Week in Review: Equity for All
October 21, 2023
Week in Review
City Council, October 16
See the packet here.
Public Hearing Cemetery Animal Ban
According to the Cemetery Board, dog owners “use the cemeteries as dog runs, allowing their pets to run unleashed throughout the premises” despite the fact that Ordinance No. 2017-01 prohibits unleashed animals in cemeteries (packet, 59). But, with the ordinance being ignored, “animals are relieving themselves on head stones and various other places within the cemeteries whether leashed or unleashed.”
To address the issue, the board requested that the City Attorney write an amended ordinance to prohibit animals from being in cemeteries altogether. The amendment dictates that
no person shall bring to, possess, permit, or lead any animal, fowl, or reptile, whether leashed or not, on the grounds of any cemetery owned or controlled by the City of Hillsdale, Michigan. . .
See the discussion comments below:
The city sexton: “I do work at the cemetery a lot. I have been chased by dogs, almost bitten by dogs, I’ve had to clean up after dogs before funerals. . . People drive across town to unload their dogs there.”
Stockford: “In the past I’ve not really been in favor of this. . . more laws don’t usually fix the solutions we’re looking to fix. . . But I would agree with [the sexton], this is sacred ground. At this point in time, I’m in favor of this animal ban.”
Morrisey: “I’m in favor of it, too. [The sexton] and I went up there and selected a grave site for me a couple of years ago. Being 72 years old and one foot in the grave, I think it’s high time to start thinking about this.”
The ban passed 7-0, with Stuchell and Pratt absent from the meeting.
Corecoyle Composites IFE Abatement
The City of Hillsdale previously issued an “Industrial Facilities Exemption”1 (IFE) to Corecoyle Composites to help reestablish manufacturing in the city’s industrial park (61). Corecoyle was to renovate one of the park’s buildings, but this renovation has not happened for various reasons, such as tornadoes ripping off the top of the building, contractors failing to reconstruct the roof to code, and being caught up in litigation to deal with the roof’s failure. See the council’s comments below.
Stockford: “The conundrum that I’m in is that at our last meeting I voted against extending an OPRA contract that hasn’t fulfilled the obligations that they promised they were going to fulfill for us.”2
Sharp: “I’ve worked in that building for 20+ years. I know that building. You promised us jobs within a year’s time, [and] here we are again listening to your song and dance again. I’m with the mayor; I won’t support this.”
Socha: “I empathize with you. I believe in your integrity. You have my support in this. But we’ve got to see some action this year, or I can’t continue that in the future.”
Wolfram: “I think what we want to do is to have [the producer] go out and start producing. That’s what he wants to do. I don’t see why we’re thinking that he might want to delay. . . He could be earning all sorts of income from going forward. . . He clearly wants to go out and do it.”
Council elected to do nothing, meaning that Corecoyle will be permitted to proceed with its tax abatement in place.
Hillsdale Mobile Home Park
The Mobile Home Park difficulties which began at the October 5th meeting continued. With the MHP director failing to show up with the promised information, the council determined that the business would be subjected to the full $220,000 fine if he fails to turn up at the first November meeting.3
Sharp: “If you want to put it off till the next meeting, I’ll be here, even hungrier for him.”
Socha: “This particular company purchased 17 parks in the state of Michigan, for them to plead ignorance doesn’t hold water with me. . . The city was very forthright to attempt to resolve this, and extremely generous. . . and they sued us because their water meters were broken.”4
City Manager Annual Review
In order to reward his good work, City Manager Dave Mackie received a 2% performance raise on top of an 8.7% cost-of-living raise.
Paladino: “I think 8.7% is very generous; I don’t think the average citizen is getting that, and the city is suffering the cost of inflation itself. . . I don’t consider the street repair portion as being accomplished.”5
Stockford: “I think this is a very substantial increase, Dave, but this is the contract we agreed to, so. . .”
All voted in favor, Paladino excepted.
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Join both the Review and the U.S. Department of Labor in celebrating this special month (83). We are pleased to have raised your awareness of the need “to build an inclusive community” for the sake of increasing “access and equity for all.”
