When the Oakland County’s board of commissioners meet Thursday evening, the agenda will include event-sponsorship requests, union contracts and grant applications among other items.

What the agenda doesn’t include, as of early Wednesday afternoon, are resolutions to update the county’s ethics rules and establish financial disclosure rules as well as whistleblower protections.

Earlier this month, County Executive Dave Coulter issued statements calling for ethics and financial-disclosure reforms for county officials and the creation of an ombudsperson to address related concerns and complaints.

So far this year, there have been ethical issues involving a county road commissioner found at fault for breaking workplace rules, an information technology staffing contract canceled over conflict-of-interest concerns involving a company created by a current county employee, and questions about whether County Commission Chairman Dave Woodward’s private business contracts and whether his lobbying efforts on behalf of the Sheetz convenience stories conflicted with his board position.

Two commissioners, Kristen Nelson, a Waterford Township Democrat, and Charlie Cavell, a Ferndale Democrat, have made repeated attempts to update the existing ethics guidelines, add protections for whistleblowers and institute financial-disclosure rules for county officials.

They introduced three resolutions in May, which the board referred to committees for review. Since then, Woodward said they were also being reviewed by the county’s legal team. Cavell and Nelson later brought the resolutions to the board bypassing the committee process but each failed to pass.

If the proposed ethics policy is adopted, elected and county officials would be required to disclose:

•  Earnings outside of their county roles and above a certain threshold.

•  Positions with businesses, nonprofits or other organizations.

•  Any gifts, travel costs or other reimbursements by organizations doing business with the county.

Spouses would also have to disclose any interests that could create a conflict with county business, according to the proposed policy.

The proposed financial-disclosure policy calls for training on what must be disclosed and penalties for violating the rules that include:

•  Public reprimands

•  Ineligibility for appointment to county boards

•  Referral to the appropriate ethics or legal authority

It’s unclear whether the commissioners will consider the existing proposed policies or updated versions.

The commissioners meet for Democrat and Republican caucuses at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16. These are not publicly livestreamed but are open to the public. These are followed by the commissioners meeting at 6 p.m. in the commission’s auditorium, 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Pontiac, which is livestreamed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@OakGovBOC.

The meeting agenda and packet are online at https://oaklandcomi.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1301/files.

The Home Bakery in downtown Rochester debuted a tribute to Taylor Swift and her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl” with a life-size cake.

It took five designers 75 hours to transform 30 pounds of fondant, 12 quarts of buttercream, eight sheets of crisped rice and one full sheet cake, into Swift-as-Vegas-style showgirl, complete with champagne glass.

Bakery owner Heather Tocco unveiled the new Swift cake on Friday at the bakery, 300 S. Main Street in Rochester.

“I chose to create a Taylor Swift-inspired window because, honestly, we’re a bunch of Swifties in here!” Tocco said, adding that she’s happy to celebrate the global superstar’s music because “I really admire her. Taylor isn’t just an incredibly talented artist, she’s a brilliant businesswoman, a master storyteller, and someone who has built a global community through creativity, resilience, and authenticity.”

Tocco said she thinks of her bakery’s windows as canvases for storytelling and celebrating cultural moments that bring people together.

Swift is a popular role model, especially for young women, she said because the singer-songwriter-director shows success comes from hard work, imagination “and the courage to reinvent yourself.”

Tocco plans to display the Swift cake through mid-November.

The bakery’s front window drew crowds in January for a tribute to the Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown’s iconic headstand and earlier for a life-size Spiderman cake.

Waterford Township planning commissioners have approved a three-story 60-unit senior-living building on Scott Lake, over the objections of nearby residents.

Lourdes Senior Community has a nearly 40-acres campus along Watkins Lake Road next to Scott Lake, currently offering nearly 150 units devoted to independent and assisted living options, rehabilitation, short-term and long-term care and hospice care.

Scott Lake is a private, spring-fed 77-acre lake with depths up to 35 feet. It is considered an all-sports lake.

The township allows up to 10 units per acre; the new-building site is just over three acres on the campus and would allow up to 62 units, according to township officials.

