Holly councilman asked to pay back legal fees

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Bill Kuyk

HOLLY, Michigan – In January, Councilman Bill Kuyk filed a complaint with the Michigan State Police regarding what he claims was an Open Meeting Act violation during a Public Works committee meeting. But two months and $775 later, council members are still expressing concern about it.

Kuyk and village resident Jackie Campbell filed formal complaints with the Michigan State Police after a Jan. 5 committee meeting, where they said Councilman Don Winglemire, the committee chairman, allowed Councilwoman Reisa Hamilton to sit at the meeting table in order to view sensitive water and sewer billing material. The complaints claimed this action created a quorum.

Michigan State Police Det. Gary Muir sent the case onto Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper. Cooper and John Slevin, chief of District Courts for the Prosecutor’s Office, conducted an investigation into the allegations and on Jan. 29, denied Kuyk and Campbell’s complaints.

“We found absolutely no evidence that there was a violation of the Open Meetings Act,” Cooper said in January. “There is nothing that was done at least in the evidence that was presented to us that would mandate or suggest that there was a violation of the Act.”

At the request of Village President Pete Clemens, Clerk Treasurer Susan Nassar said legal costs incurred by the village as a result of the investigation into OMA violation issue amounted to $775, but that the figure did not include additional time spent by staff on the matter.

“The people of this village are going to receive a bill for $775 because of this allegation,” Clemens said. “My concern is, Mr. Kuyk, that you have made allegations against this council before and they have been investigated before,” he said. “They have all been rejected, and yet you continue to go down this path.”  Clemens said the January OMA incident was the third or fourth incident in which Kuyk had been involved during his tenure on council.

While Clemens said $775 isn’t a substantial amount of money, it is money the village shouldn’t have to waste on “groundless accusations.”

“They were not groundless accusations,” Kuyk fired back. Kuyk said several officials told him the charges were valid including the Attorney General for the state of Michigan, and Muir.

“The prosecuting attorney had the choice of prosecuting or dropping the charges and she chose to drop the charges,” Kuyk said. “I do believe she dropped the charges because she assumed the village is a general law village – if the village was a general law village, there was no foul.”

Kuyk said because the village of Holly is a “home rule” village, the Charter specifically defines a quorum, and that the law was violated in that way. “I didn’t cause the foul – the people who were in the committee caused the foul,” he said.

With four or more council members in attendance at a committee meeting, Kuyk insists Hamilton should have verbally proclaimed that she was in attendance at the meeting in the capacity of a citizen, and never been allowed to sit at the table with the others.

“That was never done,” Kuyk said. “Read the Charter, dude.”

“Mr. Kuyk, I’m trying to be respectful,” Clemens said. “I wish you would do the same.”

“You’re accusing me of doing something I didn’t do,” Kuyk said. “The people that did it were Ms. Hamilton and Don Winglemire – if she had just said, ‘I’m here as a private citizen,’ and sat back with everyone else, it would have been over, but she didn’t,” he said. “I’m not going to allow you to demean me in front of this town because you think I charged $775 – I did not.”

Clemens said Kuyk made the original request to Village Manager Marsha Powers that the village attorney be required to attend the Jan. 12 Village Council meeting. Powers, in turn, passed along Kuyk’s request to Clemens.

“Had I known you had already filed charges, I would have said ‘no’,” Clemens said. “It was pointless to bring the attorney in there since you had already filed charges.”

Under Michigan law, Kuyk said he felt obligated to report the incident to the authorities.  “According to the OMA, if you do not file and you believe there is a foul, you can also be held responsible,” Kuyk said. “I had to do that to protect myself. I was told to do that by the state’s Attorney General so that’s just too bad – if you don’t know how to conduct a meeting, shame on you.”

Clemens explained his reasoning behind rehashing the entire incident. “I think, frankly, that the people of this community deserve a break, and I think that you should compensate them.”

“I’m not going to compensate them,” Kuyk exploded. “I did not incur the costs – you did.” Kuyk said he never received a call from the village attorney on the matter. “He could have called me for five minutes and had the thing all out there, but he never called. I’m not paying anything at all. Period. End of story.”

After several more minutes of arguing, Councilman Tom McKenney said he felt pursing the matter any further would be futile. “Mr. Clemens, I don’t think Mr. Kuyk is going to pay the bill,” he said. “And I don’t think we can make him pay the bill.”

“I absolutely will not pay the bill,” Kuyk said. “Ms. Hamilton and Don Winglemire should pay the bill.”

With that, Clemens made a motion that council ask Kuyk to compensate village citizens $775 for an OMA violation that had no merit.

By a vote of 4-3, the motion passed with Kuyk, Councilwoman Sandra Kleven and McKenney casting the dissenting votes.

It was Kuyk who had the final word before Clemens adjourned the meeting. “I think council needs to pay attention to the Charter of this village and conduct business in accordance with that,” he said. “Your vendetta against a council member trying to do his duty under the law is shameful.”

Kleven said following the Jan. 5 committee meeting, she had done a little research on the OMA. “While they weren’t in direct violation with the OMA, I just feel Mr. Kuyk had the right to question it,” Kleven said after the vote. “Just like everybody else.”

On Wednesday, McKenney said his first thought was to table the motion. “I wanted all of us and especially Mr. Kuyk to think about the episode,” he said. “That was what I intended just before Mr. Clemens and I agreed that the motion asking Mr. Kuyk to pay was futile,” he added. “My second through prevailed – move on.”

McKenney also said he hopes his fellow council members will further reflect on the incident. “Council members should, in the words of Jiminy Cricket, let their conscience be their guide,” he said. “And there may be a price to pay for such endeavors, which may include attorney fees.”