County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Roll call please Morley here over here Wolfson answer here Approval of the agenda Any discussion Roll call sensor. Yes, Morley. Yes, Melbourne. Yes, Wilson. Yes motion carried approval of the consent agenda I

So move, Madam Chair.

I'll second. Okay.

There is no discussion during that part. Roll call, please. Sorry. Rex is talking and I'm listening and getting lost, so sorry about that. You want to pull something out of the consent agenda and he still do that Michelle. I don't know was that supposed to be done before Okay, okay, what would you like you want to pull out? Clerks reports Okay, what the clerk's report?

She mentioned the state legislature had until June 5th to decide if they're adding anything to the August ballot. Do we know if there's anything been added?

I do know that, but this isn't the time for that. If you want to pull it out for discussion, then we discuss it. After we, okay.

I'll rewind to it.

In the consent agenda we had meeting minutes from May 27th 2026 board meeting Class A's in the amount of eight hundred and thirty two thousand six hundred and fifty five dollars and sixty two cents Claims and accounts in the amount of three hundred nineteen thousand eight twenty three twenty five Correspondences a through B letter from SNS rural resilience in the MD HHS update on their board Monthly department reports, which included the Sheriff's Activity Report for March and May, the Clerk Register of Deeds Update, and the Administrator Controller Report.

Madam Chair? Yes. Would you like to reword that motion, even though we've already had a second and some discussion? Because if we're going to pull it, I can reword it to pull that. Is that what we're doing? We're pulling the clerk report for discussion later? Is that what you're doing?

I don't care how they want to do it.

Let me clarify the motion. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda A through D minus the clerk and clerk's report.

Second. Roll call, please.

Wolfson. Yes. Spencer. Yes. Morley. Yes. Milburn. Yes. Motion carried.

So now we would have the clerk's report.

Yes, what would you like to discuss, sir?

Sure would.

No, they did not add anything.

So nothing's been added to the ballot? No. No acts, my tax, or nothing?

Not for August, no.

Okay.

That's why I was in last moment is because I was trying to get the final proofs over to the printer so they can print.

Thank you.

Public comment and agenda items only is there any public comment and agenda items Any visitors Unfinished business strategic plan update let's start with Commissioner Morley. Do you have any updates?

Little fun this morning pass one down there we go The piece that I wanted to report on, you had given me the task of kind of overseeing with our controller the budget portion of our goals. And so I'm passing along a conversation with Jody and our intern, Matt, was yesterday to really think about what's the process we want to go through. So since this is the first time you've seen it, I'll walk you through the very top part. Yesterday we discussed what are the dates and what are the timelines we need to adhere to as we move forward. So you will see that we looked at when are we going to meet with the department heads? We do need some clarity on what's the finance committee? Who are those two people one obviously is you chair sensor? but will who else is a second because that's the group that will be meeting with these people and We looked at the format, and it's suggested right now that we look at the 24 actuals, 25 actuals, where we're at year-to-date for 26, and then start to project out what's going to happen in 28 and 29. So, pardon? Well, we have to do the 27, yes. But the future projections for the next two years, especially with all the legislation that's going through, We talked about what do we have to face with union contracts and things like that? Just what do we need to get in place so we can get the sheets to? department heads The second piece to that is in July The controller will start to send those budget sheets out to the department heads That is also the month we need to approve the child care fund that normally comes before the formal budget hits and And then during the month of August, we'll get the sheets back to Jodi by the 3rd. We will schedule meetings with the department heads during the week of August 17th and August 24th. And then by that point, we'll even have more final percentages for what the health care premiums might be, if we need to do adjustments. September will be a month of adjustments, going back, maybe talking to department heads if this isn't working. We've had to make adjustments. Where are we at? And then in October, we'll present the initial budget to the full board. November 11th, we should have our public hearing so that our November 25th meeting will be our final budget approval, so not pushing it off into December. So one of the things we need to give our controller advice on or where we're wanting to at least start is... Are we wanting to fully fund HSAs again this year? Is that one of our desires? Everything within the union contracts has to stay the same. What would we do for our non-union employees? Where do we want to start there? We're going to estimate healthcare premiums at a 15% increase. We're not sure if that's exactly right, but it's a good start. Dental vision and life, we're projecting about a 5% increase. This is not a guarantee. So what we don't want is for that to go out to department heads and then say, well, that's what you're gonna do. This is a starting point to see what can we do in 2027. We have requests for other positions to be added. We'll have to think about those as well and not add those later in an amended budget. So I think today I'm just trying to get your input on those questions right now. So let's start with the HSA fully funded. Is that something that we as a board say that's something we'd really like to do?

Madam Chair?

Yes.

We had a meeting. We approved the union contract. That issue came up. We all sat here and said non-union will have the same insurance as union.

Correct. That won't change. Correct. Yep.

And if that includes funding in HSA, that includes funding in HSA.

So we feel good about that?

Yes, from across the board.

All right. So what about pay, steps, things that were, I don't remember the exact details of what was in, I wasn't in those union contracts. So what are the things that are, the union says about pay or steps. Is that something we need to project for non-union employees outside of health care?

I think definitely the steps and then we have cost of living but we don't have what that projection will be yet and usually that comes in from I think the Social Security and stuff like that so and then from there I think we have to see where we are with our health care and stuff.

I like to see our COLA go up the same as Social Security usually is projected about 2.75 this year but again that can change. I think we should use that as a basic number.

Does that help, controller, on that one too? Okay. So, Madam Chair, can you give us who the two people are, one other beside yourself, and then our controller who will be meeting with the department heads? The thought around this is last year we all tried to divide and conquer, and some of us didn't hear what the other budgets were and what was said, what's needed, and maybe if we just stick with the two people on the finance committee that we'll do that, and then we'll report back to the full board as we talk about each of those departments. That was the recommendation. Okay.

I will have to pull our actual committee list of you know exactly the two that are on there, and I will get that Get that out Yeah, I'll have to then have to appoint people two people That was my next my question is are the department heads are going to meet with two people or they?

everybody

My recommendation is we pick two people. It was very challenging last year to go who, when, and where.

You're right.

That was the feedback we got. And if we can pick two people that would be dedicated to meeting during those two weeks and get that done, I think that's just a smoother process. That's my recommendation.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Madam Chair, but historically it's been chair and vice chair.

Historically.

That doesn't mean we have to continue with that.

Remember, Commissioner Russo was with that as well.

Yeah, before. At some point, I believe that that's the way it is. But seeing also as Commissioner Morley is actually working on the budget, I think that it's important that she be in those discussions.

And I find with that, too, the bottom line historically doesn't mean we have to continue the same vein.

Doesn't matter to me either way. It would be helpful for me if I'm doing this. But I'm not. If you don't want it, you want two other people, and you can share it with me, that's fine, too. Yeah.

Agree Commissioner Morley is getting a handle on this and if she's willing to take on this task Let's let her continue.

I think she's an excellent pick Sorry Kim.

Yeah, it comes the bus I'd be happy to do it so Is this flow for July, August, except right now, it seems to work for the controller as well, and hopefully for our department heads, give them plenty of time to be prepared. We are asking that they assign a backup for them for those meetings in case something happens to them and they can't be there for that particular meeting. So hopefully it'll go smooth.

That's the only update I have.

Commissioner Milburn, do you have any updates that you would like to share?

We have a 250th anniversary on the 4th of July at noon. It should be quite a good event. And then also, too, I know I've worked with Jody in regard to having an event for the 9-11, 25th ceremony, obviously at 9-11 in September. So there will be more to come in that in the future, Madam Chair. Thank you.

As far as for myself, I have requested a meeting with our drain commissioner to discuss possibilities of fully developing the water resource department. I believe we're going to try and meet on Friday, so I will have more later on that. And Commissioner Wolfson.

Yes, I have a meeting set up for materials management planning to discuss with an educational program. Also, I got to meet with my Eagle man. He's out of the office until next week. I'm thinking we need to recycle steel. And a way to do that would be to buy dump trailers Turn them over to the townships that want to participate in it. They would collect it. They would haul it to a scrapyard somewhere and perhaps even make enough money to pay the gas. It's one way to collect steel. The other way would be to put in containers. But then you've got to have somebody come pick them up. So I thought if we could maybe in this program purchase maybe two or three dump trailers, 14,000 That way they can haul it to whatever scrap yard they feel need to. But I'm going to check on my Eagle Man and see if that's something that is reimbursable in this program.

Good idea.

Yeah. We're pretty well covered for recycling other than Nestor Township. We're pretty well covered. I know Richfield has a container for cans and one for Cardboard you know and then some townships have curbside pickup But steel is ignored and all of it There is you know wash machines water heaters, whatever Very futuristic Opioid fund coordinator job description Commissioner Wolfson Yes. Jody and I put together our list of things we thought this should entail and then meshed them together and came up with this job description. No action is expected today on it, but review it. If you have any questions, get a hold of me, and we'll go over it, and then perhaps we'll move it forward to the next stage next time. But right now, it's just being presented to the board.

If I have a... Madam Chair. Yes. If there's just a couple questions before, would you like them now, or... had the discussion at a different work session.

Well, we can ask them now. If I don't have an answer, I don't have an answer. That's OK.

I didn't have to speak out. Just throwing it out there, because I did read it, because you gave it to us. So it looks like part of the function of this coordinator would be to work with the advisory board, which is the stakeholders that we believe would be the right people to work with. Is that correct?

That's my next point on this. Would you like me to do that? Go ahead. My thinking was, this is not money out of the general fund. This is not even special millage. It's a special fund. And my thinking was, once we get a coordinator hired, maybe we need to form an advisory committee that more or less takes charge of how that program goes then. And things I had in mind were a representative from the Law Enforcement Association of this county, one person at large with a lived experience, a rep from the Roscommon Township Association, one board member, Somebody from one of the schools, because I know the schools deal with this, and they don't have an association of all the schools, so I guess we just would put it out there and see if someone was interested in sending a rep on it. We also have an EMS and fire association countywide. So I thought, since they deal with us also, maybe a rep from there. And then our administrator, because of the financial reports that have to go in and the financial advice on it. That's a thought right now. I'm still putting that together about an advisory committee.

