JANUARY 5, 2023
The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners reelected District 4 commissioner Ty Wessell as its chairman at an organizational session on Jan. 3. Also at this session, District 5 commissioner Doug Rexroat was elected vice chair. Wessell was elected as chair in May 2022 when former chair Will Bunek was recalled, but Rexroat was a new appointment.
The county board of commissioners’ vice chair had been District 7 commissioner Melinda Lautner for at least 10 years up until this point. The vote occurred along party lines with all four Democrats on the board voting for Rexroat, a Republican, and all three Republicans — including Rexroat himself –— voting for Lautner.
JANUARY 12, 2023
Buntings Market in Cedar entered into an agreement with the county to host a recycling drop-off site, following county board approval in a Jan. 10 special session. The small-town market stepped up to receive recycling deposits for Cedar after the Solon Township Board chose not to renew its contract with the county’s solid waste council. Per the agreement, Buntings will be paid $3,600 per year for five years to host the site.
Ray Pleva of the Cedar Chamber of Commerce played a central role in getting the permit for the new recycling site. “We need it. It’s popular and everyone wants it,” Pleva said. The previous recycling center located at the north end of the boat launch in Cedar had closed on Dec. 31, 2022, after being open for six years.
JANUARY 19, 2023
Point Broadband presents the results of their on-the-ground survey of the project area for their fiber-optic cable network at the county board’s first regular session of the year on Jan. 17. The board committed $5 million — including $3.2 million of its $4.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds – to the Opelika, Alabama-based internet service provider in 2022 to provide high speed internet to “unserved” and “underserved” homes.
The Point Broadband report stated that some 462 miles of fiber would be installed in 2023, including 243 miles on aerial poles and 219 miles of it underground. At the time, executives said that the project would be completed by the end of the year.
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Northport Village’s sewer rates were increased by $80 per quarter from $176 per quarter to $256 per quarter, the biggest rate increase in the sewer district up to that point. “(Our goal) with this increase is to pay for our capital improvement projects that are needed … and to make us whole again,” village clerk Joni Scott said. Scott said the Northport/Leelanau Township Utilities Authority, which operates the municipal sewer system, will look at long-term planning to reassess how they will tackle these projects going forward without “exorbitant” rate increases.
JANUARY 26, 2023
Elmwood Township’s planning commission chose to delay a decision on approving a permit for a “full-service wellness resort,” Wellevity LLC, and scheduled an additional public hearing on the project for Feb. 28. This was a response to a 39-page letter that the commission received from an attorney representing the East Timberwoods Drive Association, which said the resort’s property is subject to private deed restrictions that limit its use to residential purposes only. The project would continue to receive criticism from many Timberlee neighborhood residents, who felt it did not meet zoning requirements. ***
The Empire Village Council Jan. 24 granted approval to move forward with improvements to Shalda Park after roughly two years of planning. The improvements were to be funded by a $150,000 Michigan Department of Natural Resources grant and a $50,000 village match and to include a 1.6-mile walking and bike path around the perimeter, more parking space, fitness stations, and a picnic area.
FEBRUARY 2, 2023
A new sanitary code officially went into effect in Leelanau County on Jan. 27. The code requires well and septic inspections prior to the sale or transfer of properties served by on-site systems. The county board had asked the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department (BLDHD) in 2022 to enforce provisions of this code after decades of debate. Opponents of the code argued it unfairly burdened certain property owners, and proponents argued that it would help protect water quality. A similar code had been enforced in neighboring Benzie County for about 30 years. On the week of the rollout, BLDHD director of environmental health Eric Johnston said, “everybody we’re hearing from is generally in favor of it.”
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A Chicago man was ordered to pay restitution of over $1.1 million to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice alleged that Britan Douglas Groom persuaded the tribe to invest in a shell company from 2015-2016, causing more than $1 million in losses. In addition to paying restitution, Groom was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to spend three years on supervised release and forfeit over $300,000.
FEBRUARY 9, 2023
Attorneys for Northgate-Leelanau Pines Campground filed a seven-count complaint in the 13th Circuit Court, alleging that the Centerville township planning commission engaged in “malfeasance” in denying a proposal to expand the Leelanau Pines Campground in October 2022. “The planning commission made up its minds before it engaged in required deliberations, review, and factual findings,” the complaint says. As evidence, the complaint cites the fact that the planning commission voted to deny the application based on a 15-page motion vetted by the township’s legal counsel outside the confines of a public meeting.
