County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

May 27, 2026.

Please stand for the pledge.

I pledge allegiance 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.

Milburn. Here. Morley. Here. Russo. Wolfson. Here. Spencer.

Here. Approval of the agenda. Before we approve, I would like to add one thing under unfinished business, and that would be discussion regarding gate logs.

So moved, Madam Chair. Second.

Any more discussion? Roll call, please. Is that under unfinished? Yes. OK. Sorry. No, you're good.

Morley? Yes. Milburn? Yes. Wolfson? Yes. Spencer? Yes.

OK. Public hearing. Do we have a motion to enter into public hearing regarding the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Tax Incremental Financing Project?

So moved.

Second.

Any discussion? Roll call? Spencer? Yes. Morley? Yes. Milburn? Yes. Wolfson? Yes. Motion carried. Is there any public comment for the public hearing? Come on up to the front.

Peter Chair. Okay. My name is Dan Fischel. I live here in the village. I'm not representing the village council. However, I am on the village council. I just would like to know how this property got designated as brownfield. I have lived here 51 years, and there are two new buildings on the property. The only thing that I have ever found, and the village has ever found, that they couldn't do, the property was given to us by the state of Michigan by the DNR back in the late 90s, 97, 98, for building houses or whatever we wanted to do with it. It's like approximately 40 acres. The only problem we ever had was we needed a sewage lift station. We can get water out there because water runs on gravity, but sewage has to be pumped. And we don't have sewage out there. That's all we need. We don't need a $43 million project. We don't need to be giving money away with a TIF plan. Now, I'll give you a little history of the property if I have time. I don't know how much time I've got. OK. Is that all I got left? Oh, well, then it's no sense even mentioning it. But there was a homestead out there on the outer edge of that property. It was settled in 1892 by a man named Johnson, who later became Roscommon County Sheriff. And he died in the 1920s. And the property, I don't know what happened to their farm, but it was just, it's in Section 18. It's along, that's Yale Road. That's the only property that I know out there. It was farmland. And I don't know of any kind of pollution that would be there. How could this be brownfield? It's not brownfield. It's beautiful land. So thank you very much.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Come on up. Come up with me.

Marcie Dankert, I sit on the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, and I have with me Mac McClellan. He is our consultant for that, and I would like Mac, if he would, to address the issue of how that is utilized as a brownfield.

Sure, I'd be happy to. Again, my name is Mac McClellan. I'm representing the authority, as well as the county, as well as the township and village on this brownfield plan, reviewing the brownfield plan to make sure it meets the interest and is compliant with Act 381. Just a little background. I've been in Brownfields for a while. I started the Grand Traverse County Brownfield Authority as the Grand Traverse County Deputy Administrator in 1997. And I've done over 100 projects, so I have some familiarity with the projects. To answer that specific question is, initially in 1997, Brownfields, they became eligible property was a contaminated property. the state realized that there were a number of properties that may not be contaminated but still needed some help. So at that time, they added blighted and functionally obsolete properties. It could be a downtown property that is blighted or a facility that could no longer be used for its intended purpose. I call state hospitals those kinds of facilities. Another amendment added historic buildings or downtown buildings that were still in use. They didn't qualify as blighted or functionally obsolete. but still needed some assistance in redevelopment providing that. More recently, about three years ago, there's a recognized need for affordable housing or workforce housing. And so the law was changed that qualified property that will be used for housing, which is one or more residential units, as Brownfield eligible and brings this pretty fantastic TIF tool to the table to be able to support affordable housing. It is one of the kind of most powerful tools that I've seen to be able to do that to write down the rents and the costs for workforce housing. So that's kind of how this came to be. It's not just a contaminated site anymore. There are other qualifications and now including housing property with a recognition to support that. It does provide some unique opportunities for the village. It's not a qualified local unit of government and it provides the ability to include infrastructure as those eligible costs, which is kind of a predominant cost on this project to be able to bring sewer provide the list station and the other services that are necessary for the project. And again, I'm sorry that I wasn't at your study session, but in essence, this provides the future revenues based on the increased investment made on that property to be able to be captured and repaid, reimbursed the cost of those infrastructure costs and other eligible activities. It's not upfront dollars that are there. It's long-term dollars. And without this TIF incentive, project doesn't move forward so they're really not necessarily lost dollars because the project wouldn't happen without this support it's too expensive to front that infrastructure cost without any source of revenue so it really is an important way to provide an incentive it's an investment as I view it into the project and it's providing some additional homes in in the village and in the county and provides that financial support over time that doesn't require an upfront I sort of liken it to from a lot of government grant programs there's a piece of pie And you carve it out, and it's gone. For this project, each project grows its own pie. It generates those dollars. Specifically for this project, it doesn't have any other impact on any other properties as well. So this public hearing is the last step in the Brownfield plan approval process. The Brownfield authority has reviewed and approved the plan. The plan has been concurred by the township and the village as well. And importantly, this project is within the Roscommon DDA. They have first rights to the local capture. the project and so they have agreed to provide to forego their capture to be able to support the project importantly this provides state tax capture DDAs don't get state tax capture and so really what's happening is about you know a fifty five sixty percent grant most of the dollars are coming from the state and those dollars provide that support so we're bringing in state dollars to help support an economic development project and housing project in Roscommon County

Answer any questions madam chair yes, can I ask a question sure? So if this property does not become Development for housing it is disqualified then Look the brownfield only happens.

You know what only happened if there's development on the project We don't qualify and disqualify the brownfield plan would be It's still in place, and it's happened before. Projects that didn't move forward, the Brownfield plan is in place. There is an ability for the county board to terminate the Brownfield plan and end it. If nothing happens, nothing happens. There's no generation. There's no capture. That's done. And you can decide to terminate the plan if you wish.

I'm a little confused here. To qualify for Brownfield, it has to entail housing.

That's right.

If a year from now someone decides we're not going to put hose in there, we're going to put storage units, what happens to the Brownfield development money?

Nothing. It would not be captured. It does not progress? That's not an eligible activity. That project would pass on. And you could decide to either have the Brownfield plan be dormant, wouldn't be any authorization for capture because it's not the appropriate use for that project, or you could terminate that Brownfield plan.

So there is authority over making sure what's proposed is what happens?

Yes.

Okay.

There will also be a development and reimbursement agreement between the Brownfield Authority and the developer that kind of lays out those roles and responsibilities for. And it really is another thing that if they only get the TIF revenues that they generate, so if they don't make investments on the project and the developers are providing most of the dollars for the infrastructure here, if they install that infrastructure and don't develop, That's on them. That's their risk. So that's the important part is that they only get the dollars if there's no other obligation for any other public funding, just what they generate based on their additional investment on the property.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment Do we have a motion to close the public hearing and go back Any discussion roll call I Wilson?

Yes.

Morley? Yes.

Milburn? Yes. Spencer?

Yes. We're back into regular session. So approval of the consent agenda. In the consent agenda, we have meeting minutes from May 13th, 2026 board meeting and May 13th, 2026 lake level control structure meeting. Correspondence A through D, which include letters regarding Higgins Lake, resolution by Mecosta County regarding the drain code, Letter opposing the TIF grant for Redstone, meeting minutes from the Northeast Michigan Regional Council on Aging, and our administrator controller report. Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda?

So moved.

Second. Roll call.

Yes answer yes, yes, yes, yes motion carried Public comment and agenda items only do we have any public comment for agenda items?

Visitors ray Our Richfield Township supervisor

Good morning, Commissioners. What I'm here for today is the new water retention structure that's being built. I was informed by Commissioner Wolfson that the access to that water retention structure would be restricted, and it would ban the fishing that's on that water retention structure that we currently have. I've heard from many of my residents after that statement was made at a township board meeting, and there is a lot of concern. There's only two areas that we can actually access that lake without watercraft. And that is our fishing pier. And that is the water retention structure. Water retention structure for years has been in history. A lot of people brought their kids to fish off that. It was a excellent, safe place to fish, things like that. Commissioner Wolfson and I have, after that meeting, we had a rather long discussion. And we talked about some options and things like that. We have found out some information. The commissioner found out who actually owns the access property, correct?

Correct.

and that is owned by the property owners themselves. The property owners themselves for years has allowed access to the dam. So what I'm here for today in a nutshell is to just implore that as commissioners when those final things come through that we include the fishing access for the water retention structure. It was a One of the points that was made when we had the water retention structure meeting that that would that was one of the things that township did uh implore that that remains in so That is my concern for the day and thank you And uh, yeah, I got my heartbeat back after that cannon went off and I dove under the chairs So thank you very much.

Thank you Unfinished business. The gate logs. I gave everybody a copy of the updated gate logs. With that, we, as we're all delegated authority, we need to make a decision in the interim of who will be able to lower gates or put boards in for each of the structures. Lake St. Helen is actually, I would say today, Virtually lake level yep by later today or tomorrow. We're gonna be at lake level so we have to decide who we can Send out there to do that in the interim so we can find a lake manager Jody is it possible to have maintenance do it I?

