In My Opinion Royal Shaft to Taxpayers

Driving down dusty 16 Mile Lake Road, I can’t see 100 feet ahead of me. This reminds me of the AuTrain Township Board, where there’s no one with any vision. AuTrain has NO PLAN. AuTrain’s township hall has been turned into a temple for clerk rogers with separate air-conditioned holy chambers for the clerk and the treasurer. Vast sums were put in the hands of clerk roger’s father for the work on the temple. Also employed was clerk roger’s husband for design work. Additional money went to roger’s father because of cost over-runs such as one due to an absence of soffit and fascia costs in his bid that supposedly included exterior surfaces. By the way, cost over-runs for this remodeling alone amounted to enough money to take care of dust control in 16 Mile Lake or Christmas. Family members of the clerk and treasurer get $100 a month for being deputy clerk and treasurer. I’ve been to nearly every AuTrain township board meeting for over three years, where I have never once seen these relatives who are on the township’s payroll. As best as I can figure the most consistent AuTrain government activity these people demonstrate is cashing the checks. We’ve got shiny new computers loaded with expensive software, room dividers the township hall just had to have, even a defribbulator. I think they forgot gold plated doorknobs but keep it a secret. Meanwhile, with an annual proposed budget surplus in excess of one hundred thousand dollars, there’s not enough money for dust control. Hmmm. The only thing we’re assured, in the 16 Mile Lake Area, is Trustee Gramm’s illegal hotel. Clerk roger’s husband, Autrain’s nonfunctioning zoning administrator, makes sure of that. He’s been protecting Gramm’s illegal commercial interest since Gramm nominated him to be zoning administrator with the largest salary anyone ever received for that position in AuTrain . I proposed to the AuTrain Township Board that they have a referendum to allow the citizens an opportunity to vote on a millage that would exclusively finance dust control. In the meantime the AuTrain Township Board should take to heart Michigan State law that directs them to provide for the health, safety and general welfare of its citizens. That means looking past personal gain and taking care of dust that is a driving hazard, and causing serious health problems for virtually all AuTrain citizens. This should be part of a plan. Do it!

In My Opinion What the AuTrain Zoning Commission should Concider

The following letter accompanied a packet of information for the AuTrain Township Zoning Board(Commission), that is relevant to problems we have in our township. This information was provided by AuTrain Township citizen Judy Graves. There are some documents that you won't find in this post. However, if you search through this blog, you'll find some of them. Come to any Township Board or Zoning Board meeting and you'll find Judy there.She can give you a true first hand account and can provide accurate documentation.

Dear Zoning Board Member: March 28, 2007

Please find enclosed the following documents:

1.My letter to Attorney Roxanne Seeber > Attorney Seeber is an attorney who researches information provided to her by the Michigan Township Association and may provide a written opinion to a township regarding legal issues- in this case she was asked to provide an opinion regarding zoning for AuTrain Township. Attorney Seeber’s opinion is attached to my response.

2. Copies of letters originally sent to the zoning board by Mr. Dennis Gramm and Billy Jack Gramm in late 2003, providing their ambitions for their mutual properties located on 16 Mile Lake.

3. Please read the enclosed affidavit with highlighted areas. The signed affidavits from 3 former county zoning administrators all stated that transient rentals were never contested at the county level because they were never an issue brought before the county zoning board- they were just allowed to exist. Allowing them to exist does not make them legal.

A zoning administrator is allowed to interpret the zoning, but he is not allowed to interpret an ordinance in order to WAVE or Vary an ordinance. This is Michigan Law.

In this particular incident, (the 2x2 mile area surrounding and including 16 mile lake was zoned Timber/ Resource Production. The zoning did not allow transient rentals as a permitted or conditional use, and the use could not be implied. Attorney Ferguson used this affidavit and 2 others from previous zoning administrators, (Mr. Edes and Mr. McPherson) to convince Attorney Harmon and the Township Board that the prosecution of Dennis Gramm should be dismissed. The prosecution was dropped in November 2004, but never by Board resolution at an open meeting, which could lead one to assume there was an Open Meetings Violation.

4. A copy of the letter of violation sent by Mr. Bill Rantz, the County Zoning Administrator. This is a copy of the original draft approved by Township Attorney Kirt Harmon, and after open council with the Prosecuting Attorney, Karen Bahrman, who stated the rentals were illegal according to the County/ Interim Zoning.

5. The last enclosure is a report from Will Rogers, present zoning administrator, to the Township Board, dated March 14, 2007. The account of my conversation with Mr. Rogers is not accurate, but more important, he states in his opinion Mr. Bill Rantz was wrong to send out the violation notices in March of 2004. Does his opinion also include the prosecuting attorney and the township attorney? It is also his opinion that the transient rentals are a non-conforming use and he refuses to enforce the present zoning which DOES NOT ALLOW TRANSIENT RENTALS. The transient rentals were illegal in the county zoning, the interim zoning and are still illegal in our present zoning.

Please take note that Will Rogers considered the existing transient rentals a lawful non-conforming use when conferring with Ms. Seeber, the referred MTA attorney.

Will Rogers can not wave or vary an ordinance to make an illegal transient rental a non – conforming use or a lawful non-conforming use. He is breaking the law he was hired to enforce. Zoning ordinances are laws and our ordinance clearly states the zoning administrator SHALL not wave or vary an ordinance. Shall is the legal word for it is against the law!

The AuTrain Township Zoning Board should take action, and instruct Mr. Rogers to enforce the present zoning ordinances. Mr. Rogers works at the will of the Township Board – meaning they can hire or fire him, but he answers to and takes direction from the Zoning Board. If the transient rental owners object to enforcement action their first recourse is to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals, but they should take into consideration that according to the Michigan Rural Township Zoning Act #184 of 1943 and the new Enabling Act No.110, July, 2006, a non-conforming use is a “nuisance per se” and to be abated, but not to cause a heart-ship.

Thank you, Judy Graves