Vote NO Pontiac School Millages on March 8, 2016

Hi All,    
 Note:  there has been slight editing by me since first published 1/27/16   7:36pm/8:51pm      

A non-profit organization of citizens in the Pontiac School District called Communities Acting for Responsible Education (C.A.R.E.) is seeking your support.  The group was formed to promote transparency, be a watchdog, and act as both a fact finder and a source for information for residents in the district.
More information on the group can be found at carepsd.blogspot.com   
or contact: Jim Endres if you would like to be involved or if you have questions.
(email:  jimendres1944@hotmail.com) 

Many Bloomfield Township residents who live in the Pontiac School District have been asking what is happening in the Pontiac School District (PSD.)  The short answer is:  nothing good.  PSD continues its pattern of mismanagement and misstatements.  They have again placed bond requests on the ballot on March 8, 2016.  This time, they are seeking 2.87 mills from residences and 18 mills from “non-primary residence exemption” properties.  You may recall that two Pontiac bond requests were denied by voters last year. These new bonds total to $586 Million.  For each $35,000 of assessed value in your home, your taxes would go up by $100 per year.  So, if your home has an assessed value of $100,000, your taxes will increase by $287 per year.
 
C.A.R.E. opposes the bond requests and seeks complete reorganization of the district because:

•  PSD consistently fails academically.  According to statistics on the state’s education website, PSD is the poorest performing district in Michigan. Our high school ranks last in the state and no PSD schools are above the 8th percentile. Reports of progress in the district are pure fiction.  See details on: mich.gov/mde (once there click on Student Assessment: Top-To-Bottom School Rankings)

•  Enrollment has plummeted yet PSD has highest revenue per pupil.  Enrollment has dropped 57% in a decade. The current drop-out rate is over 22%. Out of approximately 11,000 students who live in the district, only 4,400 attend PSD.  Yet PSD has the highest total revenue per pupil among the 28 school districts in Oakland County.  See details on: oakland.k12.mi.us (once there click on About Us: Publications: Summaries & Surveys​)

•  The Pontiac School Board is incompetent. Secret and illegal meetings, embezzlement, fraud, and misappropriation of teacher healthcare funds: that’s business as usual in PSD. Taxpayers (YOU!) were forced to pay a $7.8 million special assessment in 2013 to repay the healthcare fund. See details on: www.fbi.gov (4/17/13) and theoaklandpress.com (7/10/13)

•  Poor money management put PSD in this situation. In 2013 Michigan Treasury and Oakland Schools took over PSD due to the $51.7 million deficit. After receiving $27.8 million from a special assessment and two loans, PSD now brags that the deficit is down to $33 million. Their math doesn’t add up….they actually seem to have more debt now than they did before they took out two huge loans from the state and slapped us with that special assessment in 2013. See details on: www.mackinac.org/18978 and freep.com (1/2/2016)

•  PSD should have maintained and sold properties. Recently PSD sold property for about $5 million and retired a $55 million bond. A share of that money should have been used to maintain and repair facilities all along. If buildings had been sold when vacated in 2009, PSD would have realized millions and avoided expensive maintenance on empty properties. See details on: macombdaily.com (2/26/15)

•  Voters rejected bonds twice last year. PSD spent $75,000 to put their proposal on the last ballot, just 3 months after another was rejected. Every dollar spent seeking these bonds comes out of your classrooms. See details on: carepsd.blogspot.com

• Please pass this information along to others you know within the  Pontiac School District.  

1. Ask them to please vote NO on both millages. 
2. Voters that live in the Pontiac School District  from:   West Bloomfield, City of Sylvan Lake, Auburn Hills, Lake Angelus, Waterford and  Orion  should contact THEIR clerk for information.

How can you help C.A.R.E.   if you are living in Bloomfield Township with Pontiac Schools?   
Please vote NO on March 8, 2016  on both bond requests.
The vote was close last time in part because the suburbs didn’t turn out to vote.
Absentee ballots are available now by contacting Bloomfield Township Clerk Jan Roncelli at 248.433.7702 .

The Presidential Primary Election applies to all precincts.

Bloomfield Township - Local Proposals on March 8, 2016.  The local proposals are only applicable to voters in voting precincts 12 & 29 who reside in the School District of the City of Pontiac. To view full text of the proposals, click here.

    

Elections in MI/ petitions for local office/Bl. Twp. 2016

Hi All,
Some were asking me for information on how to start the process to place your name on the ballot after reading my last blog titled:      New Year/New Bl. Twp. Administration Needed. 

All  7 current Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees positions expire this year.  Get your name on the August 2, 2016  Primary Ballot.   Filing deadline is April 19, 2016 by 4:00 pm.   Visit the Clerk's office to pick up petitions and other forms needed to run for:
 
Supervisor
Clerk
Treasurer
(4) four positions available for Trustee  

All terms are for 4 years.
All positions listed above will be on the August 2, 2016  Primary  Ballot in Bl. Twp.
Filing deadline is April 19, 2016  by 4 pm at the clerk's office.
The final general election for all positions will be November 8, 2016.

