Miskovich resigns from council

By CHARITY SMITH

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Bessemer — Bessemer City Councilman Lou Miskovich officially resigned on Thursday, claiming a lack of communication and “petty behavior” among the councilors as reasons for his decision to step down.

“The petty behavior between councilors, combined with closed-minded personal agendas is crippling this town,” Miskovich said in his letter of resignation. “There are issues with communication between councilors as well as keeping all councilors abreast of situations. I feel this system is flawed if not out right broken. There is no transparency, no trust, and no accountability.”

According to Miskovich, some members of the council do things without consulting the council first. He said that he would find out about things that were going on from citizens and when he would confront those involved they would tell him that they didn't feel they needed the council’s approval.

“I mean every word of it. Every word of it. There is absolutely no transparency in this government here,” Miskovich said. “They keep stuff from the public just because they don't think the public is ready to hear it or this or that. It's not their decision.”

Mayor Adam Zak said that he could say with “100 percent certainty” that Miskovich had never expressed any of the concerns he cited in his letter of resignation to him before. He said he had never heard him talk about this or anything.

“It is unfortunate that Lou felt that he needed to resign from the council, but his hard-work and dedication to the city of Bessemer is greatly appreciated,” Zak said. “His resignation surprised me as well as the rest of the council and some of the reasons that he cited for resigning were all never brought to our attention in the past.”

Miskovich said he had discussed the problems before with city manager Charly Loper and other council members. However, he said that he might not have told Zak as most of the problems he mentioned involved him.

Loper reached out to Miskovich after receiving his letter of resignation to try and get more information and to see if there was anything she could do, Zak said. Miskovich never returned her calls.

Miskovich acknowledged that he had refused to talk to them after he submitted his letter of resignation. He said he didn't want to hear what he thought would be excuses.

“I've don't feel like having to explain myself to them and hearing we could do this or that,” Miskovich said. “It's never fixing the problem; it's usually putting a bandaid on it.”

The rest of the council members said they were surprised with the Miskovich resignation.

“I enjoyed serving with him and I thought he added value to the council,” said Councilman Terry Kryshak.

Councilman Bill McDonald said that he knew where Miskovich was coming from. He recalled when Kryshak issued a public apology for what he said was unprofessional conduct towards McDonald during a public hearing with the Michigan Department of Transportation. He said that he should not have belittled a fellow councilman.

It is not always easy to be on the city council, said Councilwoman Linda Nelson. There are a lot of tough decisions that have to be made and that they are never going to make everyone happy, she said.

“I am sorry to see Lou go as he was bringing some good ideas, suggestions and conversations to the council,” Nelson said. “I wish him well and thank him for his time served.”

The council has 30 days per the city charter to fill the vacated seat. Anyone who is interested in the position can submit a letter of interest to the city manager. The council will be scheduling interviews to take place during their meeting on Nov. 16.