Mary Liske’s Blog

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In case you haven’t seen it, the above billboard (installed on approximately November 20th) is located along southbound I-75 just south of Luna Pier Road. Even though the billboard is technically in Erie Township, its proximity to Luna Pier has caused some early news stories to claim it’s in the city. Because of this, City Hall has inadvertantly begun fielding phone calls and emails from around the country. This evening Mayor Liske sat down with 13abc’s Zack Ottenstein as part of a broader story that was broadcast during this evening’s 6 p.m. newscast. A transcript of this evening’s completed story, including comments from Doctor Fatima al-Hayani and comments from the group who paid for the sign, can be found on 13abc’s web site.

I just looked over my “to do list” that I wrote while running for election. I was pleased to see that many of my goals were addressed, but I will admit there were a few I have changed my thinking on.

Rewriting blight ordiances for fairness; It is not the ordiances themselves that are unfair. We have for years had a system of “who you know” releases you from following the rules, to some degree. I think this has raised a great deal of confusion and sense of injustice, as it should. I have made my expectations clear to both the building inspector and Police that the situation be exaimed based on common sense not on the individual in violation. I certainly do not want to impose an incredible hardship on someone by setting unreasonable deadlines, but I won’t tolerate someone who is taking advantage of the City’s generousity. If a resident in violation is communicating with the City on delays and they are reasonable extensions can be considered. Too often residents just ignore citations thinking that it will be overlooked.

Remove paid parking; Early on I heard several complaints about the parking fees and understood the frustration, change is hard. After looking at the whole situation up close, I realized there are bills to be paid in order to offer the Pier and Beach experience. We pay for a cleaning person to keep the bathrooms in shape, supplies are needed, who is paying for the toilet paper anyway? Fifty cents for 2 hours is not an outrageous charge to help with support services and upkeep.

I expected that would happen, anticipating that once becoming Mayor I would gain information not available prior to that. I do believe that I have been able to grasp the priorities during my first year and with the help of the City Administrator and support staff made substantial progress in the right direction.

Chester Skorupa wrote:
Grats….
Great job, for years and years this needed to be done. Finally it is getting done, It makes me glad I voted for ya., keep the good work up… and good luck. I love seeing positive changes in town.

Robin Walton wrote:
… I happen to be one of the lucky ones with the step down cylinders, resembling a mini-jetty and I do collect some sand. Unfortunately, the ice build up this past winter has made the caps on the cylinders a true disaster. I now have rebar sticking straight up in the air. I hope no one, including myself, slips and hurts themselves on this. I will be taking some pictures and bringing them to a council meeting. I have seen the work being done to remove the caps along the beaches on Harold Dr. I hope that Allens Cove will at least be having that done also. It would be an improvement and a start to fixing our problems. I have visited the beaches in North Shores….and why can’t we have that? I will start attending council meetings and voicing my concerns. We all should. It is our community and together we can make it better.

Indeed the work has begun, and it has been a long time coming. After the citizens approved the flood protection millage Council found a number of road blocks beyond the money. The Army Corp of Engineers required us to file for a permit to pull the cylinders tops, which took 15 months to receive. Since we received the permit we have debated the wisest use of the $400,000.00 we collected. We see the scope of work needed and know we cannot do it all with the money we have. So we have listed the tasks and prioritized how we will approach it. Safety is our top priority, hence the sill caps got the much needed attention with the rebar exposed placing it as a big risk factor. In the fall we plan to recap the sills unless we see that they have filled with sand and re-covering them is not necessary. We have our doubts about that theory and figure they will need to be recapped. And yes, Robin, Allens Cove will be worked on as soon as they can get to it.

This spring we will also be cleaning the shore, especially anything that can penetrate the integrity of the dike system. Everyone can be apart of the clean up.

The next stage will be to patch cracks in the dike with gunite. The integrity of the dike comes before beach buildup, because it benefits everyone in town. That is why our next step will be to gird the dike. The earth side of the dike is exerting pressure on the structure and we are seeing tilt. Allens Cove is probably in the worst shape. There are several ways of approaching this, either placing steel walls to support the pressure or placing rip rap (piles of stones) against the lake side of the dike. The walls make more sense in Allens Cove, but the rip rap may be the best way to deal with the other 2 sections.

I would be surprised if we get this far with the money we have. That has become the thorn in my flesh. I am angry that the Army Corp of Engineers built the dike system the way they did and left us with the mess. It has not worked as promised. Does anyone remember seeing the working model the engineers brought to Council that promised to build up the beaches as well as protect the city? Well it has not worked as they envisioned. It seems the Army Corp of Engineers does not guarantee their work. Mayor Welton saw large sums of money earmarked for shoreline protection in Luna Pier given to the Army Corp and nothing has ever materialized. This past summer the United States Congress passed HR 1495 (Water Resources Development Act of 2007), which is intended to strengthen the entire shoreline of the United States. Luna Pier is specifically mentioned:

SEC. 4049. LAKE ERIE AT LUNA PIER, MICHIGAN.
The Secretary shall conduct a study to determine the feasibility of carrying out a project for storm damage reduction and other related purposes along Lake Erie at Luna Pier, Michigan.

