Orion Township resident and former township trustee Burke Cueny said a recent meeting with township building official Tom Berger and township buildings and grounds director Reenae Tulip convinced him it was time to hand in his resignation as chairman of the Union Church Governing Board.
“Tom Berger, in one hour, settled all the concerns we has about getting a certificate of occupancy,” he said. “Then Ms. Tulip said we couldn’t get into the building the next night…the board didn’t authorize keys.
“Our community is wild about restoration,” added Cueny, who joined the Orion Historical Society and was appointed by OHS to serve on the Union Church Board to help oversee restoration of the church, a township building located in the village.
“Back then, those on the board, the veterans, were upset by the tremendous slowness of the township to act, that was under Colette Dywasuk,” Cueny said. “I was made chairman last year. We’d finally gotten the painting done on the outside…then they found the roof needed to be repaired.”
According to Cueny, last fall the Union Church board sat down to decide what needed to be done to be able to get the public in, so that, as Cueny said “we could get more money in the pot.”
“We got Jack Kobliska from the village involved, and we knew the floor needed to be reinforced,” he said. “Finally after all the shenanigans, (the township board) wanted better drawings. The job was authorized to out for bids on May 6…(Tulip) awarded the contract in August. We couldn’t believe it.”
Cueny said the floor was completed in September, and that the Union Church board had already decided in July that it would need volunteers to help with some of the interior work.
“Later, we found out the danger was if we’d have 250 (volunteers) in there, not eight,” he said. “(township supervisor Jerry Dywasuk) said having volunteers in there was dangerous…so we sent the board the county volunteer forms.”
The board approved using volunteers in October, and then asked the Union Church board to update them on their meetings.
“We’re required by our charter of the township to give an annual report,” Cueny explained. “Our objective was, then, to get the shell finished…we were unable to do that until the floor was done.”
Cueny said he was concerned about the $16,000 the board was asked to approve for architect’s plans, including plumbing which he said they weren’t even considering for the building.
“It also said we’d need a supervisor to watch over all the work…What do we need a supervisor for?” he asked. “We did admit, if they had to spend any money, to approve up to $3,500 for the (heating system specs).”
Cueny said at his final meeting with Berger and Tulip, the issue of possible asbestos in the church preventing volunteers from going in was also brought up, as well as the possible need for permits from the village.
“Almost every time we’d get ready, something would happen. We needed a letter from the senior center saying we needed permission to use the bathrooms there…Berger said that was non-issue, because the senior center is a township building,” he said.
Cueny believes Berger should have been supervising the project for the township “from the get go.”
“We’ve always had two trustees (on the Union Church board)…imagine our bewilderment when we’ve got township board members on this and we still can’t get anything done,” he said. “The bottom line is, good leadership would have put Berger in charge from the get go. We are an advisory board, we can’t tell them to do anything with teeth.”
Cueny doesn’t plan to remain involved in any way with the restoration of the church since his resignation.
“I just think it was a case of power politics,” he said. “Over the weekend I was so upset…I think the public really needs to see something, and that the Union Church board was just a facade from the beginning..a. whipping boy.”
According to Orion Township Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk, he had yet to hear official word of Cueny’s resignation.
“I guess I am surprised,” he added. “But we have department heads who have certain commitments…a to-do list. But you always need someone there to keep things moving.”
Dywasuk said he understands the slow progress on the church’s restoration can be frustrating.
“The main thing the board has to do…there are certain ordinances and rules…we have to follow those same rules,” he said. “I’m not sure who will take Burke’s place…but I think things are starting to come together real nice.
“Things don’t happen as quickly, or sometimes as efficiently, as you’d like,” added Dywasuk. “But we’re using citizens’ money, so we have to be careful.”
“I’m really glad I’m off this thing,” Cueny said. “My blood pressure is down. But the public better get on this thing, they better get on Dywasuk and tell them they’re sick of the red tape.”
“Burke has brought this whole thing to another level,” Dywasuk said. “But I know it has to be frustrating to him.”