Would say absolutely Ray was started when they were still doing it we can get with Justin afterwards, okay, I Make sure they know how okay.

It must be means I

I'd like to see eventually a system in place where we don't have to utilize the maintenance guys because they're kind of busy. Yep.

And I think the easiest thing to do is we used to actually do it where for our sakes, it'd be an email request.

Okay.

So even if you call and verbally ask, there's an email follow-up so that we have record that the employee is doing as instructed.

Okay.

be a little contentious with lake levels i think it also documents what we're doing that as delegated authority so i do have a question madam chair um so do we have an idea about when a lake manager it's after a drain commissioner and or a timeline for like manager just to give maintenance an idea of how long they may have to fulfill this gap

I don't believe we have advertised it yet. Tomorrow they pick a new drain commissioner in my understanding. Maybe it can be resolved with that. I don't know. I plan on attending that and have conversation with the new pick and see where we can go from there.

That makes sense. I just wanted to make sure, you know, if we We're on the path to do it great or at least the maintenance people need to know It's going to be a while that you're gonna be helping us with this or you know Once we kind of have an idea of when that timeline might be helpful for them because they have to adjust their works their workload as well Yeah, yeah, I'm good.

I just think as long as we're incremental and transparent.

That's the big key Also with your gate logs by is the There's a grid there, and that comes from Houghton Lake. Because the Houghton Lake manual was done in 88 datum, but USGS is in 29 datum, I had reached out to Prine and Newhoff so that Only due to the manual that we stayed in compliance that he converted to the 29 datum So that way we knew when to properly start adjusting those gates. It's still gonna be a while, but at least we have the information Able to do that conversion.

It's just a matter of inserting it in the manual because the new lake level manager is gonna have to know that I

Yeah. Well, and I'd agree. I mean, it's been confusing for many who try to follow it, that at least if these documents can, I'm glad that they would convert it. I think that's helpful. Yeah. Thanks.

Okay. Is there any questions other than what we've discussed for the gate logs and the lowering when we need to?

Madam Chair? Yes. Can we review what we just had a visitor comment on or no?

As far as... Access on a structure? I think we have to, we could do that during like a board comment. Okay. And have some, a little bit of conversation.

Near board comment.

All right, thank you.

Yep. New business. We don't have anything there, so we are on to motions and resolutions. It's part of that.

It's a long one. Number one. Resolution number 2026-05-01. Resolution to approve the Creekside Meadows Brownfield Plan. Resolution number 2026-05-01. Resolution to approve the Creekside Meadows Brownfield Plan. Whereas the Michigan Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act, Act 381, PA 1996, as amended, authorizes municipalities to create a brownfield redevelopment authority to promote the revitalization redevelopment and reuse of contaminated blighted functionally obsolete Historically designated or housing property through tax increment financing of eligible activities approved in a brownfield plan whereas the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners established the Roscommon County brownfield redevelopment authority under the procedures required under Act 381 of

and filed with the Secretary of State to facilitate the redevelopment of brownfields within Roscommon County.

And whereas a brownfield plan has been prepared for the redevelopment of Village of Roscommon property in a total of 149 residential units, with 30 units targeted toward individuals and families earning up to 120% of Roscommon County's area median income. That outlines the qualifications, costs, impacts, and incentives for the project developed by Redstone Development for reimbursement from Brownfield Tax Increment Revenues with the adoption of the Brownfield Plan. And whereas, the Roscommon County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority reviewed the Creekside Meadows Brownfield Plan at their April 23, 2026 regular meeting and adopted a resolution to approve the Brownfield Plan and recommended concurrence by the Roscommon Village Council and the Higgins Township Board of Trustees, an approval by the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners. And whereas, the Creekside Meadows Brownfield Plan has been reviewed and resolutions of concurrence were adopted by Higgins Township Board their may 11th 2026 meeting and the ross common village council at their may 11 2026 meeting and whereas a public hearing on the brownfield plan was held on may 27 2026 and notice of the public hearing and notice to taxing jurisdictions has been provided in compliance with the requirements of act 381 and now therefore be it resolved that the ross common county board of commissioners has reviewed the creekside meadows brownfield plan and finds in accordance with the requirements of section 14 of act 381 that The Brownfield Plan constitutes a public purpose of providing workforce housing, redevelopment of underutilized property, increased private investment, and property tax value. The Brownfield Plan meets the requirements of Section 13 and Section 13B of Act 381. Brownfield Plan provisions as described in the Brownfield Plan Consistent with the format recommended by the state of Michigan including a description of the cost intended to be paid with tax increment revenues a brief summary of eligible activities estimate of captured taxable value and tax increment revenues method of financing maximum amount of indebtedness beginning date and duration of capture estimate of impact on taxing jurisdictions legal description of eligible property proposed method of financing the cost of eligible activities private financing arranged by Redstone group is feasible and no financing by the authority is proposed and the cost of eligible activities proposed are reasonable and necessary to carry out the purposes of Act 381 and the amount of captured taxable value estimated from the adoption of the brownfield plan is reasonable and based on calculations of the tax revenues derived from taxable value increases and millage rates approved and authorized by the taxing jurisdictions on an annualized basis and balances against the outstanding eligible activity obligation approved as part of the Brownfield plan and expenses reviewed and approved by the Roscommon County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. Be it further resolved that pursuant to the brownfield redevelopment financing act act 381 of the public acts of 1996 as amended being MCL 125.2 651 the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners hereby approves the Creekside Meadows brownfield plan Any discussion

Roll call, please. Spencer. Yes. Morley. Yes. Milburn.

Yes. Wolfson. Yes. Resolution adopted. Number two, move to adopt the following resolution, resolution number 2026-05-02, as requested by Equalization Director Jamie Hauserman. Whereas the Roscommon County Equalization Director has presented the 2026 L4029 to the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners, whereas the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners believes that is necessary to levy the full amount under statute to support services to the public. Therefore, be it resolved that the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners does authorize the full levy of the following ad valorem tax rate for the county of Roscommon for the year 2026 on the summer tax roll. General funds 3.3407 mils.

Madam chair second any discussion Roll call Milburn.

Yes, Wolfson. Yes, Morley. Yes, Spencer. Yes resolution adopted Number three move to adopt the following resolution resolution number two zero two six dash zero five dash zero three as requested by equalization director Jamie Houserman Whereas the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners has reviewed and approved the levy of the L4029 as presented by the Roscommon County Equalization Director, whereas approval of the L4029 requires the signature of the county chairman and county clerk, therefore be it resolved that the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners hereby authorize Darlene Sensor, chairman, and Michelle M. Stevenson, county clerk, to sign the summer L4029 with the following tax rates for the county of Roscommon for year 2026, general fund 3.3407 mils.

Second any discussion? We'll call please answer. Yes, Melbourne.

Yes, Wilson.

Yes Morley. Yes resolution adopted Number four move to adopt resolution number two zero two six dash zero five dash zero four resolution to change the name of the office of the drain Commissioner to the office of the water resources Commissioner I Resolution number 2026-05-04, resolution to change the name of the Office of the Drain Commissioner to the Office of the Water Resources Commissioner. Whereas, if a county drain commissioner performs functions other than acting as a drain commissioner under the Michigan Drain Code Public Act 40 of 1956, as amended, a county may change the name of the Office of the Drain Commissioner to the Office of the Water Resources Commissioner, MCL 280.21 subsection 8. And whereas the Drain Code requires a resolution of the majority of the members elected and serving on the County Board of Commissioners and the consent of the County Drain Commissioner to effectuate a name change, MCL 280.21 subsection 8. And whereas the Roscommon County Drain Commissioner performs functions other than acting as a drain commissioner under the drain code, including but not limited to operating sewers, lake level and soil erosion enforcement, and facilitating compliance with federal Clean Water Act mandates. And whereas in recognition of these additional functions, the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners finds it appropriate to change the name of the Office of the Roscommon County Drain Commissioner to the Office of the Roscommon County Resources Commissioner. And whereas the Roscommon County Drain Commissioner consents to changing the name of the Office of the Roscommon County Drain Commissioner to the Office of the Roscommon County Water Resources Commissioner, Now, therefore, be it resolved, one, the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners hereby changes the name of the Office of the Roscommon County Drain Commissioner to the Office of the Roscommon County Water Resources Commissioner. Two, the Roscommon County Water Resources Commissioner shall be elected in the same manner as a county drain commissioner and shall carry out the powers and duties of a county drain commissioner as provided in the drain code. The Roscommon County clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to the Roscommon County Water Resources Commissioner for all resolutions and parts of resolutions insofar as the same may be in conflict herewith are hereby rescinded Any discussion Madam chair, I'd like to direct this question to our administrator questions

When we change the name and we get a new drain commissioner tomorrow, does that mean the pay can, will, or has to be changed?

