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Randy caught lying to BOE; Broke Rules for St. Mary Land Sale
Topic Started: Feb 27 2012, 10:00 PM (2,934 Views)
LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
It started with this:



What Randy didn't want anyone to know, is that there had never been an independent appraisal done.

But he was more than willing to lie about it:

“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
My comments to the BOE on Randy and the Land Sale:

On 12/5/11 the superintendent presented to the board, a proposed sale of land to St. Mary's church. In that same meeting, the board illegally approved the sale.

The superintendent's presentation was fraud, pure and simple. He was required to provide a valid, independent appraisal to the board. The requirement is clearly spelled out in the Sale of Real Property board policy.

Not only did he fail to do so, but he told the board on tape that he had requested one from the church, and that they paid to have one done. But this was never done. Instead, he used a single page from a previous appraisal done for the church alone, 2 years ago.

This appraisal (which was only available through the freedom of information act)clearly states:

1. It is a restricted use appraisal (not independent) and is only for the use of St. Marys,
2. The Appraisal was done on 12/3/09, making it useless for current valuation,
3. The appraisal is for the entire 11.65 acre parcel, (while you were only selling 5.5 acres) and specifically states that using it for any smaller portion will "invalidate the appraisal".

The Sale of Real Property policy makes it the board’s responsibility (not the superintendent’s) to analyze whether or not a sale is in the districts’ best interests, and further sets forth that an independent appraisal will always be needed to do so.

The policy on Board-Superintendent relations, holds the administration responsible to follow the other board policies, and makes it the responsibility of the superintendent to keep the board informed.

The superintendent not only failed to follow the policy on sale of land, he further failed to keep the board informed, by lying to the board, both actively, and by omission.

You now have a decision to make.

Do nothing, and thereby support the superintendent's actions, and ignore their own policies, or hold the superintendent accountable, remove him from his position, and invalidate the land sale.

Your decision will have consequences.

Remember, you have asked the community to trust you to oversee another $190,000,000.

Why should we trust you with such an incredible amount of money, if you can't oversee a 5.5 acre land sale, and are unwilling to hold the superintendent accountable?

All the documents I have referenced are available to the public at livonianeighbors.com.

Loyd Romick


Attached to this post:
Attachments: St_Marys_Appraisal.pdf (2 MB)
Attachments: board_policy_Disposal_of_Real_Property.pdf (116.35 KB)
Attachments: board_policy_Superintendent.pdf (56.4 KB)
“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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Justasking
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Sorry, I am missing something here. Did you send them a letter or speak out at a meeting or just post this here, looking for a reply?
I assume you spoke at a meeting an I am just out of the loop.
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srj900
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Yes, a few people spoke out last night. That posting is from the comments to the board last night (2-27) by Mr. Romick.
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coalminer
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Posted Image
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Justasking
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srj900
Feb 28 2012, 04:34 PM
Yes, a few people spoke out last night. That posting is from the comments to the board last night (2-27) by Mr. Romick.
Thanks.
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srj900
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The video from last night's board meeting is now availablLPSe at LIVONIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS . ORG Under the Board Videos section. Comments start at about the 20 minute mark
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LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
Mr. Johnson's comments were very interesting:

“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
My own comments:

“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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srj900
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If you would like to get involved in convincing the Board to take action on this matter, send one or all of them an e-mail with your thoughts:

President Patrice Mang-- PMANG@LIVONIAPUBLICSHOOLS.ORG

Gregory Oke -- GOKE@LIVONIAPUBLICSCHOOLS.ORG

Mark Johnson -- MJOHNSON@LIVONIAPUBLICSCHOOLS.ORG

Colleen Burton -- CBURTON@LIVONIAPUBLICSCHOOLS.ORG

Dianne Laura -- DLAURA@LIVONIAPUBLICSCHOOLS.ORG

Eileen McDonnell -- EMCDONNE@LIVONIAPUBLICSCHOOLS.ORG

Randy Roulier -- RROULIER@LIVONIAPUBLICSCHOOLS.ORG

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srj900
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Does anyone here know how to post the article about this in Thursday's Observer? I'm not that tech savy to be able to do that. Thanks
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Vanna White
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http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20120308/NEWS10/203080618/Residents-want-school-board-invalidate-land-sale-church?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Livonia|s

Residents want school board to invalidate land sale to church

Mar. 8, 2012

Written by
Karen Smith
Observer Staff Writer

Some members of the public are asking the Livonia school board to invalidate its sale of 5.5 acres of vacant land for $140,000 cash to St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church, saying the board violated its own policy by approving the sale based on an invalid appraisal.

The board approved the sale in a 4-3 vote Dec. 5, but no closing date has been set yet.

Resident Steve Johnson, who lives near the property located directly behind the church's banquet center on Merriman north of Six Mile, said the board used a 2-year-old appraisal from the church instead of a current independent one as required by board policy. He believes the purchase price diminishes the value of neighboring properties.

He said the appraisal, completed by Paul & Associates of Livonia, was for 11.65 acres and it specifically states it can't be prorated to individual portions or used by another organization.

Laws broken?

“I believe the board has the authority and justification to invalidate and rescind the purchase agreement, based upon the information you now have,” Johnson told the board at its Feb. 27 meeting.

“It's my understanding that board policies are laws of sorts, and it seems as if a law was broken here in putting this deal together.”

