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The Grand Traverse County and Leelanau County family courts seek to build a new 32-bed juvenile justice facility \u2013 an estimated $21-25 million project that would address a \u201cdramatic lack of detention and treatment beds for youth involved with the court system,\u201d according to family court administrators. Grand Traverse County commissioners will hear a presentation about the project at their 9am meeting today (Wednesday), where they\u2019ll also discuss county strategic planning and recognize County Register of Deeds Peggy Haines for her work in protecting property owners from predatory practices.<\/p>\n
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Juvenile Facility<\/strong>
<\/p>\n In a letter to Grand Traverse County commissioners, Grand Traverse Family Court Administrator Kristyn Brendel and Leelanau County Family Court Administrator Cameron Clark said the state of Michigan is experiencing a severe shortage of beds for youth in the court system. \u201cWhen youth are acting in an unsafe manner to themselves or the community, there is often no safe place for them to stay pending court hearings or to go for treatment in the cases where longer term services are required,\u201d the administrators wrote.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n This is especially true in northern Michigan, according to Brendel and Clark, \u201cwhere there are no facilities to care for these youth. The closest facilities are in Ottawa County and Midland County, and those facilities are typically at capacity and cannot accept youth from our area. These distances also impact a family\u2019s ability to participate in services with their child.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The lack of beds means that local youth are \u201cplaced out-of-state at great cost or in jails, which places a tremendous burden on law enforcement personnel and requires resources to comply with statutory requirements,\u201d the administrators wrote. \u201cWhen no placement is available, these youth who are behaving unsafely are released back into the community with family or are spending days and weeks in local hospital emergency rooms awaiting placement.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Brendel and Clark said the ideal solution would be to build a 32-bed, court-operated facility in Grand Traverse County at an estimated cost of $21-$25 million. Brendel tells The Ticker<\/em> that an exact location has not yet been chosen, but that administrators \u201chave a few ideas that may be used, all of which are located in Grand Traverse County.\u201d She adds: \u201cGenessee County is currently building a facility that has a therapeutic design. We visited this construction site and would like to use similar architecture, so the location will be a very important decision to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Brendel says court administrators are still in the early phase of discussing fundraising. Today\u2019s meeting with county commissioners won\u2019t include any specific funding requests, but rather consist of a \u201cgeneral presentation\u201d on the project, Brendel says. \u201cWe want to make sure the board is apprised of the issue and possible solutions,\u201d she says. Brendel notes that court administrators have \u201creached out to our local legislatures in hopes of receiving funds from the federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) monies,\u201d a conversation that is \u201cstill in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The memo to commissioners states that once built, the juvenile facility\u2019s operational costs will be included in both Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties\u2019 Child Care Fund budgets and matched 50 percent by the state. \u201cThis facility could also be used and paid for at a daily rate by other northern Michigan family courts,\u201d the administrators wrote. Several organizations have expressed support for the project, according to the memo, including the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Tribal Court, Michigan Association of Family Court Administrators, Northern Michigan Juvenile Officers Association, Michigan Sheriffs\u2019 Association, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Michigan Probate Judges\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Strategic Planning<\/strong>
<\/p>\n According to a memo from County Administrator Nate Alger, the county has engaged Public Sector Consultants to assist with a strategic planning initiative. \u201cGrand Traverse County has a history of engaging in the process of creating strategic plans but has not officially adopted a strategic plan since the 2013-2016 strategic plan that was approved in August of 2013,\u201d Alger wrote. \u201cThere have been other efforts to approve strategic plans for 2017-18, but the process was interrupted, and the board of commissioners did not approve that plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Alger included several other recent planning documents commissioners can refer to as part of their discussion, including work goals and priorities identified by the board in 2020, a community survey conducted in 2021, a strengths\/weaknesses\/opportunities\/threats (SWOT) assessment completed by county elected offices and departments in 2021, and an April 2022 commissioner survey on priorities and discussion about county mission and vision statements.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Register of Deeds Recognition<\/strong>
<\/p>\n Hentschel pointed to recent efforts undertaken by Haines to warn county property owners about the dangers of a Homeowner Benefit Program offered by Florida-based MV Realty. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro recently announced a lawsuit against MV Realty<\/a> for misleading consumers about the program, which offers homeowners a one-time payment of up to $5,000 in exchange for the exclusive right for MV to list their home on the market if the consumer sells the property any time in the next forty years. Homeowners who try to withdraw from the program \u201cfind themselves at risk for substantial penalties to be paid to MV Realty, or they may be blindsided with a mortgage placed against their property,\u201d Shapiro said, with the company also accused of hiding its terms and conditions from participants.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Haines has started sending letters to any county property owners she sees that have\u00a0Homeowner Benefit Program contracts attached to their parcels to ensure they understood the contract terms before entering into an agreement. Hentschel says her educational outreach is \u201cexactly the type of thing an elected official should be doing, and I greatly appreciate her being on top of this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A new juvenile facility could be coming to Grand Traverse County if family court administrators in Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties can successfully marshal funding.<\/p>\n
County commissioners Wednesday will also have a discussion about strategic planning and possible next steps for the new board, which recently expanded from seven to nine commissioners and has five new members as of January 1.<\/p>\n
Commissioners today are also set to recognize County Register of Deeds Peggy Haines for \u201cproactively taking steps to safeguard property owners in Grand Traverse County from deceptive and predatory business practices,\u201d according to proposed language from Commission Chair Rob Hentschel.<\/p>\n