HURDLE PLACED IN FRONT OF NEW BUFFALO COUNCILMEN RECALL ATTEMPT

By:  Stan Maddux

New Buffalo Mayor John Humphrey and City Councilman Brian Flanagan are trying stop an effort to have them removed from office.

They’re appealing a May 3 decision by the Berrien County Election Commission to approve the language in their recall petitions.

The appeal has been filed in Berrien County Circuit Court.

Their votes to prohibit new short term rentals in R-1, R-2 and R-3 zoning districts in the city is the reason cited in petitions to recall both elected officials.

Humphrey said the language on the surface is accurate but doesn’t reflect the truth or reasons behind the decision.

“I feel it lacks context and misleads the public,” he said.

Humphrey said he wanted to reveal the chain of events leading up to their decisions to members of the election commission but was not allowed to prior to the language on the recall petitions being approved.

He said permits to operate short term rentals were issued under the previous administration despite no language existing in local zoning laws allowing homes to be used for such purposes.

Humphrey said the previous city council later placed a moratorium on short term rental permits in response to increasing complaints from full time residents about parties, loud noise and other disruption from the dwellings.

Another reason cited for the moratorium was to buy time for deciding whether to change local zoning laws to officially allow homes to be used for vacations or weekend getaways and, if so, adopting restrictions to govern their use.

The issue continued to be looked at when Humphrey and Flanagan were elected.

Ultimately, the zoning laws were amended to allow homes used as short term rentals in the past to continue welcoming guests as long as a permit was obtained and use of the property abided by newly adopted restrictions.

Humphrey said only additional short term rentals in residential districts were prohibited.

“There was never a legal right in our zoning ordinance to short term rent.  This was a special use unlawfully granted to people from the previous administration,” he said.

He said the permits issued previously violated local zoning laws prohibiting commercial activity in single family residential neighborhoods.

“A family unit is not large groups of people.  Period,” he said.

Another petition seeks to recall just Humphrey.

It alleges Humphrey in March had a citizen escorted from a city council meeting during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Humphrey, though, said a police officer acted on her own to remove the resident for disrupting the proceedings and a police report backs up his claims.

Humphrey said the people behind the recall attempt mostly live outside the city whose interests are driven strictly by money.

Opponents of the ban on future short term rentals argue it infringes on their rights as property owners.

However, Humphrey disagrees.

“When you buy a piece of property, you’re entering into a contract with that municipality to abide by its zoning rules and regulations. Just because you want to do something doesn’t mean it’s legal or fair,” he said.

Humphrey and Flanagan were elected to their first terms in November of 2020 after campaigning against the growing number of short term rentals.

Taking a seat on the council at the same time was Roger Lijewski, who also voted in favor of the ban.

There’s no attempt to recall Lijewski, though.

Humphrey said supporters of the recall wouldn’t be able to drum up enough support for the recall attempt if they also tried to have Lijewski removed.

Lijewski was the leading vote getter in 2020.

Humphrey and Flanagan were the second and third leading vote getters for the three open seats but still defeated their opponents by a near two to one margin.

“Putting Roger in the same boat with us makes their chances of getting signatures less likely,” Humphrey said.

Recall supporters must obtain 219 signatures on their petitions for a recall election to be held in November if Humphrey and Flanagan fail in their appeals.

Humphrey also said the recall attempt is a way to overturn a decision made legally by an elected council reflecting the wishes of most of their constituency.

“You must have fairness and equity in the election process or you can’t have democratic elections and that’s what they’re trying to stop.  In my opinion, this is a cohesive effort to try and limit or remove power from the people that live here and give it to the other people that don’t,” he said.