By Joseph Goral

Staff Writer

jgoral@mihomepaper.com

LAKE ORION – In a 4-3 vote, the Lake Orion Village Council approved directing Village Manager Darwin McClary to discuss the merits of combining the village’s Downtown Development Authority Board and planning commission with DDA Executive Director Gibb.

Council Member Michael Lamb made the motion, which directs McClary to make a recommendation to the village council on what would be in the best interest for the community.

Council Member Carl Cyrowski, President Teresa Rutt and President Pro-tem Stan Ford voted against the motion, while council members George Dandalides, Alex Comparoni, Nancy Moshier and Lamb voted in favor.

Lamb called combining the two entities “common sense.”

Lamb brought up act 57 which he said provides for the planning commission to serve as the DDA board in addition to their planning duties in communities of less than 5,000 residents.

He said the reason for the provision is the number of available candidates for the volunteer positions are limited “especially in small communities,” adding it is suggested the boards and commissions contain members with qualifications to support the group and provide representation of the varying groups of the community – business owners and residents, for example.

“Combining the DDA and planning commission would allow us to have both experienced business owners, experienced planning commission members, including builders, planners and engineers, along with elected officials, administration and regular citizens all having a vote on the direction our community grows,” Lamb said. “The combined board would essentially contain one-third elected officials and administration, and then two-thirds business, planning and community representatives.”

Lamb said this combined board would facilitate communication, organization, compliance, visibility, representation and planning, and help with budgeting and economic efficiency. He believes this combination would strengthen the DDA by giving it the full support of the village and village council.

Lamb also said while the DDA has “full support” from the planning commission and village council, the way the village is structured means the DDA needs to consult outside planners and engineers.

“The DDA board is not adequately supported by construction,” Lamb said, adding the DDA is “lacking the expertise and skills that they need to successfully support the director in the lumberyard project.”

Lamb also submitted a complaint to the Michigan Attorney General and Oakland County prosecutor to address the issue of “noncompliance” which “could be resolved internally here in the village prior to it getting out of hand.” He said he believes this method would resolve the issues.

“I really think it would work well for us,” Lamb said. “I’ve thought about it for many years now.”

DDA Executive Director Matt Gibb said Lamb’s suggestion was not unthinkable, but is in poor timing. Gibb cited “attempting to move forward with” the lumberyard project and “cooperatively unraveling 30 years of budgetary discourse.”

“While it’s not a completely unthinkable idea that we would look at it, the timing of it couldn’t be more significantly wrong,” Gibb said. “Particularly now if there is a complaint at the state level.”

Gibb also said Lamb has an “excellent” thought process, but that this was the first time Gibb heard of the complaint Lamb submitted to the state’s attorney general.

Ford also said he would hate to restructure the DDA board during the lumberyard project, and voiced other concerns he has with combining the groups, including there being too much work for combined members and about cutting members from the boards.

“Right now, we’ve got, I think, a total of 18 (people) looking at their separate problems, and the more eyes we have on these issues, I think, the better,” Ford said. “By cutting it down to nine members, we have less eyes on it.”

Ford mentioned citizens sit on each board, and said he believes the more citizens they have involved in the processes is important. He also asked if the move would put too much power into the planning commission’s nine-member board.

“I think also, the idea of communication, it’s built into this process right now,” Ford said. “The village president sits on both.”

Comparing Lake Orion to communities with combined boards, or boards that will be combined, is not always an apples-to-apples comparison, Rutt said. While the size of communities may be comparable, Rutt said communities like Vicksburg, Michigan do not have a comparable budget with Lake Orion.

“So, when I look at those, and I look at the task before our DDA, and I look at the tasks that Vicksburg and Pleasant Ridge’s DDA’s are tasked with, they’re nowhere near comparable,” Rutt said. “And when I see amount of work that our DDA does with all the different projects going on with this big lumberyard project, then to task nine people with it instead of boards across two … it does not make sense for me to … combine the planning commission and DDA boards.”

Lamb said the planning commission has never seen the DDA at its meetings and the council president has never brought any formal submittal from the DDA in the four years he has been on the planning commission.

The discussion and motion came after a DDA budget amendment was approved.

The amendment impacts three GL account numbers created on Nov. 19, for the DDA Budget to account for revenue and expenses associated with a Placemaking and Public Spaces Grant received in the amount of $595,823.00.

Its funding is derived and distributed from Oakland County based A.R.P.A. funds, and will be coordinated and reported for compliance by the DDA with general oversight by the village, according to village documents.

Rutt was appointed to the DDA’s board after Lamb’s motion, and her term will expire on Nov. 8, 2026. The council appoints representatives to various boards, commissions and committees after each general election, according to McClary.