leave the area?
After-all, it’s their tax dollars too.
Between the new college (which is a branch of Delta County’s
college) and all of the City ‘help’, I feel like we should be annexed by
Delta county. They’re getting enough of my tax dollars.
5-11-2007-02
I'm wondering how David Legge made
"full restitution" to his victims. According the report at the
time of his arrest, he stole $300,000 from his victims in two months.
Since that time May of 2002 he had
been cooling it in a California big-house until January of this year.
How could he have possibly made
restitution? Did he become a successful High Stakes Poker player and
manage to clip wealthy drug dealers while in prison and walk out with
satchels full of money?
Tell us how you did it, Legge. Did
you make a restitution "settlement" with the $75,000 your brother-in-law
Rich Brook skimmed from the City of Iron Mountain according to the July
and August 2006 Vendor's reports.
5-11-2007-01
How does it feel, City Council,
to get blamed for something you didn't do. Not too good, hey?
You should have rushed to Legge's
defense according to Carl Little. Do you get that helpless and
outraged feeling? Welcome to the club.
That's how your consituents have felt for
nearly four years.
I hope all of you "feel wounded".
You have consistently defended a liar and deceiver and topped
it off with a 9% pay raise. Somehow, I am not up to rushing to
your defense.
Will Marquart "move quickly" and fire
Becotte? Don't bet on it, just like he didn't fire Brook. He has a
vested interest in these two guys. He picked them. Same with that stump
you call your Community Planner, Mark Woolard. If you ever knew how
this arrogant know-nothing treats people and who can't make a decision
without checking with Johnny boy, your hair would crawl.
Thanks for
THE CITY WE DESERVE
5-10-2007-14
A question for the people, is it apparent that calling for the city manager's resignation is not enough? Is it time to call for the Mayor's? The Mayor has stepped back and let corruption go on and has ignored the voice of the people. I think he needs to be held accountable! Agree? Disagree? Please discuss. I'm interested in your thoughts.
-Patric Arnold
PS... Thank you for having this nice little
forum.
And yes I did mean directly recalled. Late
nights lead to fast typing. Sorry.
5-10-2007-13
Response to 5-10-07 06
...so Mr. Giguere is going to be rebuilding for
$40,000??? Good luck to him on that, no matter where he finds the money or
builder to do so. Maybe he should have gotten smart and paid the extra ten
bucks for the rider on his insurance to cover the damage like the smart folk
do--but why would he on a $16,000 home? No numbers game...just wondering
why he was paying so little tax when he clearly believed his home was worth
so much more. I'm glad my tax dollars are not being wasted by the city
council just "writing a check."
As long as I'm here...Eden Caudell had a
point...anyone who recalls the "Fire issue" can tell you the meetings were
packed with the "vocal minority". Meeting after meeting was standing room
only with public commentary lasting hours...all speaking in support of the
Fire Dept. When it came down to a vote...the vocal people at the meetings
proved not to be a valid "sample" because the final survey said: The people
didn't want the fire dept. staffed at the level it had been. The most
surprised people were the ones who had attended those meetings. As is often
the case, only the dissatisfied people speak up. It's the rare occasion
that someone who is happy with the job someone is doing commends them--it's
a shame, but a fact of life. The people who are happy with job the city
council is doing stayed home on Monday. I hope anyone throwing their hat
into the ring for city council realizes its a thankless job and they are
damned no matter what they do.
5-10-2007-12
The Daily News tonight knocked me off my chair.
On the front page, somehow Bob Becotte managed
to blame the sewer truck company for where the "substances" were
dumped----when HE was the one to tell them where to make the dumps!
The driver thought it was illegal, told Mr.
Becotte it was illegal, and the driver was told by Becotte to "do it
anyway!"
According to Becotte in the paper, the substance
was not sewage, but was water that had been used to wash out the
sewer truck. Gee, if I wash out a truck that had sewage in it...I wonder
what the water will have in it.....
People, If the sewage had been dumped at the
treatment plant where it was supposed to be dumped, the truck would have
been washed there.
Becotte "said the DEQ was notified as a
precaution. It's over and it's a dead issue."
HE did not notify the DEQ! He wasn't very happy
about them being notified.
Honestly, when you look at the headline, picture
and caption it looks as if nobody knows where it came from and that Becotte
had nothing to do with it.
Sigh.
Then you turn to the "letters to the Editor"
for wonderful and heartwarming poetry from David Legge, saying how God will
judge us all for making such a rash judgment on him. The one thing the
Council Members have actually listened to us about, firing Legge, and Legge
calls his firing the "true crime"!!!
I swear I can hear the Twilight Zone theme
playing.....
On to Carl Little Sr.'s letter trying to
convince us that David is like no other criminal he has ever known and that
David was in the trusting care of Colleen and Rich Brook who would keep him
on the "straight and narrow." This man lives in Gladstone! We aren't
allowed to say "crap" at our Council Meetings, but a man from Gladstone is
going to show us the way?
I just don't know what to think anymore. Is
this the reality of Iron Mountain now? Maybe the Council members will be
offended by Mr. Legge's letter, it almost sounds threatening in a creepy
sort of way.
Help me to not give up on our City here. I am
so tired of the Spin by Marquart and by every single person he has HIRED.
AND THEY ALL COME FROM GLADSTONE/ESCANABA-------even the sewer company is
from Escanaba!
Pass me back the blood pressure Meds, please.
PS: Both Legge and Little
forgot to mention that Legge had an improvised explosive device in his
vehicle when he was caught in California.
5-10-2007-11
Good thing you don’t have an open forum. After reading
today’s (Thursday) paper, I think I’d have posted with a string of
expletives that would make a trucker blush.
On this sewage issue. Becotte says it not sewage so it’s a
dead issue. I’ll believe that when the Health Department or DEQ say so. If
it wasn’t sewage, why was it gotten rid of it at the wastewater plant. They
don’t know why this company dumped there. So, who unlocked the gates and let
them in? And, now who is this company that the City is using and why?
Doesn’t the City do anything without outside contracts anymore?
That wasn’t enough. Then I read the letters to the Editor
from Carl Little and Mr. Legge himself. These aces have no right to
criticize us (or our elected officials). They aren’t citizens and shouldn’t
have been hired in the first place. Legge tries to make himself look like he
did nothing that was so bad. Well, I beg to differ. And we should have the
right to decide whom to pay with our tax money and whom to allow on our
property. If he had any sense he’d have gone away quietly.
And to Carl Little. I don’t care what jobs you held in the
past. You don’t know this guy. Of course he’ll appear to be on best behavior
while on parole. He’s a con. He knows what to say to get out on parole and
to try to convince people he’s now an honest man. I’m sure there are plenty
of people who would have considered him honest while he was on his felonious
spree too. Mr. Little, if you had any credibility with me before, you have
none now.
5-10-2007-10
Here we go again! TV 6, Frog Country, and the
Daily News are all reporting the story of sewage dumped on city property.
But, according to Marquart-yes-man Bob Becotte in the Daily News story, the
substance is not sewage, and, oh yeah, it’s a dead issue. It’s just "water
used to wash out the truck."
Other than sewage, what, exactly, can you get
out of sewer lines? The Frog Country report says the substance was
confirmed to be raw sewage. We should ask the people who were there
cleaning it up what they think they smelled, other than another possible
load of BS coming from another of Marquart’s yes-men.
5-10-2007-09 I cannot believe the nerve of these guys. The
letters in the paper from Carl Little and David Legge made my blood boil. 5-10-2007-08
Hey, Mayor - I seem to remember you
saying in the paper that the city was going to have to sue itself if the
voters approved the Charter Amendment that would save them taxes. That
was in last November's election. The voters ignored your advice and
passed it by a mile.
Have I missed this lawsuit or what? Who are
the attorneys for each side? Am I overly suspicious for thinking that
maybe you were lying?
5-10-2007-07
Sewage, sewage, sewage
The City We Deserve
5-10-2007-06
To the writer of #5-9-2007-14. You just don’t
get it, do you? If you are willing to sell your house for the value it’s
being taxed on, that’s a good thing. I would do the same with my house. Here
is where you are either being devious or just missing the point:
If my home was destroyed by fire, or natural
disaster, or any other reason, I could not have it rebuilt for the fair
market value. Every contractor, assessor, appraiser, or homeowner who has
had to deal with it knows that is a fact of life. The typical $60,000.00
house in Iron Mountain would easily cost two to three times that value to
rebuild it. Stop twisting and playing the numbers game. It’s getting old
and worn out. We are talking replacement of damage, not selling. I see
you finally got smart enough to stop signing your name.
5-10-2007-05 The answer to the question posted on 5-9-2007-10 is that we did look at having a forum were post's could be uploaded from the visitor. The problem is that content could not be screened before being posted. I will be honest, we do get some foul language and and inappropriate posts. If a person wants his or her opinion posted they must use some discretion. Not to mention it prevents the spammers form flooding the forum with advertising. Webmaster 5-10-2007-04 Here is an idea. 5-10-2007-03
One good thing that has come out of
the recent furor is that talk of pavilions, outdoor rest rooms,
bandshells and burying a block of electrical wires for $150,00 had died
down.
I hope it has been
permanently killed, but you never know with this bunch.
You can't let your guard down for a
single minute with people you absolutely can't trust, all seven of
them.
Throw in the City Manager and the
time frame drops down to a single second.
5-10-2007-02
Every day I remind myself of Mayor Ken
Tousignant's campaign slogan. He promised
"The City You Deserve"
I think it's safe to say what we've seen the
last three and a half years is not quite what most of us think we
deserved, but apparently you do. So for your next campaign slogan, I
suggest:
"You
got the City you deserved, just as I promised"
5-10-2007-01
For Rich Brook, Marquart is the
gift that keeps on giving.
Brook hires his convicted felon
brother-in-law to work in the assessor's office. All he is doing is
going out and measuring properties. He does this whether people are
home or away. He was arresting for stealing mail, using that
information to print and cash checks to the tune of $300,000 in just
two months.
Marquart fires felon David Legge.
The story broke on this website,
remember that.
Marquart retains the impeccable and
irreplaceable Rich Brook. Common sense would dictate Brook should be
fired, but evidently Marquart believes he has too much invested in
him. So he stays.
The City Council says and
does nothing. As one who hopes these
bums, all of them, are tossed out in November, I
guess, in a perverse way, we should be happy that Brook will be
around during the campaign.
He will be one more reminder of
the misdeeds and stupidity of this council and manager, not that we
don't have enough ammunition already.