Senator Carl Levin also mentioned this section on Luna Pier when he talked to Congress about the bill on May 16, 2007:

Finally, Section 4019 [sic] of the bill authorizes the Corps to study storm damage reduction and beach erosion protection projects along Lake Erie at Luna Pier, Michigan. The City of Luna Pier lies on the western end of Lake Erie in Monroe County, Michigan. The shoreline dike system and beach sills that were installed at Luna Pier continue to deteriorate because they are subjected to Lake Erie’s severe storms. This study is a first step in making the necessary repairs at Luna Pier to provide adequate storm damage reduction, beach erosion protection, and flood prevention.

Our City Administrator has spoken with Senator Dingell’s office numerous times to find out how that money will be released. We receive the same response as before: the funds will be released to the Army Corp of Engineers to study the problems along our coast. Last month I talked with Congressman Dingell myself … maybe you saw the photo of him and I on the front page of the Monroe Evening News. At the moment that photo was taken I was telling Congressman Dingell that we have been studied to death and we need the funds to be released to accomplish improvements to the dike. I felt like I was being a hard-ass, but I have no regrets. Twice since, we have contacted Josh Myers, Congressman Dingell’s Aide, and told him the same thing. In 2001 Luna Pier City Council spent $24,000.00 on a City of Luna Pier Erosion Study (18.1M download, Adobe Reader required) through the Coastal Dynamics, Inc. and The Institute for Wetland and Coastal Trainings and Research, Inc., which looked in depth at our shore, water flow, and the problems specific to our shoreline. It then gave many suggestions on how to fix the problems. We know what needs to be done, we need the funds to do it. I feel like the earmarking of funds and HR 1495 is merely a way to line the pockets of the Army Corp of Engineers.

Maybe we all need to make a personal phone call or write a letter to the our governmental representatives urging them to release these funds for construction and repair. Then I would feel confident in saying that we can attack the issues and really deal with them. We can then live in safety and have beautiful beaches that we can enjoy and be proud of!

Luna Pier has not escaped the foreclosure problem. In fact it appears we are one of the hardest hit areas in Monroe County. From the newspaper, foreclosure section, we are averaging 4-5 foreclosures each month. If you do the math, (math is hard!) that is approximately 60 a year, or about 15% of our homes! The hardest hit area are the numbered streets to the south. A foreclosed home in that area recently sold for $24,000.00 (including two lots) after being empty for a year.

My question is this; What can I, as Mayor of Luna Pier, do about this problem? The answer is to educate and inform property owners that they do have options. So many people are embarrassed to be in this situation that they just abandon their homes and let the bank repossess them. As a result of that choice the home has to sit vacant for at least 6 months before the title can transferred to new owners. During this period (which can be much longer), the property declines and the value decreases. Now I have just said that we have 4 – 5 foreclosures a month here in Luna Pier so take notice, you are not alone in this. I imagine that you feel isolated, but many people of all ages and educational backgrounds have fallen into the same circumstance. You do not need to lose your home! The banks and mortgage companies are really motivated to work with you. FHA and HUD have options too. Let me plead with you to contact a real estate agent who specializes in this area, and you will find an advocate who will point you in the right direction. If you choose to leave your home there are options as well that may not ruin your credit so critically. Know that the worst thing you can do for your future credit is to just walk away.

It is not in your best interest or in the interest of your neighbors, who are left living next to an abandoned property decreasing in value which then decreases their property value every month it sits there.

If you are interested in being part of the solution call me or use my contact page to let me know. As we address this issue as a community I will make sure you get a special invitation to events and seminars we’ll be planning.

Jason Dobson, Superintendent of Luna Pier’s Wastewater
Treatment Plant, gives Mary a guided technical tour of the
facility on December 27, 2007. Jason commented that in his
seven years at the plant, Mary is the first Mayor to visit.

As I toured our waste water treatment plant on Thursday, I found nothing to calm my anxieties. For the past year, I have had a feeling of urgency in correcting this situation. First I must say that Jason, Dave and the other Dave are doing a fabulous job with what they have to work with. They are mechanical and technical miracle workers. They are working with equipment from the 1950’s and somehow they squeeze just a little more life from it, like it is a tube of toothpaste. We are at our limits for residents to the area, and cannot get a permit for any large scale projects because we can not service a larger population. We meet DEQ’s (Department of Environmental Quality) current standards. In 2010 those standards will be raised and we cannot even come close to meeting the new standards. It is my understanding that at that time we will face penalties daily for noncompliance. In order to build a new plant and have it completed by that date we should have broken ground in 2004. See where my anxieties come from? We cannot go back and change things that haven’t happened, so we must move forward aggressively. I have a great deal of confidence that our Council and new City Administrator are up to the task. I ask that we all keep open minds and work together to make this much-needed improvement. Watch for this hot issue at up-coming Council meetings, and join us to be part of the solution.

