ESCANABA — Following a brief closed session, the Delta County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted this week to terminate the contract of Scott Graham, a controversial attorney that has allegedly stopped communicating with the county after being asked to turn over his files related to an investigation of the Delta County Airport.

The county will notify Graham of the contract’s termination and provide 60 days for Graham to produce the files that the county is seeking.

Graham has been a controversial and enigmatic figure in the county since his name was first raised by then-Commissioner and Board Chair Dave Moyle as a possible fit for the position in March of 2023. At the time, the board wanted to hire an outside attorney to avoid using attorneys from the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority — the county’s insurance provider that the commissioners felt pushed settlement agreements — or the county prosecutor’s office — which the commissioners felt was unable to do the work despite claims to the contrary by Prosecuting Attorney Lauren Wickman.

Graham was the only attorney to submit a proposal to the county for the position. He was specifically asked to do so by Moyle, who said the attorney had previously represented his family.

Moyle repeatedly denied being Graham’s “buddy” or having anything other than a professional relationship with the attorney. He frequently pointed to Graham’s record in federal court as the reason why he had asked Graham to submit a proposal for services.

Graham is perhaps most well-known for his defense of Kaleb Franks, one of a six men charged for plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Franks initially faced life in prison, but ultimately pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, and, after agreeing to testify against co-conspirators, was sentenced to only four years in prison.

Despite being a regular topic of discussion at meetings and among those who sought to recall Moyle, Graham never attended county commission meetings in person or virtually. At various points, Moyle said Graham did work for the county pro bono, which further raised questions about what services the attorney was providing the county.

Following the sudden resignation of Former Airport Manager Andrea Nummilien in early June of 2023, Graham was asked to lead an investigation into activities at the airport. The county board repeatedly stated the investigation was not into Nummilien specifically, but rather into the issues at the airport under the management immediately prior to Nummilien’s resignation and the hire of new Airport Manager Robert Ranstadler in 2023.

Ranstadler left the airport himself earlier this year, and Delta County Administrator Ashleigh Young will officially take over as the full-time airport manager starting Monday. Young’s position is set to be filled by the rehire of Former-County Administrator Emily DeSalvo, who was fired in 2023, sparking a recall that removed Moyle and commissioners Bob Barron and Bob Peterson.

Despite the claim that the investigation was not into Nummilien, the county board — which still included Moyle, Petersen and Barron — considered suing the former airport manager and ultimately turned over the results of the investigation to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA took no actions against Nummilien.

“We have reviewed your memo and concluded there is nothing for the FAA to further pursue. As of February 7, 2024, the FAA has closed out the investigation with a Warning Letter,” the FAA said in a letter to the county.

Nummilien later submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the names of the people interviewed by the county’s attorney at the time of the investigation, Scott Graham, as well as copies of notes, recordings, or summaries of the interviews. That request was initially denied because the documents “did not exist,” but it was later determined that the files simply did not exist in the county’s possession and that Graham had informed Young that his notes were his property.

That may have been accurate at one time, but the the 2020 Michigan Supreme Court case “Bisio v. City of the Village of Clarkson” established that documents created by an attorney working for a public body are part of that public body’s record and is subject to FOIA. When the 2020 supreme court case was raised, the county reversed course during a special meeting on Feb. 3, requesting an extension and seeking to gain access to the documents in Graham’s possession. Since then, the county has repeatedly tried to contact Graham to no avail.

Because it is included in Graham’s contract that Graham “will complete all work as requested by Delta County and will provide all files in (his) possession” if his contract is terminated, the county is hopeful the documents will be produced now that the contract has been terminated.