Letter: Rotta’s actions are hurting Ludington

Letter to the Editor. By Wallace Cain, Ludington.

Tom Rotta is suing the City of Ludington again. This time for not properly posting a city council meeting notice in May and thus being in violation of the Open Meetings Act. I was at that meeting. The meeting was held in the afternoon to allow 3rd graders from Foster Elementary School to see how our city government works. I do not know the merit of the law suit. The intent of the Open Meetings Act is to prevent governing bodies from deliberating and acting in private. At no time during this city council meeting was anything done in private. The meeting was announced in multiple venues.

I have attended most of the city council meetings the past two years. At most council meetings Tom Rotta unleashes his vitriol on our city government for his allotted 5 minutes of public comment. He has constantly and consistently called the Mayor, the City Manager, the Chief of Police and most of the city council members corrupt, greedy, incompetent and apathetic. I attended the mayoral debate among the 4 candidates this past summer in the park and I attended the final debate between the remaining two candidates at City Hall last month. No one questioned the candidates about any of the countless allegations raised by Tom Rotta.

Imagine being a public official and having your integrity questioned twice a month with no recourse. A qualified resident that wants to be involved in government and serve our community might have second thoughts about doing so. Imagine if you are a business owner looking to locate a new factory in our area. If you were to listen to Tom Rotta or perchance stumble upon his blog, you would think our city was having serious problems. The business owner might think twice about bringing jobs to our city.

Tom Rotta has every right to express his opinions and to sue the city. These rights are inviolable. They are hard won and sacred. But we should all be aware that his speech and actions are hurting our city. His speech and actions make it that much harder to run our government and to serve our city. His speech and actions are costing us unnecessary legal fees. His freedom of information requests are excessive. His speech and actions are causing harm to the City of Ludington.

Wallace Cain
Ludington