5-9-2007-14
If the homeowner makes improvements to a
dwelling increasing its value the ethical homeowner would report such
improvements so he/she could be taxed accordingly. If our citizens, who are
so concerned about every cent the city spends, would do that there would not
be a need for a city wide re-assessment. Clearly, Mr. Giguere did not do
that and now wants compensation well and above the amount he has been taxed
on. Purchase price aside, the taxable value is the amount he has happily
paid taxes on.
He didn't bother to report the improvements so
he could be properly taxed...well, I guess he's S.O.L.(pun intended).
Incidentally, I would sell my house for the market value indicated on my tax
statement...would you ? If not, you are not paying enough taxes.
5-9-2007-13
Eden Caudell should not be handed out the
Dumbest Comment Award without competition, although
it's an excellent nomination.
How about tossing in a couple of others in
the hopper. I'd include:
Jeff Van Laanen was asked at a council
meeting why his health committee was picking on the retirees, who are
not in any union organization, for health cost savings instead of
everbody. His reply:
"Because we can."
(That statement doesn't qualify him for "The
Most Compassionate Award" but
there won't be such a contest among City Council members because no one
has any) The weasel (oops, I
meant the Mayor) qualified with his "We
don't just write checks"
comment to Rich Giguerre. We know, you'd
rather pay him with a few rolls of pennies.
Add Sally Jacobs who "felt wounded"
when criticized about the pay raise Marquart got.
Hurt feelings is not the same as wounded.
When you make dumb decisions, there is a price to pay. Hurt feelings is
nothing. If our troops in Iraq make a mistake or get hit with and IED
or sniper fire,
that's getting wounded - or killed.
Just when Eden Caudell thought she had a
sure win, she finds herself in serious competition.
5-9-2007-12
More proof of how arrogant city manager John
Marquart is, and how naive the city council members really are. When was
the last time you told your boss "give me the bonus I deserve", and you got
it?
5-9-2007-11
To Patric Arnold - If you want to run you
have to get petitions from the City Clerk, fill them out and return them
by May 15. Not much time left.
By they way, you stated "It makes me
think these people should be directly elected." I'm a bit
confused by that statement. I know you know they are voted into
office. What did you mean? Maybe you mean directly recalled.
You kick them out by electing others, which
is exactly what I hope and believe will happen.
5-9-2007-10
I would suggest filing a class action suit
against the Council to freeze spending before everything is lost.
I would also suggest a call to the Attorney
General and State Auditor to look into the antics by the sitting Council.
I would strongly suggest letting the Council
know there are a lot more than roughly 75 people in this city that are tired
of them by having a march and protest rally of all concerned citizens at the
next meeting and getting as much press coverage as possible. Alert the media
from here to Green Bay and down to Lansing if need be.
We must not cave, we must not let the council
run us down, we have a voice and it needs to be heard, now!
One more note to the webmaster, any chance of
having an open message board format?
5-9-2007-09
First off: Webmaster, I appreciate you sharing your reason
for not posting for a few days; but don’t apologize for having a life. As
much as we all thrive on the up-dates, we don’t expect you to be married to
this site.
Now: Anyone, Please tell me that someone has contacted the
ICMA with some facts about Mr. Marquart’s ethics and sent them a link
to this site. I just viewed a little of that site and am sure they would be
interested in investigating this member [and, yes, he is a member. I found
his name in this link:
http://www.icma.org/credentialed/index.cfm]
I’m sure they’d also be interested in how he fraternizes with
the mayor.
I wish I had access to some portions of that site that are
for registered users. For one thing, I’d like to read more on ‘Maintaining
Ethical Standards and Public Trust in the Face of Scandal’
As to Eden Caudell’s remark: Maybe we could get the point
across that a large number of citizens are against these decisions by
boycotting her café. In fact we need to boycott (or even arrange to picket)
several businesses. [One of my family members went so far as to change her
doctor; reasoning that anyone who could support these board members might
have impaired judgment.]
5-9-2007-08 I think the comment by the mayor, who said, " We
just don't hand out checks" was ludicrous. This was in regards to the man whose
house was flooded by sewage due to a broken sewage pipe that back flooded into
his house. 5-9-2007-07
Robin Tchockreff seems to take the
opportunity to "fly south for the night" every time there is a hot
meeting. Has anyone checked the City Charter to see how many meetings a
council member can miss before being tossed out. This guy has missed an
unbelievable number.
He has claimed he has customers who
need haircuts. Is it so hard to schedule them around the three hours
a month in total that the two monthly council meetings take?
They aren't held in the middle of
the day - they start at 6:30 PM.
5-9-2007-06
Let's not be too hard on Pooja.
The 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM editions of TV 6 news took a pretty good hit at
the council. The author of an earlier post probably watched the 5:00 PM
edition that simply stated there would be a story about the Iron
Mountain City Council.
TV6 covers the whole UP, not just Iron
Mountain. I had hoped for somewhat longer coverage, but Pooja did do
brief interviews with Ted Corombos and Dale Alessandrini, and they are
certainly no fans of this administration. It was also mentioned that a
request for comment from the administration were sought by her, but they
declined.
Pooja is very likely told how long the story
can be, so she has to edit it to fit. Or she sends in a longer story
and parts of it are edited out in Marquette.
In some past clips, I also thought she might
be favoring the administration. However, in the Occhietti home water
line break and flood, you may remember she went to the house and
interviewed Mrs. Occhietti. She also interviewed the Mayor, who totally
lied about, and tried to take credit for, a volunteer effort that was
already undertaken by Dale Alessandrini and Bill Revord. It's not her
fault that the Mayor was lying. In fact, perhaps unwittingly, she did
us all a favor by showing his true character and the extent Tousignant
will go to spin things.
At present, I am satisfied
that Pooja is doing a balanced job. She
is usually not at City Council meetings. The fact that she had found
out this may be a controversial and unusual one and did show up is to
her credit. I'm sure the City Council as well as Marquart and
Tousignant would have been much happier if she hadn't.
5-9-2007-05
On post 5-8-2007-09. Are you serious? If it
costs $40,000.00 to fix what the City wrecked, that’s what it costs. It
doesn’t matter what the house sold for. We are talking replacement value
here, which is not unreasonable. What gets me going is that this council has
no problem at all spending that much money on legal fees, as if it were
chickenfeed. The City will not win this case. Despite the money - OUR MONEY
- they will spend on legal fees, they will end up giving Mr. Giguere what is
rightfully owed him for the damage and loss of use of his home. Maybe even
have to pay HIS attorney fees, to boot. We are all getting raped on this
one.
On another subject, I was not amused to hear the
city council comments about how much they like working FOR John
Marquart. Where did these people come from? Did we find the only seven
people in the city who don’t realize that he works for THEM? I am
embarrassed at the lack of intelligence clearly evident in our council
members. It makes us all look bad, to our neighbors and beyond. It is almost
beyond belief that Marquart was given that bonus after the outrage shown by
the citizens, and that was not the first time that has happened.
By the way, Mrs. Jacobs, not that you care, but
I bet Mr. Giguere is feeling wounded too, and with a lot more reason to feel
that way than you have. When you come out blindly swinging a club with no
brain behind it, you wound a lot of innocent people. Whether you are
blissfully ignorant of it or not, that is exactly what you have been a part
of during the three years you have spent praising Marquart. Are you not
listening to what citizens are trying to tell you, or don’t you care? Is it
the wrong class of people trying to be heard, or what?
John Marquart, if you had even a shred of human
decency left in you, you would do the manly thing and resign. Now.
5-9-2007-04
Tina Peterson
is someone I had never met. She has posted a few posts
on this website, to which she attached her name, and included
suggestions that certain people she named run for the City Council.
Last night I heard her make two very good
presentations at the packed City Council meeting. She impressed me as
very sensible and compassionate person. She is eloquent, polite and
reasonable.
Tina, I think you would make
an excellent candidate yourself. All you
need is 50 valid signatures of registered voters to get on the ballot. I
can assure you there are people out there who will support you
financially and make sure you get name recognition.
It costs nothing to file, but the deadline
is May 15, so you must act quickly. If you announce on this website that
you are running, I would be happy to communicate with you and help you
out.
5-9-2007-03 Not that I agree with the 9% for Marquardt but
please do not call it a raise. 5-9-2007-02
In pondering this City Council, Mayor and
City Manager, I let my thoughts wander to the possible outcomes and the
headlines I dream will be generated.
Four Challengers Sweep I.M. Election
Wednesday, Nov 7, 2007 - Four new faces will
be serving on the Iron Mountain City Council as voters showed their
total dissatisfaction ...........
Council Fires Marquart
Monday, Jan 8, 2008 - At its very first
meeting, the newly elected members of the City Council of Iron Mountain
fired controversial City Manager John Marquart "with cause" citing many
violations of the City Charter and for exceeding his authority
..............
I.M. Council Orders Full In-depth
Investigation
Monday, Jan 22, 2008 - The Iron Mountain
City Council has voted to conduct a full and completed investigation
of city activities over the past four years. The actions of
recently-fired City Manager John Marquart will come under special
scrutiny as well as actions of the previous city council. The private
investigation firm that the city will be hiring will given full access
to all files, minutes, actions and financial records. This firm will be
working with outside legal counsel that the city council is also
planning to hire to determine if criminal acts have been commited. If
such acts are found, city officials indicated they will be pursued
vigorously and relentlessly until ..........
Kinda gets the adrenalin going, huh?
5-9-2007-01 Sorry Folks I was out of town on business and was unable to upload the post's. Webmaster 5-8-2007-10 Pooja Lodhia you done it again. 5-8-2007-09
I find it amusing that Mr. Giguere was content
with the taxable value of his property being $7,800 (which would indicate a
fair market value just under $16,000) when he clearly believes his property
is worth almost 3 times that value. If the city were to compensate Mr.
Giguere for damages, I would oppose them making any offer of compensation
that would exceed the amount he has paid taxes on.
5-8-2007-08
MY NOMINEE FOR THE DUMBEST
COMMENT OF THE YEAR AWARD IS (drumroll)
EDEN CAUDELL
In the Tuesday Daily News commentary of the
City Council meeting, last paragraph of the article she is quoted
as saying:
"The 75 people in the audience represent
less than 1% of the 8200 people of Iron Mountain", thereby implying that
75 people at a council meeting is not enough. First of all, she
undercounted. Nevertheless, if this is an inadequate sample, there
should still have been some distribution that included pro-council
people.
