The Northstar Report 2011 Q2

Northstar Hospital released its financial status
for the second quarter of 2011 showing additional
losses coupled with additional reduction in assets.


See: http://tinyurl.com/24os4hw

and

http://tinyurl.com/3sb73sv

The hospital has made some moves to get
experts in success involved in an attempt to
improve the financial situation. Bellen Health
from Green Bay has been in the community
lately helping with a reorganization. The
underlying question is, what has to be done
at this point?

There are two approaches to turning around
any failing business. The first one is to reduce
expenses. We’ve seen no signs of that. The
second is to improve income. The total Iron
County population in 2010 was 11,817 souls.
With a population that small, the marketplace
is quite limited for the services that Northstar
sells. To improve on that situation, the only
alternative is to increase sales by increasing
the cost of healthcare to the community,
necessarily resulting increased costs to the
nation as well. That problem currently has
significant national scrutiny.

This financial trouble for the citizens has
resulted from the failure of the City Iron River
to ask the necessary questions before
authorizing a large municipal bond. Published
below is the reported “discussion” and public
comment:


IRON RIVER CITY COUNCIL
PUBLIC HEARING
Issuance of bonds for Iron County Community
Hospitals, Inc.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
2:00 P.M.
MINUTES
Mayor Charlotte Soderbloom called the Public
Hearing to order at 2:00 p.m. in the Council
Chambers at the Iron River City Hall.
Roll Call: Edward Marcell, Ray Coates, Roger
Zanon and Soderbloom.
Absent: Thomas Beber (out of town).
Also present: City Manager John Archocosky,
City Attorney Mark Tousignant, Treasurer
Suzanne Johnson and City Clerk Kathy Anderson.
OPEN PUBLIC HEARING
Public in attendance: Glen Dobson, Dennis
Powell, Rosalie King, Craig Richardson, Thomas
Angeli and WIKB reporter Wendy Shimun.

The purpose of the Public Hearing: to permit the
City of Iron River Hospital Finance Authority to
receive comment both written and verbal
concerning the proposal of the Authority to issue
hospital revenue and refunding bonds on behalf
of Iron County Community Hospitals, Inc. (ICCH).

ICCH representative Glen Dobson explained ICCH
plans to renovate the existing facility. Some new
construction is planned as well as upgrades to
equipment. Work is scheduled to begin in June,
and is anticipated to take fourteen months to
complete. Previously issued bonds (2002 & 2004)
will be refunded. A new bond (2008) will be issued,
not to exceed $24,000,000.

PUBLIC COMMENT

No public comment was forthcoming.

CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING
Soderbloom closed the Public Hearing
at 2:12 p.m.

Following this there was a regular meeting
that merely formalized the City’s approval:

“Zanon moved to approve a Resolution requested
by the City of Iron River Hospital Finance
Authority to issue bonds to the ICCH for
improvements to the existing facility located
at 1400 West Ice Lake Road, not to exceed
$24,000,000.

(See attached). Coates supported.
Roll Call: Ayes: 4: Marcell, Coates, Zanon,
Soderbloom. Nays: 0.
Absent: Beber. Motion carried.”

The minutes for the meetings are available on the
City of Iron River’s web page and are copied here
to illustrate this information. There wasn’t much
time devoted to making a commitment, on behalf
of the voters, of a little over 23 million dollars. We
know nothing of what, if any, other discussions were
held behind closed doors. No one has made such
information public. At the very least cash flow
projections should have been provided for public
scrutiny. The minimal exposure of information is
classic in Iron County politics and needs to end.

So just who is on this "City of Iron River Hospital
Authority" board? When and where are the public
meetings? Where are the minutes? And why aren't
they openly communicating with the City Council
regarding the liquidity problems the hospital is
experiencing. By contract, the hospital is required
to maintain 60 days cash on hand, and has only been
able to maintain 54. In the overall picture, this is
a significant failure.

And while we have great respect for Mr. Mark
Tousignant, this report would be incomplete without
mentioning the apparent conflict that exists in this
instance by his serving on the Board of Directors for
Northstar (then Iron County Community Hospital)
at the same time that he was, and continues to be,
legal counsel for the City of Iron River.

It also bears mention that the original ICCH
incorporation papers were drawn up and filed by
C. Joseph Schwedler who is today the Iron County
Judge. Schwedler has not been replaced in
subsequent corporation filings as the person to
contact regarding the hospital.

Bill Vajk

Controversy

Rupert Murdock has joined the Fox News folks
in person today to celebrate their 15th anniversary
on the air. Like him or not, Murdock is a significant
world leader in the news business.

For our purposes here, all that is eclipsed by his
comment that when you're delivering news you're
bound to stir up some controversy.