I'd like to add, too, Mr. Vice, that we could have a member from CHA, Roscommon, and Holton Lake at least do an invite. If those three schools want to participate, that'd be great. If not, we'll take whoever wants to participate.

Yeah, I was going to put out to all three school districts. and see, I looked at core, core setup is not quite the same. I don't think they're dealing with the opioid and drug abuse problem like our general schools are. So yeah, I think we put the invite out there, see who responds and go from there. And then also in this, I don't know, does the board sit down and pick or approve each one? That's all stuff that we got to work out, yeah.

We'll see you volunteers first.

Yeah. Also, in that, I think it would be reasonable to have a per diem pay. Well, here's the thing. On materials management, we had to have a board of 13 people, all volunteer. Only one showed up to one meeting since that's been happened. We're asking volunteers that are busy. People are busy. And, you know, I realize a lot of these are stakeholders, but still that individual is a busy person. And I think it's reasonable to offer a per diem, but that's going to be a board decision.

Let me give that some thought. It's not unusual for that to occur.

No.

So it's not like the first time we've ever done it.

And if that organization that sends somebody, their policy is that per diem goes to that organization, that's fine. That's between them two.

Might I add, we may want to look at those who are dealing with mental health, like our Northern Lakes Community Mental Health Group. I know I have shared the work that you've been trying to pull together, and they did show interest in helping participate in that, because that is a component of what they have to deal with as well. They might be able to offer some. Because the goal, if I understand this correctly, is that we don't duplicate resources or money.

Correct.

We use the money that's given to us to create a very county-specific program that that bridges the gaps of everyone who's touching this and not duplicating.

That is primary job of the opioid coordinator. That's right.

OK.

It's in there.

I do believe we should, you know, we do have some other things, as you said, to look through, whether it's per diems, what are we going to pay this person? It'll go hand in hand with us creating a budget because we've looked at other jobs that we feel we need to hire for, grant writing, this, other things, and we need to see how that's going to flow in the jobs.

This pay for this job is out of the opioid fund.

I do understand that, yeah.

And also in that group of advisory committee, do we know, is there an association of all the churches in the county?

I believe it's a very good option to add. But I don't know if there's an association. I don't think there's an association.

I'll check further into that and see. Because I'm sure at some level, sometimes they deal with that.

They do. I think it's about the whole social, it's everyone in our county putting their heads together to work on this problem.

And what I'm trying to do is put together a lot of the stakeholders to help determine how we run the program.

And then are you also considering somebody from the court system?

They are part of the law enforcement group.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure I can throw out some I did read through the job function some were a little duplicate duplicative and just I think one of the education is an experience and If we can find somebody who's familiar with that collective impact model, who knows how to pull stakeholders together and to create that model, you have to have some experience doing that. You have to kind of understand that model. It might be one of the things we would like to have in that person if they have done this type of work before. So that's one of the things that I would possibly add. But other than that, we can look at wording and stuff. So it's a great start. Yes.

I'm glad Commissioner Morty pointed that out. Could I throw in that with maybe a GED equivalency test? Put it out there because you might have an individual that's qualified with GED. I saw in the paper this last week, there was a gentleman who got a GED at 65. That was pretty cool. Anyway, I'd throw a GED requirement in there.

I had a thought on this. I don't know if it's right. A recovering opioid user? Be what?

A recovering opioid user? I believe you, I think having a person who has lived and experiences to be on this advisory board is critical. Whether or not that person would have that type of work in collective impact models and how to collect the groups together and create that program, I'm not sure. Maybe they would be. But I don't think that's the criteria to be that coordinator.

It would be invaluable to have a person with that experience.

On the advisory board, for sure.

It doesn't have to be. But it would be invaluable. If somebody wanted to volunteer and help out, it would be good to have that experience.

Yeah. I wouldn't make it a requirement. It might be, hey, if you also have this and you've done this, that's even a better candidate to be the coordinator. Yeah.

We'll work on that job description a little bit. Probably send it out by email to everybody before the next meeting.

Perfect. And if anybody has any more ideas as you're thinking, just get them back to Commissioner Wolfson no later than Tuesday. That way he has time to pull things together.

Be so kind to add the GED on there. I'd appreciate it. Correct.

Thanks, Commissioner Wolfson. ORV Ordinance Committee. I know Commissioner Wolfson was kind of taking this on as far as reaching out to township.

Yeah, I got a meeting on the 18th with the Law Enforcement Association, and that's where we're going to present it to that group. The prosecutor is in the process of fine-tuning some of the wording on it, and I'll check with her office and see if she needs anything else from me, but I think we're all set for the meeting on the 18th. That's the first step, I believe, presented to the law enforcement.

Yes? I'd like to make this point in regard to the ORV ordinance. I know there was some discussion the other day. Rhonda from the minibus was here. And she made a comment from 11 to 5 for the curfew. I feel very strongly that we should take that out. I think it's infringement on people's

Rights to be able to freedom movement and I don't think we should have a curfew from 11 to 5 I'm sure yes, that was only in residential areas and It's probably gonna be pulled out. Yeah.

Thank you I appreciate you coming because my voice may be weak, but I want my words to have impact It's important that we take that out. Thank you Thank you

New business. We don't have anything there, no motions or resolutions, so we are on to our committee reports. Commissioner Morley.

Take that call. All right, I'll try to be brief on these. On the 27th, I had my first official spongey moth meeting. Obviously, a lot of education is kind of their focus. Just an FYI for people in our community, obviously they're not spraying this year due to what they found last year. However, they will be checking. And a lot of people confuse gypsy moths with the tent caterpillars that are everywhere. They do have the Facebook page has all the information on how to identify Their little bless you little that it's it was pretty interesting to know how much they know about these insects and what they do Also on that day the Finance Committee of Central Michigan District Health Department met for their first reading for the 2026 27 budget so their fiscal year is a little different At this point, they are not asking for more appropriations for the counties. But the message to us all was, but it's coming. Okay, do you know when? Like, is this coming next year? Two years? Because we're giving our controller guidance to project us out for the next three. And they said, well, we don't know, but it will be soon. Okay. I said, every board has to approve whatever allocation they want. If a board does not approve it, I said, what happens? If our board says no, we're not paying that extra. The answer from their CFO was, well, we will get the money from our regular funds, and we will charge your people in the community more money for the services that we offer. Apparently, and Jody, you may know about this, that this was done several years back, and Roscommon didn't approve it, and that apparently we got feedback from the community, why am I getting more money for this whatever? And so it was kind of led to me as if... Be cautious, because you're going to get feedback if you do it. That was the take that I got, so I'm sharing that.

So what they did was they decided in the middle of a fiscal year that they needed more money. And you have heard, I'm sure, the historics of that was the point in time when one of the then commissioners who served on the board said, wait, wait, wait. How do you determine how much money? each of us is supposed to put in. There is a formula. The formula was re-approved. So they have to go back through that process if they're going to ask for more money under that board. That would be the one thing that was reaffirmed, reconvened. And we actually, once all that went through, we ended up paying less. than we had originally paid. But yes, the increases went out to things like food inspections, well inspections, but we did not receive some big slew of complaints at a county level.

Would it be helpful, because I think this question of the formula has come up before, and I'm the newest, so if somebody else can educate me, let me know.

I can educate you on that.

Can you explain the formula that they use to create what we do?

What happened years ago when Bob and I sat on the committee is we realized that our people, the people from Roscommon County, were being overcharged. So we brought this up to the six-member, six-county board. They re-evaluated the budget. Our people, the county people, paid less. Other counties had to pay more. Bob and I were very adamant in regard to the fact that It's not fair. Well, some of the counties said, we don't have the money. And of course, Bob and I said, we don't really mean to be mean, but we don't care. The bottom line is, I focus on the people of the Roscommon. I don't focus on other counties. If we can help in some way, we always will be able to help. But we're not going to pay. Everybody's got to pay their proverbial fair share. So Bob and I were adamant that the fair share formula was adopted. What that fair share formula will be adopted for the forthcoming years is hard to dictate. But I'm guessing it would be approximately the same. It was about, what, four years ago, Ms. Jordy?

So initially, they were utilizing only taxable value of the county. So therefore, of course, if you think of the counties that are involved, and obviously with our Garish and Lyon our taxable value looks quite higher. They did not consider population. So there was one county in particular that was much larger by population and receiving a lion's share of services. that was actually paying less than Roscommon County. And so population was included in that as well. So that changed. So those two factors that will- Those were the two factors. Those are the two? Yes.

OK.

I didn't know if anybody, if we needed to have them show us that calculation again and how they got it. They should.

Public information. It's public information.

I can ask before that cut. I don't know when it's going to come. But when it comes, I do not want to sit on that board and have to make a decision that day when they haven't come before us and explain that. So I can keep that on the radar. But OK. Thank you. The regular meeting, we had a presentation on bed bugs. Yay. past present and future of sewer systems so they showed kind of the history of how that works that was interesting on the 28th northern lakes community mental health board i participated in the traverse city house clubhouse celebrated their 30th anniversary so we got to see and hear many presentations from the people who participate in that program and how it has changed their lives and the jobs that they're working on now the things they're doing so um Can also it's a celebration was pretty emotional to to watch and see what they have accomplished there on the 8th the village of Roscommon met they're changing their format They're actually starting to adopt having work sessions as well Before their regular meeting because their regular meetings were going to like 10 o'clock at night and it just got long So that's new for them our very own Cassidy Moore is now a trustee on that village board and so it was pretty nice to see her in action and be a new participant in serving and They are looking at an MDOT study for the crosswalk downtown where the accident happened, trying to do something that would be a little bit more alertive of the crosswalks and the poor child who got hit down there. On the 9th, the controller and I met with budget process with our intern Matt, and Garish Township met last night. They did some changes to their zoning ordinance. They did some more appointments to fire and EMS, as well as their planning commission and their parks and rec. August 8th, if people are interested, the Health of Higgins Lake Expo will be at the Garish Marina. So there'll be vendors there to explain and all their different committees talking about what they do. And there was also some questions about the swimmer's itch. I know this has come before us as well to get permits, and they are really struggling. Looks like our state DNR is willing to help them with that. But now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Group is stalling and not answering. So I gave Mr. C. Mack, I'm connecting him with Slotkin's office, who has been a little bit more and has a little bit more funds and money and pull than even our Bergman office because of their roles. So I'll get those two connected and see if there's anything that can help them because the broods are, you know, it's starting again. So that's it. Thank you.

