Bl. Twp. W & S Trial OC Circuit Court 2-5-18 @ 1:30

Hi All,

Update 2-6-18 @ 10:45 pm:   Correction on the Courtroom.  It is 2 H.   Opening statements have been made and one witness was called by the Plaintiff.  Next trial date is THURSDAY,  Feb. 8, 2018 @ 8:30.  It will be just the morning session.  More dates and times were discussed.  Projected end of the trial is before the end of February.

Monday,  February 5, 2018 at 1:30 PM 
at the Oakland County Courtroom 2F, second floor,
the long awaited WATER AND SEWER class action TRIAL commences.
Public may attend.  No cameras/etc.  in the building.

Circuit Court
1200 N. Telegraph Rd
Dept. 404
Pontiac, MI 48341-0404

Phone: 248-858-0344 

Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30am - 4:30pm

Case Summary   https://courtexplorer.oakgov.com/

Case Number

2016-152613-CZ

Entitlement

YOUMANS JAMILA vs. BLOOMFIELD TWP      

                   

Judge Name

DANIEL P. O'BRIEN

Case E-Filed

YES

Case Filed

04/21/2016

Case Disposed

00/00/0000 

Attorney for Plaintiff:
 http://kickhamhanley.com/
Gregory D. Hanley
 http://kickhamhanley.com/class-action/youmans-v-bloomfield


Attorney for Defendant/Bloomfield Township
William P. Hampton   formerly w/ Secrest Wardle/  independent in-house attorney for Bl. Twp.
Mark S. Roberts   Secrest Wardle
Dennis R. Pollard  Secrest Wardle
http://www.secrestwardle.com/



MY COMMENTS:
The Bloomfield Township citizens have had many complaints and questions concerning their water and sewer bills for quite some time.

• At the Feb. 22, 2016 Board of Trustees meeting (agenda #4),  a citizen had a petition with 200 signatures asking for a forensic audit of the water and sewer fund.   
• At the April 25, 2016  BofT meeting (agenda #8), then Treasurer Dan Devine attempted to get documents/resolutions from the township and to help the more than 200 people who signed the petition requesting at least an independent audit of just the water and sewer fund.  
• Again, at the May 9, 2016 BofT meeting,  then Treasurer Devine tried to get more data on water and sewer projects.  His efforts were repeatedly stopped by the majority of the Board of Trustees.  Only Trustee David Buckley supported the effort.  

Archived minutes can be found here.
Archived audio/video recordings of the Board of Trustees meetings can be found here.

Since the filing of the lawsuit by J. Youmans in April 2016  the township has given various comments on the status of the issue.  The lawsuit started out as filed by one person, but has gone to class action status.   The comment that bothers me the most is by Supervisor Savoie who was quoted in June 2017 as saying :
          Savoie says he’s “100 percent” sure the lawsuit, which was filed last year, will be dismissed.

          “I’m very confident because we didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.

I believe there are issues with the water and sewer rates and budget.   I'll let the attorney's litigate that in court.

Hiring the legal firm of Secrest Wardle and also independent township council (as of Jan. 2017) William Hampton has cost the township a lot of money on this lawsuit.   Other communities have settled out of court on similar issues.

The Board of Trustees gave Mr. Hampton  (upon retiring from Secrest Wardle at the end of 2016) a $10,000 a month contract for all of 2017 and has extended that into 2018 as our "in-house" attorney.  The township continues to also hire Secrest Wardle often with monthly fees of over $20,000.

I'm guessing there are other costs involved with this lawsuit.  Viewing Payroll and Vouchers documents  I noticed that the recently retired Director of the EESD ,  Wayne Domine, has been receiving checks after retirement.  Over $10,000  in 5 payments July through December 2017.  Are those checks because he is helping prepare for this court case?  Don't know for sure.  The Director of the Public Works Department is and has been Tom Trice.  I would think he would be doing document searches.  However, according to the 2015 Annual Report:

 

Twp. Supervisor, Leo Savoie,  has made it very difficult to review facts of the WATER and SEWER  fund/ budget  because he eliminated the Water and Sewer Fund from the annual budget review last year.  Why?   Previous blog on subject

The preliminary budget for upcoming fiscal year 2018-2019  starting April 1, 2018 is not listed under BUDGET on the township website.  I did find a preliminary draft copy missing water and sewer fund however  in the Nov. 27, 2017 Board of Trustees BOARD PACKET.  

What are the rates now being charged?   On April 24, 2017,   24 days after the start of the new fiscal year,  Water and Sewer rates  were presented to the Board and approved. See:   Agenda item #5.  Minutes of 4-24-17 Board of Trustees 

FYI:
Years ago, the township voted to join SOCWA.  The purpose was to save money.  However, after making some expensive changes,  SOCWA  did NOT vote Bloomfield Township into their group.  Therefore,  while SOCWA members get a discounted rate for water,  the township gets a different/higher rate.

Then, the township also raises the rates again to the Twp. citizens, usually on April 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.  However,  the Water and Sewer Authorities selling/providing water and sewer, usually announce the change in the rate to the communities in early summer.  So, several months of higher rates to the township than the township pays to acquire.

