TIME TO END THE REIGN OF ERRORS IN THE VILLAGE
I. Recently:
At the June 16, 2026, Village Council meeting, during “citizen time”, resident Dave Miller made three requests for information about ongoing Village business. Miller asked:
“A. Tell us what you are doing to collect the Moore code enforcement debt.
B. Tell us what communication problems you are having with Safebuilt. Are they the same ones you were having last year?
C. Where’s the report from the planning commission that was said to be forthcoming some time back?”
Simple questions seeking simple answers.
II. The Responses:
Three weeks later, at the July 7, 2026, Village Council meeting, President Bill Lewis responded. Instead and true to form, Lewis delivered heaping piles of Billsh*t!
A. Moore Code Enforcement Debt:
Lewis did not answer the question about current efforts to collect the debt for the cost of the blight cleanup on 115 Watson St. After reciting unresponsive data about the dates of the debt and recording numbers and his assignment of the task of negotiating collection to the acting Village attorney, Lewis asked:
“Why are you, Mr. Miller, so concerned with this issue when it didn’t seem to have that much of an importance when you held office? Where was your follow-up on this issue?”
To his credit, Lewis did permit Miller time to answer. But it was probably not the answer that Lewis was hoping for.
The lien on the property expires on or about September 7, 2026. Lewis has failed to renew the lien for another five (5) years and is now statutorily barred from doing so. Lewis’ adding the debt to the property taxes was a waste of time and money and jeopardized the debt itself. It gets wiped out if there were a tax auction of the property and there were not enough proceeds to pay the taxes plus the code enforcement lien.
What Lewis didn’t know was that Miller did continue to follow up on the debt. He investigated collection by the mechanism of adding the debt to the property tax bill. But, as stated above, had the property gone to a tax auction the debt could have been wiped out by operation of law if there was not enough money left from the proceeds of the auction to pay off both the property taxes and the code enforcement debt. And given the circumstances of the owner and the condition of the property, that was a real risk.
The history of tax payments on the property was also investigated. Adding the debt to the tax bill would have been self-defeating as it has been for Lewis. The history of the payment of taxes on the property indicated that the property owner paid enough back taxes in time to avoid tax auctions. Of course the owner had the option to file a request for an exemption from property taxes altogether. According to the record presented by Trustee Ben Moore at the Village Council meeting on July 7, 2026, that is exactly what has happened. And poof, the mechanism of collecting the debt through property taxes is gone.
The best way to protect the Village’s interest was to monitor the property to see if there was a sale or forfeiture or peril so that the lien could be enforced. But the property has not been sold or forfeited and encountered no peril. So, continuing to preserve the lien was critical to protecting the Village’s interest. But Lewis has failed to do that.
The lien was initially recorded on September 7, 2021. It was good for five (5) years expiring on or about September 7, 2026. It could be renewed once for another five (5) years, but only if renewed at least one hundred and twenty days (120) days before it expires per Michigan Compiled Laws Sec. 600.2809(4).
No surprise! Lewis failed to timely renew the lien. This was Miller’s concern.
Instead, Lewis spent tax money for the acting Village attorney to send dunning letters to the children or stepchildren of the owner. These letters were sent over a year ago. When questions were raised by the property owner through Trustee Ben Moore and his siblings, the attorney claimed a defense which is available only in contract claims but not in municipal code enforcement claims. Weird to say the least.
B. Lewis’ Communication Problems with SAFEbuilt:
In response to the request for information about communication problems Lewis says he’s having with SAFEbuilt, our building inspector, Lewis recited the same ones that he gave last year at this time.
Lewis is fretting over expired permits that need to be “closed out”. Of course, permits are closed out when there is a final inspection or when they expire. He claimed clerical errors but cited none that were material to permitting. He claimed that citizens have been charged twice for permits without any explanation of how or instances of double charges. While there was a resident who was charged for two zoning permits and only needed one, before the resident’s checks were cashed, Lewis did communicate with SAFEbuilt and the resident was charged for only one permit.
