[0:03] probably won't donate to nothing next year.

[0:05] » Yeah, saw you were uh a little upset, rightfully so.

[0:10] » I'm pretty sure I'm done. >> Yeah, I would blame you.

[0:12] » I might be able to head to Fairberry more often to other places and take the

[0:17] weight on Saturday someday. >> Yeah, I don't blame you at all. It's a

[0:22] pretty thankless job. I already got one of those. You don't need to know.

[0:27] » Are you ready? >> Yeah.

[0:31] » Meeting will come to order. It's Montcom County Board of Commissioners regular

[0:34] meeting for Monday, August 24th. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance,

[0:37] please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to

[0:43] the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty

[0:51] for all. That's Chairman Peterson. >> Pastor Dennis Ross from Neans Lake

[0:55] Church. Lead some in prayer, please. >> Heavenly Father, we thank you for this

[0:59] county that seeks to begin a meeting like this in prayer honoring you. Pray

[1:05] that in turn your favor would be upon our board of commissioners and on our

[1:08] county that you would bless them with wisdom far beyond their own that they

[1:12] would accomplish that which is most pleasing to you, most beneficial to all

[1:15] here. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. >> Thank you.

[1:23] Roll call.

[1:26] » Alexander >> Johnston

[1:30] » here. >> Peterson.

[1:32] » Yes, ma'am. >> Johnson

[1:33] » here. >> Mahar

[1:35] » here. >> Carr,

[1:36] » yes. >> Murray

[1:37] » here. And we have a quorum

[1:44] on tonight's agenda. I don't have any changes. Does anyone else?

[1:48] » Mr. Chairman, >> Commissioner Johnston,

[1:51] » have moved to approve today's meeting agenda as presented.

[1:54] » It's been moved and supported to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting as

[1:58] presented. Discussion >> hearing no discussion. All those in

[2:03] favor say I. >> I.

[2:04] » I. >> Opposed.

[2:06] Motion carried. Everyone have a copy of the meeting minutes of the last meeting,

[2:11] August 10th. >> Mr. Chair,

[2:14] » Commissioner Johnston, >> I'd move to approve our uh regular board

[2:18] minute minutes from August 10th, 2026 as presented.

[2:23] » It's been moved and supported to approve the minutes of the last meeting August

[2:26] 10th, 2026 as presented. Discussion. If not, all those in favor say I. I.

[2:34] » Opposed? Motion carried. Public comments.

[2:45] » In October of 2025, House Bill 4706 passed.

[2:51] That was the state legislature that gave out uh

[3:02] $42 million. Uh plus some for the fiscal year

[3:09] 2026 to be uh shared to cities, villages, and

[3:14] townships. Payments are based on each local unit share violent crime count as

[3:20] certified by state Michigan Department of State Police for the calendar year

[3:25] 2022, 2023, 2024.

[3:30] And then it is the requirements and restrictions of the use of this fund.

[3:35] And then it goes in 75% should be used for law enforcement and 25% used for

[3:42] non-law enforcement related public safety purposes.

[3:46] Well, then I went and looked up the crime for the uh state of Michigan

[3:52] police and nowhere when they had the category have like murder

[3:58] and assault. Nowhere was there anywhere thing about any animal or any dog bites.

[4:04] Uh, it says here when I looked it up, is dog bites considered a violent crime?

[4:10] No. Do bites and animal attacks are typically handled under public health

[4:14] regulations. Local animal control ordinance strictly

[4:20] civil strict liability blah blah blah blah or

[4:24] specific nonviolent criminal misdemeanor. So the dog bit lights and

[4:29] all that is not under the violent portion of what the legislators passed.

[4:34] Now the legislators are doing elective officials who represent a republic of

[4:39] Michigan Republican form of government and he passed the money to you and you

[4:44] were supposed to appropriate it properly. But you did you just did what

[4:48] you wanted to do. You gave it to the dog house. And then

[4:53] I looked up and I found this today back in uh couple years ago with the car

[5:00] talking about chair car stated that is the board's millage and this is the

[5:06] sheriff's mill and the board does not need the sheriff's permission to spread

[5:11] millet money. to see if the board can direct the controllers to use those

[5:15] funds has there not been consistently consistency on how the funds have been

[5:21] spent. Then commissioner Mar stated that he thought this would be more to

[5:26] chairman car like has even been wanting to share

[5:31] on the use of the funds. So then even when you get the uh franchise

[5:40] voters the state of Montana voter village car just get just do what I

[5:46] want. I just put it wherever I want. I don't need the sheriff's approval. And

[5:51] so you disenfranchise not only Rick Senator Rick Alman and Representative

[5:56] Pat Alman because they voted for this in the first place. He also uh disappointed

[6:03] M say hey look we don't pay attention we say we do what we want what we think is

[6:09] right even though it's outlined even the department president put it out then

[6:19] » okay >> I had to ask this question yeah with

[6:23] conscious pilot as I've asked you Mr. car. Are you a king?

[6:31] » Any other public comments? Yes, sir.

