Grand Haven, MI (WGHN) – Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Ryan Cummins has released the following statement in regards to the whistleblower allegations and the Board of Light and Power.
The statement:
Whistleblower Allegations and Response:
On September 5, the City Attorney notified the City Council of whistleblower allegations concerning the BLP. The City Attorney advised Council these may be violations of both civil and criminal laws.
On September 14, the City Attorney met with the whistleblower and their attorney for two and a half hours to assess the validity of the allegations. The whistleblower was able to provide the City Attorney with specific details and information about the allegations. The whistleblower also turned over 200,000 e-mails and pointed to 6,000 e-mail records as supporting their allegations.
Following the meeting with the whistleblower, the City Attorney advised Council Member Lowe and myself of his assessment. He also advised the Council of the same and that he was comfortable with a proposed resolution for an independent investigation into the whisteblower allegations.
On Monday, Council Member Lowe and I asked the Council to consider an independent investigation. Here are my reasons for asking for this:
-These allegations involve both members of management and some members of the BLP board.
-Considering who may be involved, and the dynamics of the Council/BLP relationship, I felt an independent investigation was best to takes the Council, BLP, and City Attorney out of it.
-Having an independent investigator guarantees the integrity of the investigation, ensures a full and thorough investigation, and protects due process of all.
-The resolution also required the the City Attorney to make a report of all whistleblower allegations and possible violations of Michigan’s elections laws to the Michigan Attorney General.
-Bringing these allegations in a resolution provided transparency.
I do think the criticism that the BLP was not provided the information sooner is fair and wish that had been handled differently.
Ultimately, if the City Council had not acted on Monday, we would have been criticized no matter what for either waiting too long to disclose these allegations, for disclosing these matters too close to an election or after an election, or for not having an independent evaluation sooner.
I want to again thank the whistleblower for their tremendous courage in bringing these allegations forward and their trust that they would properly investigate. The Council and BLP both indicated that the whistleblower should not be retaliated against in any way.
While a significant amount of evidence has been shared with the City Attorney, these do remain allegations at this point. I am committed to making sure the findings of this independent investigation will be released to the public in their entirety upon its conclusion for full transparency.
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