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Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn, who served as former Gov. Scott Walker’s chief legal counsel and helped draft the state's landmark Act 10 law, said Thursday he will not participate in pending litigation seeking to overturn several components in the law.

Petty much?

The bell has rung on round three in the legal fight between the Macomb County prosecutor and county administration, as the prosecutor seeks a court order that allows him to upgrade a current staffer’s position.

Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido alleges Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel has again not lived up to his duty to implement the board-approved budget, which he says allows for his office to upgrade his office manager’s position to chief operations clerk.

Under that, Office Manager Angela Burke’s salary would increase from $68,000 to nearly $83,000 to reflect her expanded duties, according to the complaint filed in the Court of Appeals on Jan. 8. “It’s Pete being Pete’s typical self,” Deputy County Executive Andrew McKinnon told MIRS, adding that Lucido served Hackel with the suit at his home one day prior to formally filing the complaint with the court.

“… He didn’t get what he wanted so he’s going to court to try to … I believe the court will do the proper thing and reject it as a collective bargaining issue,” McKinnon added.

According to the complaint, the Macomb County Board of Commissioners approved the funds for a chief operations clerk in November and Lucido submitted authorization for the reclassification to the county’s human resources office in December. However, Lucido alleges the human resources office “took no action” to allow the hire of a chief operations clerk and declined to process the contracts.

McKinnon said the county board agreed to the upgrade only if the human resources department found the upgrade was necessary.

And, he noted, after taking an “objective look at” the request, the human resources department determined that Burke was not entitled to a position upgrade because she is doing the work of an office manager.

According to a November resolution, the board supported the increased funding only if the position was “reclassified to chief operations clerk,” which McKinnon said is a position in the elections department.

Lucido’s attorney, Donn Fresard, who served as Lucido’s former chief deputy, said state statute allows Lucido to appoint “as many assistant prosecuting attorneys” and other staff, including clerks as necessary.

Lucido’s complaint also renewed a claim that he should receive $42,500 to pay for permanent legal costs from independent attorney contractors, but he agreed to put that request on hold as it is currently before the Michigan Supreme Court in a prior complaint challenging appropriations from 2024. The state’s high court is expected to hear that matter in April along with Hackel v. Macomb County Board of Commissioners

Really we all could benefit from this

You might want to check and see if there are similar programs in your town

Armada Township Fire Chief Stephen Kohut reminded residents that the fire department has smoke and carbon monoxide detectors available free of charge for township residents.

He said that so far roughly 70 detectors have been installed.

Kohut shared the details of the program at the Jan. 8 Armada Township Board of Trustees meeting.

“This is a free program. If you call the fire department mainline at 586-784-9464, talk to one of the friendly firefighters, they will explain the program to you,” he said.

A firefighter will come to a resident’s house and check their smoke detectors.

If they are outdated or there are no smoke or carbon monoxide detectors in the house, one with a 10-year battery will be installed at no cost thanks to a grant from the Michigan State Fire Marshal’s office.

Kohut also reassured the residents that the staff are more than happy to pay a visit.

“Please don’t worry about imposing on the department. We’ve been out a couple of times to houses that we’ve inspected and said everything is absolutely perfect, you don’t need anything, and they were equally as happy,” he said.

The fire department also received a Fueling Futures grant from Enbridge Energy in the amount of $2,500.

It will be used to purchase weighted manikins for fire rescue training.

“This allows more realistic rescue training as the manikins are the size and weight of actual adults and require considerable team coordination to move,” Kohut said.

The order was placed this past week and is expected to be approved by the board at their February meeting.

The board also had their public hearing for Community Development Block Grant funding.

Armada Township had $1,850 in funds for 2025.

A total of $850 was given to Armada Police Athletic League to send children to their summer camp, $318 was given to Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers and $682 was given to Samaritan House.

“I wish we could get more (for Samaritan House),” said Armada Township Trustee Steve Nikkel, who said he paid a visit to the Washington Township charity and was impressed by the way they distribute food to the needy. “It hits hard when you see that. That organization is really something to see. Without them, these people go without.”

In other business, the board of trustees:

Heard an update from Armada Township Attorney Christine Anderson on a tax appeal from Blake’s. Blake’s wants to be exempt from paying school taxes due to agricultural use under the Right to Farm Act and under general property tax act. The appeal is expected to take several months. Approved the allocation of the SMART Municipal and Community credits for fiscal year 2025-26. Approved a resolution to purchase community transit services from Richmond/Lenox EMS with the SMART Municipal and Community Credits.

Uhm, this can't be a good thing.

Is it really as easy as emptying standing water from potted plants and saucers?