Please Attend St. James Township Annual Meeting March 28th

Open Discussion - for our Readers, Islanders, and Web Site Visitors alike. Discussion regarding any and all aspects of Beaver Island are welcome here. Also a place for general Beaver Island conversation and discussion.

Moderator: Gillespie

E. Naranjo
Posts: 121
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2012 10:03 pm

Who will cut my grass?

Post by E. Naranjo »

Rich, in response to the person worried about who would cut their grass I would like to remind everyone that Dave Avery runs a legitimate and reasonable lawn mowing service. He lives here all year and he is also making a serious attempt at trying to bring about peaceful solutions to current school board situations. If I needed someone to mow my grass I would give him a try! :wink: :wink:
Gillespie
Posts: 1563
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:43 pm
Contact:

Post by Gillespie »

Word is out that the township board will be meeting at 10:00 am next Wednesday to finally discuss the many issues facing St.James Township and Beaver Island. It is uncertain whether this may be an open meeting or not but I would argue that failure cannot be hidden in the public trust with a closed meeting. We will see, but having said that I believe we will see some pretty astounding facts revealed, finally! It is hoped that people so responsible for such failure do the right thing. As Mr. Taylor said several times, where are the media folks on this? They and the Chamber representative have attempted to make fools of people seeking truth, why? Will the apology compare to the denial and blind support without question? We will see! Oh, and be sure you check out the beautiful winter pictures posted, while ignoring reality!

The St. James Township Board meets Wednesday evening for their regular meeting, if the earlier session is closed and it should not be, perhaps results will be discovered then!
Gillespie
Posts: 1563
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:43 pm
Contact:

Post by Gillespie »

If you care about Beaver Islands future it is vital to attend this meeting if possible. It is hoped that this will be live streamed as well so those who cannot attend can watch. Please attend!
BobTidmore
Posts: 757
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 3:00 pm
Location: Beaver Island

Post by BobTidmore »

I read the announcement and from what I understand the township cannot post for a â??Closed Meetingâ?￾ rather the the meeting is open until a motion is made to close it and it takes a 2/3 majority with a stated reason.

Additionally as I read the law there must be a specific reason for the closed meeting and it has to meet certain guidelines. I did not see â??attorney/clientâ?￾ privilege as one of the reasons, but then I am not an attorney. Here is the link if you want to see for yourself (page 10).

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/ag/O ... 7134_7.pdf

However, the township board is paid for by the taxpayers, the attorney is paid for by the taxpayers, the accountant they hired is paid for by the taxpayers so one has to struggle to understand why a report on public funds should be kept from the public.

Bob Tidmore
Beaver Island, MI
Gillespie
Posts: 1563
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:43 pm
Contact:

Post by Gillespie »

It turns out there is no internet service at the town hall. The meeting will be recorded but cannot be live streamed as such. Information will be provided as it becomes available until the recording can be viewed.
Gillespie
Posts: 1563
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:43 pm
Contact:

Post by Gillespie »

The meeting was held in open session as the Chairman/Supervisor Bill Haggard made a motion to remain in open session which allowed for recording and videotaping of the meeting. Much was revealed about a very sad state of affairs in our township. This went on for over 2 hours. I would hope that Joe Moore would open access to these clips when they become available on his website: beaverislandnews.com

There is far too much content to begin to lay it out here for you although virtually everything posted to this point is pretty much accurate. This is going to cost a lot of money. Who is going to pay? The unsuspecting taxpayers trust has been violated here, in a way beyond what might be considered an honest mistake, this is huge! Some estimates today were that this repayment on accounts could go on over ten years!

The records and files being held by those responsible for this mess should be brought to the township governmental center with haste! OUR trust has been violated as stated. WE have to do something about this!

More later. (Oh, I am sorry that this information has been posted on this forum, embarrassed actually. But for those who think we were supposed to spread sunshine every day while ignoring reality, you will soon see! As my friend would say, "If you bury your head in the sand what do you leave sticking out?")
JFPowers
Posts: 506
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 8:15 am

Post by JFPowers »

Current costs in taxpayer dollars as a result of the financial difficulties:

$50,000 taken out of the general fund to the sewer fund
$75,000 taken out of the road fund to the sewer fund and as a result Donegal bay Rd could not be paved last year
$50-75,000 in forensic accounting that will be needed to correct and rebuild the financial records since 2002
$25,000 and counting legal and accounting fees to assist in straightening out the records.

