Occasionally, a win isn’t really something to celebrate.

That’s precisely the kind of mixed-result we watched unfold recently in a tiny township on Michigan’s thumb.

Sure, most open-government advocates — including us — celebrated for a few moments when news broke of a judge’s ruling that Greenleaf Township must pay $140,000 in legal fees racked up by a township resident who sued the local government over Open Meetings Act violations.

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that the township must pay that six-figure tally to Christina Gibbard to cover lawyer bills she racked up in her fight to correct the township’s OMA missteps.

On its face, the ruling is a win for anyone who believes elected boards should follow both the spirit and the letter of Michigan’s sunshine laws. After all, a transparent government is a trustworthy government.

But a longer look at the case surfaces some of the most egregious weaknesses in Michigan’s transparency statutes — soft spots that discourage residents from challenging bad behavior from elected officials.

Think about it this way, Gibbard had to spend five years and $140,000 to address a transparency deficiency by her local elected board. Not many people have either the bank account or the patience to carry through such a challenge, particularly for the paltry $500 penalty a lower court judge ruled the township must pay Gibbard for the violation.

The reality is, there is no reasonably functional mechanism for folks in Michigan to enforce transparency rules in their communities. Yes, Gibbard will be made whole eventually when the township is forced to pay her legal bills for officials’ transgressions, but is it really reasonable to expect a Gibbard will emerge in every township or county to shell out such massive sums to address missteps?

That’s where this latest ruling, although it’s an important victory, pinpoints yet another glaring weakness in the statutes lawmakers planted to ensure governments in the Great Lakes State operate in public view.

Unfortunately, like Gibbard, Michiganders seeking to enforce government transparency are destined to continue spending stacks of cash and bucket loads of time.

— Traverse City Record-Eagle