[0:00] the boardroom are streamed live and recorded in accordance with the county's

[0:03] live stream and publishing recordings policy which can be viewed on the

[0:08] county's website. Your attendance constitutes your consent to audio,

[0:13] visual streaming and/or recording and to permit the county to broadcast your

[0:18] name, voice, image, contact to a broader audience.

[0:24] Will the clerk please call the role? >> Mr. Van Beek.

[0:30] » He is going to be here. Uh, tardy. He had an issue that come up this morning,

[0:34] but he uh got it handled. >> Okay. Commissioner Dia

[0:37] » here. >> Commissioner Lovers

[0:39] » here. >> Commissioner Boutman

[0:40] » here. >> Commissioner Dugan

[0:42] » here. >> This morning opening prayer will be held

[0:45] by Commissioner Mark D. Young followed by the pledge of allegiance. Please

[0:49] stand.

[0:52] » Pray. Well Lord and heavenly father, we thank you once again for another day and

[0:58] thank you for the the rain that we need once again. Uh just ask for your

[1:04] continued blessing on our crops and as we near our harvest season. Yeah. Ask

[1:11] Lord that you grant extra prayers and mercy to uh families of past employees

[1:17] that have uh passed recently, especially the family of Sam Dystra and uh Chris

[1:23] Jurgus. Raise them up to Lord and just guide us as we deliberate on issues for

[1:30] the citizens of Alagan County today. Be with us all as we travel home. Keep us

[1:36] safe. Guide us. Jesus name we pray.

[1:42] I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[1:48] for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[1:54] justice for all.

[2:04] » This morning we have no public hearings. So that brings us down to approval of

[2:08] the minutes for August 13, 2026. Ensure you've all looked at those. Is there any

[2:13] additions, corrections? If not, I'll take a motion.

[2:17] » Commissioner Lovers. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move we approve

[2:20] the minutes of August 13, 2026. >> Is there a second?

[2:23] » Second. >> Commissioner Dugan seconds. Motion and a

[2:27] second to approve the August 13 minutes. Is there any discussion?

[2:33] Seeing none, all those in favor of approval of those minutes, please say

[2:37] yes. >> Yes.

[2:38] » Opposed. Those minutes are approved. Next, it brings us down to public

[2:44] participation. I see we have a pretty good uh crowd this morning. Um, who

[2:49] would like to go first for public participation?

[2:54] » Please step up to the podium and uh state your name and local of residence.

[2:58] And you have five minutes. >> Good right here. That's uh if you would

[3:04] um we can move that maybe a little bit closer to the mic so you can so because

[3:10] we're we're live streaming as well and that way I can kind of be picked up your

[3:14] voice.

[3:20] » So uh my name is Eric Bane. I'm at 3245 Lone Oak Drive in Wayland Township. And

[3:28] uh I am a concerned citizen and engineer.

[3:32] Um we have Jennifer Antel um the mayor of Whan project manager at West Michigan

[3:39] Trails and Katherine Getty the Barry County Commissioner for District 2 here

[3:43] to help support me. Um we are here today to urge Aligan County's board of

[3:47] commissioners to consider holding the easement for the yettobe constructed

[3:51] trail system you should see shown in yellow on the board behind me. Um, the

[3:57] plan trail spans a total distance of roughly four miles and would safely

[4:01] connect multiple communities while promoting outdoor activities such as

[4:04] walking, running, and biking in an area of Alagan County that lacks access to

[4:09] non-motorized trails. This route has been carefully chosen to meet all of the

[4:14] following criteria. Um, they allow for dual use of the land

[4:18] that is being occupied by the solar panel project for the next 30 years. uh

[4:23] serve as a connection to the greater MDOT uh state of Michigan Grand Regional

[4:28] Plan at 136th Avenue to its north here. Um serve as connection to the Greater

[4:36] Yankee Springs Trail System to the southeast

[4:39] would be here. Um and it cannot infringe upon Apex

[4:44] Clean Energy Solar Farm project area. Cannot infringe upon existing power line

[4:48] infrastructure or function. um and prioritizes land owner route

[4:53] preferences. Um there is so much going for this

[4:57] project. Um we have a commitment from the farmers that own the land to realize

[5:02] the trail system represented by this signature sheet.

[5:09] a commitment from the power line easement holders

[5:14] ITC and consumers to fully evaluate a non form or a formal non-interference

[5:19] request. Uh we have condition S in the Wayland Township special land use permit

[5:25] approval that allows for the inclusion of a trail system within the solar farms

[5:28] project site plan to be considered a minor change.

[5:33] A verbal commitment from Apex Energy to fund the construction of the trails

[5:37] pending an internal study. A verbal commitment from Apex Clean Energy to

[5:42] fund the trail maintenance pending an internal study. All we need is a

[5:47] government unit to step up and own the easement for the trail. Algen County

[5:51] Parks and Recreation Entity owns and maintains eight parks and 55 miles of

[5:55] pedestrian trails. Um, ranging in size from about 4 acres

[6:01] all the way up to 320 acres. In our correspondence with Alagan County thus

[6:05] far, you have shared with us that the trail system aligns with all your key

[6:11] objectives. Wayan Township ownership is not an option, and I would be happy to

[6:15] explain why that is the case, but most importantly, the timeline. I know that

[6:20] projects of this size typically take decades to complete, often requiring

[6:24] hundreds, if not thousands of conversations, public hearings, and

[6:27] funding applications, but this project is not that.

[6:31] Apex plans move at a break neck pace, starting construction in spring of 2027

[6:36] and finishing in late fall of 2028. There's a rare opportunity to secure a

[6:41] public asset at zero cost to the taxpayers and all we and we need to

[6:45] seize it. You might ask yourself, how is this possible? The answer is simple.

[6:50] Most of the construction obtain most of the construction costs required

[6:55] to obtain such a trail system come from its construction. Since Apex Clean

[7:00] Energy will already be in the area with all the necessary equipment, personnel,

[7:04] and materials, the trails become a relatively low additional cost for them.

[7:08] All we are asking from you today is to consider holding the easement for the

[7:12] trail. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[7:21] Good morning. >> Good morning. Uh, as Eric said, my name

[7:24] is Jennifer Antel. I am both the mayor of the city of Whan in Alagen County,

[7:29] but today I'm representing West Michigan Trails. We're a nonprofit

[7:33] um in West Michigan covering 18 counties and we deal with all the non-motorized

[7:39] multi-use trails in West Michigan working to get them connected and making

[7:43] a unified network. And um as Eric said, I we know we

[7:49] understand this is very unusual to have this happening at such a a fast pace.

[7:54] And I use the example of the inner urban trail that we have been working on for

[7:58] 21 years to connect um Kent County to Kazoo County on the western or excuse me

[8:07] the eastern edge of Alagan County through Wayen Township and the old inner

[8:11] urban railway. You know, we've been working on that for 21 years. We've

[8:14] spent through the municipalities, West Michigan Trails, $70,000 studying it,

[8:20] doing pre-engineering, and we still don't have any trail built. I'm

[8:23] optimistic in the next five years we will, but it usually is a very long

[8:27] process and can cost millions of dollars, you know, up to a million

[8:31] dollars a mile to build a trail. In Alagan County, we have a very unique

[8:35] situation where someone else owns the property is willing to give the easement

[8:40] to build the trail. they will design it, they will build it, and they will even

[8:45] pay for the maintenance of it for the next 30 years. Uh we just need somebody

[8:49] to hold that lease um in order to do it. So, I urge you to to thoughtfully

[8:55] consider it. Um this is an opportunity that comes around literally once in a

[8:59] millennium, and I understand it's a big ask. It's a lot in a short amount of

[9:04] time. uh but we just ask that you consider and maybe um enter into

[9:09] conversation with us about how this could happen. Thank you so much for your

[9:13] time.

[9:21] » My name is Klfeld. I'm a senior uh de development manager with Apex Clean

[9:25] Energy working on the Blazing Star Solar Project. Uh I just want to clarify a few

[9:30] items. Uh thus far the conversation from Apex's side has been around the idea of

[9:34] a trail system in and around our proposed solar project. Apex does not

[9:39] develop nor construct trails. We have committed to working with our

[9:42] construction partner and if there are any areas that we can work together on

[9:47] this trail idea. Uh to that end, we have not committed to funding a trail. We

[9:52] have have a community grant program. We have done things of this nature

[9:56] previously, but we have not committed to fully funding a trail because we do not

[10:00] know what this trail is going to be. Is this an impervious surface? Is this a

[10:05] gravel trail? There are many things we do not understand yet. To our

[10:09] understanding, there's a letter of intent signed by the land owners, but

[10:12] there is no trail easements currently signed by the land owners. We do not

[10:16] hold trail easements inside of our solar ements. We legally do not have the

[10:21] ability to construct a trail on their property under our agreement that allows

[10:26] us to construct the solar facility. We have also not agreed to maintain the

[10:30] trail. Specifically, we are not interested in maintaining a trail

[10:34] because we do not do trail maintenance. We do not have the expertise in

[10:38] maintaining the trail and without understanding what exactly the trail is,

[10:42] we don't know what type of maintenance is required for a trail of that nature.

[10:46] So again, we are happy to participate in this conversation. We are happy to be a

[10:51] partner in this trail, but I just want to make that clear from Apex's

[10:54] standpoint. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you.

[11:00] » Hello, my name is Karly Haka and I am the director of the Eversol

[11:05] Environmental Education Center in Wayland. Um, and if you're not familiar

[11:08] with Eversol, it is a 238 acre property that's actually owned by the Lancing

[11:15] School District. It was donated um by the Olds family in the 60s and we've

[11:21] been bringing students to um Wayland at the Eversol Center for over 50 years

[11:27] providing environmental education, stewardship, and outdoor recreation. and

[11:32] I'm here in support of the trail idea as well as potential partners. Um, I have

[11:39] access to the students of the Lancing School District. We have over 6,000

[11:43] students come every year for field trips. Um, they do overnights. We do

[11:49] stewardship projects. So, we could support the force of maintaining the

[11:54] trail. Um, and then give students some real world job experience and

[11:59] stewardship experience. Um the proposed bike path has an additional significant

[12:05] benefit because it would potentially terminate at the Eversaw Center. Um

[12:11] for these students, many of whom come from an urban environment, the journey

[12:15] to Eversol represents an opportunity to experience forests, wetlands, prairies,

[12:20] waterways, and other natural environments that may not be readily

[12:23] accessible in their everyday lives. A lot of times I have students come to me

[12:28] from Lancing and it's their first time that they've ever taken a walk in the

[12:32] woods. I had a conversation with the high school student the other day. Um

[12:37] she said to me as I was explaining the different types of trees and their needs

[12:42] on our hike. She said, "I didn't know there were other kinds of trees. I

[12:46] thought a tree was just a tree." And she was in 10th grade.

[12:51] So this experience for these students is it can be lifechanging. We have students

[12:57] who come to the Eversol Center and then decide that they want to go into forest

[13:01] management. Um, so I see this trail as an opportunity for an extension of the

[13:07] outdoor classroom and also a bridge between rural communities and urban

[13:13] communities and an intersection between those two communities and an

[13:17] understanding can happen in that experience. Um,

[13:23] the path could become an extension of Eversol's outdoor classroom, and

[13:27] students could use it to study ecology and biodiversity by observing changes in

[13:31] habitats along the route, wersheds, and water quality by investigating streams,

[13:36] wetlands, drainage patterns, and runoff. Um, we're already working to explain

[13:42] what the impacts of the human impact and farming around our property. um and

[13:47] doing lots of ecological study and field study with those students, partnering

[13:50] with other universities. Um geology and glacial history through

[13:55] obser observations of the rural landscape. We've taken students to the

[13:59] Yankee Springs area to show them what a kettle lake is and the glacial impacts

[14:04] of that and then they have a realworld experience that they look at a textbook

[14:08] and they can put it together from their hike. Um, it's also really important for

[14:14] physical and mental wellness. Um, incorporating walking, biking, and

[14:19] outdoor movement into educational experiences and experiences for the

[14:23] community. Um, and like I said, environmental stewardship by observing,

[14:28] documenting, and caring for the landscape surrounding the trail. Um,

[14:32] Lansing School District already identifies Eversol as a place where

[14:35] students engage in environmental education, outdoor recreation, and

[14:38] stewardship. Its mission is to empower people to connect with nature through

[14:42] those experiences. A community bike path connecting directly to the center would

[14:47] strengthen that mission by creating another safe avenue for people to reach

[14:51] and experience the landscape. There is also an important equity argument. For

[14:56] many Lancing students, access to large natural areas requires transportation.

[15:01] Eversol exists specifically to help overcome that barrier by bringing

[15:05] students to a place where they can experience nature through hands-on

[15:08] learning. A safe pedestrian and bicycle connection would further expand access

[15:13] to this unique educational resource. The value of that access goes beyond science

[15:18] and education. Physical activity can reduce feelings of anxiety, improve

[15:23] sleep, support brain health, and reduce the risk of depression. Creating safe

[15:27] places for young people to walk, bike, explore, and spend time outdoors

[15:31] therefore supports both physical and health physical health and mental

[15:34] well-being. The proposed path could give students another way to experience what

[15:39] Eversol already strives to provide. A chance to step away from the classroom,

[15:43] move their bodies, connect with nature, challenge themselves, and experience a

[15:48] sense of discovery. The strongest vision for this project is

[15:52] not just simply a bike path that happens to end at Eversaw. It is a connection

[15:56] between the local community, Lancing students, outdoor recreation, education,

[16:00] and the natural landscape. Residents gain a safe place to walk and bike.

