The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Seniors protest handling of funds
Township takes control of bank accounts
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: August 7, 2008
Pittsfield Township seniors were hot last Thursday afternoon -- and it had nothing to do with the heat.
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More than 50 seniors picketed for a half-hour outside the Pittsfield Township Community Center on Ellsworth to protest a move by township officials to take control of more than $200,000 residing in the group's bank accounts.
The seniors raised some of the money through membership dues and small fundraisers over the years, and used it to purchase amenities, such as refrigerators, stoves, chairs and tables, for the senior center.
The majority of the money, however, an estimated $140,000, comes from deposits made for domestic and international group trips booked by township personnel.
Township officials said the accounts needed to be signed over to the township because they were created using the township's tax identification number, which the township never authorized.
Pittsfield Seniors never existed as a legal entity because it was using the township's tax identification number, according to Township Supervisor James Walter. The money was legally the township's and as such fell under state legal requirements on how public funds could be spent.
Township officials said they were unaware of the accounts until the bank mistakenly sent a safekeeping certificate to Treasurer Christina Lirones June 23.
"I had no knowledge whatsoever of this CD," Lirones said in an e-mail. "This was very distressing, as by law, I must have control of all township funds and, by law, they must be audited annually by the township's auditor."
After speaking with the bank, Lirones learned there was approximately $75,000 in certificates of deposit held in the Pittsfield Seniors' name, but listed as governmental funds under the township's tax identification number.
Lirones further discovered that more than $100,000 was held in three checking accounts under the township's tax identification number and that the accounts had four signers. Only the township clerk and treasurer are legal signers on township accounts.
"This was all a violation of law," Lirones said.
In a letter July 21 to Lirones, township attorney Bruce Laidlaw advised that the township move the money into accounts approved by the Township Board and that an audit be conducted of the senior center financial records.
"The senior center has receipts and makes expenditures of hundred of thousands of dollars per year," Laidlaw wrote. "None of the receipts or payments has gone through the procedures required by law."
He also raised concerns about the township's liability in light of township personnel at the senior center arranging travel trips rather than a travel agency.
In mid-July, the township had the accounts signed over, and a political firestorm began to brew.
"No one talked about how this could be handled," said Carl Ernst, a senior who helped organize the protest this afternoon. "They just took the checkbooks and put our money in the township account."
"Before I could write checks; now I can't," said Marvin Konkle, a Pittsfield Seniors board member who served as president for two years and was the assistant travel treasurer. "If we were operating illegally, it wasn't intentional."
The seniors group, which has about 1,250 members, only of which about 170 are Pittsfield Township residents, argue that they have been managing their financials in this fashion since 1979 and have had no problems.
"This was never the township's money," Konkle said. "It's not like we're taking anything away from the township. I don't believe they had the seniors in mind when they did this. It's unconscionable. I'm appalled by it."
The seniors have hired attorney Terry Bertram to represent them.
"It's my intent to sit down with the officials and figure out a way to get the money back into the seniors' hands," Bertram said.
Which is what township officials said is what they intended all along.
"It's a horrible situation," Lirones said. "I had to do what was required by the law. We have no interest - absolutely none — in the money."
"All we were trying to do was bring the whole thing into conformity," Walter said. "None of the money will be expended for township activities. It will be used for the seniors."
Walter said a special-use account was set up for the funds.
Walter and Lirones both expressed concern that the firestorm was politically motivated in the run-up to the Aug. 5 primary election.
"We thought this might get resolved rather easily," Walter said, "but unfortunately some people decided to stir the political pot. I'm concerned the program is being damaged by people who have a political agenda."
Walter said he has contacted the state treasurer for advice on how to proceed with unraveling the financial tangle.
The solution remains simple for the seniors, however.
"We want control of our funds," summed up Konkle. "We don't want somebody telling us how to spend money that we've earned."
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