By Bruce Rolfe
While there wasn’t as contentious of an environment that was present at the September 16 Climax Village Council meeting when law enforcement was called during a heated verbal exchange between a person in the audience and two council members, some in the packed library continued to voice concerns over two regular topics at the October 7 Council meeting.
There was also one person in the audience who offered praise to the council and another who was perturbed over another issue.
As an apparent response to the brief shouting match at the September 16 meeting, Village President Bill Lewis informed the council and audience of 22 people the council should consider
adopting council meeting public participation rules, which was approved unanimously (Ben Moore was absent).
The controversy that triggered the shouting exchange at the September 16 meeting centers around a $25 per day fine for permit noncompliance through a court order that totals $10,675 at 110 South Main Street. The Village has also absorbed approximately $2000 in attorney fees during the process. The fees and penalties that were assessed were put on the property as a lien.
Lewis said the $25 a day fine that totaled $10,675 was put on the 110 South Main Street property two days before the terms of the previous council members expired.
Trustee Denise Pyle, who placed a motion on the floor that never moved forward to remove the $10,675 fee and pursue the approximately $2000 in attorney expense only for the property at 110 South Main Street at the September 16 meeting before the shouting event, said the way the lien was placed on the 110 South Main Street property for building permit noncompliance through the court order has made it difficult for the village to get the money back.
Some audience members spoke directly about the court order at 110 South Main Street, while others talked about other topics.
Village resident Jim Cummings felt there was a deepening pattern of dishonesty behavior, nepotistic practices, vindictive actions, incompetence and questionable fiscal management occurring. The former village president adds “when information is withheld, distorted or selectively shared it betrays the public’s trust.”
Former Village Council President David Miller used a majority of his three-minutes of citizens time to review legal rights of municipalities and citizens and a past court case.
Village resident Brian Deller asked for an update on three ordinance complaints he reported in late June. He said he has not seen action or received feedback on all three.
He said his complaints related to Section 14-103 through 14-105 of the village’s code of ordinances pertaining to blight of structures, abandoned vehicles, junk and trash in a driveway and unlicensed vehicles.
Later in the meeting the Council unanimously approved the next step of transferring two violations to the enforcement officer under contract at Safebuilt, which handles the Village’s permit and ordinance violation services for the next step in the process.
Ordinance/Zoning/Planning & Development Chairperson Carolyn Kelly said she could not reveal the address of the two ordinance violations that will be forwarded to Safebuilt.
Dave Dell had concerns about what he felt was blight at three locations on East Maple Street.
Village resident Rita Beck wanted to thank the current village council for going above and beyond of what she claimed had been done previously by the past council.
She commended president Bill Lewis for adding office hours which she said were not required. She also praised the effort and time being put in by Ordinance/Zoning/Planning & Development Chairperson Carolyn Kelly working on ordinance complaints.
Beck felt because the court order was initiated by a previous council and the current council questioned whether the process was done properly, the council should drop the penalties of $10,675, only pursue the approximately $2000 in legal fees involved with 110 South Main Street and “do a better job in the future so the situation does not happen again.”
Beck also thanked the Department of Public Works staff for their work in the village.
Roger Smith reviewed the court order history and dates of each action that was taken at 110 South Main Street. He felt it was important for the council to follow the judge’s orders rather then consider forgiving the $10,675.
“If this village decides to waive any kind of fees that this guy has been given on that property, you are going to open yourself up to big, big trouble with the court system because the court has ordered that those fees be paid,” said Smith.
“If you’re going to allow somebody to continue to do whatever he wants and then beg you for forgiveness, for you to remove any fees he’s gotten, just remember that the judge placed that order.
You can be opening yourself up to some major fines from a judge and it’s going to be worse then what you’re going to be getting from a guy that should be paying it, that was avoiding it,” said
Smith, who also expressed the need to recoup all the fees related to 329 West Maple Street where the Council is also trying to recover $14,920 for demolition and attorney costs at the location the Council also holds a lien on.
