In an issue dating back to the very first meeting of the current Lake Orion Village Council, some witnesses are questioning the actions of four councilmen.
Former village resident Lynn Pete claims she overheard a discussion prior the council’s regular meeting back on Sept. 24 of last year.
However, legal authorities say there is simply not much to the matter, even if the claim is true.
Pete said Councilmen David Churchill, Doug Dendel, John Ranville and Rob Reetz were having a discussion around the picnic table outside the back entrance as she walked into the meeting.
The four constituted a majority of council, a fact that had both Pete and her son, Jonathan, interested in the conversation.
During the meeting Reetz and Churchill were nominated for positions of president and president pro tem, respectively. They were both confirmed by 4-3 margins.
‘It was all set up in the parking lot,? Pete said. ‘I was thinking that it was pretty fishy.?
‘What they were discussing was, ‘I’m going to nominate you and you’re going to nominate him??? she said.
Jonathan, 23, a senior at Oakland University who was earning credit for a political science class by attending, verified his mother’s story.
A third source, also in attendance that night, confirmed that at least three of the men cited by Pete were talking with one another prior to the meeting.
One of the councilmen in question said it’s possible that Pete and her son mistook the village attorney or former Council President Bill Siver for a current council member.
Ranville said the only discussion he recalls from that evening was between just three members of the council and Village Attorney Gary Dovre. He added that the tone used by Pete to describe the council members? conversation was not entirely accurate.
In either case, the alleged discussion could not be considered a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act, because Churchill, Dendel and Reetz were not yet sworn in as members of the council, according to Dawn Phillips Hertz, an attorney who specializes in Open Meetings Act cases.
All three were elected to the council (Dendel was re-elected) earlier that month.
The Act considers any meeting to be ‘the convening of a public body at which a quorum is present for the purpose of deliberating toward or rendering a decision on a public policy.?
In this case, a quorum was not present because (at best) only two of the men, Ranville and Dendel, could be considered council members at the time, according to Phillips Hertz.
There have not been any calls for an investigation on the matter, either.
Still, the incident upset Pete, who expressed a concern over the subject matter of the ‘impromptu? meeting.
‘It could have been anybody walking by and seen what I saw,? Pete said.
‘I asked John Ranville ‘when they moved the meetings outside??? she said in a joking manner.
She said the four men she saw had papers on the table when they were holding their pre-meeting discussion, and added that it was a very awkward meeting that followed.
‘You could have cut the air with a knife,? Pete said. ‘It was disheartening for me because my son was there.?