The one- and two-bedroom apartments will have full kitchens and in-unit laundry utilities. The units range in size from just over 700 square feet to just under 1,200 square feet. Amenities in the building will include a bistro, theater, game room, chapel, salon, fitness center and multipurpose rooms. Apartments would cost $5,000 to $6,800 a month, depending on size. Lourdes existing independent-living units cost between $2,875 and $4,200.

Two docks are planned on the lake, with an agreement for a total of two pontoon boats that would be operated by staff, according to plans submitted to the township.

Lourdes’ President and CEO, Rich Acho, told The Oakland Press the company started in 1965 and remains one of the few Catholic nonprofit retirement communities in Oakland County. He said aging baby boomers will need more options in the near future.

Within a five-mile radius of Lourdes’ campus, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments’ 2050 economic forecasts show a 22% increase in households with people 75 years or older at a time when their children or other potential caregivers are moving out of the area.

“In our market area, ages 65+ will see a 32% increase by 2028,” Acho said. “With the workforce shortage, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hire private caregivers.”

But plans to add the 60-unit independent-living building to the campus riled many Scott Lake residents. They appealed to township planning commissioners to stop the project.

Lourdes revised the site plan to address township officials’ and residents’ concerns, including relocating the building to meet setback rules, redesigning the parking lot to meet township standards and hiring a company to do a traffic study. Lourdes widened a fire lane and added a sidewalk along Watkins Lake Road, while dropping plans for a pickleball court in favor of a courtyard designed for quiet activities.

Lourdes officials told the township that because residents are considered independent, there would only be a single staff member in the building to assist in the event an emergency required a 911 call.

David Cyplik lives two-tenths of a mile from Lourdes, closer to Watkins Lake. His wife was a patient there near the end of her life, he said, adding that he donates to Lourdes and supports the senior community in other ways. But he doesn’t support a 60-unit building and worries about traffic on Watkins Lake Road, especially during rush hours.

“If you live nearby, as I do, I see the traffic backing up every day,” he said. “It backs up for a long period of time.”

Jennifer Almassy said despite changes in Lourdes’ site plan, she remains concerned.

“It’s still a stark-white three-story building adding 60 units when there’s not even barely 100 houses on the lake. I think that’s excessive,” she said.

Another neighbor, Frank Scerbo, said he liked having the Lourdes across the lake.

“It’s nice and quiet. We’d just like to keep it that way,” he said.
“I ask you respectfully: Do not allow 60 units to be built there to stick out like a white elephant.”

Scerbo said one or two residents per unit would increase Watkins Lake Road traffic, either because they will be driving or having visitors.

Several asked for a traffic light for safety reasons.

Supporters included Lourdes residents and employees, who also spoke at the Sept. 23 meeting.

A retired priest, the Rev. Joe Lang, said he’s lived on Lourdes’ campus for three years and found it peaceful.

“It’s an environment in which people take good care of themselves,” he told the board, noting that many no longer drive.

Some Lourdes residents were accompanied by the company’s caregivers. One said she heard more noise from the 80 households that share Scott Lake than from her Lourdes neighbors.

The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments’ 2050 forecast of regional trends to predict how changes will affect the economy and the movement of residents and companies. The report is used to help decide how the infrastructure changes and what services are needed. SEMCOG’s report shows that aging is a major issue, with more older adults than children by 2026 in southeast Michigan, a trend that will be national by 2034 and global by 2050.

Higher-density housing is one SEMCOG recommendation for making sure older residents have access to transportation, food, housing, public spaces and social engagement.

It’s fall cleaning time for Oakland County’s roads and hundreds of people have volunteered to help.

The final Adopt-A-Road cleanup is Sept. 20 through Sept. 28.

So far this year, 381 organizations have sent volunteers to pick up litter and other debris along the county’s 598 miles of roads.

Road Commission Chairman Eric McPherson said he’s incredibly grateful for the volunteers’ deduction and asked drivers to keep them safe.

Volunteers will wear orange safety vests for better visibility and carry garbage bags while cleaning. Road commission signs will be posted at both ends of the designated road sections.

