The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners approved the following items under their consent agenda at their May 21 meeting:
• A revised agreement with Point Broadband. The amendment guarantees that by Dec. 31, 2024, Point Broadband will make services available to 96% of 3,522 “unserved parcels/ addresses” in the county. The remaining 4% of unserved homes, located in Elmwood and Bingham townships, will be reached by the end of August 2025.
As part of this amendment, Point Broadband is providing a $3.2 million performance bond to the county “as security for faithful performance of this agreement and completion within the timelines set forth.” This bond seems to be intended to prevent further delays, as the original agreement stipulated that work would be completed by the end of 2023.
During commissioner comment, board Chairman Ty Wessell reported that Point Broadband’s marketing team says that 100% of all the unserved addresses north of M-204 will be served before the end of this year. They are currently offering services to a third of those addresses, and “about a third of that third” have already subscribed.
• Contracts between Leelanau County, the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office, and the Cherryland Humane Society for 2025 and 2026 with a contracted amount of $5,520. According to executive documents, Cherryland Humane Society in Traverse City is “the only option for the boarding of stray animals acquired by Leelanau County” currently available.
• A boiler plate “agreement for supplemental law enforcement support services” contract and further allowed the sheriff and county administrator to sign the contracts on behalf of the county as needed. Executive documents say that this contract is for several events that take place in the county every year, and Interim Administrator Richard Lewis determined that this legal review was required prior to his approval.
• A requesting a proposal from Michigan Fluid Power for repair/modifications to the hydraulic power system at the Leland Dam and authorizing the county board chair to execute the agreement if said proposal is within probable cost outlined by the structural engineer Machin Engineering ($20,900).
• A proposal for in-home senior care services for two years ending on Dec. 31, 2026. Included were contracts with Comfort Keepers for respite, personal care, and homemaking, medication management and foot care services, transportation, and mobile medical devices; Linda Lingaur for foot care services; and Janet Flowers for medication management. The total budgeted amount for these services is $672,500.
• Moving forward with the development of an intergovernmental agreement with Grand Traverse and Benzie counties for the purpose of developing a multi-county materials management plan, as required by amendments to Michigan’s Solid Waste Planning law passed in 2022.
• Approving a monumentation/ remonumentation peer group agreement with O’Non Land Surveying, Holmberg Land Survey, and Grand Traverse Surveying for $700 each. They also approved a separate agreement with Leelanau Land Surveying, which executive documents say serves as county representative for the county remonumentation program, for $5,399.
• Approving the Surveyor Services Agreement with O’Non Land Surveying, Holmberg Land Survey, Grand Traverse Surveying, and Leelanau Land Surveying for $5,000, $2,200, $7,200, and $7,200 respectively, for a total of $21,600.
• Appointing David King to the Leelanau County Land Bank Authority to a partial term expiring Dec. 31, 2026.
• Increasing the 2024 Soldiers & Sailors Relief expense fund by $5,000 for an amended budget of $10,000 “in pro-active anticipation of potential approved requests,” according to executive documents.
• Approving an operating millage rate that does not exceed the maximum allowable millage levy of 3.3083 as the millage requested to be levied on July 1.
• Adding one part-time staff member to the authorized staffing levels for the parks and recreation department, while remaining within the current budgeted hours of service.
• An agreement to purchase $14,315 of wood mulch from TruNorth Landscaping for the maintenance department to place around the swing set at Myles Kimmerly Park.
