Alger County is continuing the eviction of the Alger County Humane Society from the animal shelter building in Munising. After the non-profit organization refused to move out without a court order, the issue transferred to 93rd District Court.

Before the attorneys began discussion, Judge Charles Nebel wanted to clarify his interactions with the county, since Alger County is the plaintiff in the case. He said that while he did not believe that a recusal should be automatic, he said he would stand aside if one of the parties thought it was necessary.

“There’s nothing about what I do that would inherently cause conflict,” the judge said. “This file is not about me. It’s about Alger County and the Alger County Humane Society as it relates to a landlord-tenant situation. The focus needs to be on that discussion.”

After the county’s civil attorney Roger Zappa and Alger County Humane Society attorney Celeste Dunn both said that Nebel should stay as judge in the matter before addressing the circumstances of the case.

“It makes me feel comfortable to (address judicial conflict) because I don’t know the dynamics of Alger County,” Dunn said. “It’s my client’s position that the county commission has exuded falsehoods about my client.”

The rest of the hearing served more as a status conference, as the court was brought up to speed by the individual work done by Dunn and Zappa. Dunn said that some proposals were submitted to hopefully find a solution that would allow the nonprofit to operate at the property owned by the county once again.

“Ideally, my client would like to continue. They thought we were in negotiations and want to continue the status quo and go from there,” Dunn said.

Zappa said that any decisions on behalf of the county would have to be made at the county commission level. According to the Open Meetings Act, talking about legal strategy would be allowed to be held in a closed session. The commission would have to leave closed session before taking any votes. The county commission meets for its first meeting of the month on Monday, Feb. 13, and no agenda has been released prior to publication of this week’s edition.

Alger County Administrator Steve Webber and Commissioner Dean Seaberg, who is on the county’s animal shelter committee, were in attendance. Nobody representing the nonprofit attended the hearing.