The road commission relies on groups to manage their need for more garbage bags or vests by calling the permits division groups needing additional garbage bags or safety vests can call the Permits Division at (248) 858-4891.

To learn more about Adopt-A-road, including volunteering for the final 2025 session, visit http://www.rcocweb.org/218/Adopt-A-Road or email adoptaroad@rcoc.org.

Oakland County Historical Society’s annual Oak Hill Cemetery Walk on Saturday will make history come alive, thanks to volunteers.

This year’s theme is “From Temperance to the 21st Amendment.”

The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, which prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” in the U.S. The 18th Amendment was in effect from Jan. 17, 1920, to Dec. 5, 1933.

Lois Keel, a Springfield Township resident and historical society member, volunteered to portray a nameless flapper on Saturday.

The semi-retired librarian divides her time between substituting at area libraries and performing as historical characters for schools and other groups. She’s excited about her flapper role and why Michigan had a one-year head start on Prohibition.

“Henry Ford brought in a baseball player-turned-evangelical named Billy Sunday,” she said, adding that the national alcohol ban opened a new line of business for mobsters such as Al Capone and members of the infamous Purple Gang.

“These boys were a bunch of juvenile delinquents and they really made money bringing (alcohol) in from Canada,” she said.

This rain-or-shine annual walking tour features volunteers posing as prominent figures from Oakland County’s past. Organizers suggest attendees are 12 years old or older.

The cemetery walk is an important historical society fundraiser. Tickets cost $15 per person. The tours begin every 15 minutes starting at 2 p.m. The last tour steps off at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, at Oak Hill Cemetery, 216 University Drive in Pontiac. To buy tickets and learn other details, visit https://events.getlocalhop.com/oak-hill-cemetery-walk/event/LyAwhVxsK4.

The gray building on University Drive in Pontiac looks like other light industrial spaces. But the building’s current status is complicated by a murder, a cannabis operation and multiple ordinance violations.

Ongoing litigation has frozen the city’s ability to enforce building standards at the site, where businessman Sam Simko was killed on Jan. 12. Three men are scheduled for an April 13, 2026, trial for the Commerce Township man’s slaying.

City officials have long been familiar with the building. In 2021, then-Mayor Dierdre Waterman’s administration granted a business license to four addresses — 1012, 1014, 1016 and 1018 University Drive — to operate as a caregiver’s medical marijuana growing operation, according to city records. Justin Corlin was listed as the business owner. He could not be reached for this story.

Such operations are allowed under the 2008 Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which states that people who are primary caregivers may grow 12 plants per patient, with a limit of six patients; they cannot grow more than 72 plants. Waterman’s administration never completed plans for a cannabis licensing process for medical or recreational marijuana. Caregiving businesses are considered a separate category.

After Simko’s death, Oakland County sheriff’s deputies recovered an estimated 50 pounds of marijuana, or 800 ounces, found with the three murder suspects. Police did not disclose how many plants were being cultivated in the building but referred to it as a large operation. The value of the recovered 800 ounces of marijuana is unclear, as area retailers’ online prices range from about $60 per ounce to more than $400.

The University Drive industrial warehouse was built in 1987 and is just over 10,000 square feet with 16-foot-high ceilings and four vehicle entrances as well as traditional doors.

While Waterman’s administration listed the four addresses, considered suites, as part of a medical-caregiver grow operation in 2021, city spokeswoman Paula Bridges said only Suites 1012 and 1014, are currently considered a “previously approved non-conforming caregiver operation” owned by Simko.

Suites 1012 and 1014 were leased by Simko from the property’s owner, Precision Investment Group. Precision’s business registration belongs to Bloomfield Hills businessman David Supal. Suites 1016 and 1018 are considered occupied by Precision.

Supal told The Oakland Press his lawyer advised him not to discuss the building or any related litigation.

City officials responding to a 2019 complaint about Simko’s operation learned he had no business license for that site. The code inspector also found that the property had been divided into suites and new addresses added without city approval. The city’s code enforcement action required an architectural drawing to show the separate suites and permits for the construction work.