[16:04] Families gain a destination for outdoor recreation. Visitors gain another way to

[16:08] experience the area. And more than 6,000 Lancing students each year gain a

[16:12] potential extension of their outdoor classroom. The path can serve as a

[16:16] physical connection between two communities that might otherwise have

[16:19] little interaction. The rural communities surrounding Eversaw and the

[16:23] urban students traveling from Lancing to experience it. Building the path would

[16:27] therefore be an investment not only in transportation but in health, education,

[16:32] environmental literacy, youth development, and community connection.

[16:35] When a community builds infrastructure that helps people move, learn, connect,

[16:40] and spend time outdoors, it is investing in the kind of community where people

[16:44] can thrive. Thank you.

[16:50] » Anyone else? Public participation >> come out from behind.

[16:54] » Good morning. the giant poster. So, my name is Katherine Getty. I am a county

[16:59] commissioner from district 2 in uh Barry County. So, just across the county line,

[17:06] um my district includes part of Yankee Springs um and village of Mville and

[17:11] part of Thorn Township. So, that northwest quadrant, a quickly growing um

[17:16] area in the state um coming um development pressure from Grand Rapids.

[17:21] So, we are seeing a lot of population growth in the area in Yankee Springs.

[17:26] We're working um on a trail project along M179. If you can imagine where the

[17:32] McDonald's is um at Patterson and 179, we want to create a safe um pedestrian

[17:40] non-motorized trail from that corner to the state park um where we have a lot of

[17:45] visitors and it will allow access to our um business corridor. um in a lot of

[17:51] those residential areas. Um and when this opportunity when I heard about this

[17:56] opportunity um I I thought what a what a incredible um missing piece of the

[18:02] puzzle that we didn't know we were looking for. Um just Kitty Corner to

[18:07] McDonald's is where the trail head could possibly be for this project. So, um, a

[18:13] great opportunity for us to partner, um, between Alligan and Barry, um, serve a a

[18:20] real population center, um, provide access for Alligen County residents, um,

[18:27] to another, um, whole system of of trails. Um, and then, um, just to talk

[18:33] about trails for a minute, we we obviously we we're still working on what

[18:38] this trail system could look like. Is it paved? how wide does it um you know

[18:43] there's a lot of engineering and design that goes through but but for this

[18:47] project um we we have an unprecedented in in my experience of working on trails

[18:53] for over 25 years we have um the farmers the property owners that where the solar

[19:00] panels are going to be placed um I talked to Paul letting go last week he

[19:05] is very in favor of this in fact he said he he came up with this idea he

[19:10] suggested did trails as part of this solar project um from the beginning.

[19:15] It's unique in that it's not publicly owned, right? So, we have um a number of

[19:20] um property owners that have um leased their property for 30 years from this

[19:26] solar project, but they also see that there's a potential for this great

[19:31] community benefit um in our region. Um, we have lots of hiking trails in Yankee

[19:37] Springs, but we have very little areas that are safe for people with any kind

[19:43] of mobility device, um, strollers, anything, you know, that, um, where they

[19:49] need, um, a flat, um, solid surface of some kind. I'm not saying paved

[19:56] necessarily, but some kind of surface like like the Cal Haven has been able to

[20:00] develop um and is enjoyed by thousands and thousands of people. Uh so um

[20:07] obviously we have some some things to work out. Our biggest obstacle right now

[20:12] is to find a government entity that's willing to say we'll hold that easement.

[20:18] we'll we'll be willing to to enter into these conversations to say what will

[20:23] that look like? Um you obviously in Alagan County own public parks and

[20:30] public spaces. So, you know, you have that um that experience that those you

[20:37] know, insurance coverage. You know, I'm dealing with financial pressures in

[20:41] Barry County as well. Um, I understand that we all need to keep that at the

[20:47] forefront in our decision making, but we also need to think about what

[20:51] opportunities are there to make this a win-win situation where we um can take

[20:58] advantage of something that we didn't even know was coming. Um, this is it is

[21:03] fast-paced. Um, I applaud Eric Bane and his efforts um to really ambassador this

[21:11] project, but all we need is really a commitment to say we'll enter. Let's

[21:17] let's have some discussions. Let's see how we can make this a win-win without a

[21:21] huge financial obligation on behalf of Alagan County. How can we work with

[21:27] Apex, the property owners, Eversol Center, and some other partners? I mean,

[21:33] West Michigan Trails has has been a great partner to help us figure this

[21:37] out, but how can we work together to bring this resource um to Alagan County

[21:42] that that doesn't really have a lot of that kind of um access? So, thank you

[21:48] for your time. >> Thank you. Thank you.

[21:59] being hot live at 3381 2nd Street. This trail will go across one two sides of my

[22:07] property. And I'm also going to speak on behalf of my brother that's deaf because

[22:12] I didn't know this meeting was coming up till last week. I could demand you have

[22:17] an interpreter here for him, but it's not possible. So, I'm going to speak

[22:22] part on his behalf, too, because this trail goes around two sides of his

[22:26] property. I just took a rough number of say 100

[22:32] people use this trail a week. If you take that times 52 weeks, that's

[22:38] 5,200 people that would be walking beside my property,

[22:44] beside his property, and everybody else's.

[22:49] 5 years ups to 26,000. 10 years, 52,000.

[22:56] 20 years, 104,000. 30 30 years 156,000 people will have

[23:04] walked possibly past my property. I'm concerned not about necessarily the

[23:11] good people that use the trail. I'm concerned about the bottom quarter third

[23:18] and those people are going to be ones that are looking to rob

[23:24] possibly abduct kids along there. rapers,

[23:29] poachers, and possibly murderers. And the reason I'm bringing that up, my

[23:35] brother that's deaf is physically handicapped also. His house has been

[23:40] robbed three times in the last 40 years. The last one was as soon as 2020.

[23:50] I lived with him during first robbery. That's a hell of a feeling when you walk

[23:55] into your house and somebody's been in there stolen your stuff.

[24:00] It's not a good feeling. And it comes back every time he's been robbed.

[24:05] The second time they rob him, they come home, the dog's eyeball is hanging out

[24:11] of its head. These people don't care what they do to your house, your

[24:15] property, nothing else. My house has been robbed once.

[24:22] So, I've been a victim twice. He's been a victim three times.

[24:28] I'm not thrilled about all these people passing by my property. They trespass on

[24:33] it and get hurt, I get sued. Pretty soon, the insurance company's going to

[24:38] drop. They rob my house twice in two years, I could only make one claim

[24:44] because they'll drop me. So, that means I eat the expense of replacing my stuff.

[24:50] That's not fair to me or anybody else that lives on that trail.

[24:55] Not saying all these people are bad, but those kind of people are going to be out

[25:00] there and on the trail. And not one of these people here has said one thing

[25:04] about approaching the property owners that are beside it.

[25:13] Talk about insurance. Their answer is we'll put up a fence.

[25:17] There's no money tree growing in my yard. I can't afford to put up a eight

[25:22] 10 foot fence around my property because I'd have to go around all four sides.

[25:27] Otherwise, they're just going to walk around the corner.

[25:32] So now I got to put up probably an expensive camera system. That's more

[25:38] money out of my pocket. I'll have to pay it for my brother cuz he can't afford

[25:42] it.

[25:45] We're going to end up living in our homes in a cave because we're going to

[25:49] have to have our shades drawn, curtains pulled so that people aren't

[25:55] watching and looking into our houses to see what's in there.

[26:01] That doesn't please me at all. I don't care to be out in my yard having people

[26:06] stare at me while they walk. I don't have any idea what their intentions are.

[26:14] I can't even sit in my yard without them watching me.

[26:19] My dogs going to be barking at these people.

[26:23] Their dogs are loose while they're walking. They take a dump in my yard and

[26:27] I got to put up no trespassing signs. They going to come clean it up? Maybe,

[26:32] maybe not. But if I leave tools out there, I'll bet they grow legs and

[26:37] disappear. It's going to make it hard to sell my

[26:42] property. cuz I'm not going to live out there

[26:45] forever.

[26:48] So, let's say I get a realer. They drive in the driveway. Oh, didn't

[26:55] tell me there was a solar farm there. Why does these people have all these

[26:59] cameras up? Is this a high crime area? No, there's a walking trail there.

[27:05] » Anybody in their right mind? >> You're close to your fiveminute limit if

[27:08] you wrap it up in 30 seconds, maybe. Please.

[27:12] So, I'm just looking. It's all negative for the people that live there. I want

[27:17] to know if this easement's going to be paved. We can't even get our road

[27:22] kept up. And how are you going to make your

[27:25] decision? How's it going to be made public? How do I find out? Cuz I would

[27:30] appreciate you turn this down because all it's doing is going to cost

[27:36] me money and I'm scared to death of all those people that are going to be

[27:40] walking by. And not one of these people have

[27:43] addressed that. Thank you.

[27:58] » Good morning. >> My name is Benjamin Atski. Right now I'm

[28:03] living on the Jackson farm at 3480 Patterson which is right here. The

[28:09] original trail that was proposed by Apex, who didn't really know what they

[28:14] were looking at, had their trail going right through the center of our

[28:17] property, which luckily they decided not to do because we told them not to.

[28:23] But I appreciate that the gentleman from

[28:26] Apex was here to say, you know, we don't approve of this. Well, they do approve

[28:31] of it, but you know, but they did say that they want they

[28:37] they approve of the idea, and I think that's partially in support because they

[28:41] have to butter up their popular solar panel farm here. Um, I wasn't sure if

[28:48] the lady from the upper saw center knew that Jackson Lake is called Jackson.

[28:55] That's the reason you have it. I'm pretty sure

[29:00] there

[29:07] » you're welcome. There are plenty of trails in Barry

[29:11] County right next door for people to use non-motorized

[29:17] and for flat trails for wheelchairs and things. Those trails can be developed.

[29:21] There's plenty of already off-roading trails through there that could be

[29:26] developed. And just to support Jean's point,

[29:31] » Benjamin, if you would just uh address the board of commissioners, not people.

[29:37] » All right. To support Jean's point, I've been a paramedic for 25 years all across

[29:42] central Michigan from Detroit to Holland. And I can tell you that these

[29:46] trails,

[29:51] they're highways for the homeless and the mentally ill to get from place to

[29:56] place. They camp out there. When you're on the trails using the trails, it's

[30:01] surrounded by trash, which is running up against Je's property and everybody

[30:04] else's property. And just yesterday, I picked up a paranoid psychotic who had

[30:11] been camping out on the trails down by Martin.

[30:17] And those are the people that we want walking Eugene's property

[30:24] or around these people. I don't even know these people. I don't want them to

[30:28] have paranoid psychotics and homeless people and trash on their property. They

[30:34] didn't move out here to the country to live around trash.

[30:39] Speaking of obviously that's all I have to say. Thank you.

[30:48] Anyone else at this time would like to address the board of commissioners?

[30:58] Morning.

[31:14] » Good morning, commissioners. My name is Melissa Brower and I'm the chair of the

[31:19] Alagan County Tourism Council. And I'd like to briefly share the experience

[31:24] that we just had this year creating the Taste of Alagan County postcard program

[31:30] and kind of like how that went. So it was um you can see I'm passing out

[31:36] flyers right now from April to the end of July. And at our last meeting last

[31:41] month, we had received 11 postcards. Two were dropped off at the county building

[31:46] and nine were mailed in. And some of the feedback that we got was super

[31:51] meaningful to the council with all the work and effort that we put into it that

[31:57] um I just a couple I want to share with you guys. I met a mother who said that

[32:03] taste of Alagen County postcard promotion really made an impact on her

[32:07] and her son's relationship as he would call her and say, "Hey mom, you want to

[32:11] go to a restaurant?" And they would go and they would collect stamps. And so

[32:15] she just was thanking me and the council for doing this promotion that actually

[32:20] improved her and her son's relationship during the summer. Another person who

[32:25] received a $25 gift card in the drawing that we had, she said that she had never

[32:31] been to the restaurant, the one that she won the post the gift card for. And she

[32:36] was excited to go pick it up, try the food, and then visit an attraction in

[32:40] the area which she had never been. So that was kind of a cool experience.

[32:45] And then also other participating restaurants were excited for the

[32:49] opportunity to have visibility with the postcard promotion program. Also I

[32:55] wanted to talk about looking ahead. So next year the tourism council is

[33:01] planning on doing another postcard promotion. We're going to do five uh

[33:05] restaurants and five wineries and breweries. So that way there's drinks

[33:08] and food and people can pick which five they want to go to. Send it in. Same as

[33:13] this year. But then looking forward into our five-year plan that we have um in

[33:18] 2028, we're looking at bringing in ice cream shops and coffee shops in Alagan

[33:24] County to just help get people moving around the county. Also, looking

[33:30] forward, the tourism council has a 10 $10,000 budget and we would like to make

[33:35] sure that the council has clear oversight of how those funds are spent.

