Nick Fiani, the vice chair of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, displayed behavior “totally unbecoming of an elected official” at a recent candidate forum, according to Judy Daubenmier, chair of the Livingston County Democratic Party.
It appears a misunderstanding about how Livingston County’s LETS transportation service is funded led Fiani to confront Ella Nikitin — the Democrat challenging Republican incumbent Wes Nakagiri on the county board — accuse her of being a “liar,” and telling her she does not “deserve to live in this county.”
Before I share the rest of what the two Democrats told me, you need to know that I attempted to contact Fiani multiple times over several days. On Sunday, Sept. 29, I texted a cell phone number I found for him, and asked him to call me. On Monday, Sept. 30, I messaged him on Facebook, and asked him to get in touch. On the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 1, I wrote Fiani at his county email address, and then later that day I reached out to Debi Drick, who handles communications for the Livingston County GOP (and who is married to the chair of the county board) to help me reach him.
Despite several days of trying to get Fiani to call me, he hasn’t. Since I am unable to present his version of the incident, here is what the Democrats told me:
Nikitin told me that Fiani accosted her after the Sept. 27 Greater Livingston County Chamber Alliance candidate summit at Oak Pointe, and called her a “liar” for a comment she made during her portion of the candidate summit.
Her comment? Nikitin said the county board contributes just $65,000 a year to the LETS transportation service.
That apparently is what set Fiani off.
After the Democratic candidates were done with their portion of the forum, Daubenmier said she saw Fiani move three-quarters of the way across the room toward Nikitin. Daubenmier said she followed to lend support to her fellow Democrat.
Fiani reportedly yelled at Nikitin and accused her of lying.
“You know that’s not true,” Fiani said to Nikitin. “The LETS budget is $6 million, not $65,000.”
Nikitin said she asked Fiani how much the county board contributes to LETS, and he answered, “$65,000,” which is what she said during the forum.
To make matters worse, Nikitin said that after calling her a “liar,” he told her she did not “deserve to live in this county.”
Then, because Nikitin was holding her cell phone, Fiani accused her of recording their conversation.
Fiani then turned on Daubenmier.
“And you,” Fiani said to her. “You contribute nothing to the county, and all you do is spew hateful rhetoric.”
Daubenmier said she fired back at him: “I said it was the county commission that was engaging in hateful rhetoric by wanting to follow undocumented immigrants.”
That’s when Daubenmier said things got “creepy.”
Fiani pointed to her house, which is near Oak Pointe, and accused Daubenmier of “soaking up all the benefits of living on a lake in Livingston County” and contributing nothing.
“If you want this to be like Ann Arbor, you should move to Ann Arbor,” he said.
Daubenmier then asked him if he lived in his parents’ basement.
Fiani told her that he didn’t live with his parents because he is a “successful executive with a Big Three automobile company, Stellantis.”
Daubenmier said Fiani continued to berate her about “spewing hateful rhetoric” and how she does not “deserve” to live in Livingston County.
“I thought it was creepy that he had looked up my address and knew where I live,” Daubenmier said. “But beyond that, his behavior was totally unbecoming of an elected official toward one of his constituents, especially since he had just been on a panel where the Republicans made a point of saying they serve everyone.”
Daubenmier said Fiani’s suggestion that only those who think like him deserve to live in Livingston County is “disgusting.”
She said she also found it interesting that Fiani denied living at his parents’ home since that is where he is registered to vote.
“Where does he live?” Daubenmier asked.
“I’ve paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars in property taxes for the privilege of soaking up all the benefits of living on a lake in Livingston County,” she said. “Has he ever paid any property taxes at all to Livingston County?”
That $65,000
I don’t understand the intricacies of the LETS funding, but Nikitin explained it: “The $65,000 figure is how much the county actually contributes from the general fund,” she said. “The rest of the LETS budget is from Greg Kellogg hunting down grants and negotiating agreements with the healthcare system and a small handful of townships.”
Kellogg is the director of LETS Transportation Services.
According to Nikitin, the only other contribution from the county board is its “rubber stamp.”
“In terms of state and federal grants leveraged by the $65,000 general fund, that only leverages $430,000 of state and local funds,” Nikitin said, explaining that the rest of the LETS budget has to come from other sources, and that is what concerns her.
“I think that might potentially mean that those few townships and the healthcare system bear a disproportionate cost for the entire countywide transportation system,” she said.
You don’t have to take the word of either Nikitin or Fiani about where LETS gets its funding: Here is one of the slides that Kellogg uses in presentations about LETS that clearly shows the county contributes $65,000 for the county’s operating budget.
You can see Kellogg’s entire LETS presentation below.
Nikitin, who loves to comb through data and crunch numbers, has written several guest columns for The Livingston Post, one about transportation; one about the county’s tax rate; and one about crime and immigrants.
Fiani, elected in November 2022, represents District 8, which includes Genoa Township Precincts 4 and 6-8, and Hamburg Township Precincts 1-4 and 7-8. He is being challenged by Democrat Elizabeth Hauptman.
