TEXAS TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Texas Township residents expressed concern that a decision made by the board members would mean returning tornado recovery funds to Kalamazoo County. However, the township superintendent told FOX 17 they have no plans to do that.
"The township isn't returning any funds; we don't have the funds yet," Superintendent Erik Wilson said, responding to an email from Colony Woods residents stating that Kalamazoo County approved $130,000 in ARPA funds for tornado recovery.
"The inner local governmental agreement with Kalamazoo County is a matching agreement," he explains. He added that they have already spent $94,000 of township dollars on cleaning up public right-of-ways. "So if we spent $130,000, we would have a match of $130,000 to contribute to the recovery effort."
However, navigating the regulations becomes complicated when it comes to private property. "Some of the requests that have been asked of us is to go into private property to remove debris." While ARPA regulations allow for work on private property, state regulations contradict this, stating that it is not allowed.
The board, township attorney and auditor have decided to focus their efforts solely on debris pickup on public right-of-ways.
According to the press release sent to FOX 17, "residents are tapped out financially." They feel there's not much work left to be done on right-of ways. They feel the real work is on private properties.
"I think that there's got to be a way that we can use this fund these funds on people's private property. I just wish the township would work at it," said Anthony Bajdeck, a resident.
He feels if there's a concern for the county about damaging private property in the process of trying to assist, the damage has already been done. "Every single property that had trees come down has had heavy equipment driving over their grass and ruining their landscapes."
He adds, "If the township and the county and the state can put their heads together to use these funds, I think we can get a lot of these issues solved."
The township emphasized that they have not returned any funds as they are yet to receive them. They still need to go through the necessary process to receive the funds.
The township superintendent told FOX 17, "We're trying to do everything that we can to help our residents." They plan to do additional debris pickups in the right-of-ways.
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