The Pre-Budget Budget Meeting

The city of Iron River held a special
pre-budget meeting last Wednesday,
May 4, 2011. Various categories and
departments were discussed. It was
announced that a public pre-budget
meeting would be held sometime
later in May to explain the aims of
the budget to the public.

During the public comment segment
of the meeting an Iron River citizen
asked if any consideration had been
given to taking advantage of the New
Government Affordable Health care
Law (Obamacare) to provide the health
coverage for the city employees that are
covered under union contract.

As of now no information has been made
available either to the city nor any
employees.

Later during council comments a
mention was made by several members
of the concern of citizens about
the condition of the street pavements in
the city. It was pointed out by the
administration that most of the road
funding the city receives has
traditionally been used primarily for
winter snow removal which leaves very
little for routine maintenance.

And since revenue sharing is expected
to shrink dramatically not much hope
was expressed about future maintenance
of the streets in the city.

Ben Smith

--------------------------------------------------------

Editor's comments:

The "Ethic of Reciprocity" is also known in
the predominantly Christian west as "The
Golden Rule." A goodly number of
variations in the wording have been around
since at least the Middle Kingdom of Egypt
that began about 2040 BC. However, of
particular interest to today's discussion
is the variation stated by a Jewish Elder,
sometimes referred to a Rabbi named Hillel,
who was a contemporary of Christ. Hillel
taught, "If I am not for myself, then who
will be for me? And if I am only for myself,
then what am I? And if not now, when?"

For this discussion, the last part is critical.

If the City of Iron River has been unable to
maintain the street pavement over the past
few decades, and has no money for it now,
then when?

It appears that no one has taken the
residents' long term needs into
consideration. The City Manager is,
relatively speaking, a short timer, who
will be retiring before any of the city
streets become impassible. The
members of the City Council are elected
for one cycle at a time. The office staff
has no responsibility for infrastructure.

This publication discussed this very issue
quite recently, on April 29th. What good is
money in the bank while infrastructure is
collapsing around us?

The bad part is that it doesn't appear that
the City of Iron River has any plans at all
for making necessary repairs or replacement
of pavement. The powers that are responsible
appear to be turning a blind eye to the
problems.

And unfortunately, some finger pointing
solves the problem for them by saying that
Bill Vajk is just "out to destroy Iron River,
so don't listen to him, there are more
important things to do."

Really?

Bill Vajk

Money In The Bank?

OK, so Iron River has some money in the bank,
and did well on the government audit deciding
whether or not it is in fiscal trouble. The score
of 0 we mentioned a few days ago has Iron River
politicos breaking their arms patting themselves
on the back.

But there's a downside. There almost always
is. Today I'll show an obvious one. Unfortunately
at the moment I don't have the time to do a
deeper investigation to find some of the other
pitfalls that are hovering just below the surface.

If you don't properly maintain your infrastructure
it hardly matters how much money you have in
the bank.

As a citizen, what would you rather have? Lousy
streets and buildings that are left wanting of
repairs for years on end and a nice bank balance,
or would you rather have a government always
on the edge of needing a bailout and good roads?

Here's a photo of the alley behind my property
at 413 Plum Street.



This alley was paved. Since 2005 it has
deteriorated and not been repaired, but
has been covered with gravel instead.

Because it is a hillside, as many streets
and alleys are in Iron River, graveling
over the paves street doesn't work very
well, and the City knows that, but this
is their idea of "good enough for the
residents." Is it good enough for you?

Washington Street on the hilltop is
actually one of the better paved streets
in Iron River, and they're going to tear
it all up to put a median in. Still there
are plenty of flaws, like this one at the
corner of Washington and Diamond, right
in the path of most traffic going around
that corner.


And speaking of Diamond, that street is riddled
with potholes over its entire length!


So these are where people live and drive. What
about the parts that the public who come on
vacation see?

The City of Iron River has a pumping station
next door to the Riverside Mall. The roof
has been in the state shown in the next
picture for years. Literally, for years!!!!



This is the face we show the world. But
you must feel good, because the City has
money in the bank!

Other people have pretty strong horror
stories abut the City, and most readers
will know several unique ones.

City "fathers", fix the city up, and don't
feel so good about having a strong reserve.
None of the other communities do, and all
that "fail" will be bailed out, so why in
the heck are you doing this? I wouldn't
want to guess. Your mission is to serve
the public. It is past time you start doing
that.

Bill Vajk

A Non-negative Economic Look at Iron River

For a change, the news about the City of Iron
River is not bad. Ben Smith, our Associate Editor,
acquired the information that the City has been
found by the Michigan Treasury to be in a
sufficiently sound state that a close watch is not
necessary.

The scale of numbers starts with zero, the best
score, and moves upwards, to depict the level
of alarm that each municipality engenders.

Iron River achieved a zero score. The full table,
as well as a tabulation of several earlier years,
can be found at:

http://tinyurl.com/3fzkq2m

I look forward to the day that the City of Iron
River volunteers the auditor's report as well as
the budget for scrutiny and public comment. If
the City is actually proud of their achievements
perhaps they'll put a copy in the mail to me, they
already have my address. As far as I know, those
are public documents and they should be available
on request. I have to wonder why such records
aren't routinely put up for public view on their
web page. The business of the city is our business,
not the City Council's alone.

