STOP THE “BILLSH*T”!
The siblings Ben Moore, George Moore, and Samantha Sineath, reportedly received letters from Craig Rolfe, Esq., dated November 5, 2025, and April 20,2026. Rolfe is the acting Village attorney who sent those letters on behalf of Bill Lewis. Bill Lewis is the current president of the Village of Climax. These letters have previously been posted on this site.
In the letter of November 5, 2025, Rolfe asserts that he is attempting to collect a code enforcement debt of $2,580 owed to the Village of Climax. He wrote:
“The Village debt would be part of a county tax foreclosure process two years from now, but I’m advising the Village to take action to directly foreclose on its Municipal Lien without waiting for the future county tax foreclosure process, unless other payment arrangements acceptable to the Village Council are made before the end of November.”
Presumably November 2025. That would be seven months ago as this is written. The siblings Ben, George, and Samantha have asserted various defenses to this action.
The debt represents the cost of a court-ordered cleanup at 115 Watson St. in the Village. That property at the time of the cleanup in 2021 was owned by and was the home of George Moore (senior) and Lisa Moore. George Moore (senior) died five years ago. A lien on the property to secure the debt was recorded in Kalamazoo County on September 7, 2021. The Moore property does not appear to be at risk of foreclosure for unpaid property taxes. Looks like in December 2025 an exemption from property taxes was granted under MCL Section 211.7u. So, collection through a tax foreclosure is presently not available to collect the debt.
Michigan has statutes that speak to these types of liens, how they can be collected, their priority, their time limit, and their extinguishment. Given Michigan law Rolfe’s letters raise the question of how he and Lewis think that they are going to foreclose? What about the expense of attorney’s fees to collect a $2,580 lien? Lewis made a big deal out of what it could cost in attorney’s fees when he was maneuvering to avoid collection of the Bate’s code enforcement debt. Were his excuses for not collecting the Bates debt “Billsh*t”?
The Village has suffered a lot of “Billsh*t” over the last 18 months of Lewis’ tenure as Village president. Much of it has been reported on this site to inform and encourage public participation in Village governance. Lewis’ time in office has been costly.
Tax money has been wasted on “attorney’s fees” that promoted Lewis’ interests at our expense; wasted on saddling the taxpayers with maintaining and removing trees on private property; wasted on keeping himself in office while he is in violation of Michigan’s Incompatible Public Offices Act; wasted on a planning commission that was unneeded and unnecessary; and, wasted on his effort to find a way to avoid collection of the Bates debt owed to the Village. The $40,000 or so Lewis has spent on attorney’s fees during his tenure would have gone a long way toward new equipment needed by the DPW. And, the Village would have something to show for it.
Lewis also failed to bring before the Council a reduction of our property taxes – a very simple matter of reducing the millage request that the Village president makes annually to the County. Claiming to respond to a citizen query about the high property taxes at a recent Council meeting, Lewis’ explanation left out any mention that the Council could reduce the taxes by reducing the millage. Recently, Lewis enthusiastically supported raising our water rates when the Village has $250,000 of “water” money (meaning our money) in a money market account. The ability of the Village residents to make ends meet is not Lewis’ concern. Self-serving statements he’s made to the contrary in public meetings fall neatly into the category of “Billsh*t”.
Considering Lewis’s betrayal of the Village over the Bates code enforcement debt, it is fair to ask why he is now pursuing Ben Moore, George Moore, and Samantha Sineath to pay a debt that is seven or eight times smaller, especially given their limited resources. Regardless of their standing and behavior in the community, government is obliged to treat everyone the same. By abandoning the Bates debt and now pressing the debt on the Moore property, Lewis is treating Ben Moore, George Moore, and Samantha Sineath differently and to their detriment.
Given Lewis’ role in Ben Moore’s run for office, this approach seems odd. Does Lewis now see Ben Moore as a liability? Is this a case of Lewis looking at the speck in Ben Moore’s eye but not considering the plank in his own eye? Or is Lewis trying to appear tough hoping that people will infer that his betrayal of the Village on the Bates debt was not a betrayal at all? Lewis and Rolfe, in response to a Freedom Of Information Act Request, refused to produce copies of communications between them regarding their handling of the Bates debt. They claimed that those communications were privileged. A man with nothing to hide hides nothing.
If actions speak louder than words, then the interests of the Village and its residents are not Lewis’ priority. So, enough of the “Billsh*t already! He and the two Trustees that enable him must go!
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