Trustee Brown Offers To Rescind Offer

At the end of Monday’s meeting of Blissfield Village Council, Trustee George Brown offered a rebuke to anyone suggesting there were any “backdoor” shenanigans involving his offer of $50,000 to help the village purchase the Home Canning property at auction.

Brown, one of three private partners who offered to help the village pay for the property and demolish the existing buildings, had a few questions of Village Administrator Jim Wonacott and attorney Frank Riley.

First, Brown asked Wonacott if anyone had taken up President Jae Guetschow on is offer to join the village and its partners in helping to cleanup the property. Guetschow made the offer to the public in a letter printed in last week’s edition of The Advance.

Wonacott said that nobody had contacted the village in response to Guetschow’s offer.

He then asked Riley and members of council if being on council and partnering with the village to purchase the property represented a conflict of interest.

“You didn’t vote on it, you weren’t here when it happened, I don’t see what the problem is,” Riley said. “If you had voted? Yes. But you weren’t here to vote and you didn’t vote.”

Trustee Mike Gunter said the only problem he had with the deal was the blurring of the lines between public and private investment.

Brown then offered to step away from the deal, making it clear that his involvement in the project was not about personal gain.

“I will say this for the record. If there is anyone who has a concern about it, I will gladly rescind my offer,” said Brown. “There are many other things that I could invest in other than the Village of Blissfield.”

In March, after two special meetings held almost exclusively in closed session, the village purchased the 35-acre parcel at an auction for $150,000.

The other partners are Blissfield Industrial Properties LLC., and Farver Investments LLC.

The plan is to clean up and develop the property as an industrial park.

In other news from Monday’s meeting:

• Council voted 5-0 to approve Aimee Weeber’s request for a variance to allow a farmers’ market at The Hathaway House. The farmers’ markets will take place from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesdays. Trustee Art Weeber abstained.

• Council voted 6-0 to accept Chief Jane Kelley’s recommendation to hire a part-time police officer. With two officers out on extended health leave, the department has struggled to maintain 24-7 coverage without busting the budget. In the last two weeks, the department has had 56.5 hours of overtime, (for an hourly average of $31.76). Even with overtime, the village was not policed from 3-7 a.m. on five different days last week.

The new officer will make $15.05 per hour. He is expected to stay on at least until the River Raisin Festival. If both full-time officers return to work, it is expected the new officer will be let go.

The new officer is Richard Dover, who works part-time for the city of Morenci.

• Council presented a certificate of appreciation to Frank Ehinger, who was plumbing and mechanical inspector. He recently resigned due to health reasons.

• Council accepted the resignation of DDA member Dan Crots. Responding to a point in his resignation letter, council has decided to consider paying DDA members for attending meetings. The discussion takes place at Monday’s committee meeting.