By Jim Newell

Review Editor

An Orion Township Board of Trustees plan to issue $15 million in bonds for a new township hall is meeting with criticism from some residents who don’t think taxpayers should be on the hook for millions of dollars.

A public notice from the township, published in the July 24 edition of The Lake Orion Review, states that the township “intends to issue and sell its general obligation limited tax bonds…not to exceed Fifteen Million Dollars ($15,000,000), in one or more series, for the purpose of paying all or part of the cost of acquiring, constructing, furnishing and equipping a new Township Hall Facility…”

The township board approved 6-1 during its July 15 meeting to go forward with the notification process to issue the bonds. Clerk Penny Shults was the lone nay vote.

Trustees John Steimel and Mike Flood voted to continue the process, but also questioned the timing of the bond proposal and the said they would be diligent in their fiscal responsibility to taxpayers.

The public notice also states that the bonds can be issued without a vote of the electors unless a petition – signed by at least 10 percent of registered voters — requests a vote and is submitted to the township clerk’s office within 45 days of publication of the notice.

If a petition is filed with the clerk’s office, the bonds “may not be issued without an approving vote of a majority of the qualified electors” residing in the township.

Now, Bill Kelley, who identifies himself as an Orion Township resident, has started a petition on Change.org calling for registered Orion Township voters to sign the petition and force a referendum vote.

“Orion Township officials believe they need $15,000,000 in bond monies to support the design/build of a new Township Hall and appurtenances,” Kelley wrote on the petition page. “The proposal was outlined in the township July 2019 meeting minutes. Any debt of this size should include a vote by residents and property owners within the township. Unless 10 percent of residents protest via petition, the township officials will most likely leave residents footing the interest debt on this bond.”

The Review was unable to reach Kelley for comment by press time.

Kelley, who posted a link to the Change.org petition online in a Facebook chat room, says that he also has hardcopy petitions available for those who do not wish to sign an online petition. As of early Tuesday afternoon, the petition had 165 signatures.

“My responsibility as Clerk would be to verify the ‘registered electors’ and their signatures against QVF (Qualified Voter File) records to make sure the person has the right to sign,” said Shults in a communication to The Review. “As of 7-29-19 there are 28,190 registered voters so 10 percent is 2,819.”

Shults also noted that the number of registered voters changes as voters move.

Resident Ross Ensign questioned whether the township needs to build a new facility instead of renovating the existing Township Hall.

“It seems to me we can take care of things for less than $15 million,” Ensign said. “Common sense would dictate that we don’t build new infrastructure when we have current infrastructure that is still good. It’s just the methodology that’s being utilized. It’s just dictatorial.

“It’s just beyond me that they’re saying, ‘We’re going to do it unless you guys come up with a petition to stop us.’ My opinion is that’s not the way government is supposed to work,” Ensign said.

Orion Township officials began the process last year with a feasibility study and hiring an architect to draw up conceptual plans.

At its Dec. 17, 2018 meeting, the township board approved $60,000 for Auger Klein Aller Architects Inc. to develop a schematic design study for a new township hall. The 6-0 approval came during the board’s meeting on Monday. Flood was absent from the meeting.

“We have been moving in this direction for more than a year,” township Supervisor Chris Barnett said at the time. “And every study that has been completed has said that we need (more) room here. So, I don’t think anyone disagrees with that.”

Barnett did not return multiple requests for comment for this article.

AKA Architects had already been contracted to update the township’s facilities plan, and the board has had several workshops to discuss its options.

The original township hall was built in 1974 with an addition in 1996, and has a current 20,000 square foot footprint. The township also commissioned a building study in 2002 that recommended a 12,000 square feet sheriff’s station, 15,000 sf central fire (office) and “about $6 million in improvements for this building, as it stood at that time. Which in today’s dollars is about $8.5 million,” architect Steve Auger told the board in December.

A 2008 study recommended the same square footage for the sheriff’s station, 18,000 sf for the fire station and 17,000 sf for the DPW, totaling $12 million, about $14 million today, Auger said.

Supervisor Chris Barnett proposed that one of the options to pay for a bond is to use the township’s host fee fund from revenue it receives from the landfill, “which is just north of $500,000 per year.”

“In order for me to feel comfortable proceeding, I want to make sure that we have the revenue streams available and identified so that we can do this project without increasing taxes on our residents,” Barnett said.

If the board proceeds with the plan, the township would likely build a new hall on the 76 acres of land it owns just north of Greenshield Road.

Ensign, who is a member of the T.A.G. (Taxed Already Group) and the Greater Oakland Republican Club (GOGOP), said he feels township officials should have met with various groups before deciding to issue bonds for the proposed new Township Hall.

“It would make more sense to me, as a person, to renovate what we have,” said Ensign, who doesn’t deny that the current Township Hall needs some repairs. “It would be nice to have a nice new castle, but is it worth it?”