[6:37] I uh [clears throat] saw the article in a paper a few days ago about the

[6:43] millillage and I uh saw there were people con concerned about why it didn't

[6:50] pass and stuff like that and my wife and I looked at that and I we

[6:57] voted against it and the reason was to me and her and I think maybe some other

[7:04] It looked like you were saying we're not going to give you the basic 45 if you

[7:08] don't give us the 0.25 and we kind of felt we were getting

[7:13] hijacked by

[7:16] trying to say if we don't get it all you don't get anything and we're not going

[7:21] to have anything. And I see now you're going to go back to the uh 045.

[7:26] And I just I think had it been presented as two separate things linked together

[7:34] in some way like a 045 and the 0.25 saying this is what we have now. We kind

[7:43] of really want to do this. These are other things that we want to do and we

[7:47] would like to get the 0.25 for that. I think I think it would have gone over

[7:52] better. And I see now since you're just going for the uh the 045 I it may be too

[7:58] late. I don't know what the schedule is for things. You might want to consider

[8:03] making a point45 and a 0.25. I keep forgetting the

[8:08] numbers. I'm sorry. And try to explain to people that you know

[8:16] this is what you didn't approve because we didn't approve what we did and this

[8:21] is what more we need. but put it in two packages and and let it go from there.

[8:26] [clears throat] Um and uh I I guess I can't remember was

[8:32] someone in her off controller tater's office or Pam Shock said you know they

[8:37] were afraid senior citiz citizens wouldn't understand that. Well, my

[8:43] wife's 80. I'll be 80 in October. And we kind of understand what was going on.

[8:47] And I think enough people would understand what you're trying to do that

[8:51] you could probably have a better chance of asking them.

[8:54] » Okay. >> And you know, I was going to tell you a

[8:57] very funny joke for 30 seconds that this first made me think of little kid to ask

[9:02] his mom for something. She says, "I don't have the money for it. Pray to

[9:06] Jesus." And he starts writing down this pay and then this one. and he decides

[9:11] none of this is going to work for him because he's kind of a little

[9:13] troublemaker. And finally, he looks up, he grabs the statue of Jesus off the

[9:21] uh desk, puts it on the floor, puts the trash basket over, and says, "Dear God,

[9:26] if you ever want to see your son again," [laughter]

[9:30] so I mean I and truly that was kind of the first thing I thought of. And you

[9:35] know, I'm not I'm not trying to make fun of anything, but I just thought there

[9:39] was there was some of that in the way that last one was proposed. And I would

[9:44] just ask that you consider splitting it like that.

[9:49] » Sir, could we get I know you filled out a card, but could we get your name and

[9:53] address just for the record? >> Cliff Pedor, 9455 River Road,

[9:57] Greenville, 4883. >> Very good. Thank you. Any other public

[10:01] comments?

[10:06] If not, we've got a 405 agenda item, a public hearing to discuss the 27

[10:13] proposed budget. >> Mr. Chairman,

[10:16] » Vice Chairman Peterson, >> I move to open a public hearing to hear

[10:19] the fiscal year 2027 proposed budget. >> It's been moved and supported to open a

[10:26] public hearing to discuss the 2027 proposed budget.

[10:31] discussion >> restart.

[10:36] » If there's no discussion, all those in favor say I.

[10:39] » I. >> Motion carried. We're in a we're now in

[10:43] a public hearing to discuss the 20 27 fiscal year budget. Is there anyone

[10:49] in the audience that has a comment or a question related to the 27 budget?

[10:57] If not, I'll turn it over to the controller for the high points of what

[11:01] we're approving tonight. >> All right. So, firstly, there is a

[11:04] couple loose pages on your desk, pages 25 and 29 that I need to uh swap out

[11:10] with pages 25 and 29 that are in the in the packet document.

[11:15] um there were mistakes on those pages that

[11:19] I was trying to get ahead of something and then that didn't end up happening

[11:24] for our court security staff out there. Um the uh letter of agreement we had for

[11:30] the one full-time position out there had expired at the end of last year. Um, so

[11:35] I was trying to cover our basis and add him as a non-union to the scale

[11:41] so we would have something legitimized, memorialized.

[11:46] But I got word from the union today that they are willing to um

[11:52] do a new letter of agreement to keep that position on under the terms of the

[11:58] contract in section 15.7 for temporary employees. So those pages just need to

[12:03] be swapped out for each other. Okay. >> Um doesn't didn't affect the budget

[12:08] numbers at all. Um so basically I ended up with a surplus

[12:14] of about $13,000. Um

[12:19] nothing changed as far as the numbers from your last meeting.

[12:24] Um I'm trying to think. We didn't hear any

[12:29] arguments at the last meeting, did we? The October or the August 10th pretty

[12:34] much. So, it's pretty much rubber stamped from that meeting. And the memo

[12:38] kind of goes into detail. It hits all the high points within each

[12:42] I'm going to say fund as far as expenditures and revenue. um what union

[12:48] contracts rates are going to be at the first of the year and when they're in in

[12:51] expiration dates are some of the classification and other items that we

[12:57] did approve or you approved. Um and then it just kind of runs through each fund

[13:03] what I thought were the the bigger more important funds as far as what the what

[13:07] the budget was approved at revenue and expenditure.

