County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

God bless you. We will be just saying. So, um this is something that treasure Baker and I really felt humbly about and also I know Um, so this the first person that we're going to recognize for years of service is Judge Jernigan. So he has been with us for 25 years. Not all in the capacity of a judge. Um, where did you start? In the prosecutor's office. How many years were you the prosecutor? 16 years in the prosecutor.

12 years prosecutor. give you this certificate of appreciation. is presented to our journey for 25 years of invaluable service because you know you've been here so long time you get a

thank you something Smile. Ready? One, two, three. All right. Good job. Thank you.

Okay. Next we have Megan. Megan currently Did you start in FOC? Yes. So that's Megan has been with us for 10 years. You have a certificate of appreciation. Dylan is not here. So Dylanio officed out.

Um, certificate of appreciation. commitment and contribution.

Why did we take a picture? Oh, we'll get that. Why are you going to be in charge of being the photographer today? But we're doing it. We'll get it. One, two, three. Begging now. Let's go. We're doing it. I got the camera out. We're ready. I thought I got away with that.

All right. One, two, three. All right. Good job. All right. And last but not least, Stephanie. Stephanie works in our animal. as needed. So this is Stephanie celebration of your five years.

I'm getting there. One, two, three. All right. Got it. Yes. Thank you all. I mean you'll be forever. But we're gonna get you before the next embarrassing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you. Did you do the card? Mhm. Well, that makes it seem so much worse when you put it into those increments. I'm like, "Oh my god." You're welcome. Have a good day, everyone. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Okay. Work session for the Roscommen County Board of Commissioners for January 28th, 2026 at 9:05 a.m. First up, we have our treasures report by Marcy Danker, our treasure.

Yes. Good morning. This is the fourth quarter report from 2025. So that wraps up our year end. Um I think everyone would have gotten a copy of that. Things are still going very well. We did see a slight decrease in interest for the last quarter, but the feds did decrease the interest rate in that time by a quarter of a percent. So that didn't really surprise me, but we're still hovering just under 4% for our investments. So, we're still bringing in a fair amount in interest. Um, but we'll be watching to see what the feds do here in 2026 with that rate. Also, um, if anyone has any questions on the report itself and how to read it, I'm happy to to answer any questions. You're welcome to stop by any time in my office and discuss anything and we can um go over any of those. Just a um couple other things going on in the treasurer's office. Um right now we are still dealing with those prior year foreclosures and paying out settlements on those. Um we had a group in that 2013 to 2020 time frame that is that are following what we call the 78T process for um excess proceeds. And that's what our current law is. and they had the option of choosing to continue that process or joining the class action lawsuit. So, we did have several that continued that process. We have paid out approximately five of those um on those prior years. We have about six that have to go before the circuit court judge because they're not quite a cut and dried situation where the person petitioning for the excess proceeds was the previous owner. could be um the

previous owner is deceased and there's um issues as far as probates and things like that or there's multiple people who have applied for the proceeds for one particular parcel. So those are things that we can't decide in the treasurer's office of how those get paid out. So they have to be heard by the circuit court judge. So I'm working with prosecutor Edwards um in getting those prepared and be put before the judge. Um those do not include any of the class action settlements that we are also a part of. Um we did adopt to become a part of that class action settlement. Um we've paid out according to our intergovernmental agreement that we signed at that time that goes toward the settlement. So, we've paid out a $20,000 bill and we just got build for an additional 12,000 um in expenses because there's been so many um attorney fees in steps that are going on on that end that they were required to bill out all of the participating counties an additional 12,000. Um so, we're still working on those. Uh but part of that will also um that class action will be affected by when the US Supreme Court hears the petition um to they're they're stating that we need to pay out fair market value for a property and not just the excess proceeds of the taxes due minus the amount received at auction. They're saying we have an obligation to pay those previous owners the fair market value. Not quite sure what the why that argument. Um if we didn't receive it, why should we have to pay out more than

what we received that would bankrupt many counties because you'd be on the hook for a liability that are exceeds the what you may have gotten at auction. So that is still pending. I do believe that's scheduled maybe June before the US Supreme Court um to be heard and that is a case out of Isabella County that they're taking to the Supreme Court. Um I I think part of that was settled that they didn't win a portion of it, but yet the continuation of people who want that money just continues, which is another reason part of these attorney fees and they were wrapped up in dayong cases of the other side. Yes.

It just didn't make sense. So they wrapped it took a long time to get through all that. Is that Michigan um appeals court? It did rule in favor of the counties that we are but they have taken it a step further and they're asking the US Supreme Court to hear. That's what I thought. But we did it has been upheld in Michigan. Um but they're they're going a step further.

Okay. Which is adding to the expenses of that class action if we we may have to get build more if they continue to fight that. Okay. Thanks. That helped. Um, so aside from that, we have um we are still the PR auditor for Ross Common County. Um, so we have a an employee, Loretta Bell, that handles all of our auditing of the principal residence exemptions and she in 2025 there were 62 denials issued. Um, of those denials issued, only two appealed to the uh tax tribunal. So those are still pending. I think one case has been dismissed and will not be heard, but the other case will still be pending and those I mean it could be later this year before that is heard. Um but out of 62 denials to have just two appeal to the tribunal um is a good ratio for the county. Um we did in 2025 bring in almost $14,000 in that P denial interest. So that was just the county's portion of that interest. Um, by law, we have to bill 1.25% interest on any denial back to the time the tax would have been delinquent. And then that interest is split between the county, the township, and the state. And so if we're the denier of that, we get 70% of that denial interest. If an assessor denies or the state denies, we get either 20 or 10% of that. But we have taken in almost 14,000 in 2025. So that is all I have.