Bridges said Suites 1016 and 1018 never received permits for operating as a primary caregiver marijuana facility, and “to the best of the city’s knowledge, is not engaging in any marijuana grow operations.”

On Aug. 27, 2024, nearly five months before Simko’s death, Pontiac building official Bruce Eck visited Suite 1016 to investigate a complaint. In his notes, which are public record, he wrote “marijuana facility is illegally open. They will need to cease and desist immediately.”

Eck’s inspection notes state that the operation did not meet zoning requirements and that police might get involved if the operation wasn’t shut down in the next seven days and the property owner could be ticketed.

The record shows he last visited Suite 1016 on Jan. 6 and approved the work. But the text on that same page dated Jan. 14 notes that the inspection was improperly marked and that the building’s owner still needed the city’s zoning board’s approval to operate as a medical marijuana facility. The text states Suite 1016 needed a fire-safety inspection and permits for evident construction work, as none had been pulled. The text ends with a message highlighted by two asterisks: “Please note that previous use in this building [was] never approved for medical marijuana facility.”

Bridges said Eck inspected Suite 1016 on Sept. 4, 2024, and scheduled a progress check for March 17. His notes show he planned to verify that proper permits had been obtained and the suite met standards for a certificate of occupancy. But he was fired on March 10 after three abandoned children were found in a filthy townhouse on the city’s west side. Eck is suing the city for wrongful discharge.

Because of the litigation between Precision and the city, Bridges said, “the building division has not taken any action” to re-inspect Suites 1016 and 1018 and Precision has not requested any new permits.

On Jan. 14, two days after Simko’s body was found in the University Drive building, Eck visited Suite 1018 and prohibited occupancy. He scheduled a progress check for March 18, according to city records. Litigation has also precluded code inspectors from following up and Supal’s company has not applied for any new permits, Bridges said.

Precision still “has no city approvals to operate any business (at Suites 1016-1018),” Bridges said, adding that, to city officials’ knowledge, no cannabis being grown at those suites.

Eck visited Suite 1012 on July 10, 2024, and tagged the door with a notice that the business did not have a certificate of occupancy, which is granted only after permitted work is completed and passed city inspections. He and the fire marshal returned on Sept. 4, 2024, for a final inspection. “All OK,” Eck’s inspection note said.

On the same date, Eck issued a certificate of occupancy to Suite 1014.

Suites 1012 and 1014 are each listed on the city’s building records as “a legal non-conforming medical marijuana caregiver facility.”

Downtown Rochester will be abuzz this weekend with the annual Art & Apples Festival, hosted by Paint Creek Center for the Arts.

More than 250 artists will showcase their wares at Municipal Park. This is a juried art show. Ortonville resident and painter Kelly Ingleright-Telgenhoff won Best in Show in 2024.

An estimated 60,000 people are expected to attend the festival through the weekend.

Jazz artist Sheila Landis leads the live entertainment at the park’s central band shell on Friday afternoon, followed by the cover-friendly Weekend ComeBack band on Saturday evening and country singer Julianne Ankley on Sunday. Local musicians and dance groups fill in the entertainment schedule.

This family-friendly festival offers make-and-take art for children, hosted by Meijer Kids Art Zone; oversized games from Rochester Area Recreation Authority (RARA), live-art demonstrations at the Creation Station and fun with inflatables.

Apples are the star of the food menu – members of Scouts Troop 125 and the all-girl Troop 456 return to sell homemade apple pies, cider and donuts – but there’s a wide range of food trucks and booths to soothe hungry bellies.

The Art & Apples Festival is 2 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, with a 4 p.m. ribbon cutting at the downtown bandshell; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, at Municipal Park, 400 Sixth St. in Rochester.

Festival entry is free but a $5 per-person donation is encouraged. Art & Applies is the main funding source for year-round programs at Paint Creek Center for the Arts. Some of the gate proceeds are shared with other community groups and nonprofits that provide festival volunteers. For more about Paint Creek, a festival map and the complete festival schedule, visit https://pccart.org/festival.