After extensive deliberation, multiple amendments, and initial deadlock, Grand Traverse County commissioners approved a 2025 budget Wednesday just two weeks ahead of the state-mandated year-end deadline. The four-hour meeting – the county’s last of 2024 – was overshadowed by a protest outside the Governmental Center and numerous public comments calling on Chair Rob Hentschel to resign as he’s under investigation for alleged criminal sexual conduct.

Budget
Grand Traverse County now has a 2025 budget in place – though it took extensive debate and several failed motions by commissioners Wednesday to get there. Commissioners finally approved the nearly $51 million budget in a 5-3 vote, with Commissioners Ashlea Walter, TJ Andrews, Lauren Flynn, Scott Sieffert, and Rob Hentschel in support and Commissioners Brad Jewett, Penny Morris, and Darryl Nelson opposed (Commissioner Brian McCallister was absent).

Commission division primarily centered on funds budgeted for Camp Greilick improvements, including $100,000 for a new restroom and $45,000 for a kayak rental kiosk. Several commissioners wanted those line items removed, as they either thought cheaper alternatives existed or wanted to see a completed parks plan for Camp Greilick in place before allocating funds for improvements. Those commissioners ultimately won out, with the line items removed from the final approved budget. Parks and Recreation Director John Chase noted that a draft plan for Camp Greilick is now live on the county’s website, with staff taking public feedback on the document through January 12.

The budget includes two new positions for 2025, including a jail discharge planning officer and a treatment court coordinator. Commissioners debated adding a new finance assistant position as well, but opted not to after Finance Director Dean Bott said the timing wasn’t right. The jail discharge planning officer will be funded by reallocating an existing vacant position in the Sheriff’s Office. Staff initially proposed funding the treatment court coordinator using county opioid settlement funds, but commissioners pulled that item Wednesday, voting instead to fund the position with general fund dollars. Commissioners are expected to discuss creating a formal process in the new year for how they’ll allocate dollars from the county’s opioid settlement and marijuana revenue funds. That process will also cover handling funding requests from other jurisdictions or organizations, like a request to financially support Civic Center South Park that commissioners tabled Wednesday.

Hentschel Allegations
More than two dozen protestors gathered outside the Governmental Center Wednesday morning carrying signs that read “Believe Women,” “Resign Now,” “We Expect Better,” and other slogans targeted at Hentschel following news the commission chair is under investigation for an alleged sexual assault of a 38-year-old woman at a party in East Bay Township in October.

Many of those protestors spoke during public comment at the meeting, calling on Hentschel to step down. Attendees – who audibly scoffed when Hentschel opened the meeting by giving an invocation on the topic of “charity” – said his criminal investigation has eroded public trust and distracted from county business. Steering committee member Carlton Ketchum from Traverse Indivisible said the group was calling for Hentschel’s resignation based not on a “presumption of guilt,” but due to a “troubling pattern of alleged and proven misconduct of the leadership of the board of commissioners over the past four years.” That misconduct includes not only Hentschel’s case but Vice Chair Brad Jewett’s guilty plea this year for soliciting a prostitute and former Vice Chair Ron Clous’ ongoing legal woes for brandishing a rifle during a commission meeting, Ketchum said.

Other commenters questioned the handling of Hentschel’s case, given that the alleged assault was reported October 6 but not publicly known until December 9. Hentschel won reelection in his district in the November 5 election by just 125 votes over Democratic challenger Trenton Lee, who has also called on Hentschel to resign. The Ticker spoke with Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Attwood about the timing of the investigation (County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg was on vacation). He said the approximate month it took the Michigan State Police to submit a report to Moeggenberg’s office following the alleged victim’s complaint reflects a “normal timeline for a criminal sexual conduct investigation.” Typical steps would have included interviewing Hentschel and other witnesses/suspects, visiting the alleged crime scene, obtaining cell phone videos/texts/records, and other evidence gathering. That’s followed by the preparation of police reports and other supplemental materials, which are then submitted to the prosecutor’s office and go through an intake process.

The prosecutor’s office receives “dozens and dozens of reports per week,” according to Attwood, which he says explains the timeline of the Michigan State Police submitting its report November 5 but Moeggenberg not referring the case to the state attorney general’s office until November 14, when she requested the appointment of a special prosecutor. Such a request is common with cases involving commissioners because of a potential conflict of interest due to the commission overseeing Moeggenberg’s budget. The attorney general’s office confirmed receiving the case on November 20, another week-long delay Attwood attributes to a likely similar intake backload and understaffing at the state level. Hentschel’s case is still under review by the state.

Attwood says it would’ve been inappropriate for Moeggenberg’s office to put out a press release or otherwise publicly highlight that Hentschel was under investigation, since no charges have been filed against him. “We rarely, if ever, release the name of an individual who’s not charged,” Attwood says, adding the exception might be a suspected criminal who’s on the run and poses a public safety risk. “This wasn’t one of those situations. We want to treat that person like every other potential defendant is treated in any other case.” Though some Hentschel critics have cried foul because the county’s Republican prosecutor didn’t disclose a Republican commission candidate was under investigation during an election, breaking protocol and drawing attention to that candidate without any charges being filed could also be viewed as a form of election interference. “We wouldn’t want to deviate (from protocol),” Attwood says.

Walter alluded to Hentschel’s case when she made a motion to have the county’s legal counsel bring options to the board by the end of January for implementing an ethics review process for elected officials. “We keep being asked by the public what can we do when things happen to fellow commissioners, and right now we really can't do anything,” she said. “Frankly, we have a black cloud over our head right now with multiple situations with multiple commissioners. It's not the kind of commission that the community is looking up to right now.” Hentschel supported the motion, noting commissioners are somewhat limited in terms of punishing other members for ethical violations – things like commission removal are governed by state statute, for instance – but said he was open to discussion related to “if someone makes a mistake, this is how we handle it.” Walter’s motion was approved by the commission. Hentschel did not publicly address the allegations against him Wednesday, which he previously said in a statement were false, nor has he given any indication he will step down.