The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners approved the following items under their consent agenda at their September regular meeting Tuesday:
• An inmate housing agreement between the Leelanau and Grand Traverse County sheriff ’s offices, allowing the former to officially board inmates for the latter from October 2024 through Dec. 31, 2025.
According to executive documents, this has been happening for years under a verbal agreement between the two administrations, and this continues that practice under a formal written agreement. Grand Traverse County will compensate Leelanau at a rate of $35 per bed per day, with no more than 15 inmates from Grand Traverse County per day.
• Allowing the sheriff’s office to hire a new corrections officer approximately eight weeks early. A new officer will be hired no earlier than Oct. 5, to replace the position that will be left vacant when Deputy Rebecca Schram retires Nov. 29.
• Amending the 2024 budget to reallocate $12,914 in attributable wages and benefits from family court to the childcare fund.
• Accepting a Michigan Indigent Defense Commission (MIDC)/Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) grant in the amount of $383,778.60 – including a $330,532.38 state grant and a $53,246.22 local share – for the Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025, grant period.
• Waiving its bid policy and entering into an independent contract agreement with Jarboe & Pfeil as the Indigent Defensemanaged assigned counsel coordinator for Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025, in the amount of $57,500, funds to come from the MIDC/LARA grant listed above. Leelanau County also utilized Jarboe & Pfeil for the previous two grant cycles.
• Waiving its bid policy and entering into a contract with Rehmann Public Sector Solutions to develop a “crosswalk map” that will help the county bring their chart of accounts into compliance with state uniform guidelines. According to executive documents, the goal is to achieve implementation by Jan. 1, 2025, and the contracted amount for these services is $30,000.
County Interim Administrator Richard Lewis said the county’s current chart of accounts is “extremely obsolete,” and that the crosswalk map will help them update their also-obsolete financial management software later.
• Rescheduled a public hearing for the termination of the West Bay/West Shore Brownfield Plan for Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m. A hearing was previously held Aug. 20, but according to Lewis, the board of commissioners closed the process prematurely and they need to do it over.
• Approved an MSU Extension professional services agreement for annual planning commission training, covering featured speaker Mary Reilly’s mileage costs of $1,100.
• An amended and restated employment agreement for Interim Administrator Lewis, extending his term to May 31, 2025, or until a new administrator is hired, as discussed at an Aug. 28 special session.
• Updating its federal award grant policy to conform to uniform grant guidance, including transitioning grant administration to the county administrator and finance director from the clerk’s office, as recommended in a September 2023 Rehmann report.
