Resident calls for resignation of Lyon Township member

November 23, 2023

 

By Cheryl Holladay

 

A Lyon Township resident is seeking action by one Lyon Township board member, in light of progress toward a proposed sewer system at Higgins Lake by the Gerrish Lyon Utility Authority (GLUA), which is comprised of members appointed by the two townships.

 

Timothy Monet of Lyon Township, during public comment at the township’s Nov. 15 regular meeting, declared he is seeking the resignation of Lyon Township Clerk Doug Schnell for his actions related to the formation of the Special Assessment District (SAD).

 

“I just can’t believe that I come to these meetings, for over two and a half years now, and I listen to a board that has not questioned anything that has been dictated by GLUA at all. You have all voted, with the exception of [Supervisor] Larry [Maduri], for varying reasons, yes on every single thing.”

 

Monet said he recently consulted with legal scholars from Michigan State University. He referred to subsection 41.723, subsection 4(1), of P.A. 188, the act that the GLUA and the townships have used to develop the SAD.

 

Monet read the subsection, that says, “In determining the sufficiency of the petitions, lands not subject to special assessment and lands within a public highway or alley shall not be included in computing frontage or an assessment district area.”

 

He said vacant lands included on the assessment roll that the GLUA previously said would be at zero dollars do not qualify because they are not subject to assessment. Referring to the township property that was included in the SAD, he said government property does not qualify for a special assessment or taxation.

 

All of the parcels listed on the SAD map that were determined by the township to not be assessable must be removed, he said.

 

He said Schnell claimed he did not come up with the SAD, but the Lyon Township board approved a resolution, declaring the SAD. Monet told the Resorter that Schnell addressed him personally at a township board work session concerning the SAD.

 

“He stated that the board was given this SAD and they had nothing to do with the current SAD,” Monet said.

 

He said the township board has a statutory duty in being involved in the creation of an SAD. Therefore, he said, “how can you not know about an SAD…to suggest that they had nothing to do with the SAD is absurd, as they claimed they created the SAD.”

 

(The Lyon Township board, in a split vote Oct. 18 of this year, approved the special assessment district. A motion by Trustee Eric Carlson to approve the SAD resolution carried, 4-1, with Maduri casting the no vote.)

 

Acknowledging Schnell was not in attendance Nov. 15 (because he was deer hunting), Monet told the board, “Doug Schnell should tender his resignation, effective immediately, for willful neglect of duty, under the municipal code of ethics for townships in the State of Michigan.”

 

He said Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Attorney General’s Office have been notified, he said, to have Schnell removed, on behalf of Monet and the citizens of the Lyon Township community.

 

Monet claimed Schnell committed the offense of malfeasance, “the doing of a wrongful act.” He said Schnell wrote up a resolution to give him the sole authority to move forward to order the assessment roll.

 

He said Maduri is the chief assessor (as supervisor). If Maduri does not qualify, one is assigned, which in Lyon Township’s case is Julie Tatro.

 

“P.A. 188 is legal,” Monet said, “but the methods used do not conform to guidelines.”

 

He said that includes the vacant lots, public lands, the cemetery and “holding the church hostage.”

 

Monet told the Resorter in a Nov. 20 email that he was referring to St. Hubert’s Catholic Church.

 

In investigating the petition for St. Hubert’s acreage, he said, “we found that the Diocese of Gaylord has guidance over that land and Bishop Jeffrey Walsh is the only person that can sign for those lands-without giving permission [Father Peter] Eke signed for those lands for water studies only.”

 

Monet said the township has a duty to withhold that petition until such a time that the verification at the Register of Deeds office or with the Diocese of Gaylord has been confirmed.

 

At the township meeting, Monet further claimed Schnell is also guilty of nonfeasance, the failure to perform an act.

 

Monet said Schnell is required by law to verify the sufficiency of the (in-favor) petitions by the Register of Deeds.

 

“Moving forward, I do not want a recount, I want a legal count, required by law,” he said,  “That this board has said ‘we follow all the rules.’”

 

When the Resorter reached Schnell Nov. 20, he had no comment on Monet’s statements.

 

Monet additionally told the Resorter that a lawsuit has been filed by Higgins Lake United against the GLUA with the Michigan Tax Tribunal and that he, as a supporting member of HLU, is listed as litigant.

 

“I did not want this when I became a permanent resident. I just wanted to enjoy northern Michigan,” Monet said. “As long as there are inconsistencies and illegal procedures that are not consistent with state statute involving P.A. 188, I will continue to be a vocal opponent of this proposed project and the unnecessary, unjustified, and disingenuous actions of the Lyon Township Board.”

 

Also speaking during public comment at the township meeting was HLU member Dave Hobson.

 

Hobson began with naming individuals caught cheating in sports, to raise the subject of gerrymandering as it relates to the SAD.

 

He said gerrymandering appears legal, but “it doesn’t make it right.” The use of gerrymandering to alter the SAD boundaries and nullify acreage for those who were opposed to the SAD “is not right,” he said.