Lenawee County to cover, be reimbursed for Kiwanis Trail Tecumseh Connection bills

ADRIAN — Lenawee County is covering an amount not to exceed $520,000 toward paying the bills for the Kiwanis Trail Tecumseh Connection.

All of the amount, which is coming from the county’s capital improvement fund contingency, is expected to be repaid within 60 days from a state grant and other fundraising efforts by the Kiwanis Regional Trail Authority.

The county commission voted 8-0 at a special meeting Wednesday evening to allocate the funds. Chairman Jim Van Doren, R-Tipton, was absent.

County administrator Kim Murphy said in an interview after the meeting that the county will be made whole again through a combination of a grant through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, individual donations and donations pledged by community organizations.

There was a modification to the county’s contract in the amount of $48,869.62, which took the construction of the extension from $727,796.07 to $767,665.69.

“When we applied for the (Michigan Department of Natural Resources) grant in 2017, it was for a grant that would provide funding up to $300,000, and it was proportionate to the actual cost of the project,” Murphy said. “The project cost has gone up and down since 2017, as you can imagine. We did far exceed the amount for that grant.”

The county applied for the grant because it had a 5-year parks plan, which was one of the requirements to receive funding. At the time, the project had an estimated price tag of $750,000, but the county was not expected to have to put up any funds.

The actual amount that the county is seeking to make up is about $462,000. The DNR is expected to reimburse the county up to $300,000 within 30 days. Private donors have pledged to donate $160,000 to the county, and the remaining $50,000 has been pledged to the county by community organizations, Murphy said.

The $160,000 from private donors is expected to come in within 30 days and the $50,000 pledged by community organizations is expected to be on the county books within 60 days, Murphy said.

“So in the end Lenawee County will be made whole within the next 60 days or so. The important thing right now is to get the vendors paid,” Murphy said.

Those vendors are construction company Slusarski Excavating and Paving Inc. of Adrian, engineering firm Mannik and Smith Group Inc. of Canton and the Lenawee County Road Commission.

The DNR grant was always going to be something where the bills would be paid first, then would be reimbursed by the state, KRTA chairman Dusty Steele said Thursday. He said the KRTA thought it had met its fundraising goals and would have liked to have raised enough to cover the entire cost so that the KRTA would be the organization being reimbursed, but he appreciated the county stepping in to pay the bills. He said the KRTA would not leave the county burdened with the project costs.

Steele said the KRTA will be doing additional fundraising ahead of the expected grand opening of the trail in the spring. A soft opening was held in November when the paving was finished.

Between $380,000 and $400,000 has been donated, Steele said.

The city of Tecumseh conducted a crowdfunding campaign with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. that drew $59,680 in donations from 227 patrons. The MEDC matched $50,000 of that. Pledges from the Adrian and Tecumseh Kiwanis clubs, the Lenawee Community Foundation and TLC Community Credit Union totaled another $125,000.

"I can't thank our community enough for how strong they've been" with their support for the project, he said.

Steele said it wouldn't have been fair to Slusarski to put off paying the bills, since Slusarski completed the job. He said part of the issue was the sequence in which the bills came in and the unexpected costs the project ran into, including tree removal toward the end of construction. He said when he was reconciling the project's books, which included donations from hundreds of individuals, he realized there would be a funding gap.

Commissioner Kevon Martis, R-Riga Twp, said the county commission did the right thing, but he has other concerns.

“We had a clear and binding contract with Slusarski Excavating. They’ve done everything well and up to snuff and the county obligated ourselves to make that whole and we did the right thing,” Martis said. “On the other hand, I’m concerned that we basically extended an unsecured line of credit to a trail authority with no collateral, with no assets that we could cash to assure our payment.”

Murphy said during the meeting that the county had pledges of support to cover the costs associated with the trail extension when it made the commitment.

“The other concern that District 7 has is about county expenditures in general is we see a lot of money that is taken from everybody in the county and a lot of it is repeatedly focused on the on the activities in the Adrian/Tecumseh corridor, even though 70% of us live outside that district,” Martis said of his district, which covers Blissfield, Deerfield, Ogden, Palmyra, Ridgeway and Riga townships. “My job is to advocate for the 7th District to try and make sure these things are equitable.”

The city of Tecumseh contributed $30,000 toward the project, but that money was pledged long before the city knew of any shortfall, Mayor Jack Baker said in an email.

“I feel very strongly that this was a project that most residents of the City of Tecumseh support. Being able to walk, run or bike between Tecumseh and Adrian on a dedicated trail is very special,” Baker said. “The completion of this trail is another example of the spirit of cooperation between the two Cities. It also is an example of improving quality of life for our residents in Lenawee County, which is what we strive for.”

The extension also runs through Raisin Township, but while the township is a member of the KTRA, it has not contributed funds toward the project, township Supervisor Tom Hawkins said.

The Daily Telegram was not able to reach officials with the city of Adrian by deadline.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County covering $462K for Kiwanis Trail extension bills