If you noticed Eden baby, with your propped
glasses above the forehead look which is your naive idea of exuding
class, not one single person got up to speak on behalf of the council or
Marquart. Statistically, and I know that this is way over your head,
polls of 1000 people are used to get opinions for the entire
nation. If 3,000,000 people were polled, it would
represent and be equal to the 1% of the nation's 300,000,000. That's
the equivalent of what you had before you last night. That is far more
people than have ever been polled in a national
poll.
I won't even get into bell curves, standard
deviations, or outlier events because I know I've lost you already.
A word of advice:
It is better if keep your mouth shut and be thought a
fool, than to open it and leave no doubt.
You talk too much anyway. I saw people's
eyes roll and you went on and on, saying nothing of value or interest.
If you like to hear yourself talk, please do it at home in front of a
mirror and spare us the boredom.
5-8-2007-07 Ok, now we know that we were all wrong about John
Marquart. 5-8-2007-06
With everything that has been going on with the
city, whether you agree or disagree, everything else seems to get
overlooked.
I just want to say what a beautiful job the city
workers have been doing at the Iron Mountain Cemetary. Wherever you look
around when you are there, all the sections are spotless. I have never seen
the cemetary look this nice already so early in the season...so I just
wanted to say
"well done and thank you for a beautiful job."
This really shows your true dedicatation to the families and also to the
City of Iron Mountain. Keep up the great work!!!
5-8-2007-05
Where were all, make that any, supporters of
this administration at last night's City Council meeting?
Speaker after speaker got up to slam the
council and city manager. Not a single person rose to defend them, not
one.
You would think they could have scrounged up
a couple of them. Does that tell you something about the public's
opinion Marquart, Tousignant and the rest of you sychophants.
5-8-2007-04
I hope the four silverspoons, Tousignant,
Jacobs, Rigoni or Van Lannen are arrogant and dumb enough to run for
re-election. I don't want them to slide out quietly. I want them to be
TOTALLY EMBARRASED.
Whoever runs against them will be get my
financial support as well as working for them. The current Council and
Mayor are the worst in my lifetime. It's impossible imagine a worst one
even before my lifetime.
The only campaign promise I need from any
candidate is that they will vote to oust Marquart in the first,
or at the latest, second meeting in January 2008. Nothing more.
First things first, and we'll go from there.
5-8-2007-03
Totally brain-dead is the only
way I can describe the sitting City Council of Iron Mountain. The only
other possibility is that theyI have all been hypnotized by Marquart and
are under his spell.
I went to the Council meeting Monday night
just to listen. Speaker after speaker, close to 20 or so in all, took
turns slamming the council. Not a single person rose up to defend them.
They sat and listened like cardboard
cutouts. Then proceeded to give Marquart a 9% pay raise. I guess
they'll have to give at least the same to every worker
in the city, because every single one of them
has performed better than this control-freak we call a City
Manager.
I sure wouldn't want to be on the city side
of the negotiating table.
5-8-2007-02
If you missed the City Council Monday night,
you missed the greatest display of citizen outrage you could ever
imagine. All seats were occupied and many stood up in the back of the
room and ispilled out into the hallway. Citizen after citizen got up
and lambasted the City Council for its arrogance and indifference to the
real needs of the community.
Speaker after speaker tore them to shreds.
From ordinary concerned citizens to legendary and heroic former city
officials.
Former Mayor and current TIFA
Chairman Ted Corombos, the most
respected person in Iron Mountain politics in the past 30 years in my
book, asked for John Marquart's resignation. He
pointed out the many errors Marquart has made as Administrator to TIFA
and questioned the city's "smoke and mirrors" budgeting process.
Former Council Member Dale
Alessandrini, who is also a candidate for
council in the upcoming election, pointed out, step by step, the strange
shenanigans going on with the City Assessor.
Former Council Member and
watchdog Bob Jayne questioned what this
council could possibly be thinking. He questioned the mind-set of the
council on many issues.
Tina Peterson,
a concerned well-spoken citizen made two excellent presentations in each
of the two public comment periods. Don Christy made
cogent and well-prepared comments. Bob Moraska
pulled no punches. Richard Guigerre, the
victim of the now well-known sewer pleaded for a settlement so he could
get back in his home. The back-up took place back in January.
Many others supported Giguerre. There
were many other excellent presentations as well. The
concept of citizen involvment in democracy is FINALLY alive and well in
Iron Mountain.
Despite all this, the City Council gave
Marquart a 9% pay raise. Truly unbelievable. The last act of this
drama takes place Tuesday, November 6, 2007.
5-8-2007-01
Last night I attended the council meeting and I
have some observations to make..............
.
1. council woman Caudell made the observation
that the same 75 people show up at these meetings, and that she felt that
this was not the concensus of the whole population in the
city..................
At the same meeting, during comment time, a lady
spoke up about the council not listening to the wishes of the people and
that a town hall meeting should be established whereas more people could
attend and ask pertinent questions to the council on the whole.
I think this is a great idea, not sure if the
High school gym or the Armory would be the best place to do this, but it
would have to have a moderator, and questions would have to be submitted
prior to the meeting.
As much as most feel it should be a trial, it
would have to be structured in a format that can and would be used after the
new council is seated.
I believe, given hard questions, they would be
hard pressed not to answer them.
She also commented that she is given volumes of
paper for each meeting, and cannot believe some of things discussed at these
meetings during comment time. Does she not understand that the volumes of
paper she is given, comes from the mgr, and not the people that elected her
to this seat.
One person had documented proof on a very
serious problem, not one person on the council would ask to see this from
him..........................................
First time writing, just had to comment on last
nite!
5-7-2007-01
Someone wrote in that Tchokreff had to
have been at the council meeting when Mr. Swartout was there. The March 20,
2007 Daily News story on that meeting listed Marquart, Tousignant, Jacobs,
and Tchokreff as all being absent from the meeting.
5-6-2007-07
As 6-02 states, "If you read the past, you can
see the future unfolding"
Reminder: In Dormont,
Councilwoman Louise Pitcher accused Marquart of setting up a PNC bank
account without council approval. Marquart denied the allegation.
"This was a mistake by the Bank,"
Marquart said. "The account was cancelled after I
investigated."
Pitcher also charged that Marquart
concealed a loan from the borough books. He denied the claim saying the
loan was taken out to fund a public works facility , appeared in the borough
budget as a line item under capital improvements.
Think about this, City of Iron Mountain
residents: How often have we heard Marquart say "blah, blah, blah, ...after
I investigated" ? Every time he has a heads up, he manages to cover his
trail, clean things up, and then spin the Heck out of it. When it involves
him in any way, why is he the one to "investigate" it?
He is a Master at concealing monetary
discrepancies in our budget. Unfortunately, all he has to do is come to
this site to know what he has to cover up next. Besides the obvious
problems with Eagle Assessing/Assessors, take another close look at the
Vendor Reports: STS Consulting is a good one to study. Especially the
$27,400 for "Parking lot design" that only the City Council, Mayor and
Manager wanted!
Go ahead and read some of the Council Minutes.
They are a blast. You can watch things get turned around and sometimes
picture them as a bunch of toddlers stamping their feet.
When it came to that property to possibly be
sold to Mr. Blomquist: Someone else had offered the city, 2 years in a row,
a fraction of the price that Mr. Blomquist offered. It was for a business,
a business that he had been renting the property for 2-3 years.
At this meeting, councilperson Eden Caudell was
not allowed to vote because of conflict of interest: She was going to
become a "chain"...would put a second Moose Jackson location in the strip
mall that Mr. Blomquist would erect. However, she swayed the conversation
over and over. Seemed to cut people off, was very forceful towards her
ultimate agenda.
Should someone who is not allowed to vote on a
matter be able to have even any discussion in that vote?!
Ms. Jacobs and Mr. VanLaanen are trying to bring
up very valid points and they just get bulldozed. I feel bad for them.
And it is indeed true that many of the Council
members seem to be missing from crucial votes. We need to amend the City
Charter that a vote cannot happen without all Members being present-WITHOUT
ALL REPRESENTATION BEING PRESENT.
The amount of Parcels that were bid out: As
shown on a link in this website: The total number of Parcels should only be
4,321. Why was the total repeatedly said to be 5,815? Forgive me if that
has already been resolved.
According to one letter from Mr. Swartout, when
the debacle of 78 properties being listed with #zero assessments happened,
Mr. Brook assured Mr. Swartout he would file the forms with the State Tax
Commission to correct the omissions. He told him that in April 2006, and in
July 2006 it was still not done.
According to a letter from Mr. Swartout in
February, 2007: Due to excessive irregularities in land values and building
pricing, we cannot accept the reappraisal as it now stands. Mr. Swartout also
recommended an outside person with quality control expertise to ensure the
reassessment is satisfactorily completed.
There is more, much more.
EVERY MISTAKE, EVERY HOUR OF CORRECTING MISTAKES
HAS COST US MORE MONEY.
Also, Does Eagle Assesing have the level III
Certificate required for this work?
Finally,
I researched City Reassessments from across the
country to try and get a feel for the costs and amounts of time it took.
For a City our size and population: An average
cost would be $120,000 and approximately 6 Months. Some cities will do it
every 4 years to keep the "sticker shock" down for the residents, at a cost
of about $10,000 per year (price is by comparable number of parcels and
population).
I am absolutely begging everyone to be there
Monday at the Meeting. The agenda lists 2 Public Comment slots, one before
and one after.
Listed in the New Business is APPROVAL OF
COMPENSATION RE: EVALUATION OF CITY MANAGER.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My stomach just can't handle "approval of
compensation" for someone who seems to be single-handedly destroying my
city, possibly robbing it blind. How are your stomachs doing?
P.S. I know this is a low blow, but isn't it
funny that the restaurant right across the street from the City Hall is
going to get outdoor liquor sales approval? So Marquart doesn't have to go
aaaaall the way over to Sol Blu?
There is a way to remove the City Manager if
you are not Council Members:
If you can prove that he violated the ICMA
(International City/County Managemant Association) of which he must be a
member to be our City Manager.
Go to their Website, check out their Code of
Ethics, and have fun counting up how many you think he may have
violated.