This is your township get involved, attend meetings, this is very serious this is all monies that could be going to improve our township instead of to solve these problems
Trish Scott
Posts: 346
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:05 pm

Post by Trish Scott »

Well, on the brighter side.. kudos for conducting the meeting in an open manner. (I've yet to view the video.) Getting these serious problems into the public domain is an important first step.
medic5740
Posts: 1108
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:28 am
Location: Beaver Island

Video of Meeting on March 4th 10 a.m.

Post by medic5740 »

The video of this two hour meeting is available on Beaver Island News on the 'Net as of 8 p.m. on March 4th. After putting in ten hours of work on this video, it will only be available to subscribers.

Joe Moore, editor
Beaver Island News on the 'Net
AEW
Posts: 614
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:38 am
Location: Beaver Island/The world

Post by AEW »

I just finished watching the video of the meeting. I really hope the State gets involved to ensure that this mess is investigated properly. It is shocking to know that some board members were cashing their paychecks when they clearly did not do their job nor give a damn about their responsibility entrusted to them by the community. There is a pervasive entitlement mentality in a small group of folks that really make the Island look bad. I wish there was a way to make those who created and hid this problem pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars it will take to clean up this mess. Americans deserve better.
AE Wirth
sbsp
Posts: 443
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 2:06 pm
Location: Beaver Island, Kalamazoo, Fripp Island, SC

Post by sbsp »

As an exclusive member of the MB Club, I second Mr. Taylor's motion. The honorable thing to do is for the two township officials to resign immediately with no admission of malfeasance. This is only going to get worse for the township and individual board members. If the township ever hopes to regain the public trust they must take immediate forceful actions and with a board that the people can trust. That will never happen with this current board make up. Everyone is going to pay a dear price personally and financially in getting this straightened out.

Kirk
E. Naranjo
Posts: 121
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2012 10:03 pm

Young,Graham,Elsenheimer & Wendlin, P.C. MEMORANDUM

Post by E. Naranjo »

At the end of the 10 a.m. 3/4/15 Port of St James meeting there was a motion made to let the firm proceed with their investigation in a manner in conjunction with Federal and State law. It was stated (3 times I think) that records do not exist, major amounts of money are missing / unaccounted for and that the State police may need to be called. What does that mean when they said that the State police need to be called? Does anyone think they are serious? Why would the attorneys call the police? Why can't they find records? Why is there money missing? Why are they saying that the government may need to come in and manage the island? What will that mean for island commerce? What about our reputation? How will the taxpayers take on a new additional burden of well over $200,000.00? Will we get new taxpayers to replace the ones that can no longer pay? Is this situation real? Are the attorneys fabricating this whole scenario? Is this a delusion I created as a residual effect from smoking too much weed in the 80's? Is this all Rich Gillespie's fault? Is this supposed situation the fault of the "trouble makers" who have been asking questions on the forum? If this situation is what the attorneys say it is can we make it go away by denying it? Maybe if I ignore it it will get better? Maybe it is none of my business? Who is qualified to comment on this problem?



I am concerned!
Campbell60tr34@aol.com
Posts: 409
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 12:12 pm

meeting

Post by Campbell60tr34@aol.com »

While sitting in the 10:00 AM meeting, with other BI residents, I learned that the current crisis has been in the making for the past 13 or 14 years. Many of the very same officials have been in place for the entire time. Can this really be characterized as simply a mistake? I see this as an ongoing pattern of negligence and neglect of duty. There has been a progression from nonfeasance to misfeasance to malfeasance in office culminating in obstruction and even the possibility of official misconduct. The tax payers owe Bill Haggard a debt of gratitude for bringing this to light. Otherwise this activity would have continued as ' business as usual ' until when? The township is in a deep hole- and this may be only the tip of the iceberg- we shall see!
Jim Campbell
Gillespie
Posts: 1563
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:43 pm
Contact:

Post by Gillespie »

5000 views since Sunday! You could not get this kind of participation on a nationwide website! The Township Clerk should resign as suggested, any member of the board as it existed should resign for actions prior to this devastating report! This is a clown show at this point. The good people trying to make this right have been accosted and vilified by people obviously guilty of violating the public trust. How many ways can it be said? What has to happen before the public has to stop paying for such negligence? The clock is ticking by the moment, denial is not a river! We are facing obligations NONE of us created save for trust! If you think this is going away on its own, it will not, step up or pay :(
Last edited by Gillespie on Fri Mar 06, 2015 7:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
BI Pirate
Posts: 1146
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 1:41 pm
Location: Whiskey Island

Post by BI Pirate »

Do yous guys ever give it a rest over there? :lol: :lol: :wink:
Skull&CrossBones
Post Reply