Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Lori Weir, director of Administrative Services and Projects at Michigan Tech, recently stepped down from her position on the Calumet Village Council due to issues with the budget for FY 2022.

CALUMET — Lori Weir, who resigned from the Village Council last week, for what she says are violations of the Village Budget Ordinance (No.119), as well as violations of the Michigan General Law Village Act, and the Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL), continues to battle the council for what she said, is the council’s ignoring the will of the people who spoke at a public budget hearing last Tuesday.

Weir resigned her seat as trustee after last Tuesday’s Special Council meeting. The meeting occurred after the public hearing of the 2022 Village Budget. At the special meeting, she made a motion to reschedule the budget meeting until the trustees were able have time to review the budget, then hold a work session to work on the budget. The motion to adjourn the meeting passed 3-2, but then another motion was made to continue the meeting, even though the first motion still stood. The trustees eventually voted to adopt the budget. Weir was the only trustee to vote no to accept the budget.

During both the public hearing, and again at the special meeting, Weir stated her objections to not only the budget itself, but also the way in which it was drafted. She repeated her reasons in an email statement on Friday morning:

“First and foremost, the trustees did not have an opportunity to work on the proposed budget prior to the public Budget Hearing,” stated Weir. “An elected official has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure all taxpayer funds are used responsibility, effectively, and allocated correctly.”

In order to do that, she continued, the trustees must necessarily be an active part of the budget development process.

“Manager (Caleb) Katz and President (Brian) Abramson made sure that they had complete control of the budget by ignoring Ordinance No. 119, and dismissing numerous requests from me (since November) to work on the budget,” she stated. “I listened to the questions and concerns of the residents of the village of Calumet at (Tuesday’s) meetings, and I take those concerns very seriously. The public present asked the council to hold off on passing the budget until it was thoroughly vetted by the trustees. It was my obligation to honor that request. Sadly, it appears that the president and other trustees are okay with ‘rubber stamping’ a budget that they saw for the first time just six days ago.”

In a Monday email from Weir to the village administrator and the village president, as well as to the trustees, Weir informed them that after discussions with the Michigan Department of Treasury, it appears that the village’s FY (Fiscal Year) 2022 budget is not in compliance with the Uniform Budgeting and Accounting Act — Section 141.343.

The discrepancies she noted, she said are:

No. 2 – “The budgetary centers of the local unit shall provide to the chief administrative officer information which the chief administrative officer considers necessary and essential to the preparation of a budget for the ensuing fiscal period for presentation to the local unit’s legislative body.”

• The budgetary units did not provide the Chief Administrative Officer with information, as it was never requested from them.

No. 3 – “The chief administrative officer shall transmit the recommended budget to the legislative body according to an appropriate time schedule developed by the local unit. The schedule shall allow adequate time for review and adoption by the legislative body before commencement of the budget year.”

• The Manager and President did not follow Ordinance 119.

No. 5 – “The chief administrative officer shall furnish to the legislative body information the legislative body requires for proper consideration of the recommended budget. Before final passage of a general appropriations act by the legislative body, a public hearing shall be held as required by 1963 (2nd Ex Sess) PA 43, MCL 141.411 to 141.415, and the open meetings act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 to 15.275.

• The notice shall also include the following statement printed in 11-point boldfaced type: “The property tax millage rate proposed to be levied to support the proposed budget will be a subject of this hearing.” The notice did not follow PA 43, MCL 141.412, she stated.

“I request the village council work to correct this issue ASAP!,” her email concluded.