Planning Commission Positions, Terms Established; Compensation Stipend Approved
The leadership positions, terms and compensation for the newly created Village of Climax Planning Commission were established and approved.
The chairperson is Village of Climax resident Haley Rice, vice chairperson is village of Climax resident Cathy Weissert, secretary and liaison to the Village Council is Climax Village Trustee Denise Munoz Pyle, trustee is village of Climax resident Marcia Lewis and the other trustee is Climax Township resident Chris Boshow.
Marcia Lewis is appointed to a one-year term beginning 8-19-25 and ending 8-19-2026. The terms for Weissert and Boshow are for two years, beginning 8-19-2025 and ending 8-19-2027. Rice’s appointment is for a three-year term beginning 8-19-25 and ending 8-19-2028, and Pyle’s term will be the remaining time she has as a village council trustee, which ends in November, 2028.
The Council approved by a 5-1 margin (Joline Chaney voted no) a stipend for the chairperson of $75 per meeting, and $60 per meeting for the other members. Pyle said the planning commission
will have a large amount of work initially that will require twice a month meetings, however eventually the number of meetings needed will be reduced to four per year.
DPW Report
Lucas Piper of the Department of Public Works reports water pumpage reports and water samples have been completed for October.
A new stand by generator has been installed at well house No. 3. Propane will be installed in the near future. Well house No. 3 is where power is located to operate all three of the village’s wells. When there is a power outage the new generator will operate the entire water system.
All hydrants have been maintained by the DPW, however the hydrant near the fire station is not working correctly and will be fixed.
Leaf pickup started Oct. 1 and will continue through Nov. 24. No pine needles or wall nuts in piles.
A gas line in the library has to be replaced from the meters to the furnaces. An estimate of $1,800 to $2,400 by Bartholomew Heating and Cooling to fix the line was unanimously approved by the Council.
Because the Village has a new EGLE District Engineer, there were some new requirements that required board action for expense.
The Council unanimously approved a quote that will not exceed $10,000 from Prein & New Hof to perform a water system reliability study which is required every five years. The last time a water system reliability study was performed for the Village was 2017 at a cost of $7,500. The Village’s previous EGLE District Engineer told the Village the 2017 water system reliability study would be sufficient until a new EGLE District Engineer was hired.
Village Has Not Raised Property Taxes
After hearing recent complaints that the Village has raised taxes, President Bill Lewis offered a brief presentation that points out the village’s levy rate has remained the same for a number of years.
The presentation offered the council and audience a look how property taxes are set and levied in the Village. An L-4029 tax rate request form a local government unit and school district must file annually reports the property tax levy the unit intends to levy.
The Village levies a special assessment of 2.5 mills for the water system.
Lewis said the Headlee Rollback millage number the Village can draw up to is 12.9749 mills, however the village draws 9.5 mills.
Since 2021 the millage rate and water assessments has been the same - 2.5 and 9.5 mills, which Lewis thought were the same figures going back to 2011.
The revenue generated from the 2.5 mills and 9.5 mills revenue remains in the Village for services offered to village residents by the Village.
The Village President points out what has increased is the assessed value. In 2021, the assessed value in the village was $15,368,885. In 2025 the assessed value in the village is $19,677,407, which he said will impact the overall tax bill.
There has also been an increase in property values in the area.
The CPI (Consumer Price Index), which is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods, has also increased. In 2023 there was a 5% increase, in 2024 there was a 5% increase and in 2025 there was a 3.1% increase.
Any property tax increases outside of what the village levies, have been out of the local council’s control.
Ordinance/Zoning/Planning & Development
Ordinance/Zoning/Planning & Development Chairperson Carolyn Kelly noted there have been 63 or 64 ordinance notices since the board changed last November.
Kelly said many ordinances have been taken care of through letters, visits, or by offering resources available for residents to correct ordinance violations.
Kelly said a minimum of three letters were sent to violators for a response.
Kelly adds besides the two violations that were transferred to Safebuilt, a third open ordinance violation involving a permit remains open.
She said the violations were outlined in letters from the village to the resident, but had not been corrected.