5-6-2007-06 I just had to chime in here with my two-cents worth. This site has become comedy-central for assessors all over the State. I hope you folks know what a con-job this Rich Brook is pulling on you. For one thing, from what I've read, this man is not conducting a re-appraisal of your City. If he is just having people go out and measure and check for new construction etc., he is doing nothing more that up-dating the assessment cards. A complete re-assessment cannot be done without going into homes and re-evaluating them. I've never seen such a blatant misuse of assessor credentials. This man should not only be fired, he license should be suspended. An assessor should be a public servant, not a self-seeking con-man. Has anyone seen any proof that this assessor (or his so-called contracted help) has done anything for your City other than update a few cards and get some new construction on the roles? There isn't another governmental body in the State (that I'm aware of) that would ever pay that kind of money for a real re-assessment, let alone the B.S. he seems to be calling a re-assessment. Whomever wrote up the open-ended contract for this job needs to have his law license investigated too. No one writing such a lame contract for a City employee should be considered a lawyer. A contract should never be so open-ended. A contract should allow for a retainer possibly up to 25% of the total. No other draws should be allowed until the contract is fulfilled in its entirety and the final product approved. In this case by the County Equalization and the State. It appears that in the case of Iron Mountain, Mr. Brook has signed a contract to do the assessing, and then the City contracts to him again to do the reappraisal. Seems to me to be a double-dip. Is he the City assessor or a contractor? He should not be permitted to be both. I just have to ask: Doesn't your City have any business people (or college graduates, for that matter) who have even a little bit of business or even common sense to question this? 5-6-2007-05 Post number 5-6-2007-01 attempts to address a previous post that said Tchokreff was not at the Council meeting when Mr. Swartout addressed the reassessment problems. I want to point out that his/her reasoning is flawed. If Marquart, Tousignant, Jacobs, and Tchokreff were all absent, there would still be a quorum, because Marquart (Thank God) is not a voting member. And, I think you should check the minutes from that meeting for documentation. My guess is that the original writer is correct in saying Tchokreff missed that meeting. I would bet on it. I, too, "Just want to keep the info on here as accurate as possible." 5-6-2007-04
Reference post 5-6-2007-01
According to the Daily News article “IM reappraisal needs more work—County
Equalization director “, Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2007
“City Manager John Marquart and Mayor Ken Tousignant were absent from the
meeting due to their attendance at a Michigan Municipal League conference
and Council members Robin Tchokreff and Sally Jacobs were also absent.”
So, still in attendance were Dan Burke, Eden K Caudell, Jeff VanLaanen, &
Doug Rigoni. Four out of seven constitutes a quorum.
5-6-2007-03
Attention to anyone running for city council:
As a citizen, I will accept nothing less than a
full, public accounting of every questionable thing that the current council
and manager have done in the past three years. FAIR WARNING: If you
get elected, then start to pick and choose which serious issues you want to
address while ignoring others, there will also be issues with that. I have
had all I’m going to take in the way of being misled, and secret agendas
determining what is done with my tax money. Here goes:
I want to know why the City spent thousands of
tax dollars trying to ram through their rental ordinance when the
International Property Maintenance Code addresses every possible problem
they could have with rentals. The IPMC was presented as the best thing since
sliced bread when they passed it despite public protest.
I want full disclosure on the entire
reassessment fiasco. Bidding, hiring non-civil service people and trying to
say they are city employees while at the same time saying they are not,
paying people directly on top of paying Rich Brook, the uselessness of the
reassessments as noted by Larry Swartout, the completely unacceptable lack
of background checks, etc.
I want to know the real reasons why the City
stripped city retirees of their legally protected retirement benefits. Why?
Because of the shameful, uncontrolled, and frivolous spending that went on
after that benefit money was "saved". That, and the fact that you will
never again get quality people to work for the City if the City itself can’t
be trusted. How can you ever expect a high level of loyalty and trust
from employees after doing something like that? You get what you pay
for. Case in point, David Legge. I have not forgotten about the
retiree picket of Stephen’s Real Estate that may be the REAL reason their
benefits were attacked.
Speaking of "saved" money, I want a full
investigation into our "safer, cheaper" fire protection. In case no one has
noticed, people are dying in fires at an alarming rate, with fewer,
not more (as promised) firemen available to fight fires. On top of
that, the ISO is breathing down the City’s throat. It is starting to look
like the final outcome will be costing more to have less protection. (Unless
you can put a dollar value on human life, then we have already far surpassed
the "savings".) Gee, someone tried to tell us this stuff long ago, but the
City officials pretty much called them liars. Maybe you should consider
lifting the informal ban on the fire chief attending council meetings and
the censoring of his monthly reports that was imposed by a previous council.
There have been very recent MIOSHA fines, too, that have been kept
secret from the general public.
I want to know why/if the city violated the City
Charter in hiring part-time people at the police department - code
enforcement, too - and then spent thousands of tax dollars sending one to
police school after he had already failed a City civil service test.
He cannot legally be hired as a police officer per the City Charter until he
takes, passes, and scores high enough on a civil service test to put him at
the top of the list. I want to know when that expense was approved,
because it does not fall under normal
training for a "clerical worker", his stated position in the budget proposal
that got him hired in the first place.
I want to know why/if they hired someone for a
code enforcement position after that person failed to make if through the
screening process - background check - as a potential police
officer. I want to know how it’s possible that the pay for that position did
not appear in any public accounting records for months.
I want the truth to come out on the blight
fiasco.
Ditto for the sewer backup and water main break
Ditto for the absolutely shameless push for
spending of loads of money we supposedly don’t have for proper DPW, fire,
police protection, on things like a downtown parking lot that is not a
parking lot, underground wires, grant matches for grants I’m not sure we
even wanted, weekends at the Grand Hotel, . . . the list is outrageous, and
outrageously long.
The creation of numerous and totally useless and
unneeded administrative positions after cutting the people that actually
get the jobs done in the City.
Here’s a new one I just found out about:
spending our tax money (unapproved) on a State Supreme Court Case
that has nothing to do with Iron Mountain.
THIS IS NOT A FULL LIST. I’m sure I left a LOT
of items off that are just as important to some people as these are to me.
5-6-2007-02 Questions for Mr. Marquart: 1. Show me the contract between Eagle Assessing and the city of Iron Mountain. 2. If there is such a contract between Eagle Assessing and the city of Iron Mountain when was it discussed and approved by the council? 3. Why is the city doing business with an unregistered corporation? You would think that a background check of companies bidding on projects would be conducted. 3. Why was David Leggre's pay check issued by the city of Iron Mountain? 4. Why is the reassessment of Iron Mountain costing the tax payers around $200,000? If you read the past you can see the future unfolding!!!!!
Wilkinsburg council fires borough manager
http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990108wilk6.asp Marquart to start Oct. 1 as Dormont manager http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_south/20010815s19marquart0815p5.asp "Dormont council cites friction in ousting manager [John Marquart]"
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/tribsouthwest/news/s_173182.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04007/258620.stm http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04006/258504.stm 5-6-2007-01
I guess Robin Tchokreff has missed his share
of meetings. However, he had to have been at the one when Equalization
Director Larry Swartout spoke because without him there would have been
no quorum and the meeting could not have been opened. Just want to keep
the info on here as accurate as possible. Thanks.
5-5-2007-08
Pooja Lodhia
WLUC TV6
Iron Mountain Bureau
Pooja,
In the interest of honest
reporting, and in view of the fact you interviewed City
Manager John Marquart and Assessor Rich Brook for TV 6, I
would hope you show up for the Iron Mountain City Council
meeting of Monday, May 7.
There is, as you know from
visiting the
www.ironmountainissues.org website, more than a little
controversy concerning the Assessor and City Manager. You
gave them TV time. I'm sure you want to be regarded as a
reporter who reports all sides of an issue and not be
considered a flunkie for city officials. Your handling of
the meeting Monday and subsequent footage that appears on TV
6 will go a long way in determining your reputation
locally going forward for honest and balanced reporting.
Right now, I'm afraid quite a few people consider you very
pro-administration. Only you can prove them right or wrong.
5-5-2007-07
I almost choked to death from laughter
looking at #5/5/07-04. That possibility had crossed my mind quite a
while ago. Hard to prove, but hard to dismiss, too.
For a long time I wondered why Brook took
down such huge front payments: $35,260 in July 2006 and $40,460 August
2006. Maybe he had some "overhead" costs that weren't in his contract.
Bear in mind, Marquart had to OK these
payments before they got on the Vendor's Report.
Brook's contract addendum is dated ____
July, 2006. The date is not filled in on the copy available on this
website, but it cannot possibly have been before July 1. The 1st of
July in 2006 was a Saturday, 2nd on Sunday, then the 4th of July (a
holiday) on Wednesday.
The Vendor's Report for the month of July
was approved on July 17th, the time of the second meeting in July of the
City Council. On an absolute basis, Brook could only have worked under
the contract on July 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 - a total of
9 working days.
His bill, processed, on July 17 was
for $35,260 divided by 9 working days comes out to
$3917.77 per day.
Now put yourself in Marquart's
position - you are the City Manager of Iron Mountain for a
moment. This assessor you contracted with hands you a
bill for $35,260 nine working days after the contract
began. Would you not question it? He didn't. Why not? What possible
justification is there for a bill this large.
NONE
The more you think about, the more
post #5/5/07-04 makes sense - only it's not so funny anymore.
5-5-2007-06
It will be interesting to see if anyone is absent from this
next Council meeting. Mr. Tchrochreff appears to have a history of being
absent from controversial meetings. And, I’m not sure if they had a heads-up
when Mr, Swartout was going to address the council in March about the
re-assessment, but look how many were missing that night… Marquart and
Tousignant were at some Michigan Municipal League meeting in Lansing. Sally
Jacobs was excused because of a previously scheduled vacation. And, of
course, Robin Tchokreff was missing.
They certainly do have a heads-up about what’s coming this
time. Let’s see if they are willing to face the music.
5-5-2007-05
In reading all of this garbage, and reading the
front page of the newspaper makes me even sicker. First of all my question
is.......Why do we have a City Attorney????? What is your role actually????
Why couldn't you use your law books, and stop this corrupt happenings in our
beautiful small city???? Maybe we need a new City Attorney also? Have any
of you heard of background checks???? including yourself Mr. City Attorney?
I left this town over 43 years ago, and now returned. I have resided here
for a little over 3 years. What a mess!!!! When I left this town was
growing, and everyone was proud of the town and tourism. Now look at this
town. More corrupt than a larger city. I remember one of the Mayor's Mr.
