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Public Housing Commission Conflict-of-Interest Standards

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 26, 20267 min

Federal and Michigan rules that govern conflicts of interest on a public housing commission cluster around four authorities: HUD's mixed-finance development standard at 24 CFR §905.604, the federal-award procurement standard at 2 CFR §200.318(c), Michigan's public officer conflict statute at MCL 15.321 et seq., and the Lansing Housing Commission's own bylaws. Each rule names a specific prohibited conduct, a required disclosure or recusal, and a specific body authorized to act when conditions covered by the rule appear in the public record. HUD's Office of Public Housing Investments (working through the HUD Detroit Field Office for Michigan) and the Michigan Attorney General's Public Integrity Unit hold the federal and state authority respectively.

HousingGovernment

What Is the Lansing Housing Commission?

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 26, 2026

The Lansing Housing Commission is the City of Lansing's public housing authority, chartered in 1964 under MCL 125.651 and governed by a five-member volunteer board appointed by the Mayor. As of 2025 LHC operates 66 public-housing units (down from 833 in 2020), administers 2,252 federal Section 8 vouchers and 253 project-based vouchers, and acts as development partner on a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit pipeline of more than $200 million in active project cost. Three of the people sitting in LHC's governance hold paid positions at organizations that earn fees from LHC's deals: Board Chair Emma Henry at Capital Area Housing Partnership ($123,787/year per its FY2025 IRS Form 990), Commissioner Ashlee Barker at Cinnaire (the standing purchaser of LHC's tax credits), and Executive Director Doug Fleming as agent of the General Partner LLCs collecting developer fees on LHC LIHTC partnerships.

GovernmentSurveillance

Lansing City Operations Committee, April 23

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 25, 2026

The Lansing Committee on City Operations met for 32 minutes on April 23, 2026 with all three members present. The committee passed a Compost Awareness Week 2026 resolution 3-0, placed a downtown liquor-license transfer notice on file 3-0, and received a verbal-only briefing from Chief Robert Backus on the Lansing Police Department's Flock Safety camera program that produced no motion, no referral, and no follow-up.

SurveillanceGovernment

Lansing's First Flock Briefing

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 25, 2026

On April 23, 2026, Lansing Chief Robert Backus gave the city's first sustained public description of LPD's Flock surveillance program, in a 32-minute committee discussion with no written materials. The chief disclosed 52 personnel with platform access, 391 vehicles or vehicle parts recovered with 97 arrests, and six "not concealed" intersections. The minutes record two contradictions: no data-sharing MOUs but MOUs for emergency help, and a 90-day written retention policy versus 30-day practice.

HousingGovernment

Lansing's Homeowner Permit Rule for Tagged Structures

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 22, 2026

On January 9, 2026, the Lansing Building Safety Office issued a two-page administrative policy barring homeowners from pulling repair permits on red-tagged property until a licensed contractor removes the tag. The City Council never voted on it, the policy is not posted on the city's Building Safety or Permits pages, and Code Compliance did not provide a written copy to Council Member Spadafore through at least the April 16, 2026 Public Safety Committee meeting. Detroit allows homeowner repairs.

Government

Lansing City Council Meeting: April 20, 2026

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 22, 2026

On April 20, the Lansing City Council referred a 182-day data center moratorium to the Committee on Development and Planning, voted 6-1 to place the sale of the Lansing Shuffle building on the August 4 ballot over the Park Board's no-recommend, and unanimously passed a four-ordinance liquor-store zoning package. Six of the seven residents who spoke on the Shuffle item opposed putting it on the ballot.

GovernmentHousing

The Shuffle Lease Does Not Oblige the City to Sell

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 22, 2026

At the April 20, 2026 Committee of the Whole, Lansing City Attorney Greg Venker confirmed on the record that paragraph (f) of the 2020 Lansing Shuffle lease does not obligate the City Council to sell the building. Council Member Ryan Kost read aloud the lease provision that "initiation of such proceedings by the City is not a promise or covenant that sale of the Building and Premises will result," and Venker confirmed: "Correct, that a prior council had bound them to."

Government

Lansing City Council Meeting: April 6, 2026

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 8, 2026

Deep Green Technologies withdrew its data center proposal before the Lansing City Council could vote on it. At the April 6 meeting, the mayor confirmed the withdrawal, Council Member Nevarez Martinez read the no-vote statement she would have delivered and announced a draft ordinance prohibiting data centers in commercial and downtown commercial districts, and every public speaker who addressed the project opposed it. Speakers credited Kost, Hussain, and Nevarez Martinez as the firm no votes.

