ESCANABA — The Escanaba City Council revisited a Freedom of Information Request sent to municipalities across the state earlier this year seeking information about voters, but the council stopped short of lighting a match to the thousands of ballots sought under the request.

“I was going to move tonight that we have a bonfire tomorrow,” said Council Member Ralph Blasier.

The request, which was simply signed “Emily,” was sent to city clerks across the state on Aug. 20 and sought thousands of pages of election day ballots, absentee ballots, provincial ballots, and other documents related to the 2016 presidential election. It was mailed from Chicago with instructions to ship the gathered materials to the New York P.O. Box address for “United Impact Group, LLC.” The only phone number on the request had a Flint, Mich., area code, and the username of the email provided by the requester was simply “mifoia2018.”

Not long after the request was made, Priorities USA Foundation — a non-profit group affiliated with Priorities USA Action, the largest Democratic Super PAC — stepped forward to take responsibility for the request. In a statement, the group described the request as an “in-depth research effort to determine whether any discrepancies exist in the ballot process across various states and precincts that might disproportionately affect certain communities, particularly communities of color and young people.”

According to City Manager Patrick Jordan, the city did not receive the 50 percent prepayment the city was legally allowed to ask for under the Freedom of Information Act. Without the payment, the city was not obligated to begin filling the request. If it had, the total bill would have been just over $3,294. Of that cost, $150 would have been for postage to mail the estimated 90 pounds of documents to New York.

“I’ve heard one township downstate received a check. Maybe other strategies are working for them so they dropped this one. I’m not sure,” said Jordan.

Because the ballots had been slated to be destroyed on Sept. 9, after the 22 month retention period for ballots had passed, and the FOIA request prepayment was not received by the city’s deadline, Blasier felt the city should destroy the documents. He cited an email from the city’s attorney Ralph B.K. Peterson, who indicated it would be legal, though not politically advisable.

“Giving political advice is not his job. We hired him for legal opinions, not political advice,” said Blasier.

It was noted the state attorney general and the Michigan Municipal League have both recommended holding the documents for extended periods of time.

“I would rather see a solid something out of the attorney general’s office or something, telling us we can light this match,” said Council Member Peggy O’Connell Schumann.

Ultimately, the council voted to table the issue until Peterson was present to give a legal opinion in person.

In other business, the council reaffirmed the city manager held supervisory duties for city staff and moved to allow the city manager, human resources director, and the city assessor to hire any potential level 2 assessors to serve as assistant assessors. The city charter indicates the hire of assistant assessors is the responsibility of the city council, but in the past candidates have interviewed with the three staff members.

“I believe that the system that has operated in the assessor’s office for the hire of assistants should be followed again,” said Mayor Marc Tall.

At the request of council members, Jordan will be providing the council with copies of the job posting and the resumes of candidates who apply for the open assistant assessor position.

The council also heard an update on paving projects in the city. Paving is slated to begin on 3rd Avenue North between Stephenson and Lincoln Road on Saturday, weather permitting. The next portion of the 3rd Avenue North to be under construction will be from Lincoln Road to North 30th St. That project will begin on Oct. 17.

Following the 3rd Avenue North projects, the city will begin working on Danforth Road from north of the landfill to the city limits on Oct. 27.