Oakland County Commissioner raises red flag on Holly Township eviction

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Maria Smith breaks down during...

HOLLY TOWNSHIP, Michigan – A Holly Township couple and their two young children will be homeless next week after Holly Township officials refused to rescind an order of eviction slated for Monday, Feb. 27.

The matter was discussed at a special meeting on Thursday, Feb. 23.

For the last two years, Timm and Maria Smith have been embroiled in a lawsuit with Holly Township after the township was deeded a 10-acre portion of their 20-acre property following the Smith's foreclosure on their mortgage in 2008.

Republic Bank, granted the mortgage for a 10-acre portion of their 20-acre riverfront property without ever verifying that the parcel had been legally split into individual parcels. Because the land had not been legally split, the Smiths maintain the 10-acre portion of the property in question never legally existed on paper.

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The Smiths continue to occupy ...

In May of 2008, an Oakland County Sheriff’s deed on the mortgage sale conveyed the 10-acre parcel to Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) who in turn conveyed the parcel to the Federal National Mortgage Association in June.

In May 2009, The Federal National Mortgage Association sold the parcel to PHH Mortgage Corporation for $138,502.20, Holly Township’s predecessor in title, and in July of that year, the 52-2 District Court entered a Consent Judgment awarding PHH Mortgage Corporation possession of the property.

In December of 2009, PHH Mortgage Corporation issued a Quit Claim deed to Holly Township, valuing the property at $0.

Holly Township Clerk Karin Winchester said PHH Quit Claim deeded the property to Holly Township because the property had multiple code violations including blight and dangerous buildings that required demolition.

The Smiths maintain that it wasn’t legally PHH’s property to give, and have been living at their residence without the township’s blessing for most of the time throughout their battle with Holly Township.

On Feb. 22, the couple and their two children received a Order of Eviction by Judge Kelly Kostin in the Oakland County 52-2 District Court.

Kostin gave the Smiths 24-hours to vacate the premises.

The Smiths’ attorney, Casper Connolly said 24-hours notification for an eviction is rare. “Normally, 10-days is the minimum amount of time a judge will give, and often it’s more like 30-days,” he said.

“When we got home at 4:45 p.m., the eviction officer was already sitting in our driveway,” Timm Smith said. “He told us that he had orders to be back at 6 a.m. on Wednesday to evict us.”

Learning of their fate, Oakland County Commissioner Bob Hoffman spoke with the Smiths on Tuesday evening, and later contacted Holly Township Supervisor Jesse Lambert, asking him to postpone the Smiths’ eviction.

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Bob Hoffman

Hoffman convinced Lambert to postpone the eviction until Monday, Feb. 27. Additionally, Hoffman said Lambert agreed to have the township’s lawyer, Lisa Hamaneh and Connolly set up a meeting in which the matter could be discussed, and possibly resolved.

Hoffman said Lambert confirmed a meeting between the two parties had been set for noon on Tuesday, Feb. 28, and that when he asked Lambert to put off the eviction process for an additional day or two until the meeting could occur, Lambert flatly refused.

Because the Smiths case is currently lodged in the Michigan Court of Appeals, Connolly appeared before Kostin on Thursday afternoon, submitting a motion to rescind the eviction notice until the case can be resolved in a higher court. His motion was denied.

Hoffman’s involvement in the issue caused Lambert to call Thursday’s special meeting.

“Somebody asked me why I got involved with this,” Hoffman said during Thursday’s public comment portion of the meeting. “I got involved because I’m the County Commissioner, and these people are my constituents, just like they’re your constituents.”

Describing himself as a “pit bull when it comes to land rights,” Hoffman reminded township officials of their roles. “Not only is it our sworn duty to protect the property rights of our citizens, but we have a moral obligation to do that,” he said.

“When Holly Township received the deed for this property, it had to raise red flags everywhere because the unrecorded legal description you received with the deed didn’t match the description of the 20-acres,” Hoffman said. “The land you claim to own, you can’t even buy title insurance for – you can’t even sell that property, but you claim it’s yours.”

Referencing the Smith’s Order of Eviction, Hoffman said he initially had several questions.

“One of my first questions was how can you evict somebody when the case is lodged in the Michigan Court of Appeals,” Hoffman said, adding that when the matter was raised to Kostin, her answer was that she didn’t have any documentation pertaining to the appeal.

“Don’t you think it’s a legal and a moral obligation for the township attorney to say, ‘Yes, this is in the Court of Appeals?’” Hoffman asked.

Hoffman questioned Lambert’s decision to go through with the eviction on Feb. 27 before the scheduled negotiation meeting on Feb. 28.

“It reminds me of Dec. 7, 1941 when the Japanese were in Washington DC negotiating with the United States government while they were dropping bombs in Pearl Harbor,” Hoffman said. “You know what, it might seem smaller to you, but this is the same thing to the Smiths.”

Much to Hoffman’s dismay, Lambert said the proposed meeting on Feb. 28 had not been organized, adding that the meeting “didn’t even go through,” and that all he had promised was the potential for a meeting.

Hoffman asked the board one final time to consider putting off the eviction. “The whole world is not going to condemn you for this, but you’re going to bring more bad publicity to the village of Holly that we don’t need,” Hoffman said. “The public is going to see that you threw a family out that is down on their luck – the husband just had more surgery – that’s what the public is going to see.”