John O'Donnell, pardon me if I misspell his name, but he was a good honest
man. And yes, he had a background of knowing to be gay. But guess what
folks, he did not flaunt it. He was not corrupt nor did he work with a
bunch of ill pleasing corrupt people such as we have in this town's council
now. May he rest in peace... Much respect for him. And may I ask how did
it get this way? Like I ask, and state, there is a reason for Background
Agency Checks..!, and why are they not used for everyone hired, or voted
into office? Local Agency Checks should be done also. How is it that one
person could do so much to ruin our town? And what about the General
Attorney of Michigan? Has all of this evidence been turned over to him for
investigation? And if so, what was your role in this Mr. City Attorney, of
the law we must abide to? It is so confusing to us honest hard working
citizens. Shame on all of you that had the power to stop this and let it
continue.. Take off your blindfolds and see, and take the ear plugs and
listen to what is happening. We need a complete clean up of all of the "so
called" politicians, this time. Get rid of the trash, air out our city, and
let it grow properly. And that may start with the smallest person up to any
one that had any chance to change this junk that is happening. I am sorry
to say that I returned to a town that has so much anger, corrupt and garbage
going on. I am no longer proud of my hometown. How do you expect to keep
the young living here, raise their families and even be involved in our
council if we don't clean it up, and develop our town besides Hotels!!?.
Who is going to run the town when all is gone? SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!!!!!
Thank you Webmaster... cleaver thing you
invented... But lets hope the people that have done all this research and
found corrupt dealings, factual evidence has had the courage to forward all
of this off to the Attorney General. Even if the City Manager, Mayor and
whomever else is responsible for all of this illegal happenings is dismissed
from office, it is not too late to bring felony charges against them. If
guilty, let them pay the price long afterward.
5-5-2007-04
5-5-2007-03 I find it very interesting that the vendor report
for February mentions Wildlife Mgmt. Services Inc. received one check for the
deer 5-5-2007-02
Do some of you remember that there were
people out measuring properties before any contract was signed with the
assessor.
In fact, I think it was even before
the original bid opening date, in which no bids were ever
opened on the advice of the city attorney.
This whole mess was a concocted deal from
the very beginning. John Marquart had practically no credibility in the
community before all this. Now he has none. He can no longer be
allowed to keep his position. There is more than enough evidence to
fire him "with cause", so he is entitled to NO SEVERANCE PAY. Not six
months, not three months, not one day.
Any City Council member who tries to
defend Marquart now will also lose all credibility, and most of them
didn't have all that much to begin with, especially the Mayor.
5-5-2007-01
Post # 5/4/07-02, the one
that is an Open Letter to Jerry Pirkola, City
Attorney, asks a series of very serious questions.
I agree with that poster that we citizens are entitled to
answers to all of them.
If people can't find
Eagle Assessing on any websites, it probably
was registered with the Delta County Clerk as an d/b/a,
which means "doing business as" Anyone can
register with the county clerk in the county in which they
are live as a sole proprietorship. So, if it turns out that
is the case, Eagle Assessing was
established as a sole proprietorship and Brook's wife is the
sole proprietor of that entity.
Here is where it begins to
get murky. Apparently the City Attorney found out before
the Special Meeting of the City Council to open the
assessment bids that (a) there was only one bid, (b)
that bid was from Eagle Assessing, and (c)
Eagle Assessing
was entity owned by Brook's wife, probably a sole
proprietorship.
The City Attorney recommended
that the bid not be opened because it constituted an illegal
bid because of a conflict of interest.
Then the sequence got much, much
murkier. Instead of open competitive bidding, an addendum
is added to Brook's original contract (both the original
contract and the addendum are on this website. Click the "Contracts"
button on the Home page, then under the
Assessor column you will see the
2006 Contract and 2006 Addendum
links. Clicking on these links and you will see the only
contracts the City has with the Assessor.
I remember Marquart and
Council Member Rigoni saying the work would be done "in
house". Nothing is ever mentioned about contracting
ANYTHING with Eagle Assessing. There
is no contract with Eagle Assessing.
Marquart, in his public utterings, is
outright lying.
Eagle
Assessing has no contract to do anything for the city.
I would strongly suggest to
Marquart, Brook and Brook's wife to
NOT EVEN THINK of attempting to create a
backdated contract.
You are in enough
trouble already. Try that tactic and you are looking at
hard time.
City Attorney: Get to
the bottom of this and do it quickly. Time is not on your
side, either.
5-4-2007-07 The facts of this problem are pretty clear. John Marquart should be fired at Monday's board meeting. It doesn't matter that David Leggre worked for Eagle Appraisals. This company is not properly registered with the State of Michigan Commercial Division. It's not a company in the eye's of the state so why should it be in the eye's of the city. David Leggre's check came from the city not Richard Brooks. If he was a sub-contractor then Richard Brook's needed to pay him out of his fees. We, as tax payers have paid huge for our Tax Reassessment. Kingsford's only cost's 1/3 of ours. Why? The article in tonight's paper could have made me sick if it wasn't for the quart of Pepto-Bismol. John Marquart is a BS'en SOB. Champion's new office building on the the Northside of town is the only new thing going on. Not to mention the City's proposed purchase of the old Champion building Downtown. Folks, we should be mad. Mad as Hell at what is going on and what they are trying to sell you. This town has lost its small town comfort and has been plunged into the pits of corruption. We must get rid of this disease and it should start with John Marquart. 5-4-2007-06 RICH BROOK DISCOVERS GOLD MINE
That should be the headline, anyway. Come to
find out, it’s not just the windfall he is making in the reassessment
process. There is also a direct family connection to BS&A Software. Double
windfall? Has anyone tried finding out if that Eagle company is/was just a
front set up to be able to bid on the reassessment job they got/didn’t get?
Something like so-and-so Brook, DBA Eagle . . . maybe already dissolved?
I’m wondering because of the heated words Mr.
Brook had with Marquart just after the council meeting in which the city
attorney advised that the bid from Brook’s wife’s company was a conflict and
should not be opened. Mr. Corombos, if you see this, I’m told you and
others may have heard that exchange. Perhaps you could tell us what was said
so I won’t be repeating it third or fourth hand? It suddenly has a lot more
relevance.
5-4-2007-05
RICH BROOK DISCOVERS GOLD MINE
That should be the headline, anyway. Come to
find out, it’s not just the windfall he is making in the reassessment
process. There is also a direct family connection to BS&A Software. Double
windfall? Has anyone tried finding out if that Eagle company is/was just a
front set up to be able to bid on the reassessment job they got/didn’t get?
Something like so-and-so Brook, DBA Eagle . . . maybe already dissolved?
I’m wondering because of the heated words Mr.
Brook had with Marquart just after the council meeting in which the city
attorney advised that the bid from Brook’s wife’s company was a conflict and
should not be opened. Mr. Corombos, if you see this, I’m told you and
others may have heard that exchange. Perhaps you could tell us what was said
so I won’t be repeating it third or fourth hand? It suddenly has a lot more
relevance.
5-4-2007-04
Citizens,
There isn't one person who visits this web site and knows the facts about Brooks, Legge and our mayor, city Manager and puppet council, that should not be willing to speak out at next Monday nights council meeting and really let this council know how we feel about this incompentency and lies and distortions!
Everyone should call for their resignation, but
nothing less than Brooks firing! ---- This is so pathetic! even beyond
belief!
The council meeting Monday night should be full
of angry people who are willing to speak out. That way the daily news will
print what is being told to the people instead of what Marquart wants to
feed them!
5-4-2007-03
Evidently the council members have no concern for their reputations (or that
of their family members). I cannot imagine how I would feel if I had been a
person who agreed with all of the goings-on in the city and had it come
crashing in like this. If they have any sense at all, they would resign and
quietly slip onto the background till things blow over.
They have made themselves (and sadly their family members who support them)
look like total idiots in the eyes of much of the community and beyond.
Those with professional family members have really hurt those overall
reputations. After all, who is going to put any trust in people who consider
themselves professionals, yet support the out-right dishonest activity that
this council has supported?
It was mentioned earlier that a recall process would be lengthy, and
personally I think it is far beyond that. These are not simple, frivolous
issues. What is going on in Iron Mountain is in direct violation of the
Charter; and, in some instances, possibly the law. These people need to be
removed by whatever legal means we have. If these activities are punishable,
then the necessary steps must be taken to see that happen.
It is such a shame that these elected officials have completely lost site of
the fact that they were elected to represent the citizens. I hope we’ve all
learned a valuable lesson in the choosing of this council. Iron Mountain has
become an example to communities everywhere; and it doesn’t put the city in
a good light. Businesses and visitors would really have to think twice
before investing or spending their money in Iron Mountain after seeing the
mess its in. It’s going to be a very long time before these council members
live this down… because, like it or not, they are to blame!
5-4-2007-02
WEBMASTER - As post 5-3-2007-03, my post
only includes two paragraphs and not the whole post. This makes it
confusing to readers. Please post it in its entirety. Thank you
Open letter to:
Jerry Pirkola, Iron Mountain City Attorney
If you view many of the posts on the
website
www.ironmountainissues.org, you will notice that your name
appears periodically. In addition, there are many legitimate legal
questions that only you can answer regarding the contract with
Assessor Rich Brook.
First, according the the contract, it is
between Rich Brook, an individual, and the City of Iron Mountain.
You are shown and the drafter of that contract, so I presume you are
intimately familiar with it. My questions follow the paragraph
below that was posted on the website on 5-2-07 post # 15
[I] was just reading the report on
WJNR’s site. In their write-up it says “Also, according to the
city manager during our conversation, "upon our investigation we
found indeed that was a convicted felon with identity fraud issues
as charges and convction, and, I immediately took steps to inform
the company who had hired him, Eagle Assessing of Gladstone,
who perform work for our city, that he was no longer to be involved
in the assessment process, to be at city hall, and to have anything
to do with OUR assessing.”
1. It would appear that since the
contract is between Rich Brook and the City, Eagle Assessing
can be nothing more than an entity Rich Brook and/or his
wife set up for their own purposes and has no legal standing between
the Brrok and the City.
2. If Eagle Assessing hired him, why
weren't they paying him? His name appeared on the City of Iron
Mountain March Vendor's report. The same question would apply to all
the others who have appeared on the Vendor's Report as being paid
for reassessment services beginning in July 2006.
3. If, as Marquart claims in the WJNR
statement, Eagle Assessing "who perform work for our city"
is true, why is Rich Brook being paid directly on the Vendor's
Report. Is or isn't Eagle Assessing performing work for the
City, and if they are, where is the contract and why does that name
never appear on the Vendor's Report. Marquart clearly was
trying to protect Rich Brook individually by not naming him in the
statement.
4. The reassessment contract is between
Rich Brook and the City. Why are all these other people being paid
directly by the city instead of Rich Brook. Is or isn't the city
making Social Security, Federal and State income tax deductions on
these people? Are all these people covered by the city's
Workman's Comp on the one hand and pretending to be
independent contractors on the other?
