This has been an interesting past six months here in Bay City, with the Bay
City Commission on pins and needles. A Recall Election has finally been set
for March 4, 2003; contingent upon any further delays from a lawsuit filed
in Circuit Court in Bay County by a group called "Stop the Recall
Committee".
City Clerk Dana Muscott certified petition signatures for three City
Commissioners to be recalled: Chris Hennessey 1st Ward, Colin Hintz 2nd
Ward and Mike Buda 8th Ward. There were signatures turned in for 7th Ward
Commissioner Marie Kurzer but enough were ruled invalid and she will not
appear on the March 4 ballot.
City Clerk Dana Muscott has stated that this special election for the
recall will cost the taxpayers of Bay City between $5,000 to $10,000
dollars.
The very public firing of former City Manager James Palenick by the 7-2
vote of the City Commission in August, 2002 spurred the formation of a
group called PURG, which stands for People United for Responsible
Government and claims to have members from the entire city of Bay City.
They have a spokesperson in Chris Chesney who from time to time releases
statements to the news media on what PURG is working upon. PURG also has a
web site on the Internet at www.purg.org that provides information on what
they are attempting to accomplish.
The former City Manager and his wife have been active in the recall effort.
Mrs. Palenick in fact circulated petitions for the recall of 1st Ward
Commissioner Chris Hennessey.
PURG originally stated that they would attempt to recall all of the 7
Commissioners who fired former City Manager James Palenick back in August
2002. To date PURG has not turned in petitions against the other 3
Commissioners targeted after recall language was approved. They have
stated that they are going to seek enough signatures again to recall the
7th Ward Commissioner Marie Kurzer.
There is an opposing group that has been just as active to prevent the
recall of the 7 commissioners. "Stop the Recall" committee has held
fundraisers, conducted mass mailings and helped finance the lawsuit to
challenge the petitions for the recall.
Many of these supporters have been very vocal at City Commission meetings
over the past six months in support of the termination of the City Manager.
They felt, as did many of the seven City Commissioners voting to oust
Palenick that the City Manager was leading Bay City down the wrong
financial path.
Many of the projects of the former manager were using funds from the
P.O.W.E.R. fund and reducing the balance that the Electric Department had
built up over the past 20 years.
Supporters of Palenick's dismissal claim that many of these projects
appeared only to benefit the downtown business owners and residents along
Center Avenue, forgetting the serious needs of the rest of the residents of
Bay City.
These two groups will continue to do battle in Bay City over the next nine
months until the final City Commission election on November 4, 2003. It
will keep Bay City in the media spotlight for a while longer.
One thing for certain is that this whole chapter in Bay City history is
going to cost the taxpayers a good deal of money in the long run. It
appears that over $200,000 dollars will be spent in the long run because of
a decision that the City Commission made last year.
This has left the City without a true City Manager for the past 5 1/2
months. It also has divided the community with people either supporting
the City Commissioners who fired the City Manager or supporting the Recall
efforts who say that these seven are making poor decisions for the future
of Bay City.
One of the things that the filing of the lawsuit attempts to do is
challenge a good number of the signatures on the recall petitions. If the
challenges can get enough signatures thrown out it might prevent a
Commissioner from facing the recall election.
Also, if the challenges take long enough a Recall Election cannot take
place in the office holders last six months in office. This would help
Colin Hintz and Mike Buda, because their terms expire this November.
1st Ward Commissioner Chris Hennessey only needs about 20 signatures to be
ruled invalid and this would remove him from recall.
This situation has also caused an almost weekly parade to the Public
Comment portion of the City Commission meetings with a member of the public
addressing the Commissioners facing recall and asking them to step down
from office.
One thing that this has created is two strong groups that will be running
candidates in this Years City Commission race in 4 City Wards and the
Mayor's office.
What is disturbing to the residents of Bay City is that the Commission knew
that if they terminated the City Manager with less than a 9-0 vote that
they could be liable for severance pay. The 7-2 vote that flew in August,
2002 was soon shot down under the threat of
a lawsuit and the Commission settled any and all claims with payment of one
year's salary to the former City Manager.
City Commission President Bob Katt (6thWard) who was guiding the ship
during 2002 was re-elected City Commission President for 2003.
One can only hope that 2003 will not be a repeat performance of the muddy
2002 in Bay City politics.
Stay tuned for updates because the end of the story appears to be several
months down the road.
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