Business owner calls for oversight committee, amid Jonesville turmoil

A Jonesville business owner called for the establishment of an “ad-hoc oversight committee” comprising other business owners and residents to review supposed issues brought to light throughout the summer with Jonesville’s city manager, council and staff. 

Allegations arose earlier this year, when a number of Jonesville firefighters, including top brass, spoke during public comment at a city council meeting to express frustration over a breakdown in communication between City Manager Jeff Gray and the fire department. 

In the months that followed, additional business owners stepped expressed dismay with Gray’s involvement with local businesses and the “hoops and hurdles” faced by organizers of Jonesville’s "Riverfest" committee that ultimately led the committee to withdraw its application to hold this year's festival. 

Jonesville City Council addressed the communication issues with the fire department at a personnel committee meeting, where a recommendation to appoint newly appointed police chief Kurt Etter as director of public safety, effectively creating a “buffer zone” between the fire department and city administration and eliminating the need for direct communications. 

At its meeting in August, the council unanimously approved Etter’s appointment,  citing his previous experience with Albion Department of Public Safety as both a firefighter and a police officer. 

Steve Tulloch, a Jonesville business owner who has been vocal about issues with Gray since early-summer, spoke Wednesday about his continued frustration and the acts of the city after a severe storm damaged the city hall’s roof, leading the fire department to place caution tape over the entrance of his building due to  the possibility of a structural collapse of city hall and the closeness of Tulloch’s business to the damaged building.

Tulloch said previously that city attorney Jack Lovinger had informed him the city’s fire department “did not have the authority to issue a vacate order” and that someone had moved the caution tape that read “FIRE LINE DO NOT CROSS” from in front of the entrance to his building, in violation of state law. 

Tulloch spoke again Wednesday, saying “nothing changes” when someone speaks during public comment at a council meeting regarding issues with the city. Therefore, Tulloch called for an oversight committee to review issues and investigate what he calls “abuse of authority.”

Tulloch said the committee also should help to select a new city manager.

”I think it’s time to move on,” Tulloch said, as he turned to Lovinger. “In a time of crisis, you chose to ignore city ordinances. You and the city manager must be held accountable.”