Kinch, Hendrick, Cummins, Lowe, McLaughlin - Appear to be working together behind the scenes
On April 17, 2023, Jacob Welch announced a citizen-led group known as the Board of Light and Power Charter Change Coalition (BLPCCC) was launching a signature campaign that would lead to placing an amendment on the November 2023 ballot which would transfer the control of the Board of Light and Power (BLP) to the Grand Haven City Council. While some citizens may be involved in this effort, emails obtained via FOIA indicate at least three current Grand Haven City Council members and one current BLP board member were also involved in this effort.
This email was sent by Grand Haven City Council member Kevin McLaughlin from his personal email account on August 10, 2022. Back in August 2022, relations between the BLP and the Grand Haven City Council were rapidly deteriorating. PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) pollution, likely dating to the time when Harbor Island served as the city dump, had been found on Harbor Island in addition to the anticipated Coal Combustion Residue (CCR) left behind by the former J.B. Sims plant. This discovery indicated the City of Grand Haven and the BLP would be responsible for the upcoming environmental clean-up effort. Negotiating a mutual agreement including roles, responsibilities, and funding the project was imminent. With the looming negotiation the City of Grand Haven denied the BLP independent legal representation and told them they would be represented by the city attorney.
According to the following email, three members of the Grand Haven City Council were also working on a plan to dissolve the BLP and change the charter of the City of Grand Haven. Among others, recipients of the email sent by Grand Haven City Council member Kevin McLaughlin include Andrea Hendrick (andrea@isiteconsultinggroup.com in the email header) from the Board of Light and Power, Ryan Cummings (ryancummins09@gmail.com) from the Grand Haven City Council, and Karen Lowe (kalowe126@icloud.com) from the Grand Haven City Council. Not only were these public servants working behind the scenes under the guise of a “citizen-led” initiative, it appears they violated the Open Meetings Act by including at least three out of five board members on an email chain. Isn’t it interesting that they all used their personal email accounts?
John Kinch is running for an open board seat on the Board of Light and Power. He will be on the ballot in November 2023. The following email from Grand Haven City Council member Ryan Cummins was sent on March 31, 2023, two weeks before the BLPCCC made their announcement at the Grand Haven City Council meeting. It appears Cummins was still working on the charter change project. How else would Cummins have been able to “bring him up to speed on the Charter Amendment project?” How would he have been aware of the details of a citizen-led initiative? And this email makes it appear like John Kinch is also working with other council members behind the scenes.
What is the true motivation behind this effort? Andrea Hendrick is running to be mayor of Grand Haven. If elected and this amendment passes, she would be part of dissolving her former board and one of four people involved in this effort to gain the authority to set electric rates and later possibly transfer BLP funds to the city general fund. To me, this screams CONFLICT OF INTEREST! Do you think your electric rates will remain low if this amendment passes?