|
|
Belvidere Township Supervisor Leigh Murray, left, and Treasurer Yolanda Lane listen to public comment during Monday’s special meeting. Township resident Nancy Snyder was listed on the agenda under “new business” to ask some questions about township financials, but Lane made a motion to remove Snyder from the agenda, which passed in a 3-1 vote. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon
BELVIDERE TOWNSHIP — After the Belvidere Township supervisor resigned, a vote to appoint a new clerk failed in a tie and multiple financial issues continued to come to light during Monday’s special meeting, township resident Eric VanHouten said the quiet part out loud: “Maybe we don’t need to be a township anymore.”
VanHouten was surely speaking for many residents who continue to be alarmed at the state of their local government.
Belvidere Township has had three supervisors and seven clerks in less than three years (two clerks in the last two months alone), as well as turnover in the treasurer and trustee positions. (See accompanying story for more on the supervisor’s resignation and the tie vote to appoint a clerk.)
Belvidere Township Trustee Wayne Watts announced during Monday’s special meeting that while the township budgeted $304,000 for road projects this year, three township officials (all of whom have now resigned) signed contracts with the Road Commission for Montcalm County totaling $494,637 worth of road work, meaning the township overspent its budget by $190,637 without board approval. And the township still owes $175,422 to the Road Commission but can’t currently pay any of its bills due to a clerk vacancy. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon
The township currently can’t pay bills amid a dispute over whether it needs two signatures to approve checks. An IRS fine remains unpaid and the township’s F65 form remains unfiled as the township can’t even find an auditor to hire due to a confusing state of finances. Three township officials signed road work contracts which apparently went $200,000 over budget than what was approved by the township board and the Road Commission for Montcalm County is still awaiting payment.
“The process is broken,” VanHouten told the township board. “If we are not the poster child for that, I don’t know what is. I think you need to take a look at do we even need to be a township anymore? Do we need to be absorbed into the county? It’s not just Belvidere. It’s time to take a look to see what really works because this isn’t working and it hasn’t worked for a long time. It pains me to say that but sometimes you change to move forward, and right now it’s not working. So please keep that in the backs of your minds. Maybe we don’t need to be a township anymore.”
QUESTIONS REMOVED FROM AGENDA
Township resident Nancy Snyder was listed on Monday’s meeting agenda under “new business” to ask some questions about township finances; however, Treasurer Yolanda Lane made a motion at the start of the meeting to remove Snyder from the agenda.
“Did you reach out to her at all?” Trustee Wayne Watts asked Lane.
“No, I have not,” Lane responded.
Prior to Lane’s motion, Supervisor Leigh Murray had also made a motion to amend the agenda to add his own resignation to the end of the meeting; the motion to amend the agenda (it’s unclear whose motion the board was voting on) passed 3-1 with Murray, Lane and Trustee Brent Dietrich voting “yes” and Watts voting “no.”
Murray then apologized to Snyder who was in the audience, saying, “I owe you an apology. I should have handled that better.”
Belvidere Township Trustee Brent Dietrich disputed Trustee Wayne Watts’ report at Monday’s special meeting that the township overspent its road budget by $190,637 without board approval, with Dietrich saying he thought the township had rolled over some money from the year prior to help pay for this year’s road projects. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon
Snyder brought up the matter during public comment at the end of the meeting.
“I’m disappointed that you don’t want to hear what I have questions about,” she said. “I’ve tried to ask questions before when you changed the banking, I was not allowed to ask the questions then. I’m not the only one here who wants to know what’s going on financially. I’m very confused why nobody seems to know what our financial picture really is. We’d like to see the financial report, a complete treasurer’s report at every meeting like we were getting from (former treasurer) Forrest (Herzog). We’re not seeing anything.
“Yolanda, you work for us,” Snyder said. “Do I need to make an appointment with you?”
“You can call me,” Lane responded. “Tuesdays and Wednesdays.”
CAN’T PAY BILLS
The township board voted 4-0 to remove Watts’ name as a secondary signee for township checks, something they had just added about a week prior.
“I called the MTA (Michigan Townships Association) about this,” Watts said. “The only ones that are allowed to be on a checking account would be a clerk, a deputy clerk, a treasurer and a deputy treasurer. Even though Leigh has been on there, it shouldn’t happen. Another reason to remove my name.
“We can’t pay our bills,” Watts summarized. “We have to have a second signature and without a clerk we don’t have one, so we are now allowed to pay our bills. The fire department is not going to get paid, our bills are not going to get paid. We’re going to discuss the Road Commission, I find that very disturbing, the work was done this summer (and is still not paid for).”
Lane disagreed with Watts’ information about not being able to pay bills.