EnergyGovernment

BWL's Hot Water Conversion and Deep Green's Free Heat

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 6, 2026

Deep Green's central public promise to Lansing is free waste heat for BWL's downtown heating system, but that hot water system does not exist yet, the conversion takes 15 years to build, the waste heat would cover roughly 12 percent of current capacity, and retrofit work inside every connected building has undisclosed cost and scope. The BWL-Bloom service contract over the 20-year term is under NDA. Bloom's 18 MW Delaware installation was decommissioned after roughly seven years.

EnergyGovernment

The Document the Council Is Voting On: Deep Green's Buy-Sell Agreement

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 6, 2026

The buy-sell agreement between the City of Lansing and Deep Green Technologies USA LLC is 14 pages long. The first 11 contain the agreement text and signatures. The last three, Exhibit A (legal description), Exhibit B (covenant deed), and Exhibit C (memorandum of development agreement), are blank. Those three blank pages are the documents that would contain the binding, recordable commitments that run with the land and bind future owners.

EnergyGovernment

Twenty-Three Unanswered Questions About Deep Green

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 4, 2026

As of April 4, 2026, four days before the Lansing City Council's scheduled votes on the Deep Green land sale and rezoning, twenty-three specific questions about the project remained unanswered in the public record. The list spans contracts (fuel cell electricity price, the 20-year PPA, the Bloom service contract), money (federal ITC ownership, TIFA capture, BWL costs), technology (fuel cell lifespan, hazardous waste, cooling), and governance (NDA authorization, environmental and noise studies).

Government

Fact-Checking the Mayor's Deep Green Letter

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

On April 1, Mayor Andy Schor published a letter asking residents to support the Deep Green data center "based on true information rather than misinformation." The letter cites Accelerator for America as an independent endorsement without disclosing that Schor has been on AFA's Advisory Council since 2019 or that AFA's infrastructure program is funded by Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, a Google-backed firm building its own Michigan data center. It also repeats Bloom's false toxics claim.

EnergyGovernment

"Under Duress": Why Is Deep Green Revenue in the City Budget?

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

On March 23, at the same Lansing City Council meeting where the Deep Green public hearing took place, Mayor Andy Schor introduced a supplemental budget tying $1 million in firefighter equipment, housing rehab, facade grants, and neighborhood grants to the project's approval. One week later, his Chief Strategy Officer formalized the linkage in the FY27 budget presentation with a dedicated Deep Green slide. Council Member Ryan Kost called it a pressure tactic; Council VP Pehlivanoglu objected.

Government

Deep Green: How Would You Vote?

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

Across every category of promise made for the Deep Green data center, the public record either contradicts the promise or shows that the document that would make it enforceable has not been disclosed. The $900,000 in property tax revenue does not reach the city's general fund. The $1 million from BWL power sales is built on a contract under NDA. The $400,000 fire department allocation is a contingent budget line, not an appropriation. The buy-sell agreement contains three blank exhibits.

Government

Lansing: Fact-Checking the March 23 City Council Meeting

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 26, 2026

At the March 23 Lansing City Council public hearing, Deep Green CTO Matt Craggs claimed the project would generate "nearly $900,000 a year in annual local property tax revenue, which supports local public services like roads, public safety, schools, libraries and more." Roughly half is captured by the Downtown TIFA before reaching those services. Schor's $400,000 fire department allocation is contingent, not appropriated. Blackshire's no-toxic-chemicals claim contradicts EPA enforcement.

Government

Socrates Is Not a Cat: A Citizen's Guide to Logical Fallacies

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 26, 2026

Officials selling the Deep Green data center deployed at least 19 distinct logical fallacies in public meetings, press releases, and budget presentations, all in the public record. Examples include false dilemmas (approve the project or the fire department loses hazmat funding), borrowed credibility (a union director introducing himself as a 20-year resident), and cherry-picked baselines (a 50 percent emissions reduction calculated against the dirtiest source on the regional grid).

GovernmentMoney

Lansing: The Garza Conflict, Spelled Out

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 26, 2026

Lansing Council Member Jeremy Garza earns $126,742 per year from the Michigan Pipe Trades Association as Political Lead, on top of his $552 Local 333 VP compensation and $28,147 council salary. He has voted yea on every development item across 52 council meetings without a single recusal, including the public hearing for an ordinance adding union-standard qualifications to the city's bidding code. The Charter and Conflicts of Interest Act bar votes where an officer has a financial interest.

GovernmentEnergy

Lansing: A Conflict Question Could Reshape the Deep Green Land Sale Vote

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 24, 2026

The Lansing City Charter requires six of eight votes to sell city property and bars members from voting where they hold a financial interest "other than as a citizen of the City." Council Member Jeremy Garza is VP of UA Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 333 and earns $126,742 per year as Political Lead for the Michigan Pipe Trades Association, the body coordinating unions benefiting from Deep Green's union-labor commitment. Loss of Garza's vote would drop the maximum to five, one short of passage.

