Friday, May 21, 2010

Straight Talk 2 - continuing the saga

I forwarded a copy of John Menghini's article
to Mike Lahti's office. I was promised a
response by them once the individual charged
with the Iron River prison at the Department
of Corrections returned from vacation. That
response arrived this morning and is
published below.

======================================

Dear Mr. Vajk:

I received a response from the Dept. of
Corrections on the sewer situation in
Iron River Township. Below is the response:

"There is a Sanitary Sewer Agreement between
the MDOC and Iron River Township. The
contract period is from September 9, 1990 to
September 9, 2010. Per Section 16 of the
agreement, the Department can cancel the
contract in whole by giving 30 days notice
to Iron River Township. A letter was sent
to the township on August 6, 2009, giving
the 30 days notice. Staff from our Bureau
of Fiscal Management have spoken with the
township's Treasurer and Supervisor. The
Township Supervisor admitted having received
the letter from the MDOC giving them the
required 30 days notice, but said the township
charter superceded the contract, and that the
township had the authority to continue to
invoice the MDOC. Staff asked for a copy of
the township charter and gave him the
appropriate fax number, but have received
nothing to date."

"The August 2009 invoice amount was $5,500
(the monthly rate at that point), and was
paid."

"The Department's position is that we properly
canceled the service contract as outlined in
the agreement, and have no further financial
obligation for these fees."

Rep. Mike Lahti's Office

==============================================

I want to thank Mike Lahti, his staff, and the
Department of Corrections for their response.

It turns out that whoever negotiated the sewer
contract with the Department of Corrections
made a really bad deal, and now some, or all,
of the township residents will have to pay for
that mistake for a long time.

This is what happens when the electorate is
careless in who they put into public office.

The Iron River Township Board should have hired
someone specializing in contract negotiations
before approving the sewer contract with the
state. Indeed they should already have retained
a lawyer specializing in such contracts to
study all the current possibilities. And by
that I don't mean the current township attorney.
The time to press subsequent claims, if indeed
there can be any, is limited.

Bill Vajk

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