Great. Thank you. Morning. Am I reintroducing myself? Sure. Aaron West Code. I'm with Kland Community College. Um, longtime resident of Ross Common. Um, I am blessed with the ability in my day job to be able to help communities with economic development and problem solutions. So, um, that is my background, but I have a vested interest in the community, too. So, I'm just happy to come back and serve in any way we can.

Thank you. awareness. Madam Chair,

obviously it's not a bad thing. I mean, it is important, but I agree with Commissioner Milbour because at some point we would get like I'm I'm good moving that one forward, but I think it would be helpful for us as a at least this board to go where what's our criteria for saying yes or no to these? I mean, we get tons of these even what Lawrence Welk appreciation week or I mean it comes constant and I'm like okay we we need to stay focused on what's important in our goals and our objectives and maybe that could be some discussion on a work session to put some parameters around these type of requests because I mean it's no harm no foul to do it. It's just at some point

we're going to have motions and stuff, but if we want to do this, I agree it's not a resolution. It's more of a recognition. Is that how you kind of recognition or just a motion to support or something along that line? If we want to go that route for this, I'm okay with that, Madam Chair. Mhm. Correct. Yes. Is this from the um National Heart Association or is this from an individ individual individual? It looks like she's with the American Heart Association. She's the director.

Okay. Yeah. And it looks like she's the director in Michigan based on the actual So, okay. Um, economic development committee revisited. I believe

um, Jody had sent I'm Emily Barber, by the way,

may know. Um Jody had invited us today to kind of have conversation about economic development for Ross Common County and moving forward with the EDC dissolving I believe at the end of this month. Um I have Amanda and Rich with us. I'm not sure I mean questions or ideas I think is kind of where we're at. Guys have any questions for us or suggestions or thoughts or kind of I'm not sure what all Joey had wanted us to do. So I think it was based on I know that EDC is dissolving and my understanding was if somebody was interested in creating um the 501c3

and what that would look like because there are remaining funds there. Okay. in that time frame. Um, if somebody is willing to basically take charge of that and if if that's something you guys are interested in, not interested in those types of things. Madam Chair, yes. I think the concern is also seeing an outline of how they're going to proceed. Okay. As far as fundings and things like that, putting together all this. Okay. You guys have any thoughts or comments?

On my end, I mean from a countyy's perspective, you know, looking to become a 501c, there are other uh organizations in the region that have a similar makeup um ongo county economic alliance, target Alpena. So this isn't something that hasn't this is something that's already been you know done in our region but being the president for develop and working with these other organizations I can tell you this is a lot of work and it's not going to be something that happens overnight. So my advice is is if this moves forward there has to be patience there has to be an understanding that this takes time to get developed and without having the 501c3 status already that's something that has to be obtained but when I say this time. Um, you know, this is something that as a member of the EDC, you know, we spoke about providing value to the county, providing value to the residents of the local governments and whatnot. And from a fundraising perspective, fundraising is a very key uh critical aspect to success of this organization. So, that will not happen overnight. And so, it's going to take time to one build trust with the with the new organization. It's going to take time to be able to reflect and show the value. And so, you know, whoever makes up this team, whoever leads this team, a little bit of work to be able to do that, but I think you have to have dedicated people who are willing to be able to step up and be able to follow through and, you know, make this a success. And, you know, sometimes when you um start from scratch, and you know, I've been there as a part developed by Oscar. I mean, we were in a similar position as, you know, this CDC where we basically were going to vote to disband and we decided to plow through it and it in five or six years, I mean, now we're we're being labeled as a model for, you know, the state when it comes to economic development. So, sometimes it

can happen really quickly and you got to have people understand how to lead and organize it, but also help promote it and market what you're looking to do. And that means working with all of the state agencies. So, as I said, there's a lot of time and effort into this, but that is what I feel is desperately needed here. And I feel like there's an opportunity for us common to be able to get themselves back on the map and show that they're serious about economic development. And, you know, every county is different. I mean, what happens in one county is not the same here and vice versa. And so, you really can't compare yourselves other than you need to just be able to develop a strategic plan. We need to develop a plan that everyone, and when I say everyone, it's every township, it's every community, they can understand and they can support and they have to move forward. So, um, all I can say is is, you know, this has to be a team effort, but there has to be some patience with it because it's not going to happen.

Madam Chair,

I go ahead. I was I was just going to add from uh just to kind of underline what he's saying about like kind of yeah the strategic planning and the collaboration across the county I think is step number one no matter where this goes from here. I think just I could add from the village side just that um you know Jim is retiring um couple days here from economic development. My contract is up in April um and and Ron actually has announced his retirement and they're looking for a replacement on on the village manager side. And so we're going from capacity, you know, one and a half on an economic development team down to not getting rolled into one village manager moving forward. So we're losing more capacity, I think, in economic development for the county. And so I think this there's definitely an opportunity and a need um and kind of an urgency, although to, you know, Rich's point, it takes time to really put this together thoughtfully to make sure it's addressing what the county needs are. And I think that's the the key uh wherever it goes from here. Um but yeah, we're losing a lot of capacity. So that's an unfortunate situation where where we're at. Um somewhat fortunate we have some funding potentially that could support um whatever organization or however this is structured going forward. But um yeah, I think we need to act swiftly to maintain momentum and make sure that we're getting things in place that the county needs for economic development.

Madam Chair, yeah, this is a huge task. I mean, it's not going to happen overnight. Um, right now the county has put some funds on hold. I think we need to see a plan of action how this is going to move forward before we commit them funds. And I my understanding was that we need to see an outline or or a plan of action how we're they're going to get to that. Um, I don't know how long we want to tie the funds up where they're at, but my opinion, a year is not unreasonable.

