THE LAST TIME the city of Saline had a contested mayor’s race it was 2004. Dean Girbach challenged Gretchen Driskell. Girbach captured 33 percent of the vote.
In a statement released to the media announcing his candidacy, mayoral challenger and Council member Lee Bourgoin, blasted Mayor Brian Marl.
The lengthy press release accuses Mayor Marl of “many stumbles and mistakes by the new Mayor apparently due to being short on training and experience.”
Bourgoin also accuses Saline’s mayor of breaking the law, among other transgressions. His statement alleges: “My observations are that the new Mayor has repeatedly broken the law by using public facilities as well as staffing to urge a vote of support on an election question, has sold a tax hike even while the General Fund surplus rose by $137,652 to 20% of the annual costs maximum (when no other local city needed a tax increase due to rising housing prices), has shifted an extra tax burden from the industrial parks onto homeowners, has floundered on urban core busing, has improperly discussed in closed session the dispatch changes that might at times have left the city without police about an hour at night, has not achieved new tax-lowering housing construction, has not accepted all of the assistance offered to balance the budgets, and has been slow on some other improvements.”
The two men have been cat-fighting at the Council table over the course of the past month, according to coverage of Council meetings by TheSalinePost.com.
On July 9, Bourgoin accused Marl of trying to circumvent state laws through the use of public funds to “take sides in an election.”
TheSalinePost.com reported, “Bourgoin, who said he personally in support of the proposal, said it was not appropriate for council to approve the resolution, drafted by the Michigan Municipal League. Bourgoin said he learned from the state’s elections division the city cannot use public funds to instruct people how to vote.”
Marl and Bourgoin then tangled on how to portray a funding cut imposed by the United Way of Washtenaw County on Saline Area Social Service, effectively putting the organization out of business.
Lee Bourgoin promises to reduce taxes, focus on economic development and use his “nerdish” approach to put Saline back on the right track.
Mayor Marl refused to swing back at his opponent. He told the local media: “Regardless of his feelings toward me personally, I respect council member Bourgoin as an individual.”