Dowagiac City Council Hopeful Speaks Out

Here is something for everyone to think about. When Mr. Oliver was appointed to the council seat weeks before the council interviewed the four people interested he was telling everyone that the mayor promised he would get the seat.
Why did the council even pretend to interview the rest of the people if the mayor already told Mr. Oliver he had the seat.
Now Mr. Oliver is telling residents that the Mayor has already told him not to worry he will win the Election in November. It seems that Mr. Oliver was right about being promised the seat before the interviews were even started, so it would seem that he may be telling the truth this time.
When Mr. Oliver ran for that seat a few years back he only got 20 votes, it would seem odd if he wins this Election by a landslide.
If you remember I requested a recount four years ago when I ran against Mr. Murray and couldn't get it because Mr. Snow "forgot" to take some extra ballots out of the voting machine.
Lets all hope we can prove Mr. Oliver wrong and not all him and the city to give him that seat for another four years. It's time to prove to the mayor that residents run this city not him.
Please step up and run for office and vote, it's time we sent a message to the mayor and Mr. Snow that it's time to bring honesty back to the City of Dowagiac.
Howard Hall

After A Letter From The Attorney General The City Of Dowagiac Backs Down On Utility Information

Ok lets take a look at what the city has done about the online electric information.
1) Why didn't they say anything about the opt out a long time ago?
2) Because of the opt out we are going to pay someone to read the e mail and pay them to take the names out of the system.
3) How does the city know the person sending the e mail is the real account holder?
None of this makes any sense, don't pay someone to do all this work, just take the entire program off the Internet.
I hope everyone knows that the city would take the program off the Internet but won't because it will make them look bad.
Only in Dowagiac

Dowagiac giving Out Personal Payment History For The Price Of One Dollar

I have no idea why the city of Dowagiac just added an online payment search to its website.

Yes, you can go online and type in the name of any utility customer in the city and get their account details, electric usage and payment history, for the price of $1.

What public service is the city providing by allowing anyone to look into your payment history and account information online for a dollar?

What liability is the city going to have, for example, when someone's ex-husband is looking for his ex-wife, and he can go online and pay a dollar to obtain her address? What if a person had a personal protection order issued, only to have their safety jeopardized because of the city's policy of releasing a victim's residential information? What is the city's response going to be if someone gets injured as a result of making this information public? What liability will they have?

This is clearly an invasion of privacy so the city can make $1 each time somebody spies on a neighbor.

I can understand landlords wanting this information for their rentals, but they obtain this with the permission of the renter.

I am asking citizens to write their opinions regarding what public service the city is offering by allowing anyone in the world to pay a dollar to see residents' account information and payment history. Why does the entire city need to know how many late notices a resident has received?

Please come forward and run for office this year. We all need to put a stop to ill-conceived, destructive city practices like this.

Dowagiac Residents Fight Back For Equal Rights

2/16/11
Today we received a call back from the Michigan Attorney General. When we talked them them we explained that as customers of a city ran utility we have no rights as customers that have public utilities.
Public utilities have to go in front of the Michigan Public Service Commission to increase their rates. In Dowagiac if an increase fails they just vote again.
A public utility cannot give out the information that Dowagiac is selling on their webpage.
The Attorney Generals Office along with Sharon Tyler's office both said that they would look into this matter and try to get us the same rights as public utility customers get if we can show a need.
Later today we will have a petition that you can sign and also have petitions you can pick up to get your friends to sign saying that we want the same rights as public utility customers.
We all know that the city will continue to raise our costs with a vote of council and if it fails they will continue to vote until it passes. By signing this petition we may be able to have the state oversee city ran utilities which would take away the city's cash cow.
Remember you don't have to be a city resident to sign or circulate a petition,all you have to do is believe that city ran utilities need some oversight.
Sharon Tyler's office and the Attorney General both stated that they have only received complaints on Dowagiac utilities, they have never received any complaints on Niles.
Here is your chance to make a difference and save money at the same time.
Get involved by signing online or passing a petition around to your friends.
If you want a petition to pass around to your friends you can print it off our webpage later today.
www.dowagiacinformer.com

Dowagiac City Council Pushes Morality On Residents

In response to the city employee that said the council has no common sense I ask all of you this question.
The Dowagiac City Council voted to not allow beer sales prior to noon on Sunday in hopes to get people to attend church instead of drinking.
If the council wants to push their morality on residents I have a question for them. If you voted no to allow early Sunday sales why is it that you allow a store to sell bongs and glass pipes for smoking marijuana, allow a store in town to sell x rated books and allow a store in town to sell sex toys?
If you want to set an example for this great "Christian" community why haven't you addressed this important issues?
No common sense is it?
Gayle

Dowagiac Michigan Removes Search Tool that Freely Gave Away Residents Personal Information

The City of Dowagiac removed an invasive utility look up off their webpage. This tool allowed anyone to type in a residents name and see their payment history. This included billing, any late notices, past due amounts and even disconnects.