[33:40] We want to inform we want to be informed of and have the opportunity to approve

[33:45] any spending from our tourism budget. We would also like clarification regarding

[33:50] the heritage trail which was originally started by the tourism council so there

[33:55] is clear understanding and responsibility and funding. Finally, we

[34:00] would like to have a conversation about whether the tourism council is currently

[34:04] housed in the best place within the county structure to accomplish our

[34:09] mission. Uh we would like to strengthen the tourism council and work together to

[34:13] promote Alagan County and its businesses. Alagen County has so much to

[34:17] offer and we believe there is a tremendous opportunity to bring more

[34:20] attention, visitors, and economic activity to our communities. We would

[34:25] appreciate the opportunity to work with the commissioners to clarify our budget,

[34:30] review our proposed bylaw changes, and discuss how we can best structure the

[34:35] tourism council moving forward. And we'll be working on updating our bylaws,

[34:39] and we will be presenting that to you in the near future. So, thank you for your

[34:43] time and for support of tourism in Alen County.

[34:47] » Thank you. Anyone

[34:52] else in the boardroom at this time that would like to address the board of

[34:55] commissioners? Seeing none, Mr. Sedor, is anyone online

[35:01] seeking recognition at this time? >> Not that seeking recognition, Mr. Chair.

[35:07] » Thank you, >> Mr. Chair.

[35:10] » We'll post public participation. Um, next is additional agenda items. Oh,

[35:15] excuse me, Mr. Administrator. >> Yes. I just want um just wonder if it

[35:20] would be appropriate to just we had a lot of people talk just to provide the

[35:25] the status so that there's no ongoing expectations or or whatnot regarding the

[35:31] the topic of the trail. >> I don't understand your question. What

[35:36] are you what is your out? >> Well, I just I I think there's a lot of

[35:40] there could be presumption that there's an action forthcoming from the board and

[35:44] uh I don't want to enter into the topic of discussion itself, but I do want to

[35:48] clarify. >> Well, we are at additional agenda items

[35:50] and I guess if nobody puts it on the agenda, it's not going to be taken up

[35:54] today. >> And that's that's basically what I

[35:56] wanted to echo other than the fact that there was a response formally from the

[35:59] county that said we're not going to be taking it up at this time. So I just

[36:03] wanted to echo I just wanted to reiterate that and that unless there's a

[36:07] different direction from the board no further action should be expected. Thank

[36:10] you Mr. P. >> Yeah I So

[36:15] uh any additional agenda items?

[36:22] Seeing none that brings us down to approval of the agenda as presented.

[36:26] Is [clears throat] there a motion? Commissioner Benique.

[36:28] » Thank you Mr. Chair. I make a motion to approve the agenda as presented.

[36:33] Have a motion by Commissioner Benvik to approve agenda. Second by Commissioner

[36:36] Dugan. Any discussion?

[36:42] Seeing none, all those in favor of the agenda as presented, please say yes.

[36:46] » Yes. >> Opposed.

[36:49] We have an agenda.

[36:53] Presentations this morning. We have an informal session by prosecute attorney

[36:58] Mr. Far. Good morning. >> Good morning.

[37:06] I am Michael Lar. I'm prosecutor. I live in Alligan 128 Hill Street in Alagan.

[37:11] So, I've been a 30 35 year resident of the city of Alagan.

[37:17] I appreciate [clears throat] the time you guys take it to read the annual

[37:21] report. I assume you guys all received it. Did you all receive it?

[37:25] » Okay. Um, I would note that last year was

[37:29] difficult to do an annual report because I was reporting on things that I didn't

[37:33] do. It was all the stuff that my predecessor had done because it was for

[37:37] 2024 and I started in 2025. This year I am uh pleased to present the annual

[37:44] report and pleased to let you guys know what has been happening uh since I took

[37:48] office. Um,

[37:52] it's interesting. I I wanted to share a story with you. I've shared it with

[37:56] Commissioner Dugan and Commissioner Lovers uh about an experience I had at

[38:00] the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan just a week and a half ago, two

[38:04] weeks ago. I I was seated at a table with two prosecutors that were in

[38:09] counties that had five and six prosecuting attorneys. So, they were

[38:12] smaller than us. And in listening to them over dinner, they uh were bemoning

[38:18] their fate and how they had uh a situation with their commissioners where

[38:22] they were having difficulty getting funding for anything. In fact, one of

[38:26] them said that we can't get any payraises. We can't get any spec any

[38:30] additional uh people and they cut the funding for our jail. And he went on to

[38:35] say that they had given that same board of commissioners had given each inmate

[38:39] in the county jail a tablet for them to use. uh all day long. And then one day

[38:46] the internet went out for two hours and half the half of the inmates broke their

[38:51] tablets and some of them actually tried to flush them down the toilets and

[38:55] within two weeks all the inmates had tablets again. So So they were they were

[39:01] very distressed about their relationship with their board of commissioners. And I

[39:05] have to say before I do anything else that I appreciate that we have a board

[39:09] of commissioners that is pro law enforcement and and is concerned about

[39:13] the sheriff's department and the local police agencies and the prosecutor's

[39:17] office. I do appreciate that. So I want to thank you for that just before we say

[39:21] anything else. And uh and I do feel that that as a board you guys have been very

[39:27] supportive of law enforcement. When I started in January of 2025, I

[39:32] came into an office that had uh they had bought the Carpell system or or signed

[39:37] on to it. I guess we got it free for certain number of years and we have to

[39:41] start paying for it in 2027. But Carpell is a paperless system where

[39:47] you don't have paper files. But when I got there, there was h they were doing

[39:52] half carpel and half paper. So they were maintaining both. And even when I got

[39:57] there, uh, we were paying, uh, each of the legal secretaries, legal

[40:03] specialists, a time and a half for at least four hours a week, each one of

[40:07] them, because they were so far behind on maintaining both the Carpel paperless

[40:12] system and the paper system they were using. And you'll see that in the in the

[40:17] report that I did, I we had pictures of the files that were laying everywhere.

[40:20] And if you had OCD at all, those pictures would would make you drive you

[40:24] crazy. and and they were driving me crazy because when when we first

[40:28] started, if you needed a file, sometimes it would take 30 minutes for people to

[40:32] find the file. Then when you get the file, you you look at it and there's

[40:36] handwritten notes. And the handwritten notes are are supposed to be in uh

[40:40] chronological order, but they weren't always in chronological order. There

[40:44] might be things in the corner and not only that, some of the people uh their

[40:49] handwriting was illeible. So you really you picked up a file and you could you

[40:53] did not know what was going on and it was difficult to find. And then if you

[40:58] look at the files themselves, they would have seven or eight different kind types

[41:03] of handwrite, which means that seven or eight different attorneys had touched

[41:07] that file. And every time someone has to take go to court with that file, they

[41:11] would have to try to to discern from the filing of the paperwork what was going

[41:16] on and where that case was, which was which made it very inefficient. So the

[41:22] first thing that we did is within six weeks of getting there, we said we're

[41:25] going to go through the carpel paperless system completely pull off the bandage

[41:30] and it's it's going to hurt for a while. I'm glad to say now that the carol

[41:34] system is working tremendously well and all the the paperwork all the paper that

[41:39] was everywhere is all gone. Our offices are neat. All the notes are typewritten

[41:43] so you don't have any problem understanding what somebody else said.

[41:47] So that that was one of the things that really improved our efficiency. The

[41:52] other thing is when we got there, um, we talked to the legal specialists and and

[41:57] the office and what they informed us of is that one of the big problems was

[42:01] there was not a receptionist. There was not a person to answer phones and so

[42:05] every day each of the legal specialists would have to take turns and answering

[42:08] the phones and they were already doing four hours of overtime each each week

[42:14] each of them. So we asked uh what we did is we gave up an APA one position. We

[42:20] had a an open APA1 position when we started uh that had been unfilled, but

[42:26] it was there for us to fill. And what had been happening is we used the money

[42:31] that was going to fund that APA1 position to fund the overtime for the

[42:35] legal legal specialists. So that was what was going on at that time. We

[42:40] looked at the situation. We said, if we're going to do Carpel, what happens

[42:44] every time we get a piece of paper, we have to scan it. There was one scanner

[42:48] in the office and the scanner was in the corner. So every time someone had to

[42:53] take the something that they had to scan, they had to get up off their desk,

[42:56] walk to the scanner, hopefully there would be no one else there. Hopefully

[43:01] there wouldn't be a 400page document printing, scan it, get back to their

[43:05] desk, and then do whatever they're going to do. And that's multiplied by all 10

[43:10] legal, you know, eight legal assistants. So we

[43:14] would took the u initiative and got small scanners for each station. So now

[43:21] the scan they get something at their desk they scan it right there. So again

[43:25] it was it made things more efficient. And with the carpel system I'm pleased

[43:29] to say that when we got there when I got there there was about a year and a half

[43:33] to twoyear backlog of cases that were waiting around just sitting around. And

[43:39] now the backlog is gone. So we have cut the entire backlog and so and and that's

[43:45] important in that there's a couple things why that is important. The

[43:48] backlog also caused problems with this the civil cases not just criminal cases

[43:54] because when there's a divorce case and there's a criminal case set at the same

[43:58] time because courts set lots of cases at the same time the criminal case always

[44:02] takes precedence. So when I was in private practice,

[44:06] divorce cases were taking two years to get to trial because there were so many

[44:10] criminal cases and your divorce case kept getting adjourned and adjourned and

[44:14] adjourned and adjourned. And now that is not happening. So the that not only have

[44:20] we resolved some of the criminal backlog, it's also resolving the civil

[44:24] case backlog. And in in the interior of the report, you'll

[44:29] see that we conducted I think 12 or 13 trials last year in circuit court. Uh in

[44:36] the previous two years to when when I came in, there have been 36 criminal

[44:40] trials and 24 criminal trials in the previous two years. Uh Chris Dulac gave

[44:46] keeps track of the you know how many trials there are. and he had informed me

[44:49] that historically there are 13 12 to 13 uh civil circuit court trials, criminal

[44:55] trials each year. We are back to that traditional you like the the number that

[45:00] normally happens. And I would also I wanted to point out that that that saves

[45:06] the county money. If you have 36 criminal trials, you have to call in

[45:09] juries, you have to pay the jurors, you have to pay the judges, the secretary,

[45:12] everyone involved with that. So, uh, I do want to to to

[45:17] and I guess part of it is for me to let you guys know that I'm serious about

[45:21] cutting costs for the county and and and doing things that are reasonable. I'm

[45:26] not one of those guys who say, "I'm going to ask for new positions each year

[45:30] simply because that's the budget game that people play. We don't need a

[45:33] position. I'm not going to ask for it." And uh and I do appreciate last year

[45:37] that you guys gave us a a new investigator position because bodywn

[45:42] camera has been the bane of our existence because our our district court

[45:46] judges will not let a preliminary exam happen unless all the body warn camera

[45:50] has been turned over. And Commissioner Belman got to talk to Chris and uh

[45:55] and he explained to Commissioner Belman the problem that we have is in in a case

[46:00] that has four or five attorneys or four or five police officers, they all have

[46:04] an hour or an hour and a half of bodywn camera and all of that has to be looked

[46:09] at and all the lean information which it protects individuals. You have to take

[46:14] that out and remove it. So, we were tremendously that that was the biggest

[46:18] problem that we had at trying to get caught up and by virtue of the fact that

[46:22] you guys approved that position, we are now we're not caught up yet, but we're

[46:26] closer to being caught up and the delay is a lot less. So, so that's part of why

[46:30] I'm saying that we we asked for things that I think are going to help us be

[46:34] more efficient and resolve cases. Now the other thing that I noticed that when

[46:39] we started is that

[46:43] we

[46:47] we had so many young attorneys. We had a lot of

[46:52] really young attorneys and when I came into the office we had let three people

[46:58] we didn't renew their contracts. So we brought in three people. We brought in

[47:02] the district court administrator Jessica who had phenomenal legal uh experience.

[47:08] We brought in John Blair who is the probate court registar. Both of them had

[47:13] been pre prosecutors previously and then I brought in Holly Verie who had 30

[47:18] years of experience uh in family law. So we brought in probably right at the

[47:24] start 50 or 60 years of experience. I had 31 years of experience at that time.

[47:29] And then ultimately we brought in Dan Norbeck who had used he used to be an

[47:33] Alagu County prosecutor. He was the district court magistrate and he's come

[47:37] back. So we have we have brought in um a lot of mature attorneys and in the in

[47:43] the attrition part of my report we have lost four attorneys and the four

[47:49] attorneys we lost one had five years of experience. The other three had about

[47:54] one to one and a half years of experience. So those four leaving was

[47:58] about 9 years of combined experience. Well, the people that we brought in

[48:02] would be Dan Norbec who had 15 to 20 years. Then we brought in Don uh Welkkey

[48:07] who is from Chicago and she has 25 plus years of experience. So we have replaced

[48:12] those people with with mature uh and experienced attorneys. And so what that

[48:16] has done in our office is created a really good mix of of young attorneys

[48:21] and experienced attorneys. And now we're using that mix to train the younger

[48:26] attorneys to become more and more proficient. So it's it's a really good

[48:30] system. It's a really good setup right now. I'm very pleased with it. Um I you

[48:35] know, one of the things I mentioned or I I thought about mentioning is that when

[48:39] we lose the younger attorneys, we've lost them bit typically to two two

[48:44] respects. They they get closer to home because a lot of them are from Grand

[48:47] Rapids and they get paid a little bit more. Now, I don't know how much that

[48:51] really has an impact on how they're paid because we've been able to get new

[48:56] attorneys in that are really good. So, I'm I'm not sure that that's a a great

[49:01] argument for raising the pay of the attorneys. Um, but it is one of the

[49:06] things that come up comes up when we lose someone is they say, "I'm getting

[49:10] paid a little more." Uh, what we've combed that with is we have a a really

[49:16] forwardthinking system of CarPel. We have a good office mix. We have really

[49:21] good uh attorneys. And so that I think that's been drawing people in. We just

[49:25] hired uh starting next week a young woman who was a brand new basically a

[49:30] brand new attorney and she's going to be put in charge of the district court. And

[49:34] uh so so our staffing is is really good. And so

[49:41] with that, I also want to tell you that um one of the things that we did to uh

[49:46] we immediately did was to create a docket assignment system for the

[49:50] attorneys. And that happened in 2025 right when we started. We said there's

[49:55] going to be two attorneys with Judge Ankovak, two attorneys assigned to Judge

[49:59] Jip, one attorney assigned to Judge Scotches, one attorney assigned to Judge

[50:03] Bernett, two attorneys assigned to Judge Clearwater in family court, one attorney

[50:08] who did preliminary exams, and one attorney who did pallet work and

[50:12] supervised the district court attorneys. Um, with that, what that did is it

[50:17] streamlined the functioning of our our office. No longer did seven or eight

[50:21] attorneys touch a file. when that file gets to someone, that's their file. When

[50:26] so if you get a circuit court case, that is your case forever and hour. So what

[50:30] was happening before is somebody would get a a circuit court pre-trial motion.

