BILL LEWIS AND DEBTS OWED THE VILLAGE: Giving Away Property Of The Village!
The residents of the Village of Climax have already suffered under Bill Lewis as President of the Village. He has set aside the interests of the Village by leasing the old Post Office building owned by the Village to the Lawrence Memorial District Library for $75 a month; he used Village funds for legal and ethical issues surrounding Michigan’s Incompatible Offices law at MCL 15.181, et. seq.; he has made taxpayers pay for the removal of trees on private property within the Village effectively claiming eminent domain over that property in the rights-of-way; he has enforced the Village code unequally by requiring some to jump over made-up hurdles and allowing others to continue to violate provisions of the code on an ongoing basis.
Now, we are faced with suffering another betrayal. Bill Lewis is attempting to give away property that belongs to the Village – property in the form of debts owed to the Village by his friends, friends of friends, and supporters. While he claims one motivation, another is more plausible. What he has allowed the public to see suggests an ulterior motive.
At the Council meeting on September 2, 2025, Bill Lewis and his sidekick, Trustee Denise Pyle, raised the idea of compromising debts owed to the Village. They argued enthusiastically for reducing those debts. Those debts, three of them, are property of the Village.
One of those debts is owed by a former associate of Bill Lewis who might also be described as a friend of his. But Bill Lewis does not want names used in public Council meetings when doing so reflects badly upon one or more of the Council members. It probably reduces the risk of Village residents connecting the dots.
So, in the spirit of this limitation the first of the three debtors discussed here will be referred to as “X”. This is not the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Debtor X owes the Village approximately $10,000 pursuant to court orders. This number is an approximation since the fines which constitute the debt may have increased after November 20, 2025, when Bill Lewis took over as Village President.
This debt arose after SAFEbuilt, the Village building inspector, noticed extensive construction both on the interior and exterior of X’s property in the Village. The proper permits had not been applied for by X and issued by SAFEbuilt. These are the same types of permits that all of us in the Village are required to obtain when doing the kind of work that X was having done. So SAFEbuilt posted one or more “stop-work” orders on the property.
For some unknown reason, X sued the Village trying to get a judge to say that X did not need to get the permits that the law requires. But X failed and the judge ruled in favor of the Village and X was required to get the necessary permits.
It’s a bit unclear because Bill Lewis has not made public the documents of the case, but it appears that on March 17, 2023, X was ordered by the Court to obtain the proper permits. It also appears that on May 15, 2023, a show cause hearing was held before the Court which found that “… its Order of March 17, 2023 had not been complied with and that the Defendant (X) was in contempt of court.”
The Court ordered that the property could not be occupied and levied a fine of $25 per day if X failed to acquire the proper after-the-fact permits and inspections by June 1, 2023. That date came and went. Fines began to mount. The Defendant paid $2,275.00 of the fines but they continued to add up without further payment. By September of 2024 the fines accumulated to approximately $9,900 according the Village’s attorney.
At the Village Council meeting on September 2, 2025, Bill Lewis introduced the idea of writing down this judgment debt to the amount X has already paid. Bill Lewis claimed that the Village building inspectors at SAFEbuilt were somehow remiss in all this and that X was unaware of what was going on. Neither of which is believable.
Safebuilt must have done exactly what it was required by contract to do since Bill Lewis cited no instances of a breach. And, X was present and represented by an attorney over the course of the Court proceedings. If X’s contractors did or failed to do something it’s not the Village’s fault. X is college educated, has had businesses, and is an entrepreneur. Besides, the matters are settled by the Court’s judgement. Nothing can be found in the Court’s orders that SAFEbuilt was in any way at fault or that X did not understand the proceedings or X’s responsibilities.
Denise Pyle chimed in to say that the fines imposed by the Court meant that the Village would be “making a profit” by collecting them. This is beyond silly. Fines are a legal mechanism to force compliance and punish violations of law and rules. Most of us have probably paid fines at one time or another. How many of us would be successful arguing in traffic court that our speeding should not cause us to have to pay a fine because it is a profit for the city, county, or state issuing the ticket? Utter nonsense!
Discussed here has been the first of the three judgment debts owed to the Village. The other two owed by “Y” and “Z” will be discussed separately.
It is important to note that Bill Lewis spent Village money in what looks like an effort to find fault with the judgments or their recording. Finding none, he and Trustee Denise Pyle offered made-up excuses for reducing or writing them off. Why would they do such a thing unless their motive was to find ways to reduce or eliminate the debts? And just whose interests is Bill Lewis looking out for? Certainly doesn’t look like the Village is his priority.
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