[13:11] Um but other than that the fee schedule is

[13:15] what you guys agreed to at the last meeting. There are um salary wage and

[13:21] salary schedules in there now at the back in the supplemental staffing

[13:25] control summary. So everything is there as it has been

[13:30] for the past I don't know seven years. Same document.

[13:38] » Anyone have any questions for the controller?

[13:46] You want to leave the public hearing open for a time and move on to the next

[13:51] item and come back to the >> I think that's pretty standard to what

[13:55] we normally do. >> One more chance. Yeah. Okay. We'll leave

[13:58] the public hearing open. We'll move on to our 410 agenda item. We have uh

[14:03] William Hendrian from MSU Extension and guests. It looks like welcome

[14:10] » staff. If it's okay, Cher Car, we could just do it here and then

[14:14] » Okay, >> we can maybe hear from staff.

[14:16] » Whatever works for you. >> I appreciate that. And

[14:21] got to Steve and Vicki and Sheila and Sunny and I'll let them introduce

[14:27] themselves to you, but I thought it'd be nice, one of my favorite times every

[14:30] month is our staff meeting and I, you know, we go through the normal business

[14:35] stuff like you all do, but then I get an opportunity to hear what they're doing

[14:39] currently. some updates and then I get an opportunity to ask questions and I

[14:43] always think that's a that would be a great opportunity for you all to to kind

[14:48] of ease drop and hear what's going on. So I thought we'd just do a touch of

[14:51] that mindful of the time today. But just uh first of all we're very grateful for

[14:57] the continued support from the county and from uh this body. We did program in

[15:03] 2025 in all four areas of our disciplines agriculture and agra

[15:08] business health and nutrition children and youth development and um I'll just

[15:14] say natural resources whatever it's another community food and

[15:19] environment is the institute name but we did that and you've got just a a couple

[15:24] samples of different things that we did throughout the year in addition to some

[15:30] numbers I just want to highlight two things and

[15:33] then I'll move on from there. But number one, I put in a page about the master

[15:37] gardeners because they really do a lot and they are overseen by Brent Crane

[15:41] who's the consumer horiculturalist that's in our Ingram office, but they

[15:47] logged 6,684 volunteer hours, which is just

[15:50] outstanding. So, I just want to give a shout out to all the extension master.

[15:54] That's [clears throat] number one. Number two, just a little anecdotal

[15:57] story from one of our other educators, Tom Guthrie, who's actually not in this

[16:03] county either, but he got a call from uh someone who has horses in Howard City,

[16:11] and the horses were coming up lane. The vets suspected that it might be

[16:16] something in the field. Tom drove all the way up, and it's it's close to two

[16:20] hours, I think, from where he actually is. any identified u

[16:25] I can't even say alysum is that close to that Steve might know

[16:30] » I think it's >> but anyway that was that was causing

[16:32] them to come up lame and and he had noticed that the tops had been grazed

[16:37] off and they're able to get out there and eradicate that but that's just an

[16:41] example of some of the other things that happen all the time when I get a call

[16:45] send somebody out but with that I' invite Sunday we didn't it was like

[16:50] church went to the back row [laughter] >> and just say a couple things about

[16:55] what's going on currently in about maybe and then we'll follow with that.

[17:00] » Hi everyone. >> Hello.

[17:02] » I'm also going to speak on the blessings pantry because Vicki's like you can do

[17:05] that. So [laughter] I want to say thank you for allowing us

[17:07] to do the blessings pantry um since uh November I want to say when we kind of

[17:13] started it. um Thanksgiving. >> Gosh, yeah. Pre-Thanksgiving we had uh

[17:19] gosh, at least I would say four or 500 items that were kind of shared within

[17:24] the community. Um we delivered some to those that could make it this way. Um we

[17:29] also had plenty of clubs kind of like uh oh, what's the word? Like adopt almost a

[17:35] family. And so we had like some families that had very specific needs and there

[17:39] were some clubs that that delivered those specific needs to that family. So,

[17:43] I thought that was pretty cool. And since then, we've had um I don't know,

[17:46] probably about two to three people a week come in to either drop some food

[17:51] off or pick stuff up. It's also been really fun to like some people will

[17:55] bring in like, "Oh, can I bring this bike in?" And another person will walk

[17:57] by and be like, "Oh my gosh, I need this bike for my kid. Like, go ahead, take

[18:00] it. Oh, I have another one at the house." So, it's kind of like a non

[18:04] embarrassing way to kind of like barter and trade without having that um

[18:08] embarrassing interaction. So, I thought that was kind of cool as well. Um during

[18:12] fair we had a really great year. Uh the weather was perfect and I think that

[18:16] kind of um made the the emotions and and friendliness even better. Um we had a

[18:22] huge turnout. Uh we did a new thing this year which is like a pee-wee program. Um

[18:27] so it kind of introduces younger kids that can't join 4 yet or maybe younger

[18:31] siblings like gives them a little bit of introduction to family um the the

[18:36] programming itself and also like how to care for animals and the fun things that

[18:39] they learn along with 4. and we had roughly 25 kids come to that. Um we did

[18:44] a special needs day there as well where we had about 140 participants. Um and

[18:48] then our kids day was huge. We had about 600 participants for our kids day or

[18:52] that's how many turned in for the free um ice cream at the end. Um but uh

[18:57] recently Yeah, exactly. So recently um Mary Nightingale, she was our 4er of the

[19:02] year. She was presented an award from Patman as well. So that's huge. Um he

[19:06] came all the way from Lancing just to give it to her. So I thought that was

[19:08] even cooler. Um, and then also we have a bake off coming up October 18th if

[19:13] anyone's interested in judging for that. But, um, yeah, we have a lot of cool

[19:16] stuff going on and we are very appreciative of you guys allowing us to

[19:20] continue.

