To the editor:
Fascinating that in a county of over 20,000, the Enterprise would provide front page space to one individual’s baseless accusations of conflict of interest regarding our new County Administrator, Mr. Jim Dyer’s candidacy for a Cherryland Electric board seat.
If good governance is truly her concern, it is hard to imagine that Ms. Houle missed the fact that ex-Leelanau County commissioner Melinda Lautner, made no secret of sitting on not one, but two utility boards. Yet a search of Enterprise archives shows that Ms. Houle voiced no similar concern over that longstanding conflict (by her definition) of interest. Might there be another agenda here?
But the foundational question is why would it not be a benefit for our county administrator, an attorney, who also has experience with utility issues, to represent our community interests on this board?
I would add that while I’ve seen no such policy statement from Mr. Dyer, it defies logic that a single person on a board of seven, could force Cherryland Electric “to go completely green and renewable” as Ms. Houle fears. She would benefit by taking some time to better understand how boards of directors function.
Joe DeFors Leelanau Township
