(Editor’s Note: Lou Santucci writes that an agenda item on last week’s Township Board meeting violates the Michigan Open Meetings Act and also poses a potential conflict of interest. Read on for his thoughts. -jb)
At Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the Peninsula Township Board, the Board went into a closed session with regard to Farm Market GAAMPs and discussed submitting a position to the Michigan Department of Agriculture on the proposed amendments to the farm market GAAMPs.
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(Editor’s Note: The official agenda item reads as follows: “Potential closed session pursuant to MCL 15.268(1)(h) to consult with the township attorney regarding a confidential legal opinion pertaining to the Michigan Right to Farm Act and Farm Markets in the township. [Wunsch] – jb)
They then came out of the meeting and authorized Supervisor Isaiah Wunsch to submit comments without telling us what the comments will be. This position — whatever it is — was developed with no input from the many farmers who have farm markets on the Peninsula. And we have no idea what it will be.
This action flies in the face of the Open Meetings Act, and worse, Isaiah, a farm market owner himself, is the point man author for this unvetted position. That, to me, is an obvious conflict of interest.
If you have a farm market, or if you are disturbed by this, write or call the Township office to tell them not to submit anything on behalf of the Township until we have a chance to discuss it in an open meeting.
I am shocked that they would pull this stunt. It seems this is their modus operandi. Claim that something is “attorney client privilege,” go into closed session, and come out with a governmental action with no input by citizens.
(Note: To submit an opinion piece to Old Mission Gazette, send in an email or Word doc to [email protected]. Opinion pieces may be submitted no more than once every 30 days. -jb)
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Louis,
While I sincerely appreciate your opinion and input, I wholeheartedly disagree. Far from ignoring these allegations, I, along with the rest of the Board, have discussed them with township legal counsel, and in every case have been informed that they are baseless. The Township Board, that I sit on as a Trustee, is not acting in any untoward behavior. We have nothing to gain from it. However, we have much to lose as a Township if anything pertaining to our position in the WOMP lawsuit were to be disclosed. We are acting in good faith to represent the entire Township. The fact that one of the agenda items involved specific WOMP litigation (Business Item 13: Potential closed session pursuant to MCL 15.268(1)(h) to consult with the township attorney regarding a confidential legal opinion pertaining to the Michigan Right to Farm Act and Farm Markets in the township (Wunsch)), does call for closed session. The outcome of that closed session was an Open Session Motion and then a vote by quorum of the Town Board.
I have previously shared the contact information for our Township Legal Counsel. If you feel like you would prefer to schedule time with them to parle please reach out independently. https://fsbrlaw.com/practice-area/municipal/
See my reply to Maura’s comment on Curt’s piece.
The point is they are taking a position on the farm market gaamp which is asking for public comment not confidential comments. It is about farm markets so it has the potential to impact everyone with a farm market.
Do they think their comments are going to be excluded from the public record. Of course not. What’s the big secret and why doesn’t every farm market owner have a right to give input on what the town’s position should be with regard to farm market GAAMPs.
Makes sense doesn’t it. They claim they want to support the farmers. That’s kind of hollow words when they don’t want our input. It’s kind of like the 201 ordinance when they decided that the views of nearly every farmer on the peninsula was against that ordinance. A thumb in our eyes yet again.