Ortonville- The village council has had its share of breakdowns recently: a broken street sweeper, a broken borrowed pot for melting asphalt, and a breakdown in communication that had one council trustee angrily offering his resignation.
‘If you want my resignation so you can run the council the way you want, then ask,? said Council Trustee Harold Batten to Council President Sue Bess at the Aug. 27 council meeting. ‘Do you want resignations from six people right now? I’ll turn it in.?
Batten’s fury stemmed from learning Bess and Village Manager Ed Coy purchased a new asphalt melting pot, used to fill cracks in the road, for Jerry Sherman, a village resident and owner of Mid-Michigan Sealcoating.
The village credit card was used to buy the equipment, at a cost of $3,550, and with no approval from any other councilmembers.
Sherman allegedly offered to let Department of Public Works Supervisor Bill Prince borrow the crack filling equipment a few weeks ago, although Coy said the facts are in dispute as to whether he offered, or Prince asked, to borrow it.
The village has a small crack-filling machine, but Coy said he authorized Prince to borrow Sherman’s larger machine because it would make the job go faster. He described the melting pot as a relatively simple piece of equipment, ‘like a big crockpot.?
Nothing was signed between Sherman and the village, and there was no charge for borrowing. However, shortly after the equipment was returned a few days later, Sherman allegedly claimed it had been overheated, was broken and couldn’t be fixed. Sherman did not return calls for comment.
Bess defended the decision to purchase new equipment for Sherman as ‘an emergency.? Sherman called the village on Aug. 23 to say the machine was broken and he needed it the next day for a $14,000 job he had on Saturday.
Coy said the village has a policy that any purchase has to be approved by the council, but the purchase was authorized without any of the members? approval besides Bess,? because they were facing a possible liability of $17,550 if Sherman was unable to do the job.
‘We were too involved talking back and forth trying to find a solution to the problem (to call councilmembers),? Bess explained later. ‘We talked to them after the part was put on the credit card… We will not be borrowing equipment anymore. Obviously, it was a big oversight on our part. It won’t happen again.?
‘There was no dire emergency,? said Batten during the council meeting. ‘We need to be notified… This is ridiculous… We don’t have money for this. We have sidewalks to fix, a skate park to upgrade, our village has enough expenses.?
Several councilmembers echoed their agreement and noted that the matter had been previously discussed during a closed session.
‘I regret the whole thing,? said Coy. ‘This will never happen again.?
Batten suggested the council dispute the credit card bill and not pay it.
Bess said she will not dispute the credit card bill and the purchase will be paid from a line item in the DPW budget for maintenance and repairs, although she is unsure how much money is budgeted there.
The broken part has been taken to an engineering firm.
‘If the village expects the DPW to perform tasks that require certain tools and equipment, then we should acquire those tools and equipment for them or rent them from a regular business. If we had provided the tools or rented them, we would have avoided this situation,? said Council Trustee Larry Hayden. ‘I would like to see the village move to become more professional and more formal in how it handles its affairs, in order to provide better transparency and accountability to its citizens.?
The cost of buying new equipment for a private citizen isn’t the only DPW cost the village is facing. Also at the Aug. 27 meeting, the council discussed again a broken street sweeper. Again, how the sweeper became broken is in dispute.
The sweeper has not worked since at least May. It was taken to Bell Equipment for a repair estimate. Bell claims they had authorization to begin work, estimated at more than $9,000. The village claims they did not.
‘If you’re going to do $9,000 worth of work, you have to have paperwork,? said Council Trustee Mary Kassuba.
The village told them to stop the work, and received the street sweeper back, but not put together and with pieces rusted out.
During the council meeting, Kassuba asked DPW Supervisor Bill Prince why he didn’t notice the rust last year and Prince said it was painted over. He said Bell scraped off the paint and they were unaware it was rusted.
When questioned about how the sweeper was maintained, Prince claimed it was cleaned every time it was used. Council Trustee Bob Flath suggested Prince get the maintenance schedule so the council could review it, but Prince said the sweeper cleanings wouldn’t necessarily be logged.
DPW employee Kevin Booms was asked about the upkeep on the sweeper. Booms was on sick leave for several months, but noted that when he returned, the street sweeper ‘had mud in it and sprouts growing out of it. It was not properly maintained.?
The street sweeper would cost $33,000 to replace. Trucks R Us has given an estimate of $10,800 for used replacement parts for the sweeper.
The village still owes one more payment on the sweeper of about $9,500.
Green suggested the village cut their losses and put it up for sale as is.
Kassuba suggested it be put on eBay, and wondered if the village even needs it, as it hasn’t been used in three months.
Coy said the council could get along without one, but the village would look ‘trashy,? particularly in spring.
The council will revisit the issue at their next meeting, Sept. 10.