Bill Vajk

John Archocosky's Coverup? (service models cont'd)

As Editor of this publication I recently received
an email that appears to be from John
Archocosky, the City Manager for the City of
Iron River. I say in advance, “appears to be,”
because in cases where information is received
from a public employee the public accepts what
is provided at face value because public
employees (public servants) are supposed to be
truthful and as citizens we have a right to their
truthfulness. In fact, we demand truthfulness.
As we demonstrate below, Mr. Archocosky’s
email falls short of that goal in several respects.

-------------------------------------------------
from:John Archocosky jarchocosky@ironriver.org
to:"bill.vajk@gmail.com"
cc:Ben
date:Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 4:39 PM


Mr. Vajk,

This photo from your August 29th blog was
recently brought to my attention.

Please be advised that the City of Iron River
does not own this vehicle as you have
suggested. All city owned vehicles are clearly
marked as such. They also have government
plates so they can be easily identified by any
citizen using just a little common sense.

You claim your blog is a news source but as
the “Editor” you seldom bother to be factual.
The ownership of this vehicle would have
been very simple to check. I guess in your
case however, it was just easier to make up
a false accusation and condemn city
employees. Apparently you take no pride
whatsoever in your so called news
publication.

John



John A. Archocosky, Manager
City of Iron River
906-265-4719 Phone
906-265-5776 Fax
www.IronRiver.Org

This message may contain confidential
and/or proprietary information and is
intended for the person/entity to whom
it was originally addressed. Any use by
others is strictly prohibited.

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

I have waited a few days to see if Mr.
Archocosky wanted to retract an email that
appears, at first glance, to be the result of an
emotional meltdown. He has not contacted me
subsequent to sending me the email so taking
matters at face value once again, it appears the
personal attack above was politically motivated
and is an example of intentional cronyism.

The pertinent text from the IronCountyDoings
August 29th article was:

“On my way home I stopped at Snyder’s Drugs.
I walked past a municipal vehicle parked in the
fire lane with the driver sitting in it. I took care
of my business. On my way out, I stopped to
find out what town the car hails from. I was told
it comes from Iron River. So I went back to my
car, grabbed a camera, and snapped the picture
that appears in this article.”

It is clear from that text that I made an inquiry
regarding the ownership of the vehicle, and I
was told by a public servant that it was from
Iron River. That act ended any necessity for
me research any further.

Because of Mr. Archocosky’s whining about
this issue, I did one additional step of research
to find out what it does take to find out who
owns the vehicle and I came up with a four
page form available on the Secretary of
State’s web page.

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/bdvr154_16269_7.pdf

That form must be completed, the
requirements for receipt of the information met,
a $7 fee attached, and the package mailed to the
Department of State in Lansing. According to
the Secretary of State’s offices, the process of
determining actual ownership of a vehicle is not
so simple as Mr. Archocosky makes it out to be.
In any case, I had a right to expect a public
employee to tell me the truth, although
apparently in this article I have more than one
instance of a public servant not doing so!

So now I am faced with two public servants
disagreeing on who owns the vehicle, the
second one (Archocosky) calling the first one a
liar but failing to back up that accusation with
any substantive information, relying instead on
a personal attack against the Editor of this
news provider that does not provide him with
a bully pulpit.

Ne nuntium necare.

That’s the Latin invocation of “Don’t Kill The
Messenger.” My August 29th article carried
the title “The Iron County Service Model.”
This publication is just a messenger, not the
creator of information

The service model here in Iron County
leaves much to be desired. In the end it
doesn’t matter which municipality owns the
vehicle in the photo, what matters is that some
public servants consider themselves above
the law. In this case, that law was
MCL 257.64(1)(aa).

Section 3.04(d) of the Iron River Municipal
Code states: “See that all laws, provisions of
this charter and acts of the City Council, subject
to enforcement by the City Manager or by officers
subject to the managers direction and supervision,
are faithfully executed;”

Here’s the reply I had every right to expect from
John Archocosky:

“Dear Mr. Vajk, I have become aware of the
photo in your August 29th article and I have
forwarded the pertinent information to the Iron
River Police Department with instructions that
they take appropriate measures.”

And as action by the Iron River Police
Department I have every right to expect, at the
very least, that a warning ticket be issued to the
driver of that vehicle along with an admonition
to never do that again.

Instead what we experience here in Iron County
is a spate of political cronyism in which
Archocosky attempts to misdirect attention by
attempting to make this publication the focus of
the story rather than the fact that another public
servant thumbed their nose at the laws, and at
the public. “I work for a municipality and that
gives me power to ignore the laws.”

And Mr. Archocosky played his crony role. That
needs to stop. After all, this isn't the Wild West of
yesteryear. Or is it?

