T-DOT Wants Transferred Vehicle Back From Van Buren After Grant Issue

The Van Buren County Commission voted Tuesday to resolve an issue with T-DOT over a van T-DOT wants returned after a decade of use in the county.

The van was provided to the county in 2013 through a T-DOT federal aid grant. It was meant to be used for specific transportation purposes. County Attorney Howard Upchurch said ownership of the van was transferred to Van Buren’s EMA by the last county mayor without approval from T-DOT, a violation of the grant rules. which was against the rules of the grant.

“The only way that T-DOT could not have done that is if Van Buren County had contacted them and secured their permission and then a release of their security interest to do that, and we don’t have anything to show that anything like that was done,” Upchurch said.

Upchurch said T-DOT has full authority to take the van back. The commission voted to give County Mayor David Sullivan permission to sign the title of the van so it can be returned. Upchurch said it would be the most straightforward way to fix the problem.

“You could file up a lawsuit and get a judge to sign it and declare that the title is null and void, or the other way is simply to transfer to get the existing county mayor, with your approval, to sign this.”

Sullivan said the county wanted to purchase the van from T-DOT for further use with its EMA, but was not allowed to do so because of the rules of the grant.

“According to the contract, it had to be sold at the end of its life, which would have been a 10-year cycle.”

In other business, Sullivan said the county is working to have the cameras fixed at the convenience center in Spencer instead of purchasing new ones, and that the board is not pursuing anymore changes to the security of the building.