High-minded rhetoric lifts Park council,
which then considers a rat committee

Monday evening’s Grosse Pointe Park City Council meeting followed the rule of three.

Three city council members took the oath of office along with their mayor. Three parties gave their points of view regarding a yearlong struggle over a chimney at 1263 Whittier. And there were three major orders of business.

Council members Laurie Arora, Daniel C. Grano and James Robson – the latter two incumbents – were officially appointed to four-year terms following the city’s Nov. 3 election. Mayor Palmer T. Heenan, who was also unopposed, took the oath of office along with them.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura D. Corrigan, a Park resident and Grano's mother, showed up to give the newly elected officials their oaths. She remarked on how the rule of three applied to that proceeding: three out of seven state Supreme Court members live in the Park, three city council members are being sworn in and it has been 233 years since the United States democratic government began.

“You are privileged to carry on this experiment in American freedom,” she said. “It is only because you take this oath tonight … that this experiment in democracy continues.”

During the middle of the meeting, the council heard an update from city attorney Dennis Levasseur on the 1263 Whittier chimney issue.

For more than a year, the Dodge family of 1257 Whittier has fought to get an extension of the neighboring McCoy family’s chimney because of fears its fumes are making the area unsafe.

The Dodges have been requesting the city designate the McCoy chimney as a nuisance. They had two engineers examine the chimney.

Council members Daniel E. Clark, Robert Denner and Arora visited the area after receiving calls that the McCoy chimney was burning. They did not determine the chimney’s fumes were enough to make it a nuisance, but Clark and Denner said they were willing to visit the neighborhood again.

Levasseur also pointed out that the engineering report noted the peak of the McCoy’s house was shorter than others in the neighborhood.

Lynn Dodge acknowledged the burning the councilmen witnessed was lesser than normal.

David McCoy said he was willing to extend his chimney only if the Dodges agreed to indemnify him and pay for any legal fees in this matter.

Dodge said her family would only be willing to pay for a sheet metal extension of the chimney to see if that is enough to disperse any noxious fumes from ground level.
McCoy, however, refused, saying he would not allow his house to become a testing ground. He requested the council make a motion to put this matter to bed.

“This is no way to live in a neighborhood,” he said.

Park building inspector Ron Supal said since the McCoy chimney met the state’s minimum standards, this situation should be laid to rest.

“What’s the threshold to solving this,” he said. “I think that’s enough.”

Heenan encouraged the council to make that motion. “To keep bringing them back here, that’s mean-spirited,” he said. “Be merciful.”

Clark made the motion, which passed unanimously. McCoy said he was happy the council finally concluded the matter. Dodge declined to comment.

In a third major order of business, councilman James Robson said he was in the process of developing a rodent committee as a result of complaints about rat poison distribution. Besides Robson, the committee includes Arora, city manager Dale Krajniak and director of public safety David Hiller.

This action comes after residents expressed numerous complaints at the last council meeting regarding allegations city workers improperly distributed rat poison, resulting in the deaths of two dogs and many squirrels.

Hiller announced that all city traps had been collected and rat bait has been placed in sealed containers. His department will wait for the rodent committee’s decisions before taking any more action against the city’s rats.

Hiller also said his investigation regarding city employees improperly distributing rat poison is closed. He determined no eyewitnesses saw employees doing this in the timeframe of the dogs’ deaths.

In other business, Heenan saw the re-appointment of Councilman Gregory P. Theokas as his mayor pro tem. Heenan also highlighted the contributions Shirley Kennedy, who lost this year’s city council election.

“She’s brought a lot of honor to this council and I appreciate her very much,” he said.

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