Bill Vajk

Flowers in Iron River (Service Model Page 3)

We were ever so pleased to see the progress in Iron River
given the flowers that were planted in the easement between
the sidewalk and US2 on the hillside entering town.
Volunteers have done nice things for the community. Any
time there's a call to help a family in need, Iron County
residents respond in addition to the beautification measures
and other privately and religion initiated projects . The
community is made up of good people. Iron County Doings
wrote some time back about this sort of floral impact in
Marquette and we're pleased to see it has arrived to Iron River.

Unfortunately, on the other hand, what lies at the end of this
picturesque improvement appreciated by all who traverse
this part of US2?


But as a property owner, heaven help you if your grass isn't mowed!
The city will, without a word, come and mow it for you and bill you
at twice what you could have gotten it done by local commercial
landscapers! They don't have the basic decency to warn you and
give you time if something has happened that kept the grass from
being as pretty as they demand.

If you look at the first picture above, the curb is also torn up and
not repaired. In fact, it is torn up through much of Iron River.
The government service model does not match the service model
given to the community by local volunteers.

On September 1 this year, we observed and photographed the
following scene.



What's wrong with this picture?

The Iron River street sweeper truck is in Iron River Township.
That part is OK as the truck was originally purchased with the
intention to lease its services to the surrounding communities.

But with US2 being a primary corridor through Iron County,
why is last winter's sand being swept on September 1st? It costs
us the same amount as it would have to have had this sweeping
done in May!

How would it be if the flowers around the community were
planted on September 1? Who would be happy about that?

The point made here is that the citizens of Iron County come
through with making their community the best that they can
by applying their backs and wallets to any problem that comes
along. Another example that comes to mind is the installation
of resting benches on the Apple Blossom Trail by a boy scout in
Caspian. Iron River has been asked for similar benches for a
very long time, to no avail!

What the heck is wrong with government that they are unable
to follow the example provided by the citizens. Aren't elected
and appointed officials supposed to be the leaders? How come
they're following. Not only are they following behind the citizens,
why are they following the citizens so far very behind?

Bill Vajk

An Important Change (Service Models page 2)

A letter was put out by the County Treasurer recently.

With Iron River Township's submittal of a large amount
of "delinquent taxes" for the recently imposed sewer
availability fee, it seems that the Bill and Gloria Vajk
lawsuit resulting in the county treasurer's recognition
that these charges will probably be challenged in the
courts as well, Iron County will no longer advance
monies that originate in what are now being called
"delinquent specials." This is the first time this writer
has seen the term used in this context and it clearly
demonstrates that the county treasurer, indeed Iron
County, recognizes the differences between the
various underlying mechanisms of "delinquent taxes."



Our lawsuit is still in the federal courts presently awaiting
the appointment of a judicial panel in the 6th Circuit Court
of Appeals. In our federal lawsuit we have claimed that
certain of the charges against a property we own in the
City of Iron River find no authority in state laws that is
required for a municipality to add a specific charge to the
tax rolls as delinquent.

While the excuses given by the county treasurer have some
validity, we believe that the underlying reasoning is the simple
fact that Iron County has finally recognized its responsibility
to citizens in these matters

Our federal lawsuit had two reasons for the complaints
being brought. The first was to force municipalities to
obey the law and to stop being so Unamerican in their
dealing with citizens.

The second was to stop the hemorrhaging of money on a
"something for nothing" basis to undeserving local
governments.

Needless to say, while the "sewer availability fee" has an
actual basis in state law, that law was nullified by the
Headlee Amendment to the Michigan Constitution as well
as a number of state and federal court cases that have held
that water and water related services constitute a contract
between a municipality and a citizen. The Iron River
Township billing is imposed from the top down with no
possibility of avoidance by a property owner.

I lay the blame for this entire series of governmental
intrusions into our pockets on poorly educated elected
officials.

Justice Thomas M. Cooley died in 1898. But before he did,
he wrote not only several crucial opinions in the Michigan
Supreme Court, but he also prepared a set of books on the
law that have been frequently referred to by the US
Supreme Court through to the modern day. All this
information is at the disposal of anyone willing to read it.
In fact a number of his books are available on the
internet for free.

The state statute authorizing the "sewer availability fee"
runs headfirst against issues previously decided by the
courts as illegal, to say nothing of more recent rulings.

If Michigan governments were doing things correctly, the
questions raised by Bill and Gloria Vajk in our lawsuit, and
the current issues occasioned by the "sewer availability
fee" should have been submitted by the Michigan Attorney
General, or the legislature, to the Michigan Supreme Court
for an advisory opinion.

That's what a government that cares about its citizens
should do.

In the end, this can be viewed as yet another "service
model" problem where government cares more about
its own little ticky tacky problems than it concerns itself
with the well being of its citizens.

Bill Vajk

Men Who Cook - Last Call

August 30, 2011

RE: MEN WHO COOK!

SOME TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE!!

IRON COUNTY KINSHIP FUNDRAISER

Saturday, September 10, 2011

5:30 – 8:30 pm

This year’s MEN WHO COOK!! fundraiser will be at

the George Young Recreational Facility the first

Saturday after Labor Day weekend – Saturday,

September 10, 2011, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.

