PORTAGE TOWNSHIP -- A former Portage Township Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals official is suing the members of the township board.
Michael Wilmers filed the lawsuit in Houghton County Circuit Court in September. He says the township's board members met illegally to discuss his firing in early July.
A letter of termination, written by supervisor Bruce Peterson, points out one of the reasons for his termination stems from conflicting platforms on issues, specifically the zoning issue of Valley View Quarry.
Wilmers attended the quarry's concerned business owners meeting that Peterson says was in violation with the township.
The Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a special permit for the quarry while Wilmers was still a member.
"If we got a problem; solve it," said Wilmers. "Their way of doing things is if it's a violation of zoning, shut them down. Well, they shut one business down and there are many, I mean dozens, of other businesses in Portage Township right now that are in violation of the zoning ordinance, and they haven't touched another one."
Phone calls to the defendants' attorney have not been returned.
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