[19:32] » Good afternoon. Thank you for having MSU Extension and myself. I really

[19:36] appreciate it. Uh, my name is Steve Whittington. Um, I work for Michigan

[19:39] State Extension. I'm a field crops educator, extension educator, excuse me.

[19:45] And, uh, essentially what that means is, um, I am a representative of MSU that

[19:49] works with local farmers and I try to be a subject matter expert in all things

[19:54] agriculture related. So, um, I deal with a lot of, uh, uh, farmers that bring me

[20:00] problems. I'm thankful that they bring me problems uh, and I aim and and hope

[20:04] to help solve them. So, one of the things that I wanted to mention, we just

[20:08] had this approximately two weeks ago, was our very successful potato field

[20:13] day. I hope you've heard of the potato field day. Um, I hope you've heard of

[20:17] the Montcom research facility um over there near Entric. Um, and that's where

[20:22] we have it every year. And I wanted to share with you a few insights on that

[20:25] potato field day um as well as a few other of my programs that that I help

[20:30] manage right here in Mount Colm County or in this region. Um so the potato

[20:34] field day brings the potato industry together at the Montcom research center

[20:37] first Thursday of u of the year in August. Um and we had 104 participants

[20:44] in that field day. Uh we have folks attend from Michigan, Canada, uh even

[20:49] the Dakotas come over um uh each and every year and uh centered around potato

[20:55] education. Um Montcom County is the number one output producer of potatoes.

[21:00] So it's a pretty important commodity for us.

[21:02] And uh there's a lot of problem sets that go along with that. Deteriorating

[21:06] uh soil fertility and soil til. Potato production is really rough on the soil.

[21:11] Um but uh as Americans, we love potatoes. So we try to uh keep our

[21:15] production in motion. Um dealing with a whole myriad of other issues like how to

[21:19] store potatoes properly. Um how to maximize our storeability in terms of

[21:24] length of time. Um disease mitigation. Um how to optimize our irrigation and

[21:29] natural resource usage. uh making our producers able to use the natural

[21:33] resources that they have on their land more efficiently. Um we addressed all

[21:38] those problem sets at the potato field day on August 6th. Um and I little

[21:43] biased but I would say it's very successful and I love putting together

[21:47] those types of programs for our farmers. I think that u it's a very difficult

[21:52] time and continues to be a difficult time to be a producer in the

[21:56] agricultural space in the United States. So

[21:59] any resource, anything that I can add value to the agriculture space of Mont

[22:05] County is a uh a big win for me, for Bill, and for the the MSU extension uh

[22:11] in Mont County. Um I also do just briefly um our restricted use pesticide

[22:16] review down there at the Montcom Community College in Sydney. And I'm

[22:19] also working to put together um some uh it's called a planning for profit

[22:25] workshop essentially addressing farm profitability uh for the future at Mont

[22:29] Community College as well. Uh bringing the community in and trying to get our

[22:34] younger generation in the reigns of these farms or starting their own

[22:37] enterprises and endeavors. So um a lot of really great things going on in the

[22:41] agricultural space. I could stand up here for uh probably close to the whole

[22:45] hour and talk to you about it. I'd love that. If you ever want to have me back,

[22:48] I'd love to do that. But if you have um farmers in need or if you've got any

[22:52] other further questions about the agriculture space here um please don't

[22:56] hesitate to reach out to me. I'm just down there on the first floor in the MCM

[23:00] MSU extension office. And again, my name is Steve Whittington and I appreciate

[23:04] your time here today. >> Thank you, Steve.

[23:07] » Yes, >> I just said thanks.

[23:09] » Yes.

[23:19] Well, hello everyone. Um, I'm Sheila Heert. I'm a health educator with MSU

[23:23] Extension. So, we work with health from for all ages from the little littles all

[23:28] the way to the top. And so, um, here in Mount Kong County just recently um about

[23:32] two weeks ago, we were at a health fair. We saw 224

[23:37] um families um and help them with various health things regarding

[23:41] nutrition. Um, and then some work that I specifically do works a little bit more

[23:46] with elderly populations. So, I teach Taichi because we all know that as we

[23:51] age, balance, um, things like that could become issues. So, we teach numerous

[23:56] programs around balance. We have a matter of balance program, Tai Chi, um,

[24:01] as well as numerous other health programs related to nutrition. We have

[24:06] diabetes programs, chronic pain, self-management programs, chronic

[24:12] disease programs, um as well as sleep because we all lots of lots of people

[24:16] struggle with sleep. So, sleep programs. So, we offer a variety of programs

[24:21] around health. Um and most of my programs are offered both online or in

[24:26] person so we can hopefully reach out to more people. Um, we often offer our

[24:31] programs at libraries, um, some of the libraries around here, um, so we can

[24:36] really meet people where they're at and they can find our services and and be

[24:41] part of them. >> Thanks, Sheila. Thank you.

