An investigation into documents reported stolen from the Orion Township Assessors office was completed Jan 5. No action by the township board or from the Oakland County has materialized because of that investigation.
Since September, detectives from the sheriff’s department of have looked into two incidents revolving around the tax exempt status of the Gingellville Community Center. Township Assessor John Atwell revoked the center’s tax exempt status last spring and it has been a source of controversy since. The center has a hearing before the Michigan Tax Tribunal in May.
Before that, the Orion Township Board will discuss the missing documents and the subsequent sheriff’s report at the January 18 board meeting.
According to the OCSD report, Attwell noticed two documents were missing from the Gingellville Community Center file, located in a drawer in his office. This was upon arriving at his office on the morning of April 21, 2004.
The report states Attwell saw one of the drawers was open and it appeared someone had ‘searched through a specific folder labeled (tax exemption requests), due to the way the documents were hap-hazardly put back in the file.?
At that time, Attwell reportedly noticed the income and expense statements from 1995, 1996 and 1997 for the GCC, as well as the 2001 form 990 (Return of Organization Exempt from Income tax form) for the GCC were missing.
In the report, Attwell said he knew the two documents were missing because he had reviewed them the previous day, following a township board meeting on April 19.
At that meeting Attwell was ‘verbally criticized by the public and members of the GCC for removing their tax exempt status,? the report said.
Attwell told investigators he didn’t report the documents missing in April because he ‘would have been able to get duplicates? if he needed to, from the center.
Attwell reported the lock to his file room, which houses sensitive tax records, was changed on April 27. However, he said he did not place tax exempt request files in that room, because they don’t contain ‘sensitive? information.
That wasn’t the only time he noticed things amiss in his office.
On September 7 Attwell reported entering his office and again finding his credenza file drawer open. He looked and saw the same folder as before had been Attwell said nothing appeared to have been taken the second time. His discovery of it was witnessed by both the assessing department staff, and the township supervisor’s administrative assistant. After that incident on September 9, he filed a report with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department. On Sept. 10 a detective was assigned to the case.
Attwell told investigators only a few people have access to the outer office, which encompasses his office. If someone were to enter the building after hours, a key code would be required to open the doors.
According to the report, entry records from the weekend prior to Sept. 7 showed only two township officials entered the township hall: township clerk Jill Bastian and former township treasurer Jim Marleau. Marleau submitted to a request to take a polygraph examination, passed, and was eliminated by the OCSD as a suspect. Bastian refused to take a polygraph exam, stating she did not trust them. She was in Attwell’s office one time after hours, she said, to leave a note for the assessing department clerk.
‘We know Jill Bastian and Jim Marleau didn’t have anything to do with this,? said Gingellville Community Center Director Pam Hutchison. ‘The only thing missing from the file are the Board of Review minutes from March — the meeting we weren’t invited to — where they decided to take away our tax exempt status.?
Also in the report, it was verified Attwell had spoken with Bill Snyder. Synder was a former officer with the GCC and taught karate classes there. Snyder was asked to resign from the center’s board after it was found statements on his personal website could jeopardize the center’s nonprofit status.
‘When Attwell was here, he had asked about (Snyder), so I was suspicious,? Hutchison said.
Attwell admitted he knew who Bill Snyder was, having telephone conversations with him and that Snyder felt ‘negatively? towards the center.
When asked if anyone, including Snyder, had influenced his decision to remove the tax exempt status, Attwell said no one had influenced him.
He only filed a report with the sheriff’s department because the township board had directed him to. He said he would take a polygraph exam if needed.
Orion Township Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk reviewed the report.
‘I’ve talked with (the buildings and grounds director) about what we can do for security,? he said. ‘To make sure a reoccurrence of this type of thing doesn’t happen again.?
Dywasuk doesn’t believe the township’s elected officials need to have keys to all the departments, as they do now. ‘Anything I need, I can go to the department heads during the day. I don’t understand why it’s necessary to have keys.?
According to Dywasuk, the police report was requested by the old board, and that the new board would have to be brought up to speed.
‘They need to decide what to do,? he said. ‘But whenever something like this happens, you have to take action so it doesn’t happen again . . . It makes the township look bad.?
Attwell was not been available to comment to The Orion Review as of press time.