After more than a year of disagreeing over who should pay what for the replacement of a failed culvert and the rebuilding of a collapsed section of road above it, Oxford Township and the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) finally reached an agreement last week that will keep them out of the courtroom.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” said township Supervisor Bill Dunn. “I really didn’t feel like spending a lot of money on attorney bills after the last couple go-arounds we had (with other issues).”

The township agreed to use monies from the RCOC’s Tri-Party Program to pay $150,000 of what it cost to repair Wood Trail, a subdivision street located south of W. Drahner Rd., and install a new culvert beneath it.

But, the reality is Oxford will actually end up contributing only $50,000 from its coffers. The rest will come from the RCOC and Oakland County, each of which will pay $50,000.

Road projects under the Tri-Party Program are funded by the RCOC, the county and the community that’s involved, be it a township, village or city. Each entity pays one-third of the cost.

Under the terms of the cost participation agreement for Wood Trail, the township, RCOC and county will each pay $36,672 during the 2019 fiscal year and $13,328 in the 2020 fiscal year.

RCOC Spokesman Craig Bryson called the agreement “a good faith effort” to “work with (Oxford) and avoid litigation.” He said “neither one of us really wanted” a legal battle because it could have “potentially” cost both sides “a fair chunk of change.”

Initially, the road commission wanted the township to pay 50 percent of the approximately $400,000 it spent to replace the culvert. Citing state law as the basis of its claim, the RCOC’s position was that it can only legally expend Michigan Transportation Fund monies for construction purposes on local roads, like Wood Trail, to the extent that the funds are matched by other sources and therefore, it’s restricted to paying no more than 50 percent of the cost.

The township’s position was that it’s not legally obligated to pay anything. It argued the Wood Trail repairs did not require matching funds because the work did not constitute new construction, but rather reconstruction, restoration or rehabilitation. The township also argued the culvert failure and fix was the RCOC’s responsibility because Wood Trail is under its jurisdiction.

In late February 2018, a corrugated metal pipe culvert that allowed a Paint Creek tributary to flow beneath Wood Trail failed after years of deterioration, leading to the formation of a massive sinkhole and the collapse of the roadway overhead.

Annual safety inspection reports regarding the culvert’s condition showed the RCOC was aware that its condition had been growing worse and worse since 2015. During last year’s inspection, which took place on Feb. 14 (10 days before the culvert’s failure), the inspector downgraded its condition from “poor” – its rating from 2015-17 – to “critical” because a section of it was “beginning to collapse.” The next day, he filed paperwork requesting “immediate action.”

Following its failure, the culvert was replaced with a new 84-inch-diameter reinforced concrete pipe and the road above it was rebuilt.

After going back and forth with the township over the construction bill, the RCOC lowered its demand from the original $192,869 to $150,000 and offered to let Oxford use the Tri-Party Program to pay for it.

“We realize it’s a challenge for them (to fund this), just as it was a challenge for us, and we wanted to do everything we could to work with them and be good partners,” Bryson said.

The township agreed to the RCOCs offer and signed the agreement last week.

Township attorney Gary Rentrop still believes “our case is strong,” but he said ultimately, it was decided to pay the RCOC because “the cost of litigating this . . . would be substantial” and “we don’t know whether we’re going to have any insurance coverage.”

Despite signing the agreement, Dunn said he still personally doesn’t believe the township owed the RCOC a penny because “Oxford Township doesn’t own any roads (or) any culverts and we never will.”

That being said, Dunn noted he’s “glad it came to this conclusion just to settle it” and avoid spending time and money in court.

Bryson noted the RCOC is only charging the township for part of the $400,000 construction cost, not the approximately $200,000 it expended on top of that for design engineering, maintenance work, emergency response and the “considerable amount of staff time” that was spent on-site.