THE VILLAGE DODGES A BILL LEWIS BULLET AT THE OCTOBER 20, 2026, VILLAGE COUNCIL MEETING

 

1. 1. The Village Master Plan Doesn’t Fly Just Yet!

          Village president Bill Lewis and Village Trustee Denise Pyle tried to push their proposed master plan off the starting line at the Village of Climax Council meeting on Tuesday evening, October 20, 2026.  But Lewis and Pyle had a problem.  They no longer had a majority with Trustee Ben Moore in confinement after felony arrests.   Lewis’ recruiting of Ben Moore for Village Trustee back in 2024 no longer provided Lewis with a majority on the Council.     

          So, Lewis and Pyle were faced with selling the proposed master plan to the three Trustees, Nick Ludwig, Joline Chaney, and Janet Sutherland, who have tried to protect the residents from Lewis’ betrayals.  As the minority on the Council, these three have witnessed first-hand Lewis’ lack of faithfulness to the interests of the residents of the Village and his propensity for deception to achieve his objectives.  Lack of trust is not a good springboard from which to make a sale. 

          Lewis and Pyle controlling the planning commission is cause enough for concern.  But the chair of the planning commission is Cathy Weissert, a Village resident on North Church St.   In 2024 she demanded that the Council make the Village taxpayers cut down a tree on her property.  When the Council refused, she made a public display of petulance.  In the Fall of 2024 Weissert put a sign in front of her house using the comedian Ron White’s refrain that “You Can’t Fix Stupid” in support of Bill Lewis for Village president.  Once elected Lewis had her tree cut down costing the rest of us $3,300. Coincidence?    

          Lewis, Pyle, and Weissert’s proposed master plan and its development are terribly deficient.  They made no effort to involve the residents of the Village.  There is no indication that they consulted with adjacent local units of government, i.e., Climax Township and Kalamazoo County as required by MCL 125.3931.  There is no indication as to whether they worked a deal with Consumers Energy and the Whitmer administration to put solar, wind, or battery storage facilities onto agricultural land within the Village or simply will change the Village Code so that ground-mounted solar can be put in the yards of property owners as Lewis wanted.  They know these would cause a public outcry.  

          Their proposed master plan does not address specific land use and infrastructure issues.  It does not include the planning commission’s recommendations for physical development in the Village as required by MCL 125 3833.  

          Most troubling is the failure of Lewis, Pyle, and Weissert to include the required zoning map by which they intend to be bound.  Few realize that there is, or was, a zoning map in the Village office.  Lewis, Pyle, and Weissert do not intend to be bound by this and have told us so.  In their proposed master plan they say:

               “As the existing zoning regulations of the Village of Climax have not been the subject of a comprehensive review and updating for many years, and the Village Planning Commission was only recently established (2026), the Planning Commission intends to initiate a comprehensive review and resulting update of the existing Zoning Ordinance contemporaneous with the approval of this Master Plan by the Planning Commission and the Village Council  …”  

          Then Lewis, Pyle, and Weissert’s master plan provides a laundry list of what this unknown rezoning will involve all of which should give residents no comfort about what these people intend to inflict upon Village residents.  They intend to:

 

• • “Consolidating/eliminating unnecessary zoning districts

• • Updating the use and development regulations applicable to each zoning district

• • Updating the standards required of special exception uses (and updating that terminology to “special land uses”)

• • Including provisions to assure the efficient consideration of various zoning approvals administered by the Planning Commission Zoning Board of Appeals or Zoning Administrator, in accordance with standards specified in the Zoning Ordinance and applicable legal requirements.

• • Improving the organization of the Zoning Ordinance content to facilitate more efficient use by the general public and Village decision-makers

• • Align the content of the Zoning Ordinance with the provisions of the Planning Commission Ordinance (Chapter 35 of Code of Ordinances) pertaining to the specified powers and duties of the Planning Commission

• • Update the Zoning Ordinance as necessary to be aligned with current statutory law and any relevant court decisions”

          This is how government becomes removed from the people, tyrannical, and unaffordable.  Our elected officials once in office deceive, hide, and create a maze of commissions, committees, bureaucracies, and double-talk.    

          So, at the October 20 Council meeting Nick Ludwig wisely moved to put off any consideration of the proposed master plan of Lewis, Pyle, and Weissert until after the three new Council members were seated on December 1.  Lewis and Pyle objected wanting the process of adoption of the master plan to begin now.  Of course they did.  The less scrutiny from new members of the Council the better.  

          Ludwig’s motion failed because Lewis, Pyle, and Trustee Carolyn Kelly opposed it.  When there is a tie vote on a motion, the motion fails.  So, Lewis and Pyle’s effort to advance their master plan before three new trustees are seated on December 1, is still alive.  

          Hint to Denise Pyle – don’t try to support the master plan by claiming that the current Village attorney, Craig Rolfe, was intimately involved in its creation like that would be persuasive.  It is exactly the opposite.  “By their fruits you will know them.”   And those paying attention have come to know him well.     

          There are two more Village Council meetings before the new Council members are seated on December 1, 2026.   Look for Lewis and Pyle to continue to try and sell their master plan to Ludwig, Sutherland, and Chaney before that date.  Don’t be surprised if Lewis spends more of our tax dollars on Craig Rolfe to try and figure out a way to do that.  It’s not too hard to imagine that Lewis will engage in some extra-curricular lobbying to persuade Ludwig to vote to advance this terribly deficient document.  Does “But we have to pass the (master plan) so you can find out what is in it, …” sound familiar? 

 

1. 1. Lewis’ Decisions Are Needlessly Expensive!

          We are now having to pay the current Village attorney, Craig Rolfe, for decisions that Lewis made to involve the Village in rescinding the poverty exemption that Lisa Moore had obtained for her residence at 115 Watson St.  We have already paid Rolfe over $40,000 since Lewis took office on November 20, 2024.  The Moore poverty exemption fiasco has been previously detailed on this site.  At the Village Council meeting on October 20, we learned from examining Craig Rolfe’s bill for September 2026, that Lisa Moore has filed a petition with the Michigan Tax Tribunal contesting this recission.  The entry on Rolfe’s bill reads:

                  “Attend to email from Assessor regarding a Petition filed by L. Moore in MTT; print attached Petition for file and eventual review as may be needed.  Follow-up emails to/from Assessor, etc. regarding deferring review of Petition, determining who will handle that case for the Village, etc.”  

          Following the pattern he’s established since becoming Village president, Lewis did not advise the Council members or the public of this turn of events.  When asked about it during citizen time, he denied that the Village had been sued.  But if the Village is a party, this was not true.   From its website, the court describes itself as follows:

                  “The Michigan Tax Tribunal is an administrative tax court.  As the State’s tax court, the Tribunal has authority over assessment disputes relating to both property and non-property tax matters.  To resolve those disputes the Tribunal conducts hearings and renders written decisions based on the evidence submitted by all parties.”

          Once the case is posted on the court’s docket a copy of the suit or summary of its contents will be provided here.

END