Legislative Update 8-5-22

August 5, 2022Blog, Events, Legislative, MAC news, MACSC, Marketing, NACo

Don’t lose out on early-bird registration rate for Annual Conference

County officials have just five days left to take advantage of the early-bird registration rate of $395 for the upcoming 2022 Michigan Counties Annual Conference, Sept. 18-21 in Port Huron.

The conference will be headquartered at St. Clair County’s Blue Water Convention Center in Port Huron at the southern end of Lake Huron.

The early-bird rate for members and spouses is set to expire Aug. 10.

Expiring even sooner is the special conference room rate of $129 per night at the Comfort Inn in Port Huron. (A free shuttle service will run between the Comfort Inn and the conference center and there is plenty of free parking at the conference center as well.)

The Annual Conference will feature:

Four plenary sessions featuring key issues now before Michigan and a MAC Legislative Update (Speakers will be announced soon.)
12 breakout sessions for MAC members and 6 workshops for MCMCFC members (Speakers will be announced soon.)
A Welcome Reception and Strolling Dinner on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 18.
A reception sponsored by MAC’s CoPro+ subsidiary on Monday evening, before attendees are shuttled into downtown Port Huron for a “dinner on your own” night.
A lavish President’s Banquet on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 20.

Members of MCMCFC will enjoy specialized breakouts designed for its members to earn Nursing and NAB Continuing Education credits. And MAC members attending the conference will receive credits in MAC’s County Commissioner Academy.

The early-bird conference fee of $395 provides members full access to all conference activities. (The spouse fee also provides access to any conference event, including the President’s Banquet on the evening of Sept 20.) This fee includes two dinners, two receptions, two breakfasts and two lunches. On Aug. 11, the member fee will increase to $425, while the spouse rate will rise to $175.

NOTE: The member rate is open to all county commissioners, administrators, countywide elected officials and county employees of MAC member counties, plus employees and board members of MCMCFC facilities.

Hotel details

Rooms at the Comfort Inn are $129 per night. The Comfort Inn is located at 1720 Hancock St., Port Huron, MI 48060. To book your room reservations, call 810-987-5999. Group Name: MAC.

As of Thursday, the Comfort Inn had 34 rooms still available in the conference block with the special pricing of $129 per night.

Please direct any conference registration questions or issues to conference@micounties.org.

Vast majority of county millage requests approved by voters

Voters in the Aug. 2 primary election gave broad approval to county millage requests, both renewals and increases, an analysis by the Gongwer News Service found.

In fact, only seven out of the more than 100 such requests were denied by the approximately 2.1 million voters who participated statewide in the primary.

Voters in Benzie County approved six different millage questions, while voters in Midland and Sanilac each approved five.

For summary details on all of the county requests from Gongwer, click here.

Policy Summit presentations, videos now available

Presentations and videos from MAC’s 2022 Policy Summit are now available to members with 24/7 access.

The Policy Summit, which replaced MAC’s Regional Summits, featured four major policy briefings on:

Challenges in workforce housing
Michigan’s trails system and its benefits
Michigan’s political dynamics in 2022
Ideas to maximize infrastructure dollars

For links to presentations and videos, visit the Policy Summit page on the MAC website.

Summit to brief community leaders on broadband developments

Join community leaders, federal representatives and staff from the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office on Aug. 18 at this free event to learn about critical programs to expand broadband infrastructure and digital equity throughout the state. During this day-long summit, discussions will include local government and community needs, legislative and program updates, working with industry, data collection and mapping, and supply chain and talent needs, among others.

You may attend in-person or via a digital option for the event, which will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Connecting all Michiganders to affordable, reliable high-speed internet is critical to our economic stability and this event will provide an opportunity for us to discuss ways we can work together to efficiently and effectively utilize broadband funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other federal broadband dollars to the maximum extent.

Broadband policy and how counties can connect their residents also will be the focus of a Plenary Session at the 2022 Michigan Counties Annual Conference, Sept. 18-21. Registration remains open. Click here to register.

MAC includes county settlement projections on new opioids page

A new digital resource for county leaders now includes estimated county-by-county payments coming from the national opioid settlement.

