Is the ACCOA Board Behind Lincoln MI Lawsuit Threats?

The special meeting called by the ACCOA board on 19 January 2023, brought to light in our opinion, just how leaderless the current ACCOA board really appears to be. The meeting was called, it seems, to address “grievances” against two of the current board members by persons unknown and for reasons unknown. It is notable that the board members to which the grievances were directed at (Dr. Bob Turek and Delores Schlicker) have (to our knowledge), still not been afforded their legal recourse in both seeing the letters of grievance against them, and the right to face their accuser. As far as we are able to determine, based on a similar and recent case within Mikado township, law dictates that this information is to be provided to the accused 5 days prior to the date of the meeting. Clearly this did not occur.

One would think that the board, if calling a special meeting to address grievances, would know to have provided the information to the accused ahead of time.

Is the board really controlling their own actions? Or are they being controlled? Let’s explore…

Who is directing the actions of the Executive Director?

What we witnessed yesterday brought back into memory a moment from another recent meeting we’ve attended regarding the much maligned Alcona County Community Hub project. At the 28 December 2022 Lincoln Planning Commission meeting, it came to light that if the Village of Lincoln did not add verbiage to their current B-1 zoning to allow for “town-homes and condominiums”, that they would be subject to lawsuit from the ACCOA.

According to the Chair of the Commission, this threat to the village (and current taxpayers of Lincoln who will foot the bill for any legal proceedings), came from Mr. Avery the Executive Director of the ACCOA.

Here’s the video we recorded on that day:

Our question is simply this: On who’s authority is the ACCOA Executive Director threatening litigation on the community of Lincoln pursuant to their non-compliance on the matter of zoning verbiage?

This does not seem to be the actions of a man who purports to be so community focused. I mean, would a gentleman who is the source of the following quotes from yesterday’s meeting be one to go “off the script” and threaten one of the very communities he purports to serve?

“It is important for us as ACCOA to conduct our business in a professional manner.”

“And I do believe that it’s important to maintain a system of integrity. You don’t have to like anyone here, but we do have to work together. For the betterment of this community. And do so, professionally.

…I don’t understand this. It has-has devolved into mudslinging. So please, let’s restore some decency and order and courteousness as we work together through potential grievances, through potential problems, through solutions. Because this is why you’re here.

You’re here not to push forth an agenda, you’re here to work together. And yes, spirit to debate can happen. People can choose to disagree. That’s okay! We work best when we work together. That’s-that’s the principle that I think we all can stand behind. Not just as humans, but Americans. People who live in this county.

We may have differing views. We may have different beliefs, but at the end of the day I can respect your opinion because I can respect you as a human being. So that’s what I’m asking for. For us to recognize that when things are presented, don’t object out of hand because of the person. Evaluate the merit. Not because well she said it, I don’t want it. That puts people in bunkers. That doesn’t build bridges. That destroys organizations. That destroys marriages. That destroys friendships. We have to get back to working together.”

Is a lawsuit, a bridge builder?

If the Executive Director is someone who wants to build bridges… I simply cannot see someone like that wanting to sue a community because they are not bowing automatically to the demands of the ACCOA and the corporate interests silently pushing behind them to will this project into fruition.

So who is behind this?

Why would you threaten to sue a community you are supposedly working so tirelessly to help grow? Wouldn’t legal fees and legal damages rather hurt the community? I can’t see that the Village of Lincoln is swimming in money these days… From our perspective the threat of a lawsuit is in very bad taste and suggests strongly of an ulterior motive of some sort. Is the ACCOA Board of Directors behind this?

Benevolent organizations and NGO’s do not toss around litigation as a negotiation tactic. Organizations do this because there is money at risk. Money that would be worth more than the cost of litigation (which, last we checked, is not cheap).

This is not benevolence.

Why does the board not want to handle their own issues? Is it the board who is pulling the strings?

Back now, to yesterday’s meeting. It seems that Mr. Avery is highly in favor of the board directing the spending of ACCOA money on a “third party investigation” to cover grievances that, as of yet, no one has even been able to verify the existence of. Of course, this is not in the interest of “transparency” but, seems to be something which would remove the responsibility from the board and hide the entire process from public purview. A third party investigation irrevocably obfuscates the situation of resolving a public grievance, and destroys transparency.

Is it really the board pushing for this action? Why would they seek to hide their actions from the public by the utilization of a third party?

Here is what the Executive Director had to say about the suggestion for a third party intervention…

So, as I was saying. It is important for us as ACCOA to conduct our business in a professional manner. And as such, I do believe the recommendation that is set forth, clearly speaks to the motion that is currently on the table. So if the recommendation is that an independent party comes in and reviews everything, we could have been done, dusted… You could have had your say, you could have been interviewed, everything could have been talked about. You could say, talk to this person, talk to that person, because an independent person would be going here. It’s not the board is making any recommendation, it’s not the board that’s conducting an investigation. It’s an independent party. So then, I don’t understand the motion. I don’t understand that we have this conflict.

An observation and a question: Director Schwanz had much less to say on the topic of third party arbitration than the Executive Director. Notably, she was the only board member speaking outwardly in favor of third party arbitration for these alleged grievances…. An outsider might see this and surmise that it really wasn’t Director Schwanz behind this push. After all, couldn’t it be possible that the actions of the ACCOA Grievance Committee are being guided by an “invisible” hand from behind the scenes?

If the board is in control of this situation, we feel they need to assert themselves. This game of hiding behind “anonymous” complaints does not instill confidence in the organization, and based on public comment at the most recent County Commissioner’s meeting, the situation at the ACCOA is clearly putting their locally taxpayer funded millage at risk.

The board clearly needs to sort this out. Is the recusing of Mike Maturen from yesterday’s meeting the first step in changing the leadership of the ACCOA board?

Time will tell.

We are the news now.

Jeffrey Dobbs