Madam Chair, I'm sorry, I can't hear.

Does that mean the pay has to be changed, can be changed, or will be changed because it is no longer a drain commissioner?

So you can look at, as you're assigning additional duties, changing the structure of that pay as long as it's increasing. You cannot decrease the salary, but yes.

And does this mean that soil erosion will automatically fall under that department?

It doesn't make it automatic, no. But that should be the way that I feel that the Board of Commissioners should go. It would be a lot easier for our administrative office if that were to happen.

So pretty much it's business as usual until we start making changes.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Any other discussion?

OK.

For anybody that wasn't aware, the Drain Commissioner prior to resignation had agreed to this name change. So with that being said, I think it's an important step. Roll call.

Milburn. Yes. Morley. Yes. Wolfson. Yes. Sensor. Yes. Resolution adopted.

Committee reports. Commissioner Wolfson, we'll start with you.

I attended the Northern Michigan County's Association meeting this week. There was a lot of talk about grant writers. Iosco County got a grant to hire grant writers. Another way they've also, because it takes more money than that, they charge $1 per person each township does. And then the county puts in $1 per person in the county, without fund paying for a grant writer. So there's quite an investment in money to get to that point. And they've done some grants. They're not all for the county. Some of them are for local businesses. Some of them are for townships. But it was grant money coming into the county. And they figured their cost was $1 for every $73 taken in. Just an update on that. Also, Our supervisor from Richfield Township spoke about access on the site. The advisory committee said yes, we'd like to have it. After that, it came to light that sometimes situations can be dangerous, and we decided as a board to limit our liability exposure by not allowing it. The view of Richfield Township is still they would like to utilize it. After talking with Ray one day, I decided, well, perhaps we could put in observation decks or something to serve the purpose. So I went and looked at the site because of concern is ADA compliance And it's a downhill grade and I had to check and make sure the downhill grade was not steeper than could be meet those compliances Also when I found what I found was The property owners apparently control that property there was actually what's called waterway Park along that strip and So we have no say over who can go onto that property and who can't. The property owners of the Sabo River Park subdivision have say. That being said, we want to reconsider allowing public on that structure for fishing.

Madam Chair. Yes. I'm not as, obviously I'm not the engineer, I'm not as close to the St. Helen group either, but I remember the conversation that due to safety, especially if we were having this be electronically managed and not just a small structure, that that would be important for us to think about the safety of people and hope that they have other options. I know for Higgins and Houghton Lake, I thought that conversation said they have other options. I don't remember this being for all, but I may have missed something. So I think if there is a safe way and they don't have many other options there, I think then if they're speaking, then we should at least listen to try to figure out if there's something. I don't know.

It's not a very dangerous dam. OK. It's not like when we went and looked at Holton Lake and, good lord, the water's up there so high if someone fell in, they could have drowned.

Correct.

It's not quite that situation.

And we do.

But it's up to this board because they are the delegated authority.

Sure, right. We own the structure. But the access comes from the residents. The access to it.

Of the subdivision, yes. There's a gate across there now. Always has been as far as I know. And people just walk around the gate. We don't have the authority to control the public. On that land at all, period.

On that land.

Correct.

You originally had wanted the control on the structure.

Correct. That's originally what we talked. And then I informed the engineer, yeah, the public wants this. And then we had the board meeting, decided nobody on public structures. So I had to call the engineer again. But it still can be worked out with the engineer.

I'm open to other thoughts.

It does have to be ADA compliant. Correct.

That's the big thing right there. It's got to be ADA.

Now, we have no control over getting to it being ADA compliant, though.

Correct. Because that's on private land, am I correct? Correct. But it's got to be ADA. Historically, people have used that structure to fish, so in my opinion, since they've historically used it, they should use it.

Well, if it's ADA compliant, also it makes a safer place for people to fish.

But again, the ADA is a big deal for me.

I think that we can kind of sit back, think about different things, the pros, the cons, and then in our lake level meeting we can take a further discussion on this.

I would like to because I think as much as we want to be as consistent

Every lake is individual.

Everyone has a little bit of uniqueness. And if they're operating manuals and whatnot, I mean, that lake, that structure is different than Houghton Higgins. And so how we address that, if we stick to safety and all the things we want to make sure every structure has, how we get there and there are some nuances, then I think it warrants some additional conversation.

This structure is not going to have the hydraulics like Houghton Lake.

Okay.

They need to be protected from the public.

Yeah, let's bring that to a lake level meeting. That'd be good. Okay.

Anything else for committee reports?

No, I think that's it.

Commissioner Morley? I'm glad we're getting some time, because there was a lot going on. So obviously, May is Mental Health Month. I just thought I'd share, at the last Northern Lakes Community Mental Health meeting that was in Houghton Lake, they all gave us, every board member, a little reminder and a thank you. It seems to be coming. Very appropriate month for mental health, let's put it that way. May 15th, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health Personnel Committee met in Traverse City. Their climate survey results that they did in February, they had over 120 employees comment, as well as there's probably 15 pages of small print additional comments not just respond which is pretty telling when you're asking employees to put out information on a survey so their focus areas that they're moving forward with are really going to be around transparency, leadership communication, which has been lacking. I'll make a note again that this survey was done before they got a new CEO. And so there was a lot. There was 28 layoffs. But they did that survey anyway so they could understand are they making improvements. The decision was that they're going to do a six-month intermediate little survey only of the key areas that they're going to work on. not the full survey. Let's say, how are we doing? Are we progressing in these key categories that we're going to try to fix? So it was pretty good. They did talk about many of the people who work within Northern Lakes don't really know who the board is. They just see this at meetings, and so some sort of meet and greets before, because they rotate Traverse City, Grayling, Houghton Lake, you know, Calic, all those. We rotate. How can we get just information and just talk? Nothing to where you're, you know... violating oma or anything just what is your job what do you do oh you've got kids just to meet and greet maybe that we would have maybe 30 minutes before every meeting so we'll see where that goes um a lot of um house bills and stuff coming through that are going to impact how medicaid dollars it is 90 of the mental health authorities board revenue and how that works so May 18th, the DDA met. The village manager really started working on some blight issues that had come before him as the new village manager. Farm market started May 16th, and I know they had their social media piece, 45,000 views on one post. That's a lot of recognition for Roscommon County market, so it's pretty cool. The new economic development director there for the village is Caitlin Tyler, and she went to two different housing summits, and I know she's picking up on this new Creekside project, but really understanding that she does have ability in grant writing. I was very impressed by the fact she asked the village for key performance indicators. You hired me? I want to know what are you going to measure me on. And so I think she's giving it a stab up front and submitting it to the council to say, does this work? Because I would really like to know how I'm doing on my job. So she brought that up as well. Same day, Central District Dispatch 9-1-1 Authority Board met their CAD project, which is cloud-based. They have a new project manager that came into this, but it's kind of put them back a little bit in timing, but not much. They are still moving forward pretty quickly, even though they have a new manager on that. A new member to that authority board is James Fontaine from Nestor Township. He's been a part of the CERT team, a lot of emergency management and 911 work in his past, so he seems to be a really good addition to that board and some good knowledge. They talked about the millage and the campaign that they're going to have to be working on to get that passed to the county. Thank you. They're almost, I think we have nine out of maybe 11 employees, so they've got a couple still to hire, and they've got some applicants, so they're working through that. On the same day, Michigan MSU's Extension District Advisory Council met. There are several new commissioners on that advisory council, so we spent time thinking about what are the existing goals? What does MSU Extension need from this advisory group? Kind of cleaning those up and thinking about What's the makeup of that council going forward? Because there's a lot of people, and sometimes they don't have everybody show up. So what's the need for that council? May 19th, emergency management met with FEMA, the state police. Small Business Association's disaster group to really get ready and look at what all they were going to need. May 20th, I did work with Supervisor Hill and the treasurer there in Garish, the resident who has some questions. And I'll make a note here. It's not our job to fix the township. We don't get involved in township decisions. It is a county commissioner's role when a resident is having struggles working through the system and understanding. So that is my only purpose for things like that, is to help them figure out what are the facts, where do you go, and what do you need. It's not to intervene in the decisions that are making there. So just want to make that clear. May 21st, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health met up front. They always do a Celebrate Northern Lakes. There's always kind of like we did today, you know, celebrating what's been good and departments and things like that. So we always kick that off. I love it. We get the financials every month. We do have a new CFO. Cash flow is looking better. So I think that's good. Some of the state reports are finally done that were not done from the past. So that's, it's getting much better. The board and employees passed a code of conduct document of how they perform and how they, what's their conduct like representing that organization. NMRE, which is the Northern Michigan Regional Entity, as you know, we've talked about the fact that there's still money owed to Northern Lakes, and they're going through re-auditing several years of that. It looks like that's coming forward. So they did give a portion of that money already, but it's probably going to take a while for some of those audits to finalize before they get the rest of their money. The new CEO, Linda Zeller, will be here, I guess, on June 10th to present because we've been trying to get her or any of our agencies who receive money from us to come and present at least twice a year. So it looks like she'll be on our docket then. There is a public hearing on September 10th for them as well. They'd like us to involve on our local levels, some of our law enforcement, schools, elected officials, faith people to listen about what's going on in their areas for mental health. So we'll probably be tasked with asking a few people to attend if we could. May 26, the emergency management teams met. Vanessa and Martin really spent a lot of time updating us on the ice storm and the flooding and all the work that's going on to receive the funds that we can potentially get not only from the state but from FEMA as well. One of the things they're really trying to get better at for any other next disaster is around how we handle the oxygen needs for people. So trying to get all the durable medical device groups to understand, can we get a supply up front if we know in advance? Can you get those to those people? How do we coordinate that better? Because it was one of the gaps that we didn't do as good during these last two. They've got a couple grants that they've been working through. National Night Out, I'll give a plug for our law enforcement as well. July 28th from 6 to 8 p.m., the Sheriff's Office and all our public services groups will be at the Walmart parking lot in Houghton Lake. That's all I got. Okay. Commissioner Milburn.