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A “substance use assessment for Leelanau County” conducted by the Leelanau County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition found alcohol to be the county’s drug of choice. The study was paid for with $50,000 in state and federal grant funding through the statewide Prevention Network, and focuses on substance use disorders that may involve the excessive use of alcohol, tobacco, nicotine, marijuana, and cocaine, among other drugs.
FEBRUARY 16, 2023
The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners discussed on Feb. 14 adopting a resolution to work with Grand Traverse County in funding the acquisition of a regional facility to provide treatment and short-term detention for juveniles. Leelanau County family court administrator Cameron Clark told the board they need to send juveniles as far away as the State of Washington because there are no youth facilities nearby. Court and county officials were looking into the possibility of establishing a 32-bed youth detention facility in Grand Traverse County at a cost estimated at $21-25 million, not including staff.
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The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians announced over $256,000 in allotments to support Leelanau County organizations and agencies. Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire and Rescue Authority receives the highest amount among distributions in the county at $150,000, which will go to funding to replace a deteriorated 2014 ambulance. The funds came from the Grand Traverse Band’s video gaming revenue.
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The Traverse City Whiskey Company received a Tax Increment Financing exemption from the Elmwood Township board, providing tax relief to the company for the next 12 years as it constructs a 70,000-square-foot distillery, tasting room, and visitor center in the township. This facility is slated to open next year. According to Elmwood Township tax assessor Barbara Jones, the current true cash value of the property is close to $5 million. Early estimates put the overall value of the project once it is completed at around $20 million.
FEBRUARY 23, 2023
The Suttons Bay Village Council rejects a recommendation from its planning commission to amend its zoning ordinance to “facilitate multi-family affordable workforce housing” in the village’s south gateway zoning district. This decision, combined with a lack of intergovernmental agreement with Suttons Bay Township to allow expansion of a sewer system beyond village limits, holds up efforts by Peninsula Housing and Baldwin Homes and Land to build more affordable housing in Suttons Bay. Meanwhile, Housing North starts soliciting input for a “housing needs assessment” from area employers to collect information on the relationship between employment and housing.
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A production cost study by the Cherry Marketing Institute (CMI) and Michigan State University Extension finds that the cost to produce tart cherries is between 26.5 cents and 28.8 cents per pound, not accounting for land prices. Tart cherry growers in Leelanau County increasingly report that the costs of production exceed their profits. The conditions in the county are among the best in the region for growing tart cherries, but local farmers are struggling to compete with the prices of eastern European imports, says Glenn LaCross, owner of Leelanau Fruit Company in Suttons Bay.
MARCH 2, 2023
Leelanau County mourned the passing of former county commissioner Jean Watkoski on Feb. 25 at 80 years old. Watkoski served as a trustee in Elmwood Township from 1985 to 1996, a county commissioner from 1996 to 2014, and was the county board of commissioners’ first female chair from 1999 to 2002. Watkoski served during a watershed period in Leelanau County as the county seat relocated from Leland to its current home at the government center in Suttons Bay township in 2004. County Clerk Michelle Crocker, a distant relative, remembered her as “trustworthy and loyal to the people she represented.”
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Public hearings for the Wellevity resort in Elmwood Township reopened on Feb. 28. The purpose of the hearing was to determine whether the private roads leading to the resort and roadways within the resort would comply with safety requirements, but the meeting was adjourned due to an oversized crowd. An estimated 100 people attended the planning commission meeting in the township hall, causing a fire code violation. The planning commission reconvened for a public hearing on March 22 in the adjacent fire hall, which can accommodate at least 140 people.
MARCH 9, 2023
Northport resident Bill Collins passed away on March 5. Bill and his wife Nina helped contribute to initiatives and various projects in the village and around the county. The couple developed the Northport Creek Golf Course in 2014 and donated it to the village. Two years later, in 2016, the Collins helped work out the footprint of where the Northport Arts Association could have a permanent home off Mill Street and made it possible for the group to finally have a solid location. In addition, he made contributions to the Northport Marina, owned and operated the restaurant Tucker’s of Northport for years, and was a long-time member of the Northport Village Planning Commission and the board of the Leelanau Township Community Foundation.
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Frustration over the apparent lack of progress on a sewer system expansion beyond Suttons Bay Village limits causes Baldwin Homes and Land to choose to install their own septic system to serve their proposed 14-unit Herman Road Apartments project. The Suttons Bay planning commission tables the Baldwins’ application for a permit on March 7. The developers are expected to return to the township planning commission in the months ahead with an updated plan for review and another public hearing.