The old Russian adage "trust but verify" comes
to mind. Reagan, and others similarly clever,
took that caveat to be a rule of living, as we all
should where governments are concerned.

Bill Vajk

Rearranging The Deck Chairs?

Sarah Palin's recent speech admonishing the
newly elected Republicans in Congress
for "rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking
Titanic" was on target.

This news source generally doesn't comment
on national news unless there's a significant
impact on Iron County, Michigan. This is one
of those occasions.

Standard and Poors has warned the US
Government that we're not matching other
AAA rated sovereigns, and that we have a
negative long term outlook by comparison:

"We have affirmed our 'AAA/A-1+' sovereign
credit ratings on the United States of America."

"...we have revised our outlook on the long
term rating to negative from stable."

http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245302886884

This is a prelude to loss of the AAA ratings we
presently experience. A change of as little as
1/10th of 1 percent in interest on the 14 trillion
dollars of national debt that we presently owe
increases monthly payments on that debt by
more than most of us can possibly earn in a
lifetime, even considering the sorts of inflation
we've experienced since the 1929 depression.
That small increase in an interest rate comes to
more than 1.5 million dollar increase (not the
payment, just the increase) per month. That's
roughly $14 million a year for each 1/10 of 1%
increase in interest. Who among us thinks for
an instant that the interest will increase by
only 1/10 of 1%?

How does that affect us here in Iron County,
you ask?

This county lives on grants. No more
infrastructure improvements, new police,
township, or county vehicles would be
available! The "deep pockets" that local
governments have come to rely on for
many of our needs on will be empty. More
paved roads will be graveled over.

The difficulty is, of course, that we depend
on political decisions to solve economic
problems that would be best solved by
knowledgeable hard-nosed non-political
economists whose only interest is in
stabilizing the economy.

The time has come for a new question to
be asked of the politicians in Washington.

"Ask not how much you can gift the folks
who vote for you. Ask, instead, what you
can do to improve this nation!"

Redistribution doesn't work!

Bill Vajk

BOC Meeting 4-12- 2011

Iron County Board of Commissioners
Meeting April 12, 2011

Commissioner Camp reported that the Iron
County Health Department had achieved a
99% compliance award by the Michigan
Department of Community Health as the
result of a recent audit. The Board considered
this real achievement and the board was
happy to receive the news

They also received the Equalization
Department Report from Director Mussatto.

In other business Iron County received an
allowed increase of twenty cents per month
in the surcharge on telephone lines in order to
finance the 911 system. The board indicated that
they would like more information regarding a
VOIP (Internet telephone) proposal from Merit
a not for profit agency. The MERIT Network has
been in existence since 1966. Their original
mission was to design and implement a computer
network between public universities in Michigan

Merit is in the process of installing a distribution
system near Forest Park School Campus. It is a
program originally installed through University
of Michigan and through a grant has been
encouraged to spread statewide. This reporter
thinks they are offering to provide VOIP telephone
service to Iron County although it was not spelled
out at the meeting because many of the
commissioners were not familiar with the process.
They requested more information.

In other action the board authorized Prosecuting
Attorney Melissa Powell Weston to defend the
County in Federal Appeals Court in the lawsuit
filed by residents William and Gloria Vajk against
the County, the City of Iron River, and the Michigan
Municipal League.

Ben Smith

Casperson and Huuki

Senator Tom Casperson and Representative
Matt Huuki appeared at townhall style
gathering at "The Station" restaurant in
Iron River, tonight April 9, 2011. They spoke
for approximately two hours to an audience
comprised of local residents.

The audience asked questions ranging from
their positions on the proposal to tax
pensions, to nuclear energy and emergency
financial executives to replace elected office
holders and voiding collectively bargained
contracts.

Both officials said they didn't think the
Item Pricing Bill was designed to create
jobs.

This reporter was not able to ask the follow-
up question,"How many jobs would be lost
due to it's implementation?"

The audience was generally polite and
heard the two officeholders both express
support for nuclear energy and the mining
being done in Marquette County.

The previously unidentified sponsor for
the event was later identified as Eric
Koenig of Iron County.

Ben Smith

Notice

The Notice of Appeal for the federal lawsuit in which
I am suing the City of Iron River, Iron County, and
various officials of both entities, was filed this
afternoon at the Federal District Court in Marquette.

This will move the next phase of the case to a three
judge panel in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals at
Cincinnati, Ohio.

Bill Vajk

Eternal Vigilance?

A letter to the editor was published in the March
30, 2011, edition of the Iron County Reporter. The
letter concerns itself with the streetscape plan
for Washington Street - Lay Avenue that's been
in the works since at least 2006.

Someone finally woke up.

Consider the Cool Cities Blueprint report:

"In addition, serious consideration should be given
to creating a landscaped median down the center
of Washington. Doing so would not only beautify
the area, but would greatly enhance The Hilltop's
pedestrian-orientation."

You can find a copy of this report posted on the
internet at:

http://www.ironriver.org/downloads/forms/Cool%20Cities%20Blueprint.pdf

The Cool Cities Blueprint prepared for the city by
Hyatt Palma in 2006 after several public meetings
at City Hall about the topic cost the taxpayers over
$100,000. In essence the report is a clearinghouse
of a wish list prepared predominantly of items on
the wish lists of some of the "shakers and movers"
in our region. In addition the report plays hardball
in giving kudos to those same shakers and movers.
That sort of thing makes it ever so much easier to
sell the authors next cool cities, or any similar urban
planning project.