Thanks.

Commissioner Melbourne Gipsy moth with Kim district health one thing they that Steve Hall that the current CEO is transferred to another job And the bottom line is in regard to what Kim was saying earlier It's always important to remember especially on that board that we fight for the people the Roscommon You know we were there for the Roscommon people. We might be a six-member board Six counter board six County board we want to make sure that we're always fighting for our people It was it was an unfortunate meeting at four or five years ago because the other other counties got a little mad at us But Bob and I said look the bottom line is we can't pay for your people It's incumbent upon that that board to take care of their own people We held the line and I was real proud that we did that. Thank you. I'm sure Oh and we went Kim and I were at the flying to Wonderful pancakes and great eggs and a good time Thank you, man sure

I did attend the workers' compensation fund meeting on the 27th. They are starting to look back at all the counties that use them as their workers' comp and what those dividend checks are going to be coming back as. So that process has started. Commissioner Wolfson and I had a phone conversation with Eric Sequin from Prine and Newhoff regarding the Houghton Lake structure and easement properties. the agenda meeting. I also had a Michigan Works meeting on Friday, June 26. It was a short meeting, but we're going to be working on the new budget and additional funding mechanisms. One of those funding mechanisms, like with our intern Matt, Michigan Works provides that. Each of them have very specific categories on what they can and can't do and how they can and can't help people. We have to look at all of those and the funds and the money that come in with each of those. And tomorrow, we have the Houghton Lake Improvement Board meeting. Commissioner Wolfson.

I attended the Soil Conservation District's meeting. They do the hazardous household waste now. It's done through them. The report was that this last event with the hazardous household waste served well over 500 households. It's a it's a growing event and people that responded said it's a great event and Some actually thought we should have it three times a year Of course financial is always a struggle because we have to pay to get rid of this stuff, but It improves our county life

Comment do we have any public comment?

Before I identify myself I'd like I'd like to thank him comes to our village council meetings every month and She has been given an actual place on our agenda now instead of just public comment so she can and so anyway I'm Dan Fishel, and I guess I'm considered the local historian. I talked to Kim about this, about our monument out front. It was put there in 1913 by Henry Woodruff. He was in the Battle of Gettysburg. That was the reason it was put there. He fought on Little Round Top. I got that much information. I don't have all the information. I'm going to prepare a book for all of you, a little booklet explaining all this. Many of these Civil War veterans came here and helped found this county. Henry was a prosecuting attorney like longer than anyone, and he died in 1916. So three years after that was put there, It doesn't say anything on it about why it was put there. I have published stuff all over. I'm from 20 miles from Gettysburg. My great-grandfather was captured by the Confederates 20 miles from Gettysburg. That's how big that battle was. It wasn't a battlefield like a football field. It was over three counties. Adams was where Gettysburg is, York, and Cumberland where Carlisle is. And my great-grandfather was taken prisoner, and he gave the Confederates information, and then he was put on trial for treason. And they went around and got petitions for him, and Abraham Lincoln pardoned him. They took him down to Washington. Abraham Lincoln pardoned him, and I have an honorable discharge signed by Abraham Lincoln. But I'm very concerned about this monument. In my opinion, it's been defaced. with these signs that it's OK if you want to honor all the military veterans. That's what it says. If you want to honor all the military veterans, that's one thing. But this was put there specifically. And I found out there's only two of these in the state of Michigan.

Michigan soldiers took a beating at Gettysburg.

As an example of how many people were there, The Union Army had 95,000 and the Confederates had 75,000 approximately. It's just incredible how more people died there. The Gettysburg Address, this battle took place the first, second, and third of July. Stinking hot and all those bodies if you can imagine that many people we only have what less than 25,000 or thereabouts in this county if you can imagine that many people coming in to that area at one time with cannons and muskets and in any way these bodies were all over the place they had to bury him in mass graves and that would like I said the first second third of July and And Lincoln's Gettysburg Address wasn't delivered till the 19th of November. The reason for that, or one of the reasons, they had to dig up all those bodies and then reinter them into the National Cemetery. And it was so immense that They put it up for bids, and the low bidder got the job at 50 cents a body, if you can imagine. But anyway, had the Confederates, they came in, they were going into these towns and demanding 2,000 pairs of shoes. They didn't have things, because all the manufacturing was done in the north. They were demanding 2,000 pairs of shoes, 2,000 pounds of bacon, anything to eat, or we'll burn your town down. So anyway, obviously Roscommon wasn't here in 1863, but when we did get trained through and people came here, this county was settled by, or the county government was created by Civil War veterans. I run the Historical Society Museum, or I have for the last four years, and I'm vice president. But that building belonged to a county clerk. And it actually was in his wife's name, and it sat right over here on this corner. And then in 1938, when they expanded the school, they moved it down where it is now. And then, of course, Henry Woodward was another one. And there were just all kinds of veterans here. But I'm concerned that There's plaques on the site of this Civil War, this Gettysburg, I call it the Gettysburg Monument, are on there. And I have no problem with honoring all these other military people, but this was not put there for that. It was put there for the Battle of Gettysburg. It came from Alpena. The county paid for it. It was like $450. It was supposed to have gone in the cemetery, but somehow it ended up here. So anyway, I'm going to come back. I'm going to put a book together for all of you with all this history in it so you can get an idea. But if anything, we need a plaque out there that says Gettysburg Monument. For years, there were up to 7 million tourists visiting Gettysburg. There could be people visiting this. Do you ever see anybody visiting it? Not very many. We could be on the map just because of that. Thank you very much. Like I said, I'll put this book together. I just decided to do this. And it'll take at least a month before I'll be back.

All right. Thank you. Any other public comment come on up?

Good morning. Ray Lozinski, supervisor, Richfield Township. Commissioner Milburn, I'm going to have to respectively object to you wanting to take the curfew out of the ORV. proposal It's not a violation of rights people in this county are given the privilege of driving their ORVs on there it's not a right and As we all know when you abuse a privilege you're going to have to have consequences and The whole idea behind the curfew, very simply, is this. If you look at Richfield Township, we have the highest concentration of ORVs, so we can speak for this. Most of our problems happen after midnight. So what this curfew will do is it will actually give the officer discretion When they make contact with that individual, if they feel that individual should not be operating at ORV for whatever reason, condition, age, anything like that, they will be dealt with. The idea behind it is, and I will not waver on officer discretion. My officers are very clear on that. My chief of police is very clear on that. We give them discretion. They pull the vehicle over during that curfew time. And it's a family, and they say, hey, look, we're lost. We didn't know where we were, and we're finally getting back. Hey, have a nice night. Make sure you make a left here at the light. And that's the whole idea behind it. It's not to punish anybody, but it's a privilege. It's not a right. So to say we're taking away somebody's rights is absolutely wrong. It's a privilege. When the county passed the first one, they gave you the privilege of being on the road, not the right to be on the road. So those are the things that we have to consider with this new ordinance. You know, the saying goes, no good things happen after midnight, and we have to remember that. And remember, that is only for the roadways. It is not for the DNR trails. We can't control that. That's up to the state. So just kind of keep that in mind. So I am adamant that we keep that curfew in that proposal. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Board comment. Commissioner Morley.

I really don't have a ton. I know that we're closely looking at the property tax reform bills that are coming through. Looking at pop-up tax, looking at the education tax, I mean, there's just a lot of moving parts to that. And I really appreciate our controller keeping an eye on those as well, because it definitely impacts how we think through our revenue and what it does for our people in our community. The sheriff's report was great. I see that there's, mileage was down, but training was way up this time, so that was pretty cool to see, and still the same number of people contacted. Like, they're still working and talking to people constantly. I thought that was good. The clerk's report, the training report, Michelle, for your team and all the other clerks in this area. I mean, I just, it's a huge year and it is a huge lift to make sure everybody's trained properly and that they understand how to run those elections. So thank you to you as well. The legislative update controller on our report, that is very helpful. There's probably a few extra questions that I'm not sure about, so I'll stop you on, I'll check with you on those. And congrats to our prosecuting attorney, Dylan, that she has now found a chief assistant prosecuting attorney. I know that will help, because I know the workload back there has been quite high. So that's it.

Commissioner Butler.

I hope I don't embarrass our county controller, but there was a nice article in the paper in regard to Izzy Valentino being president. Thought it was nice. She said message of thanks is this quote I want to thank my mom for being my biggest supporter and being with me every step of the way I wouldn't be here right now without without you mom. So again good parenting skills.

Thank you With no further comment this meeting is adjourned and our next meeting starts at 10 o'clock.

I

We have Northern Lakes Community Mental Health Authority CEO Linda Zeller.

