Following a protest by hotel owner Enzo Lieghio at the Mackinaw City Village Council meeting Thursday, November 6, Council decided to schedule one more public hearing on the new business license ordinance.

Council was on the verge of scheduling the ordinance for a first reading at its November 20 session. The ordinance was the subject of an earlier public hearing in July.

The ordinance would give Mackinaw City some muscle in enforcing laws against consumer fraud, for example, by letting it ultimately refuse a license to a business that had been convicted of such fraud and barring it from reopening in the village.

"So a person couldn't reopen a restaurant, is that what you're saying?" Mr. Lieghio asked Village Manager Jeff Lawson.

"If that person were convicted, and the council upheld [the conviction], yes," Mr. Lawson responded, stressing that each incident would be reviewed case-by-case and weighed for gravity of harm.

Mr. Lieghio, owner of about two dozen properties in Mackinaw City and accompanied by his principal contractor Chris Brown, responded: "I've voiced my opposition on this before."

Referring to, but not naming, two members of the council who consistently opposed him, he said, "people have personal agendas. I don't think this village should have any ordinance like this.

"Does the village really have all this spare time and money to blow on being redundant? This [is] a sickle and hammer approach as to how we do business in Mackinaw. People have due process rights. There's all kinds of civil remedies."

After 20 minutes of discussion, Village President Ronald Wallin reminded the council that there was a motion on the floor to accommodate the ordinance at the council's next meeting, but that he had no objection delaying that and holding another hearing.

At that, the motion was withdrawn, and Mr. Lawson was asked to look into arranging a future meeting, possibly in January, preceded by a mailing of the proposed ordinance to the area's 300 business owners.

Mr. Lieghio told The St. Ignace News that he'd continue his opposition.

"It's too political," he said of the proposed ordinance. Anyone on the council could use it as a political weapon against any business person, he said. He objected to holding any new hearing now in light of the absence of some other business owners.

"Everybody's gone. They've headed for Florida. It's perfect for them," he said of the council.