FYI:  There are Bonds and other Debts associated with the Water and Sewer Fund.   I wrote several blogs in late 2015 concerning the Water and Sewer Funds.

http://bloomfieldtwphappenings.blogspot.com/2015/10/you-dont-pay-watersewer-bills-to-fund.html

http://bloomfieldtwphappenings.blogspot.com/2015/10/will-twp-rob-restricted-w-fund-to-pay.html

http://bloomfieldtwphappenings.blogspot.com/2015/12/financial-issues-affecting-your-w-s.html

http://bloomfieldtwphappenings.blogspot.com/2015/12/bltwp-resident-calls-for-forensic-audit.html



A trial date has been set 4 times then rescheduled.  So far, this 5th  date is a go.

07/02/2016

APR

DATE SET FOR TRIAL ON 05302017 08 30 AM

05/04/2017

APR

DATE SET FOR TRIAL ON 09112017 08 30 AM Y 08

06/27/2017

APR

DATE SET FOR TRIAL ON 11062017 01 30 PM Y 08

 10/25/2017

APR

DATE SET FOR TRIAL ON 01082018 01 30 PM Y 08

11/22/2017

APR

DATE SET FOR TRIAL ON 02052018 01 30 PM Y 08

01/31/2018

ORD

ORDER FILED DECLARE COMPLIANCE JOINT TRIAL BINDER ORD

 I hope to attend this TRIAL  on Monday, Feb. 5, 2018  @  1:30 PM.   I'll try to give updates or perhaps some journalist will cover the story.  

Marcia
   

Class Action lawsuit certified: $11M + Water and Sewer vs Bl. Twp., MI

Hi All,
BREAKING NEWS: ( I am not an attorney, so I hope I am representing this correctly)

According to court explorer website for circuit court: Judge Dan O'Brien granted class action certification on the water and sewer case today.

The water and sewer lawsuit filed by Kickham Hanley, PLLC law firm for one person has been accepted as a CLASS ACTION lawsuit against Bloomfield Township, MI. 

The monetary amount could be over $11 million.  Accepting the filing as a class action lawsuit, the court is basically saying that if the claims in the lawsuit could be/ or are proven true,  that there are numerous people that were/are impacted and therefore have standing in this lawsuit.

Kickham Hanley, PLLC law firm in Royal Oak (248-544-1500) had filed a lawsuit asking for it to be as a Class Action lawsuit in Oakland County Circuit Court (Case No. 2016-152613-CZ Judge Grant) against Bloomfield Township.  Below is just page 1 of 18 in that PDF :



That same law firm won a $2 million settlement from the City of Birmingham in a dispute over water and sewer billing practices.

FYI:

While waiting for the courts to take action, two citizens kept water and sewer issues in front of the Board of Trustees trying to bring about doing/voting for the right outcome and to try to get an audit of the water and sewer department.   Not all of the citizens' water and sewer issues may be included in the lawsuit, but the actions of this administration are still a major concern and a problem.

Bill McMaster, State Chairman (Volunteer) of TAXPAYERS UNITED MICHIGAN FOUNDATION was insisting at many township board meetings that the actions being taken by the township were in violation of the Headlee Act.  You can contact him at:
Email Bill@TaxpayersUnitedMI.org   
Web www.TaxpayersUnitedMI.org

One of McMaster's issues with the W & S  was the Upper Long Lake Estates $1.6 million Detroit Sewer project that was constructed without establishing an S.A.D.  for the less than 50 properties benefiting and without a majority voted approval of the 102 families of that subdivision.  The project was paid with money from the W&S funds.   This was done via no bid contract.  Included in the deal was a repaved road.

Other water and sewer issues that may or may not be in the lawsuit, but of concern to citizens:

•  The RTS fees  (Ready to Serve) 
• The transfer of @$ 2.7 million into a Retired Employee Health Trust 
• Perhaps how many and which employees are actually assigned to this department as it is an "Enterprise fund" and those employees get wages/benefits/pensions  paid from your water bills not your property taxes 
• Another issue could be the exemption of some businesses (restaurants) to not pay a special cost / grease/ etc.
• Perhaps an issue is the charges of depreciation for both water and sewer
• others?  most likely

David Thomas was instrumental in presenting a 200 person signed petition to the Board of Trustees prior to the election asking for a audit of the water and sewer department.  Thomas was an August 2, 2016 Primary Election Candidate for Supervisor of Bloomfield Township.  Thomas lost to current  Supervisor Savoie in that election by less than 500 votes with more than 8000 votes cast.
Supervisor Savoie and township attorney Bill Hampton and others continued to insist prior to the election that the Water and Sewer department was fine and that this lawsuit would go nowhere.   They even used time at Board of Trustees meetings  (listed as an agenda item) to present their opinions and to try to discredit the claims of Thomas and others  about this filed lawsuit.  Thomas and others were trying to inform the public about the W & S issues through their campaign literature. Many in the township wanted the W&S  audit... and perhaps now the fact finding and discovery that will come with the pending lawsuit may give the citizens some answers.

I recommend a review of the budget for the township... all debt listed on page 8 and budget for water and sewer on pages 97-99.

See my archived blogs found in the right side column... listed by year and month.... for more on water and sewer and other issues.  

Marcia