AGAINST A CONSOLIDATED BEAVER ISLAND TOWNSHIP

[Gillespie]

I am sure Kitty would be glad to share the conversation with the township attorney with you, surely Bill has her email address if you don't. Kitty, you had a screen shot you shared, could you post that? At the bottom of the screen there is a place to post attachments, thanks!

As to the cost of filing the petitions with the county, perhaps there might be a per page filing fee but I would not know, I did not file it but not single cent of taxpayer money was spent on gathering signatures or filing. Why the obsession on this? You people are desperate to keep these positions are waxing very poorly telling 1/2 truths, ginning up that Peaine's taxes could go up,shameless! NINE PERCENT! Yeah, if the new board decided to levy every single mill that is collectible, we all know that's not going to happen. Suggesting that EMS would go broke, shameless! At the end of this year they will be sitting on OVER 300,000. Capital projects should be voted on by voters not a board that hoards more money than legally allowable. This resistance is all a sham and a shame. This community will suffer for it as we have for many years but there will be new people to thank!

[Gillespie]

Turns out Kitty publishes a monthly newsletter and someone notified me where to find it, here is her discussion with the attorney:

"Township Consolidation
I want to make you aware of a recent conversation with our attorney. I emailed
the following questions to attorneys Bryan Graham and Peter Wendling: “As the
discussion about township consolidation continues, I have been asked what the
likely cost is of legal fees for making the transition from two to one
township. I'm sure it would be hard to nail down concisely, but is there a likely
range? Also, as our attorneys, do you see any real big problems that the
consolidation might cause for our township? I would like to have a conversation
with one of you about this.”
Attorney Bryan Graham and I had a phone conversation on March 20th. Here are
my notes:
 Brian indicated that biggest and most important first thing would be to make
sure that the Zoning Ordinance is solid as that is the most likely first place a
township would have an issue. Since we already have joint Zoning Ordinance
and common Master Plan, this would be simpler to revise than two
completely different ordinances. Creating a new Planning Commission
would be top priority, he thought.
 Ordinances of both townships would have to be reviewed; he stated that
current ordinances would still apply to the geographic areas they cover until
revised ordinances are adopted. He thought that regardless of whether the
townships merge, this might be a good time to review all ordinances and
bring them up to date.
 He indicated that the main reason for legal services is for zoning and
ordinance, and bringing authorities, commissions and committees into legal
compliance.
 Brian’s guess is this may cost approximately $5,000 / rate is $160.00 per
billable hour which would be approximately 31 hours. It could amount to
more, but he couldn’t think of any reason it would go above $20,000.00
which would be 125 hours of legal work. "

[meadefamily]

Thank you for posting the information above. I guess zoning does need to be considered.

[Hunter]

Is this the same person that was on the for consolidation? And who is this Richie she doesn't like?

[meadefamily]

Hunter,

I had posted a question that was neutral asking about zoning if consolidation happened. Hoping that someone with more knowledge could assist me. Although I suspect you already knew that.

I learned my lesson. I guess we could ask Richie and Carol the same question as I see they post on both as well. Awesome job at your attempt to distract. I see now they are starting to come out of the woodwork again! Wagons circling.

Have a great night!

Kathe

PS. I am not aware of a Richie I don't like. I love everyone.

[connor]

All I can say that if those people don't have fake names they would be in a heap of trouble with you. I will assure you that treehugger, bigbuck and hunter are fake names and that doesn't take a lot of learning to figure out. Who would name their kids treehugger, bigbuck and hunter. The trouble is that each one apparently lives and votes on Beaver Island and they are tired of the same ones posting over and over again. Like a bunch of children. I think the more you post the fewer people will vote the way you believe. I also agree with whoever said there must be something that smells for everyone to get so uptight about the consolidation. PS: Bryan O'Connor is not my real name.

[meadefamily]

Connor,

Please don't give me so much credit.