Good morning. Good morning. The relatively new CEO from, I've been here since October of this year. I grew up doing community mental health work starting locally. in about 20 years locally in various counties and communities. And then I ended up quite unexpectedly at the state, first doing health care for Michigan's prisons for three years, health and behavioral health, and then about eight years as the administrator responsible for community mental health, substance use, the Center for Forensic Psychiatry, and all the state's hospitals. so that was very much a policy position and then went and did some federal policy work with substance abuse and mental health services administration and I'm super excited to be doing start local and hopefully end my career locally because this is really you know what we're all about is the local work so it feels really good to be back to local work I am thrilled to be working with amazing counties all six the County Commission's all six of the controllers administrators have been appropriately holding me accountable and critically supportive When I've come to them with challenges I've requested another meeting where we're going to look at I Had an early meeting with them and then now having another one where I'm doing another update I'll get into some of those details soon So that's a little bit about me. Thrilled to be up here basing right now out of Traverse City. I did live in Cadillac for a while, so have had a little tiny bit of experience here, but I've never lived in Roscommon or Masaki or Crawford. So I welcome the learning from experts like yourself and your critical departments here who do the work. So that's me so I want to give you a status report update on Northern Lakes. We are in a rebuilding year I don't need it's not news to you that we've had some challenges over the last six to seven years gone through a lot of leadership changes I've had a lot of Issues issues of disagreement with some of our funders particularly our Medicaid agency and We are working through those. One of my biggest and happiest discoveries when I came here was, as I said, the super involved counties, the counties that really, and the administrators who really care and really want their mental health system to be successful. The other wonderful surprise was I have incredible staff. These staff have been through rough times, right? We had big layoffs last summer. In order to adjust the budget we had our staff are not getting steps and increases the percentage of increase on health care was huge this year that they took on and yet the people closest to Services are super dedicated and a really strong asset So that was a really great find, too, as well. I'm going to talk a little bit globally about our challenges and about our opportunities as we rebuild, and a little bit about what our priorities are and where I would like to get your input. So let me move. I'm trying to be cognizant of time, because I know you have one more presentation. So this annual report is for fiscal year 2025. Our fiscal year is October 1 to September 30. So this is through September 30. So it was just prior to when I came. I came like three weeks after the end of this year. So the theme of this is innovation through partnership. Critically important, especially when you're struggling to reach everyone you need to reach with the resources you've been given, you desperately need partners. And so filled through this are quotes from various partners from across the six counties. So you can read those and those highlights at your leisure. I believe you also received this ahead of time, yes, in the packet. So I do want to flip to the second to last page, which shows our persons served expenditures revenues. And down towards the bottom, you can see our revenues were 87 million and our expenses were 92. So in December of 2024, which was just a couple of months into this fiscal year, Northern Lakes had to liquidate basically all of its investments. We right now are living off our revenues as they come in. and working toward rebuilding those. So some of the tough decisions for the board right now and our finance committee are sort of reprioritizing where we need to, where we must continue to rebuild and where we might have to wait to do some of the work we really want to do. And it's driven because in Northern Lakes, there's two different kinds of funding. 90% approximately of our funds are Medicaid, and a much smaller percent are general fund. General fund is the flexible money, a grand total of about $3 million of that. Medicaid in this particular year was 81%. of the budget, and approximately $70 million. So that sounds really great, but that $70 million is an entitlement-funded system. That means we can provide only what is specifically laid out in Medicaid. But the good news about that is if you qualify for Medicaid and we determine your services are medically necessary, You get them, whether Anna Marie has given us, whether we have sufficient money from the state through Anna Marie or not. We must serve you, and we must give you what you need. General fund, on the other hand, $3 million, and as you can see, about 3% of our revenue. That is where we get to do the creative stuff that is important to the counties. That's where... We do most of our creative work with law enforcement. That's where we do the most creative work with other partners So that is an area that I want to look at trying to beef up a little bit because that is the creative money that's also Right now in very short supply state law says that with that $3 million, I need to pay for every psychiatric inpatient stay for every person who doesn't have insurance. So when inpatient stays are usually somewhere between $900 and $1,200 a day, and I have to pay for every person in six counties that doesn't have insurance, it goes quickly. So we work really, really closely with our hospital partners to try to find other options that are safe for people when they're in psychiatric treatment. And alternatives to inpatient are great, but when people need inpatient, they need inpatient. But that is like number one priority out of that $3 million. The second most priority is crisis. And we, again, have to pay for all crisis services for anybody who needs them, period. There's no ability to say no. So when you add up inpatient and crisis and subtract it from the $3 million, whatever is left over there, I can then let people in who are uninsured. So we have to serve everybody in crisis and inpatient. But if you would otherwise qualify for case management support or therapy support, but you have no insurance, the state law says we serve you as the resources allow. giving priority to the most ill. So that is one of the most frustrating parts. That's why people get frustrated with community mental health. It's usually because our general fund has been taken most of it has been taken by crisis and inpatient. And there's not a lot left over. So that's the stuff that I'm trying to keep county administrators, controllers, very well aware of when we hit challenges. So specifically in Ross Common, we served about 637 people during this particular year. That represents, I can't remember, I think it's like 10% to 12%. Yes, 12%. of the people totally served in Northern Lakes. And when we say served, it might mean just a crisis or just an inpatient. It might mean that you have a case manager you see once a month. It might also mean that we pay for 24-7 services for you in a residential. So the group of services your constituents are getting are sort of all over the map and based on their need. They may be supported by Medicaid. they may be supported by general fund. Right now, we are only doing crisis and inpatient and assessment. Anyone who is determined to need case management or therapy, if they're uninsured, we get their crisis resolved. But then we say, I'm sorry, we're going to have to put you on a waiting list. You qualify for services, but we're going to have to put you on a waiting list. When I looked, there was not anyone at this point in time from Roscommon on that waiting list. That may or may not be completely good news, because sometimes when we offer the wait list to somebody who came in in crisis, they're like, I don't want to wait. I'll find another way to deal with my mental well-being if you can't get me in. So that's the sad part. We do lose a lot of people who just say, don't put me on the waiting list. to get some numbers on that. But my records, I'm working on making clear records right now so that I would know how many from Roscommon were offered the waiting list and declined it. So I'm working on those numbers. I don't have those numbers yet. So general fund and Medicaid. General fund is my challenge right now. Medicaid is also a challenge because we have that dispute that we're close to resolving with Northern, with the NMRE. the Medicaid entity. Once we do, we should have a little bit of a cushion back for Medicaid. Again, there's really no cushion for general fund. So a few things I want to point out in my last couple of minutes here is that we do have a vacancy with our jail worker. Ross Common had about 400 contacts year to date this year. by our jail worker. That person left, I think, took a different job in the agency, so it's vacant right now. We must and will continue to do crisis contacts in the jail. But during this time of vacancy, the other contacts, the ones that are sort of like doing therapy in the jail, those probably are going to have to back down temporarily. I'm also looking at those because I'm writing off a lot. That's part of our big write-off on general fund. So we extremely value partnership with law enforcement. Your jail and law enforcement is amazing. To have a jail that does opioid use disorder treatment in the jail, your opioid work is to be commended. I'm very excited to see what you're going to be doing with that money that came from the state We do stand ready to help Please reach out to us our staff at the Houghton Lake office and at the Grayling office are super Connected to their communities we can maybe help with some of that figuring out how not to duplicate potentially So we stand ready to do that. I was talking with the controller today that most of what funds substance use does not come through community mental health. But that said, I still feel a great responsibility for it. And I know it from past jobs. So I'm happy to help. But most of that money will come straight from the Northern Michigan Regional Entity to nonprofits. So if ever you're feeling like we're not connecting very well between Northern Lakes and the work that people like Catholic Human Services does with their funding from NMRE, it's partly because the system doesn't really help us coordinate very well. But thankfully, those nonprofits are excellent. And we can work it out if you're getting caught in the middle. So just a couple highlights. September 10, we're having a big public hearing. We're going to do it simultaneously at all four sites including Houghton Lake and Grayling We're wanting to have Some key representatives come like yourselves law enforcement Others because we really need that input to inform the board is going to do strategic planning in October so we're hoping to really get some good impact or input from all four sites and And that's the end and I am so sorry.

I went five minutes over my intended There may not be time for questions, but I would welcome them if you have them Yes, just to point out, you know Commissioner Morty sits on that board But a special thanks to mr. Al Cambridge who for decades and I and I mean this sincerely for decades has helped shape the mental health So thank you. Mr. King for being here today and for your service to our county the residents Thank You Commissioner and he chairs the Finance Committee

And has for a while, and that's a very busy committee.

Every time Al Cambridge is in a room, the room gets smarter.

Thank you. Other questions? Any other questions? Thank you so much again for the opportunity. I appreciate it. Thank you. Administrator Schultz knows how to get me, and I will come back any time. It's needed. All right. Thank you.

Next we have the Roscoe rescue request for charitable gaming license Kathy Pardo We got rid of the ejector chair

Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for letting me present to you today. I'll start with, I had COVID several years ago, damaged my vocal cords. So if you have trouble hearing me, walk up, slap me, and I'll start over. I am the operations person who directs Roscoe Rescue. If you're not familiar with us, I started out feeding my neighbor's cat, because it cries at my house. That was 10 years ago. We are now a 501 recognized animal rescue. And last calendar year, we rescued one pig, one lamb, one three-foot pup-headed snake, 29 dogs, 42 chickens, and over 900 cats, mainly from the Roscommon County area. We work closely with the animal shelter, Grayling's Animal Shelter, and five different vet clinics in the areas. Problem we have, and I'm not here to ask you for money, but that's what you all thought. I'm here because we applied for a state of Michigan gaming license to have a raffle. We have this wonderful couple who donated a Fender guitar to raffle, which I thought was, you know, nice. Then we had a Pampered Chef dealer donate a brand new $500 kitchen appliance that does everything and sits on your counter. Now we're looking at two major events. couple who donated the guitar are musicians in the area. They will bring in a group of musicians. We will be doing dinner, but that dinner is not going to be presented by us. We're looking at the VFW Hall so we can promote the veterans, utilize their building. They will make all the money from the dinner. And we will be able to do 50-50 raffles and raffle a Fender guitar and a Pampered Chef oven. What I need from our commissioners is approval for the gaming license. Now, I look like a bum today. I just finished rescuing five cats, took four into the vet. So this is my attire, because every single day is a rescue day. We are foster home based, so we do not have a building like an animal shelter. We provide parasite treatments for every animal that flees, ticks, ear, mice, worms, spay and neuter, a full realm of vaccinations and rabies vaccine. We trap, medically treat them. If they can be socialized, we place them for adoption. Right now, at the slightly over 900 from last year, we have three who have not been adopted. Three. So our success rate is there. Our adoption fee is $100. Our vet bills... One week, we had $2,900 that bill. We are completely donation-supported. You see the Chewy Box is coming to my house every week. So if you would approve a gaming license for us, we can move forward with the hopes of bringing in maybe another $2,000 to help. And then we might be able to continue to do

Raffles and auctions Any questions Yes, is this something needs to be tended to now working I Believe that we'll just put it on them as a motion for the next meeting if that's okay. I I couldn't quite hear. If we put this on for our next meeting, does that still give you time? Yeah. OK. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you.