Johnson was one of four people who spoke to the board, asking board members to either invalidate the purchase agreement or investigate the facts leading up to its approval.

Said resident Mark Wojcik, “I really don't want Livonia Public Schools to be in competition with the Wayne County fiasco that's going on in the news every night. We'd like to keep our city clean; we just want to keep things right.”

Resident Bill Joyner suggested the board appoint a three- or four-person citizens committee to “find out what really happened with that piece of property.”

He said he doesn't know if anything was done improperly, but the board has to reinstill a sense of trust if it plans to ask voters to approve a $160 million to $200 million construction bond for school improvements.

Meets policy's ‘intent'

Superintendent Randy Liepa said Tuesday the district is moving forward with the land sale, waiting for the completion of an environmental study, before closing on it.

He said the sale meets “the intent of the board policy,” adding that the purchase price was deemed fair by Charles Allen of Birmingham, who handles appraisals for the district. He said there weren't a lot of comparables available.

“We've done our due diligence on the property,” he said.

He said Allen reviewed the appraisal in the fall of 2010. The board had voted in April 2011 not to sell the property to the church, then reversed its decision in December. The price and other terms did not change.

Liepa said the land is landlocked and has a ravine running through it, making it difficult to build homes on.

The church wants to build an outreach center on the property.

The 5.5 acres is adjacent to a 40-acre parcel the district owns fronting Merriman. The district is keeping the 40 acres, a site large enough for a middle, elementary or technical school. The site, even with the 5.5 acres, was not large enough for a modern-day high school, Liepa said.

Looking into concerns

Board President Patrice Mang said a couple board members expressed concerns to her after the residents spoke Feb. 27. “As board president, I'm currently looking into those concerns,” she said.

Liepa said the school board's discussion of the sale prior to the vote centered on the issue of a compelling interest, not the appraisal.

The sale was approved in December after trustee Mark Johnson, an attorney, changed his vote from no to yes. He said his no vote in April was based on a “technical opposition.”

At the time, Johnson said he didn't think the proposed sale met the criteria in the board's policy for the disposition of real property, including the need for “a compelling interest” for the district to sell it. The board changed that policy removing that restriction prior to the December vote.

Voting for the sale were Johnson, Lynda Scheel, Colleen Burton and Randy Roulier.

The board has two new members since the sale was approved — Eileen McDonnell and Dianne Laura. Scheel was not re-elected and Rob Freeman, who opposed the sale, did not seek re-election.

ksmith@hometownlife.com | (313) 222-2098
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LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
Here are the comments from Mr. Joyner refrenced in the article.

“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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LPS Reformer
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And here are Mr. Wojcik's.

“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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srj900
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"Leipa said the school board's discussion of the sale prior to the vote centered on the issue of a compelling interest, not the appraisal" I thought they removed the language about compelling interest from the board policy. And, even so, because their discussion didn't center on the appraisal, does it mean they can ignore the rule about an independent appraisal? Simply bizarre statement. What is in there though is "no land will be offered for sale until an independent appraisal is completed." The good Doctor said that the sale meets the intent of the board policy. Does he have the authority to redefine what the board policy states to make this thing O.K.? And, he said they did their "due diligence". Is he redifining the definition of the term "due diligence"? Cause if they did their due diligence, it would have included an independent appraisal. There is no room to dance around that board policy in regards to needing an independent appraisal. It doesn't say they may get one or it's suggested they get one, or in lieu of one, someone else can look at an invalid appraisal.
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DADDYOH10
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If there is any accountability, it is being ignored so the "little bully" may have his way. This district has a long history of this kind of thing. There is no mention of racism in this district...sounds like out and out censorship and social ignorance, if not Socialism....there is little or no mention of the "drug problem", because they don't want it to be noticed ....all the dirty little secrets, transparency thrown to the dark pages of history to be repeated over and over again..

srj...what a concise and detailed account of the issue at hand!
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srj900
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We are under the assumption that with this new board it will not be business as usual. Ushering in a new era of openness and honesty. I think when they voted not to put the bond issue on the ballot, that was a good sign they were listening to the people that pay the bills.

The facts of this issue were literally put in front of them at the Feb. 27th board meeting. I think we have to give them a chance to truly due their own due diligence, and then follow through with the appropriate actions. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a test for this new board.
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LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
Randy's comments in the Observer say a lot about how he thinks.

I love the comment on how he followed the "intent" of the policy.

Who allowed him to interpet the policies?
“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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srj900
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"He said Allen reviewed the appraisal in the Fall of 2010". So, here you have a 2009 Appraisal that says it can only be used by the church. Someone in Birmingham looks at it in 2010, and puts their stamp of approval on it. The board votes on it at the end of 2011. Curiously enough, right before a new board will be seated at the start of 2012. I know sometimes one year bleeds into the next, but this defies logic. And, no negotiations, no trying to get the most for that piece of land. Insisting it be sold in a down real estate market, even though you have held it for decades.
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DADDYOH10
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Who elected these people? I'll have to pray harder and go to church twice on the weekend...to pray that Livoina voters wake up to what they have brought to our schools , and moreover to our state, the Republicans continue to erode the democratic right of the citizens, knowing they have short memories and are term limited (merry-go-round style).
See these reports from our State (D) Senator: Mr. Glenn Anderson - check out his web site, get a news letter!


http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=b41qporuj20jq

....or this one....http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=b41qporuj20jq

















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