Again No Surprises - Hayes Township Board of Trustees Meeting, 18 Jan 2011

There were no surprises at the Hayes Township Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday evening. 

As expected, the the Board decided that the questions raised about Lyle Criscuolo's documented malfeasance and blatant disregard for the Zoning Ordinance did not warrant an answer or a public hearing.   They think that the farce of a "do-over" was enough to right the wrongs committed.  It doesn't come close.   They also can't understand why we cannot just be happy that the Zoning Board of Appeals overturned Doug Longenecker's special Use and go on our merry way.  Since that is not the end of the matter, we cannot just go away.  We also cannot afford to be complacent; look where that brought us.

Really, the Board was between a rock and a hard place on this one.  But they are so far down this road that they have to see it all the way to the end, no matter what it eventually costs them.  If they seriously considered having a public hearing about Mr. Criscuolo's malfeasance, there would be much at stake.  Just holding the hearing would be an admission of some degree of culpability on their part, regardless of whether they voted to dismiss or to retain Mr. Criscuolo. 

Now the Hayes Township Board of Trustees has declined to deal with the documented evidence of malfeasance presented to them and they are on the record overlooking it as not important enough to warrant the effort.  I wonder what Judge Mienk will think about the Board's inaction when it all comes out in front of him? 

Notice that Township Attorney David Dreyer was conspicuously absent from the meeting.  He probably wanted to put as much distance between himself and that meeting as possible.  But he had written a letter with his instructions... er, opinion on the matter.

Note to Mr. Dreyer:  The problem will NOT be rectified while the current status quo remains.  It was this status quo that brought us this mess.  You have orchestrated steps that do NOTHING to actually fix the problem, they just allow the same things to continue unchecked while violations of the ordinances go unpunished.  Innocent people are paying for the egregious misdeeds of a few who are still free to continue to trample rights and violate ordinances with impunity.  It is not right, Mr. Dreyer and you know it.  There is a difference between right and legal.  Your so-called "work to rectify the problem" is nothing but lip service and too little too late.  Really, you and the Township you represent have done nothing to either make restitution, or to see that it does not happen again.  And you have been milking the Township for as much compensation as you can.  Hayes Township continues to throw good money after bad in fees paid to you for advice that does nothing but line your pockets. 

The Board of Trustees also placed a new member, Wesley Kenny, on the Planning Commission.  It looks like some people are stepping forward to fill vacancies.  It remains to be seen whether he will think for himself or be one of the lemmings. 

Bob Johnson, whose term on the Zoning Board of Appeals expired in December 2010 was reappointed for another term.

 

 
 

Grounds for Dismissal, (Review)

As a refresher, here is a list of the infractions Lyle Criscuolo has committed with regard to the Michigan Moto Mania fiasco while he has been the Chair of both the Hayes Township Planning Commission and the Hayes Township Zoning Board of Appeals. 

-         Mr. Criscuolo has held both of those offices for 15 years until Township Attorney David Dreyer deemed it improper for him to chair both boards at the same time.  He was appointed by the Board of Trustees to the Planning Commission 20 years ago.  He was elected Chair of the Planning Commission by the Planning Commission members when the previous Chair resigned from the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.  He inherited the Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals when that same outgoing Chair resigned from the Planning Commission.  – Nobody on the Zoning Board of Appeals elected him to be Chair.)

-         Chair Criscuolo cannot plead ignorance of the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance since he was the Chairman of the Planning Commission at the time the Planning Commission helped to write the Zoning Ordinance.

-         Mr.Criscuolo has been casting 2 votes on issues brought before the Zoning Board of appeals (Once as the Chair of the Planning Commission and once as the Chair of the Zoning Board of appeals) until Mr. Dreyer deemed it improper for him to vote twice in the same issue.  (Really – what are the chances of Mr. Criscuolo voting to reverse himself on something he has already decided on another board?)

-         Chair Criscuolo knowingly allowed an incomplete and improperly submitted application to be considered by the Planning Commission.  (Chair Criscuolo should not have allowed it to be considered at all until it was properly and completely filled out.)     