Yeah. I mean, the funds were dedicated to the to them. So, at this point, I don't believe any one of us want to pull them. No. And leave them available if somebody does want to spearhead, right, trying to put something together. Madam Chair, I Oh, go ahead, Rich.

I was just going to I mean, I feel like those criticals are very uh critical for the future success of the organization, however this is going to look. Um, you know, being able to start off with something that you can use to cover any cost. Also, from, you know, promotion and marketing perspective, if we needed to hire a part-time director, you know, whatever the decision is, that that is really kind of the catalyst to being able to help get this thing hooked up. So, I want to I think you all need to understand that, you know, starting off with nothing complicates the situation even further. So, being able to have, you know, a portion of funds helps us helps this community kind of springboard this, you know, decision.

Madam Chair, can I Yes. follow up and ask. So, Rich, are you saying that release funds now so that they can do this or are you saying let us regroup present here? Here we're going to do a 501c3. We need a part-time the money for that because marketing and advertising right now does you no good if you don't know the plan.

So, how are you do you have any ideas on what you think this money needs now before you regroup? No, I don't think so. I think what I'm saying is is however this gets organized, whatever this looks like, then you know, I think once that's established, just knowing that there are funds available to be able to help, you know, springboard this moving forward is what I feel is needed. And what that goes back to, okay, do we have an executive director? So, those funds would be critical to being able to secure that there's a salary base to support somebody on a parttime basis or whatever you guys decide, right?

The other part of it is, as I said, once you get into that operational mode, now you have funds and you're going to have to be uh uh diligent in how you use those funds. Be smart about it. But that being said, knowing that, hey, you can start developing um you might want to hire somebody, a consultant to come in and help you do a real strategic plan that gets you where you need to be. And that's going to cost money. um you're you're going to want to do some events, you're going to want to do potentially some promotion and marketing. So, just having those funds available to allow the organization to be able to facilitate those things is what is going to be the difference in helping this move forward more quickly than if we didn't have them.

It it can take up to six months to get that nonprofit approval back. So if that's something that whomever move forward with now, you're still going to want to do some work in the background. So having those funds available, one of my questions because traditionally that is a arduous lengthy process. Sometimes it takes a while. Sometimes it's four weeks, sometimes it's hard to tell. Yeah,

I think it's a fair ask from the county side to say, "Hey, put together that plan, whomever, and say this is what we want to do with that." knowing that's it seems fairly likely that that would get allocated as long as the plan is agreeable u based on it needing that but obviously there's no promise at the at the time but I think um it makes sense to ask for that plan to be put in place is it somewhat in an agreement from your perspectives as well that this the route of doing the 501c3 like other counties have done is a really good model so I if I understand this correctly that is something we all agree on and now it's just

step one We got to get this step two. We have to do that. Who's going to run it? What do we need? Step three. You know, just to lay that plan out, I think. And knowing that it sounds like we have commitment to hold those funds. We're not going to use those right now. And to have you guys, I'm assuming it's you guys, could be other people, I don't know, to bring that forward to say, all right, we are regrouping and here is how we would like to do that. Um, I will also go on, you know, to say I agree that these townships and everyone else has to be on this plan. There has been a strategic plan in the past, but I think it's been a shot just shotgun approach. Throw out something and hope it grabs. And I don't think that is something that our county funds can support. We definitely need what's that plan and how does that work for the as much of the hole as we can. That's where maybe some of the first funds need to be to actually establish that in a thoughtful way. That's a lot of time and effort that goes into that. So doing it professionally, I think, you know, might be part of that plan because I think you got to start with first things first. Where what direction are you aiming at?

Right. And do we have buyin? Can those funds be used for a strategic plan? That I don't know. That would be a Madam Chair. Yeah. Might I suggest that they check with our administrator and see what funds are available and the amount and then draft their plan accordingly. I don't know if they're going to get funds from elsewhere also, but that'll give them an idea of what funds are available and draft her plan accordingly. Right. And I know um Jod won't be back till February 2nd. Okay.

I believe is when she comes back. I see that Jim and and uh VJ retired in December. I think the takeaway from today was you'll be able to go back to the group and say you have the support of this board.

Yeah. One other comment that I I might add is around consultants. I believe you have some really good people. Consultants are expensive and if you don't have my personal opinion is your township leaders, you guys as leaders experience and pulling these together. I'd rather spend money using our people and not waste your money on let's have several days of a consultant to come and whiteboard it out when you probably kind of already know some of those answers already because that's going to dwindle the funds that we have to give you to maybe operate or to hire or to do so. It's my take. I don't do that for a living. So, I'm I would leave that up to you guys as you think about how do you want to use that money and how are we going to try to pull ourselves together? Is that just my

I can tell you the the board the RDC was highly competent and a very intelligent group. So, you guys got the whereabouts to do your job. Just come back and keep us brief a couple three months. Communication is key. Yep. Any other questions or comments about you guys? Anything else from us that you want to share or questions that you want us to think about?

I mean, I just think we appreciate the time here and it's great to get a little more clarity on what the expectations are and you know, however this all works out, at least we have an understanding of where maybe this headed and so that gives us, you know, the ability to work through whatever that looks like. And I just I just ask for patience. Let us try to figure how this is I would rather be patient. Yes. And put the right plan together before we start dispersing money than rush it.

I mean, yes, we're in a deficit right now. But a deficit for so many months is not going to harm us probably much more than where we got to this today, right? you know, let's do this right so that we can use our our funds wisely to be supportive because I I believe economic development is important. It's not because that's not funded from the way it was doesn't mean it's not a support from the county. So, I want people to know that as well. Okay. Thank you so so much.