[24:45] » And one more shout out, Shannon Stover couldn't be here. Shannon is also with

[24:49] the Health Institute and she does a lot of

[24:53] preservation uh, classes uh, which food preservation classes which are really

[24:58] cool. mentor goes back to the heart in the history of extension does a lot of

[25:03] work in Mome County. So I thought it'd be nice to bring some of the folks to

[25:06] tell you and so you could hear what I hear the variety program that we do. And

[25:10] with that, are there any questions for anybody while we got here?

[25:18] » Good. >> All right. Well, thank you for the time.

[25:21] » Very well. Well, thank you.

[25:29] » Up next is tonight cor tonight's correspondence. Vice Chairman Peterson,

[25:34] please. >> All righty. Um, first up on page 65

[25:40] is going to be an appeal of the FOYA denial um, supplemental request one and

[25:46] two. Brenda, if you'd like to speak to that at all.

[25:49] » All right. So, uh, the our attorney is recommending a couple different motions

[25:54] and one of them is really long. So, so the first motion that he's recommending

[26:00] related to the August 8th appeal is to confirm that the county has granted the

[26:06] request to Mr. Mason's August 8th FOYA appeal for the county to provide a

[26:10] response to his original foyer request dated July 17th, his supplemental foyer

[26:15] request one dated July 20th, and his supplemental request two dated August

[26:20] 1st by action of Mont County Sheriff's Office.

[26:25] his foyer coordinator in the in the sheriff's office foyer coordinator who

[26:29] provided a written foyer response letter to Mr. Mason on August 13th and directed

[26:34] the county controller administrator provide a written notice to Mr. Mason

[26:38] informing him of the board of commissioners confirmation of the grant

[26:42] of his August 8th Foya appeal.

[26:47] So that's the first motion they want us to make.

[26:50] » Do you want me to make that motion before you read the next one?

[26:53] » Yeah, because the next one's super long. I would I would make the motion uh that

[26:58] Brenda just read. >> I'll hand I'll hand these off to you.

[27:04] » It's been moved and supported to help me Brenda basically acknowledge the

[27:09] granting of the FOYA appeal from August 8th.

[27:14] » Correct.

[27:17] » Discussion. I know we have the sheriff with us just

[27:21] under discussion. Does that seem consistent with your

[27:24] » I guess I'm not sure what um you know I guess I don't know what

[27:30] appeal does >> I think it's just an acknowledgement

[27:36] » was in fact he asked you to

[27:42] » I got this 10 minutes before the meeting started so

[27:47] » we nothing glaring stands out with this

[27:52] being inconsistent with that action though.

[27:59] » Well, we're all we're all kind of under the gun with the lateness of receiving

[28:03] this. I guess we're going to proceed assuming that the the attorney

[28:09] is uh advising us to the best uh visibility or best what's best for us.

[28:18] And I think that's referenced in this letter that they want us to send to Mr.

[28:23] Mason tonight. >> Is there any other discussion on that

[28:27] first motion? >> If not, all those in favor say I.

[28:31] » Opposed. >> Motion carried.

[28:34] » All right. So, the next one is in regards to Mr. Mason's August 13th

[28:38] appeal. >> This one's long. Um, number one, request

[28:43] for relief. Number one and number two, uphold the Monte County Sheriff's Office

[28:48] FOYA coordinator's denial of all of Mr. Mason's request and his original foyer

[28:53] request dated July 17th, his supplemental foyer request number one

[28:57] dated July 20th, and his supplemental foyer request number two dated August

[29:02] 1st, including but not limited to the denial of item number four in Mr.

[29:06] Mason's supplemental foyer request number two dated August 1st, that Mr.

[29:11] Mr. Mason specifically challenged in his August 13th FOYA appeal and deny Mr.

[29:16] Mason's request for the board to direct to the Mont County Sheriff's Office FOYA

[29:20] coordinator to undertake a renewed search of records responsive to item

[29:25] three of Mr. Mason's supplemental foyer request number two dated August 1st and

[29:30] item three of Mr. Mason's original foyer request dated July 17th based on the

[29:35] following findings of fact. Number one, Bonham County Sheriff's Office denied

[29:41] all of Mr. Mason's request in his original foyer request dated July 17th,

[29:45] his supplemental foyer request number one dated July 20th, and his

[29:49] supplemental request number two dated August 1st for various types of records

[29:54] related to operation the operation of the Central Michigan Enforcement Team in

[29:59] Ionia County on August 4th, 5th of 2014 and July 26 and 27th of 2018. Number

[30:07] two, Montan County Sheriff's Office was not involved in any operation of the

[30:11] cement. I'm going to call Central Michigan Enforcement Team Cement from

[30:14] here on out in August 2014 or July 2018. Number three, the county does not have

