Sturgis Commission continues infighting, Terry calls for peace

During Wednesday’s Sturgis City Commission the verbal sparring continued, intensified, and then ended with a call from interim City Manager Doug Terry to put it all behind them and work for the city. 

After a swift move through the regular business agenda — during which commissioners unanimously approved a $336K contract with Hydro Corp Inc. to analyze the future of the Sturgis dam — a number of commissioners shared prepared statements. 

The saga has been going on since April, when commissioners met for a closed session discussing allegations against City Manager Andrew Kuk. Shortly after, Kuk resigned and an investigation was opened into what Commissioner Aaron Miller said led to Kuk’s resignation: wrongdoing by Mayor Perez. 

Commissioner Cathi Abbs has not made many public comments throughout the process, other than some dialogue during meetings. During Wednesday’s meeting, she read a lengthy prepared statement:

Now that the results of this investigation have concluded, I think it’s important for each of us to reflect honestly on how we arrived here and what it has cost the commission, our city staff, and most importantly, our community. We have experienced some disbelief, disappointment, deception, anger, resulting in a loss of trust which we know now is the very foundation of any relationship.

It sickens me to think that many if not most of our citizens have little or no confidence in our leadership. Unfortunately, we’ve earned it and we’re all gonna work really hard to gain it back. Committing substantial taxpayer dollars to outside legal counsel for an inquiry born out of miscommunication, lack of communication, lack of facts, lack of respect, erroneous assumptions, and anger was not prudent governance. To this very day really only one of the four commissioners that voted for an investigation initially has ever asked me really what happened, and unfortunately that was after the fact.

Thousands of public dollars were expended, funds that our residents rightfully expected to go towards repairing our sidewalks that we talk about and roads supporting public safety and strengthening municipal services. It was stated that sunlight remains the ultimate disinfectant and I agree that sunlight has exposed every aspect of this issue that has clouded our city. This chapter must be definitively closed.

The residents elected us to serve them, the very owners of a city. It is my sincere hope that each of us will commit to working together, collaboratively, for the betterment of Sturgis. I’m really requesting that discussions regarding these specific policies, procedures, and governance take place very soon in an open work session. I would assume that after we have new commissioners would be a great time. I just don’t want it to be delayed. We need it. We can do better, and we must do better.

Following Abb’s statements, Commissioner Justin Wickey spoke, echoing his comments from the commissioners’ previous meeting during which he called on voters in the fourth precinct to vote for Stoney Summey, Perez’s opponent. 

“I cannot in good conscience stay quiet on the fourth precinct commissioner race that Mayor Perez is attempting to be reelected in. I have a few things to say about the mayor’s conduct,” Wickey began. “It is not okay to hold secret meetings with city commissioners and staff, it is not okay to lie to the city attorney, it is not okay to lie to the city manager, it is not okay to threaten the city manager, it is not okay to deceive your fellow commissioners, and it is not okay to waste hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars because of his conduct. The city now has to pay two city manager salaries and the cost of the investigation. Based on his conduct, in any other job, the mayor would be fired immediately.” 

Wickey finished by saying, “Please vote for Stoney Summey.” 

Commissioner Richard Bir followed with a prepared statement of his own.

“Commissioner (Aaron) Miller, you accused me and other commissioners of breaking Michigan law in a public meeting,” Bir said. “The investigation that you demanded showed that we did not break the Open Meetings Act. You owe me and those commissioners a public apology along with the citizens of Sturgis and a commitment to work with all the commissioners going forward for the good of the city of Sturgis.

Bir then looked to Miller and asked him:
“Your response, sir?”

“It’s your time, I’m not going to respond to that.” Miller replied. 

“Well, since you cannot do this,” Bir said. “ I ask that you resign from the commission and any votes that you received on the ballot will be null and void. Commissioner Miller, your self-righteousness is staggering.”

Mayor Perez then shared his thoughts. He spoke for over ten minutes, mostly to Miller. Perez shared that he had received a death threat and claimed Miller’s rhetoric and attacks on his character to be the cause of it. 

“It’s been seven months, Aaron, since you and others created this mess and brought shame to our community. You continued to lie, make false narratives that have caused so much damage. Back in April, you, Mullins, Wickey, and Boring had the opportunity to do the right thing and join me, commissioner Bir, Abbs, Smith, and Harrington to look into issues that were brought to us. Instead you turned a blind eye. You looked the other way. You chose friendship over doing the right thing.”

Perez then spoke directly to Miller:

“I was still dealing with city issues and still addressing city issues to provide positive outcomes. I never deviated from what the oath that I took to be an elected official. You engaged with the media as recently as two weeks ago and continue to lie and make false statements about me and others. Why? You wanna be mayor that bad? The report didn’t give you what you wanted, yet you still find it in you to continue to attack me and come up with lies, false narratives, now we’re moving on to secret meetings. I don’t get it, Aaron.”

He continued, addressing Sonia Burkhead’s recent public statements sharing her disappointment with the way the investigation handled her allegations. She felt they were not looked at directly, instead, only regarding the ways commissioners communicated about her allegations. 

“You and others never thought that Sonia Burkhead would make a public statement,” Perez said, referencing the recent public statement that former Sturgis HR Director Sonia Burkhead shared. 

Perez then reported that he received a death threat on Monday. 

“And that all goes back to you,” he said to Miller. “All your rhetoric, all your lies, all your BS, for what? For what? You’re gonna want someone to get hurt and killed just cause you despise me so much? How would you like it if that was you?”

Perez finished his comments by talking about his reelection. As he began to move to adjourn the meeting, interim City Manager Doug Terry interrupted him and asked for permission to approach the podium. 

“Governance is one of the hardest jobs in the world,” Terry said. 

“Everything that has been spoken at the past few commission meetings, and including tonight, are heartfelt by these people that represent us. We are moving the City of Sturgis forward. In talking to each one of the commissioners, they have assured me that they will work towards the betterment of your lives and towards the government of this city. As your city manager, as your city clerk, and the rest of all of our department heads, you have our sincere promise that we will always have your best interest at heart. Mr. Mayor and commissioners, the city administration requests that moving forward that we conduct ourselves with kindness, that we conduct ourselves with the full intent of serving the citizens and the City of Sturgis with that expectation. We need to move forward, it is imperative that we move forward. Our citizens depend on us. They depend on our maturity, our leadership, and their best interest at heart. 

“It is our expectation going forward that any communication going from individual commissioners either be done through my office or be done with the maturity and respect that all of us deserve. To our citizens, you have our sincere promise that we will work towards that end, and that you can be assured that you will be proud of us in the pursuits that we will pursue for you. I think that has to be said, a lot of things have been said over the last few meetings to hurt one another. We would hope that the commission will take these words with sincere knowledge that you have the staff that will support you. It’s unfortunate what has taken place last Spring, but we do have to move forward.”

The meeting then adjourned. 

The Sturgis City Commission will not meet again until after the election. Commissioner Jeff Mullins did not seek reelection and Barry Cox is running unopposed to fill his seat. During Wednesday’s meeting, City Clerk Ken Rhodes reported two new write-in candidates qualified in unopposed elections. Michael Anderson for Precinct 2 and Hassada Wickey for Precinct 3. Both are four-year terms. The Third Precinct was vacated by Linda Harrington after she resigned in April. 

Commissioners Miller and Wickey are running unopposed. 

Perez is being challenged by Summey in the Precinct 4 election. 

Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.