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Clerk
Marvin Besteman gets a 100% raise
by
Dorothy Johnson
A week
after he returned from a trip to the
Bahamas, the Board
voted to raise the Clerk's salary 100% to
$13,000.00. The following are points of
interest regarding this situation which
I will list and let you come to your own
conclusion.
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The
Clerk is mad because he wanted
$15,000 or 120% raise.
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The
Bahamas trip is a big perk Marvin
receives as a result of being on the
Board for an Insurance organization
called the
Michigan
Township Participating Plan.
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The
Michigan Township Participating Plan
is the Kinross Townships
Liability Insurance Company.
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When
asked about his activities with
Michigan
Township Participating Plan
Marvin admitted that yes he
had spent 5 days in the Bahamas with
all expenses paid by the
Michigan
Township Participating Plan
but insisted it had nothing
to do with the Michigan Township
Association.
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It
just so happens that the
Michigan
Township Participating Plan
holds a $10,000 “Presidents
seat” with the MTA so he wasn't
quite truthful about that either.
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When
asked further questions by Herman
Calkins Marvin said that he needed
to go to this meeting “because we
have two lawsuits against us”.
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Marvin made it sound like they went
to the Bahamas to discuss the
Kinross Township lawsuits.
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Since this is a Michigan
organization and we all know that
Michigan is in an economic slump,
why did the
Michigan
Township Participating Plan Board
travel to the Bahamas to have their
meeting and not give the business to
a Michigan convention center.
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We pay monthly premium payments to
the Michigan Township Participating
Plan
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Why would we consider continuing to
do business with a company that
wastes money in the Bahamas instead
of spending it in Michigan?
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Is Marvin’s position on the Board of
Directors with the Michigan Township
Participating Plan in conflict with
his Township Board seat given that
we contract with the Michigan
Township Participating Plan for
services and he has voted on that
contract?
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Marvin has admitted that the
Township is currently being sued by
two different parties. How can he
act objectively on the two suits
when he is a Board member for the
Michigan Township Participating
Plan? They have a vested financial
interest in the outcome of the
lawsuits which Marvin would vote on.
How can he vote or act objectively
in these matters. Should he not
abstain from any further Township
Board votes or actions on the
lawsuits? Is this not a conflict of
interests since he is on a Board
that represents many other
Townships.
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According to
The
Michigan Township Participating Plan
Marvin is the Convention and Annual
meeting committee Chair
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According to
The
Michigan Township Participating Plan
members of the MTPP Board have
traveled on similar trips to England
and Germany. Since Marvin has been a
MTPP director for over 10 years has
he also enjoyed these perk trips as
well. Remember the Township pays
monthly premiums to the MTPP. Sounds
like he has been living it up at the
taxpayer expense.
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The Michigan
Township Participating Plan is
administered by the
Kenrick Corporation who's
Michigan agent is the
Burnham & FlowerAgency, Inc.
The Kenrick Corporation is a
Subsidiary of HCC Insurance
Holdings, Inc..These are the agencies' that treat
Marvin Besteman to fancy dinners
when he and crony Oberle travel to
the MTA annual conferences. This is
illegal. You can not give gifts of
any kind to elected officials in
exchange for support of future
contracts. Each
year at the MTA annual convention
the Par Plan hosts perk parties such
as bringing an indoor fair complete
with rides and cotton candy for the
Township officials to enjoy. These
activities add up to noting more
that pandering to elected officials
for their continued vote to contract
with them for services. If this is
not illegal it should be.
One of
the lawsuits Marvin mentioned is Joe
Paczkowski’s lawsuit against the
Township for violating his Veteran
Preference rights when they “eliminated”
his position(s) with the Township.
Federal law designates all Veterans to
have earned the right to be “just cause”
employees. “Just cause” means that the
employer has to show good reason to
eliminate a Veteran from their position.
Joe was not given any reason and was
denied a hearing to review their reasons
for eliminating his position(s) all of
which is a violation of Federal law.
Marvin voted to eliminate Joe’s position
and now has activated the
Michigan
Township Participating Plans attorneys
to try to assassinate Joe’s character
rather that doing the right thing and
uphold Federal
and State law like Board members Dan Mitchell and Fred
McClendon have requested. Instead the Michigan
Township Participating Plans job now is
to discredit Joe and cheat him out of
his rights. Is it now a conflict
for Marvin to have any input on Joe's
lawsuit since Marvin is the recipient of big
time perks from the
Michigan
Township Participating Plan who have a
vested financial interest in the
Townships illegal behavior?
In other Township action at the May 19th
Board meeting the Board was pressed by
Herman Calkins to take action on Dan
Mitchell’s push to eliminate the Boards
health insurance. Despite attempts by
Marvin Besteman to derail the action,
Dan put together a motion in the last
few minutes of the meeting to eliminate
the Insurance with Dan Mitchell, Fred
McClendon, and Ed Dewitt voting for it
and Clerk Besteman and Oberle voting
against. The motion passed. Even though
the insurance has now been taken away we
must be vigilant to monitor the Board to
make sure they don’t resend the
resolution and get the Health Insurance
back. Herman Calkins stated “this
meeting has been both historical and
hysterical and without Paczkowski’s
video documentation of the Boards
actions we may have never gotten this
passed”.
New
Salaries:
Supervisor - $25,000, no health
Insurance, Clerk - $13,000, no
health insurance, Treasurer -
$13,000, no health insurance,
Trustees - $2,500 / $50 per meeting
/ $30 per committee meeting /, no health
insurance
All
Board members will be allowed to buy
their health insurance through the
Townships group health policy. |