LoginIndependence Township threatens to cancel emergency services contract with Clarkston
The hiring of a new assessor in Clarkston has led to confusing communication with Independence Township in northern Oakland County over their intergovernmental agreements, which includes police and fire services in the city.
Clarkston City Manager Jonathan Smith told the city council on Tuesday night he received a text message from Independence Township Supervisor Chuck Phyle on Sept. 23 stating his intention to cancel the three-year agreement signed by the two municipalities in June.
It came one day after the council voted 7-0 to approve hiring Kim Fiegly Assessing for assessing services for Clarkston.
“Supervisor Phyle texted me to say that because we had selected Kim, the township would be canceling the police, fire, department of public works and Deer Lake Beach agreements,” said Smith. “He texted that to me.”
That text from Phyle was followed by “I will send official notice from (township attorney) Dan Kelly.”
In a statement to The Oakland Press on Wednesday, Phyle seemed to change his position.
“Independence Township is reviewing all intergovernmental contracts with the City of the Village of Clarkston to ensure fairness, compliance, and protection for residents of both communities,” Phyle said. “As township supervisor, I have both the authority and the responsibility to initiate these reviews when terms appear inconsistent with the township’s fiscal or legal obligations. Any final action to amend or terminate a contract will, as always, go before the full board for approval.”
Clarkston’s Smith told the council there was a meeting on Oct. 2 between Phyle, Kelly and Clarkston city attorney Jerry Fisher to discuss cancellation of the agreement.
“I was hoping it was just a big misunderstanding, but that was not the case,” said Smith, who was also in the meeting. “He suggested that the city could not afford to be a city anymore and we should consider folding into the township.”
Smith and Trustee Amanda Forte met informally with Phyle after a township meeting on Oct. 7 to find out what the problem was with the hiring of Fiegly, the former Independence Township director of assessing.
“He noted that Kim would not be able to work with their (Independence Township) building department due to the way she left things,” said Forte. “We asked if there was any major incident that happened and he said ‘no’ and we asked if she was fired and he said ‘no,’ so he did not give us any specifics on why that would be an issue.”
“He cannot provide any reason why we should not do business with someone who is completely independent from them,” Trustee Erica Jones said. “It is nothing that a publicly elected official should be doing.”
It turns out Fiegly left her position at the township because Phyle was on track to overload the assessing department in order to cover the townships assessing costs.
Back in April, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners approved a cost increase on assessing services done through the county, which led to several communities looking into bringing in their own assessors.
Assessing contracts with Oakland County drop by more than 50%
Fiegly said Phyle began talking with those communities about signing on with his department for their assessing services.
“Mr. Phyle was soliciting other governmental contracts for me to head up an assessing division for profit for Independence Township,” said Fiegly. “He was soliciting as many municipalities as he could that the county had alienated. He was trying to make money off of other municipalities to offset his own (assessing) costs.”
She said he had been in contact with Commerce, Springfield, Orion and Oxford townships, but knew the amount of work it would bring would overload her department.
“I agreed to take on one or two small units for him, but it blew up much larger to the point where we could not do it without compromising the quality of service,” she said. “It was in my best interest to bow out and leave.”
Fiegly resigned in April, opened up her own business and submitted one of four proposals for the Clarkston assessor position.
The three-year proposals were from: Kim Fiegly Assessing - $22 per parcel, AAS Assessing - $23.68 per parcel, WCA Assessing - $27.16 per parcel and Oakland County - $32.11 per parcel. Independence Township has since contracted with AAS for their services.
Clarkston would have paid Oakland County an average of $32.24 per parcel if they had agreed to a proposed three-year contract for county assessing services from 2026-28.
The threat of pulling police and emergency services from Clarkston due to her hiring did not dissuade Fiegly from signing the contracton Tuesday. She notified the state that her company is now the assessor of record for the city.
“I did a lot of soul searching with the city and I said, ‘I don’t want to bring harm to you,’ and they said this has nothing to do with you and you are the one we want for our assessor,” said Fiegly. “I grew up in this community. I have 40 years of real estate knowledge here and this is something I could give back to the village.”
By not going along with Phyle’s plan, she said their dynamic changed.
“(Phyle) went from advertising us as the greatest assessing office to me being incompetent,” said Fiegly. “He is retaliating and he is angry at me and he is taking it out on (Clarkston), but he has no authority to tell the village who they can hire.”
Fiegly drew nothing but praise from Clarkston Treasurer Greg Cote.
“Kim Fiegly is a startup company with Kim having 30 plus years of experience. Kim grew up in Independence Township and is quite capable of serving this community,” Cote said at the Sept. 22 where she earned board approval. “If a resident wants to talk to an assessor, Kim being born and raised in this community, indicated that she would come here to the office and sit down and explain rationale. So, I believe Kim is more than capable of performing the duties we are requesting.”
“She is highly regarded in the field and has nothing but the highest reputation,” said Smith.
Clarkston has three intergovernmental agreements with Independence Township for police services, fire services and building services (including building and code enforcement services).
The police agreement commits Clarkston to pay 2.7% of the township’s total cost for police services and a $300 a month administration fee.
The fire agreement commits the city to pay the township the same millage rate that the township charges its residents - 3.37-mills.
The city has been contracting with Code Enforcement Services, a division of Ann Arbor-based Carlisle- Wortman Associates ,for building services since 2017.
The Deer Lake Beach agreement committed Clarkston to lease the beach to the township for $1 per year with the Independence Township Parks and Recreation Department offering multiple services including swim lesson, a boat launch and open swimming for residents of both municipalities. The township would keep the collected fees to offset their costs.
Trustee Jones said it would impact Clarkston significantly if the agreement was canceled.
“It affects the actual emergency services that would be provided to our community,” she said. “(Phyle) is putting resident safety in jeopardy. This is basically a breach of contract. We signed a contract for those services in June and those contracts have gone into effect.”
Fiegly also recognizes the consequences of leaving the city without a fire department.
“When you start threatening to take away fire services in a historical district with homes from the 1800’s, that is some pretty major stuff,” she said.
Jones said the possibility of “folding” Clarkston into Independence Township was unrealistic.
“It legally cannot happen because of the way our charter is worded. A township cannot absorb a city,” she said. “(Phyle) wants the brand affinity of the Clarkston name for Independence Township.”
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