MCC Superintendent Mount Bussed-ed?

[XLFD]

At the beginning of this month Mason County Central's Superintendent Jeff Mount played loosely with facts and was tight with information about his school district's buses getting red-tagged, necessitating borrowing other district's buses and drivers for a time.  This prior post has all of those particulars, and why it is kind of a big deal to some of us:

http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/mcc-superintendent-ke...

On June 4, I sent a FOIA request to the MDOT to find out about these inspections, requesting:  "The MDOT's inspection report of Mason County Central's (Scottville) buses that occurred on 5-30 and 5-31-2013 that led to the red-tagging of numerous buses; please include the problems noted within each bus violation, and the original complaint (if any) or protocol that led to this inspection."

 

The MDOT was the agency Superintendent Mount referred to in his press release.  I received an immediate response from the MDOT's FOIA Officer William Perod asking about whether I meant school buses or public transit buses, and then after I clarified: 

 

"This notice is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in which you are seeking information referenced in your request

Pursuant to Section 5(4)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act, as amended, this certifies that the public record you are requesting does not exist, does not exist under the name given, or is not in the possession of the Department of Transportation. MDOT does not conduct inspections for busses within a school district. Accordingly, your request is denied."

After another quick exchange where I asked what agency may be responsible, he directed me to try the Motor Carrier Division of the MSP.  I researched that division, and saw that he was right.  Mr. William Perod's three responses were all made back on the same day I made the request, all professionally tailored, and he deserves applause for his efforts which were well above what I have grown accustomed to with other agencies giving out information. 

A case in that point follows, as the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division (CVED) was a part of the Michigan State Police (MSP), whose prior replies have made Ludington City Manager John Shay seem almost reasonable.  I sent them the same request with the CVED replacing the MDOT.  I got the typical extension at the end of five days in the mail, even though I specified and emphasized sending any responses over E-mail to reduce overhead.  I then finally got today, 21 days after I sent the request the following denial in today's mail telling me they had nothing: 

 

So these buses were not checked by the MDOT, contrary to Superintendent Mount's assertion, nor were they apparently checked by the proper regulatory authority in charge of such inspections according to my FOIA reply looking at the specific dates, places and times of that alleged inspection. 

So who did the inspections, if anyone?  Why were the buses out of commission?  Why haven't we heard anything else concerning this in the meantime?   Superintendent Mount, he of the record-less internal investigations of his own girl's soccer coach accused of high improprieties (that eventually turned out false), who has shown that he cannot be trusted to do his job of keeping the district apprised of what's happening, needs to give us some real answers, because he is testing the credibility of the local public which may be about to give him a failing grade. 

Give Superintendent Mount a break from summer and send him an inquiry into what's going on under the school barn roof. 

[Jane]

That is weird. The newspaper article says that a certain agency said the buses couldn't be used, yet no agency that we can find has made inspections?

[XLFD]

I encourage anyone with kids in that district to get involved and find out why this is the case.  Whenever I deal with the guy, I perceive he seems a bit offended that some Ludington twit is poking his nose into his business.

[Willy]

This is very strange. Did the LDN quote Mr. Mounts assertion that the MDOT shut the buses down? If so then why didn't the LDN follow up and verify what Mr. Mount had claimed. Something very fishy is going on here. Well done X

[XLFD]

Most of the early yeoman's work on this episode derived from the Scottville-based Mason County Press, but both had originally quoted Mount's reference to MDOT, while at the same time I was getting an "it wasn't us" from MDOT, the drivers and other people involved were saying it was the MSP sub-agency, CVED.  But if this response is correct, we have a mystery. 

I have put forth a FOIA request to the MCC superintendent regarding this, and hope to clear up the mystery soon.

[XLFD]

And hope to use fewer abbreviations in posts in the future.

[AQUAMAN]

I predict the reply from on high will be the usual, "request denied". But first, Mr. Mount will run up another county attorney bill to ascertain how to deal with his job responsibilities, the same as Shay does constantly.