Please join us! Your ticket to this great event can

be reserved by sending your check for $35 per person

payable to “Kinship of Iron County” to:

Sara Basso

PO Box 63

Iron River MI 49935

Please include your name as you would like it to appear on

your name tag. Rather than sending out printed tickets,

we will have printed name tags at the registration table.

I would also appreciate your address, phone number and

email address.

If you have any questions, please email me at

ironcountymenwhocook@gmail.com or call

906-265-4410 and leave a message. I will return your

call as soon as possible.

Tickets will be made available to the general public the

first week in August – so don’t wait! Send your check

today to reserve your date with MEN WHO COOK!!

Thank you for helping to make Iron County a great place!

Sincerely,

Sara J. Basso

PS – If you are unable to attend this year’s event, please

consider making a contribution to Kinship of Iron County.

The Iron County Service Model

Some time back, in a discussion with a local lifelong
resident of Iron County, she told me that at one
time she had worked at the local J.C. Penny store.

As the “low man on the totem pole” she was the one
who was required to take the odd lunch and keep
the store open while the rest lunched. She said it was
really great because the folks who came in to buy
something during that time had to buy from her.
She sold everything, including some very expensive
items, and that really helped her along.

This very nicely brings us to repeat an old theme of
mine, the service model.

On Friday, August 26, 2011, I visited the County Clerk’s
office in Crystal Falls to gather some more information
about the TIF lawsuit (we have an article or more in
the works) involving several elected officials of Iron
County, Iron County, Caspian and Iron River.

As the time approached noon I was told that the Clerk’s
Office closes at noon for a half-hour lunch. Interestingly
I had run into the same thing several years ago at the
x-ray department of the hospital at Iron River. Both
offices have more than one person involved in running
the office. The Iron County Clerk appears to have four.

So the issue of “what is the mission” of each of these
offices immediately came to mind. What is the function
of the County Clerk’s office? To serve the public.

How does one achieve that if they close during the middle
of the day, the same limited time that is available to
working people to get information, passports, and various
other services the clerk's office furnishes?

Obviously they cannot.

So who are they actually working for, those four ladies
who cannot seem to bear taking separate lunches in
order to be available to serve the public during normal
business hours? They’re already keeping company with
one another all day! They allege to be working for the
public. But such practices present a truly lousy service
model. I’ll go so far as to say “arrogant.”

I ran into a similar situation in the Extension Office a few
years ago. Julie Melchiori was away on business, and the
office help had been prohibited from providing the public
with any information unless it was approved in advance
by Julie.

On my way home I stopped at Snyder’s Drugs. I walked
past a municipal vehicle parked in the fire lane with the
driver sitting in it. I took care of my business. On my
way out, I stopped to find out what town the car hails
from. I was told it comes from Iron River. So I went back
to my car, grabbed a camera, and snapped the picture that
appears in this article.





Then another woman came out of Snyder’s, got into the
municipal vehicle, and the vehicle left.

I had noticed earlier that police cars that visit the Riverside
Plaza (this covers state police, county sheriff’s department,
uniformed prison/jail guards, and city police) invariably park
in designated parking areas. Unlike some parts of the US,
the police here demonstrate a proper respect for the public
they serve.

So then what of this municipal car and its mission? If they
were city employees on a private shopping excursion, why
were they using a car at public expense on time they were
being paid to work on our behalf? If they were on a mission
to buy for the city, why did it require two employees, at
public expense? Why was the shopper of the duo gabbing
with store employees?

Let’s assume, for a moment, that the duo had a perfectly
legitimate set of reasons for being there shopping on company
time. Why, then, did the driver violate MCL 257.64(1)(aa)?

(1) A vehicle shall not be parked, except if necessary to avoid
conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the law or the
directions of a police officer or traffic-control device, in any of
the following places:

(aa) In a place or in a manner that blocks access to a space
clearly designated as a fire lane.

(4) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil
infraction.

And finally, who is paying for damages this vehicle has
sustained? Did the damage happen during the course of
legitimate business?

These issues represent a cultural climate that has no
justification in the 21st century, especially where
government entities are involved. Indeed, the driver
of the vehicle appeared to be shocked that she was asked
what municipality the vehicle belonged to. It seems that
local governments in this part of the world are not used
to being questioned about anything. (This has been a
recurring theme, by the way.)

Hopefully that’s changing.

Opinion piece by Bill Vajk

Harbingers of Our Future

Last week, our final space shuttle mission returned
to earth. As matters stand we do not have any
launch vehicle system available to carry humans
and cargo into space.

