Supervisor stands alone in concern over accountability

The Raisin Township Board of Trustees denied consideration for a Military Surplus Account-ability Committee on Monday after it and another agenda item related to the surplus equipment were removed from the agenda before its approval. Trustee Larry Crittenden made the motion to remove the two agenda items with support from trustee Kami Johnson. The motion passed 5-1 with Super-visor Jay Cavanaugh dissenting.Crittenden said the township was in complete compliance with the federal 1033 military surplus program, according to an email from Larry Goerge, Michigan’s 1033 program facilitator. The email from Goerge states, “As participants of the 1033 program, Raisin Twp. is in complete compliance.” The military surplus program classifies equipment and supplies available to police departments as either controlled property or general property. Controlled property is equipment that is more military in nature, such as Humvee vehicles and firearms, while general property is non-military items, such as computers, cables and gym equipment. “If an agency receives any of this property, and it becomes no longer tracked by the program, they have the option to dispose of or sell the property when they no longer have a use for it or it becomes uneconomical to maintain,” Goerge said. An August 31 Herald investigation questioned if taxpayer dollars were used in the transfer, sale or retrieval, or maintenance of equipment procured through the program. Former Raisin Township Public Safety Director Scott Lambka said in March 2014 that the program would be used to generate revenue for the department. The general property equipment is the basis of the Herald’s investigation into the township’s participation in the 1033 program. It was also unclear if any more revenue was generated from the program other than $2,884 from the sale of a 26-passenger bus, 1998 Dodge Dakota, tig/stick welder and miscellaneous scrap. “The point that you’re making, Mr. Crittenden, and supporting, Mr. [Trustee Tom] Hawkins, is that we are in compliance with the program and that there doesn’t need to be any accountability for it,” Cavanaugh said. “First off, I don’t remember seeing anything in the article, and I don’t remember making any statement, or hearing anybody make any statement, that we were not in compliance with the program. The problem is that, when we acquire something as a township, it becomes township property, and these expenses to acquire this property needs to be accounted for.”Crittenden said that other law enforcement agencies came to pickup the tracked equipment. In the Herald’s correspondence with Goerge, he said the township had two Humvees, which were driven to Lansing from the township as one was transferred to Madison Town-ship in 2012 and the other to Garden City in 2014.“It appears both Humvees were picked up here in Lansing so the cost was only the fuel to drive here and the officers’ time, which would be an expense if they were on duty anyway,” wrote Goerge. Records the Herald obtained through the FOIA request only shows the township having one Humvee, and there was no documentation where that Humvee was transferred. Crittenden said, “As for costs, these would be normal costs that would have been included in budgetary line such as wages, fuel, maintained in the public safety or police budgets depending on what year it was.”Trustee Tom Hawkins agreed with Crittenden. “I am in agreement with Larry in that the letter that was sent from the state shows that we have a balanced account of all the items that are required to be tracked. All the other items we received did not require tracking, and thus I think it’s a done deal and so our account is in balance with the state and therefore I am happy with it as well. I have complete confidence that Chief Grayer has complete accountability. I don’t know of anything that’s not being accounted for. I’ve gone into his office and he’s made me perfectly confident about accounting for all the military, police, and township equipment.”Less than a month ago at the township’s board meeting on August 24, Hawkins asked if there was an inventory or listing of all the materials the township received through the program. At the meeting, Hawkins said, “I know that some of these pieces of equipment cost us money, either to get running, or to go get it, or whatever. Did we make money or lose money? And then put it all in a file and have it there. I don’t suspect anything nefarious… We had a big blue bus out there and now we don’t. I’m sure it’s perfectly accounted for. Did we make money it or did we lose money on it.”Cavanaugh said he became aware that the equipment was gone when at a budget preparation committee meeting a trustee asked Supt. Jim Palmer where everything was and if there was any accounting for it. “Where’s the Rover?” asked Cavanaugh. Documents obtained through the FOIA show a Land Rover Defender 110 Ranger Special Operation Vehicle listed at the township and classified as general property under the surplus program. No records show if the Land Rover was sold or transferred to another police department. “Where did that go?” Cavanaugh asked. “Only 20 of them made and it’s gone. And we don’t have to be accountable for that? That’s township property if it’s not the federal government’s property. We are accountable for that. We used taxpayer money to acquire this equipment. We are accountable for that. And we have to prove to the residents that this program was not just in accordance with the 1033 program, but in accordance with their tax money.” In an email to the board sent Tuesday, Cavanaugh informed trustees that he would be personally investigating the township’s participation in the 1033 program to determine the location and accounting of the items and funds used and received in the program. “I have made a pledge to the residents of this township to provide transparency in their government, and am fully committed to that pledge,” Cavanaugh wrote. “I look forward to full cooperation from township personnel and if not, full compliance with a request made by my office through the Freedom of Information Act. I sincerely hope that we can resolve this issue expeditiously so as to restore the trust that the good people of Raisin Charter Township have bestowed upon us.”