Upcoming Events
October 24, 9:00 AM: County Commissioner Meeting.
External Links
“I aim to purchase at least four more buildings totaling more than 300,000 additional square feet. In previous posts, I outlined my vision to supercharge Hillsdale’s economic prospects by creating a new college of fine trades and a large-scale conservative conference in Hillsdale. The remaining properties offer the potential to fulfill those goals. They contain enough space to start a school, create an event center, build a new hotel, and more.” Luke Robson’s “Next Steps.”
“Another important feature of life here would be the rhythm of conferences, attracting people from all over tarnation . . . Because New St. Andrews College has purchased two buildings downtown, this became something of a catalyst for the revitalization of downtown—which prior to all this was obviously starting to fade.” Perhaps Robson looks to Moscow, Idaho as a model of the small college town successfully converted into a “living, breathing convention center.”
“You see this little key I keep in my pocket? This is the key to city hall. Essentially, this is the key to the City of Hillsdale. If you want it, come and take it.” Mayor Adam Stockford will do battle with “The Ripper” at 7 PM on Oct. 28 at the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds.
“This Back Alley Abortion Legislation, or BAAL acts as I call them, would remove licensing, reporting and inspection requirements for abortion providing facilities. No other medical or surgical providers are exempt from these oversights.” State Sen. Dan Lauwers on the passage through the Michigan Senate of the so-called Reproductive Health Act.
“In your case, I have some concerns if you are truly remorseful.”
Reality TVDC District Judge Christopher Cooper sentences Michigan J6 defendant Ryan Kelley to 60 days in jail.“Former Michigan House Speaker Rick Johnson worked behind the scenes to help convince state lawmakers to create a medical marijuana licensing board while cash, contracts and other benefits flowed to him and his associates from those hoping to get a piece of the new industry.” Detroit News.
“Hillsdale’s purposes, as described in its founding document, are learning, character, faith and freedom. We often argue about the meaning of these things. But we consider them transcendent—a sin in FIRE’s book, in which only freedom of speech is transcendent.” Larry Arnn responds to FIRE’s “warning” about free speech at Hillsdale College.
“Teachers have noticed changes at the school — where students walk with their heads up in the hall and socialize and laugh in the lunch room.” CBS notices a growing trend of schools exercising common sense.6
“A liberal-backed legal complaint alleges Wisconsin’s decades-old school choice program violates the state Constitution and has created a ‘funding death spiral’ for public schools in the state. Attorneys representing several Wisconsin residents on Thursday filed the complaint directly with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, seeking to bypass the lower courts. The state’s high court shifted to a 4-3 liberal majority earlier this year, which has led some Democratic groups to eye the court as the potential avenue to challenge several conservative policies . . .” Wisconsin State Journal.
“The probability that the girls make a psychiatric visit or receive a depression diagnosis increases shortly after they start taking the pill. Approximately 15% of the upsurge in antidepressant use among the girls can be attributed to increased oral contraceptive use.” Some sort of study.
“We are the most powerful nation in the history of the world. We can take care of both of these [wars in Israel and Ukraine] and still maintain our overall international defense. We have the capacity to do this and we have an obligation to. We are the essential nation.” President Biden on 60 Minutes.
A tax abatement program, meaning that the property tax is still paid by the proprietor, but rather than increasing on an annual basis, the rate will be locked in at the rate of the agreement’s first year.
Referring of course to the Keefer House.
It isn’t a simple situation, but the city of Hillsdale’s willingness to give up $200,000+ in revenue to be paid by what is reportedly a hedge fund-owned, multi-state property management corporation strikes the HCR as somewhat odd given the fact that the city has no sympathy for normal families being double-taxed via special assessments. Here’s to hoping that the representative doesn’t attend the November meeting.
According to Socha, the mobile home park has known about this difficulty since January of 2022.
Paladino argued that fixing the roads by way of street special assessments does not constitute doing a good job.
Invest in companies, like Yondr, smart enough to capitalize on the slow return—as “trends”—of ordinary human goods, as if they were the gifts of the decadent liberalism that stole them.