In figures provided by the State Attorney General’s Office, an estimated $78 million will be assigned to Michigan counties. To see your county’s estimate, first visit MAC’s Opioid Settlement Resource Center.

Among the features of the new page are:

An overview of the opioid crisis and the national settlement
Numerous general resources on how counties could deploy their funds to maximize public health
Links to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services webinar recordings

MAC will continue to add news, links and resources to the center as the distribution of the settlement advances.

Staff picks

As species recover, some threaten others in more dire shape (Associated Press)
How (Leelanau) county maps a plan for better broadband (Connected Nation)
Ingham County opens up juvenile justice grant application (Fox 47 News)
Public comment period open on Five-year Transportation Program (Michigan Department of Transportation)

Legislative Update 7-29-22

July 29, 2022Blog, Events, Legislative, MAC news, Marketing, NACo

Higher county reimbursements backed by Juvenile Justice Task Force

Michigan counties would receive a higher reimbursement rate on some juvenile services under a proposal unanimously backed by members of a state Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform this month.

The panel’s report advises a boost in the community-based service/supervision reimbursement rate for counties to 75 percent, from the current 50 percent to 75 percent. The recommendation is to keep the reimbursement rate for residential services at 50 percent, however.

Wayne County’s Alisha Bell and Shiawassee County’s Marlene Webster represented MAC in the task force’s work for more than a year, along with a diverse group of representatives, to recommend reforms that improve public safety and outcomes for youth and families.

Among other key recommendations, the panel advised:

keeping youth under 13 years old out of juvenile court
creating a statewide juvenile public defense system
expanding diversion opportunities for youth
increasing funding availability for community-based prevention and intervention
implementing screening and assessments to inform decisions about supervision and services
developing standards for residential placements and reentry supports for youth
investing in quality assurance mechanisms to ensure resources are used efficiently

MAC is pleased with the task force’s work and supports the key recommendations made to advance positive outcomes for Michigan’s youth. We anticipate legislation to be introduced this fall to implement the recommendations.

For more information on this issue, contact Deena Bosworth at Bosworth@micounties.org.

Register for Annual Conference before key deadlines hit

With hotel rooms renting quickly and an early-bird registration rate soon to expire, county officials are urged to act quickly to get the best possible deals to attend the 2022 Michigan Counties Annual Conference in St. Clair County, Sept. 18-21.

The conference will be headquartered at St. Clair County’s Blue Water Convention Center in Port Huron at the southern end of Lake Huron.

While the adjacent DoubleTree hotel is sold out, about 40 rooms remained, as of Thursday afternoon, at the nearby Comfort Inn for a special rate of $129 per night. (A free shuttle service will run between the Comfort Inn and the conference center and there is plenty of free parking at the conference center as well.)

Visit the Conference webpage.

County officials who have not yet registered should be aware of some looming deadlines:

Aug. 6 – End of the special room block rate of $129 at the Comfort Inn in Port Huron
Aug. 10 – End of the early-bird conference registration rate of $395 for MAC members and affiliates

The Annual Conference will feature:

Four plenary sessions featuring key issues now before Michigan and a MAC Legislative Update (Speakers will be announced soon.)
12 breakout sessions for MAC members and 6 workshops for MCMCFC members (Speakers will be announced soon.)
A Welcome Reception and Strolling Dinner on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 18.
A reception sponsored by MAC’s CoPro+ subsidiary on Monday evening, before attendees are shuttled into downtown Port Huron for a “dinner on your own” night.
A lavish President’s Banquet on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 20.

Register for the conference!

Hotel details

Rooms at the Comfort Inn are $129 per night. The Comfort Inn is located at 1720 Hancock St., Port Huron, MI 48060. To book your room reservations, call 810-987-5999. Group Name: MAC.

Please direct any conference registration questions or issues to conference@micounties.org.

Policy Summit tackles housing challenge, reviews trail system benefits

Dakota Hewlett of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources briefs Summit attendees on the Michigan trails system.

Dozens of county leaders came to Lansing or logged in digitally Thursday for MAC’s first Summer Policy Summit, held blocks from the Michigan State Capitol.