[50:34] They'd have to pick find the paper file, try to understand what was going on, had

[50:39] to read it, and then try to do a motion, and they wouldn't know. They wouldn't

[50:43] know the case. They wouldn't know what to do. They wouldn't know what

[50:45] appropriate resolution was. And they had limited discretion to to resolve it

[50:49] anyway. And now what is happening is the people that get those files, they know

[50:54] their cases. They know their cases. They they and defense attorneys know who to

[50:59] call to try to resolve things. And because they know their cases, they we

[51:04] are getting more appropriate resolutions on on criminal cases. Our plea bargains

[51:09] have actually gotten better for us in terms of of uh better resolutions. And

[51:14] when I say better, it means people that go to jail, they people that need to go

[51:17] to jail are going to jail. people that need to have these convictions on their

[51:20] record are getting convictions. But part of that is because we changed how we did

[51:25] the business of of taking on cases. So our our attorneys are are more involved

[51:31] in their own cases and they are able to get better resolutions because they know

[51:36] the case. So an attorney another defense attorney isn't going to say, "Oh, well,

[51:39] you have a weakness here and you have this and that and therefore you should

[51:42] give us a better deal." Our attorneys can say, "Nah, that's not true because

[51:45] look at this and this and this and this." So I've seen that uh over time

[51:50] our our resolutions are getting better and better and better and it's partly

[51:54] because we just changed the way we did business. It's not a huge management I'm

[51:59] not a management genius but it that part made a huge difference in how we resolve

[52:04] cases. So that part is is is running fabulously well.

[52:22] Oh, and I did want to mention that with Carpel, I think starting in 27, we we

[52:27] were signed on to Carpel before I got here. So, I mean, we agreed to do the

[52:31] Carpel system and we got it free for a number of years. Starting in 27, I think

[52:35] it's 15 or $17,000 a year. So, I want to make sure you guys knew that. Um, now I

[52:41] would say this as an offset to that, we have the Carpel system has allowed us to

[52:47] eliminate much of our paper supplies that we had to get before because every

[52:52] one of those cases had a pretty expensive uh paper folder that had five

[52:58] different sections and you had and each one of them cost a fair amount of money.

[53:01] And so we have cut down the number of expense maybe by about $10,000 just from

[53:07] not having to buy the paper files every every for every case.

[53:12] Um and interestingly Carpel does not have a

[53:16] probate u module. So our probate court is still on paper but that's because

[53:22] there's no alternative and Carpel says they're going to be working on a probate

[53:26] module but so far they have. So, we do have a tiny portion of our office that

[53:30] still has paper files. So, and what I've done there is made sure that they know

[53:34] how to write legitly because uh the the other uh paper files were pretty bad.

[53:40] So, these are better.

[53:47] Um the other thing that I thought I'd mention too is when we got when we when

[53:51] I was elected and before I came into office, we met with Mr. the door to talk

[53:56] about the office plans. And uh Jessica Wimi is my chief assistant and and I and

[54:04] Steve sat down and he showed us the the plans that had been initially approved.

[54:08] And those plans called for 21 attorney offices. And I was told that that that

[54:15] was the 10-year plan that that we wanted to have enough space for 10 21 attorneys

[54:20] at 10 years. Now, we have 11 attorneys right now. And uh and so when I saw that

[54:26] plan, all the attorneys were in a cubicle in cubicles, 16 attorneys on the

[54:31] first floor in cubicles that basically had a front desk, a desk, a credenza,

[54:35] and a chair and a door. They're very small offices.

[54:39] And I I did inform uh Mr. Sedora that I think that if we had

[54:46] more than 14 attorneys in 10 years, I would be disappointed because I thought

[54:52] that we could do better and not have to have because I asked him, I said, "Are

[54:56] are we going to double if we're going to double the attorney staff for

[54:59] prosecutors? Are we going to double the number of district courts and the number

[55:02] of circuit courts, the number of circuit court staff, the number of district

[55:05] court staff? Is that what we're going to double? we're going to have to build

[55:08] another building because 21 attorneys, prosecuting attorneys, what what would

[55:13] we do with them? They'd have to be doing cases. And so, so I asked Mr. Sedor to

[55:19] redesign that. And he came up with, I think, just an amazing design. I think

[55:23] our space is beautiful. Uh, and anybody who's been there, I know Commissioner

[55:28] Van Beink and Commissioner Belman have been there and Commissioner Dugan have

[55:32] seen it. It's it's a beautiful space. Yes.

[55:34] » Excuse me, Commissioner Lovers. I believe it was a comment or a question.

[55:36] Thank you, Mr. I'm sorry. >> Um,

[55:39] » given the addition of the extra circuit court, do you have any issues keeping up

[55:44] with the trials and the pre-trial and arraignments and everything with an

[55:47] extra courtroom? >> Yeah, if you remember, I came here and I

[55:50] complained about that saying we might need another spot if all three circuit

[55:54] courts are doing a full criminal docket. And so the circuit court has

[55:59] accommodated us and judge judge Baker is no longer having a full circuit court

[56:05] criminal docket. So her criminal cases are down to three or four a lot. So she

[56:09] was doing what she had and and then occasionally she'll have like a

[56:14] probation violation from one of her cases. So they have they have

[56:17] accommodated us and we did not need anybody else because her numbers were so

[56:21] low that we are able to uh work those in with the attorneys that are dealing with

[56:26] Judge Jip and Judge Kovac. So yeah, so that that resolved us up.

[56:30] » Thank you. And one of the so so with the the the

[56:36] terms of the 21 21 attorneys over 10 years our goal is to we hopefully have

[56:41] less than 13. We haven't we haven't asked for a new attorney for those

[56:46] unless conditionally the well Judge uh Baker but right now we are fully

[56:51] staffed. We're we're happy with the amount of staffing that we have for

[56:55] attorneys. So uh I don't see I don't see a need. We're not busting at the seams.

[57:00] We're not going to be saying, "Oh my gosh, we need two more attorneys next

[57:03] year." As long as things are consistent with what's happened. Now, this is not

[57:08] necessarily 2025, but this year, there's a big change coming. uh Commissioner Van

[57:12] Beek and and uh Administrator Sorrow were with me as we met with Holland uh

[57:19] the in Ottawa County and for 50 years Ottawa County has been doing Alligant

[57:24] County cases because there's three precincts in Holland City that are

[57:28] actually in Alagan County and for the last 50 years Ottawa County has been

[57:34] doing that. uh we met with them to try to to resolve things because we had a

[57:39] contract that was signed just before I came into office and within a year they

[57:44] had asked to re renegotiate that contract. It substantially raised the

[57:48] price that would pay for their services to do that. Uh, in addition, there was a

[57:54] a store owner in Holland that uh was in the Alag County section and somebody had

[57:59] walked out with $2,000 worth of Yeti coolers from their store and Ottawa

[58:04] County had had declined to prosecute that case even

[58:08] though that person was picked out of a lineup

[58:12] and but the guy who picked her her out of lineup said, "I'm only 40% sure."

[58:17] Now, there was also cameras that showed her car in Holland. So, so they

[58:22] complained to Ottawa, but then they complained to us because it's our

[58:25] jurisdiction. And uh so every before every year I have to go to Ottawa County

[58:32] and swear in all of their assistant prosecutors to work in Alagen County. So

[58:37] I assume that they have some obligation to me. [clears throat] So when we called

[58:42] them and said, "Hey, we want you to re recharge that. Don't don't dismiss that

[58:47] because we think it's a good case. And I was informed in no uncertain terms that

[58:51] they were not going to do that. If they wanted to do it, we'd have to do it

[58:53] ourselves. But we did. And the woman waved her preliminary exam, plead

[58:58] guilty. Now the store owner has restitution and the person that was with

[59:03] her has also got a a warrant out for his arrest. Uh and so I give you that as a

[59:08] background. Then we started meeting with uh the Ottawa County uh prosecutor and

[59:13] everyone in Ottawa County, the Holland city people.

[59:17] The long and short of it is they terminated the uh contract, gave us

[59:22] 90-day notice, and as of October 1st of this year, we're going to be doing the

[59:26] Ottawa the Alligant County portion of Holland City. So, our office is going to

[59:30] take that over. And we don't know at this point how much that entails. Even

[59:34] though they send us bills, there's no way for us to know how many cases they

[59:38] have. We don't we don't know. So, right now, we're planning on trying to do it.

[59:42] See how what what the workflow is and and how much time it actually takes.

[59:48] Holland is a little different than us because our courts have pre-trials on

[59:52] for Judge Scout on one day, pre-trials for Judge uh Bernett on another day. So,

[59:57] we're structured. We have trials on this day. If you go to Ottawa County, it's

[1:00:01] it's chaotic. you could have a probable cause conference on Monday, Tuesday, was

[1:00:05] it Thursday or Friday in the morning, in the afternoon. So, we've asked we met

[1:00:10] with Judge uh Bunts, who's this their chief judge, and we asked him to if they

[1:00:14] could do that, and he said no. He said no.

[1:00:17] » Excuse me. Yeah, back back to those three precincts uh in in the city of

[1:00:22] Harlem, but within Alagen County, >> they they when I say they, the Ottawa

[1:00:26] County courts or prosecutor's office can't give you a an average number of

[1:00:31] cases that come from that area. >> They cannot we've asked.

[1:00:35] » Is that unusual? >> Yes. See, they they just started on

[1:00:39] Carpel, so I don't know what they were doing before, but whenever we try to get

[1:00:43] they send us bills. They sent us bills and we can try to to res, you know, but

[1:00:48] we don't know. >> I wonder what those were based on.

[1:00:50] » I don't I do not know. They had to have some kind of tracking, but if you ask

[1:00:53] them, can you pull you go to the district court and say, can you pull up

[1:00:56] all the Allen County Holland cases? And they say no. And so then we say, well,

[1:01:00] how are you going to do it now? And so they're they're changing the case

[1:01:04] numbers. They're going to change it. put AL or AC or something on that to to jud

[1:01:10] to say these are algen county cases because they haven't really cared about

[1:01:14] where they are as long as they're in the city of Holland.

[1:01:17] So, we also met with the the Holland detectives and Holland Police Department

[1:01:22] and the the the the police chief there, Matt Messer, has

[1:01:27] agreed to give us an office space there because we asked Ottawa County, can we

[1:01:32] have space, just a room in your building so that when we're there, we have some

[1:01:36] place to go and they said no. So Matt Messer has agreed to give us a room that

[1:01:42] in the in the police department. So we will have a place to print uh you know

[1:01:48] warrants and everything that we have. So that's coming. Um we don't know exactly

[1:01:52] if we're going to need uh a person up there or a half a person or spot. I

[1:01:57] don't know. We're it's too early to tell how much is really happening there. But

[1:02:02] I wanted you guys to be aware of that because we're we're going to be saving

[1:02:06] however much we spent on Ottawa County. But again, we don't really know if what

[1:02:12] we're spending on Ottawa County is a real number based on real cases or not.

[1:02:17] So, we'll find out as we go along. And then

[1:02:22] other than that, I think that's about it unless anybody has uh any questions for

[1:02:28] because I'd be glad to answer those. Commissioner Benique. Thank you.

[1:02:33] » Sure. Yeah, [clears throat] we were in that meeting and I I do didn't like how

[1:02:38] that we had no say or you didn't specifically on what was prosecuted. I

[1:02:45] didn't care for that. And so I know that the contract's been there a long time

[1:02:49] and I think it's it's probably a good it's probably good to kind of move away

[1:02:52] from that. I'm curious to see how we end up doing that because from our

[1:02:56] conversations, if I'm correct, we do a little bit more online than they do.

[1:03:02] Correct. So, we were kind of hoping they would switch up some of that, but we

[1:03:06] have to we're going to have to have someone there in person. That's correct.