-         In allowing consideration of an incomplete and improperly filled out application, Chair Criscuolo willfully ignored the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance, which he has been charged to uphold and administer as part of his duties as Chairman of the Hayes Township Planning Commission.

-         Chair Criscuolo failed to ensure that the neighbors of the then-Gamble property were notified about Doug Longenecker’s intent for the Gamble property and his request for a Special Use Permit back in October 2009 before Mr. Longenecker purchased the property.  (If Chair Criscuolo and the Planning Commission had followed due process, it is likely that Mr. Longenecker would not have purchased the Gamble property on Mostetler Road, or he might have found a more appropriately zoned property for his Motocross track.  Now Mr. Longenecker has purchased the property and that will be at the top of the list of Hayes Township’s liabilities.)

-         Chair Criscuolo and the Planning Commission failed to hold a public hearing before taking a decision about Mr. Longenecker’s request for a Special Use on the Gamble property.  Holding the public hearing before Mr. Longenecker purchased the land might have persuaded Mr. Longenecker to purchase land elsewhere, or the Planning Commission to think it through and inform themselves more fully before they approved the request.
-         Chair Criscuolo refused to read aloud the letters my family took the time to research and write for the public hearing held on 13 May 2010.  This was a suppression of our free speech since every other letter written to the Planning Commission for that public hearing was read aloud.

-         Chair Criscuolo actively tries to wield his influence over the other members of the boards he chairs.  (Until September, he wielded undue influence over the other members of two boards.)  There was roomful of witnesses to the way Chair Criscuolo browbeat Bob Johnson at the 16 Jun 2010 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in an attempt to persuade Mr. Johnson to vote the way Chair Criscuolo wanted him to vote.

-         Chair Criscuolo is on the record (Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting – 9 Nov 2010) as believing and having stated that the Hayes Township Master Plan, (which is not the law) supersedes the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance, (which is the law).  It is unacceptable that the Chair of the Planning Commission and a Member of the Zoning Board of Appeals does not understand the proper relationship of these two documents.

-         Chair Criscuolo’s actions and words and attitude have demonstrated that he believes himself to be above the law.  (He believes that the rules do not apply to him.)

-         Chair Criscuolo’s actions and words and attitude have demonstrated that he believes that the ends justify the means.  (He believes that it’s OK to ignore and break the law if the result is for his subjective view of the greater good.)

-         Chair Criscuolo has demonstrated that he is not above twisting the meaning of or adding to or taking away from the provisions of the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance to achieve his desired outcome.  Is this the kind of leadership we want for Hayes Township?

-         Under Mr. Criscuolo’s chairmanship, the Planning Commission has changed the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance outside of the prescribed process defined in the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance.  (Minutes, 25 Oct 2010 Planning Commission Special Meeting).  (He makes the rules up as he goes along and changes the rules to suit his agenda.)  All property owners in Hayes Township should have a problem with this.

-         Mr. Criscuolo was told by Mr. Dreyer that he could neither vote nor deliberate at the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on 9 November 2010, yet Mr. Criscuolo seized the opportunity to insert himself into the deliberation process anyway in order to influence the other members’ votes.

-         These improprieties, for which Mr. Criscuolo is responsible, have exposed all the taxpayers Hayes Township to tens of thousands of dollars in liability, in just the case of Michigan Moto Mania.  One has to wonder in 15 years of Mr. Criscuolo’s tenure as the chair of the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals, how many other cases are out there?

Is Anyone Surprised?

For through the grace of God given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.  ~Romans 12:3 NASB

In an article in the 28 Dec 2010 issue of the Clare Sentinel, Zoning Boss Slot Opens in Hayes Township, by Rosemary Horvath, Lyle Criscuolo felt it necessary to invoke his occupation as a pastor in a show of pious, self-righteous indignation directed against the Mostetler Road and Deer Lake neighbors.   We dared to question the integrity of a pastor (as though that makes us somehow less Christian).  I have refrained from mentioning Mr. Criscuolo’s vocation because I felt it was inappropriate to do so. 

