Special Board Mtg...Nov. 18, 2010

All board members were present for this special board meeting, which mostly was called to review documents for a new building project. A building project? Wasn't that voted down by the majority of the voting populous of Elk Township, you ask. This is a valid question, but one which has not been answered by this board. In fact, not very many questions were answered at this special board meeting. The current supervisor, Linda VanDolsen, has made it abundantly clear that she does not answer to the people of Elk Township, she answers for them. The board dealt with many of their own questions, including the cost of the bid...only one bid, by the way...which was $155,584.
This amount is more than half of our current undesignated funds, and will leave less than one year of operating expenses in the budget.
This bid includes some things, but not everything for a turn-key operation:
It includes a "civil engineer" to draw up building plans, and oversee the project at $60/hour + mileage.
It includes earth moving by Tim Fischer.
It includes general contractor, Steve Riggs, and whatever subcontractors he decides to use.
It includes electrical by Bob Nalbach of Harper Lake Electric.
It includes framing, roofing, concrete, drywall, interior finishing, insulation, tiles for flooring, and siding.
It does not include extra parking, building excavation, a basement, a fire suppression system, underground electric service, well pump upgrade, a specification sheet for materials, a breakdown of labor vs. materials, or a urinal in the unisex bathroom.

The board spent plenty of time answering it's own questions with Steve Riggs, such as why this bid is $100,000 over that of board member John Fairbanks, who was investigating a slightly smaller building with mostly volunteer labor. Oh, wait, that question was not really ever answered, just some smoke blown about like, there was no labor cost involved in Fairbank's bid. So the public is left wondering are labor costs really $100,000 for a 28' x 60' building?

The public is left wondering many questions because the super, VanDolsen, informed the public at the special meeting that no questions would be answered at the meeting. If you wanted answers, you must submit questions to the board, and they would answer in writing at their leisure.

So, the questions of multiple bids... why will there be no multiple bids on such a large project?
budget... do we actually have the monies for such a large project?
how will the board recover from such a large investment... we will be left with less than one year of operating expenses, is this wise?
these questions have yet to be answered, oh, yes, they must be put in writing.
So, the public is left with the impression that the current board does not really care about what the public thinks is responsible governmental spending.

The super finished this part of the meeting, closing down public comment as soon as possible, with a request for a motion.
What she received was a motion by board member, John Fairbanks, to table such discussion (super wanted a vote to proceed with building plans) until after a public hearing in an open forum/ townhall style meeting. The super was quite willing to let this motion die for lack of a second, but she did her civic duty and asked for a second when prompted by the public. Arquette seconded the motion, and VanDolsen requested a roll call vote on the motion:
VanDolsen-NO
VanVleet-NO
Draper-YES
Arquette-YES
Fairbanks-YES
Motion passed 3-2 to have a public hearing in an open forum with question and answer time for the frustrated public.
The only other business to come before the board was a decision to purchase a new copy machine. Wonder if they got competitive bids?

Will try to keep you informed of the date of the hopefully upcoming public meeting, but it was overheard out of the super's mouth, that her calendar is too busy until after the holidays, so rest easy, we'll see...