[30:21] any records related to any August 4th and 5th, 2014 or July 26th, 27th, 2018

[30:28] operations conducted by CMAT in Ioni County because Mont County Sheriff's

[30:32] Office was not involved in those operations. Number four, accordingly,

[30:36] the MCOM County Sheriff's Office FOYA coordinator provided a written foyer

[30:40] response letter to Mr. Mason on August 13th that denied all of his requests on

[30:45] the basis that responsive records did not exist within the MCOM County

[30:49] Sheriff's Office. Number five, the MCOM County Sheriff's Office FOIA coordinator

[30:54] enclosed redacted copies of the MCOM County Sheriff's Office Law Enforcement

[30:58] schedule for August 2014 and July 2018 with the August 13th foyer response

[31:04] letter to show Mr. Mason that Mcom County Sheriff's Office personnel were

[31:09] not involved in any SEMA operations in the months of August 2014 or July 2018,

[31:15] including the specific dates identified by Mr.

[31:19] Mason number six. Therefore, the MCOM County Sheriff's Office foyer

[31:25] coordinator's denial of Mr. Mason's requests, including but not limited to

[31:29] the denial of item number four of his supplemental request, number two was

[31:35] proper and Mr. Mason's request for the county to undertake a renewed search for

[31:39] item three of Mr. Mason's original request and item three of Mr.

[31:44] Supplemental request number two should be denied because the county was not

[31:48] involved with and accordingly does not have any records related to the cement

[31:53] operations that are the subject of Mr. Mason's requests as demonstrated in the

[31:58] redacted Montcom County Sheriff's Office law enforcement schedules for August

[32:02] 2014 and July 2018 that was previously provided to Mr. Mason

[32:13] » kind of the same thing. Sheriff, you don't see anything there that's

[32:16] inconsistent with >> So, we have a person and have had a

[32:20] person that's assigned to there are no records which are kept of cement

[32:26] operations or anything agency. [clears throat]

[32:32] » You know, I don't know. Is Mr. Mason here? just have a conversation about

[32:39] we don't keep that stuff that's >> a different

[32:43] whether or not they were involved in this

[32:45] » I don't know >> right

[32:47] » we don't have any record we don't keep those records

[32:50] » yep that's what I believe the gist of this is

[32:54] » just a long drawn out response >> I'm not sure what you said

[33:00] » so we need a motion to accept that recommendation as Well,

[33:04] » yeah. >> So moved.

[33:07] » Support. >> It's been moved and supported to accept

[33:10] the attorney's second recommendation related to the foyer appeal of Mr. Paul

[33:15] Mason in Clinton or Lake Adessa, Michigan.

[33:20] » Discussion.

[33:23] If there's no further discussion, all those in favor say I.

[33:26] » I. >> Opposed.

[33:29] » Motion carried. >> That's all on that, right Brend?

[33:32] » So yeah. So, you have a copy of the letter that I will be putting on our

[33:34] letterhead and emailing to Mr. Mason tonight because it had to be done by the

[33:38] end of the day today. >> Okay.

[33:40] » So, yeah, I'm done. >> All right. Next up, page 69. Um, the

[33:45] Ottawa Juvenile Detention Center renewal request. Uh, this is more of a this is

[33:51] what we're going to do, not a question because I don't think there's too many

[33:55] options. Correct, Brenda? >> Correct. Yeah,

[33:57] » it's official on state state state of Michigan letterhead. So, um, if you look

[34:03] there, the daily bed rental rental will be 340 a day and the rise uh, treatment

[34:09] programming will be 390 a day. >> And those increases went from 290 and

[34:14] 340. >> So, 50 bucks each.

[34:19] » Nice. And that's over how many how how long is this contract for?

[34:23] » Three years. >> Three years. Okay.

[34:27] So, uh, if nobody has anything on that, I would move to, uh, allow for the

[34:34] appropriate signatures the Ottawa Juvenile Detention Center renewal

[34:38] request and accept it as presented.

[34:43] » Support. >> It's been moved and supported.

[34:47] Discussion.

[34:50] If not, all those in favor say I. >> I.

[34:53] » Opposed? >> Motion carried.

[34:56] » Okay. Next page 78. Um, Fairplains Township Junk and Rubbish Ordinance

[35:01] Agreement. Uh, we've done it seems like one of the at least one of these at the

[35:05] last two or three meetings. So, if nobody has anything on that, I would

[35:10] move to accept the Fairplane Township junk and rubbish ordinance agreement and

[35:14] allow for the appropriate signatures. Support.

[35:17] » It's been moved and supported. Discussion.

[35:20] » Yeah, Mr. Chair. >> Is this our sixth or seventh one we've

[35:23] had signed on? Now, do you know?

[35:32] Okay. Any other discussion? >> If not, all those in favor say I.

[35:38] » I. I. >> Opposed.

