County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

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

Roll call, please.

Russo.

Morley? Yes. Wilson?

Here.

Milburn? Here. Spencer?

Here. Approval of the agenda.

So moved, Madam Chair.

Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Morley?

Yes. Wilson? Yes. Milburn? Yes. Spencer?

Yes. Approval of the consent agenda before we approve that there was a correction in the meeting minutes It is on the lake level control structure meeting minutes under the Higgins Lake update It's one two three four five Four rows down, it just states, Chair Sensor noted that due to the recent rain events, the levels on Higgins Lake has best been managed to the best they can. We need to cross out in trying to follow the manual because there is no manual for Higgins. There's also board meeting minutes for July 8, 2026. Correspondence A through H, a letter from Fisher Winkler, a letter to Commissioner Morley regarding Higgins Lake lake level control structure from Vicki McCarthy, notice of public hearing for Higgins Township, the second notice for the public hearing for Higgins Township, resolution from Washtenaw County, a letter regarding Higgins Lake and the use of the road ends, the Higgins Lake Foundation be well wise, and a letter regarding bullet points for each of the county millages, along with the monthly department reports, which include the June 2026 animal control and shelter stats and our administrator controller report. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda A through C with the changes to the meeting minutes under the Higgins Lake level as presented.

Second.

Okay.

Roll call, please.

Yes. Wolfson?

Yes.

Spencer? Yes. Morley? Yes. Public comment and agenda items only. Is there any public comment for agenda items? Any visitors? Unfinished business state disaster contingency fund grant resolution So This is a resolution that we need to discuss and vote on Later today in order for the county to be eligible to receive the dollars from the ice storm. Does anybody have any questions on any of that? Is there anything else we should add to it, Jody, or is it pretty self-explanatory, I thought?

I thought it was. It's really what they need to apply for that money to get received. So it's, I'll say, a formality, for lack of a better word. So, yeah, it was worded well.

All right. New business, reappointment of the medical examiner. I'm going to kind of let Jodi talk about this one, if she would.

So our current medical examiner is Dr. Brian Hunter. Is the chief examiner for Genesee County? Roughly eight ish years ago nine years ago when the current medical examiner retired We were fortunate enough to be able to do a interlocal partnership with Genesee County Dr. Hunter, I know I provided you his curriculum vitae is probably one of the most Well-educated and most down-to-earth people that I've ever met. He is definitely very good. What we learned recently was that we are supposed to reappoint him under statute every four years. We have not reappointed him since 2019. So after just doing a verification with our prosecutor and our sheriff, who are more than happy to continue in that relationship. I wanted to bring that to you for review of the statute, his curriculum vitae, and then approval at the next regular board meeting.

Anybody have any questions on that?

You answered one of them that yes, we do partner because that's one of the statutes say you can do that as a county. And then Back in 2019, there was a cost per case of $1,230. Does he get paid? How does that work?

Actually, we pay Genesee County.

We pay Genesee.

Correct. We pay Genesee, and that rate has not increased, nor is it going to increase.

And per case, every time he gets called out?

So he doesn't get called out. Just a little history, and then Darlene's more on scene than me with her real job. than I am. So essentially, we employ medical examiner investigators. And those medical examiner investigators sign up for a call basis. So they receive a on-call pay of like $2.97 per hour. When they get called out to a scene that meets that criteria, then they review what they find and make the recommendations to either send transport down to Genesee for autopsy or not. So for every autopsy, that is the cost.

Every autopsy that's done.

Yes. And that's the baseline cost. There may be certain circumstances where there has to be more blood work, more toxicology, specialized forensics, depending on the condition of the body. And those things are always going to be more no matter where you are. But a majority of those can all be done at the Genesee County and through Hurley, because they have that partnership right there.

And the $500 monthly administrative fee, are those just our fees? Is that a part that we share with Crawford? How does that work?

Nope, we do not partner with Crawford on this. Crawford chose a different group. They started with us. But that $500 is just our fee to Genesee. And I will tell you, for the work that they do just on unclaimed bodies, it is well worth it.

On the numbers, that's all thank you.

Yes, this has been pointed out by the controller that we have haven't Done our due diligence in this regard. I would be feel comfortable if we made a motion today But if the chair feels one wish two weeks I'm fine with that too the bottom line is since we haven't we haven't met that that obligation We should consider doing today I

Okay with doing one today if everybody else is okay.

We just would have to get it written off There's time an issue on this Well we're expired so time is an issue In talking to the state they are okay if we wait another two weeks as long as there's a progression so It's whatever the board so chooses If we wait two weeks it gives somebody time to draft everything I

Ration okay, I'm fine either way as long as the state's okay So now we are to our motions and resolutions

Move to adopt resolution number 2026-07-01, child care fund 2026 through 2027 budget adoption. Where is the Roscommon County 34th Circuit County Family Division Circuit Court excuse me I apologize has prepared the 2026 2027 state child care fund annual plan and budget and whereas programming has been classified as but not limited to family foster care institutional care in-home care and foster care during the period of appeal after parental release And whereas as the anticipated net expenditures are $1,486,476.56, which eligible expenditures will be reimbursed by the state at up to 75%. And whereas $1,117,357.42, these expenditures will return projected state reimbursement revenues of $1,117,357.42. And whereas to receive state funding, all expenditures for programs are required to be included in the state child care fund budget. And whereas expenditures are aligned with Roscommon County's 2026 adopted budget and the 2027 budget currently under the development. And whereas to receive reimbursement for expenditures, the state child care fund budget requires the authorization authorizing signatures of the Chief Judge of the Family Division, the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Chair of the Board of Commissioners. And whereas this matter has been reviewed by the County Administrator Controller's Office and the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Roscommon County Board Commit commissioners hereby do authorize the submission of the 2026 2027 State child care fund budget summary to the same admit state of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Office of federal compliance child care fund monitoring unit where total estimated expenditures of 1 million four hundred eighty six thousand four hundred and seventy six thousand dollars and 56 cents for the period of October 1st, 2026 to September 30th, 2027.