Thank you guys. Okay, that was all we had for our work session. So our meeting will be our next meeting will begin at 10 o'clock 6 10 a.m.

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Roll call, please. Here. Milurn, here. Russo. Spencer, here. Wolson here. Approval of the agenda. Um I would like to add under um unfinished business B further discussion of board rules. Madam chair second.

Okay. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Wolson, yes. Spencer, yes. Mil, yes. Mley, yes. Motion carried.

Approval of the consent agenda. items in the consent agenda was our correspondences from Cass County, RTA, MSU, heart awareness, MAC legislative updates, and a letter from Gary Peter's office, monthly department reports from the sheriff for November and December, and our administrator controller report. Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda? Roll call, please. Mley, yes. Spencer, yes. Yes. Wolson, yes. Motion carried.

Public comment on agenda items only. Is there any public comment for agenda items? Come on up. State your name. Greg Carterman Lake. Haven't seen you for a while. Sure you haven't missed me. Okay. High-fi report. Uh uh let's see. This one is uh Saturday. I think it's probably the last one I got. at a 12625 uh Holton Lake Dam last month. 126 uh has the uh lake level NG29. Uh the list is 1138.1. This is the Wi-Fi data course. Now we have uh now we have the USGS uh uh yesterday it was a 1138.05 and uh of course our winter level was 1137.2. Uh the Wi-Fi datam that you said was in 29 datam was actually an 88 datam. Uh

I believe uh believe you're giving us misinformation for quite a long time. uh few weeks few months ago I came in and said I I looked at the bridge and uh looked at the manual gauge and uh that was an 88 datam and it was reading the same as your uh hi-fi gauge at the dam and you said that was 29 datam. These two datams can't be the same. Uh again uh the USGS is in a 88 datam and uh your technical guidelines here uh we can now use all 88 data. It says here of course that the winter legal lake level is 1137.2 2 uh 88. Your new uh USGS gauge is reading uh 1138.05 put you 85 ft over winter level which is uh 10.2 in over winter level. And again, it's operational guidelines. Uh I don't know if you guys have ever read it or not, but it says uh if excess precipitation is expected as well as anticipated snow melt or ice melt, you should lower the target level,

of course. And if a drought is expected, you should raise the target level. uh two days ago or 3 days ago on the news it said uh H Hotton Lake had 54.8 8 in of snow. Average is 36. We're about 18 in 18.9 in over average. Uh 152% of the snowfall is what we've had so far. Again, uh we have more than average snow. Uh you're uh considerable. You're cons eight. You're 10 inches over uh legal winter level right now. Everything is average from here on out. Come spring, there's a good chance I'll be flooded again. Uh we were at flood stage last year. We do have a flood plane elevation that thus far you've ignored. Last year I took pictures of flooding and uh I sent some to uh Kim Morley and Spencer Rex Wolson and Mark. Well, I said you want me to send you those pictures and they said no. Kind of like covered it up at the hearing. You covered it up. Uh no, there is no flooding. Uh and now you're managing the lake for floods. And uh I truly believe that you intend to do harm to my land, my property. We live in fear of you.

Thank you.

Any other public comment for agenda items? Come on up. Good morning. Rhonda Barnhart, Russ County Transit mobile mobility manager. Um the last work session you were talk and I saw on the agenda too that you're talking about moving the um work session to 11 and or 10 and then the board meeting at 9. I just want to let you know that I support that. Please do that. Um and Also, I don't I don't know if there's any talk yet about the data centers, but I saw a letter in there um from one of the other counties, so I wanted to let you know that. Um please be transparent about that if you're thinking about doing that. I did just fill out a data center thing from Consumers Energy. So, I know that there's talk about it. So, I don't I don't know. I just please be transparent about that. We're recreational county. And as far as the transit, we are still looking for drivers. Um, we're still providing 24hour day, 7-day a week, NMT trips to the doctor, hospitals, and such. Um, we're very short on drivers. Uh, just a couple of days ago, I was looking at the trips for a Thursday afternoon, and it was something like 15 trips out of county just for that day. Um, I think to put that into relation, I think we have like right around 30 some buses. So, if you think about 15 different trips out of the county, it's really putting a strain on us. So, please send people our way. Volunteers can drive our vehicles. They don't have to put wear and tear on their own. We train you. We pay for you. Um, everything. Um, we're hiring

part-time and occasional drivers. Occasional drivers only have to work when they want to work. Basically, you pretty much just let dispatch know that I only want to work on Tuesday or I only want to go to Ann Arbor or, you know, we're really flexible. Please send people our way. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment on agenda items?

Any visitors? unfinished business. Lake level control structure updates. Um H Hotton Lake, the USGS gauge is up and running on um all the lakes. Now um we have found out that the USGS is going to be transforming their site from their old model to a new model. Um, currently right now they still have both metals out there until that transition. This is something that they're doing. We don't have any control over it. Um, as far as H Hotton Lake, all gates are open and they will remain open. The winter level is a benchmark as far as we can we're not supposed to go below that. We do not have to draw all the way down to that. However, with all six gates open, what Chase has found out through working with the DNR and stuff like that, there are multiple ice dams down the river. The county has no control over those ice dams. There's nothing we can do about them. And as long as they exist, those gates will remain open. Case is working very closely, I know, with the DNR to try to figure out a solution to those before spring gets here. Um, the goal from my understanding with him with H Hotton Lakes control structure is to have our readings somewhere between the winter and the summer level. Hence why all the gates are currently open. But right now there's not a whole lot we can do with the ice stamps. We cannot go into the river. That's not our

jurisdiction. That is the DNRs. Um Commissioner Wolson, do you have anything to add to Hotton Lake? Yeah, that river is just chuck full of ash trees laying in it. Say I'm sorry. The river is just chuck full of ash trees laying in it. Ash trees from the emerald ash border. Okay. I mean, you can't even canoe down that river. And I assume that's where the ice jams are occurring. Short of going down the river with a couple cases of dynamite, there's not anything you can do about it. And if I understand correctly, we couldn't do that even if we wanted to. That is not our jurisdiction to handle that. Well, probably wouldn't be legal.

