Petition to Stop Fiscal Mismanagement and Restore FOIA Transparency in St. Joseph County

St. Joseph County taxpayers deserve a local government that operates with absolute transparency, integrity, and fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, the Board of Commissioners and county administration have actively blocked the public's right to know how their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent. While squeezing departmental budgets and restricting local operations, county administration is quietly diverting thousands of taxpayer dollars to high-priced, private corporate law firms to handle routine public matters behind closed doors.

When a concerned citizen filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to uncover the true cost of these outside corporate lawyers, county administration scrambled to build an unconscionable financial barrier. To hide these public bills, administration issued an astronomical $830.46 deposit fee barrier—implying a total estimated cost of $1,660.92—just to look at 450 pages of legal invoices. This amounts to a staggering $3.69 per page simply to view standard business bills. This artificial cost wall is a blatant violation of the spirit of transparency, explicitly designed to keep the public from seeing where county funds are being funneled.

The Board's Executive Committee—which includes the full Board of Commissioners—is scheduled to formally "consider" the appeal of this outrageous fee wall on Tuesday, July 14th. This is the Executive Committee meeting, NOT the regular Board of Commissioners Meeting held the following week. We need hundreds of signatures before they sit down at that table to show them that the entire county is watching this fiscal mismanagement, weaponization of public records, and protection of special interests.

How We Fight Back: A Plan for Taxpayers
Signing this petition is just the first step. As taxpayers, we have the power to break through this political gridlock and force the Board of Commissioners to listen. Here is how we will pressure them leading up to the July 14th hearing:

• Show Up and Speak: Attend the Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday, July 14th. Use the "Public Comment" period to look the commissioners in the eye and demand they tear down this fee wall. Formally hand your written comments to the county clerk during the meeting and request that they be attached to the official permanent minutes.
• Flood Their Inboxes and Voicemails: Look up your specific district commissioner on the county website. Call or email them a firm message: "As a taxpayer in your district, I am tired of the secrecy. Vote to waive the FOIA fees on July 14th and show us the bills."
• Share This Petition: Post it on local Facebook groups, community pages, and neighborhood club meetings. Bring five or ten neighbors to the meeting with you. In local government, numbers equal power.
• Write to the Local Press: Submit a short Letter to the Editor (under 300 words) to The Three Rivers Commercial-News or the Sturgis Journal. Publicly expose this waste of taxpayer money and the suppression of public records.
• Remember This at the Ballot Box: Remind your commissioner via email that their vote on this transparency issue on July 14th will directly decide how you and your neighbors vote in the upcoming elections.

Our Demands

We, the undersigned registered voters and taxpayers of St. Joseph County, Michigan, formally demand that the Board of Commissioners immediately take the following actions:

1. Enforce Complete FOIA Transparency: Mandate that County Administration completely waive all fees for Request #FOIA-2026-128 under Michigan's statutory public interest waiver (MCL 15.234), eliminating the artificial $1,660.92 fee wall and immediately releasing all outside corporate counsel billing records to the public.
2. End the Conflict of Interest: Formally censure the County Administrator for using inflated FOIA fees to block public records tied to an investigation involving an immediate family member, and implement strict ethics oversight on all future records requests involving administrative conflicts.
3. Stop Financial Outsourcing Waste: Cease the excessive use of expensive private outside corporate law firms for routine county and municipal legal matters, and require all outside legal invoices to be published online for public review.