So moved.

Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Wilson?

Yes.

Sensor? Yes. Morley? Yes. Milburn?

Yes.

Resolution adopted. All right. Number two. Move to adopt resolution number 2026-07-02, State Disaster Contingency Fund Grant. Whereas the county of Roscommon, Michigan is a political subdivision within the state of Michigan with an official emergency operations plan in compliance with Section 19 of the Emergency Management Act, Act 390, Public Acts of 1976 as amended. And whereas the county of Roscommon sustained severe losses of major proportions brought on by the widespread severe weather, ice storm resulting in the following conditions. Trees down across most primary and secondary roads throughout the county, loss of power for over 23,700 consumers energy customers equating to 87% without power, and many homes and businesses that have incurred damage. whereas the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners certifies that the Roscommon County emergency operations plan was implemented at the onset of the disaster at 715 on the 16th of March 2026 and all ethical disaster relief forces identified therein were exhausted and Whereas, as a direct result of the disaster, public damage and expenditures were extraordinary and placed an unreasonably great financial burden on the county of Roscommon, totaling not more than $250,000 of eligible reimbursable costs. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners request the governor authorize a grant to the County of Roscommon from the State Disaster Contingency Fund pursuant to Section 19, Act 390, Public Acts of 1976 as amended. Furthermore, Jody Schultz, Administrator Controller, is authorized to execute for and on behalf of the County of Roscommon the application for financial assistance and to provide to the state of Michigan any information required for that purpose.

I move, Madam Chair.

Second. Any discussion? Yes.

Is that supposed to read totally not more than $250,000? Yes.

Good morning. I apologize for my tardiness. Yes, Vanessa Varner, Emergency Management Director. It should read not more than $250,000, totaling not more than $250,000 of eligible reimbursable expenses because Roscommon County due to our population being under 25,000. We are not eligible for any more than 250,000 for section 19 funding Just check and make sure it's reading correctly. Yes Any other questions, like I said, I apologize I was on a briefing for our other disaster with FEMA Thank you

Vanessa, thank you so much and Sheriff to all that. I'd like to appreciate like to thank all the entities for their expertise and swiftness of action. Thank you. Thank you.

No call please. Spencer yes, Morley yes, Melbourne yes, Wilson yes. Resolution adopted.

Committee reports. Commissioner Morley.

All right. July 13th, the village had their meeting. If anybody's downtown, the Spruce Lodge, it's been an ongoing cleanup issue for quite a while since that fire. But anyway, that is being cleaned up. Some crosswalks will be done on that, you know, the 3rd and 4th Street. There'll be signs coming soon to try to help people be aware of traffic and speed because of the accident that happened right there in downtown. Eagle is doing a study for water pollutants, particularly PFAS and other things. They got a $160,000 paid grant, fully funded, to do this study. Actually, Eagle reached out to the village to say, hey, I think you're eligible. Would you do it? They're also getting a state grant to replace some of the homes that have galvanized pipes in them. So when we're talking about infrastructure, which is definitely a governance issue in our areas, those are things they're working on. They are a redevelopment-ready community, one of very few that we got in the state several years ago. But you have to keep that certification up and renewals, and that kind of helps you get some of the grant money. So that has been done. The two new people are certified now, so they'll be able to keep that certification of being a readiness community. So Markey Township was right after that meeting, and I wasn't able to try and get there on time. They already finished their meeting after the village. But I did share with them the bullet points that we put out on our website about the four county millages, and so I gave that to their clerk so that she'll be able to pass that on. On the 14th, 911 Authority Board met about their CAD project, which is on track. That group will be doing a lot of training and conversion work that should end in December. But I know their plates will be quite full working through that project and getting that done. They have a state audit that will be coming up that they're going to be going through. So their plates are going to be full as well. One of the other reasons why it's so important to have those millages that provide the staff that we need to do those things. Harris Township meeting was that night. They did a wonderful, the fire chief, Gilliam, did a great recognition in the community. There were about 80 people in that room that night because of a 70-something-year-old gentleman whose life was saved with all the different departments that pulled together did the right thing, deployed correctly. Timing is an issue when somebody has a heart attack. And so it was pretty exciting just to see everybody come out and celebrate what good work they did. Then they're going to be doing a safety study on Northcutt Road and Rolling Oaks just about traffic and speeds and stuff like that. They did some work on a minimum fund balance proposal or a Well, they do. They did something that approved a brand new way that they're going to say, we're going to only put a minimum fund balance because their timing is different than our timing. And how those funds come back and forth made it more difficult for them to look like they were just sitting on everybody's money. And that's not the way it was. Those are the big things that they're meeting. On the 16th, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health met. They always do, kind of like what we did today. They always do a Celebrate Northern Lakes. They talk about one of the departments, the staff, people who've been there. They have an omnibus budget. Omnibus budget? Boy, that's hard. Reconciliation Act group that does assessments and treatments. That was an act that was done in 1987. There were 15 staff on that, and almost every one of them had been almost there for 30 years. It was quite impressive. So that was just a nice celebration. We did get a presentation from Alan Bolter, who's the CEO of Community Mental Health Association, really walking through all the legislation that's happening and how that's going to impact counties. It's going to impact mental health. To be aware, they're doing a lot. It's a lobbying firm that they go out and try to make sure that before some of those changes happen, everybody's going to know what it's going to do to mental health. The CEO report, she met with all the controllers on July 9th. I think she's been really trying to keep connected and share things that are coming down the pike to help the controllers know how to help us with money and things like that, too. On the September 10th, there is a public hearing that they must do every year. They're going to do it simulcast from their Traverse City office where the CEO and the chair will do the introductions, talk a little bit about the changes that have happened as a whole, and then we're breaking out to each of the agencies around the area. So I will be at Houghton Lake office that day with Al Cambridge, and then there will be a breakout session to get input from key stakeholders and community people. I've already sent out a couple invites to people that they would love to have there. I will say that I think from feedback that I'm getting in the past, those weren't very helpful. The answer is, great idea, but we don't have money. So there are people who feel like maybe it's not a good time to go. It's not a good use of their time. I have heard from the CEO that we'll try to get as many people there so that they can understand, even community members, how that budget works. And if we can change things, what is it that you would really need? I'm glad to say that her commitment around our jail services is high on her priority. She may be hosting a separate meeting with all the sheriffs after this to get some more specific information from them on those jail services. So we'll keep on that. On the 20th, the DDA met. I do have to say, I keep hearing from a couple people particularly about how important economic development is. And the feedback that I'm getting is that our county is short-sighted in not thinking about spending money on economic development. because the long term would be great. And so I will tell you guys, as everybody else in the room, what I have shared, it is about priorities. Just like it is in their budget, the township budget, there's only so much you can do. And right now our priority is to make sure that our staff are taken care of, that we have the right people doing the right jobs, statutory roles, and it's not off the table, but it's probably not going to hit our priority bucket real soon. But I just wanted to share because it keeps coming up. So I've asked them to come before us and share their opinion too, but that hasn't happened yet. The farmer's market, I know, Marcy, you're here. I just have to say, it's just... Even with bad air quality, they were down some vendors, but not a lot. I mean, they are averaging probably 45 vendors, and they still had 35 when there was bad air quality. That's pretty impressive. So this Saturday, it's Christmas in July event as well. So a lot of work. They've done a lot of great things down there for our community. July 21st, Emergency Management LPT, the local planning team, met. Fabulous presentation from our FBI weapons of mass destruction coordinator. I didn't even know we had one. So it was pretty cool about, and she also does hazmat. So all the resources that are given to emergency management in a county and how they work with law enforcement and things. It was a great presentation. I was glad Vanessa brought her to the team that day. The community wildfire protection plan. It's ready to go out for public comment So there will be some I think we're gonna get some information to the chair to put that on constant contact as well so and I have the lettuce diarrhea from Taylor Farms You know, I mean, you know, you're gonna learn something new if you come to our meetings Most importantly we now have cases in Roscommon County.

