By Zachary Marano
On March 11, Gary Hosking, a Northport resident, filed a complaint with Leelanau County Prosecutor Joe Hubbell alleging that the county’s Energy Futures Task Force, an advisory body to the county, is not abiding by the Michigan Open Meetings Act (OMA).
Hubbell forwarded this complaint to the sheriff’s office, who then sent it to the state police, which has jurisdiction over these cases.
Hosking told the newspaper he was concerned that the task force did not post meeting notices and minutes between October and March because they wanted to push through their recommendations to the county board without public input and transparency.
When asked for an example, Hosking cited the task force’s recommendation to the county board to apply for a $1.5 million grant for solar arrays at the government center campus in Suttons Bay.
Hosking also cited concerns about a perceived lack of representation of Republicans on the task force, noting the absence of people who he considers qualifi ed for membership such as Forrest Bud Welch, who is running for the District 2 county commissioner seat, and John Popa, a former nuclear engineer who currently serves as a county road commissioner.
In April, Leelanau Enterprise followed up with local and state police to see if either agency was investigating this complaint. Based on information gleaned in interviews with the county prosecutor, county sheriff , and the Michigan State Police (MSP), the newspaper reported to its readers that police were not looking into this matter.
However, new information has come to light revealing that the MSP does indeed have an open investigation into the complaint as of May 13.
“I got the complaint at the post from one of our detectives and he wanted me to look into it,” MSP Trooper Alex Bendickson told the newspaper Monday. “I just took a statement from the complainant. That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far.”
In phone conversations with the Enterprise in late April and early May, county Sheriff Mike Borkovich maintained that his office never received any complaints about the task force.
And in response to an initial request for comment on April 29, MSP Specialist Lieutenant Derrick Carroll, an information officer for MSP’s Seventh District, told the newspaper there was no investigation, but that he would “let you know what I hear.”
May 2, County Prosecutor Joe Hubbell reported to the newspaper that he received a request for an investigation from an unnamed citizen, who has since been identified as Hosking. Hubbell contradicted Borkovich and said that he forwarded the request to the sheriff’s office, where local detectives determined there was a conflict and forwarded the matter to the MSP.
Hubbell was under the impression the case was assigned to MSP Trooper Jason Tropf. The Enterprise contacted the MSP information officer again on May 2 to see if Hubbell’s report was accurate. Later that day, Carroll confi rmed that Tropf was not on the case.
However, Carroll did not let the newspaper know at this time that a different trooper – Bendickson – was on the case. When asked about this apparent oversight, Carroll claimed that he didn’t mention this investigation because the Enterprise asked specifically about Tropf, who Hubbell had identified by name.
When the reporter reminded Carroll that he informed the newspaper he would “let (them) know” if anyone with the state police was investigating the Energy Futures Task Force back in April, Carroll attempted to shift the focus of the conversation. He said he did not want to disclose that the MSP was looking into the task force because it could influence the results of the ongoing investigation.
In any case, Trooper Bendickson and Specialist Lieutenant Carroll have now both confirmed that the MSP is investigating the task force for alleged OMA violations.
However, Carroll repeated his comment from the previous week that there could not be “anything (for them) to investigate.” If the task force did not properly post meeting notices or minutes by error, Carroll said, that would make this a civil case rather than a criminal case, and out of the MSP’s jurisdiction.
The county’s legal counsel, Cohl, Stoker, & Toskey, P.C., also disputes whether the task force is considered a “public body,” and therefore claims that failing to post meeting notices and minutes did not violate the OMA. County attorney Matt Nordfjord said that the task force was not delegated any decision-making authority and is an “advisory body.”
Hosking said that he disputes this claim. He noted that in the solar array grant application, the task force sought bids from at least three contractors and used the estimates from the lowest bidder, the Jackson-based energy company Harvest Solar, as the basis for the total funds requested. To Hosking, this represents an example of the task force making a decision on behalf of the full county board.