Pastors are fallible human beings, prone to pride and ambition just like the rest of us laypeople.  Mr. Criscuolo believes that because he is a pastor and missionary in his church, his leadership in the Hayes Township government is beyond scrutiny.  It upsets him that we have questioned his authority and actions on the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.

Mr. Criscuolo’s standing as a pastor in his church and his missionary activities, while commendable, are irrelevant.  They have nothing to do with Mr. Criscuolo’s actions with regard to Michigan Moto Mania.  Mr. Criscuolo’s church activities are not the issue in Hayes Township, and have no bearing on this discussion.   

“Do you know who I am?”

What is your first reaction to those words when someone asks you that?  Is it a positive reaction or is it a negative reaction? 

Do you ever wonder what motivates a person to speak those words?  Generally, those words are designed to make the one to whom they are directed shrink back and get back in his place because he is obviously in the presence of one who is his superior.  The implication being, “I’m someone important around here and you’re nobody.”

Those were the very first words Mr. Criscuolo spoke to me the first time I met him personally, in May 2010.  Of course, he wanted to make sure that I knew that he was the chairman of both the Hayes Township Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals; to be sure, an important person with whom to be reckoned.  At the time, I did not realize the power grip that Mr. Criscuolo holds over the entire township’s government; but I soon figured it out.  It is power that does not belong to him.  The citizens of Hayes Township did not elect him.  Mr. Criscuolo was appointed to his position by the Board of Trustees some twenty years ago.  He has acquired power and been wielding it over the last 15 years as the chairman of two boards.  His grip on the power he has usurped is tenacious.

So it does not surprise me that despite Mr. Criscuolo’s many acts of malfeasance that we have brought to light, he still does not believe he has done anything wrong.  He refuses to step down.  If Mr. Criscuolo leaves office, it will not be voluntarily, as he has indicated to the Clare Sentinel (Criscuolo Won’t Be Resigning, by Rosemary Horvath) and the Clare County Cleaver (Opposition Seeks Removal of Criscuolo From Hayes Planning Commission, by Genine Hopkins).  He will have to be removed, and he will go defiantly.

Frankly, I don’t care if Mr. Criscuolo has little patience with those of us who don’t want a noisy racetrack in our backyard.  Our issues with Hayes Township have moved beyond the motocross business in our backyard to the apparent ineptitude or corruption in our Township government that allowed it to happen in the first place.  This is the same township government in which Mr. Criscuolo plays an inappropriately large role as an appointed (not elected) official.  We don’t have much patience with appointed officials who abuse the power of their offices, and we will do what we can to see them removed from office.    

I am in no position to judge Mr. Criscuolo as a pastor or as a brother in Christ.  He will stand or fall before the Judge of us all.  I do question Mr. Criscuolo’s motivations as an appointed commissioner.  We hold him accountable for his actions in his role as an appointed commissioner.  We did not elect him, and we object to his continued presence on both the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

At the December 2010 Board of Trustees meeting, Township Supervisor John Scherrer committed to putting Mr. Criscuolo’s continued tenure on the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals on the agenda of the18 Jan 2011 Board of Trustees meeting.  They should be discussing whether or not to have a public hearing about Mr. Criscuolo’s continued service, or to simply ignore his malfeasance and all it has cost the taxpayers of Hayes Township to date and will continue to cost.      

It is time for the Hayes Township Board of Trustees to relieve Mr. Criscuolo of his “unfortunate burden,” thank him for his years on the boards, and replace him on the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals with someone who will act in accordance with the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance.  Then perhaps Mr. Criscuolo will have more time to pursue his missionary activities in Africa and serve the much greater good instead of abusing his power in Hayes Township.   

One thing is certain, whatever they decide to do (or not do) about Mr. Criscuolo, each member of the Board of Trustees will be on the record.

It's Time For Lyle To Go, Part 1

Lyle Criscuolo is a liability to Hayes Township's governing boards.   


Lyle embodies the Peter Principle.  He has reached his level of incompetence and has remained there for the past 22 years. 

