News · Muskegon
Inside the Muskegon Heights land memo: two council members charged, rent-free city houses, and 20 lots the prosecutor wants auctioned
MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson has charged two sitting Muskegon Heights City Council members over the sale of city-owned land, and his 16-page memo on the case reads as an indictment of how the city has handled the properties it takes back for unpaid taxes.
Councilman Derrick Collins, 61, is charged with a felony under the state law that bars public officials from contracting with their own government, tied to a property at 2301 Reynolds Ave. Councilwoman Lashae Simmons, 62, is charged with willful neglect of duty by a public officer, a misdemeanor, tied to 3327 Eighth St. The memo calls each charge “merely an accusation” and says both are presumed innocent. Citing professional conduct rules, Hilson released no further evidence on either count.
“I firmly believe that when the entire story is told and the evidence is properly examined, we will establish that he did not violate the law,” Collins’ attorney, Michael L. Oakes, told MLive.
What the memo says went wrong
The investigation began with a July 23 search of City Hall in cooperation with the DEA, FBI, IRS and Michigan State Police. Investigators reviewed more than 7,000 digital items, the memo says, and Hilson wrote that the charging decisions “do not end this police investigation.”
Each year the Muskegon County Land Bank offers the city tax-foreclosed parcels. The council votes on which to buy, sells them by sealed bid, and a winning bid needs five of seven council votes. The council’s Building and Lands Committee sees every bidder’s name and amount before it picks a winner.
In January 2025, then-Interim City Manager Melvin Burns warned in writing against awarding bids to council members’ immediate family. Mayor Bonnie McGlothin forwarded that memo to the full council in April 2025, according to Hilson. Collins’ sale was approved by the council in 2021, and the city attorney wrote the deed in 2025.
The memo says Councilman Ronald Jenkins voted twice, in November 2024 and April 2026, to approve a slate of sales that included a lot awarded to his adult son, without disclosing the link. Both votes failed to reach five votes. Hilson wrote that Jenkins should have disclosed and abstained, but that the facts “do not rise to the level of a criminal violation.” He found no noteworthy transactions by Mayor Pro Tem Kellie Kitchen or Councilman Andre Williams.
Lost rent and taxes
Hilson’s “examples of lack of oversight” are where taxpayers lose money. At 161 E. Cleveland Ave., a resident who was told he had the winning bid took a check to City Hall, but the council never approved the sale. He has lived there for more than two years paying only utilities, and because the city still holds the deed, no property taxes have been collected. At 3332 Eighth St., a “landlord” kept collecting rent on the house after it went back to the city, with a city employee’s permission to stay, and the city received none of it.
The memo also says City Attorney Te Smith, whose 2023 contract pays $17,000 a month, a rate the memo says appears to apply regardless of how much work is done, seemed unaware of any conflict-of-interest violations. Hilson found no crime by Smith but said he would share the findings with the Attorney Grievance Commission. Older land swaps involving Shawnderrick Roberson, who faces separate drug and state tax-evasion charges, fell outside the six-year statute of limitations, the memo says.
What happens next
“A government that is not transparent or one that has sloppy or non-existent records, becomes a breeding ground for fraud and corruption,” Hilson wrote. He said the county Land Bank has agreed to run a proper auction for the 20 properties the city still owns, and he strongly urged the city to take that offer. Whether to do so is now up to a council with two of its members facing charges.
Sources:
Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson, “Disposition Memorandum: City of Muskegon Heights Investigation” (Oct. 27, 2026), full text as published by FOX 17, https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/lakeshore/muskegon/2-muskegon-heights-city-commissioners-charged-after-massive-investigation-involving-land-bank-properties
WZZM 13, “Two Muskegon Heights city council members charged after probe of city land sales” (Oct. 27, 2026), https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/muskegon-heights/muskegon-heights-city-commissioners-charged/69-0923645b-6f6b-4e26-b819-0f69cfca4d73
MLive, “2 Muskegon Heights council members charged months after City Hall raid” (Oct. 2026; ages, Oakes statement), https://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/2026/10/2-muskegon-heights-council-members-charged-months-after-city-hall-raid.html
Image: 1940 Census Enumeration District Map, Muskegon Heights, U.S. National Archives, Wikimedia Commons (public domain), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1940_Census_Enumeration_District_Maps_-_Michigan_-_Muskegon_County_-_Muskegon_Heights_-_ED_61-53A_-_ED_61-64_-_NARA_-_5832953.jpg
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