5. As you know, or should know,
independent contractor regulations are quite complex. These people
on the Vendor's Report either are or aren't independent
contractors. Are the proper legal documents and affidavits
on file with the city attesting to their independent contractor
status. Even if they are, why would the city
enter into an independent contractor arrangement with these people
in view of a total contract with Rich Brook?
You are the City Attorney. We know from
reading the City Charter that you are "recommended" by the City
Manager and subsequently approved by the City Council. Once
approved, it becomes your fiduciary duty to protect the city and its
taxpayers. Negligence on your part is no different than negligence
by the City Manager, the Mayor or the City Council.
I believe, and you should concur, that
all of the questions that have been asked above deserve a complete
and public answer. Bear in mind that it was posts on this website
that broke the story on David Legge, not city officials. It is
in your and your firm's best interest to get us answers.
You have nothing to lose by
investigating the issues. If you don't, well...........
5-4-2007-01 Marquart stated "The subcontractor had been working for about a month, he added, and was doing field work for the reassessment." Then why did the city pay him directly? Another spin on reality. I was born at not it just wasn't last night. Folks the true problem here is our City Manager, John Marquart. The City council is to blind or to wrapped up their own personal agenda's to notice the lack of simple management. I don't know if we, as a community, can wait until November to get rid of Mr. Marquart. When the last time any person who lives in Iron Mountain was asked by their Council representative what they thought about an issue. If you read about other city's council they usually have some type of opinion gathering session. Not this Council, they have it all figured out. Just ask them. They'll tell what is right and wrong instead of asking. I am very concerned about our direction as a community. 5-3-2007-15 Reference to post '5-3-2007-0' the software used for tax record lookup just switches over to a BS & A website. This is not directly connected to Mr. Brook. ALTHOUGH, Rich Brook's wife works for BS & A, a software company that is utilized by many municipalities. I, for one, am wondering how much access she has to governmental information. With her willingness to put her newly-found brother to work, what might still be at risk? That just might warrant looking into further. 5-3-2007-14 Sorry about the posts being uploaded late. Lots of yard work when the weather is nice. Webmaster 5-3-2007-13 I just finished reading the article
in The Daily News about the firing of Mr. Legge. I have gone over it several
times and I 5-3-2007-12
I tried again to find Eagle Appraisals
(appraisers, assessors, etc.)
I searched the online yellow pages in all
of Michigan. Not one hit. Not one.
Anybody know if this Company is called something
else?
The closest thing is Eagle Realty in Manistique,
owned by a Mr. Boyd. That's it.
Then I searched the White pages. Nothing.
Wouldn't this company be in the yellow or white
pages if they had a phone?
Have I been watching too much TV or is this
starting to sound like a Matlock episode?
Somebody help me out here.
5-3-2007-11
Just read the Daily News, where do I start?
Last night on the news, Brook said that Legge
was responsible for confirming measurements only. Daily news says today his
work included photos of property, sketches, verifying legal descriptions,
measuring the sizes of properties and right-of-ways.
This guy's rap sheet was very long and the Daily
news mentioned only a tiny fraction of it.
The Daily News somehow did not mention that
Legge was Brook's BROTHER-IN-LAW, but did at least mention that Eagle
Appraisal is owned by Brook's WIFE.
What's that word.....NEPOTISM ?
Is Brook totally unsupervised here?
I am very proud of Ms. Lobeck for mentioning
that the most recent vendor report APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL showed that
Legge received $5,375 for his work in the MONTH of March. Yes, a MONTH's
worth of work!
Is there any way that our City Officials could
help our own economy and hire, better yet actually put out a legal bid
process first, companies and people from our very own little city? It can't
be wrong, because Bacco gets bids all the time.
Marquart thinks that by reassuring us, twice in
the Daily News article, of our collective safety from Legge, that his job is
done. He said it was dealt with immediately and promptly (spin it, baby,
spin it). How about if it never happened in the fist place?! How about if
subcontractors who come in contact with our private property have a
background check? How about if the original Reassessment had been put out
on a legitimate bidding process?
How can it be that our city officials cut
Firefighting jobs, say they can't afford to feed the deer in City Park,
etc........but turn around and pay an ex-con almost $5,400 for one
month's work.
Man!
At the next City Council Meeting, I believe
there should be a good-old-fashioned uprising.
5-3-2007-10
First time writer: One, you can't recall
appointed officials such as the city manager, etc. They are hired by the
city council and for and at the pleasure of the city council. Two, If there
is not already in place a yearly evaluation of said appointments there
should be. Three, NO appointed official should have a contract longer than
one year. There should be a dismissed "without cause" clause " in each of
their contracts and no more than a three month severance buy out. This way a
council can dismiss appointed officials just because there not happy with
the person, for what ever reason or reasons, whom they have hired. Four,
Don't replace present members of the council with former members of the
council who have been voted out of office in the past. If they were voted
out of office before there is a reason or reasons! Replacing present bad
agendas with past bad agendas doesn't do anything for our city.
Thank you webmaster. XYZ 5-3-2007-09
Well, I tried to look up Eagle Assessing on the
web, nothing. I called information for Gladstone, nothing. I looked on the
yellow pages online for Eagle anything in Gladstone, nothing for that
type of company; just a realty company with no visible ties.
I saw Marquart on the news last night and I
almost laughed in-between my blood pressure going through the roof:
Marquart: "Well, we can't not admit that
this happened..."
What in the heck does that mean? That usually
they don't admit to things, I imagine. And did this guy
really make $5400 "confirming measurements?" Can I have a job like that?
I have looked at many other city's attempts at
recalling council members and it isn't pretty. The process can take up to 6
months and it will be near election time by then. By the way, the issues
that some cities were trying to recall for were absolutely ridiculous
compared to what we've had going on here in Iron Mountain.
I wish it were as simple as appealing to the
council members, but it feels as if some are already in the snake-pit.
Marquart says on the WJNR site: "according to
our investigation...". When did they investigate? How did they find out
there was anything to investigate? Was it from this site? Was it
only for damage control?
Someone on this site mentioned that they had
called the TV6 news. How is it that the only angle I saw reported was from
Marquart/Brook? How do they keep doing that spin factor thing?
Someone else had a very good point about how
sub-contractors are usually paid. Are the records of how we pay/hire
contractors included in the freedom/public information umbrella? Can I go
down to City Hall and request this stuff?
Rumor: Brook bumped up a
property value on Carpenter Avenue from approx $360,000 to approx
$830,000. ( It's just an older house with a long standing business )
Rumor: A very wonderful police
officer caught Hell for helping an elderly lady who's basement and parts of
her house were ruined by a water main break. Marquart thought said police
officer was making the City look bad.
Rumor: Lobster dinners,
expensive trips, schmoozing, and fancy accommodations brought us closer to
our "Cool City" label. Who paid for that?
Rumor: Marquart sent the Fire
Dept. out to issue citations for blights. Certain wealthy people were
cited, called in and complained, Marquart went to reprimand the Firefighters
and just barely said they were supposed to only cite poor people.
Rumor: For years, really
decades, many city workers bargained in contract negotiations, giving up
yearly raises for their retirement and health benefits. Marquart axed their
benefits. You know, to balance the city budget and stuff. Now many have
either none or largely reduced benefits and missed out on years of raises.
5-3-2007-08
In re-reading the contract addendum to Rich Brook’s contract, it states, in
part, “These additional duties and responsibilities will include
supervision of city-employed personnel required to gather data
and information on all parcels within the boundaries of said City, and also
to supervise and train, if necessary, city employees to
perform additional duties and responsibilities for the purpose of completing
the city-wide reassessment.”
I’m no expert on contracts; but isn’t it saying that the people used to
assist Mr. Brook will be city employees. Now Marquart is saying that Mr.
Leege was not a city employee (to excuse not doing a background check). All
of these contradictions are mind-boggling. I’m tired of this guy talking out
of both sides of his mouth. Does he think we won’t remember what they said
or look up what was written?
Is anyone looking into an audit of this whole mess? It’s getting fishier by
the day.
5-3-2007-07
Who the hell does Marquart think he's
fooling with his childish pronouncement that he contacted Eagle
Assessing to tell them to get rid of ex-con Legge.
Marquart knew Legge was Brook's
brother-in-law. Even if he didn't know he was an ex-con until it
appeared on this website, are we supposed to believe he by-passed Brook
(who, in fact, is Eagle Assessing, even if may technically be under his
wife's name, I don't know for sure) and talked to someone at Eagle
Assessing. Who the hell is there to talked to at Eagle Assessing
besides Brook or his wife?
Show us the contract you have with Eagle
Assessing, Marquart.
This guy just lies and lies and lies
and lies. CITY COUNCIL - Is ANY of
this registering? Surely you aren't that brain-dead. Or maybe you are.
5-3-2007-06
For the sake of argument, let’s say for a moment
that David Legge did not have access to anyone’s private information through
the City computer database, as Marquart has assured us. What he still had
was the implied blessing of our government to come onto our property, into
our private yards and right up to our very walls. Does anyone else put their
garbage outside their home before trash pickup day? I know I do. Is
there someone at home and guarding it 24 hours a day? Thank God I remember
to shred most of my paper trash that may have account numbers and the like
present. That’s just one example of what could have occurred. This may still
be a very serious problem with that kind of access granted to an
identity theft virtuoso, even if - IF - he did not have
access to computer records.
5-3-2007-05
Did I miss something along the way? When this re-assessment was being worked
out, there was only one bidder, which turned out to have a conflict of
interest with Mr. Brook; so the city decided to do this job internally. How
is it that there are contractors or sub-contractors if this is an internal
job? If no firm was hired, whom is Mr. Marquart saying was responsible for
the hiring of Mr. Legge?
Eagle Assessing: Could that be the Assessing Firm that the City Attorney
advised the City not accept the bid from for re-assessing because of the
conflict of interest with Mr. Brook? And Marquart and the Council decided to
take that advice.
I cannot find Eagle Assessing of Gladstone anywhere. Are they real? Who are
they and what are their qualifications? And when and by whom were they
hired, after it was decided the job was to be internal. Was there a secret
bid we weren’t told about? Mr. Marquart just admitted in his interview with
Aaron Harper that he has them working for the city in the re-assessment, in
spite of what was decided at that June 2006 council meeting. So, the
supposed internal re-assessment ended up going thru a company anyway,
behind our backs. I also want to know who Eagle Assessing is. Have they
shown up on any of the vendors reports? Is it just a coincidence that they
are "of Gladstone" where Mr. Brook is from?