By his own admission, he was appointed to the Planning Commission in 1988 and sometime around 1993 he was elected by the planning Commission to be the chair.  He has chaired the Planning Commission for some 15 years. 

I understand that one member of the Planning Commission must also be on the Zoning Board of Appeals, but why Lyle?  And why was he elected by the Planning Commission to Chair the ZBA too? (You're kidding me, right?  One board gets to decide who is going to be the chair of another board?  Because that's not a recipe for problems down the road, as Hayes Township is finding out.  It didn't occur to them more than 15 years ago?  Lyle isn't the first dual chair.) The answer to that question is complacency on the part of the Township Board of Trustees, the Planning Commission and the ZBA, and the desire on all three boards to maintain the status quo and a Good Ol' Boys' Club.  

Lyle’s Predecessor as Chair of the Planning Commission was also the Planning Commission member on the ZBA. Instead of electing a new Chair of the ZBA when the old one resigned, when Lyle was elected to be Chair of the Planning Commission, he inherited the Chairmanship of the ZBA as well.  Nobody on the ZBA elected him to be their Chair.  Because he was not inclined to leave the position, Lyle remained the chair of both boards for the past fifteen years.  Lyle himself does not even know when his current term is up because, as he has said, after the first time, every three years they just automatically renew it.  (Again, you're kidding me, right?)

That's it.  No periodic elections or reelections.  He just hasn't been inclined to step down, and nobody has ever questioned it.  That's the way we've always done it.  The way we've always done it does not make it right, and most times it's the path of least resistance. 

What gave Lyle the right to be the Chair of two township boards for fifteen years?  In that fifteen years’ time, Lyle poised himself to be the power in Hayes Township.  It is too much power concentrated in one man. Not even the Township Supervisor has that much power, and since he's elected, he has to run again for his office every 4 years.  The voters in Hayes Township elected the Board of Trustees to have the power in the Township, not an appointee, and not for 22 years.  Lyle has become the Whip on both the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals. And like the Whip in national politics, he gets the votes for his desired outcome.  He runs Hayes Township, not the Board of Trustees. 

Everyone who was at the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on 16 Jun 2010, saw Lyle browbeat Bob Johnson and try to bully him into changing his vote to uphold the Special Use on the Gamble-Longenecker property on Mostetler Road.  His heavy handedness is reserved for those on "his" boards who dissent from his view and opinion.  Bob Hale, and Shirley Becker did not receive the same heavy-handed treatment by Lyle because they voted the way he wanted them to vote.

Although there were originally several "off the record" dissenting opinions on the planning Commission (and they know who they are) expressed to Mostetler Road and Deer Lake residents, not one of them had the backbone or moral courage to stand up to Lyle.  Either that or they lied to our faces.  What Hayes Township does not need is a bully running the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Thankfully, he was removed from the Zoning Board of Appeals as the chair, but it took an amendment of the Zoning Ordinance to make that happen.  That should have minimized Lyle's influence, but he jumped on the first opportunity provided by Bob Hale and Shirley Becker who were only too happy to accommodate him, to insert himself into the deliberation process on the Zoning Board of Appeals at the 9 Nov 2010 meeting.  He became argumentative when Bob Johnson disagreed with him, insisting that "we did not change the zoning," when effectively that really is what was achieved by the Planning Commission's decision.  That's what Bob Johnson was pointing out.  Fortunately, the Zoning Board of Appeals has a few new members and some people who don't fall into line when Lyle starts to bully them.  A few independent thinkers who are not members of the Good Ol' Boys' Club.   

The bottom line is Lyle is an appointee and nobody elected him to be the king of Hayes Township.  As an unelected appointee, he has overstepped his bounds and abused his authority.  (More about his abuses of authority in Part 2.)  His continued presence as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and as Chair of the Planning Commission are detrimental to Hayes Township.  He should be asked to resign, and if he refuses to resign, official steps should be taken to remove him from all boards in Hayes Township.  He has mucked about long enough and created enough havoc that we will spend years dealing with the fallout left in his wake.