Council President Jerry Narsh opened the Oct. 9 village council meeting with an announcement of the new council procedural rules that limit the time for both public and council comments, as adopted at their Sept. 11 meeting.
The new rules are not on the meeting agenda so unless you closely follow past meetings, you don’t know anything about this.
The new rules also state that, “Members of the Council will not engage in debate or respond during public comment.
The chair may direct the administration to follow up on questions.”
Without a procedural vote or comment, this rule was abandoned at the end of their last meeting when public comments about the village police services turned into a lengthy discussion, motion and vote.
The village manager and Narsh were apparently aware of the police situation but did not add it to the agenda, or say anything about it even with police officers and supporters filling the back rows.
It seems the Village of Lake Orion is governed by arbitrary rules, arbitrarily applied.
They also have no problem deciding in a closed meeting to file lawsuits against a resident who exercises their constitutional rights. The council has yet to discuss this in an open meeting.
If you were not at the meeting, watch the recording on ONTV. This is how we are governed and how our tax dollars are spent.
Also enjoy the new and much larger water, sewer, and garbage bill in last week’s mail with more increases on the way, if we are to believe the village manager.
Meanwhile, the DDA is spending our tax dollars on self-serving marketing campaigns, legal expenses and more free parking so I’m sure everything will be fine.

Cory Johnston
Lake Orion