Yes, so

So that is a life thing. Watch your lettuce. Make sure it doesn't come from Taylor Farms. And then just an update on the strategic plan work for the budget. I know the controller's report showed that the wage and benefits worksheets have gone out for 27, 28, and 29. So thank you. Those have been completed and reviewed. And then the 27 worksheets are sent to the departments. We've got the dates and times approved, just finalizing whatever email verbiage we want to send out to each department head to make sure that we clarify we're not voting on 28 and 29 budget. It is a way for us to estimate some of the commitments we want to make as commissioners going forward, trying to get ahead of legislative changes so that we are not scrambling at the last minute to find money or refund. Those don't have to be approved. There's some good estimates. But other than that, that's it. Thank you.

Commissioner Milburn.

COA doesn't meet this month because it's July. But I did reach out and had a couple of dinners at the COA. They always do a good job. They did get their new convection oven, I believe, in Home Lake Center. I talked to Carrie Bachman from the Action Agency in Traverse City. I reached out to the chair. Carrie will be able to present to the board on the 22nd of September issues like weatherization, issues of that nature. Other than that, Madam Chair, we're good.

Okay. Madam Chair, quick question. Is that the report they were supposed to be at at the last work session? Right. Okay. So it's been rescheduled? Right. Got it.

I talked with the chair and I talked to Carrie Walkman last week. Make sure that they could give an update on their agency.

Perfect.

Thank you. Thank you. This is actually an agency out of Traverse City.

It's a parent group.

It's a subgroup. We're going to talk about nutrition. They talk about Grant Carr talks about veterans. Whatever they want to talk about that day.

So if I'm clear, we still have not got the budget report from our COA at this point that we're hearing last time. You're talking about a different group coming and presenting. Got it. OK. Thank you.

At the agenda meeting, the Houghton Lake Improvement Board meeting on July 9th, in that meeting there was discussion about the milfoil that started to come back in areas of Houghton Lake and different treatments. Eagle was out there along with the tribe and some board members scanning, looking. Last year, due to the wild rice, there was a perimeter around the middle grounds that wasn't allowed to be treated. So that when untreated last year Eagle loosened up a little bit the restraints on different chemicals that could be used because the middle grounds is Has now gotten a lot of different milfoil and it's come back kind of with a vengeance and Although I don't like using the chemicals in the lake, the untreated milfoil will become a problem, and sooner or later it will choke out the wild rice if it goes untreated. I had brought up and requested a discussion in one of the future meetings about mechanical harvesting and possible costs and the size that can be done, because EGLE determines what size that can be. And it's been a few years since they had inquired about that, so... Had some conversations with the personnel committee also with the lake level committee discussions on lake levels gates boards and a Lake operator and job description for a lake operator Commissioner Wilson, yes, I think they had that job description and I'd had went in the paper this week for a

lake level operator, and it's on our website. Been working on materials management again. I went and met with Nestor Township to see what they would like to do to offer recycling for their citizens. They want to do nothing. In this program, I need to make recycling accessible to all citizens. So I'm trying to work out a deal where I can contract with Bacchus Township to accept Nestor Township residents. If that fails, then I'm going to try and work a deal with Bacchus Township to accept them by a voucher system. That way it's accessible for them, may not be to their liking, but we do make it accessible. And if I can do it through the grant money in contract with Bacchus Township, it's a win-win for both townships. So I'm working on that. I have a meeting on the 30th with the Eagle Man here to go over this because I've got other things in plan that I want to get this all taken care of by the end of the year. There's no reason we can't, depending on the state of Michigan. We're pretty well covered for recycling in this county, other than Nestor Township, which I'm addressing now. Also, we don't cover recycling metal very well. Some townships do, some townships don't. So I've come up with a plan that with this money, We purchase three 14,000-pound dump trailers and give them to three townships to accept scrap iron or metal. And then they can haul it to wherever they want to get rid of it. In most cases, they would sell it. And then they could use that money for their fireworks or whatever. or reimburse them for the cost of the gas, whatever. I went to Gladwin and got a quote on three trailers and I'll talk with my man from Eagle on the 30th about working that into our program. We've been working on studying the situation with the property, the dam on Houghton Lake is gonna require. And then we'll bring that to the board on the first meeting of next month, I believe. We may wanna go into closed session on that issue. And then I also met with Justin and Jody and the Matrix, I believe, was company on the boiler replacement. I think that is going out for bids now. That's it.

