Northport legal counsel to be consulted on next steps
Newly elected and sworn-in Northport Village Council trustee Edwin Dean will continue to serve in his role and will not face criminal charges despite his residency being called into question in December.
After the village December meeting had to be postponed due to weather, the council finally had the chance to address the ongoing situation concerning Dean’s residency information provided on his write-in declaration of intent paperwork for the 2024 general election. Dyer previously confirmed that Dean turned in his declaration of intent 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.
While some council members already took the oath of office shortly after the election, a public ceremonial swearing in of the new village trustees kicked off the regular meeting on Thursday. Trustee Laura Cavendish then made a motion following the swearing in directing the village manager to contact the village attorney, Ross Hammersley, for an opinion on whether there are any civil remedies available to the village or the council concerning Dean’s eligibility to continue to sit as a village trustee. The motion was made and then unanimously approved 6-0 (with trustee Joe Ruble present via Zoom) by council members including Dean despite the fact that the Leelanau County prosecutor recently made a decision to not seek criminal charges after Dyer contacted Michigan State Police about the issue last year.
“The fact that someone will not be prosecuted for a criminal offense shouldn’t be the standard for whether or not you can be an elected official in the village of Northport, particularly when that criminal offense relates to how you got on the ballot,” Dyer said. “The standard of proof for a criminal action for a criminal conviction is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but that does not necessarily apply in a civil action… That’s what I was directed to do, to essentially continue to determine whether there is a reason why he shouldn’t be a village council member.”
Trustee Susan Ager first questioned during the meeting why the motion was needed considering they already have the opinion of the Leelanau County prosecutor. Trustee Will Harper responded to Ager, explaining that there are civil remedy options that could be looked into.
“I think given the amount of interest, to put it fairly, that this has generated in the community that we owe it to constituents to make sure that we’re proceeding correctly. It’s a very gray area of the law,” Harper said at the meeting. “I think we owe it to do our due diligence to make sure we’re doing the right thing. There really isn’t any direct case law on this, it’s never really happened before that anyone knows of…” Dyer said if there isn’t a reason determined as to why Dean should not serve as a council member, then it will help resolve both sides of the issue rather than it being up in the air. While Dean recently leased an apartment in the village, Dyer said the issue remains whether or not Dean was legitimately on the November ballot.
“The important thing here is not Edwin Dean, the important thing is the integrity of elections in Northport, and we don’t want to proceed and just let someone sit if there’s a legal reason that they shouldn’t be. In order to reach that conclusion, we need the advice of the village attorney because if we were to take any action, and I’m not saying we will, the village attorney would be the one that would have to represent the village,” Dyer added. “So we’re not taking sides on the issue, we’re just trying to determine what are the options and what does the law provide outside of the criminal context.”
The Michigan State Police initiated an investigation last year regarding Dean’s residency and whether or not he could properly be on the ballot, with Dyer adding that they determine if Dean violated any criminal statutes or not. He said the police did their investigation and some finding of fact, submitted that to the prosecutor’s office, and that the prosecutor ultimately declined to seek criminal charges.
“... And one of the elements of an offense would be that there was an intent to lie or an intent to defraud,” he said. “I don’t know why the prosecutor reached the decision as he did, but that could be one of the reasons, that he did not think he could prove that element of intent beyond a reasonable doubt that Dean had a reasonable belief that what he did was legal… but a civil action to remove him from office, if that was available, would not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Dyer said he hopes that the council can reach an understanding about the path forward by the next regular meeting in February.
“The two important principles that are in play here are election integrity and the public’s right to know the facts of the circumstance and to know that they are not being governed by somebody that shouldn’t be a member of the village council. We need to get a clear resolution of that issue and we intend to do that,” Dyer said.
