I’m not sure what it means but there is nothing about the election on the Village of Lake Orion website. NOTHING.
This is in addition to the incorrect information for a public hearing on new development that was posted on the website and in the Lake Orion Review but did not happen.
No one at the Aug. 1, 2022 planning commission meeting could explain why to the overflow attendance that extended out of the Village Hall.
It seems the Village of Lake Orion is having some serious administrative and procedural problems that I hope they can resolve quickly.
Cory Johnston
Lake Orion
Editor’s note: The “incorrect information” that Mr. Johnston is referring to are public notices that were posted on the Lake Orion Review website and in print. Public notices are sent to the newspaper by the village for publication. Planning commissioners asked the administration to look into how the public notices were sent out with the wrong public hearing date.
Hope the Village of Lake Orion gets its act together added by James Newell on
View all posts by James Newell →
To clarify, there were public hearing notices in the Lake Orion Review and on the Village website which stated that there would be public hearings during the August 1 Planning Commission meeting. Public hearings and proper notification are requirements of Michigan law for certain zoning actions.
An agenda is NOT a legal requirement of Michigan law so for the chairperson of the Planning Commission to say he relies solely on the agenda, imply that he does not know how it is prepared or who prepares it, and falsely claim that the problem was due to incorrect social media information, is troubling to put it mildly.
The village clerk, council president, a councilmember, and perhaps other administrative officials were in attendance at the Planning Commission meeting. Not one of them offered any answers even when asked directly. We can only hope they do better given the magnitude of the issues ahead of them and the increased public involvement.
In addition, due to the size of the crowd at this meeting, some were not able to get into the meeting hall or hear what was being said. This is probably a violation of Michigan’s Open Meetings Act which requires the public be able to attend and speak at a public meeting. Some of us could not.