Ryan Stanton of the Bay City Times blogged yesterday about how shortchanged Michigan’s beaches are when compared to other beaches in the Great Lakes region. He writes, “Michigan has 3,224 miles of shoreline and receives about $280,000 in funding through the federal BEACH Act. The Virgin Islands has 175 miles and nets more than $300,000 to monitor its beaches … Closer to home, there’s a comparison that Bay County leaders say they can’t overlook … Indiana, with 45 miles of shoreline, gets more than $200,000 a year, while Bay County, with the same coastal frontage or more, receives about $7,000 to test its public beaches for E. coli bacteria.” This is something we need to be worried about! The rest of his blog entry is at:

http://blog.mlive.com/watershedwatch/2007/11/shortchanged_shoreline.html

Well I survived the election, the Thanksgiving holiday and raking leaves. It was the first Thanksgiving without my dad. I miss him, but I certainly have many things to be grateful for in spite of the loss.

I am breaking down things in my head and will formally be planning out how to attack several of our major issues; the water treatment plant and shoreline protection. Another trend that is becoming problematic for our city is the increase rate of foreclosure. We are averaging 3-4 foreclosures a month here in town. That is horrible for the banks and it lowers all of our property values. We need to come up with a plan on how to assist those who are on the verge of losing their homes, and attract more people to Luna Pier to live. If you have any ideas I really do want to hear them. I am hoping to have a coffee get together at Gander’s Restaurant the first part of December for everyone interested in having a voice on this issue. If we network to problem solve, I am hoping we can come up with some ideas to slow this trend. So drop me note or watch for a meeting date and join me in thinking this issue through.

I have written about the concept of a strong council/weak Mayor before (which is specified in the Luna Pier City Charter), but I have recently been given a perfect example of how this needs to be implemented. Apparently, the current City Council members were forbidden to contact our legal counsel without clearing it with the Mayor or City Administrator first. This removes a quite-powerful set of checks and balances. In my opinion, the members of City Council have just as much authority and responsibility to investigate legal issues as the Mayor or City Administrator would. This sends an incorrect message of who supposedly has the power and who does not. The dysfunction this atmosphere creates in the work environment makes it difficult to move forward in the best interest of the city. It gives an appearance that something mysterious is being protected and builds an atmosphere of distrust. I believe that is why we are seeing the changes taking place in our city’s government. The way is being cleared for leaders who will respect each member’s position. As they become more of a team, they can better work together to accomplish the necessary tasks.

Another question from “Meet the Candidate” night was, “What do you think about outsourcing services?” I was sad to hear that out of the approximately 25 applications we received for the position of City Administrator, only one person was from Luna Pier. There are some from Ohio, not even from our state.

A Monroe Evening News blog called The Place Where We Live  (http://www.blogsmonroe.com/shopmonroe/)  talks about buying locally. This couple committed to buy from local business owners exclusively for the month of June. The Monroe Chamber of Commerce is also promoting a new “Buy Local” campaign. It makes sense that whenever possible it is best to buy locally. Yet there are many aspects that must be considered, with quality and cost being at the top.

I have heard several residents talk about outsourcing the police department; in this case I would disagree. The fact is, it would cost $90,000 per full time officer, in addition to the cost of equipment and office space. This arrangement would end up costing more than what we budget currently. I noticed at some of the facilities that I’ve worked as a nurse, when they outsource the food service department the quality deteriorates substantially. There is no easy answer to this question; every situation needs to be examined individually. But a commitment to give preference to those who live among us makes the most sense to me.

This was one of the questions at the Meet the Candidate night last Monday, October 22nd at City Hall. I’d like to give a more thoughtful answer …

I am of the opinion that we need to use a balance of common sense and compassion when considering the handling of blight. Our property is important and we take great pride in how it looks. When our neighbors do not share that value it dims the appearance of our yard and lowers our property values. So we want everyone to share a sense of tidiness and good repair. 

What I would like to see is a blight officer. We pay our building inspector for 25 hours a week whether he has 25 hours of inspections or not. It should be part of the job description, to drive around town looking for areas that need attention. The blight officer needs to be trained in how to approach various situations. For example, we need to offer physical assistance to those who are elderly, disabled or overly burdened. I know the residents of state-operated low income housing are expected to volunteer several hours a month when they are not employed. This may be a situation we could manage in an effore to meet 2 needs at once. I’m not saying that there is not a time to just enforce our ordinances and write tickets. However, the goal is to get the mess cleaned up, not start court battles that will lack long-term results.