On May 20th, which was Wednesday, I was down in Lansing honoring for the NEMSCA Volunteer of the Year of the Award. Deborah Looney was down there with me. And on the 21st of May, I was at Northwest Michigan Community Action, and the big thing there was Tony Ansorgi. Some of you may know him. He's going to retire. He's been a longtime board member. And they passed the Head Start transportation waiver request. I did not vote for it, because I believe school children should have an opportunity to have seat belts on the bus. But I've historically voted against it. Well, I have, Madam Chair. Thank you.

I had conversations with Commissioner Wolfson regarding the lake level meeting and the parcel swap for Houghton Lake I also had conversations with James Tiffany regarding the Higgins Lake structure and provided him All the information that I had regarding that he's going to put something together as a recommendation and what he thinks may work, may not work, or give the board some options. I have a workers' compensation fund meeting this afternoon and updating the gate logs on a daily basis for the lakes. And that's all I have. Public comment. Do we have any public comment? Come on up.

Good morning, Rhonda Barnhart, Lyon Township resident. So I might need 10, because I do have some transit stuff I need to go over afterwards. First thing I wanted to say is thank you for everything you guys are doing. I feel like you have a broken finger. It's been cut off, and you're just running around trying to handle everything. And I appreciate that. I don't ever see any Lyon Township Provisors already here, so I wanted to please ask you to try to Step over to Lyon Township and pop in once in a while when you're doing your committee meeting or your comments or whatever I think it's great that you're attending your Townships, but yeah If you could pop into Lake and Markey and Lyon since we don't seem to have any representation and no one ever shows up here That would be great um I did go to the COA trip with my mom. I wanted to give a little plug for the COA. That was fantastic. When we went to Washington, DC, I was really apprehensive. My mom has some serious health issues. And everyone was fantastic. Yeah, I cannot tell you how great that trip was. We have a fantastic COA, Commission on Aging. And then they did a mystery trip up to Legs Inn the other day. And I was like, wow, how do we do that? They're doing a good job over there. Curfew with, I saw an ORV, I wasn't here at the last meeting and I saw the chief was recommending some changes for the ORV laws and such. Whenever I hear the word curfew, it makes my hair stand up. I'm an American and I didn't quite catch it. I don't know if he meant just on the county or the main streets like in town to get fuel and stuff. But if I'm camping out in the woods and I want to get my kids up at 2 AM to go down to the river and look at the moon and the stars, I'm going to do that. We're a dirt bike family. We've always been in the trails. I've lived here my whole life, fifth generation. I don't like the word curfew. And I don't like anyone to tell me that I can't go out after 11 PM at night. I know that there's going to be more alcohols out on the trail at that time, but I also know that I can see people better during that time. All of these years of trailing, the only time I've ever been into an accident was during the daylight because both drivers were being idiots, but we didn't see each other. So I don't understand what the whip thing is either. I didn't catch that, and I wanted to really watch that. Meeting, but I didn't get a chance to so I apologize for that that was explained I didn't know what the problem was with the whips because to me any visibility is good That was it on the personal level Now I'd like to put on my transit hat Rascommon County Transportation Authority. I'm the mobility manager there I'm really excited to let you know that we have an AI phone assistant Yay, yeah So our phone system can take an unlimited number of calls at any moment, but we still only have two or three dispatchers in there answering those calls. So sometimes when you call, you're literally the 30th person on the line. So now we have a phone system where you can tell, push the prompts or talk into it, where you want to go, when you want to go, what time you want to be picked up. You can also call and find out your pickup time. So like if you just forgot that you're getting picked up from Walmart at 1 o'clock, you can't remember if it's 1 or 2, you can call and you can say, what time is my pickup? And their AI phone assistant will tell you your scheduled pickup. So it can cancel the trips. And it always kicks you back to dispatch if it can't help you. So what it does is it takes all of the information down and then it It's it to dispatch dispatch looks at it and decides when they can get you and put you on an actual bus So there's still the human element and then dispatch calls you back and tells you your pickup time So we're really excited about that and my executive director just told me this morning that is taking right around 53% of the calls So that's taking that off the just bit. Yeah. Yeah, so we're really excited about that. So We are still hiring three part-time drivers and one part-time dispatcher. And of course, we're still looking for volunteer drivers. I would encourage you to come and check out the transit if you haven't been there yet. I know that a couple of you have. We have a board meeting the second Tuesday of the month at 9 AM or 10 AM. 9 AM, I think it is. And I think that's all I had, actually.

Thank you for your time. Thank you. Any other public comment? Come on up.

Okay, again, I'm Ray Lozinski, and I am the supervisor for Richfield Township. I'd just like to comment on a couple of things. Previous speaker talked about the curfew. The intent is not to restrict with the curfew. What the intent is, St. Helen area, we by far have the largest contingent of ORV, ATV-type things. And it has been our history. We found out after 11 o'clock, midnight, no good comes out of running down the streets. And so the intent of the curfew on it was just for the streets we could control. We can't control the DNR trails. We can't control... of the areas that these people will be riding in but what the intent is is if one of our officers or if the sheriff or somebody sees a person on these city streets it gives them a reason to be able to stop them and if they're obviously not intoxicated or They have their family and they say, hey, look, I was on the trails. I just got lost. I don't know where I'm going. We can guide them and tell them, you know, here's where you need to go to either get back on the trails or get back to your campsite, whatever the case may be, and have a nice night. And that's the purpose behind it. It gives us one more law enforcement tool to be able to conduct and gain control of some of the situations. So that was the intent behind the curfew. It wasn't to restrict anybody camping. It wasn't to restrict anybody on the trails. The whips themselves are the lights that come up, and that is all under DNR control. But the problem comes in when you start using them our type of streets and things like that if you see them from a distance there are people that will interpret that as being a officer on a traffic stop or some type of traffic regulation or something like that so um that's those are some of the things i was on that i worked with our chief that uh put together that package to bring to the commissioners and that was just some of the things so i just want to kind of clarify those points and on a good news i just want to let everybody in everybody in the county know The DNR has begun construction on our shooting range. The shooting range is located on M55, just east of the 76. It's the old Liberty Lodge, and they have begun construction. I have been told they plan on being done by September of 2026 to allow people to be able to sight in for hunting season. So that's kind of a good news that we're actually going to have a state shooting range. It will eliminate some of the problems in our township and I'm sure other townships of people trying to site their things in and shooting and things like that and not really following proper safety rules or just not knowing where that bullet is going once they fire that weapon and it goes. And we have had houses and some vehicles struck and stuff like that. Hopefully that will eliminate some of that. So thank you for your time and I just want to bring those to a point.

Thank you. Any other public comment?

I just, Marcie Dankert, Roscommon County Treasurer. I just wanted to bring to the board's attention that last week the House passed eight different property tax reform bills. Just to keep that in your purview, I think property tax reform is definitely on the agenda for this year. As of right now, there is no real mechanism for replacing that lost revenue to local units, counties. But part of some of the bills that passed the House included an elimination of the uncapping or the pop-up tax when a property is sold. So you would no longer have that uncapping of the taxable values. So I don't know how the Headlee rollback would play into that, because that's what that is tied to as a property uncaps at sale. becomes whatever the assessed value is in the year following the sale, and so that's where your Headlee rollback comes in so that you don't collect more revenue than you were before, basically. So if they eliminate the uncapping, how does that affect Headlee rollback? It would eliminate the six mil state education tax, which would have a real, I would have to say, detrimental effect on school districts. It would repeal the state real estate transfer tax, which again the county gets part of that state track Transfer tax revenue, so that would be a loss of revenue for the county It would eliminate all personal property taxes including utility personal property taxes I know it's been sent over to the Senate. They're not quite sure how it's gonna fare on that end but just something to keep in mind as we through this year. It'll probably definitely be tied to budget talks, I'm sure. So just keep that in your purview. Switching hats for just a moment, I want to thank Kim for the plug on the Village Farmer's Market. I do manage that. If you have not had a chance to attend our Village Farmer's Market on Saturdays, you are missing out. Last Saturday, we had 51 vendors. So we have quite a showing. So I invite all of you, if you have not attended, to come out and see us on Saturday.

