At an executive board meeting Tuesday morning, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of a request from Leelanau County Senior Services (LCSS) to place a senior services millage renewal on the August 2024 ballot. The decision was one of several notable developments at a marathon five-hour meeting, where commissioners also committed to scheduling a board governance workshop, debated a recent employee survey, and received updates on efforts to fill several job vacancies.

Senior Services Millage

In August 2018, residents of Leelanau County voted 5,788-2,165 in favor of a two-year, 0.320 millage to boost funding to LCSS. That vote marked the first time since 2014 that LCSS had successfully approached the public for a millage approval, and was spurred by the need to serve Leelanau’s growing senior population, which at the time accounted for more than 40 percent of all county residents. LCSS provides a variety of services to county residents that are 60 years old and older, including meals on wheels, transportation assistance, foot care, snow removal and yard care, safety services, and more.

Voters renewed the 0.320 millage in August 2020, and are now being asked to do so once again. Per Lena Vander Meulen, who came aboard as LCSS’s new director last fall, the LCSS advisory committee met in December to discuss another renewal of the millage, which expires this year. Vander Meulen said there were 9,382 seniors in Leelanau County as of late 2022, accounting for approximately 42 percent of the county’s population, and that the demographic was seeing a consistent 2-3 percent growth rate per year.

In 2023, Vander Meulen shared, LCSS served 2,548 seniors. That number represents a little under a third of the county’s senior population, but it also constitutes significantly higher demand than what LCSS saw in 2022. Vander Meulen told commissions that LCSS has “seen a 20 percent increase from 2022 to last year” in how many seniors the department serves, including particularly notable increases among seniors seeking in-home services (up 7 percent, year-over-year) and financial assistance (up 27 percent).

“So, being fiscally responsible and considering the growth of our senior population, I think in two years, we will outgrow our infrastructure,” Vander Meulen said. If the millage is renewed and restored to the previously voted rate of 0.320 mills (as with other tax levies, the LCSS millage levy shrinks every year due to Headlee rollbacks), Vander Meulen estimates it would bring in approximately $1,154,944 in the first calendar year. That figure, notably, will likely change in the actual ballot language, as it is based on last year’s numbers for taxable property value in the county.

When asked if LCSS might consider pursuing a four-year millage rather than another two-year renewal, Vander Meulen noted that it’s difficult to predict whether or not LCSS will see as big a demand increase for services in 2024 and beyond as it did between 2022 and 2023. “We’re coming out of COVID,” she noted. “[2023] is the first full year we had all services at the capacity we [expected]. So, I think in two years, we very well could outgrow. But I want to be responsible for the taxes and the monies.”

“I encouraged Lena to go for four years, just because it’s a lot of work to have a millage every two years,” noted Commissioner Gwenn Allgaier. “But I think she’s being very responsible. She said, ‘I’m new in this job. I need to get the lay of the land, and we need to see how the landscape changes post-COVID.’ So, she is committing to more work for [LCSS], but this does allow you to be able to reassess in two years. So, I do support this action.”

Commissioners ultimately voted unanimously to support the proposal, which sets the gears in motion for putting the matter on the August ballot.

Board Governance Training

Commissioners also voted unanimously to invite former county administrator Chet Janik to lead the board in a board governance training session. Janik now works as a consultant for the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI), the same education consulting firm the county recently hired to conduct a survey of employee climate and culture at the Leelanau County government center. That report, which MLI presented to commissioners last week, recommended board governance training as one potential step to address staff complaints of infighting, poor leadership, and overall dysfunction on the board.

Allgaier suggested that Janik would be an ideal person to lead the training workshop, given that he “knows our culture really well” and would “be able to speak specifically” the challenges facing Leelanau County.

Commissioners hope to get a board governance workshop on the books for this month or next.

Climate and Culture Survey

Several commissioners – particularly, Melinda Lautner and Jamie Kramer – expressed dissatisfaction with MLI’s climate and culture report, pushing for the board to ask that MLI provide more data from its survey process.

Last week, MLI Regional President John Scholten shared key takeaways, which collected feedback from 85 of the county’s 117 employees. Scholten’s report was damning, with employees giving the county an average grade of 3.8 out of 10 – with “1 being broken, and 10 being healthy.” Many staffers also named names of specific county government players – among them, Lautner and the members of the county clerk’s office – as “toxic” or otherwise problematic. Lautner and Kramer both took issue with the naming of names in Scholten’s report, with Kramer saying it “did not feel professional.”

Lautner also felt Scholten’s report was incomplete, arguing that MLI should have turned over full responses, transcriptions, or notes from its survey process. “We paid $6,500 for that report and got part of it,” she said. “We are entitled to that entire report.”

Kramer agreed, arguing that the board needs “all of the data” to make decisions for the future, and suggested that MLI could easily redact names of respondents to protect their privacy. (The study was done anonymously so county employees could speak candidly without fear of retribution.)

Despite some heated debate – “I’m really frustrated that we don’t respect people,” Commissioner Kama Ross said. “We hire people...and then we complain about what they do for us. I don’t like that, and I’m not going to be part of that.” – commissioners ultimately agreed to let Wessell reach out to Scholten and ask if MLI could provide more data.

Staffing

As previously reported, turnover at the county has created several high-profile vacancies. In a report to commissioners, though, County Administrator Deb Allen shared that the county has a new interim planning director, has offered a candidate the human resources director job, and recently hired a new executive assistant for the administrator’s office, with that person set to start next week.