Madam Chair? Yes. I will have to make a comment, because there's many times there are raffles that happen, and no one went through all the hoops. This takes a lot of work to get this, and some people just do them. So it's kind of nice that she actually went through the right process and did it properly and did the paperwork. So yeah. Absolutely.

OK. Next, we have our JL OUD treatment and support program update. Our OUD specialist, Logan Udich. OK. Sorry.

So I will beg forgiveness. Our IT director had to leave unexpectedly due to a loss to a long-term friend. So we were going to have her presentation up for you, but that's not going to happen.

All right, so yeah, I'm Logan I am the substance abuse mental health crisis specialist in the jail The agenda we have is the program growth from the implementation to date the statistics on the number of inmates that have been included in the program information on the wraparound provided and then there's barrier citizen since that I'm finding and plan program growth within the next year and Starting with program growth from implementation to date is We have been we've gotten a lot of more community connection and connections in the Roscommon County and also I would say ask go to County which because We have a lot of inmates that come from Oscoda that we are housing now so Having those connections have been greatly appreciated with meetings that we've had that just people have had heard about the new program So they reach out to us The meetings we've been able to attend through mid, Michigan that they have on a monthly basis whether it's in person or we able to they do it Telehealth as well so able to make those when needed Now we have consistent services with CHS, the Catholic Human Services, and those are based not so much on the mental health side but on the opioid and alcohol use disorders. Before I was working there, they had an employee that was very inconsistent with seeing the inmates. And so a lot of inmates became very agitated with that, you know, and so obviously a lot of jail staff as well. We have two new workers that are seeing them every Wednesday and Thursday and then every Monday morning I have a meeting with the Lead the person there and then the two counselors that are seen it and so we just kind of talk about what's going on They have people who are about to be discharged if they're going to continue with them after they're released from jail and such forth There's growth with numbers every single day. I would say just about there's always something to do with whether it's drug usage or alcohol usage coming into the jail. There's any inmate that I see that comes in the jail, I'm doing a screening process, whether it's to do with opioid use or alcohol. And sometimes it can be mental health as well. But there's a screening. questionnaire that I could that I asked each one of them the same stuff and It just kind of depends if it's like, okay We're gonna find out if they're gonna withdraw while they're there if there's stuff that they're supposed to be on Suboxone methadone while we're there and also mental health just like psych meds and stuff like that who to get in touch with whether it's CMH that they're psych doctors with them in Michigan who so And then so I did take over the Suboxone, Methadone, and MAT program set up. So that was what the nurse was doing, which is not stuff that she needs to be doing on top of everything else that she needs to do on a daily basis. So just helping her with that. And then the statistics on the number of inmates, you guys do have the copy from when I started in September of last year of 25 to the current date of yesterday. Those are the current numbers that have been seen on a monthly basis. And those are, there's some months obviously we can't control. There's some days we get no inmates. There's some days that we get 10 in one day. So it just depends on. How busy? You can tell, like the month of April, that was the highest that we've had so far. But I would say at least almost every single day, it's something that I see an inmate to do with either drugs or alcohol. And then there's information on wraparound provided is a big one is the MAT program set up. So we've come to a conclusion, as in the jail nurse and I, if someone is on Suboxone or methadone prior to coming to jail, they can continue it while they're in jail. If they are not on it and they just ask about it once they're in jail, that's something that we will not provide. Provide that MAP program set up upon their release. Call them in Michigan or whoever, if it's over in Oscoda, Mayo, whoever we needed to call to set up an appointment prior to after they get released. And then same with continued communication with CHS and CMH for ongoing services upon their release. A lot of them like to, especially CHS, I don't think a lot of them know about CHS compared to CMH. So they just really like to continue those and we just keep communication with them about that. Another big one is an insurance status upon their release because everyone knows that once you're in jail, you lose your Medicaid. So they don't have any of that to pay for with their medications and stuff. So if there's something that they're on while they're in jail and they need that covered as soon as they get out of jail, I can help them with that. They come to my office and they let me know, hey, I'm getting out soon prior, like a month in release. And we get that set back up for them. housing and transportation is another one which can be very hard in this community and county as it's a very that's a big barrier for this cap for this county as well but that's another one And then inpatient services like rehab opportunities, which once it's presented by a court order, I'm able to, hey, the court order says this person's able to go to rehab so many days upon their release. I'm able to have them come to my office over the phone, do an intake with the NMRE or whatever county they're associated with, and get them set up and see if they qualify for rehab services. And most of the times it is. I've come across a couple that do not and they and we try to figure it out what they can do for outpatient when they get out but Most of the time most of the inmates do qualify for those ones that that are able to go And then I also just provide a lot of resources for the ones around the county for food employment clothing like the local churches st. Vincent's MDHS, Michigan Works Community Connections through Central, Michigan Commitment to recovery through Munson and other meeting spots around the county and all of those are free I have little cards in my office that if they ever asked for them or if they come to my office I can present them to them and let them take them with them The next is the barriers to assistance. A big one is obviously the housing and shelters, which is a big lack of in the county. And on the waiting times, a lot of when we contact the shelters and stuff like that, they need out dates of when they're going to be released from the jail. And sometimes that's a time barrier, because at the same time when you're trying to contact them, they're full 90% of the time. And then you don't know when they're going to not be full anymore. So we've come across things like there's been someone that's wanting to be, there was an inmate that was through the VA. He did not qualify for VA services. So then I tried helping him. He wanted to get to the Gaylord area for more resources and more employment options. But contacting housing and shelters up there, all of them say you have to be a resident of the Gaylord County or Gaylord City for so long before they can even accept you into a shelter there. So it's just barriers like that, especially when we do have the federal inmates or the ones that are coming from Oscoda. It's harder to do that, especially with the transportation as well. Not only is transportation expensive for anybody. Dial-a-ride only goes from county lines. So if someone needs to get to Grayling, they can drop them off right in the city line of Grayling, but that's about it. If you need to get back to Oscoda, where you come from the Oscoda jail, Unless you don't have a ride, then that's the harder part, too. Taxi services are very expensive just to go from a 10-minute drive as well. And then I did put jail staff. Nothing to go against the jail. They are very supportive of my role and stuff like that. But I mean by this is Suboxone has been something that... has been so easily accessible nowadays. Compared to years ago, they would be dealing with maybe one or two inmates that would be on Suboxone within the entire jail. Right now, we have, like, probably, what, close to 10? And then one person ruins it for everybody. So instead of a lot of it used to be just the strip forms, now they're all the... We all, when we call them in, they have to be... The pill form, so then they get crushed up and pass out that way because people will sneak them and pass them around to other inmates and stuff like that. And so it's just, it's an ongoing thing. It's so easy nowadays not to have to just go through a doctor in person. You can go through an online doctor and say, hey, I'm Logan. I've been using drugs for the past two months. And you could easily get that through an online doctor nowadays. So anybody that comes in and says they're getting it through an online doctor, we can't do it. We can't go through that online doctor. We tell them that also because if you want to schedule telehealth appointments with them, then it costs money. So we have to switch them through like MidMichigan and stuff like that. And then on top of that, that's a waiting process to get them into there because it's probably a month out to wait to see a doctor through MidMichigan right now. And then lastly, we have the planned program growth within the next year that we have stuff going on. Anger management class, that's something that a lot of amendments have asked about is if any of the one provides anger management. I am currently in my MSW right now as well, so I'll be done by the springtime. And I found out you do not need a master's to be able to do that. So we want to be able to do that separately with males and females and start small and see how that goes. I want to work closer with the attorneys and the new prosecutor as I'm growing to know her more and stuff like that when it comes to certain inmates in the jail, when it comes to her questioning me about the certain inmate and what she would be okay with if it's inpatient, outpatient services, and such forth. Another big one is start going with the jail staff to the hospitals for crises. So we do petitions on an inmate in the jail just to go along with them or follow them to the jail so then they can see if I'm the one that wrote the petition that I can talk to the doctors and stuff like that. Because a lot of the times they try to present on what's going on while they're at the hospital compared to what was going on in the jail that's been going on. Another one is we will want to start providing, once I obtain my master's by the spring, is separate opioid and alcohol counseling for the males and females in the jail. Continue connecting with more resources and community in the surrounding communities, like I said, with Oscoda and stuff like that. And then we want to very soon start completing the flyers and pamphlets with the resources for all the inmates upon their release. So we can leave them on each station in the jail for the officers when they're releasing someone. Here you go. Take this with you. If it's something that's going on currently when they're getting released, if it leads to that spot, once they get released and they have that pamphlet. And then lastly is ORIGIN, which is a program that offers employment pathways, resources, housing, debriefing while in jail, education, reentry support, Stuff like that, Corporal Frederick and I met with them over telehealth one day. And it's just a program that they'd be able to do on tablets within the jail. Obviously, it's something we have to look at when it's cost effective and talk to them more about it. But it sounds like it's something they reached out to us because they heard about the new program with us and stuff like that. So something that could be very interesting and beneficial to the inmates while they're in there. It could be the ones that are on felony charges for the drugs and the alcohol and stuff like that that they would be able to help provide, hey, these are some employment opportunities that you could do in that county with that felony charge and stuff like that. Continue the education. And yeah, so I think it would be very beneficial. And lastly, I wanted to add was that we did have that meeting. We had the director of the crisis team from CMH come in the other day to let us know about that the position for our jail routines lady would not be coming in on a weekly basis because of her leaving, and then it would not be filled right away to see where that was coming from. So I am a former employee of CMH on the crisis team, so I have that experience with them. And so for the meantime, we kind of just talked about, hey, for the meantime, if there's someone, if I got in contact with the lady at CMH and she's going to send me a list, if there's certain inmates that need to have that, seeing it every week. I will do so in the meantime to see if that's going to be a position that's going to be carried on or not. And if not, then we'll figure it out from there and go as we have to.