The letter to the editor is well founded, but more
than a little late. Streetscape plans have been
created at public expense. This project has been
in the works, one way or another, for some 5
years.

Where has the public outcry against this project
been hiding for the past 5 years?

The following appears on the Jefferson
Memorial:

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal
hostility against every form of tyranny over
the mind of man."

This is often taken as the basis for our American
creed that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
Jefferson was a clever man, and we should be
heeding his advice. It is not enough to take
exception to what the government is doing when
the facts are pushed in our face. In order to
prevent projects like the planned streetscape
at Iron River's Hilltop, the objections should have
been made in 2006 rather than 2011.

The local watchers of government are too few
here in Iron County, Michigan, and the retaliation
taken by our local power brokers has been too
effective. It takes a degree of bravery to stand
up to the onslaught extended by local government
administrations.

Please see:

http://ironcountydoings.blogspot.com/2010/11/non-legal-retribution.html

for an example.

If we have no personal care about the Hilltop we
still have a strong interest in how and where our
money is being spent. Grants from the state or
the federal government still come out of our pockets.

I wonder if the author of the letter to the editor
has been paying attention to other local government
initiatives that run counter to taxpayer interests?

a new airport of Iron County

Windsor Center

Michigan Townships Association model ordinance:
http://ironcountydoings.blogspot.com/2011/03/here-we-go-again.html

City of Iron River authorization of a $23,150,000
municipal bond for Northstar Healthcare (hospital)
improvements with a shrinking population and a
resulting loss of over $2 million for the calendar year
2010. In fact, the last break-even year for the
hospital was 2007.

http://ironcountydoings.blogspot.com/2011/03/northstar-hospital-report-2010q4.html

I'll stop here, the complete list is far more extensive.

The planned Hilltop streetscape is Iron River's
"bridge to nowhere," just like the jutting out
sidewalks on Genesee Street were a very bad
idea not clearly thought through considering
the snow clearing we must do all winter every
winter.

Please take some time to read the Cool Cities
Blueprint report. Please become more involved
in throwing reins on local government whenever
it is appropriate.

Idle hands are the devil's workshop. For variants
please see:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/21/messages/17.html

The problem is that our local governments are
designed to be caretakers, not activists. And the
elected politicians haven't gotten that message,
they appear to think that they're supposed to be
activists, and the voters are supposed to follow
their lead.

In reality, the situation is exactly the opposite
of what we are experiencing in Iron County. It
is the taxpaying electorate that's supposed to be
leading.

How about it?

Bill Vajk

Merger Studies

Eleven years ago the Cities of Iron River and
Stambaugh and the Village of Mineral Hills
became the first local municipalities in the
State of Michigan to combine into one entity.

In view of the State of Michigan’s financial
condition, is the time right for more of these
types of mergers for other cities, villages and,
in particular, school districts? In a period of
declining populations, merged entities would
be better able to provide the taxpayers good
police protection, fire protection, etc, when the
State is proposing reducing revenue sharing for
everyone.

I am not advocating this as a solution, but I am
advocating the study of the advantages or
disadvantages for mergers as a possible solution
to declining municipal income.

The City of Iron River Commissioners voted at
their March 2010 meeting to study and evaluate
the City’s charter. Maybe this is the time for
others to talk and conduct similar studies as well.

Ben Smith

====================================

The 2010 census numbers are finally available. The
City of Iron River experienced a reduction of about
10.5% for the decade. The 2010 population was 3029.

The Iron County population shrank as well, with a new
total of 11,817 representing a decrease of about 10%
for the decade. For both the city and county, about 1
person out of every 10 you know now will not be here
for the 2020 census.

Considering that the published state estimate for Iron
County's population was 11,633, we didn't lose quite
as many as had been estimated.

You can find the census data on the internet at:

http://www.michigan.gov/cgi/0,1607,7-158-54534-252541--,00.html

Bill Vajk

Northstar Hospital Report 2010Q4

The fourth quarter financial report for the
Northstar Hospital in Iron River is now
online and available. The reason the public
has access to these reports is because
Northstar requested and received the
proceeds from a municipal bond in the
amount of $23,150,000 with a total of
$25 million authorized.

The latest report may be found at:

http://www.firstriver.com/continuing-disclosure/PDFs/NHS_FY2010Q4DisclosurePackage.pdf

The loss from operations is $2,609,000 for
2010. The word "default" appears in a number
of places throughout the report.

What is interesting is that on a total revenue of
$ 34,484,000 the operation resulted in a deficit
of 2,282,000 of revenue compared to expenses.
That approximates a 6.6% loss. The historical
record shown by the report on page shows that
annually the deficit has been increasing since
2007, the last time the ratio was positive instead
of negative as it is now.

The report makes much of the new agreements
between Bellin Health of Green Bay, WI.

With an aging population in Iron County, we hope
that Northstar turns some of the numbers around
quickly.

Bill Vajk

Here We Go Again!

