Leland Township Board Commissioner Report
Leland Township Board
Commissioner Written Report
Alan Campbell
Leelanau County Board of Commissioners, District 5
Honorable Officers and Trustees of Leland Township
Unfortunately, I am unable to attend tonight’s meeting. In my absence I have prepared a written overview of the work of commissioners that I hope will suffice in keeping the township apprised of county activities..
Should you seek additional information please give me a call at 231 492 4972, and consider signing up for a monthly newsletter that I have begun. Sign-up and review of past newsletters as well as reports of related meetings I’ve attended are available at leelanaucommissioner.com.
• The item making the most news is a proposal by Sheriff Borkovich to contract with a company to install 12 observation cameras in Leelanau County. The cost factor seems reasonable — $3,000 per month per camera after a two-month free trial — but privacy concerns put the proposal on hold for at least the foreseeable future. The Sheriff shared many of those privacy concerns and was not pushy to the point of applying pressure to approve. One of my main concerns is over ownership of the information gathered by the cameras, which in theory would only record license plate numbers and cross-check them with vehicles owned by known criminals or credible suspects.
• The county adopted an aggressive workshop meeting schedule that will culminate in approval of a 2026 budget.. Overall I’m pleased that we’ll be following a formal budget process; something that’s been missing for two years. I hold a different view than the one adopted because cost station budgets would be submitted and a proposed overall budget would be mostly assembled before commissioners as a group voice their fiscal priorities. It’s a Chicken vs. the Egg issue.
I pressed to set a public hearing to gather input leading into the workshop schedule. However, the vote failed 4-3. Now the only public hearing on the budget is set for Oct. 14, which is after the budget has been completed, but before officially passed. We moved back final budget approval one month, which I oppose.
• The board voted unanimously at our July 7 meeting to release a narrow county attorney’s opinion of whether the election of administrator James Dyer to the Cherryland Electric Cooperative Board could be defined as secondary employment. The opinion was that it did not. However, the opinion did not delve into whether holding such an office would violate strict provisions in the administrator’s contract holding him to work exclusively for the county..
The process could have been handled better, which is unfortunate. The request for an opinion should have come from a commissioner. And the one-page opinion was provided to only one board member who offered his interpretation. It wasn’t until more than a week later that the opinion was provided to other commissioners. This process caused undue division within the board.
Looking at the overall picture, I was glad to see the board voted unanimously to release of opinion to the public. Too often public employees think they control public documents when in reality it is citizens who paid for and own information ascertained by government. Only under strict and rare circumstances should information be withheld.
• “Affordable” housing recommendations that were made by administrator Dyer on July 7 either failed by vote or were delayed. I think the reasons had little to do with support or opposition to the overall concept. However, commissioners do need to get on the same page as to the county’s role and level of involvement. Land use regulation, which is held by townships and villages, has been singled out as a roadblock to affordable housing. Still, I strongly feel that local municipalities hold the right to self-determination within their borders.
• And lastly, we’ll be deciding tomorrow night whether to begin an administrator evaluation process. While Mr. Dyer has only been on the job for about 3 1/2 months, I fully support the process as a way for commissioners to express our expectations and goals, and as a way for Mr. Dyer to speak candidly about his experiences and plans for the future. It’s important that we improve communication, and this can be a first step down that road.
Alan Campbell
Commissioner
Representing Leland and Centerville townships