Thank you. Any questions?

Yes. You didn't have nothing to say? I let her handle it. Apparently she did well. She did well. Thank you.

Yes. Madam Chair, just a couple questions. What is MAT program?

It's Medicated Assisted Treatment.

Medicated Assisted Treatment, OK.

So if someone, like I said, because of the drug usage, if they're not on the Suboxone or methadone when they come into jail, that's something we can help provide to set up before when they get released.

Thank you for pitching in with somebody's going. Is that coming out of their funds? I mean, are they going to help pay for? They have an open position. You're adding, you're filling that position. So is that coming from them? Are they going to help fund that? Or is that extra on?

So that's the first I've heard of this. So I will follow up on that. Yeah.

You know that if they are waiting they're gonna have to pay somebody at some point right to do that to that role And if you're adding to your current responsibilities, then I was just curious how that was gonna help help A lot of work The numbers this is the first it's been very helpful It looks like the program has developed well I'm kind of anxious to see how it continues

Pretty soon other counties will come to us to see how we did it.

That's the goal, right? I like it. Thank you.

Next, we have the MERS service credit purchase from our HR generalist, Noelle Merton.

Good morning. Good morning. So I routinely, there is an employee within the defined benefit MERS plan that will come to ask for a service credit purchase. Essentially what that is is they ask for a certain amount of years to be added to their service credit. And then we get an estimate of that cost from MERS. and then they have to ask you, the board, to approve the service credit purchase. What we've done in the past has always been the employee must pay that full purchase in full and any other additional costs that would come along with that. And so we do have an employee who has asked to purchase five years in the plan. Josh Burmester, with the command from the Sheriff's Department, has asked to purchase five years for the total of $101,566. One thing that came about the last time that we had an employee ask for a service credit purchase was how in the world can someone afford to do this? Very, very often, especially in this position or these kinds of positions, they have come from other departments where they have earned retirement money from their service with other places. And so most times that money either sits there or gets moved to someplace other, you know, personal, and then they are allowed to use that money to then purchase these years. And so that is essentially where that's coming from. So I did give Joe a motion for you guys to be able to approve this, if you so wish, on the next meeting. And then if you approve then I'm able to let Josh move forward and do this and then it goes through and we can set up the the payment process for him so Questions I'm sure yes is this person leaving employment with the county no they are not So it's important for us to realize we don't we don't We don't pry into anybody's personal accounts You're welcome The reason I ask the question is sometimes when you retire from someplace, then you cannot Work at that same type of thing somewhere else And they actually when they ask for we have to make this request They ask if the person is continuing to work or not So that way that we can get the full cost of what that might put, you know particularly be because if they were to leave that cost might actually be less and So we do register it for the full amount to where they're eligible to retire for age.

And we do have a practice in doing this in the past.

Yep.

I'm going to reiterate that.

OK. So we would need this as a motion at our next meeting, if you're OK with that. Thank you. Thank you.

Next we have the clarification of Roscommon County Co a contract discussion of the whole And I'm sure with your permission could we ask Deborah and Tracy's come up for ladies It should be here today

So You kind of want to explain to the board why? What what what the issue was I guess?

So in the contract on page two item number six How We're going to comply with the county's purchasing requirements and You know for our internal purchasing for the COA and it references On that last line there at the bottom it says the RCC OA by its entirety Into this agreement for services certifies that it shall comply with the county's purchasing policy attachment a when procuring sorry goods and services with millage funds So that has been a bit of a confusing statement, because when you read the Roscommon County's purchasing policy that you all abide by, it gives the impression that we need to come to the Board of Commissioners to approve any large purchases, major repairs, or anything of that nature. Just as yours says, 0 to 5,000, you have to follow this process and all of those steps. And so we all know that the intent behind that is that we take that to our board. to get approval. However, that is not how this is presented. It is presented in such a way that it can be challenged and interpreted that we're supposed to come to you. So we're looking for some type of an amendment or a memorandum of understanding that will clearly identify that the intent behind this is that we are to be using your purchasing policy as a guideline to use with our board.

That's why we're here today Yes, and then controller. Do you have a some proposed language you like to bring forward I?

Do not do in the future You want to work something out this week perfect perfect.

Thank you sure yes Do we have a copy of our purchasing policy to see which she's referencing me I?

But yeah, I know the intent isn't for them to come to us it's to go to their board and

Yeah, it is there are some some of the steps in there are this much over County Board must approve so I know that those are those areas that there's these specific areas So one of the things that we had talked about last week was I mean it basically you're just saying when it says County Board they're going it is RCC yes, so correct Process is the same, but the board name is yes To you and not tell you correct that the intent is for The RCC OA to follow the process with their board being the approver At the end of the day it's just really clarification in full disclosure I've been on the board for about 20 years, but it's the first time it's popped up that I remember and

But if we could just get clarification and move it forward to the next meeting, Madam Chair.

Yep, absolutely. I'm just out of curiosity. I know you've been there for that long. Whatever. What prompted it? Was it a board member? Was it an employee? How did somebody go, flag, flag, this isn't good?

Right, so... We have our finance committee that has been working through some of our policies and procedures, and the contract did come to light at that point. They wanted to review it, and we discussed the challenges with that interpretation and felt that maybe reaching out to Jody and coming together to just get this...

There better clarity.

Yes, okay might I add if we're doing because this would have to be an amendment to this exact this agreement, correct or Right an amended portion I wouldn't I would say at this point in time that you would just have to do simply like you would do for a Contract for Union where you could do a memorandum of understanding. Yes.

Yep. I Because it came up, I think you probably have heard this as well, that part of this misinterpretation also comes from page one, that we are supposed to exceed the expectations of the service, where I think some of those services are being thought of as, because they're clearly outlined, what you will provide for the money that we give. But the... Recipient at times things will know you need to add this this this and this because you said you'd exceed it So I'm just curious if that doesn't need some better clarification if that be if that's being misinterpreted Because I don't I didn't believe that I thought these were the services to be provided mm-hmm, but they kept coming back, but you as a board are supposed to exceed it and I don't know where we land on that, but that's a pretty vague Description in my mind. I don't know if it will help you guys. I think it might help us So if we're gonna redo I don't know if that's something or do we wait until this has to be redone as a whole Just want to throw that out.

So my suggestion is because if you don't have a valid contract we cannot to give them tax dollars legally That we don't open this back up at this point in time, but where is exceed?

It's the one two three four fifth whereas Six year older Not only met but exceeded I'm not saying I agree with the comment that's been brought before me. I'm just saying it seems to be a sticking point and and maybe at that point in time, I just, I don't wanna lose sight of that, because I think that also puts you guys in a funky position, and I think it puts our board in a, like, who's deciding what exceed means?

And if I may, on that, that's obviously open for interpretation. Where was the bar set? And I don't know that in this document the bar is set outside of where it's stating that we're going to ensure that the social and physical needs of our growing population of person 60 and older That seems to be the only bar that we're supposed to meet. And so I would challenge that. Obviously, yes, I do think that the COA exceeds that minimum standard. So I do believe that that's open for interpretation by pretty much anybody. And having a specific threshold for your low and your high may then

Put some constraints on what's actually able to be done freely as an entity of its own and the only reason I bring it up is because like I said, I don't know how to percent agree with the Statements that were made I think it it just didn't look as good and it made me figure out how am I supposed to explain an Agreement that we signed and be held. I mean that was back on us so I'm okay with waiting. I agree with our controller that maybe we don't open that can of worms right now. I will tell you, so everyone is aware of the comment that I made, was after trying to look at it, looking at all the COA stuff from a state level, all the documents that say, how do you do these services? What can you do? What can you not do? I was pretty clear at saying, are these things under number two being provided to you? Yes. then your interpretation of exceed is different than Mary Jo sitting right here. I'm sorry, but this is being met. So that is how I explained it. If I am wrong, please come and see me and tell me how to better say it. But that was my answer.

The only thing that I find really interesting is when you read the entirety of the whereas, It's basically, and correct me if I'm wrong, that this, based on what you said, so the Roscommon County Commission on Aging is dedicated to utilizing county millage funds. So this is about you guys. You're dedicated to exceeding expectations. It's not about us saying they have to exceed it, right? Is that right? Okay, I'm just making sure I'm reading it right, too. So, which I think is your...

It's just helpful for those of us who... probably get the questions more, even though I don't serve on your board. But those were questions from people who come to you that live in my district that I don't know how to answer that. So if any help, great. We can hold that for the next time we go around. Just wanted to bring it up since we were talking about it.

Just verbiage clarification. The document is solid. You just need to fine tune that one particular area. Two controllers can put that together.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, ladies.

With nothing further on our work session, this meeting is adjourned, and our next meeting will start at 11 o'clock. Yeah, tell me about it.

I'm loving it.

Roscommon County Board of Commissioners Lake level control structure meeting for June 10th 2026 at 1101 a.m. I

Roll call, please. Milburn. Here. Morley. Here. Russo. Wolfson.