At Monday's Dowagiac City Council meeting City Manager Kevin Anderson listed three towns that use the same software. When we contacted them they told the Informer that they do not use the software to allow the public to review residents bills.

We hope that the city removed the software because they were giving out personal information about residents and not because they got caught lying to residents.

If history has anything to do with it, they removed the software because they got caught one again lying to residents.

Dowagiac Council Didn't Know That Personal Information Was Being Given Out On City Webpage

Great council meeting tonight. I found out that none of the councilmen knew that personal information was be given out on the city's webpage. Mr. Anderson attempted to mislead council by saying that other city's are doing the same thing.
What Mr. Anderson failed to tell council was the other city's are only giving out usage and not personal payment information. Once again Mr. Anderson only told part of the truth to make it appear that it was ok to give out this information.
Council is going to discuss the issue in two weeks at 8:00 pm.
When council voted for online bill payment they were not aware they we also allow this personal information to be given out. This was a lone decision made by City Manager Kevin Anderson.
Howard

Silver Creek files report on sub-standard ambulance care

We just received a report named Errors and Omissions of Coloma-Pride care Ambulance Service For Performance Of It's Contract With C/VBESA

Incidents in 2010 where other Ambulance Services were dispatched by Cass County E-911 because Coloma/Pride did not have any unit available in area.
August3 2010 Middle Crossing Road Life Care dispatched because Coloma was not available.
July 17 Garrett and M-62 Sister Lakes and Life Care dispatched because no Coloma Ambulance available.
July 8 Warren Drive Life Care dispatched
June 21 SLAS responded to a call because Coloma did not have proper equipment for treatment on the scene.
Feb 25 SLAS called because Coloma Ambulance was doing transports.
Jan 14 Slas dispatched to Roth Road in Wayne Township because no Coloma unit available.
More available tomorrow. Well it seems that the contract Coloma Ambulance signed has not been followed. You get what you pay for. It seems that our free ambulance service has not been what we promised.
More from this report to follow tomorrow, one being an 11 minute response time from Coloma Ambulance.
11 Minutes for a respond time is to long for someone having a heart attack or another life threatening injury.
We contacted City Manager Kevin Anderson a member of the board and was told that he just received this report and had no comment.

Dowagiac Councilman say teens should be working in farms

Thank goodness I wasn't able to attend the council meeting Monday night, because of what was written in the DDN I would have needed to wear waders.

Mr. Lyons said "“If I feel there are no qualified candidates,” the mayor added, “the seat may remain vacant until I feel there is one I can recommend in good faith.”. This means that out of the entire City of Dowagiac Mr. Lyons cannot find 13 people that he thinks is fit to sit on his boards. Can our fine mayor really believe that the residents of Dowagiac is going to believe this? The real reason we have 13 openings on these boards is because the mayor cannot find 13 more "Yes" people to appoint.

It even got better, Mr. Dood contacted experts to find out about youth activities in Dowagiac.Mr Dodd listed the following Calvary Bible Church, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Dowagiac District Library, St. John’s Lutheran Church and Fitch Camp. Once again Mr. Dodd proved like the rest of the council they just don't understand what youth activities are. The one I do aree with is Calvary Bible Church, they do great things for Dowagiac youth.

As far as Mr. Dodds comment about teens working on a farm just shows how ignorant he is on the youth of today. Teen are still children and need something to do. Does Mr. Dodd really think that a 13 year old child should be working on a farm and not have the chance for structured youth activities?

This proves why voters need to clean house next year and get these councilman that think 13 year old children should be working on farms and a mayor that thinks kids still play kick the can out of office.

Dowagiac will never move forward as long as we have councilman like Mr. Dodd thinking that we live in a community like Little House On The Prarie.

Good Night John Boy,

Howard Hall

Dowagiac City Councilman Jim Dodd Wants To Records Meeting In Case Of Lawsuit

Monday night Councilman Jim Dodd asked why the Dowagiac City Council doesn't record council meetings. Mr. Dodd thought it would be a good idea in case someone tried to sue the city.

This by far has to be the most ridiculous idea we have ever heard from a councilman. Mr. Dodd if they recorded the meetings Mr. Snow wouldn't be able to accuse residents of having a criminal history because their would be recorded proof.

This time Mr. Snow allowed his ego to think it was ok to say this in front of about 10 people that could hear his comments.

Mr. Dodd how about spending your time thinking of something that would benefit all residents instead of worrying about covering the council in a lawsuit.

Remember if the council would be honest with residents you wouldn't have to worry about recording meetings.

Mr.Dodd we requested the city a few years ago to allow Comcast to broadcast the meetings through public access and they wouldn't allow that. The sooner you understand that everything is suppose to be a secret the better your chances are of getting another term in office.