04/01/2007

Week in Review

ANTRIM

Fired deputy back on the payroll

BELLAIRE — A county sheriff's deputy fired last year for allowing a wanted suspect to go free will be back in uniform.

An arbitrator ordered Antrim sheriff's deputy Trish Pratt reinstated after about nine months away from the job. An arbitration hearing was conducted in January and sheriff's officials received the final, binding decision March 23.

Pratt is the second area deputy in recent weeks to regain employment through an arbitrator's decision. Fired Leelanau County Sheriff's deputy Bruce Beeker was ordered back on the county payroll last month after he was terminated last year for alleged violations.

Pratt was fired last June and was back on the payroll as of Wednesday, though she officially wasn't to report until the end of the week, Johnson said. She will earn the same annual base salary, $39,970, as before. But she will be assigned to the jail as a corrections officer.

Pratt's alleged misconduct prompted Antrim Prosecutor Charles Koop to dismiss several pending misdemeanor cases that involved Pratt as an investigator. Koop also wrote a memo to Johnson stating that Pratt's ability to testify in a criminal proceeding had been compromised.

CHARLEVOIX

Reward offered for info on vandals

BOYNE CITY — The City of Boyne City is offering a $200 reward for information that identifies individuals who vandalized a local cemetery.

Vandals knocked over about 75 headstones and damaged numerous potted plants in Maple Lawn Cemetery in Boyne City last weekend, Boyne City Police said in a statement.

Officials are asking anyone with information about the crime to call the Boyne City Police at (231) 582-6611.

County settles suit with ex-employee

CHARLEVOIX — A settlement with a former county employee cost taxpayers more than a quarter-million dollars, county records show.

Officials tried to keep the agreement secret, but records obtained by the Record-Eagle through the state Freedom of Information Act show Jacqueline Rozema, longtime Charlevoix prosecutor's office manager, received $275,000 to drop her lawsuit against the county.

The county cut the check to Rozema on Dec. 28. County Board chair Shirley Roloff, who signed off on the final agreement, said she had been told by the county's lawyer, Janice Hildenbrand, to keep the terms confidential.

County Clerk Jane Brannon, who provided the check register documents and the four-page agreement after the Record-Eagle submitted a FOIA, said she, too, was told the agreement was not to be discussed.

A county employee for more than two decades beginning in 1981, Rozema in 2003 became involved in a series of contentious Whistleblower Protection Act lawsuits.

Neither Brannon nor Roloff said they knew the total attorney costs to the county for the case. Check records obtained by the Record-Eagle show Hildenbrand's Southfield law firm was paid $805 in December and $6,074 in January.

Panel considers manager applications

CHARLEVOIX — Officials sifting through 40 city manager applications offered mixed feelings about the pool of candidates.

Mayor Norman Carlson Jr. said experience was lacking on many of the resumes he reviewed.

The city is done accepting applications to fill the vacancy left by the January ouster of longtime city manager Michael Wiesner, and officials have no plans to extend the application time, said Carlson, part of a five-member selection committee charged with reviewing the candidates.

Others on the panel are Petoskey City Manager George Korthauer, Charlevoix State Bank President John Kurtz, interim Charlevoix City Manager Rick Brandi and Mary Adams, who is active on several city citizen committees.

Brandi declined to discuss specifics, but called the pool a "wide-ranging” group.

Officials said they hope to hire a replacement sometime in June.

CRAWFORD

Wood pellet factory eyes old dump

GRAYLING — Grayling's old town dump may soon become home to a wood pellet factory.

About 40 acres at the back of the city's industrial park sparked an interest by a wood products company based near Ann Arbor, due to the proximity to both raw materials and the railroad, said David Thayer, Grayling city manager.

Thayer would not identify the company, but said he anticipates a deal and public announcement in a month or so.

The company intends to produce high-standard hardwood pellets for a 10-state market and hire about 70 people within two years with good wages and benefits, he said.

The potential development may provide manufacturing jobs in a high unemployment area and also fill a gap in the local timber market since last year's closure of the Georgia-Pacific particleboard plant in Gaylord.

GRAND TRAVERSE

Tourism plan is to spend more money

ACME — A long-range plan for the state's tourism industry — its goal vaulting Michigan into the country's top five travel destinations — centers on better organization and cooperation within the tourism trade, improved customer service and more promotional spending.

The Michigan Tourism Strategic Plan was unveiled Monday at the Driving Tourism 2007 conference at Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme.

Michigan's tourism industry generates $17.5 billion annually and accounts for 200,000 jobs and more than $900 million in state tax revenue in each, according to industry estimates. Local experts say tourism spending in Grand Traverse County alone is pegged at $600 million per year.

