I have noticed a strange phenomenon in the Village of Lake Orion. It seems laws, rules, and regulations are often considered merely suggestions that can be ignored whenever convenient. Public safety is routinely ignored. Denying or delaying access to what should be public information is commonplace.
The standards in the Michigan Building Code are what everyone is supposed to follow. They are the minimum requirements as anything less is considered unoccupiable and unsafe.
Not so in the Village of Lake Orion where these and other minimum standards are routinely ignored for stairways, bridges and walkways, snow removal from sidewalks and crosswalks, and more.
When I raise these issues, I am ignored by the village government and often berated on social media for mentioning it.
Laws for access to information, government actions, and knowing how our tax dollars are spent, as defined in Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings Act, are also routinely ignored. When I appeal village actions to the Village Council, as the village web site and governing law say I should do, I am ignored.
This all seems very odd when the President of the Village Council is also a Police Chief. Isn’t it the responsibility of the police and council to uphold the law?
Last week was Sunshine Week, an initiative to educate the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy.
To their credit, the Lake Orion Review ran an article about it.
I heard nothing from the Village of Lake Orion government other than yet another delay to my second appeal to their denial of information. I will have to wait because the requirements of the law are put on hold if someone is on vacation, or whenever they don’t want the public to be informed.
Cory Johnston
Village of Lake Orion