Nancy Conzelman but were unable to reach
any reasonable resolution.
Subsequently the Detroit attorneys filed
a lawsuit in April 2013 after attempted
negotiationswere unsuccessful.
In February 2015 Plymouth Township
was ordered by Chief Judge Robert J.
Colombo to return the farmland purchased
from Wayne County to the City of Detroit,
“the rightful owner of the property,” ruling
that the tax foreclosure salewas improper.
The township appealed the decision in
April seeking to overturn Colombo's ruling.
The Detroit attorneys said the city was anx-
ious to sell the valuable land, once listed on
property records for $15 million, and in
June requested and was granted an expe-
ditedhearing in theCourt of Appeals.
In the interim period, township officials
retained Cox, a high-ranking Republican
Party leader and political associate of
Township Supervisor Shannon Price, to
handle the case in the appeals court. Kevin
Bennett of Hemming, Polaczyk, Cronin,
Witthoff and Bennett, the current contract
attorney for the township, drafted the initial
court brief before Cox took over the case,
attended the hearing but didn't participate
in the oral arguments.
“We don't dispute Judge Colombo's find-
ings, but his application of the law,” Cox
told the panel of judges.
City of Detroit Deputy Corporate
Counsel Chuck Raimi argued to the court
that not only did the township not send the
tax bills but also “the city was never proper-
ly notified of the foreclosure.”
Township attorneys argued that the
Wayne County Treasurer sent the notice to
“City of Detroit Planning and Development
Department, 2 Woodward Avenue, Detroit,
Michigan 48226-3437. The trial court con-
cluded this was insufficient as the address
was incomplete, incorrect and not the loca-
tion of the city lawdepartment.
Plymouth Township attorneys based
their appeal on two technical positions.
First that Colombo erred in concluding the
foreclosure did not comport with due
process and second that he erred in con-
cluding the State Tax commission, which
prohibits foreclosure of publicly-owned
property, prohibited the foreclosure of the
subject property.
Raimi told the court the overriding
issue at hand was the due process of law
and the foreclosure was illegal, refuting
township arguments about whether or not 2
WoodwardAve. was a valid address.
“There's no relationship…” Raimi told
the court. “This parcel was never properly
in the foreclosure process to beginwith.”
At the time of Detroit attorneys filed the
lawsuit, Wayne County attorney Jack
Ghannamsaid the county relied completely
on information received from Plymouth
Township regarding the foreclosure pro-
ceedings. The township supervisor, by
township charter, is the chief assessing offi-
cer for the township and Treasurer Ron
Edwards is responsible for collecting and
forwarding property tax information to the
county.
Talbot told the attorneys for both sides
that he felt their arguments were “well-
briefed andwell-argued.”
After the meeting, Price said, “I think
we made a good case and I'm happy with it.
I thinkwe're in the right position.”
State Rep. Kurt Heise who also attend-
ed the hearing, said later he has doubts the
township will overturn the decision of
Colombo, calling the appeal “a waste of tax-
payer dollars.”
“The fact remains, however, that
Plymouth Township does not come across
as an innocent party to these proceedings,”
Heise added. “At best, this land deal was
handled in a sloppy manner. At worst, we
might be looking at fraud.”
Heise announced his candidacy for
Plymouth Township Supervisor last
October.
Raimi said, “I can't accuse themof fraud,
but it's certainly not an appropriate foreclo-
sure.” He admitted the city didn't have the
time or resources to dig into the issuemain-
ly because of theDetroit bankruptcy.
“We never got the notices of foreclosure;
they were sent to a crazy non-existent
address,”Raimi said.
Detroit officials were notified of the
county foreclosure in July 2012 when town-
ship resident Richard Sharland's research
proved that Detroit was actually legal
owner of the land and he subsequently
called the erroneous transaction to the
attention of Detroit City Council members
with the help of Beverly Kindle-Walker a
legislative assistant to Wayne County
Commissioner TimKilleen.
A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
5
January 14, 2016
P
LYMOUTH
Candidate will challenge Plymouth treasurer
Plymouth
Township
Treasurer RonEdwards will face
at least one declared challenger
in theNovember election.
