Beaver Island Michigan

Nicely said, sad they had to say it! Agreed they should publish properly. One of the major (just one) screw ups by the clerk was publishing in a local monthly, the original sewer ordinance rendering it illegal. In Sept. they passed and published it again in a proper newspaper but cost the taxpayers many dollars with her lax approach to her job. Didn't she and does she still get paid for those billings? Every penny of the money collected for her benefit and not fulfilling her duties should be given back to the township! What a shameful disgrace this has been!

While I donâ??t live on Beaver Island, I do have a vested interest in what ultimately happens there. My parents own a home in St. James, land in the PSJ and I've been visiting since I was a young child. I've been watching the dialogue on the Sewer and Road Funds from afar with great interest. In my professional life I have worked with many municipalities in the management of their finances so I do have an educated opinion so here it goesâ?¦â?¦.

Keeping the Treasurer and Clerk in control of the Township's finance for even one more day is unwise - the many mistakes made were not human errors, but rather gross incompetence. From what I read in the auditorâ??s report, the Treasurer and Clerk lack an understanding of basic accounting standards as they are applied to the management of municipal finances. This is not a personal attack and this does not make them bad people. I am just stating what we now all know to be true about their skillsets. I'm sure they have many other wonderful skills - managing the Townships' finances are just not one of them.

I have yet to see or hear about a mea culpa from those involved so I ask - where is the remorse? We all make mistakes. From my standpoint it's not the billing and ledger errors that are the most troubling, but rather the utter lack of accountability coupled with complete distain for those who dared to question the status quo. And those who defended the incompetence with their labels of "trouble maker" and "whinner" - where is their outrage? Have they apologized for their attacks on those simply trying to understand what was happening with their tax dollars? If not â?? why?

I've heard people calling for the Treasurer and Clerk to repay what they earned during the time of the mismanagement. Iâ??m not sure that is reasonable or realistic. I am sure, however, that the people of Beaver Island are kind and decent and would forgive those responsible for this mess when they do the right things - -

1. Admit/Assume full responsibility - Admit that over the course of many years your lack of accounting knowledge and your poor fiscal management processes and procedures led to a significant shortfall in the Road Fund.

2. Apologize - I don't think anyone suspects malice was at play here. That being said, you still need to apologize. With genuine remorse, show your fellow citizens that you understand how serious your mistakes were and how they will negatively impact the community for many years.

3. Resign - Don't subject the Township to a divisive and expensive recall election. There needs to be consequences for your actions and the community needs to heal. It is time for you to move on and let someone with the proper knowledge and experiences assume responsibility.

For those that disagree with me, please don't take it out on my parents - I'll be there in June or July '16 if you want to yell at me.
Anne Tidmore

Anne -
Thank you for your interest but mostly for your courage to speak it.

Excellent article and EXCELLENT comments. The only thing I would add to Anne's list is that those responsible should be held financially liable for the entire fiasco de jour.

I submitted my first FOIA Oct.29, 2014 regarding the financial mess. Others had been asking questions for years only to be vilified as "cranks" by some local media, that charade continues to this day! In the last twelve months the more we learn the worse it gets including the clerk abruptly quitting as FOIA officer very near Christmas of 2014. Why would someone do that unless their records were a mess? This has cost our community untold sums and the facts are still not in! Then the sewer "records" were reconstructed to make it appear there were invoices produced from 2004 to a date uncertain, they were not! What does it take for people to accept responsibility for their actions and misappropriations?

Interesting editorial, but after seeing how many of your tax dollars were spent by the library to publish required election notices in a daily paper (not in the Boyne Gazette, admittedly), I'm inclined to wonder how much money the Gazette takes in annually for publishing such things. It may be that Mr. Faulknor has more than just the public interest in mind when he calls for all local entities to be required to publish everything in privately-owned newspapers.

Actually I believe he was referring to existing law on the rule of publication so the public is made aware. His selfish personal interests couldn't touch those of the people under discussion.

Michigan ranks last in laws on ethics, transparency. Looks like we have a Statewide issue.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/politic ... /75288210/

On this day of immense reflection where people lost their lives in a tragic shipping accident it makes you think of the opportunity won and lost in a lifetime. It makes you think of what could have been. It makes you think of how we all are victims and those responsible have not taken responsibility for their actions but yet cause us to spend so much more to correct the problem while they sit and say nothing! Is it just me? I doubt it! The silence is deafening!

With reputable off Island journalist around Michigan shinning a light on the SJT's proven mismanagement along with no concerted action being taken by the victims, it says more about the taxpayers of St. James Township than the perpetrators of the illegalities. Inaction and demonstrated lack of concern sends a clear message to everyone that the taxpayers of SJT condone such corrupt conduct by their elected officials who show no remorse. A shameful endorsement and sad commentary on all of Beaver Island. We should be better than this for the sake of good citizenship and the future of our Island we claim to love. It is not the image and reputation of BI that I'm proud to read about in the press or have friends question me about, "what is happening over there? ". Our elected or selected by a coin toss officials should recognize and comprehend the position their misconduct has put all of us in with the greater public. They should covey the trust we have placed in them to do the proper thing for the benefit of all taxpayers, resign!

If you want to focus a question of value or money on something, do it on the SJT clerk who has cost us thousands of tax dollars, not voluntary contributions. She continues to mismanage financial billings right up to today.