The Leelanau County Board met twice in special session between the January regular session and February executive board meetings, on Jan. 31 and Feb. 8, to act on a handful of items that couldn’t wait until later this month.
At the Feb. 8 session, the board settled on legal representation in the dispute between the Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) and Grand Traverse County, revolving around the recent addition of a second Grand Traverse County commissioner to the BATA board of directors.
Although an August 2023 agreement says the BATA board shall have one commissioner each from Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties, the BATA board narrowly approved by 5-4 vote on Jan. 17 the appointment of a second Grand Traverse County commissioner, Brad Jewett, to the board in one of their resident appointee seats.
The county board voted 5-2 to seek legal counsel in the dispute on Jan. 24, with commissioners Melinda Lautner and Jim O’Rourke voting no. At the time, the board did not have legal counsel lined up because local firms all have conflicts of interest related to Grand Traverse County.
County Administrator Deb Allen had to search further afield to find representation, and brought back an engagement agreement with Mika Meyers PLC, a law firm with its main offices in Grand Rapids but another office in Manistee.
“I know that a couple of you have asked the question about, ‘Well, what happens if we don’t have legal authority and we let just Grand Traverse County fight it out with BATA?’ I understand that is not a possibility, not an option,” Board Chairman Ty Wessell said Thursday.
Commissioners Lautner and O’Rourke seemed to view this dispute as a conflict between the BATA board and Grand Traverse County, and to believe that Leelanau County did not need to get involved, despite the appointment of a second Grand Traverse County commissioner arguably upsetting the balance of power on the board.
“I think it is inappropriate to not have any representation at this point, because none of us have read the complaint or can
consider all the possible outcomes that would come out of the court case,” Commissioner Doug Rexroat said. “I agree generally on not wanting to get into a fight, but we need to protect our interests.”
Timothy Figura, a local lawyer now working for Mika Meyers, said in the agreement that the total costs of representing the county in this matter are “difficult or impossible” to estimate “due to the unpredictable nature of litigation.” They will be determined by time expended at Figura’s hourly rate of $245, and the rates of attorneys and paralegals who will assist them “from time to time.”
At the earlier Jan. 31 special session, the board of commissioners approved the purchase of two pickup trucks for the building safety department at a cost not to exceed $74,776. The board had already approved the purchase of two trucks, but the order was cancelled “due to unforeseen complications,” so this order was to purchase similar vehicles from a different vendor.
