TRAVERSE CITY — A round of tense talks led the Grand Traverse County Road Commission to postpone their vote on a cost-sharing agreement for a $70,000 contract that employs a facilitator to help steer South Airport Road repairs.
Discussions surrounding a consultant contract for the South Airport Steering Committee raised questions about the amount set to be paid to Fortis Forge owner and principal Todd M. Sanders, as well as the four-month engagement that ends in December.
The cost-sharing agreement asks the road commission to cover approximately $21,000 of the contract. The remainder is split between Grand Traverse County’s Board of Commissioners — paying $30,000 toward the total — and Garfield Township trustees also contributing $20,000. The county and township boards appointed representatives to the steering committee and approved their shares of the agreement earlier this month.
Three of five total road commissioners were present Thursday, with chairman Alan Leman answering questions and fielding tense discussion from fellow road commissioners Joe Underwood and Alisa Korn. The committee — formed earlier this year after April floods nearly washed out the road — is comprised of several business and community leaders seeking to form a long-term solution for the heavily-traveled east-west corridor. Leman added that the committee’s work is already underway.
Korn acknowledged at the beginning of the discussion that she had “a lot of questions” about the contract and it’s overall total.
“If you give us 40 hours a week for the 16 weeks of the contract, it’s about $109.38 an hour,” she added. “We don’t normally pay somebody that much per hour and I also don’t know if it’s a 40-hour-a-week job.”
Korn added that many of her questions about the process and agreement stem from a lack of communication between the committee and the road commission. She questioned how many facilitators were originally sought for the role and if Fortis Forge’s proposal was the most cost-effective plan. She also highlighted previous east-west mobility studies that required significant funding but never occurred, drawing public ire.
“You particularly, really hated our OHM contract for consulting on the East West Mobility Corridor because it was upwards of a large amount of money,” Korn told Leman. “I don’t disagree with you on that. … Now we’re creating a committee on another east-west mobility road. … The irony is kind of clear to me.”
Leman said a total of five local and out-of-state facilitators were interviewed, noting most of them declined to participate.
“We wanted someone hopefully local,” Leman said. “I think we thought, collectively, that somebody who was involved in our community and who had to live with a closed South Airport everyday would help us get the job done.”
Underwood sternly commented that he believed the entire process could already be completed by the road commission for significantly less money and in the same amount of time being proposed — one to two years.
“I believe this has already turned into a colossal waste of money,” Underwood said.
Underwood also added there was no way he could support the facilitator’s contract because of the personal relationships involved, referencing Sanders’ marriage to Peninsula Township supervisor Maura Sanders. Underwood pointed to a perceived conflict between Peninsula Township and the road commission following Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from township leaders regarding investment into road projects.
Underwood’s personal comments prompted Leman to retort that Korn’s husband — Garfield Township trustee Chuck Korn — is also part of decisions being made about this agreement in public meetings. The township trustee cast the only “no” vote when the facilitation contract came before Garfield’s board during their Sept. 22 meeting. The trustee noted the same conflict-of-interest concerns as Underwood, though other trustees didn’t agree there was a conflict.
Maura Sanders — in attendance Thursday for another agenda item — and Alisa Korn both expressed disdain about their marriages being included in the discussions.
“I don’t appreciate my marriage being put into this,” Korn said.
During a second public comment segment, Maura Sanders singled out Underwood’s comments, noting she didn’t intend to stay until the end of meeting but felt it was necessary once her marriage and connections were referenced.
“Unfortunately, staying until the end showed the misogyny expressed by Mr. Underwood,” she said. “I also feel bad that Mrs. Korn had to speak up about her marriage to a Garfield Township trustee after Mr. Underwood’s comments.
“However, also, the Garfield Township trustee that I just mentioned, he said the same exact thing as Mr. Underwood on Tuesday night at the Garfield Township meeting,” she continued. “That was highly inappropriate.”
The supervisor added that it’s “a pretty sad circumstance” when community leaders make personal comments in reference to public topics.
“I hold myself to a higher standard as a matter of my moral code and ethical principles,” Sanders said, adding she and her husband have been married for 26 years and spent the first decade together serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“That’s an organization that lives and dies by understanding what a team function is,” she continued. “Mr. Underwood, I don’t expect you to call back your earlier comments because I believe you do not have the ability to understand how inappropriate they were.
“I do expect that half of the entire community — the female half — might really question your motives,” she said.
County Drain Commissioner Andy Smits also offered a public comment, leaving road commissioners with a stark reminder of how imperative South Airport Road is to the regional economy and how often it has nearly failed since 2020. He also added that the behavior exhibited in Thursday’s meeting suggests a lack of understanding within the road commission.
“People who have stated that they don’t understand or were not informed can always just pick up the phone and call,” Smits said. “They haven’t.”
Smits said he was there to expressly advocate for the “expedient improvement” of South Airport Road.
“I’m doing it because I was there at South Airport Road when we almost lost it six years ago,” he said. “Nothing has happened since October of 2020 and that’s why it’s important to me that activity happens soon.”
The Grand Traverse County Road Commission meets at 6 p.m. on the fourth Thursday each month at their office, 1881 LaFranier Road, in Traverse City.