Thank you. Chair? Yes. Quick question. If we get our three of those dumpsters enough will other townships can they come and dump in that?

Just be the three who agree some townships did not want to participate in that some townships already take care of scrap iron Okay, so I contacted three townships because you know we have limited funds in that to use but I knew I could cover three townships and Plus it's got to be you know like a sabo township and I've got to approach them. They have no township vehicles. It's going to take a three-quarter ton pickup to haul this.

Right, right.

And some of our smaller townships don't have that, so that's why I've come up with three at this point is just strictly because I've got to watch the financing and also what townships would want to participate in it. I contacted Markey Township, and they do not do this. They don't even have a compost site. And Stan's remark was, Well, if it's free and no cost to us, why wouldn't we want to do it? Right now, I'm looking at Richfield Township, Bacchus Township, and Markey Township for those trailers.

Cool. Thank you.

I've just got to work out how we're going to do this. Where I get them from, they don't take checks. I bought a trailer down there two years ago. You come with cash or you... They don't take checks. It's a big outfit. It's UTS. I mean, they're big. And they have quality equipment. It's just they probably got burnt with personal checks and, you know, all businesses are getting to the point where we don't take checks or toilet paper, you know. So I talked with them and I said, well, I have to pay in a county check. To get reimbursed, I have to submit front and back of a county check. And the invoice, well, they came back with a quote saying they'd take a cashier's check. So I don't know. We're still working on that. I could use the county charge card if I'm allowed to take it, but we're going to pay 3% more on it.

I do believe Marcy's in the audience nodding that we could make a cashier's check.

But I need a copy of that back, front and back, cached. But we're working on that.

Nice.

Great.

Thank you. Public comment. Any public comments?

Madam chair, thank you Dave Denbor from Denton Township First I wanted to let everybody know typically our board meetings are always on the first Wednesday of the month next month it is on the 12th the second So I just wanted to make record of that it does state that on our website But most people get under general habits And I didn't want anybody to show up on the fourth and nobody be there because of scheduling conflicts Typically the August meeting is always the second Wednesday of the month Not a lot of big happenings going on in Denton Township We do have our concert tomorrow night Which unfortunately due to the high winds and everything last night it blew over one of the biggest trees we have on the property So they're taking care of that this morning, so we'll have less shade for everybody unfortunately I know there's probably other things that I should share, but I can't think of anything else pertinent right at the moment. We've had a lot of meetings. I know Michelle's been there with a lot of election workers and so forth, so it was really nice to be able to use our boardroom for other purposes just on board. So we welcomed them, and it was very nice. I do have a comment for Rex. As far as material managements, I have had several townships, whether it be Nestor or Bacchus or Lake, contact Denton Township because of the facilities we have. wanting to use our facilities for everything we do, which we pretty much do it all. I've always told them I'm more than willing to talk to them. I'm more willing to work with them. There's got to be an equitable end of it, though. We can't do it for free, and that's kind of where the conversation stops. Not from our end. As far as the trailer and metal materials, we figured out with the current system we have, which is basically collecting it, paying someone to come and haul it away, and then figuring out the difference of what he gets for it basically it's almost a free service. I only mention that because it then does not cost us to go out and buy a three-quarter ton pickup. It doesn't cost us to do maintenance on a trailer or anything else. If something can be worked out where we are a collection area for metals to use that same system where you're not having to put forth cost and maintenance and extra vehicles I'm willing to throw that out there. We can talk about it. So just so you know, I'm open to helping out any way Denton Township can. That's all I have. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Yes. I just wanted to make a clarification. So last week we had the Commission on Aging on the agenda. It was my understanding that Tracy Baker had been contacted. normally is the person that has those financials, Tracy did not receive the email. So I wanted to clarify that for you guys because I don't want everybody thinking Tracy just doesn't show up to meetings.

Any other public comment?

Board comment. Commissioner Morley. I just wanted to The MAC publication that we all got a copy of, there was some really great articles that are so pertinent this month to everything that we're facing, whether it's property tax conversation. Pretty much you're hearing from every county that that is not a realistic way to fund local units of government if you completely erase it. There's no formulas that have been presented. They talked quite a bit about the Michigan infrastructure the problems. It's not about do we have infrastructure issues? It's about how we fund it. I mean from dams to Culverts to our lake structures all that and so they're putting together a Michigan infrastructure group and so now it's a task force that there's going to have more regulations and More requirements and everything to manage any of these infrastructures. But there's no information about how to fund it if those are going to be requirements from this task force. So, you know, between that and some of the legislative updates that our controller gave us around probate and guardian conservators, that could impact us. The new commission for parent and child legal representation group. We have to have long, that's why we have acronyms, right? Because the names are so long. But when you look, I think my takeaway when you hear all that is that is why it is so important for us to be thinking in advance of how our dollars are going to be spent. Because all these things are happening and we're going to have to react to them, unfortunately. But some really great articles, I thought. Even on the opioid issue. And that piece that there was a great article in that too, so that's all Mentioned tomorrow night trestle park 7 o'clock.

