The fight over the Alger County Animal Shelter was back in the 93rd District Court on Wednesday, June 21, but any immediate action will have to wait until another government acts.
The Alger County government and the Humane Society of Alger County are still fighting over the eviction notice that would remove the shelter from the county-owned building in Munising. The Humane Society of Alger County uses the name Alger County Animal Shelter as a DBA (doing business as) title, but is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization incorporated as a directorship. The original lease between the county and non-profit expired in 2021, but was extended a month or two at a time through county commission votes. The commission voted to evict the non-profit last August.
However, the non-profit says that they have found land in Munising Township where they can build a new shelter building. The parcel is part of the wooded area behind the Wetmore Post Office off of Connors Road and M 28. According to Humane Society President Greg Beatty, the property will have to be bulldozed and a prefabricated building costing roughly $80,000 be shipped in, but all of that is pending a conditional use permit from the township. To get the permit, the non-profit has to wait until the Munising Township Planning Commission meets next week.
“Once we get the zoning approved, then we got to get in there with a bulldozer and knock over trees, get it all leveled. That’s where my uncle’s construction company starts in, they’ll have the laser transit and level it all off,” Beatty said. “Then we got to go from there. We have lots of volunteers with ties to construction companies and will be able to set something up.”
Roger Zappa is the attorney for Alger County, which is considered the plaintiff in the case. Zappa said the county has concerns about the feasibility of the project from a logistical standpoint and is pushing for a set timeline from the non-profit on when they will leave the building for good.
“We’ve been asking for a timeline for some time now. The building (proposed by the non-profit) isn’t bought yet. There may be supply chain issues that come up with a prefabricated building. We also don’t know if there are contractors lined up, which could be difficult to do,” Zappa said. “I don’t know these details and I need to know more that what I have at this time.”
According to county officials, Alger County is at risk of non-compliance of state law for failing to run an animal control. New Alger County Commission Chair Dean Seaberg, Animal Control Director Eric Artress and a dozen other county staff members were in attendance. None of them, or any other county officials, are currently allowed in the shelter until the eviction suit is completed.
“Our problem is that we can’t access that building. We don’t have use of the facility,” Seaberg said. “The state says that we have to do this and have to have this animal control.”
District Judge Charlie Nebel said in the hearing that he is interested in the most reasonable solution to the eviction, which would be a timely and amicable exit of the county-owned building by the non-profit. He said a set timeline after the Munising Township Planning Commission meeting is a reasonable request by the county.
“Being out of the building on (August) 1, 2024 is not reasonable. But being out on August 1, 2023 is,” the judge said. “We can’t keep moving goalposts and need to have a fair understanding of the facts. What I don’t want to have happen is we reschedule today and then can’t find a contractor or get the parts of a prefab building in time.”
Humane Society Attorney Celeste Dunn said that if there is not an amicable solution, that the non-profit is willing to lodge a defense that takes a more aggressive approach. The shelter is claiming that new language in the proposed lease violates state law and the county commission was retaliating against the shelter for questioning the clauses. While parts of the argument were expressed during the hearing, Dunn said that it was in everybody’s best interests to focus on willful departure, but wanted to make sure that the court understood that they were ready to use that tactic if it was necessary at a later date.
Both sides also addressed a common concern about the potential euthanasia of animals that are in county control for more than four days. According to state law, the county must hold animals for at least four days before putting an animal down. Currently, the county is taking the animals to nearby shelters like UPAWS or Eva Burrell in Manistique, with Seaberg saying it is not the desire of the board or any county staff to kill animals. Beatty said that in the future, the Alger County Animal Shelter would take in any animals that needed help finding a forever home from the Alger County Animal Control.
There are concerns of conflict of interest at the Munising Township level. Zappa serves as the township’s primary legal counsel as well. He stated that he rarely gets involved with planning commission issues, but if it were to become a problem, he would look into recusing himself to stay with the county in these proceedings. Artress is a member of the planning commission, and told reporters that he planned on attending the meeting and would abstain from voting on the matter.
Both sides also added talking points of transparency, financing and handling of animals in emergency situations in post-hearing interviews, but none of those issues were brought up in detail during the hearing.
The Munising Township Planning Commission will meet at the Munising Township Hall in Wetmore on June 27 at 7 p.m.. Plans for the conditional use permits are available for public review at the township hall.
