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Walled Lake council presses for greater transparency, approves minutes, accepts DDA resignation and tables part of 2026 meeting schedule
Summary
Council members discussed resident transparency complaints, board vacancies and downtown development, approved Nov. 18 minutes and received a DDA resignation; council modified and approved a 2026 meeting schedule while tabling a proposal to add a second monthly council meeting.
Walled Lake City Council members spent much of their Dec. 16 meeting on governance items including transparency concerns raised by a local resident, board and commission vacancies, downtown development, and scheduling regular meetings for 2026.
Mayor Gunther and council members discussed persistent online criticism from a resident identified in the meeting as Tracy Millman. The mayor said the council will attempt to address the resident's concerns directly and improve publicly available financial reporting. "If we've got to get the auditor ... we'll pay them to spend a little bit of time with them," Gunther said as he proposed delivering clearer warrant and expenditure data to reduce public suspicion.
The council unanimously approved minutes from the Nov. 18, 2025 meeting after a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Dennis O'Rourke; roll call votes recorded all members as voting yes. The council also received and filed a resignation letter from a DDA board member (Mellon) and approved that motion by roll call.
Members discussed downtown development and said the DDA now owns the property across from the beach; council members asked for the engineers' and planners' reports to be replayed for the newly constituted council.
On the 2026 meeting schedule, council debated whether to resume two meetings a month. After discussion the body modified the proposed resolution to approve single monthly city‑council meetings while tabling consideration of a second monthly meeting; the modification and remaining schedule items passed by roll call. Several council members asked staff to provide the cost per meeting and the expected staffing/support impact before any permanent schedule change.
The city attorney gave an overview of the Open Meetings Act and audience participation rules (three minutes, name and address when speaking per council rules). Council members asked how to access recent closed‑session minutes and were told records should be available for the statutory retention period.
The meeting concluded with holiday remarks and a motion to adjourn.