[1:03:10] » Yes. They don't do as much Zoom as we do. The biggest issue that we had is on

[1:03:15] their warrants. They do weekend warrants and they have for years made the

[1:03:21] prosecutors show up at the Fillmore complex where the judges are, where the

[1:03:26] detectives are and the and the prosecutors were actually typing the

[1:03:30] warrants and we were afraid that they were going to make us do that because

[1:03:33] that would be a huge ask for us to have to drive to Filillmore to be there at

[1:03:37] 8:00. And so when we talked to to Chief Judge Bunts, he agreed that we could do

[1:03:44] our warrants on Zoom and email them to the Ottawa or the Holland Police

[1:03:49] Department and Holland Police Department would swear the warrants out in front of

[1:03:52] the judge. So we dodge a bullet by not having to do that. They let us do that

[1:03:56] remotely. But in terms of uh pre-trials, uh even in Alligant, I mean, we're in

[1:04:02] the building and we do Zoom pre-trials because the judges like them better, but

[1:04:05] Ottawa County is not like that. So, we'll have to have a person there. The

[1:04:08] other thing I would say is that I um it may not be as bad as I had originally

[1:04:13] feared because Holland has a city uh a city prosecutor that works for

[1:04:19] Cunningham Dolman and they prosecute most of their uh tickets, most their

[1:04:24] drunk driving first offenses. A lot of the things are city ordinances and if

[1:04:28] the if the person is charged with a violation of city ordinance, the the

[1:04:32] Holland uh prosecutor takes care of that. So, a lot of the stuff like

[1:04:36] traffic tickets and things like that, I don't I think we're going to avoid. So,

[1:04:40] hopefully we won't have as much as I was worried about.

[1:04:44] » A followup, Commissioner Vindic. Thank you. Uh yeah, and so I'm curious to see

[1:04:49] kind of how that plays out and we don't know and we I've asked those questions

[1:04:53] as you asked, chair, uh you know, how many cases

[1:04:58] then that's hard to plan for. So I think we have to give you some latitude inside

[1:05:01] of that because we don't know exactly what we're going to have to do there and

[1:05:06] the timewise spent. But what I wanted to ask was beyond that is in your goals. So

[1:05:11] workforce stabilization and retention uh you know it talks about in here

[1:05:17] » um and you talked about as well the the uh experience that you've brought in the

[1:05:23] collaboration and trying to train new attorneys. Yeah.

[1:05:26] » Like Mr. would you just touch on what that what is that going to look like?

[1:05:30] like how are you going to is it just collaboration on cases like what are

[1:05:34] those newer attorneys how are they going to soak up some of that older attorney

[1:05:38] more you know some of that more experience they've had what are you how

[1:05:42] are you going to blend that so what we do is John Blair is our appellet

[1:05:46] attorney but he is also in charge of the district court attorneys so he's working

[1:05:49] with them on a weekly basis and talking about uh district court order is very

[1:05:53] fast-paced so there's a lot of things that have to happen quickly they've been

[1:05:58] working with uh Mr. Mr. Blair uh on like at uh pre for pre-trials and for

[1:06:04] settlement conferences for trial preparation, they have John as their

[1:06:10] first go-to, but if they develop relationships with other attorneys, we

[1:06:15] we encourage them to go to those attorneys as well. Dan Norbec is a very

[1:06:19] good resource because he's a district court magistrate. He was and so he helps

[1:06:23] occasionally. Also, the new attorneys, we have Nick Rad, who's a brand new

[1:06:28] attorney, and we have um a new attorney that's starting next week, and she's

[1:06:32] going to be in the district court. So, the newer attorneys typically are in

[1:06:36] district court until they get enough experience where they can move up. They

[1:06:40] all we also as they're once they get a little acclimated to district court then

[1:06:45] we start taking them and making them do preliminary exams which are felonies and

[1:06:49] you have to prove probable cause in the in district court but it's for higher

[1:06:53] charges and more serious charges. So we usually pair them with somebody and they

[1:06:58] will start doing the felony cases as well. So we have a collaborative we try

[1:07:02] to create a collaborative atmosphere where they can go to any attorney in in

[1:07:07] the office and say hey I need help. this is this is above my pay grade and I I

[1:07:11] don't understand it. And so far that that that's been working pretty well.

[1:07:15] We've had we've moved two of our attorneys that are in circuit court are

[1:07:18] still relatively young, but we have a lead attorney in each courtroom. So that

[1:07:23] lead attorney is in charge of the the the younger attorney and so they

[1:07:28] collaborate and work together. So that person initially like Katie Hora um

[1:07:33] Michael will go to Katie Hora and say hey I I've got this issue and so and

[1:07:37] then if Katie can't answer we have a lot of other people that will work. So it's

[1:07:41] a trying to create a collaborative uh atmosphere.

[1:07:44] » Good. So beyond that you've you've talked about Carpel and that was a kind

[1:07:50] of a big step like going to digital but you're two years in now. What do you see

[1:07:55] currently as what would you say your biggest hurdle is left in front of you

[1:08:00] going forward? I think that the the biggest hurdle is

[1:08:04] is going to be for a while. Um there's two. One is the the body worn camera

[1:08:11] that's getting more and more there's more and more body worn cameras and if

[1:08:15] there's six police officers it creates this huge amount of of backlog of bodywn

[1:08:19] camera. So I think if that's that's where we're we're we're trying to catch

[1:08:23] up. I'm afraid that summer's usually uh quieter. So, I'm worried that we're

[1:08:29] going to fall behind on body warn camera again. The other thing is is the market

[1:08:35] uh for attorneys. You know, right now uh in the last year and a half, if you're a

[1:08:40] prosecuting attorney and you want to go anywhere, there's people that are going

[1:08:44] to hire you. There are people that have four and five openings. We're very

[1:08:47] fortunate that we don't have any openings, but a lot of places are

[1:08:51] looking and they're poaching. You know, we Barry County took one of our

[1:08:54] attorneys that Aaron Burr the last time and and and he he was a great guy. We we

[1:09:00] had a party for him when he left and where there's no animosity, but there

[1:09:03] are a lot of openings for prosecuting attorneys. What I hope is happening is

[1:09:08] uh for the public defenders offices, they got cut last year. Part of the

[1:09:13] reason I think we had a hard time getting people is there was so much

[1:09:16] money being poured into public defenders offices that they were competing with us

[1:09:21] for the younger attorneys. And uh this last year our our office our public

[1:09:26] defenders office got cut a significant amount $250,000 I think. So and that's

[1:09:31] happened across the state. So I'm hoping that will ease the the shortage of

[1:09:36] prosecutors. So those those two things and I think uh the biggest thing is with

[1:09:40] anything if you're if you're dealing with 25 people is trying to keep

[1:09:44] everybody reasonably happy. I'm finding that that is a little more difficult

[1:09:48] than I thought it was. But I think that's that's always the that's always

[1:09:52] the task of making sure that your office is running away that people feel uh

[1:09:57] appreciated and uh that you appreciate their work.

[1:10:02] » Thank you. Uh Commissioner Lobers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um go back to the

[1:10:07] Holland transition. Um do they give you any indication that you know you

[1:10:11] mentioned the case where you know you there was a case they didn't want to

[1:10:14] prosecute and they wouldn't let you. >> Yeah.

[1:10:17] » Would that be reciprocal? So once you guys take the reigns in all the Allen

[1:10:22] County cases, are they going to be quote unquote big brother and say we don't

[1:10:26] like what you did. We're going to now try to do something else or

[1:10:31] » they can't. >> They can't. Okay. I just didn't know how

[1:10:33] that was gonna >> technically it's our case. It it's

[1:10:36] always been our case even though they've been dealing with it. Okay,

[1:10:38] » which is why as Commissioner Van Beek said they they basically said, "We don't

[1:10:42] care if it's your case. We're going to do what we want. If you don't like it,

[1:10:45] you do it yourself." >> Now, I will say this, in times past, if

[1:10:49] we had a murder or CSC1 of a very serious case, Alligan would step in and

[1:10:54] take those. >> So, they didn't do everything

[1:10:56] completely, but we we would do some of those cases if they were very important.

[1:11:00] But uh but for the most part 95% of the cases were done by them. They don't have

[1:11:05] any authority to come in and say anything about what we do.

[1:11:08] » Okay. Just wanted to clarify how that relationship will then you know if

[1:11:12] that's complete autonomy of like >> yeah it's us.

[1:11:15] » It's just a good thing. >> And and before we had no say I mean if I

[1:11:19] asked them to do something they would like no they would tell me to pound sand

[1:11:22] and that would be it and we'd have to do it ourselves if we wanted it done.

[1:11:27] » So I'm I I think actually I I think that it's better for our Alagan County

[1:11:33] citizens to have have an Alagan County prosecutor be there. I just think it's

[1:11:37] better. So, I'm hap I'm happy with that

[1:11:41] actually. And I will say this, what we're planning on for the first quarter

[1:11:46] of take once we take it over, it's me and Jessica Winas are going to be the

[1:11:51] ones who do a lot of the Holland work because one, we can make decisions

[1:11:56] because she's their my chief assistant. So, there's something that's not going

[1:12:00] well, we change it. Um, and two, that'll give us a good idea of how many cases

[1:12:04] there really are. So, I I think we we'd have to wait a quarter even before we

[1:12:09] came back to you guys and gave you an idea of what's going on.

[1:12:12] » Thank you. >> Anything else for our prosecutor?

[1:12:18] Thank you very much for your report. >> Thank you for your time. And again, I

[1:12:21] would invite anyone that wants to come in and take a look at the office or see

[1:12:24] how we do things, uh, come on in. Uh, I would I would welcome that.

[1:12:29] » Thank you.

[1:12:32] Next on the agenda, uh, administrative reports. I know that, uh, administrator

[1:12:37] Saro did send that out yesterday, uh, an update to everyone. Um, is there

[1:12:42] anything you'd like to add to that at this time?

[1:12:45] » Uh, no, Mr. Chair. I guess I'd like to maybe just cover a little bit of a I

[1:12:50] guess outline for the U remainder here. if it pleases you and the board. Um I

[1:12:56] can address uh any questions that you may have on the update, but otherwise

[1:13:00] leave it, you know, submit it as in in writing. Um if there are no questions, I

[1:13:05] I'd suggest that uh uh perhaps we, you know, consider a break and go till about

[1:13:13] um 11 on the the budget. And then I do have a I would like a brief close

[1:13:18] session with the board for collective bargaining. And then just so the board's

[1:13:21] aware, myself and the chair have a a meeting scheduled as well as

[1:13:26] Commissioner Lovers for 11:30. So, and we got a lot to get done and so if it's

[1:13:31] okay with you, I'll yield the report to any questions at this time.

[1:13:35] » Commissioners, any questions?

[1:13:39] » This time I think we'll go through the consent items and then uh we'll take a

[1:13:43] 10-minute break. We'll get the consent items done so when we come back we can

[1:13:46] jump right into the budget discussion. Commissioner Dugan. Move to approve the

[1:13:51] consent items as presented for 821, 828, and 94 of 26.

[1:14:00] » Mr. Commissioner Dugan uh makes a motion to approve the consent items. Uh is

[1:14:05] there a second? >> Second.

[1:14:07] » Commissioner D. Young seconds that. Any discussion?

[1:14:12] Seeing none, we have a motion by Commissioner Dugan, a second by

[1:14:15] Commissioner D. Young to approval of consent items. Will you please call the

[1:14:19] role? >> Commissioner Vani,

[1:14:21] » yes. >> Commissioner Dio,

[1:14:23] » yes. >> Commissioner Lovers,

[1:14:24] » yes. >> Commissioner Beltman,

[1:14:26] » yes. >> Commissioner Dub,

[1:14:27] » yes. >> Those claims are paid. Um, at this time,

[1:14:34] um, without objection, I'd like to take a break till 10:25.

[1:14:38] Is that all right with everyone? Stay journ till 10:25. Thank you.

[1:25:59] call the meeting back to order. Um, just to establish quorum. Uh, Madam Kirk,

[1:26:04] would you please call the role? >> Commissioner Dan Beek here.

[1:26:09] » Commissioner D Young here. Commissioner Lovers here.

[1:26:12] » Commissioner Belman here. Commissioner Dugan

[1:26:14] » present. Okay, we have a quorum. That brings us

[1:26:19] down [clears throat] on the agenda down to discussion items 2027 to 30

[1:26:26] 2027 to 2031. That's so far in the future. I can't

[1:26:30] even hardly say it. 2031 budget uh discussion. Mr. Administrator, would you

[1:26:37] please uh kick this off? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, well, as you

[1:26:41] may recall, we uh uh briefly started the budget discussion at our uh our last

[1:26:47] meeting and uh in the interest of time, the board was left with the uh memo and

[1:26:54] the original packet to review. Um I don't contact administration if any uh

[1:27:01] questions or additional information was needed. Uh to my knowledge to date, we

[1:27:05] have not uh not received any. And so, um, the first thing I just want to do,

[1:27:12] uh, again, in the interest of time and not necessarily trying to to read the

[1:27:17] memo to you, I want to start with, um, you know, are there any specific

[1:27:22] questions from within the the memo that you want to focus? Um, I had highlighted

[1:27:28] a couple of things at the last meeting to say would probably be the main source

[1:27:31] of topic. So, we talk about transportation and such. Uh those are

[1:27:36] some things I plan to try to make sure that we're on the same page with, but

[1:27:41] just kind of open it generally first. Is there anything specifically that you

[1:27:44] would like me to um walk through? >> Commissioners,

[1:27:50] Commissioner Dugan, >> uh one thing that uh I've been pondering

[1:27:55] as to transportation uh before we had a lot of contracts that

[1:28:00] uh different organizations within the county. of one of them being on point.

