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Cost of
MERS' New Office Building Exceeded $7 Million
MERS moved into its current
office building in April 2002. It was a big step up from the cramped
quarters MERS had leased since its separation from the State of Michigan
in 1996. The total cost of the new building was never made clear to MERS
staff or to MERS member municipalities, but CEO Anne Wagner did tell
staff that for accounting purposes, the property was being included in
MERS' investments portfolio.
In response
to my FOIA request, MERS has provided these figures (document):
Parcel
861,392
Design and construction
6,026,652
Furnishings
496,072
Total 7,384,116
MERS' Bill for Failed FOIA Fight: $12,813.50
MERS spent
$12,013.50 in an unsuccessful attempt to deny a Freedom of Information
Act request for the termination agreements of 3 former employees.
$6426 was
for my attorney fees, $500 was the penalty required by the Act for
improperly denying the request, and $5887 was what MERS paid contract
attorney Lisa Ward for handling the lawsuit. See
FOIA Lawsuit for a complete chronology of events, including a
transcript of the September 14 hearing.
A
list of payments to Lisa Ward for her
work on the FOIA case and on a settlement with fired employee Shirley
Roe was provided to me by MERS 12/16/05 in response to a FOIA request.
Running Out
of Material
I've about run out of stuff to put on this website. I've been away from
MERS since the August 2004, and I just don't get any new information.
Unless I get some contributions from current or former employees, or
from folks out in the municipalities, I won't have anything to add.
If you have something to contribute but are afraid of repercussions,
send it anonymously. My mailing address is at the bottom of this page.
Also, if you know of the existence of interesting documents, describe
them to me and I will get them with a FOIA request.
Other
Stories:
Who's Hardy Hasenfuss?
The
FranklinCovey Habit
Executive
Salaries
Termination Agreements
Unwelcome Suggestions
Deleting Dorothy
ePASS
Problems
Shoot the Messenger
Reporting Deadlines
Public Disclosure
My Performance Review
Call Center
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THE
FOUR
AGREEMENTS
Termination
agreements made several years ago with 3 former MERS employees were
furnished by MERS in June 2005 in response to my lawsuit. Links to
copies of those agreements are in an
article I wrote at that time.
A fourth agreement - in this
case, a settlement - was furnished to me 12/16/05 in response to a new FOIA request. This one was for Shirley Roe, who was fired 8/23/04.
Shirley's termination was different from the others. The other employees
were asked to resign and their salaries were continued for 3-5 months.
Shirley was given 2 weeks pay and fired, no reason given. Unlike the
other 3 employees, Shirley got a lawyer. A settlement was reached
July 20 in which MERS agreed to pay "a total gross amount equal to three
(3) months of pay and the equivalent of two (2) months of Employee's
COBRA contribution, which amounts to a total payment of $11,489.88."
Contract attorney Lisa Ward
assisted in the negotiations and charged MERS $3312.50 for her services.
A list of payments to Ms. Ward was
provided by MERS.
In addition
to the settlement agreement, MERS gave me a copy of a 10/13/04
letter to CEO Anne Wagner
from Shirley's attorney.
The Compliant
Board
How aware is the MERS board of directors of what goes on at MERS? Are
they demanding information and questioning decisions or dozing off
during the meetings and dreaming of their golf game? Occasional remarks
by CEO Anne Wagner suggest that she'd like to limit their involvement.
Speaking at a 5/15/03 staff meeting, she stated that it was important
for the Board to "stick to the agenda" at board meetings. Speaking at an
Employee Action Committee meeting 5/23/03, she said she could do
anything not forbidden by the Board. Other observations:
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There
have been 5 board meetings in 2005 and one in 2006. As of 2/26/06, minutes for only
one of those meetings - the March 2005 meeting - have been posted on MERS'
website.
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At the
March 2005 meeting, the Board denied my appeal of MERS' denial of my FOIA
request for employee termination agreements. I had to file a lawsuit
to get the agreements.
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The
MERS website used to list the board members' mailing addresses,
email addresses and phone numbers. Now no contact information is
provided.
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The
Board goes on retreats at least once a year and has received
"professional development" training from
FranklinCovey and probably from
Hardy Hasenfuss as well. One
purpose of these sessions is to build team loyalty and
discourage dissent.
Official MERS Website
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