They took my money!

OK, someone explain to me how Board of Water and Light head J. Peter Lark and the public utility’s citizen commissioners did NOT just steal roughly $400,000 from Lansing residents.

As reported in the LSJ Sunday, BWL agreed in December to pay William Cook, a departing vice president, at least $385,000, plus benefits. To quote the story, “BWL officials would provide no other details about  the departure.”

So, here are the public facts: Cook no longer is working for BWL. Cook is getting hundreds of thousands of dollars for not working.

How is paying people not to work any different than Lark or the commissioners taking BWL money out of the bank and setting fire to it? Lansing residents once owned this money; now they don’t. That sure looks like theft.

I have no idea why Cook is no longer at BWL. The fact a public agency won’t tell the public why it threw away money leads me to the natural human reaction of suspicion: What is BWL hiding?

If Cook was incompetent, BWL should have fired him for cause. If Cook didn’t “fit into” Lark’s new leadership scheme, Lark should have found an alternative that didn’t involve squandering our money.

But that’s the real point here, isn’t it -- it wasn’t Lark’s money or the commissioners’ personal funds, so why would they care if some guy walks away with $400,000 of it.? It won’t affect their ability to pay their mortgages. And the ratepayers/taxpayers? Well ... they just need to understand this is how business is done.

As the Sunday LSJ story pointed out, the Cook saga is hardly unique in this area. The point’s been made on the Opinion page before that one of the lucrative careers in mid-Michigan is to become an ex-senior employee of Lansing Community College.

When a defense is offered for this payouts, it’s usually of the, “Well, the payments head off litigation, which would have been much more expensive, even if we prevailed” variety.

Of course, if you take that argument apart, don’t you come to another crime? Extortion is defined in federal law as “the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right.”

Now, to be clear, I’m all for individual citizens pursuing their self-interest to the full measure allowed by law. But, last I checked, public servants’ jobs weren’t to facilitate the desires of an individual, but to safeguard the interests of the public at-large.

Starting this month, BWL customers are paying higher rates for electricity, for water, for steam. Lark and the commissioners told the community the rate increases were needed to offset rising costs.

Here’s a tip on cost control: Don’t throw away money that's not yours.

Comments

[Ricky]

And maybe if all public entities-university athletic departments immediately come to mind-didn't all have the mindset you describe, people wouldn't automatically think either "hey! lawsuit!!" or "hey!! golden parachute!!"

[amac]

Thank you again, Derek, for saying what needs to be said. Amen to each and every word of this blog.

[Sick of people not investigating issues]

Instead of spouting rumors, why not find out why he was fired. This was a highly respected 20+ year employee that suddenly got canned due to political agendas.

[eric]

well i am not shedding any tears for a guy who gets nearly half a mill for NOT working anymore. its not like the issue of why the guy was fired wasnt brought up in the article. they paid this guys boat loads fo cash and wont say why. and i am sure one of the conditions is for him to keep his gold fronts shut about it.

[Rob y.]

they sure spend the dough like it's not theirs. BWL is an ethical toxic waste pit anyway.

[Jack]

Mr. Merlot your editorial is right on. You are asking the right questions and you even have restored my faith in your paper.

Just few words to those who are ready to torch Mr. Cook for his settlement; as a retiree of the Board of Water and Light I work to some extent with Mr. Cook. During that time Mr. Cook’s efforts kept our rates significantly lower than most utilities in this state. To achieve this benefit, that we all have enjoyed, he labored 12 hour days and weekend, and gave up family vacations to keep the Board of Water and Light’s expenses low and by selling excess generation to other utilities. I have heard that the profit from these sales were in the hundred of millions of dollars. These profits have kept jobs in our city and offset expenses that would have increased our rates. These low rates allowed Lansing to compete and win the new GM Plants with other cities through out the world. Mr. Cook was a professional and was very moral, yet he was tough and demanding of his staff because he knew that our customer expected it from us. I can guarantee you one thing that Mr. Cook would never have allowed a 7% rate increase to occur. Mr. Cook gave over 20 years of his life to the Board and its customers, and was planning to continue that stellar career until it was abruptly ended by Mr. Lark for no sound reason, and not because of Mr. Cook’s incompetence. Let’s not compare him to John L. Smith or others whose incompetence was their own undoing. So the $385,000 may seem like a lot, but to me Mr. Cook earned every penny and then some. Remember this settlement was not his doing but because of the actions of the existing administration.

So Mr. Merlot, are you really interested in understanding why your money is going up the stack? Then I would suggest that you and your staff roll up your sleeves and do your investigative diligence to find out why these events have occurred before your competitor “The Pulse” gets a hold of this and beats you to the punch. From what I have heard this will most likely lead all the way to the Mayor’s office.