The Policy Summit, which replaced MAC’s Regional Summits, featured four major policy briefings on:

Challenges in workforce housing
Michigan’s trails system and its benefits
Michigan’s political dynamics in 2022
Ideas to maximize infrastructure dollars

“We’ve received great feedback from members who participated in this new version of our summer policy event,” said Executive Director Stephan Currie, who served as master of ceremonies for the event. “We look forward to honing this member service and delivering it to larger audiences.”

Tonya Joy, director of the state’s Housing Initiatives Program (joyt@michigan.gov), strongly urged attendees to engage with her office to report on their community housing needs and any local plans that have been developed to maximize state resources. “Reach out to me and I can put you in touch with the right person at MSHDA,” Joy said, adding, “I’m in the right place today because the message is going to get to the right people.”

Later in the day, Matt Grossman, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University, reviewed the trends of nationalization and polarization in Michigan politics: “We have nationalized elections. Whatever is happening at the national level will be reflected at the state level, too.”

Presentations from the sessions will posted to the MAC website next week. And MAC will post videos of some segments on its YouTube Channel in coming days.

MAC Board president leads Michigan delegation to NACo Annual Conference

Ottawa County’s Phil Kuyers announces the Michigan votes during the NACo second vice president election on July 24.

MAC Board President Phil Kuyers of Ottawa County led a delegation of approximately 40 county leaders from Michigan to the 2022 National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference, held in Adams County, Colorado.

In addition to participating on various NACo committees and attending policy briefings, Michigan leaders voted on NACo policy platforms and in the election of NACo’s second vice president, a contest won by James Gore, supervisor of Sonoma County in California.

“A NACo conference really highlights just how many areas of American life that county governments affect,” said Stephan W. Currie, executive director of the Michigan Association of Counties. “For our commissioners, staying on top of policy changes is a full-time job in itself, which is why we encourage our members to attend every year, since NACo does such as great job on policy briefings.”

If you are interested in getting involved with a NACo committee, contact Currie at scurrie@micounties.org.

Internal controls will be subject of next ‘Fiscally Ready’ webinar

County leaders should be signing up now for the next session in the “Fiscally Ready Communities” webinar series set for Aug. 4 from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

The Michigan Department of Treasury and Michigan State University Extension (MSU Extension) co-sponsor this free training opportunity that is designed to assist appointed AND elected officials.

The Aug. 4 session will be on “Managing Internal Controls” and will cover:

Building a culture of fiscal sustainability
The role of internal controls in fiscal sustainability
Understanding internal controls and their importance
How internal controls help strengthen your community
Best practices for internal controls implementation

For more information about Fiscally Ready Communities, please check out the Treasury Fiscally Ready Communities webpage. This webpage includes Treasury’s 32-page Fiscally Ready Communities Best Practices document, which we encourage all local officials to review.

Staff picks

PILT is no four-letter word for counties (NACo)
Branch County Family Treatment Court established for abuse and neglect cases (Coldwater Daily Reporter)
When’s the best time for states to adopt evidence-based budgeting? Now. (Governing)
How States Raise Their Tax Dollars FY 2021 (Pew Trusts)

Legislative Update 7-22-22

July 22, 2022Blog, Events, Legislative, MAC news, Marketing, NACo

Conference hotel space filling fast for 2022 Annual; register now!

Michigan’s sunrise side is proving a popular destination for county leaders, as registration for the 2022 Michigan Counties Annual Conference in Port Huron, Sept. 18-21, is moving at a brisk pace.

In fact, the primary conference hotel, the Doubletree is nearly sold out.

As of mid-day Friday, there were:

Fewer than 10 rooms in the MAC block available for the nights of 9/18-20 at a rate of $149 per night
Fewer than 15 rooms outside the block available for the nights of 9/18-20 at rates starting at $249 per night

If you are not able to secure a room at the Doubletree, there are plenty of rooms still available at the second conference hotel, the Comfort Inn, at a rate of $129 per night for the period of 9/18-20.

A free shuttle service will run between the Comfort Inn and the conference center and there is plenty of free parking at the conference center as well.