[1:28:06] Uh we're having that budget hearing for onpoint year this coming Tuesday and

[1:28:12] wanted to go and try to understand uh those contracts that they had to give

[1:28:20] up because of monetarial reasons. Can we get those restored to help bolster that

[1:28:25] transportation budget or is that something that we're not going to

[1:28:30] explore? Um when you say thank you when you say

[1:28:35] get those restored are help me understand the u those contracts that uh

[1:28:41] onpoint had with uh transportation to give transportation to people that were

[1:28:47] needed to get to their jobs or uh mental health appointments or just even from

[1:28:54] their homes to on point to uh attend their appointments.

[1:28:59] » Uh those were all eliminated. are those years back. Are those going to

[1:29:05] be pursued as extra context or a funding source or transportation to bolster that

[1:29:12] contract? >> Um well, I guess we maybe we can start

[1:29:16] with the the route as to um you know why why they were um

[1:29:23] discontinued and then and then I guess see what the appropriate uh funding

[1:29:28] would be for restoration. But Dan, do you want you want to provide that, you

[1:29:31] know, some perspective on what what happened there and then what

[1:29:36] how that fits into the current service levels?

[1:29:40] » Sure. [clears throat] If I'm correct in in what he's referring

[1:29:43] to is I'll be back. >> You're pretty low. I'll try to

[1:29:48] » Hold on.

[1:29:53] » Is that better? >> Yes. Yes.

[1:29:56] » Yes. >> Okay. So in reference to what I believe

[1:29:59] you're talking about is back in 2017 there were contracts for service with uh

[1:30:04] community mental health at the time now on point and that was to take eligible

[1:30:09] clients to and from you know appointments. The funding at the state

[1:30:13] level was my understanding at that time the funding at the state level did not

[1:30:17] flow into onpoint uh for the transportation the same way that it used

[1:30:22] to and so to my understanding I mean that's why the contracts went away. Now,

[1:30:26] do we continue to transport those individuals? Uh, we do and there is some

[1:30:31] reimbursement, but that reimbursement comes to Alagen County through the

[1:30:35] Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and does not come directly from

[1:30:39] OnPoint. So, we are actually still receiving funding for clients going to

[1:30:44] and from eligible appointments with with OnPoint. Hopefully, that helps.

[1:30:50] » Thank you, Dan.

[1:30:55] Please uh Commissioner Lovers. >> Yeah, on the transportation note um the

[1:31:00] some thoughts I had, you know, this recommendation on the budget packet has

[1:31:05] numbers in there to maintain current levels at 100%. Um but the thought I had

[1:31:11] is if we should consider and this may be a card for the horse but

[1:31:17] funding you know if ridership is going to continue to go up over the years

[1:31:22] funding a you know certain percentage above that 100%. to

[1:31:28] to take it in account of 10% or whatever percentage you want to say you know for

[1:31:33] next year and you know so we don't have run into this issue next year and then

[1:31:38] the following you know if we're just this is where it is now well if we know

[1:31:41] it's going to be here well you know we can't go 10 years ahead but just a

[1:31:47] thought that I you know you know and I know that will change some of the

[1:31:52] numbers that are here in this budget recommendation but that was just

[1:31:58] Commissioner Van Beek. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, yeah, on that,

[1:32:01] what what are is there a percentage we're kind of growing to Commissioner

[1:32:05] Lover's point, like a year? Like, have you guys seen like rides? Is that

[1:32:10] growing? Is it shrinking? Like, what is the what is beyond that? I know this may

[1:32:15] be a little too much down in the weeds, but how many how many rides are we

[1:32:19] declining? Like, do we not have enough transportation out there? But do we have

[1:32:24] some of that off the top of your head? I know that's kind of

[1:32:28] those numbers are maybe not instantly available, but

[1:32:33] » uh in terms of what we provide, those are really those are

[1:32:38] quite accessible. I think I have them here in the quarter 2 report as well,

[1:32:41] but um but I don't recall. Dan, do we um provide like the uh demand that's unable

[1:32:48] to be uh met in in there or you know rides just not able to be accommodated?

[1:32:55] » Yes, all that information is tracked with the uh uh software app that we

[1:33:00] have. it tracks all of that information and um I believe that if that's not in

[1:33:06] that report that's something that we can easily provide.

[1:33:11] » So Dan, have we seen like do you have a percentage of growth you've seen over

[1:33:15] the years?

[1:33:19] » The uh Yeah, I don't have that report right in front of me. Rob, maybe you

[1:33:22] have that there. I think the specific percentages were were listed right in

[1:33:26] there. um that was what she had put together was both the growth um that

[1:33:30] we've seen to date as well as anticipated future growth.

[1:33:36] » Um and I just want to be clear, are you talking about the uh second quarter

[1:33:42] report or are you talking about the uh budget memo?

[1:33:48] I >> think it'd be the budget memo. I believe

[1:33:50] that's where the information should be included.

[1:33:54] » All right. Yeah, I've got that up or I'm putting that up on the screen as well

[1:33:58] here. Let's

[1:34:08] share this.

[1:34:28] Let me zoom that up. It's a little bit loud.

[1:34:38] Thank you.

[1:34:43] Okay. So at least from a a high level perspective,

[1:34:48] this is the information provided in the budget

[1:34:52] memo and then in your quarterly um you know service reports you you can see the

[1:35:01] hours of service and stuff over time. But basically

[1:35:05] uh I think in the second paragraph there in particular um

[1:35:11] from our current level the the gap that we're we're seeing is um about roughly

[1:35:18] 420,000 that would actually bring us below our

[1:35:23] our current which would result in about 4,000

[1:35:30] uh service hours now to about 3,000 service

[1:35:37] hours per month. So, um waiting to about a 30%

[1:35:42] change um with the

[1:35:47] highest area of impact being employment um related trips. Now, now having said

[1:35:55] that, Dan, that's that's sort of the impact um

[1:36:00] of from our current service level. I think within the um budget memo itself

[1:36:09] though, some of the other questions being asked here are I think more the

[1:36:16] trending over time.

[1:36:21] And I guess from that report that should be in the quarterly.

[1:36:27] » Yeah, let me see if I can find that. I'm I have seen that. So I'll look for that

[1:36:33] here shortly. Good >> as you look for that. So my my thinking

[1:36:37] is and Lake Town has asked this as well for increased uh transportation. Lake

[1:36:42] Town is a ways from where ACT is. So if they call someone in Lake Town calls,

[1:36:48] they're the farthest away of Alagen County where we are here. And so for

[1:36:54] them, like timewise, it's a long time for them to get up there for those

[1:36:58] rides. And so [clears throat] I am a proponent of transportation. Uh you as

[1:37:05] I've talked with some people, they don't they would like that maybe to look a

[1:37:09] little bit different. Do we have to do buses? Are there other things we could

[1:37:12] do? Like are there different types of transportation we could offer? And I

[1:37:15] know in our conversations previously, funding is becoming an issue. Well, how

[1:37:20] much do we as commissioners want to push towards transportation? And then, you

[1:37:25] know, what I'm trying to ascertain really is, is there the need? While I'm

[1:37:30] hearing these people say it, do we see it with the calls and with the rides?

[1:37:33] Like, are these are these growing to Commissioner Lover's point,

[1:37:36] » are they growing? I mean, is this a place that we should say yes, we know

[1:37:39] this is a cost, but [clears throat] how much is this helping the residents of

[1:37:44] Alen County? And I do like the idea of trying to get maybe some corporate

[1:37:48] sponsors which bringing outside dollars because at this point I mean we'd have

[1:37:52] to look at something whether it be some type of millillage, you know, countywide

[1:37:56] millage to try to support that to get extra dollars for more transportation,

[1:38:01] but it's something that my townships have asked about, you know, increasing

[1:38:06] and expanding. And I just want to make sure as we see we're seeing that need. I

[1:38:12] don't want to expand something and all of a sudden we have this expanded group

[1:38:16] and it's not being used. I also don't want to do that, right? So, you know,

[1:38:19] maybe if we had a plan to expand, you know, each year or to look at different

[1:38:24] options of of travel, you know, I know we have some

[1:38:28] senior rides, right, that people donate their time. I think they get that they

[1:38:32] get mileage for that, Mr. Mr. Right. >> So, we have some other options, but I

[1:38:38] just think transportation needs to be continually looked at what we do.

[1:38:45] » Commissioner lovers. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we have in our

[1:38:48] my area and Craig's area we have inner urban um and a lot of my area is served

[1:38:54] by inner urban and I don't know if we want to as a county rely on

[1:39:00] trends they have because they are expanding but they rely on local primary

[1:39:04] villages from each municipality to facilitate that and that grows all the

[1:39:10] time and their ridership has grown just the same as our transportation has grown

[1:39:14] but what is the current status of lake that I Remind me. Did they deny to put a

[1:39:18] mil their millillage on their ballot? >> Yeah, they had at one point they were

[1:39:23] funding some of it. They pulled that they pulled that back the right time.

[1:39:27] » They [clears throat] they it was voted on or they never put it on the ballot.

[1:39:31] » They had voted and had some funding for a short period of time to try it out,

[1:39:36] but uh what happened with there was some of what the rides were being used for

[1:39:42] were not what it was necessarily intended. Um there was more school bus

[1:39:47] kids taking the inner urban for school started using school buses. They were

[1:39:50] using the buses for some different reasons and so Lake Town had some

[1:39:55] difficulty with that uh because what what they were being used for. But I

[1:40:00] also don't want to everything gets abused at a time, right?

[1:40:05] But I also don't want to pull way back because there was a few people not using

[1:40:09] it what was intended for originally. Okay.

[1:40:15] Yeah, on this. Yeah, >> administrator Sl.

[1:40:18] » So, [clears throat] I pulled up in the quarterly reports that you receive um

[1:40:23] under transportation. Um this starts to give you some of the the

[1:40:30] the statistics here like the number of vehicle hours you can see for quarter 1

[1:40:35] compared to quarter two. Uh the miles traveled um you can see was up.

[1:40:41] Passenger trips was was up. Um, you know, new wrership was down a bit for

[1:40:47] quarter two. Um,

[1:40:52] trip denials. Um, that's the one. Dan, I guess I would need you to explain if

[1:40:58] that maybe that one addresses their question in terms of when it says a trip

[1:41:02] denial. Is that can you explain why that occurs?

[1:41:06] » Yeah, [clears throat] that could be a variety of different things. Cap

[1:41:10] capacity definitely is one impact there. Um, sometimes it has related to kind of

[1:41:15] something you just spoke to, the school requests. If somebody's like, I, you

[1:41:18] know, I need [clears throat] transportation for my child five days a

[1:41:21] week, uh, those also tend to get denied unless it links up with something that's

[1:41:25] already existing. [clears throat] The other thing that can also show up

[1:41:28] because the way the system works is if you call um, the day you need to go, you

[1:41:33] know, half hour, hour before you need to be picked up, those are also considered

[1:41:37] denied because we require at least advanced notice the day before. So I

[1:41:42] believe they can break that uh that detail down you know in more in depth

[1:41:46] but all of that is what uh equals that trip.

[1:41:50] » Commissioner Benique. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. So and there's also

[1:41:54] correct me if I'm wrong if I called for a ride and it was just a ride to go to

[1:42:00] wherever someone if Mark called for a ride and it was a medical uh to the

[1:42:06] doctor appointment. there is some that trumps that kind of isn't there is there

[1:42:10] like a distinction of my ride compared to some of the others is that correct

[1:42:14] » if that information is shared yes I mean we do prioritize medical I would say

[1:42:19] like the first priority would be diialysis people that are requesting

[1:42:23] diialysis type transportation uh so yeah medical falls into that employment and

[1:42:28] then um trips to the grocery store that's kind of the hierarchy of the

[1:42:32] others prioritization system they use >> is that stuff typically um asked or

[1:42:38] conveyed at the time that they call for a ride. I mean would they say I'm going

[1:42:42] for dialysis? >> Yes. Often that I mean that usually they

[1:42:47] come out with that information. Hey this is what I need. Uh but again we we can

[1:42:51] ask that but they don't have to necessarily tell us but if somebody

[1:42:55] gives us that information [clears throat]

[1:42:57] provides that uh tend to again prioritize those and generally because

[1:43:02] those are reoccurring type of trips that's the other thing that you know

[1:43:05] becomes very evident. Yeah. So, >> okay.

[1:43:08] » So, what I'm saying that's and that's a great thing. I I think we should

[1:43:11] prioritize the medical aspect, but if you called for a ride the day before,

[1:43:16] your ride is now, you know, you're not going to be able to go because of the

[1:43:19] medical, and I understand that, but uh Danny, we looked at

[1:43:24] well, other counties that mimic us sizewise, rural, like what are they what

[1:43:29] are other people doing transportation wise? Are they using buses like we're

[1:43:33] using? Are they using more individuals with cars like more of like an Uber type

[1:43:38] feel? Uh what are what are other people doing? I guess because as we talk about

[1:43:43] transportation, we talk about expanding it possibly.