MARCH 16, 2023
The Army Corps of Engineers allocates $1 million for Leland Harbor for dredging; a study for breakwater modifications to reduce the frequency of future dredgings; and breakwater safety/ maintenance, which includes vegetation removal. This marks the first time that Leland Township received federal funds for dredging since 2018. Pier redesign as being studied by Army Corps could dovetail with the Leland South Pier project, spearheaded by Alan Campbell of Lake Leelanau, to involve building a handicapped access walkway for fishing on the pier.
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Leelanau County family court judge Marian Kromkowski told the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners this week that she is hopeful the State of Michigan will fund construction of an estimated $50 million residential/ short term detention facility for juveniles involved in the court system.
MARCH 23, 2023
As Northport Village liaison Cindy Edmondson prepares to retire from the full-time position on May 1 and move into the parttime job of treasurer and deputy clerk, the village council searches for a qualified village manager. The new village manager position will essentially replace the liaison job, but will also go beyond serving the community and will help serve the council itself. “The village has said we had an administrator before and they’ve decided to lean towards a village manager,” village clerk Joni Scott said.
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The Leelanau Enterprise won 40 awards and was named Newspaper of the Year for a sixth straight year by the Michigan Press Association. “Newspaper of the Year for six consecutive years – That is a remarkable feat, accomplished by a great team of people that work hard each and every day,” Enterprise publisher John Elchert said. “To be recognized by our peers from other states gives validation to our efforts in serving our communities.” Reporter Meakalia Previch-Liu earned a first place for a feature story about Samantha TwoCrow, director of indigenous education at Suttons Bay Public Schools.
MARCH 30, 2023
Leelanau Township Supervisor Rick Cross announces his resignation just before adjourning a March 28 meeting. Cross expressed frustration about his experience working with the board since being appointed as supervisor less than a year ago, citing difficult relationships between board trustees. Cross was appointed less than a month after the previous supervisor, John Sanders, resigned on April 19, 2022. Following the same process as last year, trustees will once again need to search for candidates to fill the supervisor vacancy.
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The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners will ask the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners and the board of the Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) for a joint meeting. In February, the BATA board had proposed selecting the two new board members itself rather than asking either of the two counties to appoint additional representatives. The Grand Traverse board began a process to remove its own representatives from the BATA board for apparently supporting the proposed change. The unresolved issues have prompted members of the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners to wonder whether Leelanau County will be adequately represented on the BATA board should its composition change.
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The Michigan Supreme Court has issued an opinion that Leelanau County officials are concerned could allow certain taxpayers to game the system by claiming a Principal Residence Exemption (PRE) on local property taxes. According to court documents, Leelanau County resident Mack C. Stirling filed a petition in the state Tax Tribunal challenging Leelanau County’s decision denying his application for a PRE for his Leelanau County home for tax years 20162019. The county had denied the application because the Stirlings had claimed a property tax exemption for a residence they owned in Utah for the same tax years. However, the Tax Tribunal sided with the Stirlings in the dispute.
APRIL 6, 2023
The Leelanau County Road Commission is briefed on a new “ Metropolitan Planning Organization” (MPO) that will help coordinate transportation initiatives in the region and could bring in more state and federal funding on April 4. The MPO is being proposed because of a population increase in the Grand Traverse area noted in the 2020 census. Under federal law, an MPO is required in “urbanized areas” with a population of 50,000 or more. This area – including the City of Traverse City and nine surrounding townships in Leelanau, Grand Traverse, and Antrim counties - now has a population of 56,890, up from 47,109 a decade ago.
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The book “Saved: A War Reporter’s Mission to Make It Home,” by Fox News war correspondent Benjamin Hall, became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. The nonfiction book relates Hall’s severe injuries covering the Russo-Ukrainian war and subsequent extraction. Bo White, a humanitarian worker from Leland Township, played a key role in saving the reporter’s life. White appeared in the book, news broadcasts and stories, as well as a television documentary.
APRIL 13, 2023
Leelanau County Administrator Deb Allen announces that she offered the finance director position to one of 16 candidates that applied in the last several months, Sean Cowan. Cowan is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who had been working most as a bank vice president in North Carolina prior to accepting the position. Cowan would start in this position on June 5. The previous finance director, Jared Prince, started in August 2022 and resigned in November. Since then, the department had been headed by Catherine Hartesvelt as interim finance director.
