Hot mic 'joke' reveals planning tension

Winter TRAVERSE CITY — Fallout from a remark Traverse City’s planner made at a planning commission meeting led to his brief suspension. City Planner Shawn Winter received a five-day unpaid suspension Oct. 14-18, according to a letter from city Manager Liz Vogel to Winter and obtained through a records request.

She cited insubordination for Winter declining to write an apology to the planning commission for an “inappropriate and unprofessional” remark Winter made after planning and city commissioner Jackie Anderson commented at an August planning board meeting. Anderson Anderson requested the apology on Sept. 27, and Winter was directed to provide one by Oct.



1, according to the letter. “Following our discussion on October 11, 2024, you stated that you were disciplined for the comment and would like to move on, but declined to deliver an apology to the members of the Planning Commission Board,” Vogel wrote. “Your refusal constitutes insubordination.

” Vogel on Aug. 29 wrote a counseling memo to Winter, the same day she spoke to him about the incident in question. Winter at the Aug.

7 planning commission meeting had referred to Anderson’s remarks as “a joke,” according to the memo. “While I understand that the comment may have been made in frustration, it was inappropriate and crossed the line of professional conduct,” she wrote. Vogel in a text said the matter was a personnel issue — she previously declined to comment on such issues in the past.

“The matter has been addressed and we consider it closed,” she said. Vogel In a text, Anderson said she wouldn’t violate the privacy rights of a city employee on a personnel matter. Winter said no comment was ever directed toward a public official, nor was the remark he made at the meeting the cause of his suspension.

“It was just a comment ...

I made to myself on the nature of the spiraling conversation that was occurring at that moment,” he said. In a letter Winter wrote for his personnel file, and shared with the Record-Eagle, he said he took responsibility for and regretted what he called a “hot mic” moment, and that it came after what he called “months of persistent attacks” by Anderson on other planning commissioners and planning staff. {div class=”WordSection1”}“I bring this up only to illustrate a well-acknowledged, long-term problem that has been inflicting the Planning Commission and Planning Department,” Winter wrote.

“It does not excuse my behavior, but does put into perspective that people can only be subjected to this type of behavior for so long before they may act out. I was guilty of that with my comment to myself.”{/div} Winter made the remark at the center of the incident toward the end of the meeting, after the board heard public comments on a draft rewrite of the city’s master plan and a new draft mobility plan.

Anderson said after the hearing that Winter’s summary of public feedback on the plan reflected a mixed reaction to some of the plan’s guiding principles. She was concerned that a separate strategic action plan the city commission had just begun might not align with the draft master plan. Anderson repeated a request she made before to pause the master plan process so it could be aligned with the strategic action plan.

She was concerned that if the two point in different directions then “we will have shot ourselves in the foot.” Planning Commission Chairwoman Debbie Hershey said any project coming out of the master plan is up for the city commission to approve. Once the master and strategic plans are done, it’ll be up to city commissioners to determine if a project fits within the city’s goals.

Hershey and Planning Commission Vice Chairwoman Anna Dituri each said, “No,” when Anderson asked if they would be OK with the city commission pausing the process. Winter responded the city commission set the master plan rewrite into motion more than two years prior, then decided to write the master plan. The two bodies are independent, and by law, it’s up to the planning board to produce a master plan.

“If the city commission comes up with a strategic plan that’s extremely deviant to this, then in my mind they’ve failed as a city commission to develop a strategic plan that reflects the community,” he said. Anderson said the master plan’s priorities should be set through the strategic planning process, to which Winter replied that’s not true. Anderson continued, saying several parts of Winter’s public feedback summary looked like “red lights flashing.

” “And I think for us to move forward lockstep without acknowledging that is not prudent,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a good use of our city resources.” After this Winter said, “What a joke.

” In Winter’s letter, he noted he pushed his microphone away and leaned away from it before making the remark. “I think it’s very telling when someone pushes their microphone away,” Winter said Friday. “It’s very different than someone lobbing a comment at someone or directing it at someone.

” Anderson raised concerns about the master planning process before, and in September she voted to oppose city Commissioner Mi Stanley’s ask to repeal a city ordinance requiring the master plan get city commission approval — the repeal passed 4-3, with commissioners Heather Shaw and Tim Werner voting against as well. Anderson didn’t respond to a follow-up question about the remark, and how she and Winter will work together in the future. Winter said he saw no issue, moving forward.

“I can work with anyone and everyone,” he said. “That’s my job, so I don’t see any problem with that.”.