Probably not. But I'm just saying that is doing anything within those rivers is not We're not allowed to. Nope. what I thought. Okay. Chase also went and looked at Reedsburg and see if that was being the problem and comes up with it's between the two dams. Okay. It's between those. And according I believe also the DNR did tell Chase that after Reedsburg continuing down the river, there's ice dams there that they are that the DNR is aware of as well. And it's from when we thaw to freeze thaw to freeze. And there's and the trees that are laying in the river. So, it's up to the really

if it's going to be fixed, it's got to be fixed on the DNR as end. Any indication on whether or not since they know it, they did they indicate if they were going to do something about it? I think they indicated to him they're aware of it. I mean, you you look at the river and you can't not be aware of it. So, only aware is when you look down the river and all you can see is ash trees like this, right? you know, um, so their message is really they're aware of it, but there's been no comment from them at this point to say we need to do something or we will or we won't. It's just we're aware of it and don't ask me any more questions kind of maybe thought. Well, eventually they will arrive. Eventually they can't but it's been 15 years

ice blocks right now, right? They can't do anything about that. All right. Um for Higgins Lake, the um gate extensions um per the permit have been completed. Um their main purpose is with the water loss during the wave action. Um and the advisory committee has set their meeting for Higgins for February 20th. And the date and the time I I mean the time has not been I don't believe fully set. I know Chase is going to be sending more information out on that to them, Madam Chair. Yes. Do we plan on having that here at this building because of Zoom or don't we know yet?

We do not know exactly where that's going to take place yet. No. Um, Lake St. Helen, Commissioner Wolson, I will let you update on that. Um the letter has been drafted to send out to all the people in the SAD about removing the winter level. They just sent out a drawing showing what a fixed crest wear is. So um they sent I seen a copy of that and then I asked them to include in that marking this is the lake level so people had a better understanding and they the revised one was that way

that picture

probably in the next week or two. Was it in May? They Yeah, they got a date court date up for May for Lake St. Helen and and we had in there that you know giving people up to three weeks to have input on it.

Okay. Any other comments regarding any of the lake level control structures from anyone? Okay. Um B, the board rules. Um after talking um with Commissioner Morley a little bit, um we had looked at putting a 5.7 in there and that would fall under the agenda for work sessions and regular meetings. It goes from 5.0. This would be a 5.7. Funded committee presentations. Um, wording it as any committee that receives county funds shall be requested to present to the rest common board of commissioners on a bianual basis. Um, this would be things like the health department, the funds that we use that we get approved for the substance use disorder, um, the mental health, those types of of organizations to come and just kind of present what the funds are being used for, how things are going, those types of things. Madam Chair, to add to that as well, I think it goes back to the conversation we even had with economic development. There's funds being released. How is that being used? And I think this allows us to do a better job answering questions to people in the community about how this money works. Are on aging, they don't get it sometimes. How does this function? And are we aware of how they're using the dollars? Not just, oh, yep, we got their budget. Okay. and we kind of ignore it after that point, but if they need to come and help us understand the money from Ross Common, not just that region, because there's

other counties who give to those department or to those committees too, how is it affecting us and are we getting fairly represented by the money we're giving them? So, that's kind of where that just so everybody knows that's where that came from. And I think it just is since that is our ultimate job is appropriations that we should hear a little bit more frequently about how they're using it. So that was the my mindset when I thought we should add something to our rules. Yes.

I would say if they if we just can't get them here for some reason. I know like district health Steve is coming in February and um I know the um two that I have released funds to for the substance use disorder funds. I know that they're not going to have a problem coming here. I just haven't reached out to try to schedule an appointment. I would prefer in person. I think all of us would. But if that's not and they're they're willing to give us a written, then I I'm okay with a written, but that does not allow conversation, right?

You got to report. Some may read it, some may not, but when you have to come before us and us better understand and ask questions, I would prefer it to be in person. Especially some of these are getting big chunks of money. If you can't find twice a year to come and give us an update, I I that doesn't make me feel very confident in how they're using the dollars, regardless of what report you set in front of me. That's my take. It's important that we see a face.

Important even if it was just once a year in person and then maybe the second second time would be a original report, but every every board member should be able to know who sits on what board. Steve Hall obviously we'll see him this afternoon. He'd be or you could always send somebody else like Ellison could always send another person but you should always at least send the the director should be there at least answer questions at least once a year. I'd agree. And and it does say shall so we can request if I understand correctly we can't demand that they do that.

Correct. What we're asking is our rules that we would like you to come and do that in person and help us understand how that money is being spent. Correct. I'm okay with that. Well, our board rules should govern us, not them. So, it should be a matter of how we address the issue. And if our board rules say we shall send out a request, that's governing us. Does it governor? No, I agree. I'm okay with the way it's worded. Is every all the other commissioners okay with 57?

All right. New business, Community Wildfire Protection Plan, Emergency Director, Vanessa Varner. Um, I know Vanessa has given us this plan before and spoke about it, so she is here to update us. So hello.

