To Ipad, or not to Ipad?

Photo courtesy of Muskegon Heights

By: Emily Guiles

On Monday the eighteenth of May Muskegon Height City Council held their third council meeting this month. New and old business was up for council discussion, the first of which was;

The issue of distributing Ipads to the members of the council to use strictly for council business. Councilwoman McGlothin brought up this issue because of the problems all the council members have been having with their designated council emails. The council emails have been dysfunctional and thus council members have been forced to use their personal emails to conduct council business. This is security concern among all members of the council. Muskegon Heights City Attorney brought up his own concern for this and also reiterated that the use of personal emails to conduct council business may be a FOYA issue, and needs to be addressed.

Mayor Paige suggested a code of conduct be signed by the council members who opt for the Ipads, and felt that personal and work emails should be highly segregated.

Councilman Jenkins said he did not agree with getting Ipads and would choose to opt out of getting one himself.

Councilwoman McGlothin then went on to announce that the BWPC will be doing a clean up on the 30^th of May. They will start at King’s school at nine AM, and already have about 30 volunteers and are strongly suggesting a council presence at the cleanup.

Councilwoman McGlothin also voiced a few more concerns, including the alley between Peck and Maffit, which has a downed electrical pole. It was not specified whether or not the pole was live. Another concern was the leaf bags on Ray street have still not been picked up.

Councilman Smith went on to address the poor conditions he witnessed at the Mona View cemetery entrance, Smith suggested that it be paved and the leaves and debris cleared. Smith was also concerned that the cemetery may not have an adequate amount of staff to tend to it.

Mayor Paige said the entrance would most likely be patched, and that the cemetery has been experiencing other troubles, such as creek floods and other issues.

Councilman Smith also had some concerns regarding the personnel at City Hall, as he was unable to reach anyone after multiple attempts.

Next in the agenda councilman Jenkins voiced his opinion that the picnic tables and restrooms at Mona Lake need to be opened to the public as soon as possible. The area is being heavily used even this early in the season.