(6) six Library Board positions are also available for the Nov. election/  check for deadline date

Bloomfield Township Clerk's Office:
Charter Township of Bloomfield
4200 Telegraph Road
Bloomfield Township, MI 48302




For ELECTIONS... in Michigan
start with the links below and find and read the sections that apply to your situation

http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1633---,00.html

http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_8721---,00.html
 
http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_8721_11839---,00.html 

http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_8723---,00.html

............and many more links and topics  ... choose what you need from the drop down menus


For my Bloomfield Township readers:  deadline soon.....
 Bloomfield Township Seeks Candidates for Open Position on Planning Commission
letter of intent and resume must be submitted to Supervisor office by 5:30 pm  1/28/16

New Year/New Bl. Twp. Administration Needed

Hi All,
Happy New Year 2016.   Update: also read: Elections in MI/ petitions for local office/Bl. Twp. 2016

My WISH for the new year is to change the leadership and the culture at Bloomfield Township.
All seven officials (Supervisor, Treasurer, Clerk, and 4 Trustees)  that make critical decisions have terms expiring in November 2016.  We need major changes in top leadership and trustees.
Please consider yourself or a friend for these potential job opportunities. Skills & knowledge will count for something.  Consider submitting petitions placing your name on the August primary ballot.  Petitions must be submitted to the township clerk before April 2016.  Your help is needed to bring change and to address the multiple failures of this and previous administrations.

• Currently there is much conflict at the Board of Trustees meetings. The verbal "sniping" at the meetings toward Treasurer Dan Devine, especially by Trustees Kepes, Barnett and Khederian (when she attends)  has become out of control.  It appears to be group bullying with verbal attacks about anything and everything Devine says or does.  Supervisor Savoie allows the unprofessional and off topic and often untrue comments to continue unchecked.   Savoie's unwillingness to control the meeting and to address important topics with verifiable facts that follow policy and ordinances demonstrates his lack of leadership.

While everyone is drawn into the antics of the township leadership at the Board of Trustees meetings, this "smoke screen" hides real issues this entire administration is not addressing:

• Nepotism and the whole "friends, family, favors" culture at the township.  The citizens need leaders that will enact and/or enforce existing policies.  

• Contract vendor awards:  This administration has granted many NO BID contracts ie:  8 years for Rizzo.  What needs to happen is to enact or enforce existing policies to guarantee the proper public notification, review and award of all contract bids at the public Board of Trustees meetings.

• Ordinances, zoning, planning:  some new ordinances were written or modified to accommodate developers, and the re-writing, re-interpreting, granting variances and frankly ignoring existing ordinances to both commercial and residential properties has not only changed the character of our subdivisions but increased the commercial density of our community.  This administration seems to making up their own rules.  This should be challenged and corrected.

• Debt needs to be addressed and funded.    Now that the law requires reporting in a different way, an agenda item revealed a $150 million underfunded Retiree Health Care Trust Fund VEBA in 2013.   Combine that with the $80 million bond for one Pension and $65 million of principal only debt of W&S, Drain at Large, construction bonds for "campus", senior center, library, and bonds for SAD road resurfacing -- a whopping $300 MILLION. 

• Financial oversight is needed: one example:  The Twp. Finance Director, Jason Theis,  who is not an elected official and reportedly is not even a CPA, was quoted in a local paper:   "I create funds all the time. I made the decision as finance director to have it's own line, and for the public."      when speaking of a controversial line item found only in the Water & Sewer budget 2014 and 2015.  Theis's comment however, also implied including budget years 2009-2013. In reality that line item did not exist those years.   Approximately $750,000 was collected because Theis "created"  a line item in 2014 and 2015 and Savoie had it in the budgets he proposed.  No mention of that line item until a 2015 agenda had a controversial $2.76  million transfer of funds from W & S to the Retiree Health Care Trust Fund VEBA.  

• Employee Contracts:  the current 6 year contract expires 2017.  There are many items in that contract that have led to the unsustainable financial predicament the township now faces.  Retiree costs are staggering.  Retirement age must go higher than 50 yrs old.   Past and present supervisors have been doing negotiations which has led to:  $11,000 per month retirement plus other benefits for Payne and his beneficiary  and Savoie giving 2% raises to ALL employees (that includes him) for each of the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.  What was the entire cost for that decision? What affect did that have on pensions, etc.?  No details were given in a public meeting.  Who will negotiate for the taxpayers?  Where are the voices of the Trustees before making decisions?

• Work Week:   years ago the township leadership decided to go to a 4 day work week and to date refuses to consider returning to a 5 day work week. The four day work week  is a burden to many homeowners and contractors that wish to complete necessary business transactions at township offices on a Friday.  Overtime pay has increased.

• Equipment/Vehicle Purchases:   ALL  purchases in every department should be before the Board of Trustees at a public meeting and should have competitive bids. That includes the expensive vehicles for the elected officials, department heads and motor pool.   All proposed purchases should be justified as for need and budget.  

• Road Department:   A 10 year dedicated millage for this department expires this year.  Time to say NO MORE.  The existing annual $4 million dollar budget is top heavy in employee costs.  Since millions are also transferred into this budget from the General Fund,  it is time to scale down and reduce the size of this department.

• So much more to report.   Go back to paragraph one.  New leadership is needed. 

Marcia   

Here is an article I found at http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com.   that is worth reading.

New Year’s Resolutions for Real Reform
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/11607