Attorney's Report: Ask Governor to Remove West Bloomfield Township Treasurer

An attorney's investigation commissioned in July by West Bloomfield Township trustees recommends asking Gov. Rick Snyder to remove treasurer Teri Weingarden from office. 

Officials will discuss the report and recommendation during a special Monday meeting at Town Hall, which starts at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be broadcast by Civic Center TV and can be viewed at civiccentertv.com. 

The 79-page document, dated Dec. 6 and submitted by Christopher Johnson, of Johnson Rosati Schultz Joppich, details an improper investment with potential ethics and conflict of interest violations, a critical wire transfer error, problems with fund accounting and cash management, late payments and other issues. 

Among the documents is a Sept. 12 memo from township accountant Nancy Savickas to township clerk Catherine Shaughnessy, expressing serious concerns about the treasurer's failure to record millions of dollars in cash receipts and bank transfers. Savickas called the township's cash/investment record keeping "a complete mess". 

On  Nov. 13, Savickas wrote to Shaughnessy asking how to handle the treasurer "repeating errors".  

"Continuing to fix them only causes more work for me," Savickas wrote. "Sending them back to the Treasurer, an elected official, to fix makes me appear disrespectful."

Johnson pointed out the board could choose to do nothing or to add oversight in the clerk's or treasurer's office, or both, "because there is no agreement on procedures, and given the increased workload in the Clerk's office needed to reconcile accounts that had previously been handled in the Treasurer's office." 

However, based on all the items listed in the report, Johnson recommended petitioning for removal. He wrote that township officials would have to determine whether the evidence presented "meets the standard of official misconduct and/or willful neglect of duty", required by state law in order to remove an elected official. 

"I believe that the evidence provided to the Board meets that standard," Johnson added.

Review the full report on the township website.