Leelanau County commissioners passed a Resolution to Condemn Racism with a 7-0 vote on Tuesday evening.

At the previous Tuesday’s executive meeting — when the resolution was first introduced — a conversation about the language to include became derailed when Leelanau County Board Chairman William Bunek brought up abortion among African Americans. Commissioner Melinda Lautner, too, made abortion-related comments while the commissioners grappled with a definition of racism. Bunek cited “calling law enforcement officers ‘pigs’” as another example of racism.

After the meeting, the commissioners received numerous phone calls and emails from constituents concerned by the comments made by members of the board. Commissioner Ty Wessell says, “We received dozens and dozens and dozens of comments, saying that we needed to do more.”

Among those speaking up was Courtney Wiggins, council member for Northern Michigan E3 (formerly the Anti-Racism Task Force) who tells the Leelanau Ticker, “If the aim is to have a board of commissioners that are anti-racist, I personally would like to see, and this is just a start, ongoing implicit bias training.” The training was an ask Wiggins posted on the board of commissioners' Facebook page.

For Wessell, “doing more” included consulting with Black, Indigenous, People Of Color (BIPOC) on the content of the resolution.

“Trying to make sense out of all this, and picking up the pieces from the painful executive meeting, Commissioner Rentenbach, Commissioner Soutas-Little and I reached out to Sam Getsinger, who is a part of the Northern Michigan E3 movement and part of Leelanau Indivisible,” he says.

Getsinger invited Melissa Petoskey and Jim Petoskey to the table. Says Wessell, “Melissa Petoskey is the Human Relations Executive for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians. Jim Petoskey is a Native American grandfather who is constantly thinking of the welfare of children everywhere. Both are involved with advocacy against racism.” The group met at picnic tables on Glen Lake for what Wessell calls an informal but productive conversation.

“They were heard,” says Wessell.

“We also talked to Holly Bird, who is an attorney and tribal member, and Marshall Collins, a founding member of Northern Michigan E3. We had input from Bea Cruz and Janaia Erickson. All of these people have been actively involved in the regional anti-racism efforts.”

Collins, a Northport native and educator at the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District, tells the Leelanau Ticker, “Special thanks to Ty [Wessell] for reaching out to me and others asking for input. Not only that, he reached out to me just to see how I was doing. He knows where my heart is and knew I was struggling. This has been a difficult reality for me with some of the language that is coming out of Leelanau County. I love the county that I am from and my heart breaks from the comments that have been coming out of these commissioners’ meetings. For me, the resolution acknowledging the impacts of racism is very important.” 

Beatriz Cruz, who became part of the county's Hispanic community when she first traveled to Leelanau with her family at eight years old, and is now a liaison in her role as the ESL/Migrant Specialist at Suttons Bay Schools, connected with Wessell by text. “I said there has to be training for those in authority settings who may not realize how many misconceptions there are out there — what things are being said that are not right — when we don’t know the stories of the cultures of all the people that live within the community. Training is something that has to be ongoing.”

She continues, “It comes back to the word responsibility. It is super important if I am taking responsibility in a role serving my community, that I know the community that I am serving. We all have the responsibility to make sure we all feel safe and equal in our community.”

After consulting community members and drafting a new resolution, Wessell teamed up with Commissioner Debra Rushton and met with County Administrator Chet Janik to draft the final resolution that went to the board on Tuesday.

Says Wessell, “We were close, but got stuck on some details. For me it was critical to include the word ‘equity’ and Commissioner Rushton wanted ‘equality.’ We both agreed that we needed to include professional development for commissioners, elected officials and staff.”

The resolution approved Tuesday included a definition of racism, reference to both equity and equality and a clear commitment to training and awareness for commissioners, elected officials and staff.

Adds Wessell, “We all agreed that reference to abortion had no place in our resolution.”

Tuesday’s discussion of the resolution immediately followed the board’s 7-0 vote to accept Road Commissioner Tom Eckerle’s resignation. The resolution was precipitated in part by the racist comments — including the use of the “N-word” — made by Eckerle just prior to a county road commission meeting.

At the meeting, Rushton thanked Wessell for his leadership: “He reached out to the community members, those who have had firsthand exposure and experience, for input, which has helped us formulate this resolution to help combat the insensitive acts of racism. We value all human beings and recognize that we as individuals have attributes that are specific to us by nature and design. Our differences should be valued.”

Lautner issued an apology for the comments she made at the previous meeting, saying it was the wrong place and time to speak to the issue of abortion. Bunek also referenced his previous remarks, saying, “I wasn’t talking about abortion, I was talking about the abortion industry…that promotes abortion. That to me is racism. When I talked about the police being called a pig, I was thinking of a Black policeman.” He added, “I am sorry that we got sidetracked by all this. It certainly got misconstrued.”

Commissioner Carolyn Rentenbach echoed the call to action made by community members and constituents: “I think that we should proceed with training from an organization called Title Track, and provide that to the board of commissioners and also to the staff and maybe extend that out to other departments that aren’t necessarily in our building,” she said.

Among the commitments the commissioners make in the newly adopted resolution: “The board stands with the residents of Leelanau County in their condemnation of any form of racism and discrimination; that the board is committing its full attention to advocating for equality, equity, and improving the quality of life and health of all of our residents; and that the Leelanau County board of commissioners will assess internal policies and procedures to ensure equality and racial equity is a core element in all organizational practices.” The complete approved resolution can be viewed here. 

Wessell adds, “As disturbing as Road Commissioner Eckerle’s comments were, he caused us to have the conversation necessary to move us forward.

“We now must move forward with our commitment that states ‘The board of commissioners will promote, support and participate in the necessary professional development programming to support the purposes of the resolution for all employees, commissioners and elected officials,’” he says. “The hard and demanding work is just beginning.”

Photo: Beatriz Cruz and Marshall Collins