The only one in a heap of trouble for asking questions is me! Right on about the kids names! I hope people vote with their hearts and minds...but, sorting through the noise on here is tough I would agree. It is tough to drown out the insults, fake names (but i'll tell yo a secret, most of us know who they really are!) and the people who are spending energy trying to stop the insults. Perhaps now it will die down and the topic at hand can get back on track. Just make sure you don't ask a question on the for side...they get really really mad.

Have a great night!

Kathe
sorta my fake name...my real name is Kathryn.

[islandliving]

Consolidation is the biggest joke to ever come to Beaver Island. Vote NO ON CONSOLIDATION!!!!!!

[Andy's Grooming Barn]

Richie,
The very end of the post that you put out from Kitty states,
" Brian’s guess is this may cost approximately $5,000 / rate is $160.00 per
billable hour which would be approximately 31 hours. It could amount to
more, but he couldn’t think of any reason it would go above $20,000.00
which would be 125 hours of legal work. " This is concerning to me as the petitioners have been using these figures as firm but anybody can look at this quote from the attorney Brian and see it isn't firm, I would think prior to the election something should be down in writing as a firm quote, this would be in the best interest of the voters.

Richie you state, "NINE PERCENT! Yeah, if the new board decided to levy every single mill that is collectible, we all know that's not going to happen." - This comment you made Richie is a flat out lie, if every mill was collected it would be much more than 9% tax increase on our end, these numbers have already been proved over and over again maybe you should talk to the petitioners prior to posting something like this, they even know that!

Richie states, "Suggesting that EMS would go broke, shameless!" - This comment also not true, I never suggested that EMS would go broke how would I know this, I can not tell the future? I did state that EMS isn't out of the woods, we passed the mills just over a year ago because EMS was in need and to be honest we should have passed it long before we did. There are many things that will need to be updated and/or replaced coming up in the future and the extra taxes will help get it to where it needs to be. I spoke of the unreliable income EMS gets from calls and insurance so we need to have a large balance to cover that if we should have inconsistency and had you attended the ESA meeting yesterday you would have heard that we haven't had calls all month (that is a VERY GOOD THING ) but this shows the inconsistency. No calls means no revenues but we still have the expenses. Also at the meeting it talked that in the future we would be changing to 800 communication system through central dispatch and it would be costly, now granted it would be down the road and we would apply for grants but grants don't cover all the costs. This is just examples. Then again if you did attend some of these meeting or even tried to keep up you would know better what you are talking about.

One more thing, does anybody ever notice when Richie doesn't feel he has enough people supporting him all of a sudden a bunch of of "people" start poping up on the forum that are not people at all and only in favor of what he wants and he doesn't remove them but allows it because these are his "Friends". Apparently he didn't outgrown imaginary friends.

[treehugger]

Don't you dare call me imaginary. And I not his friend. He can be a real sometimes.

[islandliving]

Pro-consolidation facts and figures all a figment of someone's imagination...like the fake profiles on this forum. And THAT is how the island will prosper and go forward?? That is shameful Mr. Gillespie.

Kathe asks an important question, she gets attacked, because the pro-consolidation did not do their homework and they don't know the answers. This is too important of a decision to just go forward with, on someone's whim

[treehugger]

So you say, so you keep saying, but islandliving has not showed one iota of proof, just BS.. Leave it to Bill.

[islandliving]

Won’t be BS if consolidation fails!!!
VOTE NO ON TOWNSHIP CONSOLIDATION!!!!

[duffer]

i have been told by an attorney that represents townships it is totally a bad idea, if some one wants more information i could write a list not excluding the cost. the cost will be way more than people have posted and i could also cover that run down, after a long conversation with this person who works for kohl stoker and maglincy in lansing they represent over 50 percent of the states county governments. Duffy

[connor]

Duffy: Did you mention to the Lawyer about the unique situations on Beaver? Such as, two townships on one Island, small number of people, declining property values, fewer visitors, smaller enrollment in the school and a higher poverty level due to losing jobs. Just asking.