Interim Village Manager’s ‘rebuttal’ is inaccurate By T.L. Whitaker The Village of Dundee put a notice of an “open letter” on the Village’s Facebook page on Nov. 10, 2014 in response to the editorial that was printed in the Nov. 6, 2014 issue of The Independent. The Village Facebook post directed people to the Village’s Official Website (dundeevillage), where the letter, written by Interim Village Manager David W. Uhl, was posted. The Independent’s editorial was about how the Village’s increasing opacity in its proceedings (including the termination of the previous Village Manager earlier this year, with no explanation) has extended to the Interim Village Manager removing the publication of the Village Council Meeting Minutes from the Independent. The Independent posted a link on the Village Facebook page to the original editorial, so people could know what the issue was— but the Village removed this post. It is not clear how the decision was made to take the minutes out of the newspaper— or when the decision was made. So far as The Independent is aware, it was never subject to a discussion or vote at the Village Council meetings. Mr. Uhl never called The Independent to discuss the issue of the meeting minutes, not about any monetary concerns, nor to ask if there was something he was missing about why it was important to publish the minutes in the newspaper. He emailed the decree to The Independent— along with a dozen other media contacts, including television stations and the Detroit News— instead of having a meaningful dialogue with The Independent (the only one of the dozen media contacts that ever printed the minutes). The timing of pulling the meeting minutes coincides with news coverage in The Independent about how the Village has handled the Village Manager position over the past several months— including appointing Mr. Uhl to the interim position at a pay of $80,000 a year, while he takes leave from his job as Police Chief— and it immediately followed a request for notice of special meetings to be sent to The Independent. There were several inaccuracies in Mr. Uhl’s “open letter.” In the fifth paragraph of his letter, he said that the annual average cost of publishing the Village Council Meeting Minutes in The Independent is $6,000 per year— but this is absolutely wrong. For the past 12 months from October 2013 through September 2014 the actual figure was $3,904 for publishing the minutes. The total amount of Village paid notices required by law (including other things besides Minutes, such as notice of ZBA meetings and seeking bids) was $5,760. So for one year, the Interim Village Manager’s number of how much was spent publishing the minutes is off by $2,096— quite a lot, for a four-digit number. His figure is even farther off for the annual average of the past three years. The average for the past three years for total notices by the Village— not just the meeting minutes— is $4,711 (2011, 2012, 2013). The Interim Village Manager’s incorrect figures are cause for concern. The person in the Village Manager’s office is supposed to be able to do statistical analysis and help the Village Council make accurately informed decisions, especially financial decisions. To mistake one basic fact, and then be off on a four-digit number by 35% makes one wonder how the Interim Village Manager would handle multi-million sewer projects and street projects, among other major developments in the community. In his letter on the Official Village Website, the Interim Village Manager went on to state, “…in my opinion it is not the taxpayer’s responsibility to support the Independent.” There are essentially two reasons to publish the meeting minutes in the newspaper. One of them relates to letting people know what’s going on at the Village government— and the other is because those published minutes can be used in legal proceedings if there’s a question later on. It is not an advertisement— it is a legal notice. The Independent printed the Village Council Minutes and other required notices as requested by the Village, as a valuable service. By doing so, the Village is no more going out of its way “to support the Independent” than it is going out of its way to support the electric company by paying for the electricity it receives. However, the Village of Dundee has been subsidizing a local business downtown, in the form of greatly reduced rent at the commercial building it owns, 141 Riley Street, for several years. According to Dundee Village Council Meeting Minutes published on Feb. 1, 2005 in The Independent, the Village agreed to lease the building for $1,200 per month. The current rent is a whopping $850 per month less, at $350 per month. The rent had been reduced at least twice since 2006. Then the same business owners asked for free rent in 2010, but the rent has been set at $350 per month since that time. Over the past 10 years, the Village taxpayers have “subsidized” this business to the tune of about $61,000. This example is used merely as an illustration of an actual Village taxpayer subsidy, so Village officials can understand the difference between that and paying for a service that benefits the taxpayers. The Village Council has not discussed publically any looming lack of revenue. The Village has not been in a period of stagnation, and has plenty of new development, from the 144 new luxury apartments, to additional condos, new homes, industrial expansions and new commercial ventures. Perhaps a detailed statistical analysis is in order to determine the impact of any proposed or actual changes on the overall Village budget, and how changes would or would not affect any LDFAs and TIFs and other funding mechanisms. Having the Village Council Meeting Minutes in the newspaper has been a cost effective way to make sure anyone has easy access to the official record. The newspapers are where people go for local news, and to find out about the things that directly affect their lives. They don’t have to make a special trip, or buy any special equipment, or try to find computer time to trawl the web on the off chance that a government entity is doing something they should know about. There are always people who are economically disadvantaged, or do not have the time to hunt around for any possible government notice. As it is, the State requires special meeting notice of only 18 hours, and if local governments were not required to specifically contact newspapers (or anyone else who makes a written request) with this information, taxpayers could spend all day, every day, making the rounds of various office windows. That expectation is ridiculous. Additionally, the Interim Village Manager is being disingenuous when he said pdfs and other documents cannot be replaced or altered after they have been put online. There are many common graphics programs that can alter pdf documents. Several government websites have been hacked, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the HealthCare.gov server— both in recent weeks; and last year, the U.S. Army, Department of Energy and the Department of Health and Human Services were hacked. Newspapers provide a third-party, objective, permanent and unalterable verification that adequate notice was given to the citizens. Because of this, the published documents are admissible in court; website-only legal notices are not. The Village also was lacking in transparency in regards to its recent Village Council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Under “New Business,” the agenda includes item “(c) Ordinance 06-2014: To Amend Sections 2-568 and 2-59 (b) (2) of chapter 2 of the Code of Ordinances.” No one at the meeting, not the Interim Village Manager, the Village President nor the Council member making the motion to make the amendment bothered to tell people in the audience what that was about. It seems like a heavy burden on the taxpayers for the Village to expect them to go to the Village Hall and ask to see the ordinance so they can find out what was being voted upon— as opposed to just being clear about it. But readers of The Independent know that vote changed both the qualifications for who is eligible to be the permanent Village Manager, and what some of those job duties are, in regards to creating the budget. That’s because The Independent attended the special meeting on Oct. 15 and reported on it for the community. The qualifications for the Village Manager position were changed so that now, if a candidate has no college or professional degree, they still are eligible for the job if they have “at least eight years of significant government experience in an administrative capacity.” It can be argued that eight years’ experience at anything is significant. So if someone has been working in a records department somewhere, or a parks department, for example, they are now qualified to run the entire business of the Village.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 01:34:34 +0000