“I also reached out to some folks,” Lane said. “They sent documentation to me saying there can be a single signer so I think we need to do more homework on that and see what the state of Michigan actually says. One organization says one thing, one organization says another.”
Lane also reported that she’s still trying to find out, with the help of a bank, what five different amounts in township Money Market Accounts are. Watts asked if they are related to township funds such as the fire department or rubbish millage, but Lane said no, not to her understanding.
ROAD BUDGET OVERSPENT
One of the biggest items debated at Monday’s meeting was Watts’ announcement that three township officials (Murray, former clerk Judy Spring and former trustee Tarin Minkel) all signed contracts with the Road Commission for Montcalm County, which were way over the township’s approved budget.
The Belvidere Township Board listens during Monday’s special meeting as township resident Nancy Snyder, at the podium, voiced concern about the township’s financial situation. Snyder was originally on the meeting agenda to ask questions about township finances, but Treasurer Yolanda Lane made a motion to remove Snyder from the agenda, which passed in a 3-1 vote. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon
The township’s budget for 2025-2026 lists a line item for road projects at $304,000.
The Daily News confirmed with Road Commission Managing Director Rob Putnam that township officials signed contracts totaling $494,627 for road projects (not including another $100,000 which was added by the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners). Putnam said the Road Commission sent invoices to the township in September, but $175,422 remains outstanding and needs to be paid.
Assuming the 2025-2026 budget is correct on the township’s website, this means the township overspent its road budget by $190,637 without township board approval. And the $175,422 still owed to the Road Commission can’t currently be paid due to the township clerk vacancy (depending on if you agree with Watts or Lane).
“We’ve got a little problem with the contracts,” Watts said. “It was never board-approved. That’s a problem. Second of all, when you do that, you need to adjust your budget. Well, we’ve gone way over our budget. We can’t adjust something that isn’t there.
“We have a problem,” he repeated. “We’re going to have to find the money from somewhere, and that somewhere is going to be our savings account. They called us last week. The supervisor for the Road Commission called. They’ve been very patient with us, but they’re patience is wearing a little thin and I don’t blame them. We’re almost into December. They don’t have the money and because we don’t have a clerk, they’re not going to get the money (until a clerk is appointed). Another reason to put a clerk in place. It should not have happened, but it did happen.”
Dietrich disagreed with Watts’ assessment of the road contracts.
“I think we approved $300,000 out of the account of our savings to help pay for that and we also had money from the year prior,” Dietrich said. “So you add all that up … and it was all approved and budgeted.”
“But it wasn’t approved by the board,” Watts reiterated. “When I go through the minutes, and we have looked at the minutes, it’s not in the minutes.”
“I agreed to $300,000 out of our savings to pay for that,” Dietrich responded.
‘UN-AUDITABLE’
Among its unpaid bills is an IRS fine the township received due to changing accounting from Quickbooks to BS&A in the middle of a fiscal year a few years prior, according to Watts (he previously said the fine was $8,700, but Lane said the fine is actually around $7,000).
The township also failed to file its annual financial report with the state of Michigan this year (otherwise known as an F-65 form) and received a notice of delinquency letter from the state on Oct. 1. The matter remains unresolved and the township was notified on Nov. 3 that state revenue sharing is being withheld (estimated at $227,497, according to Watts) until the township files the report.
However, the township can’t file the report until it has an audit done and it hasn’t had much luck in finding a firm to conduct an audit. Watts said he and Murray asked Gabridge & Co. to conduct the township’s audit, “but they determined we were, frankly, un-auditable,” Watts said.
Watts said Gabridge recommended H&S Co. in Reed City to sort out the township’s financial mess before an audit can be done, so Watts made a motion to hire H&S at an estimated cost of $8,000 to $10,000 (that cost would be on top of another $8,000 currently budgeted for an audit). Murray said perhaps the extra money could come out of the township’s capital improvement fund.
However, Dietrich and Lane wanted to shop around more to compare prices with other firms and then to hold another special meeting to make a decision. The board voted to give H&S some access to the township’s BS&A account so H&S can give them a more accurate quote on a cost and timeframe while Dietrich and Lane obtain more bids (the board never got around to voting on Watts’ original motion, which was seconded, to hire H&S).
Also during Monday’s meeting, the township board unanimously voted to spend $100 on a Microsoft 365 license for Lane; approved selling a Townline Lake boat launch to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for $1; approved a resolution establishing a lake implement board for Little Penny Lake so residents can have weed control added to their taxes; approved the Planning Commission’s recommendation to approve a gunsmith business by Chris Byrne at 9100 Derby Road; and approved the Planning Commission’s recommendation of a dangerous building ordinance.
Due to the many ongoing issues, the township board will likely be holding yet another special meeting in the next week or two, keep an eye on belvideretownshipmi.gov for the latest updates.