Leelanau County’s finance department has been fraught with difficulty since its beginning. The first department head, Jennifer Zywicki, served from Jan. 3 to April 22, 2022. Human resources director Darcy Weaver temporarily led the department until Prince replaced Zywicki permanently. This made Cowan the fifth person to lead the department. Prior to the creation of a finance department, the county’s finances were managed by the clerk’s office for 26 years. The finance department was established by the county board as a late addition to their May 2021 agenda by a 4-3 vote and with little discussion.
APRIL 20, 2023
Following an announcement last week that Leelanau County is hiring yet another new finance director, the county board this week agreed to offer a new “assistant finance director” position to the current interim finance director, Catherine Hartesvelt. Hartesvelt has decades of experience in government accounting. She served several terms as Suttons Bay Township’s elected treasurer and has years more experience in various financerelated positions within Leelanau County government.
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A special board meeting of the Northport/Leelanau Township Utilities Authority (NLTUA) this week was called into question because of allegations that the meeting was not properly posted for the public. Both the village of Northport and NLTUA calendar on their website did not display the notice of a special meeting on April 17. No votes or action were taken at the meetings.
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There was standing room only Monday at a special meeting of the Kasson Township Planning Commission where residents and visitors alike debated a special use permit for an enduro motorcycle event scheduled for Memorial Day. Over 100 people were in attendance, as locals James Schettek and Fran Seymour presented plans for an enduro motorcycle event that was originally submitted in February. An enduro event involves motorbikes traversing a single-track trail or course through woods and hills in a timed event.
APRIL 27, 2023
The Leland Township Board begin talks for the purchase of property at 489 W. Main Street in Lake Leelanau, to be used as a township office. The decision was made after a lengthy examination of the pros and cons of the property just east of the BP Gas Station.
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Northport Village Council President Chris McCann announced that the Northport Mill Pond fishing derby was on for April 29. This event moved forward despite concerns that the water levels would be too low following the pond being drained for maintenance since March 16 as the drawboards nearly a decade in use. Several of the boards were warped and worn, and some of the stop log rails inserts were loose. The event would be held as planned the following Saturday.
MAY 4, 2023
The Mill in Glen Arbor softly opened its doors in April after years of planning, renovations, challenges and successes to mark a new era for the 140-year-old iconic grist mill.
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Is something awry with the Cedar River? A growing number of people close to south Lake Leelanau are relaying observations that the expansive watershed is changing. Whether anything can be done to improve drainage is an entirely different question, and one that will be discussed at a meeting of stakeholders and public officials slated to start at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the county government center.
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Parts of County Road 641 will be down to one lane again this summer as construction crews mill and overlay the stretch between Bingham and Lincoln roads, staff reported at the regular Leelanau County Road Commission board meeting on Tuesday. Road Commission Managing Director Brendan Mullane said that the exact timeline for the project will depend on the weather but estimated that they will start working in mid-May and finish construction in mid-June.
MAY 11, 2023:
Local officials are speaking out against proposed state legislation that would jeopardize — or outright eliminate — local control over gravel mining. Greg Julian is supervisor of Kasson Township, which has one of the largest gravel reserves in northwest Michigan (and perhaps the state as a whole), and has gone to great lengths to accommodate gravel mining.
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Nearly 200 people gathered in Cedar Monday to discuss a proposed Enduro motorbike event in Kasson Township planned for Memorial weekend. The last special meeting of the Kasson Township Planning Commission turnout was so large, this week’s meeting was relocated from the Kasson Township hall to Solon Township hall in Cedar. However, after 90-minutes of temper flaring public comments, the planners tabled the request at the request of the applicant.
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Five potential candidates have submitted their letters of interest to fill the vacant Leelanau Township supervisor position, and the options could be narrowed down as soon as this month. The Leelanau Township board, with trustee Gina Harder absent, announced the candidate names at its regular meeting Tuesday evening, noting that a special meeting to conduct candidate interviews is scheduled for Tuesday, May 23 at 5:30 p.m. Candidates include Tom Buehler, Kristi Fischer, Mike McMillan, Mary Tonneberger, and Tom Van Pelt.
MAY 18, 2023
Cherryland Electric has agreed to cover 40% of the construction costs for a new cell phone tower in Leelanau Township up to $200,000. The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners will vote on approving this agreement at their next regular session in June. The Grawn-based electric utility company agreed to pay these costs in exchange for free space on the three existing county- owned towers, plus the Leelanau Township tower when it is completed, for 25 years with no monthly rental fees.