I think magic buses playing am I correct Dave Look I believe that one starts at 630. I'll get there early then Thanks for the great Well, I got mission Wilson

I do want to mention that In our packet in one of our correspondence. We had a letter from Trisha Winkler and After talking with Jody this morning Deb Willett did put some information together So I'll get with Jody and we'll make sure that we do at least respond to that I also want to mention that on Houghton Lake this Saturday there is a they call tune time pontoon poker run going on um and the money goes back to the denton township fire department funds that get earned so just one and there's time to still for people to sign up if they want to sign up for it so that's all i have um with no further board comment this meeting will be adjourned and the next meeting starts at 10 o'clock Common County Board of Commissioners work session July 22nd 2026 at 10 a.m. First we have a treasurer report from our treasurer Marcy Dinkert Good morning, I think everyone got a copy of my quarterly financial report and

Not much change over the last quarter as far as our overall funds on hand. We stayed right around the 31 million mark. Interest, the majority of our investments are with Michigan Class, and those currently are at a 3.74% interest. So we're still maintaining a good interest rate through that quarter. They did come out with Michigan Class a couple of new investment Opportunities, CDs, I know like their nine-month was up over 4%. So I may juggle some money around, especially in the tax payment fund, and get us a little bit more interest for that nine-month period before we would need to pay off townships again in the spring. So if we can utilize a little bit of that increase, I think that would be great. So I'm probably going to take part in that. some other things going on in our office over the last quarter we did have our foreclosures as of March 31st and I don't know if I report on this before but we did foreclose on 30 parcels this year of those 30 parcels only six have applied or submitted their notice of intent for excess proceeds so those six that submitted that form by July 1st of 2026 are the only ones eligible according to the new statute to receive any excess proceeds that might be received at auction. Our auction will be held August 19th entirely online as it has been since COVID. Seems to work out pretty well. If you're interested, the last half hour is usually the best time to log on and watch. That's when you see the most activity at the auction. Working on those prior year excess proceed claims We have paid out ten that are following that our current procedure which we call 78 T So we have had hearings. We've paid out ten of those we have one more That is still outstanding There's some additional issues going on with who gets what portion? of one of those so that is still in the courts and other than that The rest would be part of the class action settlement the deadline for Becoming part of that class action did expire on July 16th. I haven't heard any Results yet as far as how many in Roscommon County actually are going to Be part of that class action so that information is still forthcoming through the The ones that we've already paid out on those prior years, we've paid out almost $143,000 in those prior year claims. The one that's still outstanding under that process, I want to say, is right around $100,000. So that potentially is one more under that process. I've been working, I worked on the Roscommon County Row Commission project allocation for their millage money. So that information has all been sent to the Row Commission so they know what is allotted to each township. the county based on the millage money collected it's a fancy spreadsheet takes many hours to figure out but we're there and that has all been submitted to them working heavily with the brownfield redevelopment authority that group just seems to have taken right off we have Creekside metals project which has already gone through all of the public hearing and all the process The developer is currently working with Mishta on some grant money. So that's still an ongoing one We have Lakeview apartments in Denton Township, which is the old sandbar property and we will be hopefully presenting at the August meeting to the Denton Township board and What that proposal looks like for TIF capture as well. I And then we have what's called the five apartments in Ross Common Township. I do believe it's the old Funland property. They're going to develop some apartments there, and they're looking to try and utilize the Brownfield housing TIF also. And then there's Marina in Houghton Lake that is going to be submitting for an grant through the brownfield redevelopment authority and we would be the Submitting party on the behalf of that development also But that is purely grant that is not a tiff capture project So things are busy there as always My chief deputy Ruth and I will be attending the Michigan Association of County Treasurers summer conference August 9th through 12th in Bay City and And other than that, that is all I have for you today.

Any questions? I was just thinking about a point that Commissioner Morley made. I guess I would really consider a lot of what the Brownfield Rural Development Authority is doing really links to economic development. So I do think by having this branch and putting that in action, that's a consideration that the board should think of, that you do have a mechanism that is supporting the cell.

Common County Transit Authority Escoda County service initiative pilot we have Steve Dubois the executive director here present How are you guys doing today? Good? How are you?

So I guess I'll give it a little bit of background on on how this kind of came about earlier this year OCATS which is Oscoda County Area Transit Services closed their doors to service in Oscoda County After that happened the state of Michigan office of passenger transportation has approached us into doing this pilot program and basically what they They like the way Roscommon runs their system and how it's operated. Obviously, we've proven we can handle the grant money. We know what we're doing as far as transit is concerned. So they asked us to see if we can do some type of pilot program to generate, to start service in that community again. The service that they had there really wasn't anything like what we see in Roscommon today. They only had non-emergency medical services that were being done. And from what I could see from the records that were shared with me, most of the services They were operating out of Oscoda, but most of the people they were hauling weren't even Oscoda County residents. They were actually going to other counties and picking up other county residents and bringing them elsewhere. It was a nonprofit, so it wasn't set up as a transit service at all. The state of Michigan really wants to bring back the type of service like they see here, where you have the trips to the grocery stores as well as the non-emergency medical out-of-county stuff. So basically, they proposed a three-year pilot program, which is basically All startup costs 100% will be covered. First year of operation, they'll cover 90% of expenses. The second year is 80%, and the third year is 70%. After the third year, the county will then have to decide what they want to do with that service, whether they want to hire it out to a third party to run it, whether they want to create it at their own authority, like we are here in Roscommon, or whether they want to create a department and run it as a department. That would be up to that county to decide at that point. But basically, the pilot itself is Is something that Ross Common County is going to be? Basically involved in and we did vote the board did vote to pursue that The service initiative pilot with the state to get them up and going So I just wanted to make sure that you guys were aware We are not using any Ross Common County taxpayer money home to fund this it is being funded 100% by the state as well as the contracts that we're going to be getting when we move into that area to provide that service and Basically, those are the biggest things I want to make sure you guys were aware of it So if you kind of hear hey, how come we're operating over there? Why are our buses over there? You'll kind of know why? They are basically gifting us the fist. There's a facility over there already They were gifted gifting us that facility as well as the vehicles that reverted back to the state when they closed So basically the the vehicles and the building to operate out of is going to be there We just basically have to manage that hire people to get it going again and operate it properly in a nutshell That's basically it yeah, I don't know if you have any questions regarding that or big deal.

