UNTRUSTWORTHY TRUSTEES: The Quartet
- The Library Lease.
On March 18, 2025, four members of the Village Council leased the Village-owned building at 107 N. Main St., to the Lawrence Memorial District Library. This quartet of trustees, Bill Lewis, Denise Pyle, Carolyn Kelly, and Ben Moore leased the building to the Lawrence Memorial District Library for three years starting at $75 a month the first year, $85 a month the second year, and $100 a month the third year.
As presented by Denise Pyle at the Council meeting on March 18, 2025, the lease did not require unpaid rent from January 1, 2025. This would have been three months of no rent after the expiration of the prior lease on December 31, 2024. After some protests at the meeting on March 18, the lease was rewritten to include back-payment of rent to January 1, 2025.
The rent provided for in this lease doesn’t even cover the direct costs of the building to say nothing of the long-term costs of maintaining the building. There is no evidence of any effort made by Bill Lewis, Denise Pyle, Carolyn Kelly, or Ben Moore to determine what a fair rental amount should be or to demand it of the District Library. What apartment, home, or commercial building can be rented for $75 a month?
The Lawrence Memorial District Library is not a part of the Village. It is simply a tenant. It is a governmental entity unto itself separate and apart from the Village with its own trustees and tax burden born by the Village, Climax Township, and western Leroy Township residents and property owners. The only connection between the Village and the Library is Bill Lewis who is employed by both the Village and the Library.
Elected office requires loyalty and faithful service to the electorate. That is, the electorate that did the electing. The Michigan Municipal League, to which the Village of Climax belongs, says:
“Public office is a public trust. Elected officials are merely hired hands, delegated power from the public, obliged to exercise that power as the public’s trustees. (They) owe a duty of loyalty to the public interest. Actions or influences tending to undermine that loyalty are destructive to the public’s confidence in government.” Handbook for General Law Village Officials 2006.
Actions betraying that trust are also damaging to the public interest. In this case the people of the Village of Climax suffered. This is the reason that the State of Michigan does not permit split loyalties or incompatible offices as defined in MCL 15.181-15.184. It has long been known that:
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” Matthew 6:24, KJV.
What it means is that no person can be fully devoted to two separate authorities when their priorities and interests conflict. This is Michigan law! Bill Lewis is no exception!
2. How did this happen?
It happened out of public view to avoid public input and scorn. It was not on the agenda to give the public notice. There was no prior public discussion about the terms of the lease in open Council meetings. Yes, there was a public vote by the members of the Council present on March 18, 2025. But the lease was drafted out of public sight and sprung on the Council by Denise Pyle when none of the other Trustees had even had an opportunity to read it.
Bill Lewis and Denise Pyle knew that Trustee Sutherland would not be present at the March 18 meeting as she was on vacation. Trustees are required to inform the President when they are going to be absent. Lewis and Pyle also knew Trustees Ludwig, Sutherland, and Chaney would almost certainly object and vote “no” to a lease with such unreasonably low rent. With Trustee Sutherland absent, there would be only two “no” votes since Trustees Pyle, Kelly, and Moore would almost certainly vote “yes” even if they hadn’t read the lease. So, Bill Lewis and Denise Pyle saw an opportunity and took it. Denise Pyle sprung the lease at the Council meeting on March 18, 2025.
Denise Pyle, Carolyn Kelly, and Ben Moore did vote in favor of passing the lease while Nick Ludwig and Joline Chaney voted against it. Since Janet Sutherland was not present, the vote was 3 to 2 in favor with Bill Lewis abstaining. Bill Lewis claimed that he hadn’t seen the lease. If true, Lewis abandoned his duty of loyalty to the Village by failing to be informed and vote to protect the interests of the Village’s taxpayers. His abstention was effectively a “yes” vote.
When questioned at the April 1 Village Council meeting about the process of developing the lease Denise Pyle said that she typed the lease and was responsible for its content. She said that she believed she was authorized to do so but never said who authorized it. Not hard to guess who that was. Denise Pyle said that no one saw the lease before she offered it at the March 18, 2025, Council meeting.
After Trustee Pyle sprung the lease, Nick Ludwig, who was assigned to work with Denise Pyle in developing the lease, objected to the lease she presented saying that they had agreed that the monthly amount would be $350 per month. Denise Pyle offered some excuses about governments giving each other considerations, apparently meaning “favors”, and that the Village needed the District Library more than the District Library needed the Village. But there was no factual basis for either excuse.
The District Library, as of April 15, 2025, had $155,000 in checking and over $80,000 in savings. In addition, the District Library gets about $78,000 a year from property taxes. There is no reason that the District Library could not pay fair rent to the Village for use of the building. There is no reason that the Village residents and property owners should be betrayed as a “consideration” or “favor” to the library.
The building was deeded to the Village by the Lawrence family in 1963 with a covenant that the building would be used:
“… for public library purposes only in the memorial of Jette Floy Lawrence and upon the condition that in the event said premises are used for any other purposes than public library purposes that this deed shall become null and void …”.
It did not require that the building house the former Lawrence Memorial Library, which no longer exists, or the Lawrence Memorial District Library which came into existence in 2022. The deed only required that the building be used for public library purposes.
Had the District Library refused to pay reasonable rent, it had nowhere to go. It’s effort to find another building failed. But, if it had succeeded in moving or the District Library decides to build its own building, the Village could simply resurrect the Lawrence Memorial Library or call it something else like the JF Lawrence Memorial Library and thereby retain the building. It is a silly assertion to claim that the Village needed the District Library more than the District Library needed the Village.