Running from the afternoon of Sept. 18 through the morning of Sept. 21, the 2022 Annual Conference will feature:

Four plenary sessions featuring key issues now before Michigan and a MAC Legislative Update (Speakers will be announced soon.)
12 breakout sessions for MAC members and 6 workshops for MCMCFC members (Speakers will be announced soon.)
A Welcome Reception and Strolling Dinner on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 18.
A lavish President’s Banquet on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Plenty of free time in the afternoons for attendees to enjoy sights and sounds of Port Huron, including the St. Clair River.

Members of MCMCFC will enjoy specialized breakouts designed for its members to earn Nursing and NAB Continuing Education credits.

MAC members attending the conference will receive credits in MAC’s County Commissioner Academy.

Conference Rates

The conference fee provides you access to all conference activities. (The spouse fee also provides access to any conference event, including the President’s Banquet on the evening of Sept 20.) This fee includes two dinners, two receptions, two breakfasts and two lunches.

		Early bird (register by Aug. 10)	Full rate (after Aug. 10)
Member	Full conference	$395	$425
	Single day	$275	$325
	Spouse/guest	$150	$175
Non-Member	Full conference	$525	$575

Hotel Information

The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel is attached to the Blue Water Convention Center (conference headquarters). To make your reservations, you can call the DoubleTree Hotel directly at 810/984.8000 or go online at www.porthuron.doubletree.com. GROUP CODE: MIA

Rooms at the Comfort Inn are $129 per night. The Comfort Inn is located at 1720 Hancock St., Port Huron, MI 48060. To book your room reservations, contact 810-987-5999. Group name: MAC.

Getting around: For those staying at the Comfort Inn, we will provide complimentary shuttle service via Blue Water Transit during the conference schedule. There also is plenty of free parking at the convention center.

Please direct any conference registration questions or issues to conference@micounties.org.

Filing period opens for MAC Board elections in September

At the 2022 Michigan Counties Annual Conference (Sept. 18-21 in Port Huron), MAC members will vote on six seats on the MAC Board of Directors. Commissioners wishing to serve on the Board, whether incumbents or new candidates, have until Aug. 18 to file official notice of their intent to run. (The application form is found here.)

Seats representing regions are filled by a vote in regional caucuses at the conference. At-large seats are filled by the candidate that wins a majority of the six regional caucuses.

The MAC Board of Directors is the key body in guiding the legislative and organizational strategies of MAC. Board terms are three years in length and individuals may serve up to three terms.

2022 Board seats

At-large Seat B – open
Region 4 Seat A – open
Region 4 Seat B – open (to fill 1 year of unexpired term; winner is still eligible to serve 3 full 3-year terms after first year)
Region 5 Seat A – open (to fill 1 year of unexpired term; winner is still eligible to serve 3 full 3-year terms after first year)
Region 6 Seat A – Vaughn Begick of Bay is the incumbent
Region 6 Seat B – Scott Noesen of Midland is the incumbent

Any member wishing to run in the election must download the application form and return it by Aug. 18, 2022, at 5 p.m. to be eligible. Candidates are also encouraged to submit a statement of up to 400 words on why members should support them. These statements will be posted to the MAC website in late August.

If you have any questions about Board duties, please contact Executive Director Stephan W. Currie at 517-372-5374.

Governor signs FY23 state budget with revenue sharing increase

The FY 2023 budget was signed by Gov. Whitmer this week, which is set to begin on Oct. 1. The signing of the bipartisan state budget comes after months of negotiations between the legislature and the governor’s office.

Click here to read the major highlights of the budget, which includes a 6 percent (5% ongoing and 1% one-time) increase in county revenue sharing.

For more information on this issue, contact Deena Bosworth at Bosworth@micounties.org.

U.S. Treasury releases P&E Report update on ARP funds

The U.S. Treasury has released updated compliance and reporting guidance for counties ahead of the July 31 deadline that includes additional information that will be required as part of the reporting process and other clarifying items. Included below, you can find a comprehensive overview of updated compliance and reporting requirements, helpful information on specific sections of the reporting portal and an explanation of the difference between a subrecipient and beneficiary, and how counties can ensure they are complying with reporting requirements for these entities.