[35:40] » Motion carried. >> Okay. Page 95. Um, the pay special

[35:45] assessment payoff. PK Cambridge Court LP has paid off their pay special

[35:50] assessment loan early. Uh Mary Freeman and Lean in Green Michigan LLC who

[35:55] administers the PACE program for our area is requesting that Chairman Carr

[35:59] sign off on the discharge and release of special assessment. Uh that is attached

[36:04] for your review. The clerk will need to notoriize uh Chairman Carr's signature

[36:09] if we approve and it will have to be released through the registered deeds

[36:14] office as well. Does anybody have anything on that?

[36:21] Then I would move to authorize Chairman Card to sign the discharge and release

[36:24] of special assessment for PK Cambridge Court LP as presented. Support.

[36:30] » It's been moved and supported. Discussion.

[36:37] » Hearing no discussion. All those in favor say I.

[36:40] » I. >> Opposed.

[36:41] » Motion carried. >> Okay. Next on page 101, the materials

[36:45] management planning committee has recommended the appointment of Charity

[36:48] Suite, manager of operations Isabella Material Recovery Facility with a term

[36:53] to expire on December 31st, 2028. Charity Charity is uh filling the

[36:59] vacancy due to Jake Borton retiring. Does anybody have anything on that?

[37:05] Then I would move to approve the appointment of Charity Suite to the

[37:08] materials management planning committee with a term to expire 1231 2028.

[37:13] Support. >> It's been moved and supported.

[37:16] Discussion.

[37:21] If not, all those in favor say I. >> I.

[37:24] » Opposed the same. >> Motion carried.

[37:28] » Okay. Next up, page 102. Uh, the Ioni Mont Department of Health and Human

[37:32] Services has recommended the reappoint of Brian Decracker for another

[37:35] three-year term to expire on October 31st, 2029.

[37:40] Does anybody have anything for that? Hear nothing. Then I would move to

[37:46] approve the appointment of Brian Decracker to the Ionia MCOM Department

[37:49] of Health and Human Services Board with a term to expire on at 10:31 2029.

[37:55] Support. >> It's been moved and supported.

[37:58] discussion.

[38:02] [snorts] All those in favor say I.

[38:05] » I. >> I.

[38:06] » Opposed. >> Motion carried.

[38:08] » All right. Starting on page 103, everyone's favorite warrant reports.

[38:13] First up, warrant report 08132026 in the amount of $1,59,39953.

[38:22] Secondly, warrant report 082026 or 082026

[38:30] the amount of $273,838.11.

[38:34] And finally, warrant report 08242026 in the amount of $499,371.86

[38:44] for a grand total of 1,832,69.50.

[38:50] » Correct. Perfect. If no one has anything regarding the

[38:55] warrant reports, I would move to approve and allow for the appropriate

[38:59] signatures. Support.

[39:02] » It's been moved and supported to approve the three warrant reports and obtain the

[39:05] appropriate signatures. The amount totaling 1,832,6950.

[39:13] Discussion.

[39:18] If there's no discussion, all those in favor say I.

[39:21] » I. >> Opposed.

[39:23] » Motion carried. >> Okay. And then the consent agenda items

[39:27] 10 through 20 uh includes a couple of resolutions

[39:31] um from us. Uh the L4029 and some reports if anybody has anything

[39:39] on that. If not, I would move to place items 10 through 20 of the consent

[39:46] agenda on file. It's been moved and supported to place

[39:50] items 10 through 20 of the consent agenda on file. Discussion.

[39:56] » If not, all those in favor say I. >> I.

[39:59] » I. >> Opposed?

[40:01] » Motion carried. >> And finally, uh, for your information is

[40:04] just the Veterans Affair Advisory Board minutes from July 9th. No resolutions

[40:08] from other counties. If no one has anything else, that will be your board

[40:13] correspondence for Monday, August 24th. Thank you, Vice Chairman Peterson.

[40:19] » Thank you.

[40:23] » Up next is committee reports. We don't have anything after that is new

[40:27] business. Item one, clerk correspondence.

[40:30] » Have none. >> Okay. Item two, controller

[40:33] correspondence. >> I have a couple things. Um, just wanted

[40:36] to point out that invitation from the conservation district that I placed on

[40:40] everyone's desk. So, make sure you see that. Um, I did get a response. I let

[40:45] Eagle know that we weren't interested in having a

[40:49] test a monitoring site basically in Crown Park and asked them if uh they

[40:55] could let us know do do we really h have an old one there and could you rehab it

[41:01] if we do and um their response was that they would research it to find out

[41:08] um and then asked if if we wanted how did she word it? Um,

[41:14] one of our geologists could help inspect the area if you'd like.

[41:21] Do you want them to come on and inspect the area or just look at their records?

[41:25] I haven't responded yet.

[41:31] » I would say just check the records. Be my opinion.

[41:33] » Search their paper records. Okay. I >> mean, if there's anything out there that

[41:37] we can see, one of us can see it, >> right? I don't think there's any reason

[41:41] to get them out there, but >> concur with that or

[41:45] » just have them go through here. >> Okay.

