White Lake Township At Odds Over Cemetery Services, Sexton Position

Since 2010, Jay Brendel has served two positions in – that of treasurer and cemetery sexton – but now he’s learning there may be regulations against the dual roles.

According to the Michigan Townships Association (MTA), Michigan law states that in townships with more that 25,000 residents, a full-time public servant cannot hold an additional duty.

White Lake Township has a population of 30,019.

At tonight's township board meeting, trustees are expected to vote to seek a legal opinion on the issue from the MTA. Already, Cindy Davis, a representative of the association has suggested the issue is fairly simple when looking at the law.

“In this instance, the position of cemetery sexton would be an additional duty, so I would say that no, he cannot hold both positions,” she said.

However, Brendel counters: "Had I been elected treasurer and then asked to be sexton I would see where there might be an issue, but I was sexton long before I was appointed treasurer.”

For nearly a quarter century, Brendel has been White Lake's sexton, maintaining Oxbow Lake and and showing off burial plots to anyone interested in purchasing one at either of the township’s cemeteries.

But in recent months, besides questioning whether it was legal for him to hold both jobs, township officials have suggested Brendel has a conflict of interest because he uses his own company, , to open and close graves when a burial is needed.

“We want to eliminate any conflict of interests in the township, whether real or perceived by the public,” Supervisor Greg Baroni said.

Brendel said he doesn’t view it as a conflict of interest, “It’s not like I’m making a lot of money as sexton, I’m actually losing money because I have to do all that during non-work hours.”

White Lake Patch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all financial records kept for the two cemeteries. No records were found at the township. Brendel said he is paid directly by funeral homes for the cost of the burial, and that he keeps those financial records personally and sometimes files them through his septic business.

Supervisor proposes contracting sexton duties

Davis said that to remedy the situation, the township could contract out the sexton responsibilities, something Supervisor Greg Baroni has tried to do for the past two months.

In September the township board was given a proposal from Baroni to contract out all cemetery services and join a contract with the neighboring communities of Commerce, Highland and Milford who currently contract with Huron Cemetery Maintenance, LLC.

At the September meeting Trustee Todd Birkle made a motion to table the recommendation stating he didn’t feel there was a transition plan in place.

If Baroni’s proposal were to be approved, Brendel would no longer handle the township sexton duties; those would be turned over to the company as part of the contract.

In October, the issue was brought up again but a 4-3 vote kept the item on the table with Birkle, Trustee Mike Powell, Brendel and Clerk Terry Lilley voting to keep the proposal on the table.

Trustees Carol Burkard, and David Lewsley, along with Baroni voted to bring the proposal back for discussion.

Clerk believes better record keeping is the solution

Lilley said he voted against removing the contract from the table because his office is currently trying to gather cemetery records from Brendel. He said he wants Brendel to continue to hold the position until all records are collected and recorded with the township.

“Our records are lacking, they have been for several administrations,” Lilley said. “We’ve been given recommendations by MTA that said we need to update our records so that’s what I’m trying to do.”

In the meantime, he said the board should focus on passing the and fee schedule that’s been tabled by the township board since the summer, than spend time on the contract proposal that's tabled.

In Lilley's opinion, the ordinance would be one way to tackle some of the sexton issues, like a lack of financial records, because all money and charges resulting from either the purchase of a plot or a burial would have to go through the township and be approved for payment by the township board each month with it’s list of bills. This would allow township board oversight on where the payments are coming from, and who they are going to.

According to Lilley, this is in compliance with a recommendation the township received in 1995 during an audit from Plante-Moran.

Brendel: "It's an opinion."

Brendel has been township sexton since 1987 when, he said, he inherited the position. The position is an unpaid position, except for the money collected by Brendel for the burials. According to a FOIA request by White Lake Patch, there is no formal contract between Brendel and the township for his services as sexton.

Brendel said he has no plans, currently, to step down from his position, “I’ve been sexton for (approximately) 25 years," he said.

Brendel was appointed to the township treasurer position by the township board in 2010 after former treasurer Beverly Spoor decided to retire during the middle of her four-year term. Prior to his appointment, Brendel served on the board as a township trustee. To retain his position as treasurer, he will need to win the seat in the 2012 election.

In addition, Brendel said the opinion from MTA on the legality of him continuing to hold the sexton position as treasurer is just that, an opinion.

“It’s an opinion, everyone has one, it’s not illegal,” he said. “I don’t do illegal things.”