The plan took 16 months to craft and calls for a new organizational structure to grow state tourism and developing a research and technical assistance system to help related businesses track data and improve customer service.

It also recommends increasing the state's annual tourism promotion spending to $30 million a year to fund a national campaign to attract visitors to Michigan.

Customers respond to jump in rates

TRAVERSE CITY — Tina Laroche called Waste Management Inc. to find out why they boosted her trash bill 36 percent with no warning.

Grand Traverse County did it, she was told. Call them.

Kelly Ignace, resource recovery manager for Grand Traverse County, said the county's been flooded with calls from upset Waste Management customers who want to know what the county has done to cause their rates to jump.

Not a thing, Ignace said.

Ignace also said she doesn't know of any changes in the industry that would result in a cost boost. Her office checked with other local haulers and their rates haven't jumped.

Laurel Durkin of Waste Management's Traverse City office initially told Ignace in an e-mail that the mention of the county was a misunderstanding. Later, Durkin said the company raised some rates based on an audit, according to copies of e-mails obtained by the Record-Eagle.

"They should not be telling people the county had anything to do with it, and I am addressing that,” Durkin wrote.

Sex offender faces porn charges

TRAVERSE CITY — A convicted sex offender faces six child pornography-related felonies after sheriff's officials allege he downloaded hundreds of illegal and explicit images to his computer.

Sheriff's detectives seized Brian Murrell Riggs' computer at his Traverse City home in February after his girlfriend allegedly found images of children engaging in sex acts in a folder on his computer.

Riggs, 27, is charged with five counts of possession of child pornography and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. Riggs was in jail on a $100,000 bond Monday and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Riggs was convicted in 1999 in Leelanau County of criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13-years-old and is a listed sex offender, records show.

College approves tuition hike

TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College students who live in Grand Traverse County will pay 3.2 percent more for tuition next fall after the board of trustees approved tuition hikes Monday.

Meanwhile, the board gave final approval to a strategic plan for which NMC paid more than $38,000.

The county, or in-district, tuition hikes will be accompanied by 3.7 percent increases for those who live outside the county and outside the state.

Officials have made "drastic” budget cuts to help keep costs down for students and to balance the budget, Trustee Elaine Wood said.

The board also gave the final OK to a strategic plan that William M. Craft, a consultant of Ipswich, Mass., helped write.

The college paid Craft $24,000 plus expenses for his part in developing the plan.

Craft is a business partner of Kathleen Guy, an NMC vice president. The two are senior partners in the Eaton Cummings Group, a consulting firm.

Three arrested in bicycle thefts

TRAVERSE CITY — Sheriff's deputies arrested three suspects in two separate bicycle thefts in Grand Traverse County.

A 19-year-old Traverse City woman was arrested for possessing stolen property and a 20-year-old Traverse City man was arrested for larceny and possessing marijuana after deputies investigated a bicycle theft from the Grand Traverse Mall around 2 p.m. Monday, Grand Traverse Sheriff's officials said in a statement.

The duo allegedly admitted to stealing the bike from the mall and allegedly told deputies they left the bike at a gas station, according to the statement.

In a separate incident, a Meijer employee noticed his bike was stolen from the store while he worked around 4:30 p.m. Monday. The victim allegedly later located his bicycle at the Woman's Resource Thrift Shop on U.S. 31. When the victim asked store employees about the stolen bike, a suspect allegedly ran out of the store, jumped on the bike and rode off, sheriff's officials said.

Deputies arrested the suspect, a 21-year-old Maple City man, near 14th and Cass streets.

Both bicycles were returned to their owners. Sheriff's officials did not release the suspects' names.

Commission considers plan for streets

TRAVERSE CITY — City voters aren't ready to back a millage to fix streets and pave roads, but might support dipping into a city trust fund to pay for infrastructure improvements.

That's the consensus of city commissioners, who Monday appeared prepared to support a plan to pay for road repairs using Brown Bridge Trust Fund and tax increment financing dollars.

The city commission still must officially approve the concept before sending a proposal to use trust fund dollars to voters in November for their consent.

How to pay for upgrades to the city's roads, sidewalks and bridges was a main topic at recent a series of community meetings.

City Manager Richard Lewis said residents who attended the sessions reached no clear consensus, but the city's elected leaders are prepared to push ahead with a plan to cap the roughly $9.8 million trust fund at $9 million and direct future revenues from the oil royalties it collects to fund the street program.Several commissioners said they would support a shorter, five-year cap instead of the originally proposed 10-year program.

Board approves superintendent pact

TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Area Public Schools board members approved a new contract with Superintendent James Feil that will keep him in the district through 2010.

