The residency of a newly elected Northport Village Council trustee has been called into question by village officials and could be addressed as soon as Thursday, the council’s next regular meeting.
With three village trustee seats vacant and open to fill, Edwin Blaise Dean, who was just sworn in last week, was one of three write-in candidates on the ballot for the Nov. 5 General Election.
According to Leelanau County’s certified election results, Dean won his seat with 10 votes, along with Joe Thomas Ruble, who received 17 votes. The third write-in, Alexis Jeanne Wittman, received only six votes. Incumbent village council trustee Susan Ager was the only candidate to run for reelection and whose name was on the ballot.
Dean did not respond by press time to an Enterprise call for comment.
Northport Village Manager Jim Dyer said Dean’s questionable home residence has been an issue since they were made aware that he was a write-in candidate. Dyer said they were waiting to see how the election would turn out and if Dean would actually prevail as one of the successful write-in candidates though.
To be eligible as a write-in candidate, Michigan election laws state that a Declaration of Intent form needs to be completed by 4 p.m. on the second Friday immediately preceding the election. Dyer confirmed that Dean did turn in that form by the deadline, however, it indicated that his residential address was 105 N Rose Street in Northport. The address 105 Rose Street is typically associated with the G. Marsten Dame Marina.
“Since that time, we’ve been trying to determine what the actual facts are,” Dyer said. “He (Dean) did come in to meet with us after the election was certifi ed… It was at that point that I told him two things. Congratulations on winning your election, number one, but number two, there was a serious question as to whether or not you had appropriately prepared your write-in candidate declaration of intent and used an inappropriate address, and I wanted to alert him to that fact.”
Dyer said he contacted the Michigan State Police about the issue, but as of Monday afternoon, has yet to hear back from the trooper. When a person fills out a write-in declaration of intent, the affidavit signed confi rms that what is included on the form is true. An affidavit itself is used to be examined for its adherence to legal requirements. If information on an affidavit is false, Dyer said it’s considered a criminal act. In addition, Michigan law states that “a person shall not be elected to an office unless he or she is an elector of the village.”
“What’s going to happen is based upon frankly what Mr. Dean does or doesn’t do,” Dyer said. “I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen at this point.”
Village council president Chris McCann said discussing whether candidates are qualifi ed for office and ensuring that they do represent the village are things that are important in regards to election integrity.
“The idea is that if you’re going to run for an elected office that you live in the district you’re going to serve in,” McCann said. “That’s what’s being questioned.”
He also noted that they could have had other people run for the two open seats, but because they did not, they had write-in candidates to fill in the blanks.
A big takeaway from all of this, McCann explained, is that if people want to see change where they live, they need to be informed by attending village meetings and be willing to run for local government.
“It just goes to show that local government is a participation activity. You have to be actively participating and attending meetings via in-person or Zoom… and people are often critical of the councils in the county, but when it came time for people to step up and participate, we had open seats where other villages had multiple people running,” McCann said. “So it just goes to emphasize that if we’re serious about the future in Northport, then people who ‘live here’ need to be the ones who help to continue it for the future and for our success.”
