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Sylvan Lake

February 17, 2012

Sylvan Lake OKs its own parade committee

By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size «

Sylvan Lake OKs its own parade committee

Photo by Deb Jacques

Sylvan Lake Councilman Russell Meskin stands outside Veterans Park, also known as Memorial Park, in Sylvan Lake. The city hopes to continue remembering fallen servicemen and women despite the planned breakup of the Lakes Area Memorial Day Parade between the city and Keego Harbor.

SYLVAN LAKE — Dismay over the breakup of the Lakes Area Memorial Day Parade will not stop Sylvan Lake from honoring the holiday, Sylvan Lake City Council members decided at a Feb. 8 meeting.

The council voted 4-0 to have the city form a parade committee to honor fallen soldiers. Councilwoman Sharon Maurina was absent.

City Manager John Martin explained that Sylvan Lake has held some sort of Memorial Day observance since the 1940s. In the late 1990s, Keego Harbor decided to have a parade, and the two cities pooled their efforts into a joint parade starting around 2000, he said.

Council members blamed Keego Harbor Mayor Pro Tem Sid Rubin, the joint parade chairman, for stirring the animosity that preceded the split.

“Although the angst of one chairperson may not represent the total voice of the community over there … we need to move forward with our own plans, because we still need to honor our veterans,” Mayor Pro Tem Mike Zubrzycki said.

In January, Rubin announced that Keego Harbor would hold its own parade from Abbott Middle School to its City Hall, thereby excluding Sylvan Lake from the route.

Rubin said the Memorial Day parade committee was dissatisfied with Sylvan Lake because the city allegedly reneged on a pledge to contribute a minimum of $500 and up to $1,000. Rubin also accused Sylvan Lake of not returning phone calls.

Sylvan Lake City Manager John Martin said that while Sylvan Lake agreed to pay up to $1,000 to cover parade costs, donations produced a surplus of around $970. So the city was surprised when Keego Harbor reportedly sent a notice of expenses. Sylvan Lake refused to pay, arguing that the parade gathered a surplus.

Martin said Sylvan Lake later received a check for $485 — one half of the original parade surplus — from the Bloomfield North Area Chamber. Officials discussed what they should do with the check, which was never cashed.

“We did not ask for the money to be given to Sylvan Lake, and it wasn’t our desire to receive it,” Martin said.

Sylvan officials denied receiving attempted phone calls from Rubin. Sylvan Lake Mayor Aron Lorenz noted that Rubin was unhappy with Sylvan Lake’s decision not to consolidate the two cities’ police departments.

Lorenz said he has asked Keego officials to reconsider their parade decisions and restore intercity ties, and he stated his desire to continue to honor fallen servicemen and women. Officials discussed the possibility of a parade from City Hall to Memorial Park, a service at the park and a “flower drop” off the lake.

Sylvan Lake resident Pete Peters thought a local, old-fashioned parade might be more special.

“I think the size of it was just right,” he said. “I think the combined parade where everything came to us from Keego Harbor just ended up being too massive and out of control. … It wasn’t as enjoyable as what I recall having in the past.”

In response to Sylvan officials’ comments, Rubin said his desire to split up the parade has nothing to do with the failed police proposal.

“Maybe one day when there are different characters in play, we may very well be able to do a joint venture of a parade together again,” he said.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1058.

Submitted by Parade Committe... on Mon, 2012-02-27 11:21.

In reading all of the articles, Facebook postings, etc., regarding the decision of the Keego Harbor Parade Committee to host its own Memorial Day Parade, having been on the 2011 parade committee, and current 2012 committee - I feel the need to comment.

The Memorial Day parade is not an easy event to organize, and being funded strictly by donations, very hard to budget. There are many costs involved that some may not realize.
Costs include, but are not limited to; mailers (including paper, printing and stamps), flyers, customized plaques & mementos for our honorees and service men and women who attend, ribbons for participants and programs for attendees providing information on the participators and a background of our honored guests. There are also rental fees and the cost of decorations for our commentators’ stage & children’s bikes, the purchase of banners to recognize our contributors and items to hand out to children along the parade route.
To top this off, you need volunteers willing to do all of this and more!

In 2011, the Chairperson for the Lakes Area Memorial Day Parade stepped aside for health reasons and the Keego Harbor City Council stepped up to take over. At that point, the council appointed Council Member Sid Rubin as the Parade Chairperson. Sid then worked to get a committee together to help him organize and host this fabulous event.

As a part of this committee we found that there was a very limited surplus from the 2010 parade to work with. The few of us volunteers did what we could to get things done with what we had. Several volunteers purchased needed items out of their own pocket and either waited until after the parade was over, and all donations were in, to be reimbursed or considered it their own donation. Monies that were received and not used for the 2011 parade were considered a “surplus” (not a “profit” as was stated by others). This surplus helps to assure the parade’s continuance the following year. And whether there is a surplus or not, should you make a commitment to donate funds, you honor your commitment. Should property owners be able to refuse to pay their taxes if the city has a surplus?

With the little left to start with from 2010 and the majority of donations coming in just weeks before the 2011 parade, the things that were created and purchased were not in the amount or quality most we had hoped for, but were what we could be afford at the time.

The 2011 surplus was just over $900. This may seem like a lot to some, however in this economy, you don’t know if this could be all you may have to work with the following year. If we were able to add to the surplus the funds promised by the City of Sylvan Lake this would provide the means in 2012 to honor more veterans, provide more to the attendees and alleviate the stresses of having to purchase items up front and out-of-pocket. With these funds, our committee could create an actual budget, and in these tough times, take into consideration a conservative amount of donations. Then, again, should there be a surplus when all is said and done, have assurance of the parades continuance the following year.

Having been through and knowing all of this, it is bothersome to read the quotes from Sylvan that no calls were made or meetings called to resolve the issues. At our parade wrap-up meeting it was made very clear to Russell Meskin, parade contact for the City of Sylvan Lake, that the committee was not happy with the decision he and Sylvan Lake made in not honoring their commitment of a donation. As well, letters were sent and calls were made to Sylvan Lake’s city manager and mayor. These calls were not returned, nor was there any response to the written letters. Sylvan says that no letters or calls were received yet, they state at their January council meeting there was the potential of not having a parade together with Keego Harbor when a writer from the Beacon was present. This writer in-turn contacted Sid Rubin to ask for his comment in this regard. If there were no letters received, how would they have known this? At the January Keego Harbor council meeting, Meskin attended and quotes the letter!

As for the “Patriotic volunteers and staff who have promoted and participated in ceremonies” that Mayor Lorenz refers to in the Oakland Press article… they may have participated in Sylvan’s closing ceremony but a few of their council members came to one single committee meeting, Meskin came to a few more & purchased some rolls of decorating crepe paper for the bike decorating. One Sylvan resident attended meetings and donated their time and efforts and two Sylvan businesses contributed printing services and flags to be handed out during the parade. Other than that all items purchased for the opening ceremonies and parade, hosting of meetings and coordination of donations & parade events (before and the day of) were taken care of by the other committee members consisting of Keego Harbor and surrounding areas (excluding Sylvan Lake) citizens and business owners.

Sylvan’s officials are insinuating that Keego Harbor’s interest in hosting their own parade is driven by money, power and politics, versus just the honoring of our veterans.
The Memorial Day Parade, whether it is a joint effort or Keego Harbor’s on its own, always has and always will be about honoring the veterans who served our country and have fought for our freedom – PERIOD!