[41:47] » And then the other item I received on that come in

[41:54] uh the 21st deputy that was last Friday, correct? Um Fraternal Order of Police

[42:00] Union is respectfully requesting that we open contract negotiations

[42:06] as their contract expires at the end of this year. Um, so the members that are

[42:10] on that, Chris, Adam, and Pat, I think there's some backups. I don't

[42:16] know who. Is it you and Matt? Maybe. >> I'm not sure who the who the I'd have to

[42:20] look it up. When do you want to do that? You want to me to respond and say, "Give

[42:27] me some dates in September. Give me some dates in October. When do you want to

[42:30] start soon?"

[42:34] » Anytime there may, I guess. >> Yeah. I mean, I can make anything work,

[42:38] I guess. I'd say get give us some options on their first availability and

[42:43] we can go from there. >> Okay. All right. All right. We'll reach

[42:46] back out to them then. That's all I >> All right. Item three is chair or board

[42:52] correspondence. I don't have anything. Anyone else on the board? Any

[42:55] correspondence?

[43:00] Old business is next. And we don't have anything. Public comments.

[43:06] Did you want to close the public hearing first?

[43:08] » Oh jeez. Yes. Uh, we've got a public hearing that's still open. Is there

[43:13] anyone in the audience that uh has any comments or questions related

[43:19] to the 2027 proposed budget?

[43:25] » I would move to close the public hearing on the fiscal year 2027 proposed budget.

[43:30] » Support. It's been moved and supported to close the public hearing related to

[43:34] the 2027 proposed budget. Discussion. If not, all those in favor say I.

[43:42] » I. >> Opposed.

[43:45] Motion carried. Mr. >> Chairman.

[43:47] » Vice Chairman Pearson. >> I would move to approve the uh fiscal

[43:52] year 2027 proposed budget resolution 2025 25-08

[43:58] as it is presented by the controller. support.

[44:01] » It's been moved and supported to approve resolution 2025-08

[44:07] as presented by the controller adopting the 2027 proposed budget. Discussion.

[44:16] » If not, all those in favor say I. >> I.

[44:19] » Opposed. Motion carried. Now public comments. I'm

[44:24] sorry.

[44:27] [clears throat] >> Good afternoon. My name is Jeff Hines

[44:31] and I'm a candidate for county commissioner representing Greenbuilt

[44:34] District. I'm uh not running simply to win an election. I understand the odds

[44:39] against me may be especially hard given the evidence that I've obtained

[44:43] concerning the 2024 election. Some members on this board have seen that

[44:48] evidence. Some have refused to look at it when given the opportunity. For the

[44:53] past three years, I've done what I believe needs to be done. Shine a light

[44:56] on the flaws within our system. question those in positions of power and expose

[45:00] what I believe are conflicts of interest, hypocrisy, and the influence

[45:04] of money and power in local government. Last year, the vice chair became a very

[45:08] public adversary of mine, and I make no secret of the fact that I've been

[45:12] intentional about calling attention to what I believe is his hypocrisy,

[45:15] dishonesty, and interference on his part. I believe his own actions and

[45:19] communications raise serious questions about his conduct and accountability and

[45:23] quite frankly disqualify him from serving on this board. Consider this. An

[45:27] individual with significant influence allegedly convinced a fire department

[45:31] with which he is a board member of to withdraw its support for a donation

[45:34] drive. Even though that department stood to benefit from that very event. Was

[45:39] that personal retaliation? Was it a conflict of interest? Those are

[45:42] questions I have asked and proved to be just that. They have criticized my post

[45:47] and my methods. Yet serious concerns about the conduct of people in positions

[45:50] of authority continue to be ignored. People are concerned more about a radio

[45:54] guy's tactics of exposing the corruption than those who are actually corrupt.

[46:02] If we're going to hold one person accountable for their words and actions,

[46:06] let's make sure we hold all of those accountable, even elected officials.

[46:11] Those who make me uh qualified are you guys with your mouths. The way you guys

[46:17] act, the way you guys speak. That's what makes me and my mouth qualified to sit

[46:21] up there. And to the voters, I'm here at 4 p.m.

[46:25] after just picking up my daughters. You guys need to look into changing that.

[46:28] I've been told local corruption is a major concern, and this is where you

[46:32] should come speak to these folks faces, not trolling comments on social media.

[46:36] I've raised serious questions about the conduct of the chairman and the vice

[46:39] chair through video, documented evidence, filing complaints, and the

[46:42] Peterson files. Yet, where is the public outrage? Where are the people willing to

[46:46] show up, ask questions, and demand answers and resignations?

[46:49] monhomevibe.com/personv. This is how abuse of a power takes hold.

[46:54] Not simply because power is in the face of everybody or oversteps, but because

[46:59] too many people choose to look the other way for their own benefit, making them

[47:02] corrupt by default. If you want accountability in government, you cannot

[47:06] expect someone else to do all the fighting for you. It's getting

[47:10] exhausting on my part, quite honestly. At some point, the public has to show up

[47:15] and demand it. Hopefully, they'll do it at the polls.

[47:19] Thank you. Any other public comments,

[47:24] » Mr. Chairman? >> Vice Chairman Peterson.

[47:26] » Move to adjurnn. >> Been moved and supported to adjurnn. All

[47:30] those in favor say I. >> I.

[47:32] » Opposed. Mayjourn.

Board of Commissioners Meeting

Transcript