THE HEADLINE ABOVE WAS from a TV6 report originally published on August 19th, 2021. You might think the case against Klint Miller and UP General Contracting would have been settled by now, but alas… after multiple delays for a number of different reasons, there’s still no resolution.
If you recall, the local builder was charged with 15 felonies related to taking money from customers for work to be done… apparently more than a million bucks, and then not doing the work.
According to a source close to the situation, Miller’s company left customers with different levels of unfinished work, some quite inconvenient, unless you don’t mind living in your house without a roof.
After multiple court dates have been pushed down the road due to things like a shortage of judges, it appears the next chance to see the adversaries in court won’t be until February of next year. In the meantime, Miller seems to be getting on just fine.
Apparently he recently started a new handyman services business. If he’s back to making money, legitimately, that might actually be good news for those still hoping for restitution. But if that was his house I drove by earlier this week… a nice spread with a big new outbuilding going up, it wasn’t what you’d expect to see from someone who may end up on the hook for seven figures.
Pulling the Plug
It was way back in January of 2020 when Miller sent a letter to customers letting them know his business, UP General Contracting, was shutting down. He gave some reasons why, and how hard it’s been on him… and bla, bla, bla, but there was no refund check in the envelope.
The state’s Attorney General’s office has been handling the case, but Lansing’s wheels of justice are turning a little too slow for victims waiting to be made whole. It seems they were close to an agreement at one point, but apparently Miller had trouble coming up with the cash, while some of the complainants wanted more than just a financial penalty. No deal.
I don’t necessarily like digging into someone’s personal business, but this is about more than Klint Miller and his “inability to make good on promises made in good faith.” (His words.) This is about his customers, more than a dozen of them, who trusted him with their project… and their money. Not to mention any other suppliers who went unpaid. Remember all those TV spots he used to run? You guessed it… free advertising.
I guess we’ll look to revisit this when, and if, it goes to court next year. There’s probably a lesson here somewhere. Buyer beware? I think the buyers in this case were “ware.” Unfortunately, that’s not always enough.
Money in the Wrong Hands
More recent is the embezzlement case involving a former Marquette Senior High School Athletics Department employee. Stacey Kangas has been charged with helping herself to more than $100,000, money that should be safely in the coffers of the athletics department. I don’t know the details, but I heard the accusation involves Kangas taking a little off the top of game receipts, where bookkeeping may not be as tight as it should be, and likely not as tight as it’s going to be.
We know that Kangas has pleaded not guilty, but other than that, we’ll hopefully know more after a Circuit Court Pretrial Conference scheduled to take place today at 2:30.
$100,000 is a lot of money to go missing from an athletics department budget, especially one facing the expenses of a branding update. No, there are no individual victims like in the Klint Miller case. When you take money from a school, the whole community suffers.
Homeless in the Park?
The story from earlier this week was about a Supreme Court ruling which allows municipalities to ban people from sleeping in public places. It made the local news because the nonprofit Room at the Inn asked the city to take a proactive stance and determine they would not criminalize homelessness.
My understanding is that regardless of the written rule, the city basically looks the other way when they discover homeless encampments, as long as they’re somewhat “out of sight,” and not causing any public endangerment.
If Room at the Inn gets its way, the city ordinance that allows authorities to intervene when homeless people use parks as living space would be suspended. The unofficial position of the city, again, as I understand it, is they’d rather keep the status quo, which would allow them to move homeless along when the safety of the community is threatened.
I think the concern of residents would be… do you want to take your morning coffee at Mattson Park while sharing the space with homeless campers? Probably not. But because it isn’t a frequent occurrence, the city’s position is that changes in our rules aren’t necessary at this time. Seems reasonable.