As a reminder, counties that are required to submit reports to Treasury by July 31, 2022, are those with populations above 250,000 residents and/or received $10 million or more in total ARPA Recovery Funds.

P&E Report Updates & Other Helpful Information

Revenue replacement: Counties had the option to make a one-time election to either calculate revenue loss according to Treasury’s formula outlined in the Final Rule OR elect a “Standard Allowance” of up to $10 million, not to exceed the award allocation. Treasury has decided to keep this portion of the reporting portal open for recipients in the upcoming P&E reporting cycle, which will allow counties to update their prior revenue loss election.
- Once update, the prior revenue loss election will be replaced. Treasury expects to keep this portion of the reporting portal open through the April 2023 reporting period in order to provide an opportunity for annual reporters to take advantage of this flexibility.
Interested/principal received from loans: Any interest received on loans made with Recovery Funds should be tracked as program income in the P&E Report.
- If a county uses revenue loss funds to fund a loan, repayments to loans are not subject to program income rules.
DUNS and UEI Numbers: As of April 2022, the federal government switched service providers and stopped using the DUNS number and began using the Unique Entity ID (UEI) – All counties are required to switch from a DUNS number to a UEI moving forward.
- If your SAM.gov registration/DUNS number expired prior to April 2022, the county will be required to obtain a UEI before receiving its second tranche payment.
Population threshold: A county’s population threshold is determined by Treasury at the award date and will NOT change during the reporting period. You can find your county’s reporting tier here.
Edit and/or update previous report submissions: Counties can reopen and provide edits to submitted P&E Reports any time before the reporting deadline and will be required to re-certify the report to reflect any edits. After the reporting deadline, counties will be able to reflect changes in the next P&E Report.
Additional programmatic data for capital expenditures: When using Recovery Funds for capital expenditures projects, counties need to report the type of expenditure based on a list of enumerated uses. Examples of enumerated uses are COVID-19 vaccination sites, job and workforce training centers, and public health data systems. A full list of enumerated uses is available on pages 27 to 28 of the updated guidance.
Written justification for capital expenditures: Counties are required to provide a written justification for capital projects of any category that cost at least $10 million and for projects in the “other” (i.e., project not explicitly enumerated by Treasury) category that cost at least $1 million. Previously, counties needed to create a written justification for these projects but were not required to submit them as part of regular reporting.
Description of labor requirements for capital expenditures: Counties are required to provide additional labor reporting. For projects that cost at least $10 million, counties will need to report on the strength of the project’s labor standards, including information on the presence of a project labor agreement, community benefits agreement, prevailing wage requirement, or local hiring. This new required information is outlined under Infrastructure Project on pages 30-31 of the updated guidance.
Project information for broadband projects: The updated guidance requires counties to provide detailed project information for broadband infrastructure investments. Counties need to report what kind of technology is involved in the project (i.e., fiber optic cables, coaxial cables, etc.), the total miles of fiber deployed over the project, and the total number of funded locations served broken out by both speed of connection and type of location (i.e., residential, business, or community). This new required information is outlined under Broadband Projects on pages 32-33 of the updated guidance.
Moving of Recovery Plan Performance Report data into P&E Report: Under the updated guidance, some of the data that was previously only required for the Recovery Plan Performance Report (Recovery Plan) is now required for large counties (i.e., populations above 250,000 and/or above $10 million in awards) on their quarterly P&E Report. For example, large counties investing in housing security programs must now report the number of households receiving eviction prevention services. A full list of changes to programmatic data requirements for large counties is available on page 33 of the compliance and reporting guidance.
Updated template for Recovery Plan: The updated guidance also provides a template for the Recovery Plan due for large counties on July 31, 2022, reflecting the expenditure categories and other changes made by the Final Rule.

Overview of Subrecipients vs. Beneficiaries – Definitions and Reporting Requirements

The distinction between a subrecipient and beneficiary is contingent upon the rationale for why a recipient is providing funds to the individual or entity.