Thank you Any other public comment I Was here at your last meeting and talk to you about survey and I in person in case you haven't had a chance to visit it because I sensed a little skepticism from a couple folks so I wanted to leave your mind at rest about that and also Common Roots is hosting a series of candidate meet and greets with Irish Kilt and those will be on Sundays from noon to 2 and we have candidates from all parties attending And we do have one glitch in the schedule. One of our candidates will be coming on a Tuesday. And we still hope to hear from Ed Bergman, Kelly Barr, and Ken Borton. So I encourage you to stop by the Irish Kilt on Sundays starting this Sunday. Rachel Longendike Teeter is going to be our, she's going to kick off the series. And then there will be time for questions as well. So if you want to meet the candidates, learn what their platforms are and have questions for them, please come to the Irish Kilt. And Please visit the survey and look that over and hopefully we'll get your support on that because we need to hear voices from everybody Thank you Any other public comment Board comment Commissioner Morley

I took a few notes. So just a comment on the Creekside Meadows project. As I've watched this unfold for several years of work now, I'm really glad they were able to explain why a brownfield now, because the laws have changed back since when people understood it. So they already answered that question. And I will say part of the reason that I supported that, multiple reasons, but Anybody who came before me to say, I disagree with this, could not prove that what public acts and what statutory roles this project can do was wrong. It's more of a personal thing. And so there was never no factual evidence as to why this was done wrong or shouldn't have been brought forward. So I just wanted to go on record for that one. I do believe the property tax piece is going to be huge. As we watch that go through, we're not sure what the appetite will be for the Senate or the governor to actually approve any of it at this point. But there are so many moving parts, this is not an easy one to follow. And so I just think it's the one piece that if we're going to follow something, we should probably keep an eye and run some numbers and projections, like if this goes, what happens. And so we can be a better voice to people who are asking us about that in the community. Last, let me grab, I wanted to bring forward some information that was emailed to me, so I might need some help from the public. On May 24th, 2026, 2.05 p.m., I received an email from pitcher8nmi at gmail.com. think the name is just Mike is all I saw I was asked to look at the body language of one of the Board of Commissioners it was not clear what I was supposed to look for all I can see is one of the commissioners head down is appalling seems all commissioners are paying attention when others like you or Jody are speaking this speaks volumes also the agenda speaks of the controller's report I don't I didn't see that or last month's report hmm is there a reason for this Same day, 2.33, so less than 30 minutes after another email, also I see that the Board of Commissioners is using NGVD 29 datum from 1929 when the MD, DNR, the circuit court accepted the operations procedure manual in 2025 accepted by EGLE and uses the current NAVD 88 datum from 1988. Why would the Board of Commissioners use something outdated like that? Then at 2.51, the same person emailed, I didn't see the description for bully or bullying, but there is a description for harassment. Quote, words, conduct, or action usually repeated or persistent that being directed at a specific person annoys, alarms, or causes substantial emotional distress to that person and serves no legitimate purpose, purposeful vexation. I'm looking for help. So I said, on May 26 at 2.52 p.m., I replied, I see you sent several different emails. Please give me your contact number and where you reside so I can call you to discuss further. The response I got at 9.06 p.m. that night was, I'm a member of Roscommon County. Same as you. I'm asking, if anybody knows who this person is, if you can make them or ask them to give me their phone number, I'd be happy to address these. But I will go on record that if you cannot come forward and say who you are and be willing to stand up and say, I want to talk about it, I can't reply. I'll ask for your I feel like like the public the sheriff's who come before an event and go I need the public's assistance or something I'll end on that because I'm happy to address it, but I can't address it if you're not willing to step forward I Appreciate raised comments and Rana's comments you give me something to think about The 250th anniversary is on 4th of July, which is Saturday and noon by the cannon.

Thank you much. I

I guess I'll piggyback off of Kim a little bit on your email there, because when they talk about different times when commissioners' heads are down and stuff like that, I don't know who they're referring to, but I know a lot of times we're up here taking notes, and our heads are down while we're taking notes. And those notes help us either to answer questions, to remember what somebody had said, for a variety of reasons. So... Instead of maybe finger pointing and saying it's disrespectful, maybe they should understand why somebody's head was down. That's my only take on that.

Commissioner Wolfson.

Sure. Piggyback on that. Also, sometimes we're reading. We're reading information as the meeting's going on. So until that person sits in this seat, they can shut up. I said that. Be quiet. Okay, they should be quiet. Thank you. I'd like to mention that household hazardous waste takes place this Saturday. The Roscommon Road Commission. So, I don't know if I'm going to be working the tire station this year.

Need something easier this year.

It might have to go something easier.

Styrofoam?

Pardon?

This Saturday? Yeah. What are the hours for that? Do you remember?

It was till 1 o'clock. 1 o'clock. 9 to 1. 9 to 1.

All right.

That's all I have to say.

With no further board comment, this meeting is adjourned. And our next meeting will start at 10.15. Higgins Lake Foundation, Nancy Lamb.

I am Nancy lamb Township this is John Barta Higgins Lake Foundation board member and I have been for nearly three years Okay, so we are and I'm the chair of the Higgins Lake Foundation and We requested to be on the agenda at the last meeting. I briefly mentioned our new drinking water program It is called be well wise. I'm going to turn it over to John in a moment But first of all, thank you for having us a little bit about the Higgins Lake Foundation. We are a non-political environmental 501 C 3 we are run on donations only and our board members are all volunteers and So our mission is to promote ecologically sound projects and programs for the protection of Higgins Lake and the surrounding watershed, which this program directly aligns to. So with that, we can go to the next page, the next slide, and I'm going to turn it over to John. John actually came up with this idea, so I'll let you talk about it.

Sure. Good morning. Good morning. So we're here today to introduce a new initiative called Be Well Wise. It is a free well water testing program. Why offer free water testing? Well, essentially, there's two reasons. To help families understand what's in their water, we want to provide assurance, let them know what's safe and is healthy to drink. Or indeed, if there are contaminants in there to understand that. The other reason is to better understand the water quality in the Higgins Lake watershed and to guide future environmental stewardship projects. We really want to know what's in the water. There's a lot of things going on in our local communities. We know what's happening in the Lake Marguerite area, Wexford. And so that really inspired some of our foundation board members to say, look, We need to know what's in our community. So I'm trying to be current. The foundation is active. People don't always hear about us, but it's important to know that we are active and current and interested in things that are going on, not just Higgins Lake, but the watershed in general. Could we move to the next slide? Thank you. How does the Be Well, Wise program work? The program officially begins on Monday, June 10, and runs through September 30. We made a little adjustment to that slide, so that is in the air. There are essentially two qualifications to obtain free water tests. Number one, anyone living in one of the three townships that are within the Higgins Lake watershed, Beaver Creek, Garish, or Lyon, And secondarily, that they obtain their drinking water from a well on the property where the water is to be tested. So there are no really public water treatment facilities in our area. So it's literally everyone. There are multiple ways to obtain tests. The most simple one is to come to our office here in Roscommon over on Terrace Drive. Our office is open Monday through Friday 9 to 3. We will also be participating, the foundation will be participating in local community events, namely the farmer's market where we will be handing those kits out. All water testing is going to be performed by Raven Analytical Laboratories also here in Roscommon. And the testing that will be produced will be on E. coli. Total coliform, nitrates, and nitrites. OK, maybe next. Let's see. This is slide four. Anyone receiving a test kit? Let me make sure we're on the right slide here. Yep, we're there. Anyone receiving a test kit will receive two sample bottles and a set of instructions for completing the test. While the test is simple, there are some very important elements to understand before the testing begins, such as the source of the water to be tested. We recommend that the water is obtained as close to a wellhead as possible. To obtain the most accurate test, It's best to try to avoid softened or filtered water. That way you get a real clear test of what's there. If homeowners have filtered water, they're fortunate to have that. Many people in our community do not. But it is a good idea to get as close to the wellhead as possible. Time is also critical. Bacteria will only survive in water for a limited amount of time. Anyone testing their water will need to get the samples to Raven Labs within 30 hours to ensure that the bacteria does not expire. So it is important to get that there. It's important to note that Raven accepts the water samples Monday through Thursday, 3 o'clock only. That means that the water testing can only be performed Sunday through Thursday early afternoon. While this may seem a little inconvenient, it's important to note that water testing, while straightforward, is serious. The human body is composed of 60% water. Humans should be consuming 64 ounces of water every day. We need to know the water that we're drinking is safe. It's imperative that we take the time to ensure the water testing we perform is done accurately. Once testing is complete, Raven will send a report with the test results to the property owner. A copy of the results will also be shared with the Higgins Lake Foundation and may be shared with health organizations, environmental agencies, to support a broader understanding of the water quality in the watershed. The property owner controls what happens next. If contaminants are identified on the report, it's the property owner's responsibility to act. The Foundation will not contact the property owner. There are many sources available to learn and decide what, if any, action to take, including calling Raven Laboratories. The Foundation will take care to protect personal privacy and will not publish names or contact information of participants. OK, next slide, please. There we go. That's it. Anyone receiving a test kit will complete a registration form. The form contains the name of the participant, address of where the test should be sent, and instructions as to the testing procedure. The form also includes a consent statement to ensure that the process, expectations, and the purpose of the testing are clearly understood. This provides transparency, documents participation for all parties involved, and confirms that participation is entirely voluntary. Because the test kits are costly, it's important that participants fully understand the significance and seriousness of the testing process. Data collected from the tests will be analyzed and aggregated in an attempt to understand the aquifers beneath us. Any information compiled by the Higgins Lake Foundation will be presented in a manner that does not identify individual properties or property owners. Why should I participate? There are approximately 5,000 landowners in our area. We are hoping for significant participation so we can develop a clearer understanding of groundwater, Higgins Lake, and the streams throughout the watershed. The information gained through this effort is important not only to our community's health, but to the broader understanding of the watershed's interconnected water systems. Lastly, the foundation has committed significant financial resources to this project. It's also dedicated substantial time and effort to help ensure the project's success. We would appreciate suggestions from the Board of Commissioners that may help us communicate our message to the residents of Lyon and Beaver and Gersh. So any avenues that you folks have that you might suggest for us to communicate? Publicizing this is really important. Yes, sir?

