Effort to recall New Buffalo mayor Humphrey, councilmember Flanagan ramped up

Local Government Meetings

New Buffalo Times

Democracy Requires Transparency

CITY OF NEW BUFFALO JOHN HUMPHREY, MAYOR CITY COUNCIL LOU O’DONNELL, IV. MARK ROBERTSON, JOHN HUMPHREY, ROGER LIJESKI, BRIAN FLANAGAN City Council meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30PM CITY OF NEW BUFFALO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS to be determined NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP BOARD PETE RAHM, MICHELLE HEIT, JUDY H. ZABICKI, PATTY IAZZETTO, JACK ROGERS Board meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7PM NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 6:30PM

NEW BUFFALO AREA SCHOOLS BOARD CHUCK HEIT, PRESIDENT HEATHER BLACK, VICE PRESIDENT JOHN HASKINS, TREASURER LISA WERNER, SECRETARY JOYCE LANTZ, TRUSTEE FRANK MARGRO, TRUSTEE PATRICIA NEWSTON, TRUSTEE CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP BOARD DAVID BUNTE, PAULA DUDIAK, LIZ RETTIG, RICHARD SULLIVAN, BILL MARSKE Chikaming Board meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30PM CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6:30PM THREE OAKS THREE OAKS TOWNSHIP BOARD Meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7PM VILLAGE OF THREE OAKS BOARD Meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7PM GRAND BEACH Meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7PM MARY ROBERTSON, CLERK DEBORAH LINDLEY, BLAKE O’HALLORAN, JAMES BRACEWELL, PETER DOERR, PAUL LEONARD, JR. MICHIANA VILLAGE OF MICHIANA COUNCIL Meets on the 2nd Friday of each month at 1PM

Effort to recall New Buffalo mayor Humphrey, councilmember Flanagan ramped up

An effort to obtain enough signatures to recall New Buffalo City Mayor John Humphrey and fellow councilmember Brian Flanagan was kicked into high gear during a recall signing event held at the former Dairy Queen in New Buffalo Thursday, June 23.

In May, Humphrey and Flanagan appealed the language, which was approved May 3 by the Berrien County Election Commission during a clarity hearing in the Berrien County Administrative Building in St. Joseph, in two recall petitions.

Petitions were filed by Michael J. Davis on behalf of The Committee to Protect Individual Property Rights based in New Buffalo.

Among the reasons cited in the first recall petition are that Humphrey and Flanagan voted Nov. 23, 2021, “in favor of an ordinance to prohibit new short-term rentals in the R-1, R-2 and R-3 zoning districts.”

A second recall petition claims that, during a city council meeting March 21, 2022, Humphrey “instructed a New Buffalo police officer to remove an individual while she was speaking during her allotted time at the session of the meeting reserved for public comment.”

Berrien County Chief Deputy Clerk Shelia Reitz said that the petitions against each of the elected officials requires 219 valid signatures for them to be on the ballot of a recall election in November if the appeal fails. Only permanent city residents of New Buffalo are allowed to sign the recall petition.

Davis said that, while he was still able to obtain a permit to rent out his second home, he’s now unable to obtain one to rent out his primary residence.

He said that Humphrey is “bringing nothing into the town.”

“He’s saying our prices are too high for the homes and they need to come down…If our prices come down in homes, it’s not like an industry will then get built here, an industry should come first and then the people will come – it’s a great scapegoat for the council not to do anything,” Davis said.

Laura Murray, who said she was one of the people who was removed from a meeting, said that she, Carie O’Donnell and another individual are currently plaintiffs in a pending federal lawsuit with Humphrey regarding first amendment rights.

“I said nothing inflammatory, nothing derogatory, nothing out of line – he just didn’t like what I was saying,” she said.

Murray said that Humphrey “promised me a permit” to rent out her home a few weeks a year to help “defray the cost” of the taxes and that he told her that ‘I’m in R-3, I had nothing to worry about.”

“And then lo and behold, he pushed it through for R-1, R-2 and R-3,” Murray said.

She added that half her neighbors rent on Thompson Street and in the 15 years she’s lived there, she’s “never had one noise complaint.”

Carie O’Donnell, who’s part of the committee behind the recall effort, said that they have “two powerful people” to go against Humphrey and Flanagan in November.

She added that they need to have the petitions turned in by Aug. 5.

Other motivations for the recall are the long-term rental ordinance and first amendment rights, O’Donnell said.

She added that the rentals “didn’t make the property values go up – in the last couple of years, everyone’s property values went up” because of inflation.

O’Donnell said most realtors are also backing their efforts “because they are taking away property rights.”

O’Donnell said that most of the people whom she talks to are “totally for this recall,” particularly business owners who live in the city.

“They’re trying to totally stop tourism in our city and that’s what the city is built on,” she said.

O’Donnell said they have a Facebook page, Recall Mayor Humphrey and Council Member Flanagan, and a website, www.newbuffalorecall.com.

Per the committee’s Go Fund Me page, as of June 27, $2,120 of the $10,000 goal has been raised toward the recall effort.

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

Signs are posted in front of the former Dairy Queen for the recall signing event