Considerable confusion regarding the Grand Marais Chamber of Commerce has disrupted the public in Northeast Alger County. The main question is whether or not the nonprofit even exists after a decade’s worth of not filing federal tax forms and a claim that the organization had dissolved itself at a special meeting.

Brandi Taylor, who was elected as the Chamber President in the Fall of 2022, has submitted a letter of resignation, and there is no clear leadership remaining for the organization.

Taylor said she discovered the organization’s federal tax identification number when looking to get a gaming license from the state for the Grand Marais Music and Crafts Festival.

“I was getting all the paperwork together and making sure everything was on the up and up,” Taylor said.

“They wanted to do a 50-50 and everything, so I looked up our tax ID number and I saw that we haven’t been a 501(c) non-profit in 13 years.”

According to the IRS, the chamber’s tax identification number was automatically revoked for failure to submit federal documentation on May 15, 2010. It was publicly posted on July 13, 2011.

Automatic revocation requires three straight years of not filing federal forms, meaning the forms were not filled out as early as 2007.

Further issues occurred when the music festival was updating information into its PayPal account. According to Devin Lawrence, who was chair of the festival this year and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, there were over 20 errors regarding registration, identification numbers and contact information.

“We’ve gotten it down from 23 to two, but there were a lot of things that were wrong or needed to be updated,” Lawrence said.

As of Tuesday, Aug.

29, remaining Chamber members are attempting to get the non-profit back to valid status. There are some documents available in paper form from past treasurers that are still being reviewed and the Chamber did file state tax forms, showcasing similar information required in federal forms. The organization avoided a similar issue with its state registration according to multiple members of the Chamber. Former Chamber President Aleta Hubbard cited a mailed notification from the state about not filing forms when she was first named president in 2010.

Hubbard and then Chamber Treasurer Karla Bowen were able to get the Chamber back in good standing with Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).

“When Karla and I took office, it came to our attention that our status as a Michigan licensed corporation was not current. Karla proceeded through numerous phone calls, extensive paperwork and some monetary fines to bring the Chamber current and continued to file the necessary paperwork yearly to keep it that way,” Hubbard wrote in a Facebook post addressing the issue.

Multiple chamber members remembered that mail for the organization was disrupted after the death of a chamber board member. Given the volunteer nature of the Chamber, all mail was directed to the deceased member of the board, which was rerouted to family out of the area. While Hubbard and Bowen were able to get the letter from the state, there was no mailed notification available from the federal government.

Taylor said that she has taken actions to minimize potential legal ramifications now that the federal information was discovered. Running an illegal non-profit organization can result in fines, reclassification of revenue resulting in back taxes, and in some cases, criminal charges, according to the IRS website.

“The felony is when you’re operating a nonprofit when you know you’re not. I called up my CPA as soon as we found out and we were given the okay to pay our bills, but there’s a risk for other activities.

That’s not a position anyone should be in and it wasn’t a risk I was going to force anyone else into,” Taylor said.

Questions also still run wild about whether or not the Chamber is still an organization. When originally addressing the situation, Taylor and other board members questioned whether or not the lack of federal registration for such a long time would automatically end the organization.

A letter posted on the Chamber’s official Facebook page “Grand Marais, MI” said the organization was dissolved. The letter implied that the current non-profit would be abandoned and a different type of organization would be created.

Numerous social media commenters were both confused about what actions were being taken by the Chamber and outrage over the situation in general.

Taylor disputed the phrasing of the letter saying that there was no dissolution vote taken by the Chamber members.

Instead, there was a belief that the organization was automatically abandoned because of the revocation of the federal identifications.

“We would absolutely need a vote to dissolve if we were a legal organization. But if we weren’t a legal organization, then what would be dissolved,” Taylor said.

“My board then directed me to post that ridiculous letter and everything came to a head.”

But since there was no vote, other Chamber members are using the opportunity to try and save the organization.

Hubbard, who describes herself now as “a nonparticipating member” of the Chamber, said that there is a procedure through the IRS to reinstate the identification number. This is assuming that the information from past treasurers and the filings from the state forms are accurate enough to file any back forms from the years of non-filing.

“I think they should apply to get (the ID) reinstated. From what I read, if there’s a plausible excuse with a way to fix the issue, they’ll reinstate it,” Hubbard said.

Lawrence has worked with other chamber members in the goals of reinstating the tax ID. He said that he is also working with private CPA’s to address the issue. Because of the attempt to save the existing organization, an advertised public workshop on Wednesday, Aug. 30 was cancelled.

“It’s a weird situation.

There were assumptions made and even I made some of those assumptions too,” Lawrence said. “But we’ll see what we can do and make the right decision moving forward.”

Taylor said that the Chamber was able to pay for any financial commitments made before the discovery for the Grand Marais Rock Show and the Munising Bay Cruisers Car Show in September. There is also no law or procedure that prohibits any Chamber member from individually volunteering to help the events be successful.

After September, the next event attached to the Chamber is Starry, Starry Night over Thanksgiving Day weekend.

Further meetings for Chamber members will be scheduled, but those meetings are not required to be open to the public.