EDITOR:

Commissioner David Moyle

Commissioner Robert Barron

Commissioner Steve Viau

Commissioner John Malnor

Commissioner Robert Peterson

Public Act 156 of 1851, MCL 46.1 et seq… authorizes the county board to consider altering township boundary lines, when “…upon application to the board, as provided in this act, of at least 20% off freeholders who are actually residents of each of the townships to be affected by the alteration.”

The “application” for boundary changes to Escanaba and Cornell townships and filed with the county and township clerks contains a typed list of names, no signatures. A Freedom of Information Act asking Delta County to, “(p)lease send me copies of any submissions which reflect the signatures of the freeholder residents of Escanaba and Cornell Township that have made application to the county,” yielded only the typed list of names.

The board cannot assume the listed names listed are an accurate. The original documents containing signatures, along with the addresses of the signers, the date signed, and the verification by the collector(s) that each signer signed in the presence of the collector and that the person whose name appears on the paper is, in fact, the signer.

Validating signatures is particularly necessary in this situation as the “application” contains annotations next to names on the list such as “dup” (assuming duplicate), “no such person,” “said he didn’t sign it,” “passed away,” and “no land owner.”

Ethics is an additional factor. Commissioner Barron actions conflict with the Code of Ethics for Delta County Government. The Code originally adopted June 6, 1990 was reaffirmed by the board at its March 7, 2023 meeting.

The code applies to “all elected officials of Delta County, Michigan…” Ethics Code, Part II. Officials are directed to abstain from action where a conflict of interest exists. The Code:

Conflict of Interest. …include(s) any circumstance under which a public official …has a direct personal interest… It is not limited to financial interests… A public official or employee of the County should always avoid even the appearance of such conflicts…and, where possible, by abstaining from participation in the performance or exercise of the official, discretionary actions. (Emphasis supplied)

At the April 18, 2023 board meeting Chairman Moyle said he thought Commissioner Barron ought to recuse himself. “I think Bob Barron needs to recuse himself from that argument or that discussion…” Contrary to Mr. Moyle’s opinion, Commissioner Barron spent considerable time advocating for the boundary change at the last board meeting and his property is involved in the proposed change.

To preserve the confidence of the community the board will need to resolve the signature and ethics issues before moving on to changing boundaries.

Richard Clark

Escanaba