The board met Wednesday to approve the results of Feil's annual performance evaluation and the new three-year employment agreement.

Feil was hired in 2005 at a starting salary of $145,000 and currently earns $149,205. His contract ends June 30.

The new contract runs through June 30, 2010, and sets a beginning salary of $154,427. A minimum 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase will be tied to federal cost-of-living numbers in the second and third years of the contract.

Feil also will receive a $6,500 stipend in January 2008, 2009 and 2010. The annual payment replaces the $7,000 mileage allowance he received each year under his previous contract.

The district does not require that the superintendent live within TCAPS boundaries. But the contract states that if the board institutes such a requirement, Feil will receive a $750 monthly housing allowance. He lives in Leelanau County just over the TCAPS boundary line.

Police siege ends peacefully

TRAVERSE CITY — Suicidal statements a man allegedly made to a 911 dispatcher prompted heavily armed authorities to evacuate neighbors and encircle a Peninsula Township residence.

Grand Traverse County sheriff's officials and an emergency response team composed of authorities from nearby agencies surrounded a residence at 2823 Neahtawanta Road where a man barricaded himself in the house around 8 a.m. Wednesday, sheriff's officials and witnesses said.

"He was not arrested, but he was taken into protective custody,” Grand Traverse Sheriff Scott Fewins said. "He was taken to Munson hospital for a medical evaluation.”

Fewins refused to release the man's name Wednesday. He said authorities located several firearms in the residence.

The man surrendered without incident as a negotiator spoke to him on a loudspeaker and police prepared to raid the house. No one else was in the house and no one was injured during the incident.

The subject called 911 because he was depressed, Fewins said.

Neighbors were evacuated from their homes around 8:30 a.m. and waited at the end of the blocked-off road for hours while authorities spoke to the suicidal man over a loud speaker. Neahtawanta Road was reopened around 12:15 p.m.

Road projects penciled in to start

TRAVERSE CITY — If the spring weather holds, drivers can expect to see two road projects begin Monday, the Grand Traverse County Road Commission reported.

Construction crews will start cutting trees along the roadway for the widening of the intersection of Hammond and High Lake roads to install a left-turn lane.

Some delays are possible, and the project will completely close the intersection for up to two months beginning at the end of April.

Construction also is scheduled to resume Monday on paving of more than three miles of local roads in Whitewater Township east of Williamsburg and south of M-72. The roads will be closed to through traffic, but access for residents will be retained. The project will last two to three months.

City commission seeks new attorney

TRAVERSE CITY — The search for the next city attorney will begin with a blank slate.

Traverse City commissioners are looking for a new legal leader after longtime city attorney W. Peter Doren announced his resignation last month. Doren cited no particular reason for his departure, but told commissioners he's willing to stay on past July 1 if needed.

Commissioners last week began talks about how best to find Doren's replacement.

Doren joined the city as a full-time staff attorney in 1977, but later switched to a contractual relationship with the city and his firm. Now, city commissioners want to compare the cost of hiring an in-house attorney versus signing a contract with an outside attorney.

The commission last year approved an hourly rate increase for legal services that bumped the cost to a range of $120-$140 per hour. The city's legal costs for 2005 were about $166,000, including a $15,000 retainer for Doren.

Septage plant opens for business

TRAVERSE CITY — It took almost two years and a $2 million patch job, but Grand Traverse County finally has a septage treatment plant that isn't cracked, doesn't leak, and processes septage instead of flushing it down the drain.

Reconstruction of the failed plant is complete, it passed inspection, and it's processing waste from septic tanks instead of forwarding it to the Traverse City Wastewater Treatment plant.

In June 2005, just a month after the $7.8 million plant opened, a wall collapsed and spewed 150,000 gallons of partially treated septage.

A subsequent investigation by an independent engineering firm, NTH Consultants Ltd., revealed failures of both design and construction. A subcontractor left out more than a thousand pieces of structural steel and the engineering firm didn't design the concrete tanks up to industry standard because they didn't know the standard existed.

Cost of reconstruction was covered by $1.43 million from insurance with the remainder covered by engineering firm Gourdie-Fraser Inc. and construction firm The Christman Company.

Road repair plans are derailed

TRAVERSE CITY — An attempt to fast-track repairs to a crumbling section of South Airport Road before this summer's National Governors' Conference is idled on a side spur, waiting for the conference to pass.

The Grand Traverse County Road Commission had been encouraged to pave South Airport Road because it will be the first road traveled by visiting governors who arrive by air for the mid-July conference.

But too many problems undermined the plan.