While there wasn’t as contentious of an environment that was present at the September 16 Climax Village Council meeting when law enforcement was called during a heated verbal exchange between a person in the audience and two council members, some in the packed library continued to voice concerns over two regular topics at the October 7 Council meeting.
There was also one person in the audience who offered praise to the council and another who was perturbed over another issue.
As an apparent response to the brief shouting match at the September 16 meeting, Village President Bill Lewis informed the council and audience of 22 people the council should consider
adopting council meeting public participation rules, which was approved unanimously (Ben Moore was absent).
The controversy that triggered the shouting exchange at the September 16 meeting centers around a $25 per day fine for permit noncompliance through a court order that totals $10,675 at 110 South Main Street. The Village has also absorbed approximately $2000 in attorney fees during the process. The fees and penalties that were assessed were put on the property as a lien.
Lewis said the $25 a day fine that totaled $10,675 was put on the 110 South Main Street property two days before the terms of the previous council members expired.
Trustee Denise Pyle, who placed a motion on the floor that never moved forward to remove the $10,675 fee and pursue the approximately $2000 in attorney expense only for the property at 110 South Main Street at the September 16 meeting before the shouting event, said the way the lien was placed on the 110 South Main Street property for building permit noncompliance through the court order has made it difficult for the village to get the money back.
Some audience members spoke directly about the court order at 110 South Main Street, while others talked about other topics.
Village resident Jim Cummings felt there was a deepening pattern of dishonesty behavior, nepotistic practices, vindictive actions, incompetence and questionable fiscal management occurring. The former village president adds “when information is withheld, distorted or selectively shared it betrays the public’s trust.”
Former Village Council President David Miller used a majority of his three-minutes of citizens time to review legal rights of municipalities and citizens and a past court case.
Village resident Brian Deller asked for an update on three ordinance complaints he reported in late June. He said he has not seen action or received feedback on all three.
He said his complaints related to Section 14-103 through 14-105 of the village’s code of ordinances pertaining to blight of structures, abandoned vehicles, junk and trash in a driveway and unlicensed vehicles.
Later in the meeting the Council unanimously approved the next step of transferring two violations to the enforcement officer under contract at Safebuilt, which handles the Village’s permit and ordinance violation services for the next step in the process.
Ordinance/Zoning/Planning & Development Chairperson Carolyn Kelly said she could not reveal the address of the two ordinance violations that will be forwarded to Safebuilt.
Dave Dell had concerns about what he felt was blight at three locations on East Maple Street.
Village resident Rita Beck wanted to thank the current village council for going above and beyond of what she claimed had been done previously by the past council.
She commended president Bill Lewis for adding office hours which she said were not required. She also praised the effort and time being put in by Ordinance/Zoning/Planning & Development Chairperson Carolyn Kelly working on ordinance complaints.
Beck felt because the court order was initiated by a previous council and the current council questioned whether the process was done properly, the council should drop the penalties of $10,675, only pursue the approximately $2000 in legal fees involved with 110 South Main Street and “do a better job in the future so the situation does not happen again.”
Beck also thanked the Department of Public Works staff for their work in the village.
Roger Smith reviewed the court order history and dates of each action that was taken at 110 South Main Street. He felt it was important for the council to follow the judge’s orders rather then consider forgiving the $10,675.
“If this village decides to waive any kind of fees that this guy has been given on that property, you are going to open yourself up to big, big trouble with the court system because the court has ordered that those fees be paid,” said Smith.
“If you’re going to allow somebody to continue to do whatever he wants and then beg you for forgiveness, for you to remove any fees he’s gotten, just remember that the judge placed that order.
You can be opening yourself up to some major fines from a judge and it’s going to be worse then what you’re going to be getting from a guy that should be paying it, that was avoiding it,” said
Smith, who also expressed the need to recoup all the fees related to 329 West Maple Street where the Council is also trying to recover $14,920 for demolition and attorney costs at the location the Council also holds a lien on.