Yes.

We have had discussions with them, yes, we have. Yes, absolutely. On the actual instructions form that the property owner fills out, there is a box there should they desire their data to be sent to the Central Michigan District Health Department. But we would encourage all of the property owners who are having their water tested to send that data there directly. They are very interested in nitrates and nitrites. So there is a box in, and the property owners can opt to have that data sent there.

Thank you.

You bet. Thank you. Any other questions? Madam Chair?

Yes. I understand Commissioner Milburn's question, but I'm pretty sure that's a very distinct difference. You were not in partnership with them. They had their thing. This is what you guys are trying to support and bring forward as a foundation.

That is absolutely correct.

Not a joint. But if people want to send that to the health department, then they have that option because that's kind of in their wheelhouse of whatever they do with it.

That's exactly right. That's also true of the Health of Higgins Lake Activity, HOHL. which is happening in Gersh. They are very interested in the environment and what's going on. But this is purely a Higgins League Foundation initiative unrelated to the Central Michigan District Health Department, HOHL, the property owners.

I think that was one of the questions that had been brought up at another meeting, just to make sure people were aware. We're not trying to commingle. This is your project. This is what you guys are doing. My only other suggestion or thought, and you probably have already thought about it, but when you go to the different townships, that's a real direct consumer that you need. Market and other big events bring a lot of people from other counties. So you're limited on maybe how much money you want to spend giving somebody a kit, just I don't know how that would work. I don't know. But it's something to think about as they go, well, I'll do it. Why can't you give me one? I don't know. Just want to try to help your resources.

We have had that discussion. And while we would really like to be able to do that, the kits are essentially $45 a piece. And if we can get... We won't get 5,000 people to do it. But we are hoping to get a very significant number. And we are trying to limit it to the, well, we have decided to limit it to the watershed. And so those three townships. But we really want to make sure people understand what the water they're drinking and the aquifers, what's happening. We know that there's a lot of things with data centers and drawing aquifers down and what's happening.

We're hoping that it will give us an idea for future Discussions and things that might lead us to other thoughts and activities I can add something to your point Kim one way for us to control All the kits and who receives the kits we are going to have to say no if people do not Those three times And so this isn't going to be, you know, where we're at the farmer's market and we have a bunch of kits and we're like, sure, have a kit, have a kit. It's also one of the reasons they have to sign the consent form to say, all right, I am in one of these townships and I will return this within 30 hours after I collect my sand. a great process yeah and and that way we we know we're giving and and I have a well so we need to make sure that we're not throwing money out the door and that they are in one of these they will take the test right any times there's there is something free somebody wants it and then it sits on their counter and

Thank you. Most people don't test their own water. You know, if they have a new well drilled, it's the well drilling company that takes care of those things. And so there are processes and procedures, and that's why we have this instruction form that it is fairly comprehensive. And that's why I wanted to emphasize that in case anyone is interested, that they understand that while simple, It does, you have, there's a real procedure and process that you want to follow to make sure you get accurate results. So that's why it is, it is a serious issue and you want to make sure you're drinking great water.

So that really is our presentation today. Madam Chair, do you have a list of things you're going to test for in these?

Yes, we will be testing for E4I, coliform, nitrates, and nitrite.

That is Raven's standard protocol. We are leaving that. They're the experts. They're the scientists and analysts. It's standard protocol for a new well, yes. We are adhering to their protocol.

Okay. There are other elements that can be tested. That will be the onus of the property owner should they decide to go further with any other tests.

We have the constant contacts, and then there I have, like, when people sign up, they're asked to pick whether it's Higgins Lake, Houghton Lake, Lake St. Helen, and anybody that does actually pick. If they don't pick one, then they go into the all group. If they pick one of the lakes, then they go into that. So if it's something that you want me to send out to the Higgins Lake people, I can do that. I have the slides, so I can just attach that to...

Okay. Let me update the June 1st versus June 10th. Okay. We also have a couple of flyers, too. I have one with me. Is it okay if I pass them out? I have four. Did you have an extra? I have one. Okay. And I'll go ahead and send those. Okay. Okay.

Is that something you could send me electronically to put up on the county page?

Absolutely. I will do that.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you very much. And we have had half a dozen calls through the administration office already.

Yep, I had one in particular. He actually came in person, and that was somebody from the foundation, the administrative office. She did reach out and contact him, and then after that, I've just been telling him, just hang tight. We'll have more information for you. So, yes.

That's fantastic.

There are people interested.

Another way for control, we are having them pick up their tests from a Higgins Lake Foundation person. So typically the office, or if we are out in the community, we'll also be at the art fair. So we're looking, so if you have ideas of big community events, we're trying to get the HOHL picnic. We'll probably be there. So if there's any Any other type of activity where you think we'd get good publicity?

You might want to, because it'll cover your townships, and it would be a sooner probably rather than a later, though. The Roscommon Area Public Schools has an app, and so you would be able to get that younger parental group. Maybe you could put something out there. I would think that child safety would be something that the school district would be interested in promoting. Thank you. Thank you.

Yes. If you feel comfortable in the future and working through the chair and vice chair, if you come back with the results, I'd be real curious to see how it shakes out.

Hopefully we're going to get a lot of tests back. Actually, the foundation did this several years ago, and they offered free tests. And it wasn't a communication blitz. So we are trying to make this a communication blitz. Because if you don't get the word out or you don't have these controls in place, then people just take a free kit and they don't complete it. So we're really trying to implement some controls around, you know, come to the Higgins Lake Foundation to get it. You can sign, you know, that way they sign the consent form. We know that they know they have to return it within 30 hours. And so hopefully we get many tests back. And then if we do, right, we will look at those results in aggregate and compile them in a way that data privacy is protected. We'll look at that and determine next steps.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I will send Darlene and Jody more information. All right.

Opioid fund usage discussion. Commissioner Wolfson, Commissioner Milburn.

Yes, Madam Chair. We're going to bring some stuff up on the big screen here, hopefully. And we're going to give you a layout of our assessment on the opioid spending and see if we move forward with this program or not. I'm not very good at this, so bear with me. I lost my... Is that as big as it gets?

Yeah.

