Shutting down township offices. Suspending planning and zoning. Ceasing permitting. Ending maintenance for cemeteries and parks. Selling Mission Point Lighthouse, Archie Park, parts of Haserot Beach, and Bowers Harbor Park – potentially for development.

Those are some of the drastic measures Peninsula Township trustees intend to discuss at their August 12 meeting as possible cost-cutting responses to a recent judgment awarding nearly $50 million in damages to Old Mission Peninsula wineries in their federal lawsuit against the township. While the township intends to appeal the decision, Supervisor Maura Sanders tells The Ticker that trustees need “to be prepared to protect our residents…so we’re taking a long range look to see what we could cut in order to help lessen the burden.”

Sanders issued a memo Wednesday to the township board, which she says was reviewed by township legal counsel and which she shared publicly on social media. Sanders wrote in the memo that she had been “reviewing the approved budget and activity for our current 2025-26 fiscal year. The departments, commissions, and committees all provided well-defined budget proposals and project plans when the drafting was taking place. Unfortunately, there was no way to predict the outcome of the WOMP (Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula) lawsuit.”

Sanders said the township will move forward with its appeal in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, noting that “those legal fees are being covered by the insurer.” However, the township has “no timeline for an appeal decision and/or a settlement agreement,” she wrote. “Because of all the unknowns, I believe it to be extremely prudent to review all non-statutory expenditures at this time. This is a very unwelcome recommendation, as I know how much time and attention is being dedicated to thoughtfully planned maintenance and improvements in the township. I believe we should be addressing our spending, whether budgeted or not, beyond the statutory requirements at this time.”

The memo recommends trustees consider a potential moratorium on all non-statutory requirements “until the township has the ability to lessen and/or eliminate the burden on our taxpayers.” Steps could include closing the township offices, with the statutory positions of supervisor, clerk, and treasurer working from home. Planning and zoning would be suspended, with permitting ceased. “The cemeteries will no longer be administered or maintained,” Sanders wrote. “All parks maintenance will be suspended.”

On another front, “all township-owned real property, without restrictions, will be appraised and prepared for potential sale,” the memo suggests. “This would include: Mission Point Lighthouse, Archie Park, unrestricted platted lots at Haserot Beach, vacant parking lot across from Haserot Beach, Bowers Harbor Park (with potential for rezoning to maximize the highest and best use).” That last point suggests township trustees could consider rezoning parkland prior to sale to fetch a higher price, potentially allowing property to be residentially or commercially developed.

Sanders says she’s aware such steps seem “extreme,” but says the list represents the range of options within the township’s budgetary control. The memo cites several areas of restricted funding that can’t be used toward the WOMP judgment, including Purchase of Development Rights millage funds, Pelizzari Natural Area millage funds or restricted funds from a recent fundraising campaign to construct a new sustainable trail on that property, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars that are already committed, and Grand Traverse County funding for township parks ($25,000 annually for five years).

“We’ve received significant calls and emails from community members saying, ‘You need to take a hard look at your spending,’” Sanders says. “There is no other fat…we run a lean ship as it is.” When asked if the township has analyzed how much cost savings the proposal could generate, particularly by suspending non-statutory operations, Sanders said it’s “unfortunately not substantial, but every little bit counts.” Cutting salaries for the statutory positions was not listed on the memo, but Sanders says that’s also something the township could consider. “(Those duties) are not going to be done for free…but there’s absolutely room for discussion,” she says.

Sanders emphasizes the memo is just for discussion purposes at this point so trustees can review options at their upcoming board meeting. Several factors are still unknown about the ultimate financial impacts of the lawsuit to Peninsula Township, including the outcome of an appeal, a potential settlement agreement with the wineries, and the amount of damages that could be covered by insurance. Sanders says an assessment is still being made on the latter point across the township’s multiple insurance policies. In the meantime, Sanders says the memo reflects the board’s desire to be “transparent” with the public and to “be shovel ready to make drastic changes to lessen the burden” on residents if the township must ultimately shoulder a high amount of the damages.

Joe Infante, attorney for the Old Mission wineries, dismissed the township memo as “performative” and “premature.” Its issuance “looks like negative PR to paint the wineries in a bad light, and that’s really what the township has been doing all along,” he says. “They don’t take ownership of their actions. This (outcome) is their doing. Don’t keep blaming the wineries for it. This looks like it’s just trying to rile people up.” Infante says that until the township discloses the extent of its insurance coverage, “why would you take this threat seriously? The insurance might be $80 million. We just don’t know.”

Infante has filed a motion on behalf of the wineries requesting attorney fees and pre-judgment interest – a motion that if granted could potentially add another $11 million to the total. An appeals process can take a year-and-a-half to go through, Infante estimates, with interest continuing to accrue on damages during that time. The Sixth Circuit will have a required mediation process for the parties to go through, though it won’t be as “strenuous or thorough as mediation in the trial court,” Infante says. It’s possible the wineries could also appeal on some parts of the case, though “there are very few issues we didn't win on,” Infante says.

Sanders says she is “100 percent hopeful for mediation. That is the number one priority.” Though Infante previously told The Ticker he thought Peninsula Township had a “tough road ahead if they appeal,” believing the ruling to be “almost impossible” to overturn, he said Wednesday an agreement is always possible. “If the township wants to make the wineries a settlement proposal, we will obviously listen to it,” he says.