Here.

Sensor. Here. Approval of the agenda.

So moved, Madam Chair. Moved.

Any discussion? Roll call, please. Morley. Yes. Sensor. Yes. Wolfson. Yes. Milburn.

Yes.

Motion carried. Public comment for agenda items only. Is there any public comment for agenda items? Fulton Lake delegated authority update. We are still working on the land swap with MDNR. The gates remain open due to it being over. the manual and the legal summary level that's stated within the manual that we can operate through. Commissioner Wolfson is going to be having a conversation with one of the land owners around our structure just to make sure that an agreement can be met as far as the design and property and property lines and things of that nature. Commissioner Wolfson, do you have anything more that you want to add?

Yes, I went and physically looked at securing an easement from that property owner and determined we don't want to use that easement for big trucks. The property was never demucked when they built them houses, and you're going to drill between two houses, and they're going to vibrate terribly when you do. I don't think that's a good issue. In our meeting with Eric from Prang Newhoff, we asked how critical that easement was. Did not seem to be very critical, but we did run into a problem where the design of the new structure would encroach on that person's property. Therefore, we have to see if we can work out something with that property owner on that issue. Lake st. Helen Commissioner Wolfson yes, we were gonna review our Decision to have no public access on these structures for the lake st. Helen structure And I guess that's what we're having today is discussion on whether we're gonna change that decision or not That structure is not very tall. And right now, the way it's designed, I believe it meets ADA rulings as far as accessibility. We do not have any control over accessibility on the property to the structure. My findings with the clerk's office, Richard Deeds, is that that property is dedicated to the people of that subdivision. Only? Only.

So then only those people of that subdivision would be?

Really open to the public other than I don't believe it's ever been contested and the public has been using that access.

The word only is a big word.

Well, there is a sign on the gate that says it's for Au Sable River Park owners and guests only. But that's not our issue. Our issue is, you know, because it could be people from that subdivision maybe want to get on the structure and fish.

If I hear you correctly, Commissioner Wilson, the property that gets you to the structure is not ours. It is owned by this property association, the people there. Have any of them ever had an issue with people using their property to get on top of that to fish?

Not that I'm aware of.

Okay. Hmm.

You recommend that we tread lightly then in that agreement? Because it has nothing to do with us per se. However, if it says the word only, how does it get enforced?

Well, at this point, I'd say our only concern is access on the structure.

On the structure.

It's ADDA. So we had, you know, in a prior meeting, we decided no access on all the structures, period. Since then, I've been approached by the township supervisor, and he feels that that gets a lot of public use. And places on St. Helen Lake for public use are very, very limited. I mean, they have one, the township has one, and other than that, I believe this is the only one, is it not?

So I think the issue with not having people access on the control structure itself, because those are going to look different. You guys are closer to it than I am. Higgins and Houghton will be a little bit, I'll say, electronic. That might not be the right, you know, they'll be designed differently than this one on Lake St. Helens.

This one will not be designed with hydraulic gates.

Because our issue is really around the safety of the people if they're on a structure that we own and manage. That was the purpose for us not wanting that, am I correct? So what's that risk liability for that particular structure? Is it far less with whatever's gonna go in there new than what we're already experiencing with people being on the structure today?

I would think the new structure would be safer, if it's not at least as safe. This one's pretty safe. I mean, it's a chain link fence that high. When you walk out on it, you have to, they have to unlock a gate to get out there to adjust the boards. So, you know, it's pretty safe. The question comes about viabilities. The only thing about liability in reality is limiting your liability exposure. I mean, plain and simple, you're liable for everything.

True. I get that. But I'm not hearing that there is any greater potential of liability if we allow them to do it on the new structure versus what they've been on. Correct. Is that what I'm hearing?

And when Commissioner Sensor and I went and looked at Holton Lake Dam when it was at its highest, It struck me as like, you know, someone falls over here, this is a real bad situation. And she's always been concerned about liabilities and not letting anybody on the dams. Well, that's when we brought it to the board and decided, okay, we're not going to let anybody. Well, then after looking at it again, I think you could fall off the St. Helen Dam and stand up and you'd be all right. The hazard's not nearly as severe as Holton Lake Dam. And the equipment on it is not going to be the same as equipment on Holton Lake Dam that could be vandalized or messed with.

New information that we didn't think about when we first said all of them. I wasn't aware that it was all in my head. I knew the other two were because of the way they would be structured and everything below them. But, I mean, if that works better, it's kind of your district and the people that you represent. I mean, I don't have a problem with it if there's not an increase in, well, we did it and we added our liability. Let me ask real quick.

Jody, have we ever had a case of problems with

St. Helen Dam like this whole like as far as someone getting hurt As far back as I can remember I Can't remember anyone being injured But they did go through gosh the first year I was here they put in new fencing on all of the structures And then updated railings and such as well, so The kicker is I like uniformity I

I can understand if the association says you're allowed, then that's maybe something we have to work with. But are they all ADA compliant?

I would say none of them are ADA compliant.

Not as of right now.

I think St. Helens. Because the space is plenty wide enough to take a wheelchair from one end to the other.

Like no If it's open to the public then yes, it has to be ade compliant, but they also have to have access to it That's ade compliant, and it doesn't sound like we can control that we can't control the access So what I'm getting at in regard to ade is the fact that if st. Helen is ade compliant in the Association or Kind of would you call association condominium?

I don't think they even have an association that I could find. It's just that it's dedicated for the property owner's use.

If the property owners say it's okay and it's ADA compliant, then I think that we don't have any say in that. The bottom line is the other control structures aren't ADA compliant. We can't allow people to be on them.

What you're saying, Jody, is if... We allow public on that structure.

We have to give them a da compliant access to it There could be a good argument that if we are providing it as a public access point Then it needs to be a da accessible to get there But what does that look like? I mean, I'm not I haven't been over there in eight years, so I don't know if You know, can you get a wheelchair through that?

Well, that's what I went and looked at originally when I started. The grade of the land is such that it could be ADA compliant for grade to get to it. But it's not paved or anything. I mean, it's just a downhill slope. Nowadays, with wheelchairs, people go out in the wilderness with them.

I think it really boils down to we have no ability to manage the access point because we don't own that easement. Therefore, it is up to them if somebody doesn't do well on their easement, it's not us, it's them, correct? And we do what we're supposed to do for the structure that we own. And if that allows them to be on it because they've been getting on that structure for now whether or not they live on that property or not so I don't I don't see that it's going to be any different if we allow them to do it that's my take but I'm fine with uniformity but I also believe it kind of goes back to local versus state or Fed control one size does not fit all well if this is something safe that we can allow them to be different that I'm I don't I don't

When we started on this long venture, we wanted uniformity, but we were also trying to recognize each lake is different. The people. I'm still waiting for our chairperson to weigh in on this.

I know. We've been dominating.

There's pros and cons to both. Ultimately we don't control the land around it so to say that it is public access has public Access is kind of a misstatement because it really doesn't have public access to it So the other way of doing that is just not limiting you know putting a limit of access on it as far as that was my thought originally with a supervisor

If somehow someone gets to that structure and wants to get on it, maybe it should be ADA compliant.

And just leave it at that.

And leave it at that.

Because if you, we don't have public access.

Because there could be people in that organization that want to use it.

Well, apparently people are using it.

Well, there's the public too, but there could be people in that subdivision that want to use it that, yeah, they can take their wheelchair down there, but now I can't get on the structure and go fishing.

I just think whatever gates are there or fencing that's there needs to be at a safe height so that people just can't.

Yeah, regardless, we've got to put fencing on that to be safe. And so if we just meet the ADA rulings with that, we know it's safe. Okay with that if I were that too big thing is he I'll have a talk with her Design engineer on that again He's gonna think we're a little crazy because I told him yes.

No no I'm gonna say we're finalized First time we've been told we're crazy So the lake level control structure at st. Helen will be open for public use That's what I'm hearing. Okay, perfect

Yeah, that's way okay. It's just no different than a store having a open for public.

I'm not in control of the street getting there There anything we need to do is 88 I just doesn't mean well the engineer will take care of that.

Hey, it's be I'll just Change and make sure the design of the fencing is Because when your workers go out there, they have to be safe too. And there's always people that just go where they're not supposed to be and you try and make it safe. They'll just have to change it. OK. Sounds good.

Thank you. Higgins Lake. Gates were closed last Friday, June 5th. Our maintenance, Justin stated that two boards will need to be replaced, and he is going to be tackling that for us and getting those replaced.

Madam Chair? Yes. I forgot to mention that all the gates are closed on St. Helen. And the lake is dropping still because of the hot days we've been having and evaporation, but not at an alarming rate.

Anything else that you want? Oh, yes, we should discuss James Tiffany's statement. I did hand out you guys the email that I received from James Tiffany regarding the Higgins Lake structure. Based on the information that he has, he gives a scenario of regarding the spillway, the uncontrolled outlet, the sheet piling, possible looking at things that can be done, provide recommendations on whether the entire dam should be replaced or just portions of it, controlled spillway, uncontrolled. This would involve a review of the original plans of the dam, if available. We've given him everything that we currently have, as far as I am aware. Anything that I have, he's been given. What it boils down to is he could go through everything that he has outlined in the email and still get a no answer. He knows that. He knows that any time you want to make a repair or a modification to a dam usually takes longer and more hoops to jump through with EGLE, especially with the age of that structure. depending on what the board sees as the final outcome. He has also stated through phone conversations that basically he believes that the quicker process, if we wanted to move quickly, is to go for a new structure. You're not going to have quite as many hoops to jump through. Again, he said you may be able to do all of the things that he has listed and still get a no. answer. And you could be one, two years down the road before that no answer finally comes through.

And a lot more money to do that, right?

Basically, yeah, you could spend all that money and all that time for one to two years, get a no answer, and then now you have to design a new structure. Just something to read over and just be ready to discuss at the next lake meeting and what what avenues that we want to look at and proceed on.

