I'll give her credit: I liked this.
Knew what words she was going to say because I'm experiencing it lately.
Potent message. And true. Actually true.
FLINT, MI – The resignation of over half of the city council should send a strong message to the community, indicating that there major discord between council members, a joint statement from resigned Flushing City Council members reads.
Quorum was broken after council member squabbles led to the resignation of Richard Bade, Patrick Scanlon and Lynn Black. Former Councilmember Karianne Martus resigned in January and council was unable to come to a decision on who should fill the seat. All resignation letters were submitted to the city of Flushing clerk by Monday, March 16.
A special election will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 4, to fill the vacant seats. Due to COVID–19, interested candidates will need to make an appointment to receive and file nominating petitions by contacting the city clerk via email at mking@flushingcity.com or by phone at 810-659-5665.
Ed Sullivan and Brooke Good are the only remaining members on council, along with Mayor Joseph Karlichek, who is a voting member. Four voting council members are needed for a quorum.
“Select groups of people have spread disinformation through various forms of media and have employed ‘fear mongering’ tactics to attack those who they felt were at fault. Despite many attempts to work with the council and pursuing no personal agendas, we found ourselves amidst a rift that was meeting us with unethical tactics and unnecessary conflicts,” the three councilmembers who resigned this week said in a joint statement.
The situation “came to a head” when council could not come to an agreement on how to fill Martus’ seat at a February meeting, Scanlon said.
“There was a point where it was clear to me that working with them wasn’t going anywhere,” he said.
While the city council cannot vote without a majority present, City Manager Brad Barrett can act on day-to-day operations in accordance with the city’s code of ordinances. However, he said the city needs to figure out how to pass a budget, which is due the third Monday of May.
“The last thing I ever wanted was to negatively impact any facet of the city,” Scanlon said.
Councilmember Ed Sullivan said he was “baffled” and had no idea why the members chose to resign when they did, especially as the city and nation faces an ongoing pandemic.
“The timing of these resignations in my opinion, and only my opinion, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the city of Flushing,” he said.
Sullivan said he wanted to sit down own and work through their differences.
“I know we had differences on some things but that’s just part of being an adult and being on council," he said. "You don’t have to agree, you just have to get along.”
More inner squabbling than habbenings it seems, but still a rather odd–if not notable?–occasion.
Chromatic(whatever) do make thermal labels for barcodes specifically today.
May be worth a look…