Kokomo church struggles to pay cleanup debt

By Scott Smith Tribune staff writer

Pastor Dwight Hobson says he can’t understand why the state of Indiana is insisting on taking the money out of his collection plate.

After all, Hobson says, he is saving the state money by counseling teenagers on Kokomo’s near east side, keeping them away from gangs, drugs and teen pregnancy.

“I’ve single-handedly cleaned up the Taylor Street area,” he said. “For every teen we keep from getting pregnant, that saves the government thousands ... and each kid I talk down, that’s one less prisoner for the state of Indiana.”

Those claims notwithstanding, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management says Hobson owes a $24,099 debt, reimbursement for administrative costs the state says it incurred overseeing a 2002 environmental cleanup.

It’s a debt Hobson’s church inherited from local real estate developer Scott Pitcher, one of the church property’s former owners.

Greater St. Matthew’s Community Outreach Ministries acquired the building, 424 Apperson Way N., in October 2008 as a donation from Kokomo real estate firm Fortune Management.

Pitcher is president of Fortune Management, and was the registered agent for Apperson LLC, the partnership that owned the building from 2000 to 2008.

Despite accepting responsibility for a $28,494 debt along with the building — and a past due property tax bill of just over $18,000 — Hobson said he still thinks the donation was a good deal for the church.

“When you look at the $28,000, and you look at the $18,000 in taxes, if you add that up, that’s not even a fraction of what this building’s worth,” Hobson said.

The building, assessed at $99,600, sat vacant and for sale for most of the past decade before Pitcher turned it over to Hobson.

Sitting at the corner of Apperson and Jackson Street, it’s close to Hobson’s home on East Taylor Street.

The building also has a history of environmental problems, according to a federal investigation that implicated former owner Robert J. Marshall.

Marshall pleaded guilty to illegally dumping toxic pollutants containing high levels of copper into the Kokomo sewer system, violating the federal Clean Water Act. Marshall used three bypass lines that routed untreated wastewater from his circuit board printing business into the sewers.

His business, Master Circuits Inc., closed in September 1997, and police and environmental officials conducted a raid on the location in April 1998.

After acquiring the property in 2000, Pitcher, on behalf of Apperson LLC, signed a contract, called a Voluntary Remediation Agreement (VRA), with IDEM.

Under the agreement, Apperson LLC agreed to clean up the soil contamination, and to pay IDEM fees for administrative oversight on the cleanup.

IDEM filed suit against Fortune Management and Greater St. Matthew July 2, claiming the defendants still owe $24,099.

“According to Fortune’s representations to IDEM, the Ministries absorbed all liability imposed by the VRA and agreed to make installment payments to IDEM of $791.52 for 36 months to fulfill the past due balance,” the lawsuit reads.

“Additionally, Fortune represented to IDEM that Fortune would be liable for the payments should the Ministry default. Neither Fortune nor the Ministries have provided IDEM with any memorialization of this agreement,” it continued.

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office claimed in the suit that numerous invoices were sent to Fortune between November 2001 and September 2008, seeking payment.

Hobson, who paid the back taxes owed, said he doesn’t consider the building a gift after all he’s put into it.

Leading an impromptu tour, Hobson shows off several half-finished rooms, partly filled with building materials, where he said he plans to have a youth center and Sunday school classrooms. He keeps a big picture of the late Bishop Milton L. Hall, his ministerial mentor, in the bare-bones sanctuary.

He estimates he’s sunk $50,000 into the old cinder block industrial building.

“I’ve got to get the roof fixed. We barely got any rain last night, and it’s still leaking,” he says as he climbs onto the stage to look at a bucket. Hobson says all of the labor is donated, and that he personally does most of it.

“The reason I’m well-respected in this neighborhood is because I’m not afraid to go into gangs,” he added, as his pet rottweiler lounged in the back of the sanctuary.

He said he doesn’t understand why the state is pursuing repayment, and said the recession has hurt the church’s finances considerably. That’s why he said he could no longer afford to pay $791 a month, and asked the state to reduce the amount to $300 a month.

This week, the state accepted the offer, and withdrew the lawsuit.

Indiana Attorney General spokesman Bryan Corbin said the state is reserving the right to pursue Fortune Management for the debt if the church defaults.

Until the debt is resolved, IDEM officials say they won’t issue a certificate of completion for the environmental cleanup, and a covenant not to sue the property owners.

Hobson said he thinks the state waited too long to collect, but decided against contesting the lawsuit.

“I said, ‘I want you to have your money, even though by law I don’t have to pay you a dime,’” he recalled.

He credits Pitcher with installing new piping and drains, installing a new furnace and donating building materials. The city of Kokomo redid the crumbling sidewalks in front of the church.

“I don’t have any problem with Scott,” he said.

Hobson said he did speak with Pitcher about the past-due IDEM fees prior to accepting the property.

“I did [speak with him] but he said he was going to try ... if I paid the back taxes, he would try to get all the [fees] off,” Hobson said.

Hobson said Pitcher came to him later and said there was nothing he could do about the fees.

Contacted Wednesday, Pitcher disputed that version of events.

“That’s all been resolved; it’s all up to Pastor Hobson,” Pitcher said. “It’s a non-issue.”

Pitcher said he doesn’t believe Hobson would make such statements concerning their arrangement.

“You’re misquoting him. Pastor Hobson is a friend of mine, and that’s not how it came down,” Pitcher said.

“He knew exactly what he was getting. We were donating a building we had over $300,000 in to his ministry,” Pitcher added.

Asked for his version of how the fees came to be transferred to Hobson, Pitcher wrapped up his comments.

“The agreement with Pastor Hobson is between him and I; there is no lien. It’s being taken care of,” he said, declining further comment.

• Scott Smith is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at 765-454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com.

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