Mark Clinton, 57, a 27-year-
township resident with aMasters
in Business Administration
degree from the University of
Michigan and a 25-year track
record of successwithFortune 50
organizations, has announced his
candidacy for the treasurer's job.
“I'm not a politician. If people
are going to vote for this job
based on political savvy, I'm not
your guy. If they want a strong,
analytical person in a business
position, I think I could do a pret-
ty good job,” Clinton said.
Clinton, the brother of former
Michigan State Treasurer R.
Kevin Clinton, said he was fol-
lowing in his brother's footsteps
by leaving the private sector for
municipal finance, “on a much
smaller scale.”
Clinton said his decision to
seek the job was based on his
growing awareness of the discon-
tent and lack of trust with the
current administration among
township residents.
“Like everybody else, I was
busy, I didn't pay too much atten-
tion, until the situation became a
matter of public concern and
open discussion,” he said. “Then,
several people approached me
about the job and I decided that
thiswas a situationwhere I could
give back to the community.
“I'm now in a position in my
life where I can do that,” he said.
Clinton's youngest child will
graduate from college this year
which, he said, will “give me a
huge raise.”
Clinton reiterated that he is
not a politician or an experi-
enced campaigner and has never
sought elected office.
“I'm not going to ask people
for money, or to throw fundrais-
ing parties forme,” he said. “I am
going to self-fund whatever cam-
paigning I do.”
Clinton said that he felt the
most significant issue in the
township is the loss of trust
among residents. “We have to get
that back and the way to do that
is transparency,” he said. “I
believe in absolute, total trans-
parency and the way to get back
trust is transparency.”
While he refused to criticize
anyone in the current adminis-
tration, he said that certain finan-
cial matters prompt some ques-
tions. “I amnot suggesting impro-
prieties,” he said, “but as a finan-
cial professional, there are some
issues of concern.”
Clinton said he would not
oppose a forensic audit of the
township finances should he be
elected and find that he needed
help inunraveling accounts.
“I'mnot going tomake promis-
es and tell youwhat I think needs
to be done. I can't say what is
needed and what isn't without a
closer look at the situation. I can't
say I would do this or do that
within the first 90 days. What I
can say is that for the first 90 days
I would take a careful look at the
financial picture and decide
what the first five things I needed
to dowouldbe.”
To accommodate that trans-
parency, he said that most people
cannot read a financial state-
ment or balance sheet and that
his goal would be to translate
those reports into “simple terms
people canunderstand.”
“In a township like ours, we
don't have the ability to raise rev-
enue. Our revenue is controlled
by the tax rate. What we have to
do is control expenses and have
a plan to make sure that we have
put enough aside to pay for the
services we must provide, pay
our debts, including adequate
funding for pensions and other
benefits,” he said.
Clinton said his other goal
would be a 5-year projection of
revenue and expenses. “I think
our board now is looking at this
year-to-year and I believe we
need a more comprehensive,
longer-term look at finances,” he
said.
Clinton said he believes credit
cards for representatives and
employees are a business con-
venience, but that a monthly
accounting, with accurate
records has to be part of the pro-
cedure. He said he “feels safe” in
the community with the current
police and fire staffing, but is
well aware that public safety, par-
ticularly fire staffing, is a major
issuewith residents.
“I would absolutely consult
with experts in other communi-
ties to ensure that we are ade-
quately covered,” he said.
Clinton also stressed his
strong belief that the township
should be working closely with
the City of Plymouth and other
communities.
Clinton
attended
the
University of Michigan on a full
athletic scholarship and main-
tained a 3.7 and 4-point grade
point average with distinction.
He was chosen by the Houston
Astros in a Major League
Baseball draft where he played
in the farm league before begin-
ning his career as a financial,
technical and business manager,
where, he said, in 22 years, he
has nevermissed a day of work.
He said he would leave his
current position with Cisco
Systemswhere he is an executive
director if hewere elected.
He and his wife, Carol, are the
parents of three children, Lisa,
Kyle andMitch, all of whomgrad-
uated from Canton High School
and then attended Michigan,
Michigan State and Albion col-
leges, respectively.
Mark Clinton
Land
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