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An informational letter from the Northport Leelanau Township Utilities Authority (NLTUA) to users citing facts about the system and recent rate increase was called into question Tuesday morning at the group’s regular board meeting. System users received the letter by mail last month as well as their most recent quarterly operations and maintenance sewer rate bill. The rate was an increase to $256 per quarter for system users in the Village of Northport, which is up $80 from the rate in 2022 of $176 per quarter.
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When a transaction in Leelanau County made the list of most expensive homes sold in April in Michigan, few people in the business took notice. Even if the story ended up on the front page of the Detroit Free Press. Rob Serbin, owner of Serbin Real Estate in Glen Arbor, said 10 homes are actively listed in Leelanau County for more than $2 million. The property that made the top eight list had 90 feet of Glen Lake frontage, was by far the oldest home on the list having been built in 1957, and with 2,138 square feet was advertised as a “picture-perfect cottage.” The home sold for $2,195,000 after spending just eight days on the market.
MAY 25, 2023
Mike McMillan was appointed Leelanau Township’s newest supervisor at a special board meeting Tuesday evening. He will serve in the position over the next 18 months until the 2024 election. McMillan’s appointment fills the vacancy left by former township supervisor Rick Cross, who’s resignation was officially accepted on April 11 after citing his reasons for frustration working with board trustees. Cross resigned less than a year after being appointed to the seat following the resignation of another former supervisor, John Sanders, who resigned early in his term on April 19 of 2022.
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The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners adjourned their regular monthly meeting last week without taking any action on per diem payments for commissioners — despite discussing the item for over an hour. The board went back and forth between discussing a list of commissioner board and committee assignments and per diem payment requests from Commissioner Gwenne Allgaier for several meetings that she previously attended, ultimately taking no action on either item.
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It’s become a regular occurrence in our newspapers and on the evening news — school shootings. Yesterday marked the 1-year anniversary of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas where an 18-year-old former student at the school fatally shot 19 students and two teachers, while 17 others were injured but survived. School districts across the country continue to reevaluate security measures needed to ensure student safety at school. Thankfully, Leelanau County schools have been spared this tragedy. However, law enforcement has had reason to investigate other happenings at Leelanau schools.
JUNE 1, 2023
A total of 158 seniors, including 38 Suttons Bay virtual school students, are set to graduate as part of the class of 2023 from schools throughout Leelanau County in the coming week. The 2023 graduating class endured tumultuous times including adapting and learning for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic, where many students had to work from home and online in 2020 and into 2021.
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If no news is good news, Sugar Loaf Resort has been on a roll. And even the most recent news reflecting on Sugar Loaf is targeted only at establishing a line between the IRS’s power to collect owed taxes and the rights of taxpayers. The U.S. Supreme Court, with no other than Chief Justice John Roberts writing the unanimous decision, ruled against a lawsuit filed by Hanna Karcho Polselli claiming that she was not given notice when the IRS was searching for bank records that might aid collection of unpaid taxes by her husband. Remo Polselli’s name is well known to county residents and public officials trying to revitalize Sugar Loaf, which was credited for establishing a year-round economy in the county dating back to the 1950s. But its ski lifts were halted and its buildings shuttered in 2000 under the ownership of Polselli, beginning a time of frustration and legal wrangling over the resort’s ownership and lack of direction.
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In the second of a two-part series the Enterprise examines investigative procedures and other behavioral incidents in county schools that are covered under school policies. One cold December day in 2021, law enforcement was called to Leland Public School after a suspicious cartoon was discovered in the high school wing. The cartoon, hand drawn on a plain white piece of paper and included four frames. The first consisted of a person possibly holding a gun. Another frame, the second in the sequence appeared to be a stick figure person with a dot on the person’s chest area. This was less than a month after the school shooting in Oxford, which left four teenagers dead.
*** A coalition of organizations with apprehension over stipulations written into a proposed court order governing future commercial fishing in a large part of the Great Lakes found some positive results from two days of federal court hearings in Kalamazoo. However, whether changes are in store for a proposed replacement court decree may be a long shot, according to an attorney on the other side of the aisle.
JUNE 8, 2023
The auditing firm that reviewed Leelanau County’s financial statements for the 2022 fiscal year found several material weaknesses that could lead to errors in financial reporting. Steve Peacock, a principal with the advisory firm Rehmann, informed the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners that these material weaknesses leave the county “exposed to serious risks that (financial) misappropriations will not be detected in a timely manner” in the future, but Rehmann’s audit did not find any actual cases of inaccurate financial reporting.