With all the hype presently in the news about
outdoor burning in the state of Michigan, I
went about looking at the information available
on the internet and one of the things I found is
a model ordinance put out by the Michigan
Townships Association in conjunction with the
Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
This document may be found at:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-ess-caap-modelordinance_312507_7.pdf

There's a seriously troubling part. Local
governments in Michigan, the MML and the
Townships Association appear to exhibit no
common sense where it comes to codifying
known constitutional violations, and the
ordinances stand until challenged in the
courts, usually at significant expense to
some taxpayer, the courts, and the
taxpayers at large whose tax money is
expended to attempt to defend the state
or municipality encroachment on our
civil rights.

The model ordinance promotes warrantless
searches by law enforcement officials in the
following paragraph:

"SECTION 15: RIGHT OF ENTRY AND
INSPECTION

"15.00 Right of entry and inspection.

"The Fire Chief or any authorized officer, agent,
employee or representative of the [Pick one:
county, city, village or township] of [name] who
presents credentials may inspect any property
for the purpose of ascertaining compliance with
the provisions of this ordinance."

The fourth and fourteenth amendments to the
US Constitution and Paragraph 11 of Article 1
in the Michigan Constitution quite clearly prohibit
such actions.

"The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV)
to the United States Constitution is the part of
the Bill of Rights which guards against
unreasonable searches and seizures, along with
requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned
and supported by probable cause. It was adopted
as a response to the abuse of the writ of assistance,
which is a type of general search warrant, in the
American Revolution. Search and arrest should be
limited in scope according to specific information
supplied to the issuing court, usually by a
law enforcement officer, who has sworn by it."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Michigan's constitution says:

"Sec. 11. The person, houses, papers and possessions
of every person shall be secure from unreasonable
searches and seizures. No warrant to search any place
or to seize any person or things shall issue without
describing them, nor without probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation."

The final sentence of this section, that is here omitted,
was declared void as non-complying with the US
Constitution in 1969 and 1970.

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/publications/constitution.pdf

What is sadder yet is that the individuals who pass
such ordinances are usually immunized for authorizing
legislation they know in advance to be illegal. that
doesn't seem reasonable.

But the story doesn't end there. The alleged purpose
of banning garbage burning is to reduce pollution by
sending our trash to landfills. Rural Michigan has been
burning trash, or illegally burying it, for more than
100 years.

Let's look at the alternative, that is, to send all
household trash to landfills. It seems, when all the
elements are examined, to be a false economy in
terms of the ecological costs.

First, a large parcel of land must be dedicated to
being a landfill. If it wasn't excavated for some
economic reason (a mining operation of some sort)
the land must be excavated, and lined with a water
impervious barrier. Usually the barrier is several
layers thick with sand or gravel or clay in between
and an array of leakage sensors installed that has
to be monitored "forever!"

Next, the household trash must be collected. That
has not been done in rural areas such as Iron
County's because generally the population density is
very low, resulting in long distances driven by rubbish
collectors to collect relatively small amounts of trash.
Consider the labor required for this activity and the
amount of pollution caused by the trucks thus
involved.

Once collected, the trash is dumped at a transfer
station where larger vehicles take up the load. Once
again heavy machinery is involved and more
pollution in handling the trash a second time.

Now the trash makes a journey to the landfill, with
more truck pollution as a result. How much pollution
depends on how far away the landfill facility is.

At the landfill, the trash is dumped, but then it is
further processed and buried using heavy machinery
with more resulting pollution form those machines
that aren't subject to any sort of pollution regulation
since they're never used on highways.

With the trash buried you'd think we're done, but no,
actually we're just at the beginning of another type
of cycle, the biochemical deterioration of the trash
some of which goes on for at least decades, some
for centuries.

The first product is methane. If not tapped using
well style equipment tons and tons of the stuff,
a carbohydrate gas (CH4), spews into the atmosphere.
It is a greenhouse gas. Even where tapped and used
for electrical generation one primary end product is
carbon dioxide. The carbon component is not reduced
in the burning process.

In the end, all that transferring household trash to
landfills does is to increase the net pollution by
whatever it takes to transport trash from the home
of a consumer to a landfill. The pollution content
of the trash always remains the same, and over time
all of it ends up back in the environment.

To require household trash to be buried in a landfill
is simply relocating the pollution out of sight of
the neighbor who complains, in their ignorance,
about the burning of trash. That relocation costs
all of us significant money with a cognizable increase
in the overall pollution in exchange for our efforts.

When I visited England in 2000, homeowners in the
midlands city of Heanor were burning coal in August
to take the chill off the early morning air and to heat
domestic hot water. I'll bet they threw trash in there
to save on the amount of coal they were burning and
to reduce the overall pollution resulting from their
trash being hauled to a landfill.

It seems to me the more "civilized" (a misnomer that
should be read "regulated") we become the more it
costs us, and nothing we've achieved has significantly
reduced the amount of pollution each of us contributes
to the whole.

Bill Vajk

Airport Committee Meeting

The minutes for the Iron County Ad Hoc Airport
Committee meeting of 3/10/2011 are posted at:

http://www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/110310-airport.pdf

This is a hot topic here in Iron County, Michigan.
We will keep our readers appraised as information
becomes available.

If suitable justification can be found to support
a new airport that presents it as more than a
convenience for a few businessmen then we
should all embrace it. At the moment it seems
unlikely the committee members can legitimately
make a valid case for county involvement.

