Members of the Van Buren Township Public Safety Committee clashed during the Aug. 4 meeting over alleged problems with animal control and an official investigation, following citizen complaints about a dead dog being dumped in a dumpster for several days in hot weather and smelling up the neighborhood.
There also are concerns in the community about a dog shot by a police officer and alleged boarding of the animal control officer’s personal dog at the shelter, although this was not mentioned during the meeting.
Vice Chairman Diane Madigan, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of Chairman Mike Miazga, said she had complaints about an incident at the animal shelter and went to Public Safety Director Carl McClanahan with the information.
The previous Monday, she said she was present when Director McClanahan and others inspected the shelter and found it was clean and in order. She said Director McClanahan is conducting an investigation and she will keep the committee apprised of the situation.
She said taking part in the inspection besides Director McClanahan and herself, was VBT Trustee Al Ostrowski (a part-time animal control officer in Dearborn). Also reportedly at the inspection were VBT Animal Control Officer Bob Queener and his union representative Jennifer Price.
(Queener sat in the audience without speaking during the Public Safety Committee meeting. He was next to Treasurer Sharry Budd, his mother’s best friend. Budd spoke only once, when asked about public safety millage.)
Madigan is a long-time dog trainer, knowledgeable about dog care and training.
Director McClanahan told the committee that there is an investigation, but there are no charges. He said it involves disposal of an animal and some issues at the dog pound. He said he is revising policy.
Trustee Phil Hart, the township board’s liaison to the Public Safety Committee, was irate that he wasn’t included in the inspection, since he is the board’s representative to the committee.
Hart complained to McClanahan: “You assured me everything has been done by the book.”
“We are having an administrative investigation … some new information surfaced,” said McClanahan, referring to Department of Agriculture rules. He said he wants to make sure to be in compliance.
“This undermines your credibility,” Hart shot at McClanahan, insisting the police have others who investigate.
“Are you saying it’s not something to investigate?” McClanahan asked.
“You sent out on the airwaves that there is an investigation,” Hart criticized, referring to the live transmission of the meeting via cable TV.
McClanahan said he wants to make sure the township’s policies are in compliance with state law and there is absolutely nothing unusual about this.
“Do you have an open case?” Hart persisted.
“Yes, I do,” McClanahan replied. “There were some issues I wasn’t aware of with the Department of Agriculture. I’m making sure our policies are in compliance with state law.”
Hart said he thought the records Madigan requested of McClanahan on the animal shelter were inappropriate.
“When someone FOIAs a document, what do you want me to do?” McClanahan replied.
Hart said he would like to sit down with McClanahan and discuss the situation.
Supervisor Paul White said a resident filed an official complaint and Director McClanahan responded.
“We went to the shelter to observe conditions there and it was in good condition,” White continued. “We want to make sure that the animal shelter is in compliance with Michigan Department of Agriculture rules and regulations.”
“I don’t know that we’re not in compliance. That’s what the review is about,” McClanahan said.
“You want to review the policies? I’ll help you,” Hart said and McClanahan said he may take him up on his offer.
Hart then complained again about why he wasn’t invited on the inspection, adding, “It sounds like a personal agenda.”
John Delaney said from the audience that the inspection was held during the business day and Hart doesn’t attend contract negotiations because he can’t get away during the day.
“I put this into motion,” Delaney said. “I called Trustee Ostrowski and Diane Madigan.” He added that Ostrowski is a champion of animals.
He said Director McClanahan and Officer Adam Byrd didn’t get the official report until the previous day at 1700 hours.
Hart insisted that anyone could have called him to inform him.
“Residents have concerns about how animals are disposed of,” Delaney said, referring to the days when cats were drowned in buckets.
Hart complained to Madigan that she let Delaney speak and a lot of what he says isn’t right.
Joannie Wazney of the Buster Foundation also spoke from the audience. She said this investigation, “or whatever it’s labeled to be” is because of a citizen’s complaint and it is proper to be brought before the Public Safety Committee.
She asked Hart to show more compassion and he tried to talk over her voice to drown her out, but she continued talking, admonishing Hart, “Sometimes you should be quiet and listen.”
Hart accused Wazney of personalizing everything.
Chris Wisner said from the audience, “I think this has gone too far… If there is a board member sitting on a committee, somebody should have called Mr. Hart… I blame you, too, Mr. White.”
Later Madigan said she had sent a July 29 email to all members of the Public Safety Committee informing them that there were complaints about the animal shelter. She said no one, including Hart, called to ask what was going on. Madigan said there were five citizens who complained to her in the beginning and then more.
