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Brimfield trustees reallocate township funds to cover $523,097 construction bill, plan internal repayment
Summary
Trustees approved a resolution to use township ledger (JED/MNI) funds to pay a March invoice to contractor Rycon while the township pursues an external loan; departments will be reimbursed when loan funds arrive or by a 2-year internal repayment plan.
Brimfield Township trustees voted Sept. 3 to move previously allocated JED/MNI funds back to the general fund so the township could pay an outstanding construction invoice from March for $523,097.22 and avoid penalties and further interest while a formal external loan application completes.
"We do have an outstanding bill from March in the amount of $523,097.22 which may incur penalties and interest if not paid soon," Fiscal officer Jasmine told the board during the fiscal report. Jasmine presented a proposed internal 0% loan plan that would draw from township divisions (Fire, Roads, Police and a general-fund tranche) and then reimburse those divisions when the external loan arrives.
Under the plan presented to the trustees, the immediate distribution would be approximately: Police $324,000; Roads $150,000; Fire $25,000; and General Fund $25,000, for a total near $524,000. Trustees and department heads said they had reviewed the proposal and met with fiscal staff to confirm the plan would not derail essential departmental operations.
Trustees said the internal distributions would be repaid when the previously approved external loan (the board voted earlier to seek loan financing) closes. Jasmine also outlined a contingency if the external loan fails: the township would reimburse departments over two years using salary savings (from an earlier business-manager position elimination and an unfilled parks assistant position) and additional JED MNI funds, estimating roughly $200,000 a year in savings plus $100,000 in MNI funds to meet repayments.
Board members described the vote as a way to prevent accruing penalties and to ensure subcontractors for the Rycon project are paid. "We're just gonna drive the cost of this project higher if we don't deal with this now," one trustee said during discussion. Legal counsel prepared a resolution formalizing the transfers and repayment plan; the board approved the resolution on a unanimous roll call.
Officials said the payment would be made to Rycon to clear outstanding subcontractor claims and to reduce the township's litigation and interest exposure while the external loan is finalized. Trustees directed fiscal staff to document the distributions and to return with accounting entries showing the departmental debits and the repayment schedule once loan closing is confirmed.
No public comment on this specific fiscal resolution was recorded during the meeting; the board moved into other business after the vote.