If I missed something, someone please set me straight. Otherwise…. Perhaps
Aaron Harper needs to question Mr. Marquart a little further.
Oops! Mr. Marquart, did you let something slip? How do you spell
M-A-L-F-E-A-S-A-N-C-E?
5-3-2007-04 Ok so Mr. Legge was an employee of
Eagle Assessing of Gladstone according to the Frog Country report. This got my
interest up; let's see what we can find about Eagle Assessing. 5-3-2007-03
Open letter to:
Jerry Pirkola, Iron Mountain City Attorney
If you view many of the posts on the website
www.ironmountainissues.org,
you will notice that your name appears periodically. In addition, there
are many legitimate legal questions that only you can answer regarding
the contract with Assessor Rich Brook.
First, according the the contract, it is
between Rich Brook, an individual, and the City of Iron Mountain. You
are shown and the drafter of that contract, so I presume you are
intimately familiar with it. My questions follow the paragraph below
that was posted on the website on 5-2-07 post # 15
5-3-2007-02
Here are a couple of fresh news stories
regarding Iron Mountain, reassessment, David Legge for the hot links page:
Maybe they should consider a change of
venue Monday's council meeting. It will no doubt be overcrowded with
justifiably irate citizens. Police protection would also not be a bad idea.
5-3-2007-01
Who set up the City’s computer software, where
all of our tax records are located? I noticed that when you go to property
lookup on the City of Iron Mountain website, you get a warning that the
security certificate to the site you are being directed to is not
valid. Then, you notice that you are no longer on the City’s website,
but on a different website. Please, some of you diggers out there, tell me
that there is absolutely no personal connection between Rich Brook and this
other website.
5-2-2007-16 It is my opinion that the City of Iron Mountain should fire Rich Brook and his firm. Rich Brook knowingly put every citizen of this city at a very high risk for personal loss and for absolutely no good reason. Rich Brook's judgment should be questioned here as apparently he failed to recognize the potential for serious problems in this case and with judgment like that I don't think he is looking out for the interests of this City. He can not plead ignorance to the arrest, incarceration and parole of HIS brother-in-law. Rich Brook is no one I can trust nor should our city government. I will accept nothing less then the termination of his employment with this city, as should everyone else who cares about their own identity and security. 5-2-2007-15
was just reading the report on WJNR’s site. In their write-up it says “Also,
according to the city manager during our conversation, "upon our
investigation we found indeed that was a convicted felon with identity fraud
issues as charges and convction, and, I immediately took steps to inform the
company who had hired him, Eagle Assessing of Gladstone, who perform
work for our city, that he was no longer to be involved in the assessment
process, to be at city hall, and to have anything to do with OUR assessing.”
So who is Eagle Assessing of Gladstone? Is this Rich Brook? If it is Rich
Brook, why doesn’t Marquart just say he informed Rich Brook? If it’s not
Rich Brook, then tell me where the City has any contract with Eagle
Assessing of Gladstone. What kind of double-talk is this? Is Mr. Marquart
trying to protect Mr. Brook? Trying to make it look like it wasn’t Brook who
brought this guy in? C’mon Mr. Marquart. The more you speak, the more you
show how underhanded your dealings are.
5-2-2007-14 Now here's a thought. Mr. Marquart
said that Legge didn't need to have a background check because he was 5-2-2007-13
Do John Marquart and Rich Brook think that their short reassurance spiel is
going to make this go away? On the TV6 News Extra, Marquart said that they
fired the guy as soon as they knew. Well, Brook knew. It’s
his brother-in-law. He knew exactly where he came from.
We, the citizens of Iron Mountain, need to demand the immediate termination
of Rich Brook (and his contract). This is our city and the council members
are our elected representatives. I say we need to contact them (and keep
contacting them) until they take that representation to heart. This
assessor is not to be trusted. Do we really need any further proof of that
fact? I’m not convinced that he did not provide access to records to his
brother-in-law (or that he himself couldn’t still share info with him). I
don’t need to prove that. I just need to know that this man was willing to
hire a recently paroled con to scope out our properties; and, supposedly,
keep that important information from Marquart and the council. That
should be grounds for immediate dismissal. Do we have to accept him as
our assessor?
As someone brought out earlier… What about the others that Rich Brook has
working? We know nothing about them either. They’ve been referred to as
sub-contractors, yet the City is paying them directly. These are people
directly checking out our property. Isn’t that enough to warrant a
background check? Like someone said, background checks are done on renters
and retail employees; so why not on these people.?
I can tell you this, no one coming around with a clipboard will be doing any
measuring on my property. I will not accept this man or any of his
representatives as an acceptable assessor.
5-2-2007-12 If someone has all these facts on the city manager and the mayor then it is time for a recall. Why has it taken so long for someone to mention it. lets stop complaining and recall all the people who are breaking the charter and the law, get rid of them all. 5-2-2007-11 Talk about B.S. No one should ever
be allowed to hold a job with access to ANY city documents without a background
check. 5-2-2007-10
Not good enough. They cannot convince me that
Legge did not have access to other records. Why should we trust Brook? He
knowingly brought this con in.
And if he was a contracted employee, why was the
city paying him. Shouldn't Brook have been paying him. When we contract
with other companies, we don't pay their workers. We don't pay road crewmen
... their contractor does. None of this makes any sense. and I do not buy
their explanation on the news.
We need an independent investigation into city
dealings.
5-2-2007-09
This David Legge thing is barely the tip of
the iceberg. Marquart will undoubtedly try to spin his way out of it -
to no avail. If necessary, he will even fire the Assessor in a
desperate effort to save his job.
We residents have gotten absolutely nothing
for the $175,000 plus we have spent SO FAR in assessing costs. Worse
yet, we never will. Except for a deck here and a garage there that was
built without a permit, nothing will change. That's the law. We will
get the nominal increases in taxes that the law allows, no matter what
valuation the assessors places on our property. Only when it is sold
does it become an issue for the subsequent buyer. In the meantime, if
they over-assess my house, the reasonable Board of Review can and has
rolled the assessors numbers back.
Rich Brook knew all this. He out-conned or
colluded with the City Manager (no slouch himself) who sold it to a
totally clueless City Council . Bad enough, but as pointed many times
on this site, Brook's contract and the bidding process are more than
questionable. Collusive, possibly. The City Attorney drafted the
contract. I have entered into many contracts in my life, as have most
of you. I have never seen a looser, open-ended, full of possible
loopholes one in my life.
Far from keeping all of this low-keyed and
hoping it goes away, we have hardly scratched the surface. This is an
unfolding story that will not go away. More and more people will caught
in the net.
In the end, I predict all of this will be
the biggest story in the history of Iron Mountain politics.
5-2-2007-08
Response to 5-2-2007-#06:
There is a lot of information out there about
wrong-doings of Marquart through the years. Reliable sources have
lists of things that cross the line from inappropriate
to....... (trying to avoid slander)..
Some sources have been unable to speak for fear
of retaliation, fear of losing benefits, too close to retirement, etc.
The past evidence is out there. What is now
needed is for someone to take this latest debacle and use it as the catalyst
to bring the laundry list out into the open.
I am so tired of people having to be afraid of
this man and of the hold he seems to have on some elected officials. How
did this happen? He is like a schoolyard bully.
HE WORKS FOR US! The council works for us! How
in the world did this get so turned around?
I wish we had a Liaison Committee between the
Residents and the Local Government....or at least that we were allowed to
have more interaction at a Council meeting.
What is the first step in taking legal action
towards what has happened? I would imagine there isn't a single attorney in
town who would take this on.
Where do we start?
5-2-2007-07 Low-key my eye! I say we all
contact the media, including TV6, & local newspaper and radio stations. 5-2-2007-06
The information is true about David Legge being
hired as a part time assessor in this city, who was convicted a felon and
who spent several years in prison for identity fraud and other charges
equally as serious, I demand an answer from this city government that will
have to satisfy my attorney and guarantee me that I am not in any danger for
future identity fraud.
The fact that all of my personal information of
SS number, documentations and court records about my homes and homestead
property could have possibly been exposed and compromised by this man tells
me that this would border on criminal negligence,
David Legge also turns out to be the
brother-in-law of our assessor Mr. Brooks, I demand an explanation from him
and why he allowed this to happen. (Being a brother-in-law, he had to know
the background!) Is there any one comfortable having a convicted felon going
through your home? (What if he had been a convicted child molester?)
Personally, I am outraged to the point that if
all these facts prove to be true, I will petition and gather enough support
to have the Attorney General ’s office do a complete audit on this city and
include all charter infractions and personal interest tactics and
improprieties that have taken place since this mayor and city manager have
taken office
As far as I am concerned, this is the straw that
will break the back of this council. This is no longer about a controlling,
deceptive, out-of-control ½ truth manager, Mayor and puppet Council who have
almost destroyed this city.
People of this community when are you going to
take charge of this manager and mayor and claim your city back? Can you
really sit back any longer and pretend this corruption is not happening when
the facts are there for your reading.
5-2-2007-05
Below is a brief description of
MALFEASANCE in office. Does anyone come to mind?
Malfeasance in office, or official misconduct, is the commission of an unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties. Malfeasance in office is often grounds for a for cause removal of an elected official by statute or recall election. The West Virginia Supreme Court summarized a number of the definitions of malfeasance in office applied by various appellate courts in the United States.
Daugherty v. Ellis, 142 W. Va. 340, 357-8, 97 S.E.2d 33, 42-3 (W. Va. 1956) (internal citations omitted). The court then went onto use yet another definition, "malfeasance is the doing of an act which an officer had no legal right to do at all and that when an officer, through ignorance, inattention, or malice, does that which he has no legal right to do at all, or acts without any authority whatsoever, or exceeds, ignores, or abuses his powers, he is guilty of malfeasance." Nevertheless a few "elements" can be distilled from those cases. First, malfeasance in office requires an affirmative act or omission. Second, the act must have been done in an official capacity--under the color of office. Finally, that that act some how interferes with the performance of official duties--though some debate remains about "whose official" duties. In addition, jurisdictions differ greatly over whether intent or knowledge is necessary. As noted above, many courts will find malfeasance in office where there is "ignorance, inattention, or malice", which implies no intent or knowledge is required. Under English law malfeasance in public office is also a tort. 5-2-2007-04
Notice: Mr. Marquart ---- You can ask as many
people as you want to keep this "Low Keyed" but no this incident will not be
kept quiet!