He did a really good job looking at all the information that was shared. When you look at all his bullet points of what he reviewed, it really, it was one of the better summaries I've read, because a lot of that is over my head anyway. It just really, it made it easier for me to understand all the things we've been trying to uncover. Like, what if? Could we this? Could we that? And I, it was, I don't know who he is, but it was helpful.

This gentleman does our inspections, whatever, three years. And my understanding is that he's worked on some really big projects.

I have an analogy of fixing an old car versus buying a new one. It's not all the time with brakes and engine repair and paint and windows. You just buy a new car and be cheaper and better.

It's basically that, yes.

May I ask, it's tough to think about for our next lake level. I know we've been thinking about what are we going to do? What's our decision as we move forward, especially with that lake? Is that something we, what's our timeline on maybe trying to make a vote on which direction? Or do we even need to do that and proceed as we are? Sorry, you couldn't hear me? I didn't have my mic on the video Okay Timeline would be helpful. I Mean we've gotten so much more information and at some point more information in my brain

is needless information.

I mean, we've got piles of data, piles of information. This is truly about a decision that we're going to have to put a stake in the ground on. And I just don't know, you know, we're hitting the summertime now. There's not a lot that we can do, but to do our... best to keep it at a level we can with what we have, which is we know is hard with that structure. But the structure is not going to change tomorrow. Getting a permit to do a small fix isn't going to come tomorrow. So I think that whatever decision we made and what's the plan to get whatever that decision is done, just we've got to at some point. We have to make a decision. We need to make a decision. Absolutely.

I can issue my point of view at this point if you'd like.

Yes, absolutely.

That structure is old, hasn't achieved its job since it was put in. To do any more work on that would be astronomical in cost for engineering to try and figure out what is there and what is salvageable and what the eagle would accept. The pilings are past their life expectancy. There's no footing underneath where this restrictor plate everybody keeps hollering needs to go. At this point, eagle is willing to talk about narrowing that opening down in the non-spawning season.

That's progress.

If a new structure is put in, meeting all those concerns, it would be the most and the only thing we could do to achieve legal level. After that, it is up to mother nature.

That's a big statement.

Yeah, I mean it's it's not for us to make that call today, but I think we need to Need to find a date and a time to we're like okay. These are our thoughts. This is you gave that one. Where are we going and let's I'll say vote and move it forward that way it's on record people know what to expect and we Don't just keep talking Mm-hmm it It's time we steer it and not somebody else I We have to make the call good better and different you're not gonna make everybody happy we have to make a call It is still under our purview if it's not on our purview then somebody else to make the call somebody wants to buy it and take ownership I'm happy with that but at this point it is our decision and whether we like it or not we've got to make a call I agree I like the idea of a timeline

I would say for our next lake level meeting come with any questions concerns get those answered prior be ready to Make some final decisions on where we are moving forward I'm still hanging in there

They still cannot hear very well. I don't know if those microphones being turned down, if they're hearing or not, but just in case. When is that next? When's our next lake level? I don't have that in my cap.

First meeting in the next month.

First meeting next month?

July 8th. OK. Thank you. By then, we'll have some pretty good data on what the riprap has done, as well as the extended flap gates on there, too.

which has been helpful. At least there were two progress that made better response and help with EGLE to work with us. I mean, those are three steps that we've at least gotten further ahead than we've been in the past. Yep. So good.

OK. Unfinished business, lake manager job description. I also handed that out to you. That was the job description that we used in the past for our lake manager. I am like I stated gonna try and meet with Rebecca on Friday Commissioner Wilson I have talked depending upon how Discussion with actually making that office an actual water resource office not just by name only what that would look like and possibly some ideas as far as Who could be the lake manager. Right.

I think it's imperative that we set that office up as soon as we can.

Oh. Well, we have a gentleman in mind we'd like to talk to, and possibly that person might be able to do soil erosion. I don't know. Because we need to throw a lot of things into it. But there's some people we need to talk to. And there's more than one. Good. See what we can come up with. But the new water resource commissioner, is that correct? Mm-hmm. Would have to, if we put it in that department, they would have to oversee this.

Mm-hmm.

And they have to agree to that, too. So, yeah, there's... Yep. There's a lot of pieces there to try and put together and see what we can come up with.

For our July meeting, we'll be talking about Higgins' decision. Is that something we'll probably have?

We should have a lot more information.

Yeah. I think it's not only good for the lakes, but I think it's good for the county. It's not an unusual model. Counties to follow to have a resource division that keeps soil erosion like stuff and all that underneath that So I think it's a good future set up as well.

Well regardless of how it goes To come up with a lake manager. Yep absolutely because We have other things we can do this board does then to watch the daily levels and and maintenance has something else to do other than go out and adjust gates and and

New business we don't have anything no motions or resolutions, so we are at public comment Hmm

resource manager Lake manager, I guess I'm getting a bit confused The job that was posted I believe was the Drain Commissioner I Did interview and thank you for the chance Yes Setting out on the interview. I did bring up. Oh the Resolution that you passed the day before I have so many papers. I have a hard time finding them all all the time So it takes me a minute to go through I just had it out says that whereas Drain Commissioner drain code including but not limited to the operation of sewers lake level soil erosion and facilitating compliance with the federal Clean Water Act lake levels for grain commissioner And I did remark as lake levels. They said no. No, this is a drain commissioners job that I was applying for and not a resource steward or a lake manager. All of a sudden, this posting you had for drain commissioner is including all these other things. I guess it seems to me if you were looking for these things that you would have posted that. There may have been someone in the community qualified or better qualified that would have wanted to have been lake manager for the three lakes anyway i attended the meeting uh again it's pursuant to the open meetings act i asked myself stevenson it was posted she said yes she posted it on the uh clerk's door and on the uh door out here but it was it was on the website oh i didn't see it on there okay I didn't see it. I apologize. At the meeting, I was up first, and she asked the other two people to leave, and I said, well, they don't have to leave on my account. I found this procedure unusual. She later wrote, I got here somewhere. She later wrote Anyway She said they could have stayed if they wanted to but she didn't you didn't express that to him He said I'm asking you to leave but you can stay if you wanted to because we have an open meeting going on or you could have could have called the closed session and And one last thing. I have a letter here. I thought it was quite interesting. This is a BFE base floodplain elevation. This is a communication Darlene Sensor had with EGLE. It says here, where FEMA has not published a floodplain elevation, EGLE can provide one for regulatory purposes. This estimate is based on best available information. So we do have a floodplain elevation for all three lakes. We have one for Houghton Lake. As a matter of fact, we were above the 100-year flood elevation for well over two weeks. Of course everybody knows about the damage that occurred And so we got a Operations manual and we're finally recognizing that we have a hundred year flood elevation Thank you.

Thank you Any other public comment

Dave Bisbee, Houghton Lake, Denton Township. I have a concern because I don't think anyone really has a grasp of the revenue that was trashed by the high water on Houghton Lake, which a great deal of that occurred before the thaw and everything, this concept on January. We opened the gates while it was already like calling the fire department because the house already burnt to the ground. We've got no idea the revenue loss. People don't even have their docks out yet because the water's so high. And some of them had to take them back out to put them in because the waves and stuff are beating them to death. I really don't think we fully grasp the power that that lake generates. And I don't think that if you're not a person from that Experience that you can really understand it fully. I don't fully understand it But I do witness it now evaluate it and I try to project and put things in place To prevent extra damage and with my neighbors and everybody to help But there's millions of dollars that were lost this year the revenue for the whole community there millions And it's still ongoing And I don't think it's going to even recover up to the 4th of July. And I think that is something that really needs to be evaluated in the long term, because high water damages and low water is just an inconvenience. And we got to get out of this mindset that the only thing that lake is there for is for the boaters speeders, because it's a multi-union or functional lake for fishing, waterfowl, women and voting and it's not a deepwater lake structure it's a marsh lake and we have to understand that we have to manage it as a marsh lake out as a torch lake or deeper water higgins lake it's a marsh lake and that's the design that god created it as not something that we're going to change we just have to learn on how to Bond and function with it properly to make it to the best of the whole community Because that's the only thing that's going to make this community in this town in this county survive Is working to bring the best of the resources out? Not just a small pocket here make them happier a small pocket here or here as A unit we have to do better as a unit Thank you.

Thank you Any other public comment? Okay.

Mr. Cotterman and the resolution that the board adopted the day before... So us doing our statutory responsibility to fill a vacated elected position based on the information that we had at that time cannot be held against us. We did it based on the information we had. We're not privy to any of what the resolution was going to say. So I have to say on that.

Thank you. Any other public comment?

Come on up. I want to thank you for starting that advisory committee for Higgins and carrying on with it. I hope in maybe your comments you'll address whether that will Meet again before this July 8th. I found what you told us, Commissioner Sensor, about this report from Tiffany would be interesting for the people on that advisory board to hear. If not a meeting, maybe email, or I don't know how you communicate. I was just a sit-in. And I couldn't catch everything you said anyway, so until I can read, watch, and write down. But I think it would be good for them to hear and the transparency bit and all that. So just my comment.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment? We are at board comments. Commissioner Morley?

I have none. I'm good. Commissioner Milburn?

The only board comment that I will make is I have not sent this out to the advisory board for Higgins Lake yet, yet I will do that with a summary of also additional conversations that weren't done in email but over the phone. So the advisory committee will get that on Higgins Lake. So that way that they can weigh in anything that they would like to say on that. As far as a meeting, I don't know if that'll happen, but at least the email can go out and things of that nature. It just kind of depends on everybody's flexibility and time schedule as far as the meeting goes.

They could at least still, if they've read it, they can provide some input to you guys via email if they needed it. Yeah, absolutely. So there isn't that chance to do that if you can't pull a date together. Correct.

Okay.

That's all I had so with no further board comment this meeting is adjourned