Grand Traverse County is looking to outside partners for help as it attempts to address a number of organizational challenges, including staffing and funding cuts, probationary status with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and outstanding pension liabilities.

County Administrator Tom Menzel is hoping city and township officials and the Cherryland Humane Society will help cover the gap in animal control services created when two officers were eliminated at the beginning of the year as part of Menzel’s 2016 budget. The administrator contends the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office can handle county complaints, but says other jurisdictions should be responsible for enforcing their own ordinances.

“So we are talking with the city police about using our shelter (contract at CHS) for free in exchange for enforcing their ordinance,” Menzel says. City and county staff will also meet with Cherryland Humane Society employees today (Thursday) to explore options for the nonprofit to assist with some services such as stray dog responses, an “opportunity to make revenue and fund their organization,” says Menzel.

The county is also receiving help – albeit unsolicited – from another outside group. Nearly 140 residents, many with backgrounds in pet services, have joined the Grand Traverse Found Dog Transport Facebook page. Members are on standby as volunteers to help pick up and transport found local strays to the shelter. "With the loss of animal control to pick up stray dogs, we don't want our county dogs to slip through the cracks,” says the group’s mission statement, which describes the project as “a collaboration between area rescues."

Community expertise could also help the county address several shortcomings within the county’s soil erosion department, which were flagged by the DEQ in a recent audit. Those failings earned the county probation status with the DEQ. County Deputy Director of Planning and Development Jean Derenzy is working on a plan to bring the county back into compliance, which she hopes to present to DEQ officials by March.

“Part of that (plan) is seeing if the Grand Traverse Conservation District would help provide oversight for us on things like the violation components, the permitting components, the review of documents,” Derenzy says. “The protection of the waterways is their strength…it’s basically a confidence component for the public to know we’re taking this very seriously.”

The Conservation District could also help provide educational workshops and staff training, says Derenzy. If the DEQ approves the county’s proposal to work with the organization, the two groups could negotiate contract terms this spring.

Finally, Menzel has hired governmental consultant Mary Lannoye – the former chief of staff for Governor Jennifer Granholm and a past budget director for the state of Michigan – to review the county’s unfunded pension liabilities. The Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (MERS) recently rejected the county’s request for a 3-5 year extension of its amortization schedule, says Menzel, prompting a need to look elsewhere for help.

“(MERS) is unwilling to work with us until we prove we’re serious about pension reform,” says Menzel. “So my hope is Mary can evaluate our pension plan and come up with some recommendations. With her credibility and experience, we’re hoping we can finally address these pension issues, so we don’t have to keep making draconian budget cuts year after year.”

In Other County Partnership News…
While Grand Traverse County is looking to outside organizations for help, it is also lending its own assistance to two community groups. The county has signed a two-year agreement with TART Trails and the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to share the county’s geographic information systems (GIS) data for free with both organizations. The move will allow the nonprofits to “enhance emergency services, delivery and planning efforts," according to a Wednesday announcement.

TART Trails Executive Director Julie Clark says the data will help her organization identify parcel boundaries along trails, improving trail planning and maintenance and communication with property owners. The data also “greatly assists with the conservancy’s efforts to protect land in our area,” according to GTRLC Land Stewardship Specialist Jon Throop.