S T R A W

STRAW was recently contacted by several residents regarding concerns over a home that has several blight issues and code violations located on 22126 Elizabeth.  The red flag that appears to have raised concerns is the fact this home has campaign signs for Troester and Ahearn located on the property and the home appears to be vacant.  Why would campaign signs be on the property of a vacant or bank owned home?

 The violations include:

• A construction trailer in the drive-way
• No address on the home
• A poorly kept lawn full of weeds and un-edged
• Two garages (a newer one located behind the old original structure)
• One garage with no drive-way
• Cracked and peeling paint on one garage
• Cracked front steps in front of the home
• No address located on the home. 

On top of these obvious violations,  the home also has boarded up windows that are blighting the neighborhood.  Furthermore, there were several building permits on the front window dating back to July 1998 and February 2008.  There also is a No Trespassing sign that states: 

NO TRESPASSING

By anyone without the expressed written permission of the owner of this property.

This includes city, county or state employees.

To serve or act on a violation notice, contact the owner. Do not enter this property. Violators will be prosecuted.

Posted by the owners of 22126 Elizabeth
St. Clair Shores MI, 48080

One of the residents that contacted STRAW was able to determine the address by doing a search of public records through the Saint Clair Shores website.  Since the home in question is the last home on the block, this resident was able to locate the home by looking at addresses of the surrounding homes.  This search revealed that Councilman Ron Frederick is the current owner of this home and took ownership of this property in February 2009 from a relative for a sale price of $0.  This led to several residents to begin a discussion regarding this home on the public forum Topix under the Saint Clair Shores Board.  (Click to View Topix Thread)

STRAW conducted an investigation of the information and photos that were provided by these residents.  A careful review of this information does reveal that Councilman Frederick is the owner of this home.  Since the postings began on Topix, it appears that Councilman Frederick took notice of these discussions and removed the construction trailer from the property, put an address on the home and cleaned up the yard a bit.  However, all of the other violations still exist.  The city records also show no record of this property having two garages according to the sketch provided on the city records website.

STRAW questions Councilman Frederick on the condition of his property when his own campaign website states that he will work to bring "a common sense approach  to ordinances". (http://www.ronfrederick.net/) Why would a council member feel that he is above ordinances and blight issues while other residents are not?   Furthermore, why would Councilman Ahearn and Council Candidate Troester want to have their campaign signs associated with a blighted property?

In closing, STRAW would like to thank all the residents who took notice of this issue and worked to share it with the general public to ensure our elected officials are held to the same standards as all the residents.  

The Mayor and Council Members Ahearn, Frederick and McFadyen all voted to extend the current insurance contract by one year at a cost of nearly $50,000 higher than the other company interested providing insurance for the city.   

City Council Special Meeting June 22nd

Update June 1st, 2009 

After only receiving two bids, these services are now going to be bid out in separate bid specs.  As predicted by STRAW the points noted below now clearly illustrate that the original bid specs would limit the number of companies that could bid on these services under one contract.  The City Manager did note at a recent council meeting that companies could bid on these services separately; however, the original bid specs were not clear in the wording on this fact.

Bid Specs PDF File

The city recently announced that they are accepting bids for this coveted contract.  While it would be expected that the city would receive numerous bids for this contract, the stipulations related to who can bid on this contract have greatly reduce the number of potentional companies that can participate in this bid.  You can view a full copy of the bid specs by clicking the PDF file link at the top of this article.

Some key points that limit the potentional bidders include:

• Rodent baiting has been included with the Lawn/Snow service contract.  The fact that most landscaping companies are not in the pest control business has limited who can bid on this contract to a select few companies located in Macomb County.

• Bidder must possess licensing from the State of Michigan in registered use categories 3A, 3B, 7A and 7D for rodent baiting. Proof of licensing and related insurance certification shall accompany bid packet. Bidder must also be licensed to do business in the City of St. Clair Shores. (Note:  The typical landscaping company does not have these credentials.)

• (Item F)  Work experience with at least two (2) other municipalities with a letter of recommendation attached and documentation of the services rendered to that city for a minimum two-year period. (Note: This stringent requirement has limited several Saint Clair Shores based landscaping companies that will not be able to put in a bid)