The 2% Debate: Leelanau Commissioners Go Back And Forth On Priorities For Grand Traverse Band Grants

Should the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners prioritize government entities in its applications for grants from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians? Or should the county continue to consider applications from nonprofit organizations as well? Those questions dominated last week’s executive board meeting, and will be back on the agenda tomorrow (Tuesday) at this month’s county board meeting.

Under the terms of a consent decree settling Tribes v. Engler, the Grand Traverse Band (GTB) allocates 2 percent of its video gaming revenue to local units of government. Those allocations occur twice per year. Local units of government in the tribe’s six-county service area (Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, and Manistee) are now in the process of finalizing their 2 percent asks for the July funding cycle.

For months, District 3 Commissioner Will Bunek has been arguing that Leelanau County advances too many funding requests from nonprofit organizations rather than focusing on actual governmental entities. At an executive board session in March, Bunek argued that potential grantees like Suttons Bay Public Schools and the Suttons Bay Bingham Fire Department “are being shorted for the benefit provided” by the 2 percent program in favor of nonprofits.

GTB 2 percent grant cycles typically award funds to a mix of governmental entities and nonprofits. In the most recent funding cycle, for instance, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners landed a $66,400 grant to fund the purchase of a LIFEPAK 35 defibrillator/monitor system for Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire & Rescue, but also got nearly $40,000 to support the involvement of a pair of nonprofits – Michael’s Place and Big Brothers Big Sisters – in local schools.

Bunek pressed the issue at last week’s executive board session. When Commissioner Gwenne Allgaier motioned to recommend that the Board of Commissioners approve six 2 percent grant applications for the next funding cycle, Bunek made a counter motion suggesting the applications be discussed and considered separately – nonprofits on one side, governmental bodies on the other.

Four of the applications come directly from governmental entities, including the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Leelanau Probate and Family Court, and the 13th Judicial Circuit Court. The board unanimously voted to recommend those four applications, which amount to nearly $57,000 in requested dollars.

Thanks to Bunek’s motion, though, the two applications from nonprofits – a $15,000 ask from the Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) to support its efforts at the Leo Creek Preserve, and a $12,000 request from the housing nonprofit Home Sweet Home – got more scrutiny.

“I just would like to know where this becomes a government entity, and how the government is improved by giving $15,000 to Inland Seas?” Bunek asked of the ISEA application.

“I clearly think it’s related to our parks and recreation programs in the county,” responded Board Vice-Chair Ty Wessell. “We spend a lot of money on those. Whatever the [Leelanau] Conservancy does and whatever Inland Seas does assists and supports our parks and recreation program.”

Commissioners ultimately voted 6-1, with Bunek opposed, to advance the ISEA and Home Sweet Home applications to tomorrow’s meeting for final approval.

Also on the agenda Tuesday is further discussion of a draft policy that County Administrator Jim Dyer has prepared for how the Board of Commissioners should approach the application process for 2 percent grants. Walking commissioners through that draft at last week’s executive board session, Dyer said GTB’s guidelines on the 2 percent process do clearly allow for monies to be given to nonprofits.

“[The tribe] determined…that it would give to local units of government directly…but it also indicated that it would provide money to nonprofit organizations, provided that they were sponsored by a governmental entity,” Dyer said, based on his reading of tribal compacts and agreements. There is nothing in the tribe’s guidelines, Dyer said, that prohibits nonprofits from receiving grants through the program. “In fact, to some extent, it would be appropriate to say the tribal guidelines actually encourage those contributions,” he told commissioners.

“With that in mind, what I prepared was a policy that essentially says, in one sentence: ‘It is the policy of the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners to consider and support 2 percent grant allocation applications that demonstrate a clear objective to serve or directly benefit Leelanau County residents, according to the following procedures,’” Dyer continued. The draft policy, he said, currently calls for a 13-step process for considering nonprofit applications. Crucially, for instance, those applications require “a letter from a county elected official or department head detailing how the applicant’s proposal would advance the interests or objectives of the county government.” Part of the policy would also call for commissioners to look closely at “whether or not the [nonprofit] applicant’s proposal will supplement or support a function that could be performed by the county.”

Dyer’s recitation of the draft prompted Bunek to reiterate his strict interpretation of the GTB grant application document, which he said calls for allocations to go “to local units of government.”

“When we apply for nonprofits, that’s not in [the tribe’s] applications at all,” Bunek argued. “When we take money from the 2 percent and give it to nonprofits, we’re taking it, basically, from a school system which may have applied, from a township which may have applied, or a village or city. That’s what happens, because they give it to the nonprofits, and then [those units of government] receive less revenue. And somehow, we think we’re helping the people of Leelanau County, when we actually could be hurting the students, because they’re not receiving the money.”

Bunek added that he’s had conversations with officials from Suttons Bay Public Schools, who he said feel as if they’ve been passed over for 2 percent grant funding in favor of nonprofits.

But Bunek did not find an ally on the board for his side of the argument. Bunek’s fellow Republican commissioner Alan Campbell countered by noting that the Board of Commissioners is merely a gatekeeper in the process.

“It’s not our money; it’s the tribe’s money,” Campbell said. “They’re the ones that are going to make those determinations.”

Commissioners ultimately voted to move Dyer’s 2 percent application policy to Tuesday’s meeting for further discussion.