In any event, there's no reason the businessmen
who would benefit the most cannot create their
own private airport. If a new airport is such a great
idea, then it should present a business opportunity
that can afford the businesspeople involved a viable
profit center.

If it is to be a money pit, Iron County needs to
steer clear. It would be interesting to see a written
justification for county involvement in the existing
airports that, absent a justification able to
withstand public scrutiny, should probably be
closed and sold off. The money currently spent
on behalf of a select few would be better spent
subsidizing badly needed public transportation
in Iron County.

Consider the absurdity of a county with a collapsing
economy and a collapsing population (estimated to
be smaller than 12,000) supporting two airports
with a third airport proposed.

Vilas County, Wisconsin, has recognized that the
largest part of their housing is occupied only for
part of the year. It would be interesting to know
how Iron County would fare if a similar census
were undertaken.

Bill Vajk

Tri-County Meeting Announcement

Contact: Wendy Gehlhoff
Phone: 715-528-3294

Contact: Bruce Orttenburger
Phone: 906-774-2002

ENTREPRENEURS & INVENTORS CLUB
MEETING

Aurora, WI-- “Taking the Fear out of
Financing Your Business” is the topic
for the next Upper Menominee River
Entrepreneurs & Inventors Club meeting
Thursday, March 31st, from 6:00pm –
7:30pm. The meeting will take place in
NWTC’s Woodland Kitchen and Business
Incubator large classroom at the Hillcrest
Elementary School located at the
intersection of County N and B just west
of Aurora, WI in Florence County.

Do you have a great idea for a new business,
but are unsure how to get the start-up
financing you need? Does sitting down with
your local commercial lender make your
palms sweat? Then why not learn directly
from a commercial lender what information
lenders require, what pro forma financial
statements are and why you need them,
and how best to present your financing
request. Our speaker, Chad Skinner, has
been with CoVantage Credit Union in Crystal
Falls for ten years, the last six as a
Commercial Loan Representative. Prior to
that, he took time to gain retail experience
in small business. As a commercial loan
representative, Chad spends most of his
time working with business owners to find
solutions that improve their unique financial
situations. CoVantage Credit Union strives to
be the “Best of the Best” at providing its
members outstanding value and exceptional
service.

After our speaker’s 30 minute presentation,
there will be question and answer time followed
by informal group networking. Taking time to
network with other business owners,
entrepreneurs and business resource people
to learn from their experiences will help you
improve your current business, start a new
business or develop an invention. These
meetings are free for Wisconsin or Michigan
residents. Sponsoring agencies include Florence
County Economic Development, Dickinson Area
Partnership, Marinette County Association for
Business and Industry and NWTC.

For more information or to request special
accommodations, please call Wendy Gehlhoff
(Florence County Economic Development
715-528-3294) or Bruce Orttenburger (Dickinson
Area Partnership 906-774-2002).

Question

The following letter was submitted to a number
of newspapers around the state for publication in
their "letters to the editor."

I am facing a decision whether to pursue an
appeal in the federal courts. It is a costly and
time consuming exercise to undertake. Or
should I permit very bad case law to
permanently do the following.

First: Decide the entire issue of “fee for service”
as opposed to penalty or tax in favor of
municipalities any time they write “This is a fee
for service” into any ridiculous ordinance they
decide to pass. The effect of this is to strip most
of the protections against fund raising initiatives
presently forbidden by Michigan’s Headlee
Amendment and the Bolt vs. Lansing case.

Second: Strip some significant protections of
the 14th Amendment. Municipalities and states
would to longer have to take you before a judge
in order to demand payment for a parking or
speeding ticket or ordinance violation. There’s
a speed limit sign posted, you were speeding,
pay the penalty, no court is necessary! Under
the new federal court judgment, they can simply
write an ordinance requiring payment in 30 days.
If not paid, they would be allowed to charge that
penalty against your water bill. Then, if that’s
not paid, it will go against your property taxes,
and the county treasurer will collect. You’ll
eventually pay the penalty, even when you
weren’t responsible in the first place. Maybe
the police officer wrote down a wrong license
plate number. You’ll have no option other than
to pay, but wouldn’t that streamline the courts
and make things easy for the cities?

The case is #2:10-cv-114 in the Western District
of Michigan. Google “Vajk v. Iron River” to access
the judgment in question. I’d appreciate your
opinion mailed to me at 413 Plum Street, Iron
River MI 49935. Thanks. Bill and Gloria Vajk


Bill Vajk

The Iron County Poison Pen Chronicles

It is to the misfortune of Iron County residents
that we have a number of poison pen chronicles
in our midst. Although the definition of poison pen
usually invokes cowardly anonymity as a hallmark,
that isn't always the case.

As usual Wikipedia is on target with their
discussion of this topic:

"A poison pen letter is a letter or note containing
unpleasant, abusive or malicious statements or
accusations about the recipient or a third party.
It is usually sent anonymously. Poison pen letters
are usually composed and sent to upset the
recipient."

Our own local "Shadowman" has reared its
nastiness once again. I probably shouldn't
give this coward a second thought, but its
rantings have actually become slightly amusing
of late.