Definition

Subrecipient: An entity that receives a subaward to carry out a project funded by Recovery Funds on behalf of the recipient (i.e. county).
- If a county is providing funds to the individual or entity for the purpose of carrying out an SLFRF-funded program or project on behalf of the county, the individual or entity is acting as a subrecipient.
Beneficiary: If a county is providing funds to the individual or entity for the purpose of directly benefitting the individual or entity as a result of experiencing a public health impact or negative economic impact of the pandemic, the individual or entity is acting as a beneficiary.
- Individuals or entities that experienced the negative economic impact and are the recipients of a project funded by Recovery Funds. In other words, the households, small businesses, nonprofits, or impacted industries that experienced the negative economic impact.

Reporting requirements

Subrecipients: All subrecipients are required to comply with all requirements of recipients such as treatment of eligible uses of funds, procurement and reporting requirements.
- Subrecipients are required to have an active SAM.gov registration and UEI number OR Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), if unable to obtain a UEI
Beneficiary: A beneficiary are not subject to subrecipient monitoring and reporting requirements.
- Beneficiaries are NOT required to register in SAM.gov and are not required to provide a UEI

Marijuana regulation is focus of webinar co-sponsored by MAC

County leaders are encouraged to register for the 17^th session of a series of webinars co-sponsored by MAC, the Michigan Department of Treasury and other local government groups.

“Updates and Resources for Local Governments” will focus this session, set to start at 2 p.m. on July 26, on:

Marijuana Regulation and Planning– State and Local Requirements
Strategic Planning

Participants can register and submit questions prior to the webinar by clicking here.

Presentations and recordings from this webinar, along with previous webinars, can be found at TREASURY – Webinars (michigan.gov). Utilize TREASURY – Contact Information (michigan.gov) for support related to Treasury’s local government services.

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Big discount offered on NACo leadership training for county employees

The NACo High Performance Leadership Academy is offering a special, but brief, discount option for counties to enroll employees in upcoming classes.

This “5-for-$5,000” attendee benefit is offered for the length of NACo’s Annual Conference, which ends July 24 in Adams County, Colorado, and allows five employees of a county to enroll at $1,000 each.

The Professional Development Academy, which partners with NACo on this training, is tailoring sessions to help counties meet trending challenges, such as:

employee retention
talent attraction
succession planning
leadership development

Act fast, though, as the discount ends on July 24.

Staff picks

This federal committee is watching over your pandemic funds spending (RouteFifty)
Report: Local governments are satisfied with current hybrid work arrangement (American City and County)
The simmering GOP criticism of state and local ARPA spending (RouteFifty)
Detroit to put $10M toward open-access fiber network (Govtech.com)

Filing period opens for MAC Board elections in September

July 21, 2022Blog, Events, MAC news

Seats representing regions are filled by a vote in regional caucuses at the conference. At-large seats are filled by the candidate that wins a majority of the six regional caucuses.

The MAC Board of Directors is the key body in guiding the legislative and organizational strategies of MAC. Board terms are three years in length and individuals may serve up to three terms.

2022 Board seats

At-large Seat B – open
Region 4 Seat A – open
Region 4 Seat B – open (to fill 1 year of unexpired term; winner is still eligible to serve 3 full 3-year terms after first year)
Region 5 Seat A – open (to fill 1 year of unexpired term; winner is still eligible to serve 3 full 3-year terms after first year)
Region 6 Seat A – Vaughn Begick of Bay is the incumbent
Region 6 Seat B – Scott Noesen of Midland is the incumbent

If you have any questions about Board duties, please contact Executive Director Stephan W. Currie at 517-372-5374.

Tragedy spurs bid for happy endings for neglected ‘Disney dogs’

July 12, 2022MAC news

By Will Hansen/Communications Intern

A few of the countless volunteers who assembled in support of the “Disney dogs” pose with a few of their charges in Grand Traverse County. (courtesy photo)

From “101 Dalmatians” to “Lady and Tramp” and “Bolt,” the dogs in Disney films have dodged danger, risen above indifference and cruelty and started new, brighter lives for themselves.

So, when Grand Traverse County Animal Control was confronted with an unprecedented canine crisis, a very Disney-like tale with the usual large cast of interesting characters began to unfold.

