With five new faces set to join the Grand Traverse County commission in January, county commissioners Wednesday – in their last meeting as the current board – delayed several key decisions until the new year, citing a desire to let incoming commissioners take the reins. But the outgoing commission still voted on other final items of business – including two contentious appointments to the Traverse Area District Library (TADL) board that generated fierce debate, as well as a contract for a county jail assessment.

Perhaps befitting a board that rarely saw eye-to-eye or voted unanimously during their two-year term, commissioners were divided on most of their final decisions Wednesday. Tensions peaked during a meeting discussion of two citizen appointments to the TADL board. TADL has seven board seats, five of which are appointed by county commissioners and two by Traverse City commissioners. An ad hoc committee of three commissioners – Chair Carol Crawford, Cheryl Gore Follette, and Bob Johnson – interviewed applicants for two open county seats on the library board and made a recommendation to appoint Susan Odgers and Stephanie Mathewson.

Odgers is married to County Commissioner Tom Mair – a fact that raised questions on whether Mair had a conflict of interest and should recuse himself from voting on her appointment. Johnson additionally raised concerns that the appointments would make the TADL board too city-centric in its membership. Though Johnson initially supported Odgers and Mathewson while on the ad hoc, he reversed course Wednesday, saying he had reread rules about attempting to have countywide representation on the library board. “If we go with the recommendation, there are three people within the city (on the board),” he said. “My thought is that’s too much representation for that district. Had I known that, I would have expressed that during the ad hoc.”

Mair accused Johnson of withdrawing his support because of Mair’s relationship with Odgers. “I can’t help but feel personally about this, whether that’s the full intention or not,” he said, after Johnson insisted his decision was “not personal whatsoever.” Mair continued: “Now you’re interpreting (the rules) differently, for whatever purpose. I have no idea.”

Other individuals who spoke during public comment also questioned whether the county should have prioritized adding more rural representation on the TADL board. Green Lake Township Trustee David Bieganowski said there was “overrepresentation by the city” on the library’s governing body and that Traverse City “can use its own appointments” to nominate city residents to serve. “I want rural representation from a county resident who doesn’t live in the city,” he said. TADL board member Jason Gillman agreed, saying residents from Interlochen – which has a newly built TADL library – were “being given the shaft essentially” when applicants from that community were overlooked.

Gore Follette and Crawford defended the ad hoc selection process, saying every applicant was granted an interview and that the committee selected the candidates they felt were strongest in interviews, regardless of geographic origin. “We had a full slate of really outstanding candidates and we debated,” Gore Follette said. “We didn’t just rubber stamp…I feel as though we picked the best candidates.” Crawford agreed. “We followed the process that we were supposed to follow,” she said. “We had great candidates that showed up…and we all take it very seriously.”

As commissioners prepared to vote on the TADL appointments, an audience member challenged whether Mair could vote on appointing his wife to serve. County Deputy Civil Counsel Kit Tholen said both Robert’s Rules of Order and the county’s Code of Ethics state that if a county commissioner has a direct personal interest not common to other commissioners regarding an issue, or has an appearance of bias or conflict of interest, he or she should not vote in such situations. But he noted commissioners could not be compelled to recuse themselves from voting, and that there was “no recourse” if a commissioner “chooses to vote on an issue in which they are biased.” Mair firmly expressed his commitment to voting, with commissioners ultimately voting 4-3 to confirm the appointments. Commissioners Johnson, Dan Lathrop, and Ron Clous opposed the motion. Several other appointments - including to the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Parks and Recreation Commission, Economic Development Corporation, Veterans Affairs Administrative Committee, and Board of Public Works - were also unanimously approved by commissioners.

Commissioners also voted 6-1 Wednesday to hire a consultant for not more than $10,000 to evaluate the Grand Traverse County Jail and conduct a needs assessment for the county for future jail planning. The contract is part of an ongoing county review of whether to build a new county jail – a long-discussed option to address overcrowding and maintenance issues at the existing Washington Street jail. Commissioner Sonny Wheelock, who serves on an ad hoc committee studying the issue, said the county’s last needs assessment took place in 2014 and needs to be updated. County leaders need to get a firm handle on issues like how many beds are needed in a jail to best serve the region before deciding whether to build a new facility, and/or where it should be located, Wheelock said.

Commissioners Wednesday also decided to hand off some issues to the incoming board, rather than taking the items up themselves. With Mair, Crawford, Gore Follette, Johnson, and Lathrop set to depart from the commission, Gore Follette said the board was “basically a lame duck” and should allow the new slate of commissioners to take over. Commissioners opted to remove a request from Sheriff Tom Bensley on the agenda to present a proposal to form a new four-person law enforcement interdiction team that would “proactively combat illegal drug activity, increase police presence in high-crime areas, and (provide) specific traffic law enforcement to reduce traffic crashes.” The proposal comes with a $118,400 funding request attached. That issue will head to the new commission, as could a proposal to buy 9.75 acres of property off Cass Road to create a bypass channel as part of the Cass Road Drainage District project to reduce flooding of business properties from Miller Creek.