All right. Well, each has a copy, if you can't read that one. We come up with some action items identified. We need to compile and evaluate all resources currently available, review needs and gaps in those resources. We think we need to determine where we can enhance existing service or meet other needs. Also seek input from county emergency agencies, all county agencies that deal with opioid issues, churches, courts, and that list can go on and on. Basically, we need to see what we have available in our county what can be provided and how we can help with that. This would be just identify where to start and compile this current list of resources. One thing I found in getting into this is if you go on the web, you'd be hard pressed to find help if you're an opioid user. Just about everything on there is outdated, doesn't exist no more, or whatever. Part of this program, once we figure out a lot of this, I think we need to have a site posted on our website and other means of information available as to how and when and where people can get help and coordinate that with them. We need to create a system for those in need of help that can receive the information and help without being lost in a bureaucratic process. If someone calls up for help in this situation, they're not going to be on hold when you get back to them. We need to have a process in place where we can address their needs as much as we can immediately and then follow through with it. Help needs to be tangible and easily accessible to everyone. We need to utilize existing community resources to accomplish this. Here's some resources I've come up with. John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Suggest using dollars to supplement existing opioid abatement work rather than supplant existing funding And I've seen that other words where this money shouldn't be used to beef up something. It's already there it's to advance it or Fill in some gaps That can't be supplied by the what's normally there in our County We're quite limited on resources of health. So we need to watch how we spend that money. Only 30% of it can be used for education and prevention. We have to be aware of that. So Mack suggests counties receive input from individuals with lived experience. This would include those in recovery previously or currently using opioids and family of people who use opioids. They support diversion from arrest and incarceration. And our program should address areas where help falls short and fill in the gaps. I might point out here that opioid funds can also be used for SUDs as long as they're concurrent with opioid use. We can continue with a bureaucratic system that already exists out there or develop a system that can provide a real service to our citizens. We need to continue assessing our program and be willing to make changes to it as we continue to move forward. It will be a lot of work to coordinate existing agencies, identifying needs and shortfalls, and therefore it will be necessary to hire someone to coordinate our program on a continuing basis. Now for the economics of such program. The first page up there, and it's the mostly blank page in front of you, There's over $902,000 sitting there right now to be utilized for this. The next few pages. Shows what we have coming in. I believe through 2039. That does not count Purdue Fund coming in. So. I KNOW ECONOMICS IS WHEN YOU'RE HELPING PEOPLE IS NOT THE BEST THING TO TALK ABOUT, BUT WE DO NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE ECONOMICS. WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO UTILIZE OVER $2 MILLION TO HELP OUR CITIZENS AND STRENGTHEN OUR COMMUNITY. WE SHOULD USE THIS MONEY FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTY AND NOT LET IT GO TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES OTHER THAN OURS. With that, I realize some of you are just seeing this in front of you today. If you have questions, I'm willing to answer. If not, then we can take care of these questions and answers when you've had time to review this. This is kind of our assessment of where we think we need to go. There's a lot of information we need to gather, and we need somebody on staff to do that. And we need somebody on staff to coordinate these services for somebody that needs help. It's probably going to take at least a year, if not two, to get this fully up and running. But surely we can offer help in the meantime as we start moving forward with it.

I think the big takeaway is as of May 26 of this year, the $902,000, and as Rex pointed out, we're going to have over $2 million in the future. We probably need to put together this on our strategic plan docket and also have a summit in the future that would be appropriate. Maybe as far as maybe November, December, a summit of the stakeholders, the police, department, EMS, all the folks in the county that can come to the table to give guidance. We do need a summit in the future. And we need a coordinator, as Rex pointed out. We're going to need somebody to coordinate these services.

I'd like to mention on that. Mark's correct and we are all busy as Commissioners and if we hire a coordinator, we would put down some of them duties on there of finding our stakeholders, getting their input and seeing what they see needs in along with needs that we see. That's all I have, unless you have questions.

I'm not sure if I have a ton yet, Madam Chair, but just a couple thoughts. I'll go back to the money, the investment right now. It looks like there's over $900,000. You've already spent Over $27,000, is that correct? What was that on? What did we use that money for again?

So you have right now in that expenses is the program that you approved for the jail next door, which you actually have a presentation at your next work session on. So that'll dovetail nicely, I think, with this.

I was just going to ask. I haven't heard an update. OK. Yep.

So that is the totality of that expense.

Is that an ongoing expense that we have to continue to keep? For how long?

It is one for right now. The initial contract, the initial thought process for that was it was going to be three years to then be re-evaluated because the idea was that this would be a three to five year program in order to see success.

I mean, one, I 100% and I think I've said it 100% agree that not adding more money to an existing program consistently is not a wraparound. It is all these groups that you just mentioned.

I view this as we're going to learn a lot as we go along. And we may have to take some redirection as we go along.

Absolutely. You have to have some wrap around first.

We need to be flexible to see. And also we need to look at sometimes maybe something's going to be spent and we're going to say, no, we maybe want to shift that money somewhere else.

And that is why I applaud you wanting to put all the stakeholders together. I'm hearing a summit or a group because I think there's lots of groups who can share what we handle and here's the gap. If I can put it in my small brain simple, it's people get lost in the system. Leave the jail, there's nowhere else to go. Oh, now you go back in. Now you've had that person. Now we're going to talk to you in the jail again. Put you back out of the jail. Where is the gap? We create that fits this county so I I really applaud that this is kind of where the direction that you're wanting to pull those together I definitely support some form of a summit to get the right stakeholders at the table because they may have ideas of stuff that will support Even not not saying not a coordinator, but they may go well you would only need this because we do that So how do those groups work collectively in a collective impact? to create this program

I think we're going to value collective input.

Yeah. I see that was one of the major jobs in the start of the coordinator is go and find out what people experience with these situations and what would be helpful for them.

So if I'm here, you really need somebody to be hired before we even create a summit or create a group of stakeholders to come to the table?

No. Okay. What I'm saying is we need to hire someone to do all this work because we as commissioners are busy.

I'm fully aware of that one.

And one of the things the coordinator, one of the main things would be, first things would be see what's available out there, see what all these organizations and stakeholders think would be useful or they need.

And we do have some documents that show resources that support, so we kind of have a start to what that inventory looks like. I'm just trying to figure out from a... I agree. It's a priority. We've been talking about it. And we are busy. But I'm trying to understand, are we going to do a summit? Are we going to bring the stakeholders together before we figure out what that job description would be? Or... if we have to hire somebody to even start that. That was my own question.

My feeling is we need to come up with a job description for the coordinator and everything that they're going to be asked by this board to handle. Right. and then let them determine what's needed, contact stakeholders. If that person feels the stakeholders need to come present to the board to support from the board what their needs are, then that person, the coordinator should bring that forward.

So the answer to that is yes. You think we should get a job description, hire a person, and then have them talk to stakeholders.

Yeah. It's a lot of work. I mean, there's a lot of people to talk to.

I'm just trying to look at the timeline. You want us to hire. If that's our action, then we need to make a decision on whether or not we hire somebody now, or we bring a summit together and figure out from stakeholders.

Well, I'm not asking for action right now. No, I know. But that would be my opinion. A coordinator, because the coordinator could also, if we're going to have a summit, they can, these are the people we're bringing in because these are the people that say they need interest.

Okay, that's helpful. That's all I was trying to understand, so.

All right. Any other questions for right now?

There will be a lot of questions.

There's going to be a lot of questions. I foresee this being under unfinished business for a little while.

Yeah, until you and I are gone from this board, probably.

Madam Chair, I don't mind it continuing to be on another work session where you actually have the time for discussion and dialogue. We just have to manage who all can be on a regular agenda or a work session so that we don't go forever. But I think this does warrant the good conversation. This is a really great start. I love the financial projections. That is very helpful. It helps us understand.

But if I work with the administrator, we come up with a job description for coordinator and bring that back to the next work session.

I'm happy to look at it.

We have good ideas, but we want input. I guess the big thing at the end of the day is collective input is very, very important.

Case in point, like what Mark said, I was talking to my son-in-law about this. And he said, you ought to go down the road and talk to Holly, EMS. She can tell you what they need. I'd never thought of that. Henceforth, we expanded it to all county emergency agencies. We're going to learn things as we go along that we need to include. We need to get started on them. And I thought this would be a good start.

Max resources are immense. I've read so many documents on this.

And I think that contact person has changed since I started this, but yes.

Oh, that gentleman was at the, is the new contact. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of resources to, and we hire a coordinator. I'm sure they're going to get lost in a lot of paperwork like I did at first. to get lined out, but they'll also have the board here to give them some direction.

Thank you, Rex. Thank you. A lot of good information. Okay. ORB Ordinance Committee. Discussion of the whole. You want to start off?

Okay, I'll start it off. We talked about amending the ORV ordinance. Jody has compiled quite a list of things here, which is very good. I've also contacted the prosecutor's office for a legal opinion about Is there a difference between amending one and? A new ordinance, so we'll get all that information together. This is a good start. I think we need to move forward with it. In either case, in all cases. I think we need to send out to all the townships. What's being proposed and receive some input from them? And that would be a good jumping off point, perhaps.

Yes?

Mr. Wolfson, what's being proposed is exactly what we heard at the last presentation. Are there any changes to that?

Not that I've heard. Nobody's required it, no. I've got no feedback.

I don't know if I heard him say he was going to make some changes.