[1:43:46] Is is buses the only answer? Are there other avenues that other counties are

[1:43:51] doing? >> Uh yeah, thanks for that question. So I

[1:43:55] would say comparing other rural counties, what we have in place is very

[1:44:00] typical. you know, in my 25 years of being involved in in this industry,

[1:44:05] specifically our program, uh, what we have mimics that from a service delivery

[1:44:10] standpoint. Um, in smaller concentrated areas like when you have like one major

[1:44:16] city, you know, so you're communicating between two key points, you'll tend to

[1:44:20] see more like what the inner urban has. inner urban, you know, has that demand

[1:44:24] response and that allows the ability to just call get a ride, but you have to

[1:44:29] have a certain number of volume to make that cost effective. So, in a rural

[1:44:34] county our size, that's where that reservation system is is prevalent. As

[1:44:38] far as are there other options out there, uh it's it's very few and far in

[1:44:42] between, but some communities do have um like a a medical ride program where it's

[1:44:49] it's kind of a hybrid between you have transit drivers that drive cars, but

[1:44:54] then that person has to pay a premium for that ride. It is still less than

[1:44:58] what say a taxi would be or an Uber, which we don't have in our county

[1:45:03] anyways, but it does give that option. That is something that um you know I had

[1:45:09] looked at even you know a few years back. Um the upside to that is much like

[1:45:14] our current program the state and federal funds they reimburse on a

[1:45:18] percentage of cost. So if your costs go up so does your revenue. They cover that

[1:45:23] percentage of that operating cost. So if you did put some type of uh you personal

[1:45:28] vehicle county owned but you put a vehicle where

[1:45:31] you're taking a driver taking one person you could still look at what is actually

[1:45:36] cost to provide that service and 50% of that will still be eligible for

[1:45:40] reimbursement from state federal grants. So in the communities where they

[1:45:43] implement that that has been successful but again it you do have to pay a

[1:45:48] premium for that service and the passenger would have to pay more than

[1:45:50] what if they get on the bus system. >> So what are you talking amount wise?

[1:45:54] What do you think bid currently? What do they pay to ride the bus?

[1:45:58] » Uh right now the uh so for average passenger it's $2 each way. And so in

[1:46:04] this other model, what would it be like? >> Uh last, again, this is a couple years

[1:46:09] back. Uh the communities that were doing that, they were looking at like a like a

[1:46:13] $15 oneway trip. So it could be $30, but again, that often would be like a trip

[1:46:18] to Kazoo, Grand Rapids, farther distances.

[1:46:26] Commissioner Dugan and then Administrator Sorrow.

[1:46:29] » Okay. Thank you. This is going to be quite a few questions. Uh the new

[1:46:34] writers that are onboarded, it's been consistently the same as to

[1:46:40] the data that were just shown. Was it the same increase or number of people

[1:46:45] that are coming on board last year? And is that maintaining across where that is

[1:46:51] the uh number of writers that is growing?

[1:46:55] » Yes, we're seeing I think over a two-year period we saw

[1:46:59] like 50% increase of wrership. I've talked about individual people signing

[1:47:03] up for services. So that growth has been tremendous and again when this board

[1:47:08] took action to add money to the budget uh that kind of opened those doors to

[1:47:13] say look we're not going to refuse. So for the longest time we had the ability

[1:47:16] to do that. We've now hit that threshold where it's like, well, we can't continue

[1:47:20] to grow even though the demand is there. >> And a lot of that growth has been around

[1:47:25] medical and employment. I think that's where probably the bigger concern is.

[1:47:30] Got people that are depending on this service to get back and forth to work.

[1:47:33] If we are forced to take that away, it it just leaves a little bit of a huge

[1:47:37] cash. The second question is no shows. Is that fairly steady uh when bus shows

[1:47:45] up and nobody comes out of the house or the business to get on? Uh has that been

[1:47:50] steady from last year to this year too because it looked like it was fairly

[1:47:54] steady in quarter one, quarter two? Yeah, I think there's actually been an

[1:47:58] improvement in that area because uh we had some management changes with our

[1:48:02] contractor and they've been taking a more proactive approach to enforce

[1:48:07] people using the no policy and enforcing the policy more rigorously in regards to

[1:48:13] make sure that if you don't show you're not reliable then lose your access for

[1:48:19] 30 days that has helped curb some of that. So, it's actually proved that.

[1:48:25] » Thank you very much. Uh, let me go to administrator and his hand up for quite

[1:48:31] some time. >> That's right. Well, thank you, Mr.

[1:48:33] Chair. I just, you know, I guess as to the

[1:48:37] as Commissioner Lever's original question, um I think right right now

[1:48:45] giving a brief like I don't know that we're in the position to necessarily

[1:48:50] commit to a certain level above a service level because um well because

[1:48:58] of of this that I I want to walk through here which kind of combines

[1:49:02] uh your question a little bit with Commissioner Jugan's previous question

[1:49:07] of several meetings ago um that kind of brings all this together which is uh you

[1:49:13] know I'm hearing the board say well this is important obviously we we we agree

[1:49:16] this has been an important service so it just comes well how how do you sustain

[1:49:21] uh you know this in the near term and you know ideally long term um I guess

[1:49:28] for this particular year just to kind of cut to the chase on the paragraph we had

[1:49:33] before uh while it gets tight, I I I believe we can

[1:49:39] prioritize and budget that 420 into the general fund without

[1:49:45] hopefully without trying to increase the actual um assessment or rate. Sure.

[1:49:50] » And that's why I say, well, I don't know if we're ready yet to to kind of go much

[1:49:53] beyond that, but taking it in baby steps, like I think we can probably at

[1:49:57] least >> hold the line for 27

[1:50:00] at the current service level. I think for

[1:50:06] uh kind of ongoing in the near term, tying this back to Commissioner Dugan's

[1:50:11] question, well, what about the tax limitation renewal strategy?

[1:50:18] And I I think that has, you know, that was

[1:50:22] one of the original purpose and intents when we put the

[1:50:27] community survey out when we did the um tax limitation renewal question. That

[1:50:34] was one of the things. One was uh you know looking at sheriff's department

[1:50:38] services, one was looking at transportation and one was looking at

[1:50:41] you know debt reduction. uh and I think one the other one might

[1:50:45] have been medical care and we had uh you know asked what people were looking and

[1:50:51] and they were definitely favorable to transportation. Um in turn the tax limit

[1:50:57] renewal was you know renewed to its original 1965 state. Uh the challenge I

[1:51:04] think of seeing right now is we've had discussion to say well do we just go to

[1:51:08] that max? Well, I I would I would be very cautious about going to the maximum

[1:51:15] because well, honestly because I lived in that

[1:51:18] box for I think kind of way too long and as the roll back occurs and as revenue

[1:51:25] may you know slow at times uh really put you in a back against the wall kind of

[1:51:30] scenario. So if you look at the top of this chart, um you know why then when we

[1:51:37] did the tax limitation renewal back to the 5 uh 7,

[1:51:45] you know, it it allowed an additional 6.2

[1:51:49] million, but that's also because it hadn't been

[1:51:53] reset since 1965. Now, fast forward to today.

[1:51:59] um for this. All right, I'll zoom things in the way here. So for 27,

[1:52:07] even if we were to max that out and go straight up to the uh

[1:52:15] » maximum, which has now been rolled back to

[1:52:20] 5.3237. So just think about I have to keep

[1:52:24] moving this around. Think about from 2020 2021 that we got that max reset to

[1:52:30] 5.7. It it literally rolled back almost as

[1:52:34] soon as it was passed. Like you can see it rolled back almost immediately to

[1:52:39] 5.6441. Just since 2021,

[1:52:44] that maximum has now rolled back to 5.3237,

[1:52:49] which at the moment, if we were to say, I'll just go ahead and max out our our

[1:52:53] our millage rate, uh, it would only produce about a million and a half, but

[1:52:59] then look ahead to 2028.

[1:53:04] If we hold the line this year, we don't do any additional increase, that

[1:53:09] capacity actually rolls back to even 1.1 million, which I think is starting to

[1:53:14] get extremely close to, you know, if if we had I mean, I was prepared to say

[1:53:20] like if we had to tap into that to keep transportation at its current level, I I

[1:53:27] I think that that would be a a fair safe thing to do. But I think Commissioner

[1:53:32] Dan, the broader question, I'm going to try to tie a few things here was like,

[1:53:35] well, what about parks? What about And I would say until we get a history of

[1:53:39] renewal, I don't I don't see it. I I don't see maxing out just the millage

[1:53:46] rate. Now, I also don't want to take this as total doom and gloom because

[1:53:49] keep in mind when we say like number of remaining bills, it doesn't mean revenue

[1:53:54] is not going up, okay? It just means the amount that we have um that can be

[1:54:01] levied above our current rate and our maximum and in between.

[1:54:06] So while that's rolling back, I do want to be cautious to say, well, that

[1:54:10] doesn't necessarily mean that revenue is rolling back. I mean, it may still be

[1:54:13] going up by 3% 5%. But what does happen is once those numbers become the same,

[1:54:20] once your maximum levy becomes your maximum limit, then you truly are

[1:54:27] operating the county with essentially only a inflation allowable

[1:54:33] budget. And that's where we lived for a very long time since 1965.

[1:54:40] And that's why it was so much. So the last thing I kind of want to show on

[1:54:43] this chart is even if and so here so here's the thing and and you know

[1:54:48] hindsight 2020 whatever I mean in a perfect world maybe we would have done

[1:54:54] the renewal this year on the ballot um and and it's not so it is what it is. I

[1:55:01] think the next only practical time then would be the 28 election. I mean you

[1:55:05] wouldn't want to have a special election on something like this. you wouldn't

[1:55:08] want to just throw it on like a school election or something. So, when it comes

[1:55:12] down to it, I think this is personally the world we're just sort of living in

[1:55:16] for the next two years is kind of holding line as best we can on like

[1:55:20] transportation and and uh those things. And then I think you go for the renewal

[1:55:26] in 28 again with the focus of the questions you guys are asking is well do

[1:55:31] you want us to build into county operations, you know, viable train? I

[1:55:37] think there's room in that because if you were to get it reset, you know, that

[1:55:41] would bring it back to like 4.8 million. Again, stressing with caution though

[1:55:46] that at each renewal, the more frequent we do it, which some counties, I think

[1:55:52] like Clinton for example, they do it every four like it just it's just

[1:55:55] automatic. And that was our plan. Like when we put it out there, it was like,

[1:55:59] yeah, we're not going to let it go back to where we didn't do it for 50 years.

[1:56:03] Um, but you can see that even in comparison to 21, you know, that was

[1:56:08] such a big gap because it was left out there so long. But you can see in 29,

[1:56:12] even if we do go to the full limit back to 5.7,

[1:56:17] um, which would probably almost immediately roll back to 564,

[1:56:21] you know, you can see that it's uh well over a million less than the original

[1:56:27] capacity. So again, are you going to fund

[1:56:31] every additional service that citizens desire

[1:56:35] just within the operating millillage? No, I don't I don't think that that

[1:56:38] capacity is there. At some point, some things probably just do need a dedicated

[1:56:43] millillage. Do I think that you could fund uh transportation

[1:56:49] uh as we did the first time around? Yes. I I think there's room for that. Um, and

[1:56:54] you know, we could probably have some discussion around like, you know, parks

[1:56:59] at a reasonable level, you know. Um, but that's that's our analysis. Um, I guess

[1:57:07] Commissioner Dugan, you know, I don't know.

[1:57:09] » Uh, hopefully this gets to the question you previously asked. I didn't want to

[1:57:14] bypass that. But uh our recommendation at this point looking for specifically

[1:57:18] at transit is to build into the budget to maintain the

[1:57:24] current service level. And um right now in discussions with Jennifer, I believe

[1:57:29] that we can do that without altering the the millage rate for 27. Even for 28, I

[1:57:35] don't even know that I can say that's true yet. But for 27, I believe that we

[1:57:40] can do that. uh Commissioner Lobers first and then

[1:57:45] Commissioner Dugan. >> Yeah, and I appreciate that, you know,

[1:57:48] the intention of that discussion that I that got started here. Just I just want

[1:57:52] to put that out there for, you know, as we look ahead, you know, what level of

[1:57:56] service do we want to provide? If we know that's is a demand. Now, that

[1:58:00] doesn't mean we can afford it, but if that demand is there, where do we

[1:58:04] want to be? You know, what does that look like? And if we don't do that is to

[1:58:09] your point Rob in the next two years are we talking about more denials um

[1:58:15] changing the priority system of people called for ride

[1:58:20] sorry we've changed the system you don't or raising rates

[1:58:26] um you know all to be determined what does that look

[1:58:30] like right I mean in the event that of those scenarios so I just wanted getting

[1:58:36] out there as a discussion starter. So, thank you,

[1:58:39] » Commissioner Dugan. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to take

[1:58:44] the board down memory lane here a little bit of in our 2026 budget of we had a

[1:58:52] debt plan. We were going to think about playing paying off our debt and that

[1:58:57] would have given us a 1.298

[1:59:02] million in interest. If we pay that off, is that interest

[1:59:09] the accumulated amount that we can go and budget put into the budget other

[1:59:15] places or is that a lump sum of what the remaining years were going to be?

[1:59:22] Because in my analysis of this, if we have 1.29 29 after paying the debt off

[1:59:30] that we don't have to pay in interest. Where can we go and massage the budget

[1:59:36] with that money to maintain services and keep things rolling along uh

[1:59:44] strategically stable?

[1:59:48] » Well, I think it comes down to so so essentially what it comes down to is the

[1:59:51] debt service payment. You know, the payment being in the the budget. So the

[1:59:55] interest becomes, you know, certainly a a savings, but that's also part of the,

[1:59:59] you know, the payment of course as well. >> Um, right now the debt service is still

[2:00:04] built into the budget. Uh, we are, you know, on track to at at a minimum pay

[2:00:11] the um pension bond, you know, off a little early. Uh what I guess the

[2:00:17] caution point that I would see at this point is

[2:00:22] understanding some of the other needs that we've you know discussed

[2:00:26] particularly by way of capital. Um, I don't I don't necessarily see us being

[2:00:33] able to fully take out the debt payment and just sort of reallocate

[2:00:38] that to services because our capital as you know still starts from a roughly u

[2:00:48] what is it Jen about 1.3 million kind of starting point.