Uh this is an update on the grant application that we had submitted to uh the federal government. Uh we did were not successful in receiving federal dollars for the community wildfire defense grant program. We scored an 88 uh which is really good. However, it wasn't successful. Uh we were successful though in receiving state dollars in the amount of $50,000 to do the plan rewrite. Uh that uh agreement was signed by the county controller on January 7th and uh we have put out a request for proposal for a qualified consultant to assist in developing a community wildfire protection plan update uh with a uh response deadline of February 20th. there. This grant is a zero match. So, the um agreement will not exceed the $50,000. There's no cost locally to the county um for the completion of this project. Once we receive the responses, we will go through the selection process and I would like to present at the February 25th meeting uh the work session our um proposed uh contractor and if there's any possibility that we could have it approved that day so that we can have work start on February 26 because we have a uh work deadline completion date of uh September 15th and that would allow us a six-month work period. Uh typically a community wildfire protection plan can take when

it's an actual full plan right can take somewhere between 12 and 18 months. When it's a rewrite they recommend 6 to9 months. So this sixmonth work period is really pushing it. I think with the involvement that we have with our stakeholders we should be successful in that. Uh but making sure that I give them an optimal amount of time to work is is my goal. So uh that's why I'm kind of on a crunch with our deadlines. Uh for those of you that um may need a refresher, uh Ross Common County is um at a 93.9% higher risk than other counties for wildfire, which is why having this plan is so important. Uh it's one of our highest risks for natural hazards in our county. So uh that's why I've been working so hard to get funding to get this plan rewritten and thankfully we've been successful. Anybody have any questions or anything on this?

Not so much on the plan. Um, Vanessa, but on February 25th, we may have to put you, depending on what happens if we switch the dates or the times for for our meetings, we may have to put you under unfinished business because the work session would be after we did all of our motions and stuff if it passes. Whatever you guys need to do uh just so that we can get a motion for that. And and I think that was uh why Jody added me on to today so that way y could readress this and make sure that you guys were aware of everything going on and so that the public was aware of what was going on so that there weren't any surprises. Yep. Madam Chair, just

refresh my memory. When was the last time it got reviewed? Because this is a rewrite. So we've had one. So 2016. 2016. Hadn't been looked at since then. Correct. Okay. So this is so it's similar to our hazard mitigation plan except for it is specifically focused in wildfires and exactly what we can do to mitigate wildfires in our county. So the timeline on a rewrite is shorter than a start from scratch. Correct. sounds like. And is that based upon the consultant's time it takes or the amount of people that need to give the input and their time? I think it's a coordination of both.

Okay. Yeah. And again, it's uh let me pull up. Bear with me a moment. I can send you all and I will get it submitted. uh some templates for uh what they recommend for timelines. Uh I mean that makes sense when I think about

because they do they do like a community engagement and an opportunity to bring in uh everybody to kind of gauge and assess what everybody's concerns are. Then there's the risk risk assessment part of it. then the prioritization and implementation process and then the final writing and then it comes before you all for approval. So there's there's kind of that that phase. We're hoping for about six months for that to go through. Okay. The the project has to be completed per the agreement with the state by September 15th at the latest and my goal with work beginning on March 1st is to have it done by September 1st. So that way we have a twoe grace period. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks. Thank you guys. Thank you.

We have motions and resolutions whenever our clerk is ready. Number one, move to adopt the 2026 Roscom County Board rules as attached. Amendments to board rules include change of start time for regular meeting to nine o'clock am work sessions at 10 o'clock am. So move madam chair. Do we have a second? I'll second. Any discussion? Yes. Change that motion.

I would like to suggest that um we define it a little more, you know, for the public more or less. Um, so I would suggest that we state something about starting the new format beginning February 11th, 2026 at the very end. Also about adding a rule because that rule was not in or attached. I'm sorry, say that again.

Adding rule 57 because it was not in or attached. You know, Madam Chair, I don't know if it's necessarily needed because the motion says January 28, 2026. If you feel it would add benefit to the motion, I'm fine with that. But I don't I don't think the rule is needed. But if you feel so inclined, I mean, I'm I'm fine with adopting your your your amendment. I think because it's in the board packet and we were all in consensus as far as the board rules of 5.7. I don't think we have to spell that one out because our new rules will be Yeah, our new rules will be posted. So, we would just be adding starting the new format beginning February 11th, 2026 effective February 11th. up until then. We'll keep the reg regular schedule and then we'll start.

Yeah, basically it's our next meeting that it switches. I'm good. Either way is good. Might be good for historic purposes. I have a motion to accept the amended. So move, Madam Chair. A second. I'll second it. Okay. Uh roll call. Wolson. Yes. Spencer, yes. Mley, yes. Milurn, yes. Motion carried.

Motion number two, move to set the 2026 budget and finance committee of the whole meetings for the following dates. February 25th, April 22nd, June 24th, August 26th, October 28th, and November 10th, 2026. Meetings to start following the work session.

So move. I'll second again on this motion. Um after talking um with Commissioner Milbour, I believe that at the end of that um so that because as it reads, it'll start following the work session. Well, if our work session was to get done early, we want to make sure that the public's aware that a meeting shall not begin prior to 11:00 a.m. So, I would like to add that at the end of that motion. beneficial to the public to know when we were hoping to start a work session. So basically if it it won't happen before 11. Correct. Be a little after. Yeah.

And you as the chair if the work session we don't want to cut those short. We want to have the discussion. I can always do a recess and then start the next meeting and then pick it back up at the when we're done. Well, correct. The kicker being like today we got done with a work session within about half an hour or so. We wouldn't want somebody like let's say Craig, I'm just using Craig as an example. We want to be here for a meeting. He would think that it started at 11 o'clock, right? So for transparency sake and for the public at large, it's important that we post a time. If we miss if we miss the mark because we go too long, that's okay. We don't want to have a meeting before we would we think that we would.

