VBT to spend some $7.5 million on SHUVA

Van Buren Township is among the seven municipalities taking part in a $32 million improvement and bond refunding for the South Huron Valley Utilities Authority sanitary system.
At its regular meeting on Jan. 21, the VBT board of trustees approved tax-exempt bonds to finance headworks and plant-wide repairs and improvements in an amount not to exceed $30,900,000 and to refund its outstanding 2010 sewer system improvement bonds in an amount not to exceed $1,100,000 to achieve debt service savings.
The local unit’s share of payments is based on the weighted average of the last three calendar years’ flow percentage for each Local Unit served by the sewage disposal.
Van Buren Township has 16.8% of the project, which brings an annual obligation from $291,460 to $378,020 from 2021 through 2043, totalling about $7.5 million.
Others are:
• Brownstown Twp. – 23.8%
• Flat Rock City – 16.5%
• Gibraltar City – 11.9%
• Huron Township – 15.1%
• South Rockwood Village – 2.2%
• Woodhaven City – 13.7%
Each community has to approve the resolution for the bond project to move forward.
The contract includes the pledge by each Local Unit of its limited tax full faith and credit as security for its obligations under the contract including payment of its share of debt service on the bonds.
Each Local Unit will be required to levy ad valorem taxes on all taxable property within its boundaries to the extent to make the payments if other funds are not available.
The contract becomes effective for each Local Unit without a vote of the electors of each Local Unit unless a valid petition requiring an election on the question of entering into the contract is signed by not less than 10% of the registered electors of the Local Unit and is filed with the Clerk of the Local Unit within 45 days after the publication of this notice.
The notice for Van Buren Township is published in the Jan. 30 issue of the Belleville-Area Independent.
Arrangements for the bonds are being handled by Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, Detroit.
Treasurer Sharry Budd, who represents VBT on SHUVA, said this is for plant improvements. She said spreading sewage on fields has become a problem and this will take care of that.
Treasurer Budd said the Water and Sewer Department has reserves for these kinds of programs and if there was a cost to the township sewer customers, it would be minimal.
In other business at the one-hour-and-seven-minute meeting, the board:
• Held a moment of silence in memory of Police Officer Fred Sweet;
• Approved extending the Inter-Governmental Agreement with the City of Belleville for emergency lockup and dispatch services for three years, with an optional fourth year if not terminated by either party) with a 2.5% increase for emergency services per year. The current agreement was set to expire in 2020. The new agreement runs from Jan. 1, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2022, with total cost for each year $184,254, $188.860, and $193,582. Belleville was due to act on the agreement at its Jan. 27 meeting. Supervisor McNamara said the township’s assessor said they should raise the price 2% a year, but “we made it 2.5% to be sure to cover our costs … so they are paying their fair share”;
• Approved the first reading of the rezoning of a strip of property at 8001 Haggerty Rd., owned by DTE, from C-1, general business, to M-1, light industrial, to clean up the zoning on the property. The second reading and approval is scheduled for the next regular meeting;
• Approved purchase of four new trucks from Atchinson Ford to replace two trucks now in building and grounds (2007 and 2008 models) at a total cost of $61,646, and two trucks in water and sewer (2004 and 2005 models) at a total cost of $55,840;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointments of Charles Coleman, Kimberly Nofz, Tammy Wall, Danie Belanger, Todd O’Neill, and Denise Willoughby to the Recreation Committee with terms to expire Feb. 1, 2021;
• Approved the supervisor’s appointments of Kennedy Plummer and Morgan Stuckey to the Recreation Committee with terms to expire Feb. 1, 2021. The two are 10th grade students at Belleville High School and will be getting graduation credit for their volunteer work. The positions are non-compensated and non-voting;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointments of Dolores Hogan, Mary Korgal, Patricia Sobecki, and Helen Wylie to the Endowment Committee with terms to expire Jan. 15, 2021;
• Skipped over the agenda item noting Presentation of the Rotary Banner to the Board of Trustees because no one from the Rotary was present;
• Heard Trustee Paul White ask about the $2,049.90 cost of a new oak lift-top desk for Supervisor Kevin McNamara’s office, as well as $1,655 for a conference table in his office, as reflected in the Prepaid Voucher List up for approval. “We are not a Beverly Hills or California community and shouldn’t be acting like we are,” Trustee White said. He also said McNamara shouldn’t be reimbursed for a two-hour parking fee of $25 without a proper receipt. He said two years ago Treasurer Budd denied him reimbursement for a $2.50 fee for crossing the Mackinac Bridge for a meeting because he couldn’t find the receipt and the board decided those without receipts wouldn’t be reimbursed. “You should suck it up and pay the $25,” he said. McNamara said he had a meeting with the department of roads downtown and he put his credit card in but got no receipt. He said he called the attendant over and asked for a receipt and he got what he turned in. Budd said that was a different set of circumstances than White’s missing receipt. She said McNamara’s assistant Dan Selman sent out an email explaining it all. “I wish you would call to ask before bringing it before the board to embarrass somebody,” Budd said;
• Heard Trustee Reggie Miller ask about the furniture. McNamara said the township purchased new furniture for every office with furniture 25 years old. Trustee Miller said the cost was not out of range for furniture. McNamara said most all of the desks were thrown out because they were falling apart. Trustee Sherry Frazier said the school put extra equipment out for auction. McNamara said they saved all the chairs and the filing cabinets are being offereed to charities and if they don’t go, they will auction them. He said you could fill a Mason jar with screws from under the desks before they even started taking them apart;
• Heard Trustee White say he will never vote in favor of another CIP program that the board voted on last fall because, “We didn’t know what was going on in the township.” He referred to amounts of money put forward for renovations without details. McNamara said while Northville, Canton and others built new township halls, VBT didn’t go there. “We just wanted to fix what we had,” McNamara said. He said in the last three years they’ve purchased equipment for the police and fire departments and built a splash park. “One million dollars went to township hall.” The board approved the voucher list containing the furniture for McNamara’s office and the $25 parking reimbursement on a 5-2 vote, with White and Frazier voting no; and
• Heard John Delaney tell the board members the public can’t get to its work/study meeting at 4 p.m. and its regular meeting at 6 p.m. because they work. He said over the years the times have been moved from 7:30 to 7 and now to 6. “You’re not giving us time to talk,” he said of the layout of the agenda. Delaney said he left work to come to the 4 p.m. meeting and then sped to Farmington and Livonia before rushing back for the 6 p.m. meeting. “Joe Blow, John Smith have to break laws to get here,” he said. “Nobody knows what’s going on in this township,” Delaney said. “You guys are spending like drunken sailors,” he said, adding, “We saw this 12 years ago, 10 years ago… Paul White did save some money … Beware, the storm is coming. You’re putting lipstick on a pig.” He said inside of this building they are spending money on is a small, blue township building where his mother used to work. “You’re not really leaving it open … not giving us a chance to talk … I don’t know what’s going on… There’s going to be a new sheriff in town soon.” When Trustee Miller asked if there have been any complaints about the 6 p.m. meeting time, she was told there haven’t. McNamara said a recent poll for a proposed recreation building showed a 76% approval rating of the township. “When things go bad, that’s where recalls come from,” Delaney said.