Yates Government News

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 12:26:00 -0500

A video from Trustee and Maintenance Supervisor Shawn Coffey providing information on an incident in the Yates Township Hall involving Yates Township employees. Trustee Shawn Coffey speaking on Jan 31, 2022 concerning January 27 incident An update video from Trustee and Maintenance Supervisor Shawn Coffey providing further information on events following the incident in the Yates Township Hall involving Yates Township employees. Trustee Shawn Coffey updating on Feb 17, 2022 concerning January 27 incident

Recall Documents

Sat, 25 Dec 2021 14:24:45 -0500

The recall petition for the Yates Township Clerk was successful and an election has been called for Tuesday May 3, 2022. Two candidates will be on the ballot. The current Clerk who is being recalled is Romayne Hollis-Raines and is automatically placed on the ballot. The second candidate who has filed to run is Barbara McGregory . We will post the campaign literature, along with a fact-check, for each candidate as it becomes available.

The successful recall petition for the Yates Township Clerk has the following language:

“We, the undersigned, registered and qualified voters the Township of Yates, in the County of Lake, and State of Michigan, petition for the calling of an election to recall Romayne Hollis Raines from the office of Clerk, Yates for the following reason(s): Has not maintained township financial records according to state standards as evident by the June 2021 statutorily required auditor’s report and auditor’s subsequent email to clerk in September 2021. Has not, since Dec 2020, provided other Township officials with the materials they need to perform their jobs, this includes not providing board packets on time to Board members as required by the Township Board and Administrative Policies Manual Section 2.18 and also not providing requested documents to the Planning Commission and the ZBA. Has regularly dispersed township funds since December 2020 without prior board approval.”

WHAT IS A RECALL? Click for an introduction.

The following represents just some of the information that has been assembled by the recall petitioner and members of the community on the reasons for this recall.

Click here for a short handout which may be downloaded that describes the reasons. See more detail below.

REASON 1:

Has not maintained Township financial records according to state standards as evident by the June 2021 statutorily required auditor’s report and auditor’s subsequent email to clerk in September 2021.

YT Auditors report 2021

“Material Weakness: 2021-001 - Preparation of Financial Statements in Accordance with GAAP”. Note GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
“2021-003 – Unfavorable Budget Variances”

Auditor’s response to budget vs actual expenses

“The Township is required to account for its records on an accrual basis, not cash basis.”
“There is no doubt that the Township is required to use the modified accrual method of accounting. There is also no doubt that the Township uses the cash basis method of accounting. That being said, I have seen Township’s try to use the accrual basis of accounting and it just confuses matters and makes the audit process a disaster. So I wouldn’t say you are necessarily doing anything “wrong”, but I can certainly see why in this situation it is causing an issue. "
Note that even though the auditor pointed out the error and suggested a solution the Clerk didn’t resolve the matter immediately, didn’t address it until the second board meeting after she was notified and still didn’t resolve it until over a week after the board voted to amend the budget to include additional funds for the Zoning cost-center (which includes Zoning Admin, Planning Commission and ZBA). The Clerk needed to allocate a portion of that to the Planning Commission specifically which she didn’t do on-time or as-promised, preventing the Planning Commission from meeting and conducting business.

Budget vs Actual expenses

A document from the Clerk that falsely alleged that the Planning Commission was over budget. This is what the auditor addressed in his letter that pointed out the Clerk’s error. This Clerk’s report is what prevented the Planning Commission from meeting because it falsely indicated that the Planning Commission was $1,160 over budget for meetings and $722.30 over budget in total.

REASON 2:

Has not, since Dec 2020, provided other Township officials with the materials they need to perform their jobs, this includes not providing board packets on time to Board members as required by the Township Board and Administrative Policies Manual Section 2.18 and also not providing requested documents to the Planning Commission and the ZBA.

A document from the 2 Township Trustees stating that they have not been receiving their packets as the Township Policy requires and that they will no longer accept items on the agenda against policy.