In other business at the Aug. 4 meeting, the committee:
* Heard reports on activities of police, fire, and community policing. McClanahan said police overtime has decreased 61.7% through June from 2009. Bob McKenna asked from the audience why figures showed a large disparity between requests for warrants and warrants issued: 168 submitted and 62 approved. McClanahan said is doesn’t mean there’s a problem with investigations, it just means the prosecutor doesn’t think there is enough evidence to win a conviction;
* Heard Fire Chief Darwin Loyer reply to a question about emergency sirens saying he looked into a grant for six sirens at $20,000 each, with the township having to pay 25%, but VBT doesn’t have the money. He tried getting approval to use 911 funding, but the state said no;
* Heard committee member Richard Wardwell say he was concerned over the morale of female officers on the force and so rode along on patrol with Officer Jessica Shippey, who recently was named in a law suit concerning the pat down of a Muslim man after a traffic stop. “We don’t have to worry about them,” he said of the female officers;
* Heard Hart note that the public safety millage will expire at the end of 2011 and they have to get it renewed. He said the committee should carry it as an agenda item at every meeting. He asked McClanahan to put a plan together to pass the millage because time is going fast. He said they need to ask for a renewal or something else since property values are down and money is down. Supervisor White said elected officials cannot tell voters to vote yes or no and that a citizens’ committee would have to handle the millage vote;
* Heard Delaney say that Clinton Township dissolved its police department because of finances. He said the majority of voters in VBT won’t pass a millage for public safety until some issues are resolved. He said there is an impression of favoritism for “Jerry’s Kids” and a three-year fire fighter, who is also a lieutenant on the police department (Ken Floro), was promoted to fire lieutenant, too, although three others who had been on the department a long time had tested favorably. “There’s a cause for concern that we’re going backward,” Delaney said;
* Heard McClanahan say the promotions in the fire department followed an objective process which took more than nine months. He confirmed that an additional “small stipend” is given at the end of the year to fire officers. In responding to comments on the blended rates that make cross-trained police officers acting as fire fighters earn four or five times the hourly rate that fire fighters are paid, “We are required by federal law, when they work, they get paid”;
* Heard Wisner say that the committee should remove Ramone Crowe’s name tag from the board table, since he doesn’t come to meetings and maybe someone more diligent should be put in that position. White pointed out that Crowe missed the first meeting, the day after he was appointed because of a previous commitment, and then attended his first meeting and missed this, his second meeting;
* Heard Wazney say it cost the township $95,000 to have an animal control officer and since they “don’t follow policy and pitch a dead dog in the dumpster,” it seems a great waste of money. “I was deeply disturbed when I heard it… I have a real hard time with an animal placed in a dumpster and not disposed of properly… That might be a place to think about cutting”;
* Heard Guy Smith of Van Buren Estates on Lohr Road say there is a big animal control problem in manufactured home communities in the township. He said a lot of animal control issues are not addressed and information on how to handle it isn’t getting out. He said there are over 150 feral cats terrorizing the community and nobody know what to do about it. Madigan asked, “We don’t pick up cats, do we?” and she was told that the township does not pick up cats;
* Although the animal control report said zero dogs were adopted out in July, Lena Flannery of Van Buren Estates said she adopted a pet from VBT Animal Control after she saw its picture in the Independent. (That was during the days when Trustee Ostrowski was animal control officer and furnished the newspaper with pictures of stray animals needing homes and the Independent published them without charge.) Flannery said residents wanted to have a Neighborhood Watch program set up, but, she said, VB Estates management is discouraging that, saying, “They don’t want us driving around scaring people”;
* Heard Officer Adam Byrd say he researched the cat problem and it will be looked into and advice will be given to the community. During his research, Byrd had called Dearborn Animal Control for information and officials there informed Ostrowski of the call. Ostrowski works for Dearborn Animal Control and said he offered to help VBT with the problem, but has not been taken up on his offer. He said when he was animal control officer, in VBT, he bought eight live traps for cats and helped catch cats after a resident was scratched by a feral cat and had to be hospitalized; and
* Heard Chaplain Jim Richter announce a Public Safety Appreciation Day on Sept. 11 from noon to 2 p.m. at The Church of God pavilion, next to Fire Station #1 on Hull Road. The community is invited to a free pig roast, with churches associated with the chaplains providing side dishes; and
* Announced the next Public Safety Committee meeting is at 5:30 p.m., Sept. 1.