Thank you So 90% the first year 80% the second 70 the third right that they're gonna fund the state Absolutely the back the 10 20 and 30 that's gonna be basically fares and contracts there's in contracts. That's why Yeah Thank you, Steve.

Thank you. A 2025 audit presentation by Tyler Waters, our CPA.

Thanks for having me. That'll be actually interesting with transit, because I audit the transit, and I also audit Oscoda County. So I'll be coordinating it from the audit side of things.

Well, we knew about that before now.

Yeah, I did. Steve's just following me around all my presentations. He was at Oscoda, too. Like he said, I'm following him. It's one or the other. All right, well, this will present the audit. I have a five-minute time limit, so try and keep up through the 109 pages. It'll be pretty quick. I don't have a whole lot to discuss The audit report will look pretty similar to last year So we'll just dive in keep it pretty informal if you have any questions feel free to interrupt We'll just start off on page one Basically the same exact letter as the prior years with the relevant info in the first two paragraphs stating that I've audited Roscommon County's financial statements as of December 30th 2025 and the second paragraph in my opinion the financial statements are materially correct, which is a clean opinion and Unmodified opinion. It's basically just saying that when you look at these numbers you can rely on them and know that they're close enough That's the main thing with this letter. So any other questions on that? The rest just talks about some standards on the county's end and on my end page five something really looked at unless you actually read through the whole audit through 15 is called the management discussion and analysis it kind of summarizes the financials and talks about some things that happen with the county and there's a new auditing and reporting standard Gatsby 103 that's gonna change this section it's gonna simplify it there's a lot of repetitive financial statements in it that you just don't need so they're removing that and they're making it more of a narrative Now, the county's MD&A is actually pretty good. It's got a lot of detail in it. There's charts and graphs, some useful information outside of the financial statements. So I don't know that it'll change a ton, but it should shorten a little bit and be a little more useful if someone in the public were to come and read it. So that's one change coming down the pipe. It's more for me to deal with, really, than the county. The next thing is on page 21. the first financial statement we'll look at. We'll start with the revenues and expenses for the year. I'll just highlight some of the main things I noticed year over year. I won't go into much detail. So the main thing we'll look at is the general fund, that left column. Again, this is all as of December 2025. The general fund increased its fund balance by $781,473 for 2025. increasing it to the $2,948,000. So that's positive, having the general fund increase. That resulted from about $950,000 increase in revenues and about a $460,000 increase in expenses. With the expenses, kind of across the board, the big item for the year was the health insurance changes, changing from Priority to Blue Cross, which I believe was done in an effort to save because Priority was going to charge more with their premiums. Kind of inevitable that that cost was going to go up. But overall, for all funds, it was almost a $450,000 increase in premiums and everything. Kind of out of the county's control at that point, but it is what it is. So that was the big change, expenditure-wise, operational expenditure-wise. The general fund fund balance, the board has set the goal of 18% for that minimum fund balance. This year, the fund balance, 18% of annual expenditures. As of 2025, the fund balance is 29% of the annual expenditures, so 10% to 11% higher than the board's goal. Another positive is there's been three consecutive years of that fund balance increasing. So if on page 13 has the chart that shows that expenditure line and shows the fund balance And it kind of dipped there back from 2010. And then 2015, it kind of bottomed out. And the board set that goal to get it to 15% and then 18%. And it's on that trend back up. So good job to the board and the staff and the team and everyone managing that budget and getting that fund balance to come back up. So it's basically doubled in the past five years in a positive direction. So it's a good thing overall. So good for the general fund. The 9-1-1 fund was pretty consistent year over year. It still had a fund balance increase of $430,000, which is a positive. Expenses both saw a little increase. The Sheriff Road Patrol had a decrease in fund balance of just under $90,000. However, there was $445,000 of capital in that, which are one-time purchases. Now, there's capital every year, but take that out of the account, and it's a positive increase in the fund balance. Really no operational negatives there. Housing didn't have a whole lot of activity or fluctuation for the year. And the big changes in the non-major funds, which are all the other funds, were just having those special assessments for the dams. That property tax revenue was more in 2024 than 2025. But there were some more expenditures related with that in 2025 for maintenance. So there was a little timing there So those non-major funds really were flat year over year. But overall, fund balances altogether increased just over $1.3 million. And the total fund balance combined of all governmental funds was $13,735,000. So from a high overview, I would say it was a pretty consistent year with controlled spending, some capital purchases, but nothing out of the ordinary or crazy one direction or the other. One big positive I didn't want to forget to mention was the jail did have a very good year. It set a record for revenues hitting $734,000, which is up about $220,000 from the prior year. Now expenses did increase in line with it, which is going to happen. It's a variable expense. You have more prisoners, you're going to have more costs with those prisoners. But the cost per prisoner decreased to about $92. or sorry, down to $83. Prior years were about $92 and $110 and $100 a year or so. Cost per prisoner did increase overall. So it was a good year for the jail. I'm still losing money, unfortunately, but the addition of having all those federal prisoners is kind of the big moneymaker in that area. Any questions on the revenues or expenses? That's kind of what I have for you. You go two pages back to page 19, the balance sheet with the assets, liabilities, and the fund balances. I don't have a whole lot to discuss on here. It was pretty consistent overall. The main thing is the cash and investments line was up around $1.3 million or so in total. And that's very comparable to the fund balance increase of about $1.3 million in total. When I look at that, it tells me there was not a whole lot of activity or big fluctuation in all those other items on that report as far as receivables, prepaids, inventory, and liabilities. So the one kind of change in the fund balance section under the general fund, which I'm sure you guys are all aware of, the insurance deductibles number of $101,486, that's the new MMRMA deductible fund that was County contributed $100,000 in there. That's going to cover the deductibles for any insurance claims. So that money is kind of restricted in a way. So it's reported separately. So basically, it's like an investment with MRMRI. It earns interest. And yeah, it's just restricted for basically insurance deductibles. So I think the board had set $60,000 as that number in the past. And we changed it to match what the insurance number actually has. That's pretty much what I had for the balance sheet. There's not a whole lot of change there. On page 24 are all the enterprise funds that are treated more like a private company business, page 24. The main one I wanted to touch on is the tax payment fund, just because it is an important aspect of the county. That's the column on the left. So that fund increased by net income. of about $314,000 for the year. So it increased by that much to $10,677,000. There's $8.3 million in cash in the tax payment fund. And it might seem like it's a lot of money sitting there, maybe not being used. But that's not the case at all, because the delinquent payoff for the treasurer's office is pushing $5 million now. So you need to make sure you have $5 million in there to cover that, or else you're going to have to go and get a bond to cover those payoffs. And it's a great thing that you don't have to do that, because having that money in there, it can sit in a bank and earn interest versus taking out a bond and paying interest on the bond. So