Beaver Island Michigan

I believe the decision reported in the latest Northern Islander by ESA to eliminate open meetings of their committees may result in meetings that violate the Open Meetings Act. I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice, so check your attorney and ask him/her to explain this excerpt from the book, â??Michigan Municipal Law.â?￾ Section 5.8 (on-line version)

â??Subquorum committees of a public body having been delegated authority to make recommendations regarding public policy are also required to comply with the OMAâ??s public meeting requirement. Schmiedicke v Clare Sch Bd, 228 Mich App 259, 577 NW2d 706 (1998). In Schmiedicke, the seven-member school board established a personnel and policy committee consisting of three of its members. The school board delegated to the committee the tasks of reviewing current methods of evaluating school administrators as well as the length of the administratorâ??s employment contracts. Although the committee ultimately recommended no changes from the existing practices, its meetings were not open to the public. The court recognized that the primary purpose of the OMA is to ensure that public bodies conduct their decision-making activities in open meetings and not simply hold open meetings at which they rubber-stamp decisions previously made behind closed doors. Id. at 264. The court concluded that the school boardâ??s referral to the committee for a recommendation on the current practices was a delegation of authority and that the committee failed to openly deliberate the issues. Id.â?￾

The act intends to have all discussion and deliberation in public, not just final votes. This is the only way to avoid or least make it harder to have â??backroom dealsâ?￾.

Bob Yager

I look forward to each post by Mr. Hugh Moore of Whiskey Island. This, I am told is the Pirate's real fake name. As in "Hugh Moore" has left the Island for the winter.

Pirate has many insightful observations. I suggest we appoint him King of Beaver Island Archipelago. We had James Strang in 1850's. Pirate would do a good job and end any strife. Plus, pirating may be our economic niche. There must be a lot of boats to plunder.

Hiding behind my userame.

I can testify that residents are generally very friendly. We've made two visits. On the first in 2016 we were without a rental car due to my poor planning and eating at Daddy Frank's. Bill Detwiler and his wife, whom we had never met before, saw our plight and gave Barbara and me a 3 hour personal t...

I have been considering pirating as a career. Blacksmithing does not pay that well. Are there enough ships to support an additional pirate to the islands area or is it too crowded?

You will find my name in other posts. Forgot to post it on the maple syrup post.

Bob Yager

Is anyone making maple syrup on Beaver Island? I was thinking of doing so on my new 10 acres, but do not want to infringe on any activities now controlled by "Islanders" as I have been advised that is unhealthy. It is not "moonshine" but who knows, "don't step on toes."...

I am a new non-resident undeveloped property owner. I want to see minutes of all public bodies on the appropriate website. I will only be convinced that Beaver Island has a stable enough government to warrant investing $$$ in a cottage, etc. if I can follow local issues on the internet, not by a two...

When Barbara and I bought our 10 acres in August on West Side Drive about a mile north of Tara's Meadow, we realized there was no cell phone coverage. So I got a Amateur Extra HAM radio license last fall (KE8HSH) with the idea that if we there on a visit, we could use a portable HAM radio to communi...

That's my question.

I plan to leave a car on Beaver Island to get to my new acres on West Side Drive. Any opinions on the best place to store it?

Bob Yager

Total all of Michigan - $1,116,773,600. Yes over 1 Billions dollars Charlevoix County - $11,119.180 ( about 1% of above) Beaver Island - $250,601 ( about 2.5% of Charlevoix County) Source: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/MNRTF_Grant_Projects_Awarded_564902_7.pdf Bob Yager New raw land owner on...

It is a common misunderstanding that grants are all from taxes. Michigan has many of its outstanding recreational facilities due to the Michigan Natural Resource Trust Fund that was written into the State Constitution to protect it. My home community of Oakland Township MI has received many grants f...

It seems odd to have two townships for such a small population making separate plans. What have been the barriers to combining the two townships, or at least doing planning jointly?

Bob Yager
New Property Owner on West Side Drive as of 8/2017

I may come for muzzleloading deer hunting season. So if you see a stranger hiking down West Side Road with backpack and rifle in early December it is just me going to my new 10 acre property. No reason for alarm.

Bob Yager