Lambert said the township has made the offer to purchase the Smiths’ remaining parcels on numerous occasions, but that the Smiths hadn’t responded or expressed any interest.

“Because somebody doesn’t initially respond to something doesn’t mean you end negotiations,” Hoffman said. “You made the best suggestion of all and that’s to put the olive branch out there again and try to resolve this.”

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Holly Township Supervisor, Jes...

Lambert said the “olive branch” had never been withdrawn.

“You need to put off this eviction until that happens,” Hoffman said. “You have the power to do that – I don’t know what the sense of urgency is here.”

“My husband and I have gone through hard times, but we have been stewards of this land for so long,” a trembling Maria Smith said from the podium. “We feel like it’s a small thing to ask because it does no harm to the township whatsoever that we stay in our home until this at least gets heard at the appellate level, or that we maybe come to some sort of an agreement.”

Maria said Tuesday’s eviction marks the fourth attempt by the township to oust her family. "What you guys have done is seized upon my weakness at my darkest hour and attacked us unceasingly,” she said, adding that her family has put at least $50,000 into the legal process.

“I’m going to owe big money on this if I don’t win,” she said. “My gamble is huge – my gamble is my family.”

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Maria Smith

Maria blames the stress caused by the lawsuit on her husband’s ailing health. “Actually, I feel that you’re liable – and I’m not trying to threaten you, but you’re very much liable for wrongful death or injury to my husband, and I will stand here strongly and tell you, he is the love of my life, and if you want to kill him, keep evicting us,” she said. “I can’t believe that you guys don’t know this – that you’re destroying me – you’re destroying my family. I’m ready to negotiate with you, but until you call off your dogs, my family is waiting to be evicted on Monday.”

With no clear title on the property, and the case lodged at the appellate level, Holly resident George Kullis asked what the township’s intent is with the property. “Are we intending on doing something with that property?” he asked.

Lambert said governments typically “sit on a piece of land,” until it can be used for another purpose like a store house, a police station, a fire station, a township hall, or a park. “I mean, the list goes on and on – anything you can publicly think would be an open book for the property.”

“Like a canoe livery or something,” a member of the audience asked.

“That could be a possibility,” Lambert said. “Has it been seriously discussed, talked about or has the township made a move in any direction on it, no,” he added. “It’s still in litigation and again, until someone lands a firm title, the township really can’t do anything with it.”

“Then why evict them,” one member of the audience said. “Exactly – why are we here?” asked another.

“This whole thing has just been so upsetting – and I’m going to ask you – would you throw out your neighbor’s kids in the snow on a Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. just to prove you could do it?” Timm Smith asked. “Are you really going to throw my children out in the snow Monday morning knowing that we have no place else to live and we are again going to be on the other five acres of land living in a tent?”

As the attorney for the Smiths, Connolly took the opportunity to share his thoughts.

“Does anyone in this room touch a piece of real estate without getting title insurance?” Connolly asked. “Did you try? Did you say we want to apply and get title insurance for this property? No. Because you know you can’t,” he said. “Isn’t that a red flag all by itself?”

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Casper Connolly

“When did it happen that the township came in competition with those that they’re supposed to be protecting?” he said. “When did the referee that’s supposed to be maintaining a level playing field decide to get in the game? That’s not your role here.”

Following public comment, township officials adjourned to executive session to discuss the matter further. A half hour later, Trustee Steve Ruth made the motion for Treasurer Mark Freeman and Lambert to negotiate the purchase of the Smith’s remaining two 5-acre parcels. In a vote of 4-0, the motion passed. Trustee Janet Leslie was excused from the meeting.

Leslie said she was not consulted prior to scheduling the meeting, and that after sharing times she could attend the meeting with the supervisor and other board members, no apparent attempt was made to reschedule the meeting. “Had I been there, I would have suggested to the board that we move to postpone the eviction by 60 days in order to give all concerned parties the opportunity to evaluate options,” she said. “There is no reason I know of for the board to move with such urgency toward eviction, and as concerns have been raised that we have not heard before, there could be no harm in giving this issue a little more time and consideration.”

“Does that mean you will stop the eviction since you’re going to set up this committee to negotiate with them?” Hoffman asked.

“No,” Lambert replied.

“You’re still going to evict them?” a disbelieving Hoffman asked.

“Yes sir. That’s what’s going to happen,” Lambert said.

“I think this is absolutely outrageous,” Hoffman said. “I don’t know why you’re doing this to these people. You all should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Holly resident Larry Lilly got the opportunity to have the last word.

“I have a reputation of always fighting for the underdog,” Lilly said. “Tonight, the Smiths are the underdogs, especially when they have kids,” he added. “You didn’t listen tonight – you went (into executive session) and made your decisions – you didn’t even do it face-to-face.”

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Larry Lilly is a common fixtur...

Lilly, who in the past has expressed great respect for the Holly Township Board of Trustees, said the board’s decision caused him to reconsider.

“I’ve had a lot of respect for you all these years, but tonight I’ve lost it,” he said. “You will not have my support anymore – none of you. You don’t put women and children out on the street,” he added. “I’m a firm believer in God and what you’re doing tonight is absolutely wrong and now you’re going to have to live with it.”