I participated in the space program before the first
of the moon missions at ILC Industries, the designers
and manufacturers of the Apollo space suits. One of
the most interesting aspects of that project was the
fact that the chief designer for all U.S. high altitude
and space suits was a man with little education.
George Durney was “discovered” while he as selling
reupholstery services and curtains for Sears. The
man was the consummate genius with fabrics. This
vividly contrasts with today’s paradigm that in order
to get ahead one must have an advanced education.
A terrific education may make progression into
success easier for some folks, but it is no assurance
of a successful career. The business of learning and
getting good grades on tests improves a completely
different set of skills than one encounters in the
business of earning.

While the usual article we read today covers one or
perhaps two issues, this one, of necessity, does
much more because of the interleaved concepts that
affect our daily lives.

My two hallmark efforts at ILC Industries were:
1) recovery of profit for work done to the tune of
$15 million on which the documentation had been
misplaced, and 2) writing the fist proposal for
modifications to the then existing space suits to
make them appropriate for the lunar mission
requirements.

My copy of the cover page for the draft is displayed.


That was another of the classic hurry-up assignments
of that day. I had a week to complete the proposal, and
I worked 95 hours that week in order to get it done,
along with three secretaries who did all the typing while
I wrote and prepared charts and tables. I was then given
a few days in which to revise the draft to change the
name of the document (it became the Omega
Configuration for the existing space suit) and to reduce
all the estimated numbers by 15%. Since the suits were
fabricated on a cost-plus basis, the actual cost of
building any suit was covered anyway, and ILC’s
profit was negotiated after the fact based primarily
on the approved aspects of the expenditures.

We knew already that the future of the manned
US space effort was going to be the space shuttle,
a project I opposed then, and now in hindsight,
for the same underlying reasons. In order to
demonstrate my reasons for opposing the shuttle
program we temporarily depart from a discussion
of space and briefly go underground.

I used, as my model, the New York City subway
system. I’ve known the story since my youth
since I first rode the NYC subway in 1946. It
was a dilapidated and old system at that time,
but it still functioned well enough. But in looking
on the internet for a web page or more to include
in support of my thesis, I found that modern
NYC politics has done extensive revision of the
underlying facts, to the point that a published
copy of a 1904 brochure is the only place I was
able to find the unabashed and unrevised truth.
You can find that brochure at:

http://www.nycsubway.org/articles/subwaysouvenir.html

In the 1800’s, New York’s city fathers recognized
the need for a public transportation system and,
unlike Iron River’s elected officials, determined
to do something about it.

(From the web page: “Our city-loving Mayor was
still the practical business man and while he
advocated all speed in the pushing forward any
crying public need, he was wise enough to consider
the ways and means by which the public need was
to be supplied.” I've always been of the opinion that
that's the way things are meant to be!)

After a number of attempts, they finally got the
state constitution amended to accommodate the
needed public transportation system. Thy found a
contractor willing to build what became known as
the IRT system, and to run it under franchise for
50 years. “By the terms of the contract, the road
was leased by the city to Mr. McDonald for fifty
years…” Work began in 1898.

By the time I rode on the system in 1946, and
later, the equipment was mostly worn out and
was technology from the year 1900. Of course
the cost of the ride for the entire 50 year
franchise was limited to a nickel, 5 cents.

Consider the reasoning. Working with budget
limitations in mind, the ideal circumstances would
be that in the last minute of the last hour of the
contract, the last train would arrive to its
destination and irreparably break down, all used
up. That didn’t happen because the IRT system
was too large and equipment deterioration isn’t
100% predictable anyway. In 1948, when the
City of New York took over the system, the very
first thing that happened was that the fare was
doubled, to 10 cents. And the City, of necessity,
began to acquire new rolling stock as well as
infrastructure supporting the system. The
important point is that what the City received
from the contractor at that point was a much
deteriorated public transportation system
comprised of old technology.

And the space shuttle system has some parallels.
The last flight was completed using 30 year old
technology. Oh yes, the shuttle is quite impressive,
but the advances made in materials alone over the
past three decades has made the existing spacecraft
significantly obsolete. The weight reduction, using
modern technology and limited use vehicles reduces
the cost per pound for launches of men and products.
Any long term, multiple reuse vehicle is built heavier
than a one or two use vehicle.

My final objection to the shuttle model of manned
space flight has to do with the dearth of technological
advance. If we had continued with limited use vehicles
as we started with, an ongoing effort to make
improvements would have benefited not only the
space program, but also helped to drive our
technologically based economy as well as other
health an social programs. None of such development
was available to the US public once the shuttle design
was frozen.

It used to be that the United States was “the
innovator.” I foresaw our loss of that status when
Japanese manufacturers came out with the first
F 1.9 camera lens. The best that anyone had
achieved up to that point in time was F 2.8. The
improvement in lens technology was huge! And
then we saw our manufacturing moving overseas.
Now a company founded by a most favored son
and inventor, Thomas Edison, is moving to
China. General Electric’s X-Ray unit is moving.