11 fine with the way it's I'm fine with the rewarding. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so do I have a motion with the amendment? So move, madam chair. Second. Okay. Roll call, please. Mley, yes. Spencer, yes. Wolson, yes. Milurn, yes. Motion carried. Number three, move to set the 2026 lake level control structure meetings following the first work session meeting of the month, April through September. So move. I'll second discussion. Yes. Should we add a time to that also?

Yep. I think we should add shall not begin prior to 11:00 a.m. like we did in the prior one. Thank you, Madam Chair. Agreed. So the may is the mover and the seconder fine with the amendment to this with the wording as presented. Heather first and second. Are you guys fine with that amendment? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Roll call, please. Milurn, yes. Spencer, yes. Mley, yes. Wolson, yes. Motion carries. Number four, move to adopt the updated building emergency and catastrophic weather closure policy as attached. So move. Second.

Any discussion? Um, Madam Chair, just I think the the changes that were written in green that we talked about were all captured. I don't think there was anything left out and I think it was was helpful to have those written that way. I know they may not go into the official records with colors on them, but I it was all everything we had the conversation was written and that that was good. Yeah, it changed. And I know that that went out to all of the department heads, I do believe. And I don't believe that anything was sent back to Jod, as far as I was aware the last time I talked to her. Okay. All right. Roll call, please. Wolson, yes. Mley, yes. Sensor, yes.

Milburn, yes. Motion carried. Number five, move to adopt the 2026 committee organization and appointments as presented by chairperson sensor. So move. Any discussion? Okay. Roll call, please. Spencer, yes. Mley, yes. Milbour. Wolson? Yes. Motion carried. Committee reports. Um, Commissioner Mley.

Okay. um not a a ton. At the beginning of the year, Northern Lakes um met on the 15th of January. A lot of discussion about the federal government cutting about 2,000 nonprofits um nationwide, cutting their funding out, and that might with SAMA might affect what's happening in mental health um organizations. More to come on that. It's there's not a lot of major definitions or actions that they can react to, but they were all very concerned and said, "Talk to your legislators, tell people that this could be harmful to the mental health agencies." I was not able, unfortunately, to attend our local planning team for emergency management because I was gone. I did do a tour of the 911 department uh with their remodel, how their systems work, and their software. they were explaining that since I'll be serving in that capacity moving forward and um just a lot of great work that they do and how amazing they can handle with the software that we have and the infrastructure that is needed to handle 911. So that was a really good tour. Other than that, that's all I've got.

Okay, Commissioner Milbour.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I attended the action up in Trevor City. We talked about the volunteer income tax assistance program. I don't have my glasses today, so I'm going to do the best I can. We Chuck Chuck Corwin and I met with uh Justin Marcus. He's the guy that used to work for uh General Jack Bergman, our congressman of up north. And uh so we we sat down with him and we're going to ensure that the VA program covers our our area. So I talked to Deborah Looney. She's been in contact with Carrie Bachmann over there. We're going to work we're going to make sure some of our low-income seniors get the tax preparation for free. So more more more will be forthcoming in the next couple weeks. U the COA we have a new chairperson Kimberly Daniels vice chair is Kathy Jernigan and secretary is Kim Warner. It's all I have madam chair. Thank you.

Great. Um we had the agenda meeting January 21st. I also had a meeting with Rebecca Yunker regarding the substance use disorder request. Um I do believe that that meeting was very productive and she did explain and answer a lot of questions um that I had. However, after careful consideration and knowing all the lists that are already out there, I still believed it was a duplication of services for that amount of money. um doesn't mean that the other counties can't sign on with her for that. It's just I don't believe that it's right for Ross Common County. There's there's a variety of lists out there and I did share all of those with her. Um we've had several conversations with Commissioner Wolson and Chase regarding the levels on Lake St. Helen and Holton Lake and the possible causes. We spoke about that during the lake level discussions. Um, again, we've done everything that we have the ability to do. The gates are open. Um, and the rest lies in the DNR's hands at this point.

Commissioner Wolson, I I attended the RTA meeting, Ros Township Association. Um, Brenda was there to inform everybody that EDC is no longer. Um there was a heated discussion over short short-term rentals. Of course, uh the road commission is going to go for 0.5 mills in August. It's a renewal for local meal

renewal. Uh the next meeting is April 16th at Lion Township 10:00. Then I've also been working with Bakis Township on applying for a grant to install a recycling station at their township hall. Um, also working with us has been Daniel Dro from Eagle, which is my leazison guy that comes and sees me once in a while. Really helpful in this whole process. Really helpful. um they applied for a grant so that people can put there and perhaps we'll work into the materials management some funding on that so that they take in Nester Township and Richfield Township also because that end of Richfield Township it's a long drive to put a cardboard box in a in a container. um it would shorten up that reduce a carbon footprint and Nester Township to my knowledge has nothing at at all. So we're working on making it a team effort should they get this grant the grants for the infrastructure.

Okay. Thank you. Do we have any public comment? Come on up.

On or off? Yep.

There we are. Dave Bisby from Hton Lake. Um, I have some concerns. I'm glad we switched back to the USGS system for the lake level because we can rely on it. It's consistent and reliable. One of my concerns is we spent an awful lot of money on the hi-fi and it turned out not to meet the requirements for a multitude of reasons. Has anyone done anything to try to get some sort of refund back to the taxpayers on the lake that are hit with the SAD that paid for that system? And another concern of mine is we have a manual that is supposed to have been put in place to keep the lake in the control parameters the court adjusted to. How does that manual function with the actions that you have brought forth today and told us about the issues downstream from the lake level structure? There should be something there that perceives these type of issues and has something in place for that. again, who and what are the consequences for failing to meet the parameters that the judge and the court gave us to function by? How do how does failure relate to corrective action and function? And who's held responsible both financially for damage to people's places if we have high water issues that cause flooding? You got the manual. You spend a million dollars to get it.