[2:00:53] » Yes, it starts at 1.3 for the revenue share. Is that your what you're

[2:00:57] referring to? correct? Yeah. >> Yes.

[2:01:00] » And then uh you know and then there's a percentage split up above that for it.

[2:01:04] There's increased revenue sharing things of that nature. But my concern is

[2:01:09] whether you look at it in terms of uh major infrastructure like you know

[2:01:14] additional building needs or renovations or whether you look at it as the ongoing

[2:01:18] capital for like vehicles and such. Either way, each year we've actually

[2:01:23] been sort of taking from the um liability syncing fund in order to pay

[2:01:28] for some of that capital. >> Uh just last year uh or going into this

[2:01:33] year alone, I mean some of those axon uh cost as you saw were uh what John

[2:01:39] like 500,000 over three years something. >> Yes. might have split it out, but you

[2:01:45] know, and I don't I don't see body cameras, things like that going away

[2:01:50] anytime soon. So, and I don't see the cost plummeting anytime soon. Um, so

[2:01:56] that's where I would say I think you're on the right track in terms of Yes. I

[2:02:00] think that the debt service payment can hopefully either be rerouted to your

[2:02:06] other infrastructure projects or um other capital, but I don't see a large

[2:02:12] amount that we could maintain those infrastructure capital needs

[2:02:19] and also divert all of those dollars into services because once you put it

[2:02:24] towards services, it's, you know, it's kind of gone. And and then that's kind

[2:02:28] of been our strategy here is uh you know this year we are taking a very minimal

[2:02:34] approach on like new positions. We trying to get our contracts you know

[2:02:40] settled in advance that the message was definitely put out to employ groups like

[2:02:45] you know obviously we'll negotiate we'll do everything but the reality is from a

[2:02:49] money perspective I mean we're trying to prioritize those needs. take it while

[2:02:54] you can because we have a lot of other needs. So, I've been trying to let

[2:02:58] groups know like if this is not, you know, this is a very nice package that's

[2:03:03] been presented. Um, but it is, you know, some of the things we've offered are

[2:03:08] sort of one time because if we can't get agreement now, like we got to so that's

[2:03:11] why I'm even saying like, well, I think we probably can get the transportation

[2:03:16] thing into the budget and and some of those, but you know, again, dollars have

[2:03:20] to go one way or the other. So, so I think right now if we can get the

[2:03:23] contracts in place, we'll know for the most part what our personnel cost over

[2:03:27] the next couple years will be, pay the debt portion off, use the debt service

[2:03:32] to help balance out some of these infrastructure needs that we've been,

[2:03:36] you know, kind of behind on, um, and then, um, you know, at this point, at

[2:03:41] least prioritize transportation and work sparingly within that, um,

[2:03:49] within at millage maximum and to me I would say

[2:03:55] you know see what happens at the 28. I mean if you guys decide to put it out

[2:03:59] there but my recommendation following the board's previous decisions was to uh

[2:04:04] definitely not let too much time go by before renewal. And so if you can get

[2:04:08] that tax limitation renewed in 28, um then I think you know you'll have

[2:04:15] some more viable discussion for some of the increased service and parks. If it

[2:04:20] doesn't get renewed, I think that's going to honestly push you into either a

[2:04:24] what can we look at for dedicated millillage or frankly just say hey this

[2:04:28] is we're just back to basic operations. So that's that's the picture.

[2:04:32] » Yeah, I I think 2028 is our first opportunity to do that. Um, and I know

[2:04:38] that's a ways out, but I think we can get there. Commissioner Dugan.

[2:04:41] » Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. And to to broaden that discussion,

[2:04:47] I would like to hear from administration.

[2:04:52] If the proposal is is to put this tax limitation budget question on the 28

[2:04:59] ballot, when does administration have to let what's the drop dead date as to the

[2:05:07] commission acting to put this? If you need to have it within the next six

[2:05:12] months, this is the course we're going to go ahead and do. put it in

[2:05:18] sync that this board wants to have it done or if it's going to be within the

[2:05:22] next 12 months of sometime towards the end of 27 that yep, we're putting it on.

[2:05:30] This is where we're going so we can get to the public uh succinctly educated as

[2:05:35] to what we're facing if we if it's not passed. Absolutely.

[2:05:42] » So, I I guess I'd like to have that time frame uh pretty well in our uh

[2:05:49] administrative report uh sometime as to when we need to absolutely act of to to

[2:05:57] make sure that we don't trip our own selves up.

[2:06:00] I I think we'll be able you know the nice thing in looking ahead at that is

[2:06:05] uh the last time you know we had to do a significant amount of legal research and

[2:06:10] FAQ and you know um really building that

[2:06:15] information. Um luckily I still you know I've kind of maintained sort of a packet

[2:06:21] for that. Um I think the biggest things that'll be so I think most of it's going

[2:06:26] to be able to happen just with just within 28. Still the biggest question

[2:06:29] will be you know do you want August or November of course and then um from

[2:06:35] there just the board especially our our um newer members which not really new

[2:06:40] anymore but kind of new new IST members um there is actually a committee that

[2:06:47] has to be formed that has a predetermined

[2:06:52] membership in terms of the representation. So you and and there's

[2:06:57] different parties that choose different members. So the probate judge has a

[2:07:01] certain appointment, the board makes certain appointments, but basically that

[2:07:05] committee gets together and they actually have to make the recommendation

[2:07:10] for the um tax limitation renewal. So that's the part I think it's a great

[2:07:16] question that I would say at a minimum you know you want to probably do that um

[2:07:22] you know a few months in advance of you know whatever u

[2:07:28] uh ballot you'd want that on >> and that was 2020 was last thought

[2:07:32] correct >> correct

[2:07:36] be >> thank you m chair would it be

[2:07:38] advantageous when we get closer into that to have some type of plan laid out

[2:07:43] of over doing what the plan is to do with that because if we just want to

[2:07:47] reset it, they're going to say why. Like is is there any and I don't know if that

[2:07:53] is the right thing to do or not, but is there any discussion of laying out like

[2:07:56] what these dollars would be allocated towards if you go ahead and renew this?

[2:08:01] I I don't know how that goes. >> Well, I think the the best way would be

[2:08:04] to, you know, again, we we we created a lot of information on that the last

[2:08:08] time. I think the best thing would be to walk through that in terms of, you know,

[2:08:12] okay, let's update this. What do we want? What one of the key things to keep

[2:08:16] in mind though that that I think um it's kind of like the dispatch search charge

[2:08:20] like sometimes you're doing a search charge and people are like, well, it's a

[2:08:22] millage and it's like, well, that's not it's not a millillage. You're actually

[2:08:25] setting a maximum of the search charge. Same thing in this case like in and

[2:08:30] again other there are other counties that it doesn't automatically result in

[2:08:36] a levy. That's the people that's the hardest thing I think for people and

[2:08:39] it's a trust issue too. But so for example you could increase the maximum

[2:08:45] and that's no additional which in many ways I mean again that's

[2:08:49] our goal I would say do recommend you know people look at way they say oh it

[2:08:53] was you know it's less taxes they're not at their limit. It's like, well, yeah,

[2:08:56] because you know, like they're they're not at their limit. And that's so I

[2:08:59] think that's where we want to stay is not necessarily like vote for this and

[2:09:05] it's going to automatically pay for, you know, but but more like we're just

[2:09:10] renewing what they originally set as our limit. You know, they're really putting

[2:09:14] the limit in place. It's just basically keeping it instead beyond, you know,

[2:09:19] with with the headly roll backs. But we did marry that with yes, this will

[2:09:24] create some room and here's some needs identified. So what we did was we built

[2:09:28] those questions into the community survey. We got those results and then

[2:09:33] that translated into okay, if we do have some room in our limit, we'll add some

[2:09:38] deputies do transportation. And so so yeah, there's a process that we can go

[2:09:42] through. And like I said, the nice thing is we've got all the documentation now

[2:09:46] that we used last time. And we we actually even had like a project website

[2:09:49] that we still have that that kind of answered all these questions. So

[2:09:53] » I just think a lot of people don't understand the heavy roll back aspect. A

[2:09:56] lot of the voters don't understand what that is specifically. So

[2:10:00] » but to your point, Commissioner Benique though, I would be a little hesitant to

[2:10:04] just spell it out too specifically because I I don't want to tie our hands

[2:10:09] that it has to be used just for those things because it's a it's a dynamic

[2:10:14] thing. It changes it. constantly and and the priorities um may or may not change.

[2:10:22] Um we could show some of the some of the deficits that we have and and here's the

[2:10:27] need and here's why and here's what this will do,

[2:10:32] but not not to I mean just that's just me talking not to lock it in that we're

[2:10:37] going to specifically use it for this because it could limit what we what we

[2:10:42] do in the future. Makes sense because if something else comes up then we we've

[2:10:46] kind of pigeon our fold ourselves into that. So good point.

[2:10:50] » Point of order. >> Yes.

[2:10:52] » Uh you had mentioned before that we needed to sort of wrap this up by 11:00

[2:10:57] to >> uh get into a close session.

[2:11:00] » We we we we should. Um anything else? Any questions for administration that

[2:11:06] they need to work on before we have our next meeting? I guess we can any

[2:11:10] commissioners have something some homework.

[2:11:14] Administrator Saro >> I would just ask to confirm and again

[2:11:17] this isn't final but next so the plan is next budget next budget meeting would be

[2:11:22] essentially the final in terms of saying yes we authorize this budget to be put

[2:11:26] out for public review and scheduled a public hearing for October. That said

[2:11:32] and I don't I don't really need a formal action here. I just want to make sure

[2:11:34] we're on the same page. So, are you is there any concern with us presenting you

[2:11:40] with a budget then that prioritizes and builds in um you know maintaining

[2:11:46] transportation at at least its current level to make up this roughly 420,000

[2:11:52] gap which in turn will also bring in an additional 400,000 in federal and state

[2:11:56] fund. Is anybody concerned with us presenting you that budget to maintain

[2:12:02] that service for 27? >> No. and looking around the room by head

[2:12:06] nods. I think that's a good uh plan forward and that way it gets out there

[2:12:10] and we can work with it from there. >> I think that was really the biggest

[2:12:14] thing. I mean, of course, if there's other details stuff we can, you know,

[2:12:18] talk about the next meeting, but uh that's helpful. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[2:12:23] » Okay, moving along on the agenda. Um we have

[2:12:27] no action items, no planning items. It brings us down to public participation.

[2:12:32] Um, is there anyone that would like to address the board of commissioners at

[2:12:36] this time? Seeing none in the boardroom, Mr. Sedor,

[2:12:41] is there anyone online seeking recognition?

[2:12:45] » Not that's seeking recognition, Mr. Chair.

[2:12:47] » Okay. Thank you. Uh, future agenda items. Uh,

[2:12:52] Commissioner Lobers, we do the opening prayer. Um, we'll have our consent

[2:12:56] items. Um action items will be the final budget and set the public hearing for

[2:13:02] 2027. Uh is there any requests for mileage at

[2:13:06] this time? Seeing none boards and commission

[2:13:11] reports.

[2:13:15] Seeing none in the interest of time. Thank goodness. Um

[2:13:20] any any discussions for round table amongst commissioners?

[2:13:26] » Commissioner lovers >> um yesterday I had privilege of seeing

[2:13:31] the I've been to it before but the uh G Lake Drive did the surgeon release at at

[2:13:36] New Richmond County Park which is kind of neat to see. They do a little

[2:13:41] ceremony with some music and you know the the ways of the tribe what they do

[2:13:46] and and it was kind of neat if you ever get a chance another year to to to

[2:13:50] witness it. It's kind of cool and they were 16 sturgeon like that. So anyway,

[2:13:55] just wanted to mention that that it's kind of a neat opportunity to attend.

[2:14:00] Thank you. Commissioner Dugan, >> I'd like to recognize Whitney Heirsman

[2:14:06] uh as to her recognition nationally uh for the dedication that she has shown uh

[2:14:13] providing our transportation and Dan's hiring for uh compliment him on looking

[2:14:19] at uh finding real talent and u thanking her for uh bringing a lot of honor back

[2:14:26] to Alo County. >> Good. Anything else for round table?

[2:14:36] Seeing none, that takes us down to next on the agenda would be close session.

[2:14:42] Commissioner Dugan. >> Move. I move at this time to go into

[2:14:45] close session for the purpose of collective bargaining report by the

[2:14:51] administrator. >> Moved by Commissioner Dugan to go into

[2:14:54] that collective bargaining close session. Is there a second?

[2:14:58] » Second. Commissioner Van Beek seconds that any discussion.

[2:15:05] Seeing none, um before we vote on this, just so the listening audience knows, um

[2:15:12] once we return back from our close session, we'll immediately adjourn. So

[2:15:16] there'll be no other no um other business uh discussed at our meeting

[2:15:20] today. So, we have a I have a motion by

[2:15:24] Commissioner Dugan, a second by Commissioner Van Bele to go into close

[2:15:28] session for collective bargaining. Um, any discussion?

[2:15:33] Seeing none. All those in favor, please say yes. Opposed.

[2:15:38] Okay. Turn to the back commission. I was done

[2:15:44] in

Board Meeting_2026-09-03

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