Our economy, and soon to be followed by our
living standards, is collapsing because we’ve
moved from being a nation of innovation and
capitalism into one whose inhabitants believe
social programs are the be-all and end-all rather
than technological and productive progress.

The demise of our manned space program is
merely another in a sequence of harbingers of
the truths that represent our future.

As a final chuckle, I wonder if the history of
mankind in space will be revised as much as NYC
subway history has been.

Bill Vajk

Men Who Cook!

July 26, 2011

IRON COUNTY KINSHIP FUNDRAISER

Saturday, September 10, 2011

5:30 – 8:30 pm

This year’s MEN WHO COOK!! fundraiser will be at the

George Young Recreational Facility the first Saturday

after Labor Day weekend – Saturday, September 10, 2011,

from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.

Please join us! Your ticket to this great event can be

reserved by sending your check for $35 per person

payable to “Kinship of Iron County” to:

Sara Basso

PO Box 63

Iron River MI 49935

Please include your name as you would like it to appear

on your name tag. Rather than sending out printed

tickets, we will have printed name tags at the

registration table. I would also appreciate your address,

phone number and email address.

If you have any questions, please email me at

ironcountymenwhocook@gmail.com

or call 906-265-4410 and leave a message. I will

return your call as soon as possible.

Tickets will be made available to the general public

the first week in August – so don’t wait! Send your

check today to reserve your date with

MEN WHO COOK!!

Thank you for helping to make Iron County a great

place!

Sincerely,

Sara J. Basso

PS – If you are unable to attend this year’s event, please

consider making a contribution to Kinship of Iron County.

Seniors Met In Anticipation of DICSA Action

In an effort to present a unified position, the
site counsels from three (3) Iron County Senior
Citizen sites met Friday, July 22, 2100, at the
Iron River Senior Center. Present were repre-
sentatives of the Iron River, Crystal Falls, and
Alpha Senior Centers.

The meeting was requested by the Iron River
Senior Center, to discuss how to deal with an
effort by the Dickinson Iron Community
Services Agency to reduce the amount of
staffing and financial assistance provided
to the centers. It was the opinion of the
members present that representatives from
each site should attend the special meeting
of DICSA next Friday the 29th of July to ask
if any decisions had been reached about
sharing the reduction in funding among the
three centers.

Given the atmosphere in Washington and
Lansing, the attendees of Friday's meeting felt
that some fair method of allocating the
anticipated reductions in funding should be
agreed to by interested parties. There will be
more coming on this subject as soon as
information is available.

The events precipitating the meeting came
from an anticipated reduction in the number
of days on which meals will be served in Iron
River and Crystal Falls Senior centers and
the shutting down of the Senior Site in Alpha.


This reporter sensed a willingness of the
representatives to present a united front to
the DICSA board of governors next Friday,
July 29, 2011. That meeting is open to the
public and will be held at the Crystal Lake
Senior center in Iron Mountain at 10:00 AM.

Ben Smith

Editor's note: With federal and state budgets
on the decline, and a reduction in Iron
County's population, ongoing cuts to
essential social programs are a reality that
must be faced even though costs for providing
those services continue to increase.

The TIF Lawsuit - The Complaint

I've been sitting on this information for a couple
of days because while this publication intends to
present some appropriate commentary about
this litigation, that is so complex that it will take
a number of articles to adequately cover the
realities of what this litigation means to us.

While I'm working through such information I
thought it best to make the complaint from the
case available to the public. And please bear
in mind that this isn't simply a "complaint," it
is the "second amended complaint." This means
that the case has shifted from what the original
complaints contained.

That being said, you can find the document here:

http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/tif-complaint.pdf

Bill Vajk

Error Correction in TIF article of July 10, 2011

We published the following sentence:

"When the problem was addressed as prescribed by
statute, it was found that the election committee of
the county had not meant to approve the wording of
the proposal before it was put on the ballot, and, in
fact, had not met for 13 years."

The sentence should have read:

"When the problem was addressed as prescribed by
statute, it was found that the election committee of
the county had not met to approve the wording of
the proposal before it was put on the ballot, and, in
fact, had not met for 13 years. "

Our apologies for any confusion caused by this error.

Bill Vajk

The TIF Lawsuit - Some Spillover

The following article has been submitted by our
Associate Editor Ben Smith. This information
has not been thoroughly researched and is being
published as the opinion of both the Editor and
Associate Editor. More will be published here on
this topic that's been receiving only a minimal
notice of any sort by a local press that's more
intent on making believe that Iron County is a
happy place with no problems and no issues.

Bill Vajk

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

Iron County taxpayers are in a similar predicament
to Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, West Bloomfield,
and Southgate downstate.

The Election Committee is supposed to meet and
approve as "understandable language" the wording
of any proposal before ANY issue can be put on a
ballot. Right now a judge's careless disregard of the
law (no election committee meeting being set)
makes the taxpayers of Iron County possibly subject
to a huge tax burden.