you're getting kind of a double whammy to the positive by having that cash in there. And for this year, about $706,000 was transferred out to other funds to kind of supplement operations in other areas, which prior year was $954,000. So there was less supplementing from the tax payment fund. And to the point on interest, in the middle there, the tax payment fund earned $316,000 in interest for the year. So if that cash isn't sitting there, that $300,000 is not going to be there either. It might be cut in half. So it is a good chunk of money that is getting earned. So the goal, as it's always been, is try and keep that money there. Try not to use it as best you can. And I think the county's done a good job with that over time, planning when it wants to use it. That's pretty much all I have for the financial statements. Any questions on those? Well, the last few things. MERS is on page 64. I know the font's small. Just to touch on a couple of the highlights of the MERS, which is the defined plan for the employees. percent funded for the year, which is always the number we want to look at, is at 80%. And the prior year was at 73%, so a positive increase of 7% overall, basically saying that you're 7% more funded. That liability, the net liability, finished at $7,506,000, which is down about almost $3 million from the prior year, which is a good thing overall. That's basically saying that you owe that much less money to be fully funded. Now, I don't know what MERS invested in for 2025, but that middle line there, net investment income, was $4,184,000. That was what the plan earned on investments for the year, which is a huge positive for the county and really the main reason why that percent funded increase so much. Because if you look at prior years, it was $4 million, then it was $1.9, $2.6, a loss of $2.7. So there's never been a year over $4. So it was a good year of investment This is all a year delayed too, so technically this is actually 2024's numbers. But positive for the county. You didn't have to do anything and that number made their percent funded go up. So don't really change anything what you're doing with that plan. Just wanted to touch on the positives of it. The last couple things are the letters in the back. There's one that's, what page is it? 106 is when it starts But really I'm gonna go to page 108 So this is the internal control letter basically stating any deficiencies or not compliance items the first one on page 108 is Significant deficiency which is just a standard deficiency and the fact that I assist with preparing the financial statements not an issue just standard required disclosure The one on page 109 as a deficiency is the reconciliation of the bond institution accounts. This has been an ongoing thing. I think the county's trying to get resolved. I would say the goal with this is there might be a discrepancy with the actual balance from way back that's just carried forward. The goal is to reconcile the current activity and if you can consistently reconcile the current activity. And by reconcile, I mean take the court's reports and reconcile it to basically the county's accounting records. Make sure that those two match. If you can reconcile the annual activity, the monthly, daily activity, and know that that's right for the current time period, you'll start to narrow down what that consistent variance is, because that shouldn't change. If you're off by 50,000 or something, that 50,000 should always be popping up if your current activity is getting reconciled. So I think that's the main goal right now, is get the process down to reconcile the current activity, and then we can kind of back into, what's that number we can't figure out? I don't know the court system super well as far as the type of reporting capabilities, but I think that's kind of the big question of... What report do we want to use that will consistently allow us to reconcile this accurately? And this was something that the state did the court audit. This was also noted by them, too. So a lot of that stuff will pop up in here. Page 110 was a noncompliance finding. Really not a huge deal, but the state and the budget is pretty strict about it. So basically, there was a few funds with overspending on the budget. The main one was the share of fund. And it appeared that at year end, there was just some vehicles purchased. And it seemed like an amendment didn't take place. So there ended up being over budget spending there. I don't think it warranted a disclosure to the state to where they're going to send a letter for a response to why they shouldn't send a letter. So not an issue in that regard. But the main thing I wanted to point out is similar to the MD&A with the new auditing standard that I discussed earlier, there is a new standard with the budget If there are major variances in future years, reasons why those variances occurred are going to have to be disclosed in the audit report now. So like that sheriff one that had the vehicles purchased, there's on page 72 through 75, there actually shows budget to actual reports. It's now requiring a footnote below that saying, this fund had overspending by this much because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they want that disclosure. And I believe it's only for the big ticket items. It's not for every little variance here and there. You're going to have variances in a budget. But for the big ones, they want it disclosed. So that'll be a new change going forward. I don't think it should be a huge issue for the county. But there are some townships that don't amend their budget too frequently. And I'm a little concerned that I'm going to have three pages of explanations on why they didn't budget for these items. So it probably won't be too fun for me. The loose leaf letter in the back is just communication with governance letter. It's kind of the same first couple pages. On the third page, which I don't know, my PDF seemed to print wrong. I don't know if you guys did, but the three comments that I had was with the trust and agency account, and this is I've already talked to Jody about this, so I won't try to explain it. Basically, there's some donation activity flowing through the trust and agency account that I would prefer to see flowing through the special revenue funds that the donations are for. And really, a lot of it's with the sheriffs and police and veterans receive some donations for certain things. If that activity seemed to increase a little bit and for budgeting purposes and everything, it should be reported through the fund itself and not within the trust and agency account. You can still use the trust and agency account to collect the money, but I would like to see the revenue and expense reported within the actual fund itself. So that's just kind of a little accounting shift due to the growth of it over time. And then the other two were timely disbursements of restitution, which was noted by the state for its court audit. And it was a comment that I had made last year. And that's just getting the restitution paid out to the people, I think, basically twice a month would be the goal, in my opinion. The state audit might make it a little more strict on the timeline. But I think if you do it twice a month, the individual is not going to be waiting a whole month before it gets their check. So I think that would be the goal, is try to avoid having them wait for a month. And then the timeliness of transmittals. Again, the state noted this one. And I did a little test work and kind of verified it. But just transmitting funds to the treasurer's office. I know the state court law basically makes it They require it more frequently to be compliant. However, family court, for one, doesn't collect a whole lot of money. So the daily deposit might be excessive. So I'd say if it gets to a certain threshold, whether it's $1,000 or even checks, if a few checks are received, it's not maybe the dollar threshold. It's the fact that the check might not clear if you hold it too long. So there's other reasons. And just the safety and potential theft of holding it in a safe there, get that money into the bank. And that goes for all departments, too, of just consistent trying to turn that money in, don't have it sitting in your office. If you're able to walk down, deliver it. But besides that, those were the main things I felt that warranted communication. It was a clean year. I'd say a consistent year. I don't recall any huge budget amendments needing to be made that were outliers. So when that happens, that tells me that you're spending in line with your original budget because those amendments aren't needing to be made. Yeah, that's pretty much what I have for you guys. Any questions on anything? It's all been submitted, so it is done. The state has it.