Government

Lansing Council: Donor Cheat Sheet

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 24, 2026

The Lansing Regional Chamber PAC and the UA Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 333 PAC together gave $134,750 to seven of the eight sitting Lansing City Council members. Council Member Jeremy Garza alone received $75,500, including a $74,500 lifetime total from Local 333, which is the largest single expenditure in that PAC's 28-year filing history. Only Council Member Ryan Kost received $0 from either organization.

GovernmentEnergy

Lansing: Is the Council Being Set Up to Vote on Deep Green Blind? The Public Record Says Yes.

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 16, 2026

As the Lansing City Council approached its votes on the Deep Green land sale and rezoning, the public record showed the power purchase agreement, Bloom service contract, fuel cell transfer terms, hazardous waste provisions, environmental impact study, noise study, and fiscal impact analysis had not been disclosed. The mayor told council on February 9 that the project's property taxes "will go right into our general fund" and was corrected on camera by his own staff two minutes later.

EnergyGovernment

Lansing: Deep Green's Projected $933K in Tax Revenue Does Not Reach the General Fund

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 15, 2026

The Lansing Economic Area Partnership projected $933,081 in average annual property tax revenue from the proposed Deep Green data center, the figure repeated as the project's signature public benefit. Under Michigan's TIFA Act, roughly $453,000 would be captured by the Downtown TIFA before reaching any general fund, with the city's share almost entirely diverted to debt on the Lansing Center and Jackson Field. Schor told council the taxes go to the general fund, then was corrected on camera.

EnergyGovernment

Lansing: Public Utility, Private Contract: The Deep Green Fuel Cell Deal

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 15, 2026

Under the proposed Deep Green arrangement, Deep Green would purchase the 16 MW fuel cell plant, transfer ownership to BWL, and BWL would contract Bloom to operate it. The 20-year power purchase agreement, the Bloom service contract, and the fuel cell transfer terms are all withheld under an NDA BWL GM Dick Peffley signed with no documented Board authorization. Bloom's Delaware fuel cells lasted roughly seven years against a 15-to-21-year expected lifespan; the proposed contract is twenty.

MoneyGovernment

Lansing: How Organic Is the Support for Deep Green?

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 14, 2026

Seven of the 12 template letters supporting the Deep Green data center, all generated through The Soft Edge platform and submitted to the City Council, came from senders with documented Lansing Regional Chamber ties: members, a 2026 Community Service Award recipient, a 2025 Policy Committee member, the Local 333 Business Manager quoted in the Chamber's February 10 release, and the Chamber's own SVP of Public Affairs. The Chamber published four supporting press releases without disclosure.

GovernmentEnergy

BWL's Steam Conversion Was on the Park Board Agenda. It Wasn't in the Minutes.

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 13, 2026

The Lansing Park Board's December 10, 2025 agenda listed five Old Business items, including "BWL Wentworth Park Steam Conversion" tied to BWL's $100 million steam-to-hot-water project on the same corridor as Deep Green. The minutes listed three. Two items were missing, and the remaining items were relabeled to close the gap rather than marked tabled. The November 12, 2025 meeting where the BWL item was first introduced has zero documents in CivicClerk: no agenda, no minutes, no attachments.

GovernmentMoney

Lansing: The Union VP Who Votes on Union Projects

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 11, 2026

Lansing Council Member Jeremy Garza is Vice President of UA Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 333 and earns $126,742 per year from the Michigan Pipe Trades Association. In 2025, he raised $48,050 from 16 itemized contributions; every dollar came from a union or PAC, with $24,500 from Local 333 alone, the largest single expenditure in that PAC's 28-year filing history. He has never recused from a vote on a development project.

MoneyGovernment

Lansing: How the Chamber's PAC Shapes Who Governs and What Gets Built

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 11, 2026

The Lansing Regional Chamber operates LRC-PAC, which has contributed $30,750 to six of eight sitting council members, with endorsed candidates winning 92 percent in the 2024 primary and 86 percent in the 2025 general. Three Chamber executives, Tim Daman (CEO and PAC treasurer), Steve Japinga (SVP of Public Affairs and PAC contact), and Josh Hovey (Bellwether PR partner and PAC committee member), hold overlapping roles across Chamber lobbying, PAC giving, and developer advocacy with no firewall.

GovernmentMoney

Lansing: Who Will Vote on Deep Green? Council Members Funded by Deep Green's PR Rep and LRC-PAC

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 10, 2026

Josh Hovey, partner and sole director at Bellwether Public Relations, served as a Lansing Planning Commissioner through at least June 3, 2025. Five months later, on November 5, 2025, he appeared before the same Planning Commission as Deep Green's paid PR representative, lobbying his former colleagues for a $120 million data center on city-owned land. Hovey also sits on the Lansing Regional Chamber PAC committee, which endorsed six of eight Council members who would vote on the project.

Public Housing Commission Conflict-of-Interest Standards

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 26, 20267 min