The quotes that follow were posted on a discussion
forum that's run by "Mr. not ready for prime time
John Faccin," under the auspices of Yahoo's
IronCountyIndependent. Reading what's been
written there lately there's nothing "independent"
about it.

Shadowman professed: "Reading the minutes of
the February 25th and March 4th Special Meeting,
it is not hard to draw a conclusion as why the Board
wanted to eliminate the Animal Control ordinance
and that was expressed by John in his post. There
was no notice of a hearing or acquiring input from
the public on this issue just present a resolution,
accept it and bingo.....problem solved..."

Here's an alert for Shadowman. If the meeting had
been held with no notice, that would be in violation
of Michigan's open meetings act, and Shadowman
should be filing a complaint with the county
prosecutor. But being as anonymous as he deigns
to remain, that becomes impossible, leaving
Shadowman merely a low caliber blowhard.

The facts are, as usual, somewhat different from
the poison pen rantings from Shadowman. Ben
Smith knew of the meeting in advance because
it was announced, and he was able to attend,
thereafter promptly filing his report for this
publication. The Iron Mountain Daily News
published a story about the meeting the very
next day. By the bye, that newspaper justified
the termination of the position by recognizing
two things that are important.

First, the position of dog catcher in Iron County
does not require a full time employee dedicated
to that work. After all we have fewer than 12,000
souls living here.

The second aspect is that a beginning deputy
sheriff in Iron County earns a good bit less than
Tom King was being paid.

Mr. "not ready for prime time" Faccin let loose
with irrational rhetoric, stating among other
nonsense that, "Mr King is Certified by the
State of Michigan to be qualified to do the job."

Let's remember that Tom King was, till recently,
the dog catcher and he most certainly was not
certified as qualified to do the job. Nor did Iron
County obey state law in creating the position
in the first place. The complete record needed to
understand that unlawfulness is available in two
files that IronCountyDoings provides:

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/certification.pdf

Be sure to read all three pages, including the state
law in MCL 287.289b that's included for your
convenience.

and

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/foia-no-education.pdf

that clearly shows that Tom King did not have the
requisite education essential to the certification by
the State of Michigan regarding his qualifications for
the job.

I want to note for the record that Ben Smith and I
are as opposite in political philosophy as is possible.
Ben is an idealistic Democrat and is active in
supporting the Democratic Party and agendas.

Although we disagree on almost everything political,
we share one commonality that makes friendships
by polar opposites not only possible but also
necessary in Iron County. We share an extreme
dislike, dare I say disgust, of the political corruption
we experience in this region. To compare Iron
County politics to those of Boss Hogg in the once
popular TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard" would
be unfair to Boss Hogg.

Shadowman and John Faccin are supporters of
the corrupt administrations that the rest of us
in Iron County hope will soon be nothing but a
bad history. Having participated in support of
that past, they hope to be eventually rewarded
because they believe that similar corruption will
arise again

Newsflash: Not in the lifetime of anyone who is
reading this publication in real time.

Bill Vajk

Iron County Overcharged for Permits

In part the meeting minutes from the Iron County
Finance Committee meeting of January 6, 2011,
states:

"New Business:
Iron Conservation District’s County Enforcing Agent,
Bob Gussert, presented the Iron County Erosion
Control Annual Report for 2010. There were 49
total permits: 39 were Residential, 10 were Non-
Residential and there was also one Gravel Pit
permit. There was $13,855.50 Total Fees collected,
and the Expenses for 2010 were $8,698.34, leaving
a Ending Balance of $5,157.16. This balance will be
applied to the 2011 program for active 2010 projects
and other expenses. Lind made a motion, seconded
by Camp, to accept the 2010 Erosion Control
Report. On Voice Vote, the motion carried."

It is clear that the cost of regulating that which the
permits were designed to oversee was significantly
less than the "fees" collected. The overcharges
amount to roughly 40% of the total charges. As
such, under the laws of this state, the excessive
charges must be refunded because any excess
amounts to a tax prohibited under the Headlee
Amendment to the Michigan Constitution.

Although there are a number of judicial cases
involved in creating the "case law" that is
controlling of this case, the primary one that
spells everything out is Bolt vs. City of Lansing,
587 NW.2d 264 which ca be found on the
internet at:

www.michbar.org/opinions/supreme/1998/122898/Bolt.html

Briefly, the Michigan Supreme Court identified
three primary criteria that differentiate a
legitimate fee imposed by government as
opposed to a tax or a penalty:

"The first criterion is that a user fee must serve
a regulatory purpose rather than a revenue-
raising purpose."

"A second, and related, criterion is that user fees
must be proportionate to the necessary costs of
the service."

"..this Court articulated a third criterion:
voluntariness."

Obviously those who sought permits did so
voluntarily. But the fact that there was a 40%
overcharge, beyond the cost to government of
regulating, places the charges out of the realm
of a legitimate fee for service because the
charges are not proportionate to the costs of
the service.

The Bolt case refers to, and embraces, another
older finding by the U.S. Supreme Court:

Nat'l Cable Television Ass'n v. United States,
94 S.Ct. 1146.

"In that case the Supreme Court held that, "The
public agency performing those services normally
may exact a fee for a grant which, presumably,
bestows a benefit on the applicant, not shared
by other members of society."