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The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) announced Tuesday the authorization of $2,116,244 for the rehabilitation of four road stream crossings in the Glen Arbor area. Total project costs are expected to be in excess of $4.75 million, with the majority of the funding being provided through the GTB. The crossings themselves are over the Crystal River and will be rebuilt along County Road 675. A bottomless culvert, which will allow for wildlife to utilize the passage, will be installed near the Tucker Lake stream. Two other culverts will be replaced with timber bridges, followed by a steel bridge closest to M-22.
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The federal government will soon track imports of tart cherry juice concentrate, which should help the industry better understand how world competition is undercutting prices for local cherry growers. In March, Michigan senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters pushed the U.S. International Trade Commission to begin tracking imports of juice concentrate, whose market was largely created by the domestic cherry industry to study and then advertise health benefits derived by consuming Montmorency tart cherries.
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With dry weather conditions and high fire danger persisting for the last several weeks, those living in northern lower Michigan and across the state are being urged to take safety precautions as people await the possibility of much needed rain in the forecast for this weekend. Another red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service was in effect from noon until 9 p.m. Wednesday, with Leelanau and Grand Traverse counties designated as “very high” for fire danger.
JUNE 15, 2023
When the number of new felony cases arraigned in 86th District Court more than doubles — and most of those cases involve drug use — it’s clear that something has changed. So was the increase attributable to stepped up policing or a decided uptick in drug use in Leelanau County? Top law enforcement officials in the county say both factors were at play when felony filings increased from 22 in 2021 to 45 last year. And felony drug arrests are still on the rise.
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The idea of establishing a social district in the Village of Northport was discussed once again at last Thursday’s village council meeting. No action was taken on the proposal, however village council president Chris McCann talked about what’s next in the process before trustees make a decision and move forward. ***
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation on June 7 that bans the use of handheld mobile devices while driving, restricting any cell phone usage to handsfree technology in Michigan. The bills first appeared on the Michigan House floor on April 19 and were reported by the House Transportation, Mobility, and Infrastructure Committee. Together, the legislation restricts holding a mobile electronic device while driving, with repeat violators facing temporary license suspensions.
JUNE 22, 2023
It’s unusual for Detroit kids to have an opportunity for a truly wilderness experience, but North Manitou Island provided an accessible venue to expand their appreciation of the outdoors. At least that was the plan for five YMCA counselors who are in Leelanau County this week making preparations for the camping trips — except that North Manitou presently is inaccessible to the 4,000 people who normally would rely on the only ferry service to the island.
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Residents of northern Leelanau County can hopefully expect improved cellular and broadband coverage in the future, as the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners awarded a $405,500 contract to construct a new cell phone tower in Leelanau Township to Midway Electronics at their regular session on Tuesday. Since requesting bids for the project, Leelanau County received bid proposals from three vendors. In communications with the board, Emergency Management Director Matt Ansorge recommended that they award the contract to Midway Electronics because of their solid track record with the county.
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Leelanau county residents who want to get back in the water and go swimming again can do so starting this week at a local recreational pool in Northport. Northport Highlands Pool and Fitness Center, the only accessible pool in Leelanau County, reopened on Monday, ending a three-year interval of the public not having access to the space since the COVID pandemic began in 2020. In March, the opening of the pool was delayed due to extensive damage from a broken water pipe in the women’s locker room. The facility’s maintenance department kept up with the pool while it was closed, and have been fixing remaining damages since the event occurred.
JUNE 29, 2023
A new non-profit formed to acquire the former Timber Shores property announced this week its first official fundraiser to benefit the group’s vision for the future of the beloved land. Known as “New Community Vision” (NCV), the nonprofit aims to preserve the majority of the 200-plus acres of land, including 1,800 feet of lakeshore, as a public nature preserve for the community while utilizing upland sections to address some of the housing issues faced in the township. NCV calls the property one of the county’s “last, largescale and highly visible stretch of pristine lakeshore and bucolic open space.”
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The fragile tart cherry industry is in line to harvest a crop that won’t solve problems that beset the industry, but shouldn’t cause more damage, either. The Cherry Industry Administrative Board (CIAB) is estimating that the national tart cherry harvest will fall 28% from the 2022 level, which was considered a strong year for production. That adds up to a harvest of about 175.2 million pounds of tarts, compared to 243.2 million pounds a year earlier.
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With the approval of the 202324 general fund budget, Suttons Bay Public School is making an effort to not only hire new staff, but also to support employees that have put in the time and commitment to work there. The Suttons Bay Board of Education this month approved to increase merit pay from $100 to $1,000 for all full time employees. This increase applies to only the current 2022-23 fiscal year and is included in the final budget amendment.