The story begins when more than 160 dogs were seized from an East Bay Township home in late January by Grand Traverse staffers and eventually encompasses animal control and adoption agencies from across Michigan, all trying to bring the animals a happy ending.

It was Cherryland Humane Society in Traverse City, which provides sheltering services for dogs rescued by the county, that first applied the “Disney Dogs” label because, “They deserve a happy ending,” said Naomi Washburn, Cherryland communications and marketing manager.

The county and Cherryland spearheaded the early rescue operation, one that quickly had its share of sadness, as 32 of the animals were found dead upon arrival at what has been described as a “large-scale” breeding operation.

This news only spurred on the rescue teams, though.

“This extremely negative situation was quickly turned into a positive one by the outpouring of help and donations from our community and other surrounding communities,” said Jaime Bemiss, Grand Traverse County animal control supervisor. “This positive response really shows how much our community cares about animals and the needs for agencies like Animal Control.”

“It’s almost indescribable the feeling of everybody coming together to care for these animals and just the sheer number of them was overwhelming in itself, and emotional and heartbreaking,” added Washburn, “It was really incredible working with a large number of animal control and adoption agencies to give these dogs the best care.”

Mabel suffered horrible abuse and was discovered without her lower jaw at the time of rescue. That didn’t stop her from sharing a smile as she poses with her helpers (right to left), Dr. Dave Durham Ryann Vanderheide, licensed Vet Tech), and Christa Trudo, medical coordinator for Cherryland Humane Society. Mabel was adopted and now “is living a happy life being spoiled rotten,” said Naomi Washburn of Cherryland. (courtesy photo)

The county was investigating the property because the owner had failed to comply with a junk ordinance. But then the dogs were found. Many of them were malnourished and had frozen paws, suffering in deplorable conditions, with little access to food, clean water and medical attention. Due to huge number of dogs, Grand Traverse County and Cherryland Humane Society knew this was something they could not handle alone.

At the time of the seizure, for example, Cherryland was housing fewer than six dogs. “We’re very lucky to have that extra space in our shelter,” said Washburn. “We have had a broad spectrum of assistance and help. There are many different veterinarians that have reached out. The Bissell Foundation paid for all the vaccinations. Several different groomers came in because some of these dogs were in boxes and crates hidden in a truck. You can only imagine that kind of abuse. Their fur was very bad, so we had to have all the different realms of our community come together to take care of them,” she added.

Additional allies arrived, including Little Traverse Bay Humane Society, Kalkaska County Animal Shelter, Otsego County Animal Shelter, Charlevoix Area Humane Society, Humane Society of Huron Valley, Ingham County Animal Control & Shelter, Wexford Animal Control, Eva Burrell Animal Shelter and H.A.N.D.D.S. To The Rescue.

The owner of the residence recently was sentenced to six months in jail for failing to provide adequate care to animals, an all-too-common story in our country. As many as 5,000 new cases of animal hoardings are reported each year in the U.S, involving 250,000 animals. Most such cases involve fewer than 50 animals, however, so the Grand Traverse situation was an extreme one – requiring a unique response.

The agencies have been in the process of adopting the dogs out, “we have received over 100 applications for these dogs before we even were able to put them on our website,” said Washburn in May. “We have to process applications for these dogs very carefully because they have been through a lot of distress and need a lot of love and work, but the adoptions are going really well across the board as long as I’ve heard from the other shelters that we transported to.”

Dogs were rehomed as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Lansing. Only one dog with some challenging needs is still at Cherryland to be adopted.

“We learned quite a few lessons throughout this situation,” said Grand Traverse’s Bemiss. “One of the most important being that if we band together as one, we can accomplish most anything.

“We need to take a closer look at our county ordinances and state laws surrounding animals so these situations can be dealt with prior to becoming this dire,” she added. “Most Animal Control agencies are small programs that aren’t always funded as they should be. Communities can make a huge difference by supporting their local agencies through helping spread awareness messages, volunteering and donating.”

“From this operation, we have learned that our community is incredible,” added Washburn. “These dogs now have a second chance at a better life, and it took a village to make it happen.”