"It was a long shot to begin with and now the state is asking us not to start until after the conference,” said road commission Manager Mary Gillis.

At $1.4 million, it's a large project and there wasn't enough time to complete construction, Gillis said. The commission hasn't obtained all of the right-of-ways and a Federal Highway Administration requirement for the intersection of Garfield and South Airport roads also created delays.

The FHA requires the road commission to either fix or eliminate pedestrian crossings at the Garfield/South Airport intersection because some corners don't have sidewalks.

LEELANAU

Plans for county property advance

LELAND — Officials from Leelanau County and Leland Township ironed out differences that could've put a wrinkle in plans to sell the soon-to-be vacant county seat.

Robert "Gene” Kelly of PDM Lumber Co. in Bingham Township and Leland dentist James Varley offered $2.4 million for the 2.5 acres in the village of Leland that will be empty when county offices move in 2008 to the new courthouse under construction in Suttons Bay Township.

But a 100,000-square-foot piece of that property, deeded by Leland Township to the county in 1939, contained a clause specifying it would revert back to the township if the county stopped using it for a courthouse.

The county initially requested a quitclaim deed from the township for the property but did not offer any compensation in exchange. The township rebuffed the county's offer, and the two boards met on Monday in a joint session to address the issue.

County Administrator David Gill said that under terms of an agreement approved during Monday's special meeting, the county will pay the township $137,500 for a quitclaim deed that will eliminate the reverter clause.

Sewer bills nearly double in Elmwood

TRAVERSE CITY — Barb Mendenhall couldn't believe her eyes when she looked at her most recent sewer bill from Elmwood Township and saw that rates had nearly doubled.

Mendenhall isn't the only resident in the Leelanau County community shocked by a rate hike that increased quarterly sewer fees from $45 to $84. Telephone lines at the township hall and the Grand Traverse County Department of Public Works, which handles the billing, have been buzzing since the bills for the first three months of 2007 went out on Monday.

The township board held public hearings on the new sewer and water rates and approved the fee schedules Nov. 13.

Supervisor Derith Smith said the township relied on sewer fund reserves and inadequate fees to fund operations and other costs for many years. The result was dangerously low reserves that required a larger rate increase, she said.

A notice about an increase, but not the amount, appeared on last quarter's sewer bills and the township published a public notice before the hearing in November.

But Smith acknowledged that the township could have done a better job of letting residents know about the rate hike.

Township officials consulted with the Grand Traverse County public works department and the township auditor while developing the new rates. The township also is working with the DPW on an updated audit of benefits to ensure residences and commercial properties are being charged appropriately. If that review turns up additional revenues, the sewer and water fee schedules can be adjusted by township board action, Smith said.

OTSEGO

Signs will warn of elk crossings

VANDERBILT — New signs warning of big, bulky animals are on the way for motorists on Interstate 75.

Deer-warning signs will come down and be replaced with images of their larger cousins along both north and south lanes of a stretch of I-75 where some animals in the state's elk herd wander back and forth in traffic.

A number of elk-vehicle collisions happen on the freeway every year around Vanderbilt, the northern Michigan gateway town to the Pigeon River Country State Forest and the heart of elk territory.

A group of state officials and traffic safety specialists formed the I-75 Elk Task Force to consider the problem and potential options.

"We recognize the elk situation needs more attention,” said Bob Felt, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Felt said the work is estimated to cost between $1,500 and $2,000 to remove old deer-crossing signs, fabricate new elk signs and have them installed by October this year.

Wolves again elude search

GAYLORD — The call of the wild went unanswered for a third year running in Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

State officials failed to turn up evidence of the presence of gray wolves in Lower Michigan in a third year of searches.

"We didn't find anything. It means there's not a big pack out there somewhere,” said Brian Mastenbrook, wildlife biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

It's believed some wolves crossed an ice bridge in recent winters in search of new territory.

"They are here, probably in small numbers, and are staying away from people,” Mastenbrook said.

More than 400 wolves live in the U.P., where most of the estimated annual $300,000 in state money is spent on wolf-related law enforcement and wildlife programs.

WEXFORD

Man jailed for pointing plastic gun

CADILLAC — A Cadillac man spent last weekend in jail for allegedly pointing a plastic gun at a teenager.

Cadillac police responded to a call March 23 shortly after 10 p.m. about a man pointing a gun at the intersection of Powers and Sundberg streets, police said in a prepared release. Though neither suspect nor victim was present, a witness provided a license plate number. The next morning, police arrested Brian Cecil Pulst, 46, of Cadillac, for assault and recovered the plastic gun.

As of last Sunday, Pulst remained lodged in the Wexford County Jail.