Lewis also claimed confusion or misunderstanding or some failure or misunderstanding on the part of SAFEbuilt to provide code enforcement services. SAFEbuilt has done code enforcement for a long time and has never been confused about how to do it. The failure of communication, if any, is probably on the part of Lewis who is by law charged with seeing that code enforcement is carried out in the Village. He has chosen to do it through SAFEbuilt.
SAFEbuilt is a private contractor. If the company is providing service that is unacceptable, then it is time to find another vendor. We certainly do not need for Lewis to create another Village office with personnel that would add to our tax burdens.
C. Where’s The Planning Commission Report?:
In response to the request for information about the planning commission report that Lewis had said was forthcoming months ago, he again deflected. The long and the short of it was that the public, Miller in particular, shouldn’t have to ask since the planning commission’s meetings have been published. The implication being that anyone that didn’t attend shouldn’t ask.
Lewis did say that there is a draft report, that it will have to be sent to the acting Village attorney for review, that there may be changes, the implication being that we’ll see it when we see it. Why aren’t we and the Council members seeing the draft so that we and they can see what Lewis is up to. It should be recalled that he has pulled this kind of maneuver before, the library lease being Exhibit 1.
Ominously, Lewis said offhandedly that the planning commission report will set zoning, housing, and land use, that is, it will dictate how our land can be used. This is truly frightening. We already having zoning. We use the state building code. And our Village Code, along with County and State laws control how we can use our land. There is no reason for a planning commission unless Lewis is trying another end-around the public to allow things that he wants. The planning commission was not required by state law, the Village already has land use laws, and the Village has very limited vacant land.
It should be remembered that Lewis was sore about the prior Council rejecting his demand to be allowed to place free-standing solar panels at his residence in the Village. The Village already permits roof-mounted solar panels. Does he now see an opportunity to accomplish what the citizens told the prior Council that they did not want? Or is he attempting to facilitate the placement of battery storage or data center facilities inside the Village? Don’t put it past him!
IV. Censorship:
Permitting a citizen to speak outside of Lewis’ “citizen time”, as Lewis permitted Miller at the July 7 Council meeting, was a stark contrast to Lewis’ push for censorship since he took over as president twenty months ago. Lewis has imposed rules that severely limit citizen input by restricting public comments to three (3) minutes and permitting no dialogue in Council meetings. Unless of course he needs to try and bail himself out.
Our Village Code allows five (5) minutes for citizens to speak and if a citizen wants more he or she would simply notify the president 48 hours before a Council meeting. Sec. 2-19(b) of the Village Code entitled “Regular Meetings” reads:
“Individuals and/or members of the council who desire the floor at a meeting for a period in excess of five minutes shall be added to the public agenda for the meeting by contacting the president no later than 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting.”
Lewis has imposed another form of censorship, often called an embargo on information to the public. In this embargo Lewis has hidden his dealings on public business out of public view. He did it to virtually give away the use of our “library” building to his other employer the District Library. He did it when he failed to reduce our taxes by reducing the mill levy. He did it to bar collection by the Village of court ordered contempt fines from his friend or buddy or associate or supporter Anthony Bates. He’s done it most recently by deciding not to protect the Village’s interests in the Moore code enforcement debt by failing to renew the lien on the Moore property at 115 Watson St.
V. Time To Break Up The Lewis Majority:
Bill Lewis, Denise Pyle, Carolyn Kelly, and Ben Moore are the “F Troop” (look it up) of the Village Council. On November 3, 2026, Village residents have the power to end this debacle created by these four while they’ve been the majority.
The seats held by Carolyn Kelly and Ben Moore are up for election in November. Removing and replacing them with straight-forward, responsible, and accountable people is imperative. This will free us from the reign of errors we’ve suffered since November 2024 when Kelly and Moore became half of the Lewis majority on the Council.
As of this writing there are new candidates to replace Carolyn Kelly and Ben Moore. That would solve a lot of problems, not all of which are known to the residents.
Register to vote if you are not already registered. Then on November 3 vote to rid us of Kelly and Moore. It’s time.
END.
