by David Gordon, reporting on the January 9, 2018 Board Meeting.

 The Board of Trustees last night voted to rent the majority of the Township Hall second floor to the Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team (LAWNET).   Public Safety Director Bill Wagner and his team were credited with finding the tenant. LAWNET will pay about $2,200/month on a five-year lease.

The Board unanimously approved a request from the Kiwanis Club to move its operation into the old township hall at 75 Barker Rd. , considered one of our few downtown historic structures.  

The Board voted down, 4-3, for the second time in two months, a $24,500 proposal to “tweak” the Master Plan and change zoning along the US23 corridor. The Board spent 45 minutes discussing that proposal and two others that would have added $74,000 to the planning budget.

Although the agenda was only 10 items, the meeting still took more than 3 ½ hours. It adjourned at 10:47pm.   Only one member of the public stayed until the bitter end……guess who?

2nd Floor of Township Hall is Finally Rented

The Board of Trustees last night voted to rent the majority of the Township Hall second floor to the Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team (LAWNET). Public Safety Director Bill Wagner and his team were credited with finding the tenant.

LAWNET is a multi-jurisdictional drug, auto theft and major case consortium that was originally formed in 1970 as the Washtenaw Area Narcotics Team, or WANT. The unit changed its name to LAWNET in 1981.

The second floor of the $7.7M building has been unoccupied and only lightly used since it opened in 2002. The Board of Trustees and the Planning Commission hold their twice-monthly meetings there and a few other civic groups occasionally utilize the space.  The previous Board spent more than $50,000 building themselves a new meeting room in the upstairs in 2016.

LAWNET will pay rent of about $2,200/month beginning April 1 after the office space is built out at a cost of $97,000. The Board agreed to pay half of the construction cost. LAWNET also will pay about 10% of the building’s utilities and is signing a five-year renewable lease. Manager Stephen Aynes said parking for the estimated 20 staff and officers is not expected to be a problem.

“This has been a goal for a very long time,” said Treasurer Lenore Zelenock. “The rent doesn’t come close to paying for the space but something is certainly better than nothing, and we have been getting nothing for a long time. Thank you, Chief Wagner.”

Blame for the costly and greatly underutilized second floor falls on former Supervisor Mike McFarland and his Board (2000-2004) which quietly voted in 2001 to double the size of the Public Safety Building, aka Township Hall. McFarland’s Board also doubled the township’s debt obligation for the project.  Find out more at these links:

Gross mismanagement of the project caused massive cost overruns leading to the largest financial scandal in township history.   By the time the building was completed, the original $3.8M cost approved by voters had ballooned to $7.7M. Another consequence was that the Board found itself broke and in October, 2003, needed to pass an emergency $500,000 borrowing resolution to fix its budget.

Paying off the building’s bonds over 20 years, not including interest, has cost the township more than $30,000 every month.  The debt won’t be fully retired until 2023. Chief Wagner re-iterated at the meeting that the debt on the cost overruns has been a huge burden on both the police and fire department budgets.

Kiwanis Moving to Historic Old Township Hall, 75 Barker

In other action, the Board unanimously approved a request from the Kiwanis Club to move its operation into the old township hall at 75 Barker Rd. , which many consider one of the few downtown historic structures.

Kiwanis has been operating in a storefront next to Polly’s Market, but a Domino's Pizza is reportedly moving into the space. 

All three speakers at the first Call to the Public (Mary Devlin, Lynn Slagle, and David Gordon) spoke in favor of the request and well-known Kiwanians Margaret Riddell and Mary Tummonds were in attendance to support the move and thanked Polly’s Market for being such a gracious landlord. Treasurer Zelenock and Trustee Otto are Kiwanis board members, so abstained from voting but applauded the Board approval.

Prior to the vote, a motion by Supervisor Marlene Chockley to have the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) manage 75 Barker Road failed for lack of support. Trustees questioned why the township would need the DDA to manage the property since Manager Aynes is now on the payroll.

Split Board Again Squashes “Tweak” to Master Plan

The Board voted down, 4-3, for the second time in two months, a $24,500 proposal to “tweak” the Master Plan and change zoning along the US23 corridor. The Board spent 45 minutes discussing that proposal and two others that would have added $74,000 to the planning budget.

Supervisor Marlene Chockley continued her lobbying efforts for the Master Plan “tweak” but got support from only two Trustees - Janet Chick and Jacki Otto.  Chockley said the Master Plan would need to be changed in order to rezone some properties in which several companies have shown an interest.  

Clerk Kathy Manley, Treasurer Lenore Zelenock and Trustees Wayne Dockett and Tawn Beliger voted against the spending for the Master Plan this year. Zelenock noted that former planner Patrick Sloane last April said no review was required until 2019.

Planner Sloan Iaquinto Chick 2017 04 19 400w

Speaking to another of the requests for planning funds, Zelenock reminded the Board that planner Paul Lippens in October said that his retainer covered work on the waterfront park. “Now, only three months later, we’re being asked for an additional $10,000?” she questioned. This request was tabled.

The Board did agree to spend up to $14,500 (in addition to the regular $40,000 planner’s retainer) for streamlining township ordinances in an effort to attract business development.

The Board finds itself in a weak bargaining position with its planning firm, McKenna Assoc. of Northville, because during a six-month period under former Supervisor Marilyn Engstrom, two planning firms quit the township.            

Long-time planners Carlisle-Wortman Assoc. quit in the summer of 2015 and then their replacement, another highly respected Ann Arbor firm, Beckett & Raeder, walked away after only four months on the job in 2016. A toxic political environment was blamed for the departures. Townships occasionally replace consultants, but rarely do consultants walk away from their clients.

Much of the contention around planning was caused by the Engstrom Board’s efforts to ignore the Master Plan and instead accommodate a big developer, Biltmore LLC, which wanted to transform 400 acres of farmland into 1,475 rooftops along Whitmore Lake Road.

The plan eventually was rejected by the Planning Commission but only after more than two years of community upheaval. There was a concerted effort to promote and facilitate Biltmore’s scheme by the township’s first manager, Howard Fink, who left in December after Engstrom and her administration lost its re-election bid in the 2016 primary.

McKenna Assoc. is the most expensive planning firm the township has ever contracted and there is some confusion about its $40,000/year retainer – what work is included and what requires extra spending. It is expected the Board will continue this dispute at upcoming meetings and will eventually clarify McKenna’s role.

Planner Paul Lippens 2018 01 09 BOT 220w

Meetings Still Mind-Numbingly Long -- Nearly FOUR HOURS!

Although the agenda was pared to 10 items, the meeting still took more than 3 ½ hours. It adjourned at 10:47pm.   Only one member of the public stayed until the bitter end……guess who?

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