VBT board passes $17.4 million budget for 2018 on 6-1 vote

The Van Buren Township Board of Trustees passed a $17.4 million budget for 2018 with Trustee Paul White voting no.
That 6-1 vote also covered the amended 2017 budget and the 2018 employee wage schedule, with everyone getting a 2.5% raise.
At the regular township board meeting Oct. 17, Trustee White said the public safety millage vote that approved putting 2.5 more mills designated for public safety, allowed VBT to put $1.5 million into a long-term debt fund to pay for the Visteon bond, the pension fund, and other responsibilities.
Trustee White had referred to this as a “bait and switch,” that led voters to believe the extra 2.5 mills would be spent to improve public safety, when it actually was freeing up money in the general fund for other use.
White also objected to how the proposed changes in the public services department were put in the budget before trustees knew about it.
“VBT was heading to an emergency manager, operating on less than 1 mill in taxes, with $12 million in pension debt, mostly in public safety,” responded Supervisor Kevin McNamara.
“Public Safety had 4 mills and we went to 6.5 mills,” White said.
“You were using the landfill fund, which would go to zero,” Supervisor McNamara said of past boards, including the time White was supervisor.
“We shouldn’t use the landfill fund to pay for public safety,” agreed Trustee Sherry Frazier.
“We still have the second-lowest taxes in Wayne County,” McNamara said.
White said the prior supervisor, Linda Combs, said in an LDFA meeting that the money would be put into a long-term debt fund to pay the Visteon bond.
McNamara, Frazier, and Trustee Reggie Miller spoke out together, saying those were Combs’ words, not theirs.
Clerk Leon Wright said the way the millage request was posted was for the public safety department to better serve itself and take the burden off the township general fund.
Treasurer Sharry Budd said they have added $1.5 million from the general fund and $2.5 million from the landfill fund and now the long-term debt fund is funded at almost $5 million. She said the 6.5 mills doesn’t completely fund the public safety budget and the general fund still has to add funds to cover that. Revenue for the public safety department in 2018 was estimated at $6.69 million.
Trustee Miller praised McNamara for his work on the budget that was brought to the board for approval in October, rather than at the end of the year against a tight deadline, as in the past. She said 81% of the pensions are covered and that’s not where they need to be.
In other business at the one-hour-and 45-minutes meeting, the board:
• Unanimously approved the 2017 amended and 2018 proposed Special Revenue Funds, that included the CDBG, DDA, LDFA, federal and state forfeiture funds, E-911, landfill, museum, and long-term debt fund. Treasurer Budd said the Water and Sewer fund would be presented separately at a later date;
• Approved on a 4-3 vote the new job descriptions and personal services agreements for James Taylor, Matthew Best, and Ron Akers, putting Best in charge of a new Public Services Department with a $14,000 raise. Akers and Taylor now are below Best on the organizational chart. Voting no were Frazier, Miller, and White, who objected to the shuffling of the same jobs to be done and paying the new director $81,000, while the other two directors kept the same pay with fewer jobs assigned;
• Approved on a 4-3 vote, the purchase of one 2018 Ford F-150 XL Extended Cab with 8′ bed from Atchison Ford for $25,103.16. Frazier, Miller, and White voted no, having a problem with the truck being fancier than needed for the building official to go out for building permit checks. Also, Atchinson was not the low bidder, but the township’s policy for local bidders brought Atchinson in as low bidder with the 5% discount. The three no voters also said at the work/study meeting the day before there was consensus to have the single cab feature, but that was changed overnight. When Frazier said it was “a sad day” in VBT, McNamara said, “I’m not putting up with that,” and refused to let her continue speaking, saying he would close down the meeting if she continued;
• Unanimously approved the proposal by McKenna & Associates to prepare an update to the township’s existing master plan for an amount not to exceed $40,000, $19,000 of which will be paid with federal Community Development Block Grant funds and $21,000 with general fund money. The whole process will take a year;
• Approved on a 5-2 vote an offer to settle the VBT vs. Amanda Jackson civil case (15-015063) with Trustees Miller and Kevin Martin voting no. Jackson built on VBT-owned lakeside property on Lake Pointe Pass and ignored a stop-work order two years ago. McNamara said the judge wants the township to settle and VBT already has spent “a few dollars on this” with attorney fees. Jackson has offered to pay the township for the property over a period of time, while the township had wanted payment all at once. “That’s not what we agreed to initially,” Martin said. “We’re not in the mortgage business and not in the loan business.” McNamara said the settlement “firmly estabishes that line belongs to VBT”;
• Heard Public Safety Director Greg Laurain said there was an incident at 12:29 p.m., Oct. 12, when a resident was found facedown in a bathroom without a pulse from an overdose. He said Sgt. Amy Smith and Officer Chris Hayes were on the scene quickly and gave him a dose of one ounce of Narcan and he immediately revived. Director Laurain said Supervisor McNamara is a member of the Detroit Wayne County Mental Health Authority and expedited getting the lifesaving drug for the township. Fire Chief Amy Brow provided training for police, fire, and EMS. McNamara said they weren’t expecting Narcan here until next year;
• Learned the scheduled Nov. 6 work/study meeting and the Nov. 7 board meeting have been cancelled because of the election in one VBT precinct in the Lincoln School District;
• Heard Frazier announce that County Commissioner Al Haidous said he would look into getting monthly updates on roadwork, so VBT is not in the dark on roads;
• Heard announcements on the Coffee With a Cop event 8:30-10:30 a.m. at Leo’s on Oct. 28; the Candy Loop in Quirk Park 5-7 p.m. on Oct. 28, rain or shine; the appearance of Don Bluhm as speaker at a veterans event 12-3 p.m. on Nov. 9; and that the fire department’s third-annual pancake breakfast sold 373 tickets;
• Heard Reg Ion suggest the board buy a Ranger for the building official since that’s all that’s needed. He also suggested the police department take part in “Help Not Handcuffs,” a program for those with addictions. He suggested they drop the speed limit to 35 mph on Tyler at Belleville Road because there are a lot of accidents and drivers are going 50 mph there. Ion also pointed out a woman in Detroit was indicted on towing fraud. “You gave it to who you wanted to … a buddy deal,”