You Have Power- Change The Inverness Township Board

Howard Beale was the news anchor in the 70’s movie Network who ranted and raved. His ravings, “I’m mad as hell” gained viewers and some think little else. Spoiler alert, if you have never viewed the movie, news anchor Beale directs his viewers to open their windows and call out, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore”. The ensuing call of frustration voiced by thousands is a memorable movie moment because it embodies the daily and varied frustrations we all deal with.   

Like Howard Beale’s viewers, many of us in Cheboygan County are mad, angry or simply frustrated beyond words. Many things frustrated Beale’s viewers and we all have daily frustrations in life. Pastor, theologian, and government critic Reinhold Niebuhr penned the oft-quoted Serenity Prayer. Said simply, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

Most of us do not look to the government to solve all of our problems. As often as not, the government is the problem.  Politicians and the bureaucrats we employ to supply those government services society has determined are essential to our well being are our employees. We, the people they serve, pay their salaries, wages, and benefits.

The elected County Commissioners, Cheboygan City Council, and Township Boards work for each of us. It is not a simple job. We all have different needs, priorities, political positions, and we each place different demands on our local government bodies. Cheboygan County residents have a wide diversity of incomes, housing, education, and perceived needs. I know some young and even older people who struggle every day to keep a roof over their own or their family’s head. Retirees who have located here may have different needs but higher expectations. Some retirees look forward to a utopian and not utilitarian retirement. One group knows a pile of firewood or a few tires in the yard is an asset worth saving, while the other group sees anything except a neatly manicured lawn as blight requiring an ordinance. 

Many of our Cheboygan County wage earners now commute every day to Gaylord, Petoskey, or other communities that have experienced more growth in retail, healthcare, and the coveted manufacturing and industrial jobs that pay a living wage. Some of those driving a 60, 70, or 80-mile round-trip daily to that end of the rainbow job will eventually pull up roots and move closer to that place of employment.  I have lived in boom and bust one-industry towns where the inevitable downturn occurs and some pundit posts a roadside sign-Will the last person out please shut off the lights. Cheboygan County has too many natural assets to have the lights turned off. That does not mean we can continue to allow a regressive Inverness Township Board, to dim the lights, pull the shades, and hide from outside developers willing to invest millions of dollars here and create hundreds of new of jobs. 

Cheboygan County approved the Meijer site plan in February 2015. Inverness Township Supervisor Ron Neuman was then quoted, “The township wants the project to happen and was working diligently to get water to the site”. If three years of virtual inactivity is Mr Neuman’s definition of “working diligently”, what is his definition of a slacker? It only requires three board members to approve any motion before the board. Five apathetic people in Inverness Township have thwarted needed growth in this county for three years and they should equally share the blame.

Click on this link for the step-by-step procedure to implement a recall election. 

Recall the Inverness Five-NOW!

Meijers has since invested millions of dollars opening stores in Alpena, Sault Ste. Marie, Escanaba, Marquette, and other progressive communities offering new shopping and employment opportunities. The time for Inverness residents to accept apathy and practice serenity is over. Your fellow Cheboygan County residents cannot carry your water. As an Inverness resident, only you can exercise your right to recall the “Inverness Five” and elect some new and progressive board members. The law excludes the first and last year of a 4 year-term, allowing only calendar years 2018 and 2019 to exercise a recall election. Are there enough people in Inverness Township with the “wisdom to know the difference?” Exercising that wisdom to do something new will take courage.