It is clear from the minutes of the Iron County
Finance Committee meeting that benefits will,
illegally, confer advantage to other members of
society from the excess proceeds of the "fees"
charged by a division or a department of the
Iron County Board.

Will this County Board do the right thing and
refund the excessive charges without someone
actually suing them in a court of law to force
this issue? This will provide a measure of the
honesty of the Iron County Board.

Bill Vajk

Finally!

Today, March 4, 2011, the Iron County Board
of Commissioners met with one commissioner
absent (Rosalie King.) Associate Editor Ben Smith
attended this morning's meeting and promptly
filed his report. No other reporters were present
at the meeting.

After discussion, the Board issued a letter to
Mr. Tom King and passed a resolution

Terminating the Funding and Legal
Status of the Animal Control Department
and Repealing the Iron County Animal
Control Ordinance

We have published several times about the issues
surrounding the Iron County position of
Animal Control Officer, speaking out against
the functioning of that office and recommending
the very action that the Board took today. The
June 1 and June 19, 2010 articles are notable,
and Mare Peterson submitted an article about
a prosecution which took place in the Iron County
Trial Court that we published on July 27, 2010.

In short, the position and the problems it
created were nothing short of a mess. That
mess is now finished.

The documents can be found and read at:

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/finally.pdf

The copies were the draft of the documents
approved by the County Board and are marked
DRAFT for that reason.

We congratulate the Board of Commissioners for
the action they took today.

Bill Vajk

Schools in Iron County

We have two school districts here in Iron County,
Michigan. At one time, when transportation was
much slower, and therefore more difficult, we
had more, but consolidation of schools seems to
have arrested just in time that we are presently
stuck with two, along with a continuously
declining population. Unfortunately the official
census numbers for 2010 are not available as
yet, but the estimates we have predict a poor
future for us.

The State of Michigan has published an outlook
for population. Beginning in 2000, we had13,138
souls living here. By 2009 the official estimate
was 11,633, a decline of about 12%. We
experienced a corresponding decrease in student
population for the same period. The West Iron
School District has closed one school and
eliminated at least those programs that the new
Windsor Center says they’ve taken over and are
requesting tax money to fund. In a way, the
school district “mined” the middle school as an
asset by putting off replacing the entire roof on
schedule because they knew they were divesting
themselves of the building. Similarly other
maintenance was avoided or minimized, yielding
some financial advantage to the school district.

That school building was erected in 1929,
providing maintenance issues that will eventually
demand its demise.

Looking at the realities, population has declined,
but the amount of property in Iron County has
remained the same, ergo, the tax base providing
funding our school districts has not experienced
a corresponding decrease. In short, the West
Iron School District has fewer students, fewer
teachers, one less building, and has cut some
after school programs, while having essentially
the same property tax based income.

Shouldn’t our school taxes be reduced since
costs have been dropping? If West Iron School
District had a total student population of 1,
what would happen to our school taxes? Exactly
when do the savings due to a consistently falling
student population, along with a reduction in
services, get reflected in our taxes? Could this
school district justify school taxes if there were
no students at all?

In the past few days, Associate Editor Ben Smith
brought House Bill 4214 to our attention.

“Introduced by Rep. Al Pscholka (R) on February
9, 2011, to add to the conditions that can trigger
the appointment of an Emergency Financial
Manager for fiscally failing municipalities and
school districts, and greatly enhance the powers
of EFMs. They would have the power to cancel
or amend existing government or school
employee union collective bargaining
agreements and other contracts. School EFMs
would have authority over academic matters.
An EFM could also order new borrowing, or put
a property tax millage increase on the ballot.“

http://michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=131260

It is clear that some sort of parachute must be
in place to manage those taxing public bodies
that are failing. Instead of flatly embracing this
bill as the republicans are, or issuing a blanket
condemnation as the democrats have been, it
appears that some elements of the bill are
appropriate. The balance of the bill should be
the subject of negotiation, with significant input
from those whose business is education. The
first time the state thinks the solution to
resurrecting a failing school district is by
voiding contracts we will be in for the ride of a
lifetime involving the three branches of
government, executive, legislative, and
judicial. The resulting lawsuits wind their way
all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Here, in Iron County, we’re doing ourselves a
significant fiscal disservice by maintaining that
artificial East vs. West “better than thou”
dispute that’s gone on beginning at the
establishment of the county. Iron County has
seen the school consolidation many times
before. It is already several decades past the
time that the final consolidation should have
been done, and we should have a single school
district for the entire county.

It won't be a very big school district either!

All that needs to be done initially is the
consolidation into a single administrative arm
running all our schools, with one school board,
initially consisting of all the currently elected
members from both. Eventually the size of
the school board must be reduced to a more
manageable size. That final school board, as
the elected representatives of the people of
Iron County, should be the ones ultimately
making all the decisions about closing buildings
and divesting the responsibility for them.

The situation that exists here in Iron County,
with two school districts for a total population
of less than 12,000 souls, is absurd. It needs to
be fixed. Ultimately, school taxes could probably
be cut by 1/3 without impacting the quality of
the education that the children are receiving.

In fact, less focus on administration means
more attention could be given to the quality
of education.

Here, in Iron County, we are probably far
away from having an “Emergency Financial
Manager” come waltzing in to take over
either of our school districts. Still, we are
very far away from the sort of fiscal
responsibility we’re entitled to.