Trustees' memo Clerk, Supervisor and Treasurer

Not providing the Planning Commssion with the Township documents that were needed to perform their duties.

Not providing the Zoning Board of Appeals with the Township documents that were needed to perform their duties. The Clerk, as secretary of the ZBA was responsible for producing the minutes within 8 working days. They have never been produced and it has been over a year.

Not providing the Planning Commssion with the Township documents that were needed to perform their duties. The Township’s version that they discuss does not seem to follow the law.

A summary of requests that were the responsibility of the Clerk but were not fulfilled as of July 26, 2021.

Summary of unfulfilled requests

Not providing the Planning Commssion with the Township documents on the formation of the Planning Commission which were/are needed to perform the Commission’s duties.

Request for Planning Commission Township record

One of a series of notifications warning the Clerk that the Camping Ordinance which the Township was publicizing on the Township website was incorrect and had been for over 6 months. This is the direct responsibility of the Clerk’s office. The Planning Commission,the ZBA,and the public needed the correct ordinance to follow and the Clerk failed to provide it. Additionally, the Lake County land auction used this incorrect ordinance to make claims about land being auctioned in Yates as available for camping, which was/is not true.

Repeat notification of problem with camping ordinance that the Township published

REASON 3:

Has regularly dispersed Township funds since December 2020 without prior board approval.

An instance from a recent fall board meeting where a check was improperly issued by the Clerk between meetings without board approval.

A community writeup on how payments are required to be approved as opposed to how they are.

Funds dispersal process

GENERAL

A record of a courtesy communication to the Clerk (and Supervisor) of concerns expressed by the community from over 4 months before a recall petition was submitted.

Notification to Clerk and Supervisor of Community concerns

Yates Ethics Policies

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 09:53:32 -0500

Ethics section of Yates Township Board and Administrative Policies Manual Yates Township - Board and Administrative Policies Manual - Ethics section Yates Principles of Governance Pledge Yates Township - Yates Principles of Governance Pledge Complete Yates Township Board and Administrative Policies Manual Yates Township - Board and Administrative Policies Manual as distributed Complaint process Section 3.5 from the Yates Township Board and Administrative Policies Manual: “3.5 Reporting Improper Actions Suspected improper actions shall be reported to the supervisor and/or clerk.

Camping Ordinance amendment

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 07:18:52 -0500

2022-01-04 0000 COIP The Camping Ordinance Information Packet - background on current and proposed camping ordinances

Master Plan amendment

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 07:18:52 -0500

2022-01-07 0000 MPIP The Master Planning Information Packet - background on Master planning process and a link to the current Master Plan 2021-12-23 1143 YATES_TOWNSHIP_MASTER_PLAN_FINAL-web The current Yates Township Master Plan (2010-2020)

Yates Township Planning Commission Records

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 07:18:52 -0500

YTPC Draft Minutes from December 9, 2021 Draft minutes from the December 9, 20201 Planning Commission meeting YTPC handouts from January 13, 2022 (corrected & enhanced) These are enhanced versions of the handouts from the meeting. Some text corrections were made and more color coding and notes were added so they can be understood without the discussion.

Threads on Yates People for Progress

Yates Government News

Recall Documents

The successful recall petition for the Yates Township Clerk has the following language:

WHAT IS A RECALL? Click for an introduction.

The following represents just some of the information that has been assembled by the recall petitioner and members of the community on the reasons for this recall.

Click here for a short handout which may be downloaded that describes the reasons. See more detail below.

REASON 1:

Has not maintained Township financial records according to state standards as evident by the June 2021 statutorily required auditor’s report and auditor’s subsequent email to clerk in September 2021.

REASON 2:

REASON 3:

Has regularly dispersed Township funds since December 2020 without prior board approval.

GENERAL

Yates Ethics Policies

Camping Ordinance amendment

Master Plan amendment

Yates Township Planning Commission Records