LANSING, Mich. — "I think that the council in putting the city clerk on probation wanted to make sure that we were emphatic that we were disappointed, frustrated and that we wanted to keep a close eye on matters within the city clerks office," said Jackson Mayor Derek Dobies.
Mayor Dobies and council members are frustrated the millages won't be on the November ballot. The council approved them in January, but the city didn't get the wording approved in time.
"We ran up against a deadline at which things had to be sent to the county clerk at 4:00 p.m. and the language hadn't been approved by the Attorney General or the Governor," said Dobies.
He says that's partially because of a crucial vacancy.
"The gap that we had with the city attorney's departure I think created this perfect storm," said Dobbies.
But the mayor says there's plenty of blame to go around.
"I don't think that there's a singular point or person is responsible," said Dobbies.
However, the clerk is the only person on probation for now.
"It's pretty insulting to think that I would do this maliciously when I've been talking about doing what we can to fix the local road problem," said Dobies.
Ward 6 Councilmember Colleen Sullivan also expressed disappointment at the turn of events. The proposal she created was one of the street millages approved.
"We know that a timeline was missed and ultimately regardless of all of the components that were out there, that is the clerk's responsibility. So moving forward we'd like to make sure that we are working closely together that there are no other issues,” said Sullivan.
"At the end of the day, we're responsible for what happens at city hall and we need to make sure that there is trust," added Ward 5 Councilmember Kelsey Heck.
The reason the state needed to approve the wording of the proposals is that they would have changed the city charter. Ultimately it's too late to get them on the ballot this year.
The city of Jackson is looking at other road-funding options including combining road and infrastructure funding.
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