But it is up to the voting residents of the
county to force such changes.

What’s that going to take?

Bill Vajk

We Need a Secure Broadband

President Obama visited the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
on Thursday, Feb 10th and spoke at Marquette in the
Vandament Center. His purpose was to promote his program
hopeful of enhancing the availability of broadband accessibility
using WiFi as a vehicle in all of rural America

The President praised this country’s spirit for tackling major
and difficult programs to improve communications and
travel in the U.S.A. He began by citing the building of the
transcontinental railway in the mid 1800's, followed by the
CCC programs during the Great Depression, then he
continued with the building of the Interstate highway
system as proposed by Pres. Eisenhower.

(Editor's Note: At Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, formerly
belonging to The Pennsylvania Railroad, is a huge relief mural
entitled The Age of Transportation that begins with man
walking and ends with the airplane. It was a beautiful piece
of art originally commissioned for the Pennsy's Broad Street
Station but moved to 30th Street when station originally
housing the mural was demolished. It was completed in the
1920's or 1930's when the airplane was the latest mode known.)

He then made a comparison with Pres. Kennedy's " Ask not
what your country can do for you, ask rather what you can
do for your country" and explained the historical relationships
of our past endeavors as a nation to the program to make
broadband internet available to the sparsely populated rural
areas of the U.S.A. The once novel requirement that every
home in America should have telephone service available
now extends to the internet.

In a lighter mode the the President asked if their were any
Green Bay Packer fans in the house, and mentioned he was
happy to be among so manyYOOPERS.

Ben Smith was the only reporter from Iron County in
attendance.

Ben Smith

Editor’s Note: We are pleased to have been represented
at this historic event in Marquette by Ben Smith. More
recent events about the internet raise altogether new
challenges to our country with the government proposing
to give POTUS (President of the US) a kill switch to the
internet in the case of a national emergency.

Some years ago (maybe 15) your humble correspondent
and Glen Roberts investigated and wrote an article for
Glen’s publication "Full Disclosure" concerning the
government taking matters into its own hands by
prosecuting children (hackers) who managed to acquire
copies of telephone company practices instead of insisting
that telephone company providers better manage the
security of their online servers.

The same exact problem exists today, with the
government jumping in to secure essential services for
the citizens by wresting an ultimate control tool where
much better, and much safer, alternatives exist. They
cite matters such as power plant control that shouldn’t
be subject to hacking by foreign interests intending to
do our nation and our culture harm.

It is clear, and has been for several decades now, that
in order to maintain security over such matters, a
secondary “internet” must be established that is
connected to only such “trusted systems” (there’s an
entire world of research and discussion available on
that topic) as are of national interest and in deed of
protection from general access by the world at large.

Giving POTUS a kill switch is for a preventative
measure can be taken only once the horse is already
out of the barn. Consider that on 9/11 the terrorists
entire program was executed within a few hours, and
that grounding all aircraft in the US was too little too
late.

Granting POTUS a kill switch for the internet is more
of the same, but worse because it leads to a false sense
of security.

And what is worse yet is that there is no safety built
into the existing system of disseminating information
that promises security for a transmission that transfers
large amounts of money around the world, should the
entire US suddenly go off line during a significant
transfer. At the moment the internet goes dark, who
knows whether or not that transfer was successful. In
fact, who knows where that money actually is? Nobody.

There’s much more to this issue, and it will doubtless
be discussed in depth elsewhere.

But heads up, readers, turning off internet communications
isn’t anything like turning off the lights in your home. We
cannot transfer control of the internet to a single point
command where so many diverse interests are involved
with such repercussions as would fill volumes if cataloged
for discussion.

Who is responsible for my late payment if POTUS kills
the internet just as I am making an on-time payment to
a credit card, or a utility? What happens when my bank
has deducted the money for my account but the payee
never received it?

Bill Vajk

How Does Population Decrease Affect Us?

We keep talking about Iron County’s loss of population but
very few people have looked at the numbers. Unfortunately
the 2010 census numbers aren’t available but the estimates
seem reasonable.


2000 2009 change
Iron County 13,138 11,633 -11.9%

Out of every 10 people you knew in the year 2000, more
than 1 of those people isn’t in Iron County any more.

The most stable is Mansfield Township, where the loss is
5.8%. In Mansfield Township out of every 20 people you
knew back in the year 2000, roughly 1 is no longer with
us.

The source for these numbers is:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/cgi/cgi_census_cvtr0009_327587_7.pdf

Closing Camp Ottawa cost Iron County 51 jobs. For all the
money spent by government on the new sawmill at Amasa,
how many jobs did that get us in the county?

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/Publications/Notes/2009Notes/NotesMayJun09lh.pdf

There’s also some concern that the Central School project
that’s supposed to convert that facility into apartments isn’t
going to be funded after all.

With another 11.9% decrease in Iron County’s population
coming in this decade, perhaps someone can explain to me
why anyone in their right mind can think it might be a good
idea to build a new, fancy, expensive airport. Even if it
costs the Iron County taxpayers nothing to actually build
it, what of recurring maintenance and security costs?

And what if it gets partially built and funding dries up,
as it appears to have for the Central School? Can we board
over an airport, partially built? And once partially built,
how do we then manage to get the land back on the tax
rolls?

Bill Vajk