Madam Chair? Yes. So this is a good report. Yes. Very good report.

The only negative was we had to wait. It was submitted a little late because Nothing of our doing. It was the third party for the post-employment benefits report that we get annually. And they were delaying sending it to us. So we had to postpone submitting the audit till we got that. And once we did it, I think we had to submit it within pretty much a week or two. So I don't think, have you received any correspondence on that?

Did they even send a letter saying it was late?

I don't think there's any negative ramifications of doing so. Usually they give a month grace period in there. It's done. It's over with. It's a clean report. Shouldn't have any issues going forward.

I'd like to say that this report is like an A-plus for our chief budget and financial officer.

I would agree.

And when it comes time to doing budget stuff, I think she's doing an excellent job. And until she presents the board with a final budget to be reviewed, I don't think she needs any help from the board.

I Know the state I don't know if you guys have had the state court audit presented or In those comments they have quite a few more

than what I had, and they might be a little more detailed, but they're basing it off court law. I'm not necessarily basing it off that, so there are some differences, and I tried to include what I felt was relevant that they found in with this audit, the financial audit, so I have some different things from their angle if they communicate those, but yeah, it's always areas to improve, but the county does a good job.

Yes. To piggyback what Rex said, obviously the credit goes to Jody, the department heads, and the employees. Thank you.

Yeah, I would agree.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah. Yay! Five minutes are up.

Renewal of the housing interlocal agreement our controller So as you are aware we do a annual interlocal governmental agreement with the Crawford County Housing Department in order to facilitate and administer our community development block grant program income That's the money that comes in basically from the interest in the payments on things that were sold in the 70s and 80s, basically. We are to the point now where it is time to renew that again. And it runs August 1 of 2026 through July 31 of 2027. The pricing payments, which was on page two, remains at a minimum of $7,000 annually or 18%. of collected CDBG program income. The one thing that I will note to you is that the current director of the Crawford County Housing Department, Hannah, who we're all used to now, she will be retiring at the beginning of 2027. That doesn't mean that the Crawford County Housing Department will go away. But there will be a transition for that since the interlocal agreement is with the Crawford County Housing Department It's my recommendation that we go ahead and enter into that Worst case scenario is for some reason Crawford County chooses to no longer staff or fund this and then we'd be looking at Revisiting in 2027 how we do this But the thing that would be left over is would simply be being able to allocate those funds. And is there another department at that time? But they have not made that decision in Crawford, nor do I anticipate them making it any time within the next three to four months. So in order to get through the summer and get through the fall, I'd like to re-enter into the contract. It's got a 30-day clause in it anyhow. Got a breakup clause. Not yet. Yeah, I think they're waiting for the official letter, is my understanding. I believe that there is a current board member on the Crawford County Board of Commissioners who may have an interest of assuming the role, but I think that's all very up in the air. I Would say at that point in time if they end up disbanding in the Crawford County Housing Department Then obviously we won't we won't be in partnership with them anymore the biggest caveat to this is Not if we don't have somebody certified through the state to administer those program income funds We can't disperse those where it falls for us as a county would be actually then still the collections of outstanding Payments on those houses that were purchased using that original money And that is something that I will get with Hana on by the end of the summer and figure out What does that process exactly look like? How do we monitor that process? You know and are we is there somebody in-house that can already Already has the abilities to do that. Do we have to look at giving a a part-time assignment to somebody else in order to continue to do that. They do. It does. Yep. So a lot of the projects that we see that come through our wells, roofs, are the two biggest ones. Yes. So those major emergency repairs for low income. Correct. Correct. There may be the possibility of looking through MSHDA to see if that is a program they can do, but it's hard right now to get people to go through the process. The information we must provide must be provided to MSHDA in order for the program income access. wouldn't change. But right now, you have somebody to kind of handhold. So I can't even imagine pushing it up to the state, what that would do for our residents, because now you don't have anybody to do that. And Joda's great with the basic questions when they come in, but I think it goes beyond our office at that point.

Correct.

January 1.

Yes. Yes.

Any other questions? OK. With nothing further on the work session, this meeting is adjourned.