Sinking Fund can’t pay for McBride paving; project off for now

At Monday’s 4 p.m. work/study session of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees and later at the 7:30 p.m. workshop of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, a common issue was discussed.
Engineering work has been stopped suddenly on the paving of McBride Road which was supposed to be done by the time school starts next fall.
“Is it true we cannot use Sinking Funds for road repair?” asked Trustee Phil Hart at the VBT meeting.
Ron Akers, director of planning and economic development, said the school district’s auditing firm, Taylor and Morgan, said it was legal to use the school’s Sinking Fund to hard surface the road in front of McBride Middle School, but its legal counsel said it couldn’t.
The VBT board members were perplexed at how the school’s attorney’s opinion was dated April 15, yet the board of education voted on April 21 to use up to $180,000 of the Sinking Fund for road surfacing.
And, VBT approved engineering for the project on April 19.
It wasn’t until May 5 that VBT was informed and immediately stopped the engineering on the project.
“The attorney said no on April 15,” Akers said. “I got a call from Pam on May 5 saying the project is not going through,” he said referring to Pam Johnson, the secretary to the school superintendent.
On May 5, VBT officials were told there was no superintendent there because she was on vacation. And James Williams, the school district’s director of buildings and grounds, who had assured the board and the township that the Sinking Fund could be used for the project, now doesn’t want to talk about it with township officials.
“It took them three weeks to tell us,” said Clerk Leon Wright, noting the township and the school board were told by Williams that the auditors said it was OK.
“We get into trouble when we try to fast-track,” said Trustee Jeff Jahr. “We have to have the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.”
The VBT board discussed how they would use the money available from the county, now that McBride won’t be done.
Akers said they could look at doing McBride with a special assessment district, where property owners could pay the 20% needed for the deal that has the county paying 80%.
Trustee Jahr asked for the board to be involved in the discussions, since trustees knew nothing about the deal with the school involving McBride until it was announced at a school board meeting.
“We had no memo of understanding on the project,” said Trustee Reggie Miller. “The engineering began and now we have an invoice for thousands of dollars of work.”
Akers said Canton went out to the community and did a lottery for its county road funds. The money can only be spent on roads owned by Wayne County. It was suggested that Morton Taylor Road, that was supposed to be paved by a developer but wasn’t, could be considered.
“We’ll look forward to getting information on this,” Trustee Miller said.
Later, at the end of Monday’s school board meeting, Trustee Sherry Frazier asked about the Sinking Fund not being used for McBride, since the board had been assured that Plante Moran CRESA, which consults on use of the Sinking Fund, and the board’s auditors Morgan Taylor, both said it’s OK.
Trustee Frazier said both Williams and Interim Superintendent Shonta Langford Green had assured her the Sinking Fund could be used. Frazier said she told Green that Akers needs that in writing and Green said she would do it.
If the Sinking Fund is used for something not allowed by the state, the school district would never be allowed to have Sinking Funds again, she said.
“Last week, I heard from somebody at the township that we can’t use the Sinking Fund,” Frazier said.
Then school board members got an email from school board president Brent Mikulski that their attorneys, Collins and Blaha, said no.
“It upsets me we got OKs from two firms that we pay, with Plante Moran being an expert on Sinking Funds across the state, with attorneys on staff, and suddenly, what?” Frazier. “And, we didn’t get case law cited.”
“It bothers me we rely and pay for this information,” she said. “Somebody dropped the ball somewhere.
“We have spent $264,000 on legal fees so far this school year. I’ve added it up.
“It’s a disappointment for all parties involved,” Frazier said of the McBride paving.
“And, it bothers me that we’re that cavalier with taxpayers’ money,” she said. “People we pay should be accountable to us.”
No other school board members spoke on the subject Monday.