There were some. I did have a chance on Friday to talk to Prosecutor Dellen. And her and I concurred. I mean, well, you still have to use the same process, whether you make a new or you amend the same timeline requirements, et cetera, are still applicable. She was looking into a couple areas that she was going to reach out to Chief Sharrow on to clarify what his intent was to make sure that those were legalities. She had also said that she'd be willing to take the lead because she knows that Chief Sharrow has been pretty busy and try to, and I don't know if this has happened or not, basically send the ordinance out to the other law enforcement agencies in the area to get input. So again that was one of the things that She was looking at she was also going to of course look at it from her point of view as you had asked as far as enforceability from that aspect because obviously anybody can pass any ordinance they want, but if it comes down to it and There's nothing there. It's not going to go to court You're not going to be able to do anything about it So some of those areas were when she was looking at and she's more than willing to sit on this committee obviously as you had asked We should have all that language cleared up before we send it out to the townships I

Who makes up maybe the committee, her, our prosecuting attorney, and who else were you thinking, Commissioner Wolfson?

I didn't know.

Oh, OK.

I didn't know we had a committee on it. But I'm willing to be it if that's it. I mean, that's fine.

OK. All right.

Chair.

Yes. Yes. If you come up here.

So in talking with Sheriff Stern about this issue, I am not opposed to addressing the ordinance and making updates, clarifying language, those kinds of things. We had no idea that this was coming. We didn't know until the last meeting that Chief Sherrill was even going to make this request. My opinion is that there should be a committee. And it should include all law enforcement agencies in the county. It should include the DNR. It should include the prosecutor's office. And it should include a representative from the courts. There's a lot of different laws, voucher ordinances, county ordinances, DNR laws, a lot of things that can conflict with each other. And I think that in order to do it right, you have to have all of those stakeholders at the table. And so if this is something that the county is going to consider taking on, I think that there needs to be some sort of a committee that represents all of those pieces.

I would agree. Yeah. Madam Chair, while he's there, may I ask a question? I would agree as well. So if I hear you correctly, clarifying language is okay. I mean, it helps.

Sure.

Does that help with enforcement?

Well, I mean, that's a broad question, right? I think it could help with enforcement. And I think there's things that could be changed. But I think in order to do it properly, all of those pieces need to be at the table to make sure that we're doing the right thing.

I agree. It goes to enforcement. There's townships that don't have police. We've got it when it comes to any ordinance or no parking signs. Well, we don't have police. Well, they're going to ask you to do it. If it goes back on those that we do have law enforcement on, that's just more work on their plate that doesn't allow the taxpayers who pay for yours or the township police to do their jobs. And so I think that's a concern for me if it becomes too burdensome to enforce. And it won't matter anyway if you clarify the language. I'm for it. I do believe that it's helpful to educate people better. I am for a committee. But that is where, to me, the committee needs to weigh in on. If we do this, is this an exercise in futility? Or is this really going to help us solve a problem? That's, to me, that's my question.

I've had some conversation with prosecutor Dillon already about it. I know there's several things she's looking at. But I know the courts have already been dealing with some ORV issues already this summer, if you can call it summer. And I think it's a much more complicated issue than we realize. And I think all of those people just need to be at the table together discussing those things.

I would agree with that. And then if the committee as a whole can get together and maybe get a concrete Set of language or ordinance in place and then you may have certain townships that may need to tweak it Just for their township.

Mm-hmm And they have that ability after the fact to do that It sounds like it's obviously something that as a county board we should entertain I'm guessing that sooner than later we need to put the work into getting this committee together to look at this and

It's been a long time since that ordinance was enacted and I certainly don't think it would hurt to take a look at it But I don't think you're going to do it effectively without all of those pieces in place together in the same room, right?

I Think the ordinance is 20 years old if I remember Probably close to that There was some great language written in there.

I mean for the one we saw I mean, there's some good things to consider and help clarify no doubt, but Did his best

Well, would this board like me to put together such a committee?

If you had the time. I know we're having a hard time doing stuff for opioid, but if we can.

So there is an existing law enforcement meeting every month, correct?

Is it a law enforcement administrators meeting that takes place at Fred's every once a month?

Maybe.

We have a fish fry.

We could have a fish fry. That'd be great. I don't know.

What do you think about that?

I think that that would be a great place to start. Normally, the courts aren't represented there. But if we extended an invitation to them to send a representative to that from district court, that would be helpful. And maybe if somebody from this board wanted to attend, that could work, at least as a starting place.

Got to start somewhere. Yep.

And I think the other then too is like the RTA meetings. Like maybe go and discuss that. Just to at least put something.

Until we finalize what we're looking at. The townships.

Yeah.

You know, are we going to confuse them with this is what we're thinking and next month this is what we're thinking.

I think when you had that stakeholder.

Should we wait until.

Yeah, just the stakeholder group.

There this is this is what we I was saying so that it was your input now I was just saying to forewarn the townships that this is coming down not Necessarily explaining what the ordinance is about just draft out an email that goes out to the clerks to all of the boards to share in their packet And let them know I mean and I think that You do all our townships partake in that like Nestor Township

They have a representative, whether they go or not, I don't know.

But what we'll do is we can email all of the clerks so that then it's included in correspondence. And then all of the board is aware of what you're doing. And I mean, I think you have a great group of people. I mean, I know, obviously, Ridgefield Township has very specific issues. But I think that the broader sense of everything that Chief Sharrow brought forward you get into that first meeting with that law enforcement group and you, okay, what are the, everybody identify, and these are the common issues that everybody's experiencing, and then that's what the county ordinance needs to cover. And then if we have to help the townships craft a township ordinance for specifics, we have that ability because we'll have learned so much.

That might be a good idea, too, to put something out directly to the townships requesting feedback and talk about some of these new issues like curfews and different things that have been suggested. We respond to ORV complaints throughout the county. It's an issue in the summer. Certainly the busiest area is St. Helens, for sure. But it's an issue all over. And I guess you guys are the ones that are going to make the final decision of if there's going to be changes, what those are going to look like. Maybe we should get some feedback from the other townships of what are the issues you're experiencing, and are there things that you would like to see addressed, or would you like it more generic, and then you can pass your own township ordinance that's more restrictive if you would like to be on that.

I agree. Thank you for that, as well as just this process of had to hold a public hearing. What will we need to do as we go through that? So that was helpful.

Are you the coordinator of this monthly meeting?

So technically, I believe it would be Chief Muszynski, but we have an email thread. I can mention it today when I go back to my office, put it out to that group and just say- So you and I will stay in touch on this subject then? Yep. Are you the one to stay in touch with? Are you the one to stay in touch with? I guess so. Okay. All right.

When you send that email out, will you copy it?

I will. All right. Any other questions?

Thank you. Thank you. That's a king from my township. I'll take the fall. All right.

OK. Yes.

Just as the head of the Roscommon Township Association, I'd just like to make the offer that if you keep me in the loop, I do have an email chain with all the townships that we can Just kind of just put mass emails out things like that I would be willing to serve on that committee if if so needed Then this way all the townships will have the same information Little bit of background. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend when Chief Sherrill was here. But one of the things we did is we looked at the ordinance. And the ordinance, yeah, it was written several years ago. Actually, it was written, as we determined it, before even UTVs became, the side-by-sides became so popular. So we just felt it was time to take a look at it. We were looking at some of our own township stuff, and that's why we decided to put together as a county thing. And from one of Chief Sherrill's concerns and one of my concerns was making sure all law enforcement interprets it the same way, too. I mean right side of the road does that mean you're in the gravel do it means you have one wheel on the pavement you know and there was a lot of so that's the whole purpose behind us and Again, I'd be willing to be the conduit to the townships through the RTA if needed Sounds like you're gonna be buying me breakfast quite often All right

So BCN in-network providers update, Noelle Martin, our HR generalist.

Good morning. So I actually have some good news because just this morning the news that I was going to give you changed. So originally Michigan Medicine and BCN, obviously BCN is who we have our health insurance for, through for our employees They were at a contract negotiation stalemate essentially and so pending up until this morning They did reach a negotiation agreement by the way, but pending this It was going to their contract was going to end June 30th which would mean that if they didn't come to an agreement that any any Michigan medicine providers would be out of network for BCN, which is a very huge deal. A lot, a lot of people obviously utilize Michigan Medicine. Typically it's for some long-term illnesses, whether it's life-threatening or chronic terminal, things like that. So this was a really big deal, and I was coming to originally let you know that this was on the table, that they were still trying to negotiate, and it was kind of a he said, she said, you know, argument, a back and forth. But literally this morning as I was logging in to put my words together for you. They put out a press release together that they have come to an agreement. The terms of the agreement, they're not going to make public, and they're still working out all the loose terms of everything. But the good news is that Michigan Medicine will continue to be a network. It's really, really, really good news because this was truly unprecedented. You have pretty much the biggest insurer with one of the biggest health systems in the state fighting with each other. And yeah, the world of insurance is going to be crazy for the next few years, I can guarantee it. But thankfully, this has been avoided. Thank you.

Good news. You're welcome. Yes, yes. I know. It was really good news. Thank you. And then a positive note. All right. With nothing further on our work session, this meeting would be adjourned.