Northern Michigan Counties Association

Report from meeting Monday, Aug. 17, 2026

Alan Campbell, Leelanau County Commissioner

I went into this meeting hosted by Roscommon County with one goal. It went into overtime, but I did get a partial answer to the question foremost on my mind, which I’m calling a partial win.

For two meetings we have had a discussion item dwelling on whether the board should resurrect and rely upon a committee structure of commissioners to advance through a full agenda of business facing us this fall. I wanted to know if such a concept is in common use among other northern Michigan counties.

It was a long meeting spent mostly discussing the benefits of county-wide zoning led by Jeff Lawson, county administrator in Cheboygan. Frankly, most of it was unrelated to Leelanau County.

So I raised my hand and asked the committee question, got some quizzical looks, then suggested that a few commissioners make themselves available after the meeting. Four did, including Benzie chair Art Jeannot.

Frankly, the concept was considered a waste of time by all four commissioners. Three reported that the concept had been tried at some time during their tenure but eventually abandoned as an uneconomical use of resources. The most common complaint was the duplicity of having a committee do all the work needed to come to a conclusion, only to have to start over when the issue came before the full board. Also, sometimes conflict evolved through the process of making committee assignments. So the counties streamlined back to the executive committee/full board meeting approach used in Leelanau.

The one exception I heard was that some counties have active finance committees. Buildings and Grounds committees were still around, but meet sporadically.

I don’t report my observations as an effort to abort commissioner Wessel’s suggestion to spread out our workload in an effort to make faster progress. In fact, the concept seems worthy of a trial run. It might just work here, and certainly talking to commissioners from four counties in no way constitutes a fair survey of how our nearby county boards conduct their people’s business.

It’s just what I learned from talking with a handful of commissioners.

In other happenings at the meeting:

• State Rep. John Roth (R-Traverse City) sought to clear up confusion that followed the Legislature’s rewriting of state law on land splits. He said that local zoning supersedes state law in that area, which I had not read in news accounts. The state law was lenient as far as minimum lot sizes, but since most privately owned Michigan property is within jurisdictions with local zoning ordinances, it’s much ado about nothing.

• Deena Bosworth, MAC Director of Governmental Affairs, said counties that own dams (such as Leelanau) are in for a tougher regulatory environment following the knee-jerk approval of new laws governing dam safety. Now dams must meet safety requirements assigned to the stress of a 200-year flood; the new level is being able to withstand a 1,000-year flood.

“I’ve had engineers working with us and the department to mitigate some of the safety developments, and at the same time it’s important to make sure the dams are safe,” she said.

While it’s not much in comparison to the cost of dam upkeep — something Leelanau County learned through the RFP process for the Leland Dam — some $20 million was set aside for counties through grants. It’s called the Risk Reduction Dam (no “N”) Program. Luke Tremble, who heads dam safety for EGLE, will speak at the MAC convention next month hosted by the Grand Traverse Resort.

• Bosworth tossed a wet blanket on the 2027-28 state budget. “The way this next fiscal year budget is shaping up is terrible,” she said. “You’re looking at a lot less money. I’m talking it might be $1 billion they have to work around.”

She was happy that revenue sharing was not cut in the current budget, as had been threatened. Also, housing bills that MAC opposed due to an usurpation of local control did not pass, although bills offering housing grants were funded. She also warned of changes in alcohol funds to local jurisdictions, and that receipts from the marijuana tax meant to fund roads were coming up woefully short of predictions.

• The group won’t meet in September due to the MAC convention, but is planning to meet at a Data Center near Caledonia in October.

— Alan Campbell