Right now, as a citizen of this community, I am feeling more than a little furious about the recent incident regarding Dave Legge and our hired Assessor Rich Brooks.
To think that my personal identification
documents of SS numbers, homestead documents, appraisals and other
confidential material has been compromised through the negligence of our
City Manager, Mayor, Council and our hired assessor Rich Brooks, the
brother-in-law of a convicted felon Dave Legge, who knew of his record,
confirms to me, that this administration is totally out of control and
action must be taken against them to stop this unacceptable behavior!
I am presently investigating the possibility of
a law suit against all of the above to hold them accountable for their
irresponsible actions. This is only one of numerous incidents that have
taken place during this administration and it must stop now! The policy with
this council is "if we can get away with it, go for it" -- Tousignant and
Marquart don't own this city!!!
Citizens of Iron Mountain, ----- when are you
going to stop ignoring what is happening in your city by a corrupt
administration? This is beyond bazzar! They will be stopped at election time
but I personally don't think we can wait even that long!
5-2-2007-03 Legge fired! NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Rich
Brook and the rest of his crew MUST go. We cannot trust this guy; and bringing
in Legge is just the last straw. Do you think California just let him decide to
be paroled to Michigan and Michigan agreed? Not likely. Mr. Legge 5-2-2007-02 Well its about time the city manager
did something, he fired David Legge on Tuesday, but its too late, David Legge
has had access to our records for sometime now. I can only hope that he did
learn a lesson in prison. Because he could use the information he obtain while
working for his brother in law Rich Brook in the assessors office it would be
very bad for the taxpayers of Iron Mountain. Rich Brook should be fired also for
knowing that he hired a convicted felon. But Marquart wouldn't do that. I heard
Kingsford had a 5-2-2007-01
Thanks to Tina Peterson
for her courageous and excellent post # 5-30-2007-07 on the charter
mandated duties of the City Manager and on the Preamble on the City
Charter. Don't worry about any Code Gestapo citing you for
oxidized aluminum siding. The city manager is basically gutless
when it comes to people he can't control. He couldn't force it on
you if he wanted to. This website would nail him
mercilessly for selective enforcement if
he tried.
Besides, he has a full
plate of problems right now. He
is clearly guilty of malfeasance of duties on so many counts that he
is much more vulnerable than even he realizes right now, over and
above the current David Legge issue.
5-1-2007-08
Early on, ONLY ON THIS SITE,
a number of people voiced their concern with the totally sneaky way in
which the Assessor, Rich Brook, got the assessment
contract. It was obvious the specs were written so only he could meet
them. Remember, the potential winning bidder had to start within
about a week. No competent assessment firm
schedules its work schedule that tight.
Every single person Brook has hired, as far
as I can tell, is not from Iron Mountain. So much for Tousignant's
pledge to bring jobs into the area. The City Council flagrantly
dismisses the residency requirements, so Brook doesn't have to meet
them.
Brook got $35,260 in July and $40,465
in August, or over $1,000 for every
working day.
Marquart and the City Council
approve the Vendor Report without question. Talk about front loading his
fees.
Brook is directly responsible to Marquart,
so he had to approve the payments before they even get on the Vendor's
Report.
IN VIEW OF ALL THE PREVIOUS CHICANERY, I AM
NOT THE LEAST BIT SURPRISED BY THE GALL OF BROOK IN HIRING HIS
FELONY-CONVICTED, PAROLEE, BROTHER-IN-LAW. TIME TO LOWER THE BOOM ON
ALL OF THEM.
EVERY DAY, IN EVERY WAY, THIS WEBSITE
CONTINUES TO BE THE BEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ALERT OUR CITIZENS
TO THE MOST INEPT AND CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION IN THE HISTORY OF THE CITY.
5-1-2007-07 Ok, this is straight off the IM website: "The City Manager is the chief administrative officer for the City of Iron Mountain. He is responsible for coordinating the work of all city departments and employees to ensure that all City Council policies, ordinances, resolutions and directives are implemented. He also oversees Human Resources for the City including interviewing for hire, union negotiations, and handles the city's grievances." (by the way, when in the world has Marquart ever handled a grievance from a citizen? I mean without either making them feel terrible or sending the ordinance police out to their house the next day...) This is the City Charter Preamble: We the people of the City of Iron Mountain , in order to perfect a city government which shall ensure economical and efficient administration of city affairs, provide for the security of persons and property, promote the welfare and the happiness of its people, conserve and utilize public resources, encourage cooperation among cities of the State, and preserve by the proper use thereof, the privilege of local self-government subject to the Constitution and the laws of the State, do ordain and establish this Charter for the City of Iron Mountain, County of Dickinson, State of Michigan. Here is my take on this preamble: According to vendor reports, "economical" and "efficient" are not words than can describe our city affairs. I have yet to meet someone who is happy with the job of the City manager or with most of the Council's decisions. There is a long list of things that have not come close to conforming to the laws of our State. Marquart has used the Fifth Amendment repeatedly, but I'm not sure if that counts towards "subject to the Constitution..... In our City Government, it is the Council's job to supervise the City Manager's performance. If the Assessor's Brother-in-Law was hired without a background check, and if he indeed is the guy with the criminal history, I believe we have the right to boot the Council members and the City Manager. I heard a rumor that he has already made $5400 in one month. Is that true? I am going to sign my name to this post as an experiment. The paint on my aluminum siding is badly oxidized and I can't afford to fix it. I want to see if the blight ordinance police visit me in the near future to punish me for having an opinion. I second that post that asked Ted, Bill, etc to run for Council. I'd like to add Dale Allessandrini to that mix. I wish Bill Revord could. Please guys, at least think about it! Tina Peterson 5-1-2007-06
I most certainly DO hold the attorney accountable. He sits at the
Council meetings. Why isn’t he speaking up and asking if the proper channels
have been gone through? He knows there are new people doing work for the
City. He needs to be asking the right questions before the public and the
council. That’s what WE pay him to sit there for. He does not need to wait
for Marquart to call him, anymore than a citizen has to wait to be called
for an opinion. His job is to speak up to be sure that the City is acting
according to it’s own ordinances and higher laws. He sees things being
approved and says NOTHING! If that’s not his job, why is he sitting there at
all? I resent my tax dollars paying him to just sit there until there’s a
problem. These things need to be questioned in the public forum before we
get to the point of lawsuits. He’s a citizen too, isn’t he? In my opinion,
that makes him even more accountable for his position.
5-1-2007-05
David Legge. Welcome to another badly botched
item from the present city council. ANOTHER ITEM THAT WOULD
NEVER HAVE COME TO LIGHT WITHOUT THIS WEBSITE. I'd like to
remind everyone here that people have been protesting the fact that
this council and city manager have been consistently ignoring the City
Charter requirements for civil service tests since they took office.
I have never seen so many creative, transparent ways to get around
the charter requirements.
Of course, that's not the only City Charter gaff
in this whole reassessment thing. It was not even bid out properly.
Remember the 16 and 6 item lists from last month that were posted here?
Why is anyone surprised about this Legge character? We've
been getting robbed and lied to for three and a half years now. Why change
boats in midstream when you are getting away with it?
5-1-2007-04 I do have to comment on the post
that 's accusing the Iron Mountain City Attorney. He does not know what is going
on in the city until Marquart calls him and ask the questions, but Marquart
knows everything and doesn't ask until a law suite is filed or he gets himself
in trouble. Lately it seems he gets himself in trouble a lot, look at all the
attorney bills. I don't think its fair to put blame on the City Attorney. Its
all the City Councils fault and the Managers. We all are upset of what's
happened to our city, but an average vote of 650 people voted for a change and
boy they sure got what they wanted, a big change. I wonder how the 650 people
like it now. I heard 5-1-2007-03 This is not the first time City
Attorney Gerald Pirkola has been remiss and lackadaisical in either
investigating a prospective employee's background and/or reporting it honestly
and completely to the public. Note the instance at the other end of this link. 5-1-2007-02
If this is the same David Legge, I’d like to see Rich Brook and everyone
else connected with him GONE too! No way should this City trust a man who
would bring in a recently paroled convict that even he likely knows little
about. Everyone connected with this HUGE SCAM needs to be fired; and unless
their so-called re-assessment work can be proven to be adequate, make them
pay back what they’ve been paid. To me, the whole re-assessment seems to
have been a poorly executed scam.
Shame on this administration for hiring these people without thoroughly
checking them out. And the City attorney… what’s he being paid for. Does he
do anything besides take up a chair at council meetings? He is certainly
making a name for the firm he‘s connected with, isn’t he? I can only speak
for myself, but I’d never enlist them to aid me in any legal matters.
5-1-2007-01 In reading the Public Forum, I see the disturbing comment made by "whomever" that there is no comment at this time about "OUR" David Legge! Was that statement made by "our" City Attorney? If so, is there really being something done, such as a background check? Is this being investigated? Hopefully so, and if so, will your findings be printed in this Public Forum? So, we the citizens will know that some of you are honest to admit what a grave error has been made in hiring a "past criminal?" Gee, my granddaughter can't even get a decent apartment because of a bad mistake she made in her young life, which ended up in a minor misdemeanor, even Landlords do background checks and credit checks. Wow, imagine that huh? And our city hires someone from nowhere to have privileged information on us citizens. And, tell me City Attorney, if so, will the city have enough money to pay for the many legal problems that could occur if our identity is really for a fact stolen? I think not, the city won't even pay when a resident house is ruined by damage done by the city. We all know that old issue..!! Just another blunder, and a serious big blunder on the city. Shame on all of you that voted these jokers into office. Did none of you that voted for these "so called politicians" do your homework? But yet, everyone will say, "I didn't vote for him/her" Doesn't that sound familiar? Almost like the big government huh? So the only thing to do as a voting citizen is to be aware of who may be running for one of those positions the next time, and manages to get into office. We the people have to step up and stop those kind of people from getting into office, getting paid to do terrible or at times no work from our hard earned monies. Which requires every one that is of legal age to vote and make your voice heard. Let's face it folks, the young must get out and vote, and make an effort to stop these jousters from further ruining our beautiful city. We must realize that government starts in every Village, Township and City, not just the big government vote. It must start from our votes right here in Iron Mountain/Kingsford and surrounding communities. LETS VOTE! Then our Public Forum will have good comments for a change. Why? we the voters are tired of the garbage that is happening here in town. And our City will grow, the way we the citizens want it to grow. And business's will come into town, and not fear the "junk" that is happening which will include the new people also! Shame on you, the City Council members! Do you sleep well at night? |
