Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette In this Gazette file pic, the Houghton County Board is seen at its May 13, 2025 meeting. The board met in special session Thursday to attempt to reach a resolution to a dispute with public defenders.

HOUGHTON — The Houghton County Board of Commissioners held a Special Meeting Thursday to discuss how to move forward in the financial dispute with the Tri-County Public Defender’s (TCPD) office.

During the time for public comment, lawyer David Gemignani of TCPD, made the non-profit’s needs clear. “Most importantly, if the county does not release our check, our January bill, today, we close tomorrow.”

Gemignani reiterated to the Board that TCPD had followed the bill insurance for all of its previous payments through 2023. However, he claimed that financial analysis results had changed only a day before the special meeting. Gemignani requested that TCPD be allowed to review the process that resulted in the change.

He also proposed a meeting with the board, the county’s CPA consultant, and TCPD’s accountant, in order to “negotiate and resolve these matters.”

Houghton County District Court Judge Nicholas Daavitala also spoke at the meeting, expressing his willingness to assist in mediation between the board and TCPD, as their contract allows. He also addressed his concern that those arrested in Baraga, Houghton, and Kewennaw counties are provided adequate legal representation through TCPD.

“I know that all of the parties involved here are well-intentioned people who are dedicated to the proposition that their constituents have rights, that they are being enforced … I would further suggest that maybe that committee … sit down with your auditor, sit down with TCPD, sit down with courts, and try and zero in on what the problem is and how we can get past it.” Daavettila said. “Because if we don’t have counsel to refer folks when there are people who are going to be getting arrested this weekend, if I don’t have lawyers available for them at arraignment, the court is going to be dragged into the situation.”

The Commissioners passed several motions in an effort to move toward a resolution of the dispute. These included establishing a finance committee to review various financial documents and approve payment to the TCPD for their January expenses. Finally, the board approved the payment of TCPD’s contract for the rest of the fiscal year.

Following the agreement to pay TCPD, Gemignani said he wanted to “put the past in the past and let’s look to the future for the citizens of Houghton County, for the indigent defendants of Houghton County. I thank you again.”

‘Indigent’ refers to those who are arrested but cannot afford a lawyer, and so are provided with a public defender. In Baraga, Houghton, and Keweenaw counties, these public defenders mostly come from TCPD, which is funded through Houghton County, along with various grants.

Board Chair Tom Tikkanen said he was satisfied with the actions taken by the board . “I think it was reasonable, the outcome is reasonable,” he said. “There was never an intent to shut down the public defender’s office. There’s a discrepancy in numbers, and we still have issues.”

Tikkanen also wanted to reassure the public about the handling of the county’s money. “The county’s funds are extremely well-monitored, but more so now … when we have people who are analyzing every single dollar they run through the county nowadays, they find stuff … we’ll see what actually works out in the long term, but it does require fixing.”

Gemignani spoke afterward and said TCPD is pleased with the outcome of the meeting and the next steps are to engage in meetings with the Board of Commissioners and “resolve it all together.” “We’re not going anywhere!” he added. “We’re going to be on the job, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Following the meeting, Tikkanen said the financial dispute is a result of a previous county administrator overpayment to TCPD years ago. “It was something that was incorrectly disbursed years ago, far beyond our current administrator. Frankly, it was because of [Country Administrator Chelsea Rheault’s] extraordinary accounting abilities that we started to realize things were out of sync.”

Tikkanen explained a previous administrator had given TCPD an advance on grant money the county expected to receive from the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, but TCPD received more money than they should have. Once the discrepancy was noticed by the current county administrator, Houghton County immediately notified the appropriate authorities. The county was instructed to ask TCPD to repay the extra funds they originally received. However, TCPD allegedly said they did not have the money to do so.

“That’s where communications broke down.” Tikkanen said.

Moving forward, the Houghton County Board of Commissioners will establish a financial committee and meet with TCPD to discuss next steps. Commissioner Glenn Anderson recommended updating TCPD’s contract in the future to require more frequent financial reports to avoid similar mistakes.