L’ANSE– The Baraga County Board of Commissioners passed a number of resolutions, purchased a vehicle for the Sheriff’s Department and brought up the topic of foreigners buying land in the U.P. during the board’s July meeting Monday.

The first resolution passed was the State Disaster Contingency Fund Grant, which allowed Governor Gretchin Whitmer to authorize the grant to Baraga County to cover $250,000 in damages from flooding in May. “Most of the funds are going to be passed through to the Road Commission to help the washouts and stuff,” County Clerk Wendy Goodreau said. “We had a little bit of flooding in the basement, but that was very minimal.”

The board passed a resolution in opposition of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ (MDHHS) plan to implement a competitive procurement process for prepaid inpatient health plans. MDHHS’ plans are thought to have private entities possibly assuming control over behavioral health services, and the privatization could disrupt relationships between local mental health authorities, providers and their communities. Vice-Chairman Craig Kent read from the resolution, “Counties across Michigan have historically played a vital role in governance, funding and oversight of the public behavioral health system and any changes to the structure without meaningful county input under undermines the principle of local governments, and whereas maintaining a publicly accountable and locally governed behavioral system is essential to ensuring that individuals with mental health and substance abuse needs receive timely, appropriate and high quality, high quality care.”

Commissioner Bill Menge was quick to support the resolution. “This would take away from the counties and privatize it,” Menge said. “Will we get healthcare for people that need it?”

The Board adopted another resolution regarding healthcare, which urged action to oppose proposed cuts to Medicaid by the federal government. The resolution calls to fully allocate medicaid behavioral health funds to the state of Michigan in fiscal year 2025 and beyond. The resolution seeks to forego propose reductions to Medicaid through shifting to block grants, per capita caps, reducing medicaid expansion or other suggested means of reducing the federal share for medicaid spending which would transfer the financial burden to the state of Michigan.

The last resolution to be approved was UP Area on Aging’s 2026 Annual Implementation Plan for services to the elderly. One resolution failed to pass due to lack of support, which would allow Amtrak access to the U.P. with a rail system. Chippewa County passed a resolution which seeks to access the national transportation network for its residents and visitors. Chippewa County requested to extend the Hiawatha train north of Milwaukee and connect all the way to St. Ignace.

Menge then brought up a topic he said he wishes be discussed further in future meetings. He is concerned with the amount of land that is being purchased by foreign countries. He explained his research showed Keweenaw County had more than 200,000 acres purchased by foreign countries. “So I looked up every county that was available, and there’s over a million acres in the U.P. that are owned by the Dutch, the English and Canada. Singapore was one of the big ones,” Menge said.

Menge is concerned about the resources that are taken from the U.P. and utilizing systems such as roads which are paid for by locals. Menge said he has discussed the issue with local representatives like Greg Markkanen, Karl Bohnak and Ed McBroom and they said the issue will be addressed in the State House and Senate, but they doubt Senate would pass anything addressing this issue. Menge urged everyone present to write and call state representatives addressing the issue.

Finally the board approved the purchase of a 2025 Ford Explorer for the Sheriff’s Department in the amount of $62,569.41. The cost will be covered by the Stone Garden Grant.