On Wednesday, amidst hysterical pleas that political decisions not be made in political forums, more drama unfolded at the Operations and Governance Committee meeting. During the session, Councilmen Bruce Sharp, Will Morrisey, and Greg Stuchell deliberated regarding Councilman Josh Paladino’s recently introduced “Proposal to Amend City Ordinance § 2.48.020.” The O&G Committee—which has never seen such an extensive public turnout—unanimously voted to recommend the amendment proposal to the City Council “without prejudice.”
Paladino’s proposal—if approved by the City Council at its next regular meeting—would remove from the current ordinance the final clause, which reads: “one such member [of the Hillsdale Community library board] shall be a member of the board of education of the Hillsdale community schools.” In other words, the proposal would cut only the school board’s mandatory representation on the library board, opening the coveted fifth and final swing seat to the citizen body.
Paladino began the meeting by noting that, in a point that would later be reiterated by Morrisey, Michigan law allows cities to determine for themselves the means by which their library board members are selected. (We, happily, are not bound by a handbook!) That point made, he offered the following three reasons to support the amendment:
that the ordinance proposal upholds the authority and responsibility of the mayor’s office;
that it defends the principle of “no taxation without representation” for the city’s taxpaying citizens;
and that it protects the city as an independent and self-governing political body.
Regarding the first reason: Paladino pointed out that the Mayor ought to be accountable for the numerous boards and commissions that operate within the city. As things stand, the responsibility is dispersed, hidden away in places so obscure that even the city’s corporate media journalists haven’t the slightest clue what is going on. This restricts the ability of citizens to locate the center of political responsibility, leaving them demoralized and swamped in bureaucracy—all part of the plan.
Regarding the second reason: Paladino drew the O&G Committee’s attention to the fact that the boundaries of the Hillsdale Community School Board extend beyond the boundaries of the City of Hillsdale, whose citizens pay into the property tax millage that supports the public library. In effect, several townships—townships which do not pay taxes to support the library—could gain a seat on the library board via the School Board under the current ordinance. This violates the basic notion of “no taxation without representation” by granting representation to those who pay no taxes.
Regarding the third reason: the Hillsdale Community School Board is not associated directly with the city of Hillsdale. Therefore, the city council should not hand over the authority of spending tax dollars to an entity with differing interests. Hillsdale Community Schools and the City of Hillsdale, in other words, are different entities—a distinction that was lost on some in the crowd. Paladino added that it would be absurd to expect representation on the board of a different entity if that representation would not be reciprocated.
He concluded his remarks by responding to several criticisms that were reiterated by the proposal’s opponents during the public comment period.
First: he noted that his proposal had made traditionalists out of its opponents. The Hillsdale Community School Board has had representation on the Library Board for at least 44 years, so why change it now? they queried. In response, Paladino asserted that the city is not the same as it was 44 years ago. No longer do public schools dominate education. Hillsdale, in fact, has an impressive array of schools given the size of the town. Further, the boundaries of the school district have changed, as have funding standards for public schools (and, we might add, the curricula.)
Second: the school board gives representation to the citizens of Hillsdale Township and Jefferson Township, both of which have contracts with the Hillsdale Community Library. But according to Paladino, the very point of his proposal was to make such a situation an impossibility. Hillsdale city residents, he argued, have no choice but to pay taxes into the city library, or they will lose their homes. Residents in the contracting townships do not and cannot pay taxes to the city of Hillsdale. Townships and cities are independent political bodies.
Third: Paladino takes his orders from Hillsdale College—or worse—Ron “Adolf” DeSantis himself! Has Paladino communicated with the spirit of Hitler via mystical Aryan practices? Only time will tell. For now, all we know is that councilman addressed the oft-spouted claim that the wealthy and powerful Hillsdale College and its allies commanded him to strip the totally-neither-wealthy-nor-powerful public education industrial complex of its untaxed representation. He replied by noting that his proposal would open up another board seat to any Hillsdale citizen—not just those who work for the college—rather than the six board members with direct ties to Hillsdale Community Schools (three of whom, it should be noted, have direct financial ties to the dreaded college).
After Paladino’s remarks, citizens settled in for a draw-out public (therapy) comment session, wherein uxorious men muttered about how mad they are at the Nazis and overwrought women gnashed their teeth about “lack of inclusivity” and the need to “heal wounds.” Such commentators were joined by their ringleader, former library board candidate Dan LaRue, who said afterwards that he accepts the outcome and looks forward to pursuing left-wing activism in the future.
“I think it’s completely fine and acceptable to go to the full council for the bill,” he told The Collegian. “This way, all the city residents can reach out to their councilmen to share their views that way.”
LaRue, of course, is not wrong to have such confidence that the public school grifters can—and perhaps will—mobilize with enough force to sway the council to their side. In any case, one can rest assured that both correspondence with city council and Mayor Stockford, and the public turnout at the April 3 meeting will be decisive.
—Clovis
This article is journalism at its worst! The HCR is the TMZ of Hillsdale.
This is great and very accurate, thanks!