The cities of Iron River and Caspian are suing Iron
County over a misunderstanding about what is
meant by the wording of the "TIF" (Tax Increment
Financing) law proposal which was implemented
by both the cities and the county. Recently a
different interpretation of this wording has emerged.

When the problem was addressed as prescribed by
statute, it was found that the election committee of
the county had not meant to approve the wording of
the proposal before it was put on the ballot, and, in
fact, had not met for 13 years. As a result, there
have been many ballot proposals over the last 13
years on which the wording has not been approved.

All these proposals are now in question as to their
validity.

Whose fault is it when the letter of the law is not
observed? Downstate, in the areas mentioned above,
the judges involved were accused and convicted
of violating the law. The convictions were upheld
by judicial oversight boards, consequently the
taxpayers PAID.

Is Iron County facing a similar fate ?

Ben Smith

The TIF Lawsuit

Michigan’s economic development platform is
based on TIF (Tax Increment Financing,) the
notion that increased taxes paid by businesses
locating in a specific area will be used to pay for
infrastructure and other economic development
incentives needed to assist their location in the
designated area.

A few days ago I went to the Iron County
Courthouse and briefly reviewed the TIF
lawsuit between municipalities and the
County. Some things came to light that are
generally not known by the public at large.

For example, did you know that when someone
is late in paying their property taxes, the County
lends the money to the municipality before that
tax is paid?

What does this mean to Iron River Township where
delinquent water and sewer bills are supposed to
go to property taxes by law? We have the recent
report from the Township Supervisor that the
township has been sitting on late/non-payments!

And of course so long as the township is sitting on
those delinquent payments, they're charging those
poor souls 10% per month late penalty. That 10%
becomes 314% when annualized. If they forwarded
the delinquent amount to the treasurer on schedule
that penalty drops to 1% per month and the township
would have its money.

Why did Iron River Township violate the law?

A few pages from the County's reply to a motion
by the Plaintiff cities is online. They are pages
5-6 and 13-15. If you read them, please don't try
to make sense of the discontinuity between pages
6 and 13 because it won't work.

They're now arguing about the wording of millage
proposals on the ballots, and whether or not those
proposals were valid or not! It is a mess.

The copies from the TIF lawsuit are available
for you to read at:

http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/TIF-lawsuit.pdf

This lawsuit has not received much play in the
other local news media because it airs some dirty
laundry among the county and some municipalities.
Heaven forbid that those of us who elect the people
involved in this debacle should have any solid
information on which to base our choices on
election day!

As time permits, IronCountyDoings will attempt
to bring you more information on this matter.

Bill Vajk

It's Your Money

Who is the Michigan Municipal League (MML)
working for with your money?

Michigan Statute MCL 247.64(2) used to say:

“A village or city, or a township having a population
of more than 5,000, may, whether or not provided in
its charter, provide by ordinance enacted for the
purpose of controlling and eradicating noxious weeds
in subdivided land that if the owner, agent, or occupant
of subdivided land in a subdivision in which buildings
have been erected on 60% of the lots, or the owner,
agent, or occupant of a lot along an improved street
in common usage, has failed, after 10 days' notice as
provided in this section, to destroy the weeds, for a
depth of 10 rods or the depth of the lot, whichever is
less, then an agent authorized by the governing body
of the township, village, or city may enter upon the
lot and destroy noxious weeds by cutting.”

In 2010, under pressure from the Michigan Municipal
League, that law was changed and now reads:

“A village, city, or township may, whether or not provided
in its charter, provide by ordinance enacted for the purpose
of controlling and eradicating noxious weeds in subdivided
land that if the owner, agent, or occupant of subdivided
land in a subdivision in which buildings have been erected
on 60% of the lots, or the owner, agent, or occupant of a
lot along an improved street in common usage, has failed,
after 10 days' notice as provided in this section, to destroy
the weeds, for a depth of 10 rods or the depth of the lot,
whichever is less, then an agent authorized by the
governing body of the township, village, or city may enter
upon the lot and destroy noxious weeds by cutting.”

Then in MCL 247.63a they do away with the notice requirement.

Is this what the MML means when they say their purpose is to
“make better cities?” It looks more as though they're all for
acquiring more power and control over “free citizens” than
anything else. Little by little the cities impinge on freedoms
we've come to take for granted. They have time, after all,
they've already been around for 110 years. Initially the
purpose was to assist undereducated elected officials.
Any more they're really about power grabs, because nobody
is watching and they've gotten themselves exempt from FOIA.

There will be more on this topic in the months to come.

Bill Vajk

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Field Hearing

On Monday, 20 June 2011, our Congressman Dr. Dan
Benishek and Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle
held a hearing in Iron Mountain related to the
accessibility and quality of healthcare for veterans
residing in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Our reporter Ben Smith attended in his official capacity
as well as because of his personal interests.