Planning Commission Positions, Terms Established; Compensation Stipend Approved
The leadership positions, terms and compensation for the newly created Village of Climax Planning Commission were established and approved.
The chairperson is Village of Climax resident Haley Rice, vice chairperson is village of Climax resident Cathy Weissert, secretary and liaison to the Village Council is Climax Village Trustee Denise Munoz Pyle, trustee is village of Climax resident Marcia Lewis and the other trustee is Climax Township resident Chris Boshow.
Marcia Lewis is appointed to a one-year term beginning 8-19-25 and ending 8-19-2026. The terms for Weissert and Boshow are for two years, beginning 8-19-2025 and ending 8-19-2027. Rice’s appointment is for a three-year term beginning 8-19-25 and ending 8-19-2028, and Pyle’s term will be the remaining time she has as a village council trustee, which ends in November, 2028.
The Council approved by a 5-1 margin (Joline Chaney voted no) a stipend for the chairperson of $75 per meeting, and $60 per meeting for the other members. Pyle said the planning commission
will have a large amount of work initially that will require twice a month meetings, however eventually the number of meetings needed will be reduced to four per year.
DPW Report
Lucas Piper of the Department of Public Works reports water pumpage reports and water samples have been completed for October.
A new stand by generator has been installed at well house No. 3. Propane will be installed in the near future. Well house No. 3 is where power is located to operate all three of the village’s wells. When there is a power outage the new generator will operate the entire water system.
All hydrants have been maintained by the DPW, however the hydrant near the fire station is not working correctly and will be fixed.
Leaf pickup started Oct. 1 and will continue through Nov. 24. No pine needles or wall nuts in piles.
A gas line in the library has to be replaced from the meters to the furnaces. An estimate of $1,800 to $2,400 by Bartholomew Heating and Cooling to fix the line was unanimously approved by the Council.
Because the Village has a new EGLE District Engineer, there were some new requirements that required board action for expense.
The Council unanimously approved a quote that will not exceed $10,000 from Prein & New Hof to perform a water system reliability study which is required every five years. The last time a water system reliability study was performed for the Village was 2017 at a cost of $7,500. The Village’s previous EGLE District Engineer told the Village the 2017 water system reliability study would be sufficient until a new EGLE District Engineer was hired.
Village Has Not Raised Property Taxes
After hearing recent complaints that the Village has raised taxes, President Bill Lewis offered a brief presentation that points out the village’s levy rate has remained the same for a number of years.
The presentation offered the council and audience a look how property taxes are set and levied in the Village. An L-4029 tax rate request form a local government unit and school district must file annually reports the property tax levy the unit intends to levy.
The Village levies a special assessment of 2.5 mills for the water system.
Lewis said the Headlee Rollback millage number the Village can draw up to is 12.9749 mills, however the village draws 9.5 mills.
Since 2021 the millage rate and water assessments has been the same - 2.5 and 9.5 mills, which Lewis thought were the same figures going back to 2011.
The revenue generated from the 2.5 mills and 9.5 mills revenue remains in the Village for services offered to village residents by the Village.
The Village President points out what has increased is the assessed value. In 2021, the assessed value in the village was $15,368,885. In 2025 the assessed value in the village is $19,677,407, which he said will impact the overall tax bill.
There has also been an increase in property values in the area.
The CPI (Consumer Price Index), which is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods, has also increased. In 2023 there was a 5% increase, in 2024 there was a 5% increase and in 2025 there was a 3.1% increase.
Any property tax increases outside of what the village levies, have been out of the local council’s control.
Ordinance/Zoning/Planning & Development
Ordinance/Zoning/Planning & Development Chairperson Carolyn Kelly noted there have been 63 or 64 ordinance notices since the board changed last November.
Kelly said many ordinances have been taken care of through letters, visits, or by offering resources available for residents to correct ordinance violations.
Kelly said a minimum of three letters were sent to violators for a response.
Kelly adds besides the two violations that were transferred to Safebuilt, a third open ordinance violation involving a permit remains open.
She said the violations were outlined in letters from the village to the resident, but had not been corrected.
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