Antrim County commissioners will vote tonight (Thursday) on a resolution to request state approval to form a unified court in Antrim County – a move that would end Antrim County being part of the 86th District and 13th Circuit courts with Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties. Antrim County officials are dissatisfied with the level of service they’re receiving under the agreement and believe they could reduce costs by establishing their own court system. However, Grand Traverse County Administrator Nate Alger said Wednesday that court leaders disagree with Antrim’s cost analysis “completely” and oppose the move, though cannot stop it.

A resolution on Antrim County’s commission agenda tonight aims to “create a unified trial court” in the county. Antrim currently has one-full time judge – the judge of probate, who also presides over the family division of 13th Circuit Court. Antrim County receives the rest of its judicial services as part of an agreement with Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties to operate the 86th District and 13th Circuit courts, the resolution notes.

But that arrangement “does not promote the efficient administration of justice or deliver services to the people of Antrim County effectively or economically,” according to language prepared by Antrim County Administrator Jeremy Scott. Scott wrote that the primary goal of Antrim moving to its own court system is “to reduce costs for the system as a whole, while providing the best service possible to the public.”

According to Scott, “an Antrim County court system provides greater opportunity for communication, which will always be inherently difficult with courts, employees, and buildings in different counties. Also, with courts working closer together and with agencies such as CMH (North Country Community Mental Health) and DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services), we would have the opportunity to create innovative solutions that can be flexible as we utilize data and improve on metrics-based outcomes. We believe that this could be a pilot project for a new model for rural court systems.”

If approved by Antrim County commissioners, the resolution states Antrim will “request, through concurrent legislation, that the Michigan Legislature, the governor, and the Michigan Supreme Court” combine the functions of the probate and district courts in Antrim County as of January 1, 2025. The resolution also seeks to create a new circuit judge position to take office as of January 1, 2027, and adopt a concurrent jurisdiction plan for the Antrim County circuit, probate, and district courts. Scott estimated the move will save Antrim County $200,000 annually in “wages and benefits alone.” However, court staff said Wednesday that Antrim County’s cost analysis left out a range of operational expenses and did not reflect an accurate full accounting of running a court system.

According to Alger, the commission chairs and administrators of all three counties met with the district court judges on October 24 for a recurring review of the intercounty operating agreement. There was no discussion about “Antrim County being interested in separating from the 86th District Court or 13th Circuit Court at that meeting,” he said. But the following week – on November 2 – Scott sent Alger a letter indicating that discussions in Antrim County “over the last year about the concept of a unified court system have continued to grow to the point where it is time for the board of commissioners to begin discussing the concept and providing direction.”

While Scott said the “idea is still at a very high level and only conceptual” in November, it was followed this month by a resolution for commissioners to move forward with pursuing a unified court. “Providing the best service and cost saving have been at the center of this idea and all of the discussions,” Scott wrote in November. “Best serving the Antrim County public is absolutely paramount to any change. There are many steps prior to creating a unified court system and much of it would be out of the hands of the county itself...if we were to move forward, the next steps include a resolution from the board and would require an act from the legislature early next year in order to be established for the 2024 election, with a changeover taking place in 2025.”

According to Grand Traverse County Finance Director Dean Bott, the agreement between Grand Traverse, Leelanau, and Antrim counties to operate the courts breaks down cost-wise as follows for 2024:

Circuit Court
Grand Traverse: 75 percent, Budget amount: $1,707,203
Antrim: 15 percent, Budget amount: $308,641
Leelanau: 10 percent, Budget amount: $205,760

District Court
Grand Traverse: 70 percent, Budget amount: $3,103,730
Antrim: 18 percent, Budget amount: $637,208           
Leelanau: 12 percent, Budget amount: $336,865

“The agreements that are in place define how personnel expenditures and other court costs are shared, and some costs are shared based on the caseload percentages that do change from year to year and some costs are direct costs that are paid by each county,” Bott explains. “Juror fees and contract services that are specific to each county are charged 100 percent to that county.”

Grand Traverse County is the fiduciary of the agreement. Alger said neither Grand Traverse County nor court officials were aware until just recently that Antrim County was dissatisfied with the agreement or services received. “Neither court supports the potential change,” Alger wrote in a memo to commissioners. “Most concerning to the courts is that no one from Antrim County has discussed this with any of the judges from either District Court or Circuit Court.”

After meeting with court representatives on December 14, Alger said those representatives “were certain that Antrim County’s potential move to a unified court is not in the best interest of the citizens in Antrim, Leelanau, or Grand Traverse County and will cost each county more tax dollars than (are) currently being spent.” Grand Traverse County Commission Chair Rob Hentschel said he spoke with Antrim County Commission Chair Terry VanAlstine about the potential separation. There are concerns Antrim County has been “underserved” in some regards, like some types of specialty court hearings being held in Grand Traverse but not Antrim County, Hentschel said. He added it wasn’t clear to what degree Antrim County had fully vetted its potential savings under a unified court system, adding he also believed it will cost each county more in the long run if Antrim leaves.

Alger noted Antrim County has the right to leave but said the concerns expressed to date didn’t seem significant enough to warrant ending the longstanding agreement between the three counties. Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties will have to shoulder more of the costs of operating 86th District Court and 13th Circuit Court if Antrim leaves, he said. Hentschel said that if Antrim County commissioners decide to pursue their own court system and believe they’ll be better off under that structure, that’s ultimately their decision. But at the end of the day, Hentschel said, the numbers will “probably show that we work better together.”