The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners is looking to amend its rules of order and procedure to prevent audience members from donating public comment time to other speakers.
This proposal follows a recent bid by a dozen attendees to give their five minutes to one person for an “extended” public comment on alleged “security flaws in our county’s computer election system.”
At a Jan. 24 committee of the whole meeting, county residents successfully petitioned the board to allow them to “yield” their time to Jim Kobberstad of Lake Leelanau to discuss election concerns. These residents, who identify themselves as members of Leelanau County’s “patriot” group, feel that the electoral process is compromised because ballots are processed by machine instead of counted by hand.
Although County Board Chairman Ty Wessell expressed “misgivings,” he ultimately allowed Kobberstad to talk about his election concerns for nearly an hour at Tuesday’s executive board session. Kobberstad used his time primarily to play video and audio from various sources hoping to raise doubts about the current election system, interspersed with occasional comments.
Kobberstad and some of the residents have been present at almost every meeting involving Leelanau County officials since the 2020 election. They often use their legally protected public comment time to make allegations of election fraud, despite the meetings often not being related to elections and the county commissioners being unable to legally change voting procedures.
Prior to this presentation, Wessell proposed two new rules at the Feb. 13 executive session: “speakers shall address all comments to the board or committee, and not to individual board or committee members, county employees, elected officials, or audience” and “no speaker may assign his or her time to another person.”
Wessell said that these changes had been reviewed by the county’s legal counsel, Cohl, Stoker, & Toskey, P.C., and County Clerk Michelle Crocker, prior to the meeting.
“I would also conclude that each commissioner represents a district within the county, and he or she may be individually contacted should greater depth or understanding of an issue be sought. Personal contact is encouraged and helpful to both residents and the board,” Wessell said.
Commissioner Gwenne Allgaier proposed further amendments to the board rules: that all comments in the first public comment period of regular meetings be limited to items on the agenda, and that comments in the second public comment period be limited to two minutes.
“We have appreciated hearing from our public. In addition, though, we have county business to get done. And that is what we are elected for, what our people expect. Someone mentioned earlier in the meeting – this does cause the county money to have extended public comment as we’re getting recently,” Allgaier said.
This caused some stirring in the audience, with “patriot” group member Renee Wyler shouting “Objection – First Amendment right violation!” But since only the county commissioners had the floor to speak at this point in the meeting, and the board doesn’t even have procedures for raising objections in this manner anyways, she was ignored.
As it happened, the other board members were also opposed to reducing the length of public comment at the end of the meeting, and this part of Allgaier’s amendment was split into a separate motion and defeated by 6-1 vote, with Allgaier being the sole “yes” vote.
However, the idea of limiting public comment at the beginning of the meeting to agenda items was much more well-received by the board. They had approved a similar rule last year for executive sessions, and this amendment extended that procedure to regular meetings as well. This motion was approved 6-1, with Commissioner Melinda Lautner voting “no.”
“I think the idea of having agenda-specific public comment at the beginning is absolutely critical for getting our work done, and I would really hope the public would understand that,” Commissioner Kama Ross said. “We need to get this meeting done with when our minds are clear, and the attention of the audience is with us, and I think keeping those public comments to agenda specific items would really help all of us.”
Finally, the board agreed to incorporate a “commitment to respect” into their rules of order and procedure. Wessell said the list was inspired by former County Administrator Chet Janik’s own “code of conduct.” Several department heads had encouraged the board to develop a new code of conduct at their Jan. 16 meeting. These commitments include:
• Recognize the worth of individual members and appreciate their individual talents, perspectives, and contributions
• Help create an atmosphere of respect and civility
• Respect the dignity and privacy of individuals and organizations • Respect and maintain the nature of confidential and privileged information
• Conduct public affairs with honesty, integrity, fairness, and respect for others
• Avoid and discourage conduct that is divisive or harmful to the best interest of Leelanau County
• Keep the common good as the highest purpose, and focus on achieving constructive solutions for the public benefit The language of this proposed amendment was approved by the commissioners by a 6-1 vote, with Lautner voting “no” again, dismissing the commitment to respect as a “feel-good commitment” that “lacks teeth.”
Final approval of all these amendments is pending consideration by the board at their regular session at 7 p.m. on Feb. 20.