Now it's time to hold people's feet to the fire and make sure that it does what you said it was going to do. And that's my concern. And I hope that we can move forward and find solutions to all of these types of issues as a community. Thank you. Craig Carterman hope. And this is the Wi-Fi data. It says here uh NGDB29. It said this for over a year. You've had Wi-Fi for a long time. you've known that this data wasn't accurate. Me and uh my neighbor Mr. Bisby, we've brought uh measurements from the uh East Bay site several times. Uh Chase had given us the uh benchmark. We could measure it with a ruler. He gave us to us in 29 datam and 88 datam. We'd go down there uh during the flood. We we were 19 in over. Correct.

And uh Darlene said, "You don't know what you're talking about, Dave. You're a liar.

You don't know what you're doing." Went to court with data that wasn't accurate. Judge Bumgardner tried to explain that you didn't have accurate data at the uh proceedings. He was cross-examined. Uh wondering where was his expertise at I had to laugh. He told he said it was me. I goes, "Gee, thanks Michael." He knew about this for a long time. He covered it up. covered up the widespread flooding. When we went to court, the first court date, he said, "No, we're never going to use special assessment money to raise the lake level." Few months later, we're in court raising the lake level. You had it planned all along. Again, I don't trust you folks. There's consequences to banking water. One of them is uh if you bank enough water, this is the first time I've ever seen the uh uh upper Moskegan Let me know. This first time I've ever seen the upper Moskegan freeze. Uh you banked enough water and you had so many boards in the dam that the the current didn't keep the river open. So when you got caught banking water, you opened all the boards up and of course it thawed some of the ice and here it comes downstream. Uh these consequences you cost by banking water all winter long. Uh any other public comment?

Dave Denbore from Denton Township. Um, so I just want to publicly tell you that we appreciate every one of you. We know your job's not hard. We know sometimes it's absolutely aggravating. I know sometimes you probably feel like you'd like to throw in the towel, but you hang in there. You do what's necessary, and it's you just don't get thanked enough. I'm sorry. So, I'm doing it on behalf of Denton Township and myself. That being said, I'm going to extend that to the people who work in this building. I have never once ever made a phone call to our clerk's department, to our treasury department, or any other department and ever had somebody answer the phone and help me out to the extent of every question I've had. So, I want you to know that I appreciate that very much from our behalf, especially as busy as we are in the office because I know we do call them a lot. The last comment I'd like to make is I want to thank all of our law enforcement down to the emergency management, especially lately. Temperatures have been horrible. We had a multitude of accidents and really bad things happen over the course of the last few weeks, including Tip Uptown. Yet, they were still out there. They will still they were still serving the public and doing their job. And they they cannot be thanked as well enough. So, that's my Thank you.

Any other public comment? board comment. Commissioner Wley, I'm going to start with just a couple questions from some things and we don't need answers today, but I might need some help on. There was information that was sent to us about access to tax prep services in Ross Common, but from the Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency. I see those, but I don't I don't know if they're supposed to be something we should be responding to or taking into consider. I don't know. So, anybody I'm sorry. I'll give you the sheet. Okay. Text prep.

Okay. Did you report on that already? I thought you were talking about community mental health. Okay. All right. So, yes. Would you fill me in on that? because

they just come and go and you're like, were we supposed to discuss this in front of people because I didn't get it. Um, also data centers, we got that information. I know Rhonda brought it up as well. Is that something that needs to be in a work session? Do we need to be talking about that from what we receive from the other counties? It's just a question. I don't know much about the data center. So, is that something we should be putting on our docket to talk about and be transparent and really look at as well? I don't know. So, might be something to consider as we're thinking about a work session. Let me know.

Yeah. As far as data centers, other than the emails that we got from the other counties, I haven't been made aware of anything, but I agree that if we need to discuss this, then we need to discuss it because if it was to be presented for Westcoming County, we need to know about it, right?

Okay. Yeah. Um, other than that, I just wanted to kind of touch base as we move into we finished our board rules and thinking about our goals from our original strategic plan, those those four key pillars. Um, I want to thank all of our commissioners right now, the four of us that are still here to for picking up extra committees. And I know if they didn't come to the work session, they don't see that. we are adding more committees to our plate to try to fill the gap and not drop the roles that we're supposed to be having for a county. So, thank you to all of us for adding more. Um, I did put just because I know we're not ready to have the conversations on goals. I took last year's and just put it all into one page of things that are just still pending. I pass those out. Just something to think about as we move forward. Um, especially when we think about budgets and all those four goals because especially being short-handed, I think it's even going to be more critical this year to be incredibly focused and not get distracted by things that we don't have control over and really come at the end of 2026, we should be able to look back and say, we've accomplished these things and just stay focused because I think that's the only way we get success is to stay laser focused. on what we're doing and be cognizant of that when we have to make decisions about resolutions and motions and people want money and things like that. So that's just a starting point for us before we start having some of those conversations. So I thought I'd share that and give you guys time to think through what you might want to add or take off.

Commissioner Melbourne, come to Chip Uptown. So like that. Okay. Um, I would like to thank our clerk, Michelle Stevenson, and our treasurer, Marcy Dinkert, for putting together the awards and the recognitions that we had for our employees today. Um, I also wanted to thank each of you guys for stepping up and helping fill the gaps between the regular meetings, com the committees, and things like that. I know we're all extremely busy, and it's added even more to our plate, but I think it's very important. So, thank you all. That's all I have. Commissioner Wolson. Okay. With no further board comment, this meeting is adjourned.