VBT Board to consider spending $161,120 to upgrade private dance studio

A proposal to spend $161,120 to upgrade a private dance studio housed in township hall was pulled from the Feb. 5 Van Buren Township board meeting agenda after questions arose in the work/study session on Feb. 4.
More information was to be gathered to present to the board.
The issue now been put on the agendas of the 4 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19, work/study agenda for further discussion and on the 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19 regular meeting for action.
The regular meeting will not be shown on cable because the board will be meeting in another room that does not have capabilities for cable. The regular township board meeting room is being upgraded and is not open for use.
The project was presented as one of the Capital Improvements-Plus projects that were approved by the board in 2018.
The dance studio part of CIP-Plus was before the board this time to accept the low bid of Cross Renovations, the same company that did the work on the building and planning offices.
Public Services Director Matthew Best said they will be putting in a fancy, professional dance floor, mirrors on the wall, and bars. He said the dance studio provides dances classes for the Recreation Department.
Jennifer Valinsky, who has run her Jitterbug Elite dance studio at the township hall for 16 years, every night except Sundays and Fridays, was present to say the present flooring is dangerous and they don’t have enough space.
The Jitterbug Elite website shows the township hall address as its business address, but payments for the classes are paid directly to Valinsky.
Director Best said the recreation desk will be upgraded and the waiting area for parents who were waiting for their dancers will be enlarged. Best said dancers have suffered broken bones and tendonitis because of the present floor and there is nowhere to put the waiting parents.
They also will put in a new, built-in display case for trophies and the floor will be leveled. He said the dance studio is the only program that uses this space.
“I want the township to use hard data,” said Trustee Sherry Frazier during the work/study session when the project was discussed.
“I want to see hard numbers of students, parents in the hallway. We’re at the point in the township when we need numbers,” she said.
Valinsky said the parents pay for the youth to take the classes and they want to promote a safe environment.
Best said the size of the dance studio space will stay the same, but the hard tile will be replaced with a dance floor, bars, mirrors, and lighting.
Trustee Frazier questioned the great differences in the three sealed bids for the work. As part of the board packet, the bids were listed as: Cross Renovations, $140,500; DeMaria, $403,500; and Aristeo, $289,900.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara said the township engineers wanted $60,000 to $80,000 to design the project and the township decided to go with a design/build process.
“That could have been part of the problem,” Supervisor McNamara said.
“The others overdid the design,” Best said. “Cross knew the community.”
“It’s a big discrepancy,” Trustee Frazier persisted.
“They were adding stuff,” Best said.
Best said the project involves moving a storage area to turn it into waiting space, new floors, walls, lighting, moving the drinking fountain and reorienting the recreation desk.
“It’s a good temporary fix, but it doesn’t solve our overall problem,” said Clerk Leon Wright.
Best said it will take six months for the design, permits, and going to the planning commission and one month of construction. He said they will figure out how to take care of the dancers during construction.
“Leon’s right. We’re lacking space here and we have to look into the future,” said Trustee Kevin Martin.
Valinsky said now they can seat 12 parents and it will at least double the space. She said she takes about 10 students in each class.
Trustee Reggie Miller said the township has a lot of senior events and they have to watch out for fire code violations. She said they had talked about a big screen or window so parents could watch their children in the class.
Supervisor McNamara said it was a window they wanted.
“I’d like to know the figure of how many students there are,” said Trustee Miller and Supervisor McNamara said he would get Recreation Department Director Jennifer Wright to get the figures.
At the end of the meeting, the Independent asked how the township chose this private business to help when other dance studios in the community have to invest in their own studio upgrades.
It was explained this was started long ago by former Recreation Director Bruce Ross.
Director Wright said the dance studio gives a percentage of its profits to the township each year, but didn’t have the exact figures.