Ben delivered a note from me to Dr. Benishek's people
containing information as follows:

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

Dear Dr. Benishek:

As much as is possible, please try to get the following
changes passed by the federal government.


1) Remove ethanol from gasoline in order to reduce
food prices and federal subsidies.

2) Change the regulations that mandate more than
one blend of gasoline for the continental US.

3) Change the "cost of living index" (COL) used to
determine Social Security increases to reflect the
realities that seniors living in the US today face.
It appears that the COL presently used eliminates
cost of fuel and food, thus for the past 2 years our
SS payments have effectively declined while the
gross amount has remained constant and Medicare
deductions have increased. That SS is a problem
isn't the fault of the recipients, but of bad planning
by those who have been in charge of administering
the system for the past several decades. It needs
to be made right for everyone.


Thank you for your attention.

Bill Vajk

Publisher of Ironcountydoings.blogspot.com
a publication registered with the Library of Congress

Bill Vajk

One Year Ago

Today marks a full year since we filed the complaint
with the Federal District Court at Marquette, MI.,
against the ordinances and practices of the City of
Iron River, Iron County, and the Michigan Municipal
League.

By an large we have avoided publishing documents as
the case progressed through the District Court and into
the Federal Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit at
Cincinnati, Ohio. There were, before today, two
exceptions. The first was the original complaint which
we published. The second document had to do with the
dirty pool being played by the City of Iron River.

Today, the anniversary date for this litigation, I am
publishing the principal brief in the appeal. To conserve
some space I dropped it to single spacing. You will need
a word processor of some sort to read it properly. The
footnotes are critical to understanding the contents.

The file containing the brief may be found at:

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/shrink-brief.doc

Bill Vajk

Who Knew?

So there's a senior voucher system in place here
in Michigan funded by the Federal Government and
the State of Michigan with some spotty
participation by townships and counties.

Who knew?

I made the acquaintance of Michelle, the owner of
Strong's Restaurant on US 45 in Watersmeet. I
signed up for the senior voucher program and had
tonight's dinner there at the standard reduced price
of $3.75.

Here's their voucher program menu:



I had #7. It was a good feed.

Ordinarily I don't advertize for places of business,
but the senior voucher program is something I'd never
heard about and wouldn't have known about were it not
for the entrepreneurial spirit demonstrated by this
restaurant. The question arises "Why don't any of the
restaurants in Iron County participate?"

I asked Michelle how much paperwork was involved, and
she said it wasn't nothing, but was not extensive or
difficult. I can immediately think of a handful of
restaurants here in Iron County that, given our rapidly
aging population, could do very well with a program
like this, and in my opinion SHOULD be participating.

I can't think of any reason why participation has fallen
to zero in Iron County!

Let's spread the word and start applying pressure on
our local restauranteurs to get this program working
for us in Iron County. I'm thrilled that Strong's
Restaurant is busily doing it and wish the ownership
every success. But an even greater success could be had
if the program had more participants and our local
townships promoted and participated in the program.

Bill Vajk

Northstar (Iron River) Hospital Report

The first quarter Northstar Hospital
report is out.

The Hospital shows a financial
improvement over last year with an
advance to an income from operations
of some $182,000. Huge positive jumps
like bear close scrutiny.

For example, the total operating
expenses have dropped, on a pro
rata basis, some $964,000 compared to
2010. Interest expense has dropped by
some $141,000 pro rated when compared
to 2010.

All the numbers are looking much better
than last year, so something is being
done differently. We are hopeful that
this level of progress can be sustained
indefinitely.

Bill Vajk

Iron County Doings is generally
opposed to most expansion of the
local economy that is at the public
expense primarily to benefit private
individuals. The proposed expansion
of the ICMF is one of those things
that is a positive response to the
growing needs of the community that
is facing a rapidly aging population
and the needs that grow out of our
demographic profile.

Whether you are for or against this
expansion, it is important that you
attend the meeting if you can, and
voice your opinion while you're
there.

Communication from Basso & Basso
follows.

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

Tomorrow, WEDNESDAY JUNE 1, 2011,
there is a critically important
public hearing concerning county
support for the expansion of the
Iron County Medical Care Facility.
The hearing will be held in the
CRYSTAL FALLS County Commissioner
meeting room at 5PM.

The hearing concerns whether the
County will support bonding for
the addition of a wing at the
Iron County Medical Care Facility
(the ICMCF) in order to handle
the increased pressures of
rehabilitation needs of our
citizens.

The ICMCF is a bright light in
our community and we need to
support their efforts. This
hearing is an opportunity to
gain information and/or to
ask questions regarding the
proposed addition to the
facility.

Please attend the hearing if
at all possible.

Ron & Sara Basso

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

Bill Vajk