(WXYZ) — Several Oakland County leaders told the Oakland County Board of Commissioners on Thursday that they need to step up and help the local communities in their fight for transparency.
Watch public comment from the Oakland County Board of Commissioners meeting:
The 7 Investigators were the first to tell you about the effort by one township supervisor who says Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter and his administration are refusing to give Orion Township key information about the actual costs of their sheriff’s patrol contracts.
Several other township supervisors say the same thing is happening to them.
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On Thursday morning, other township supervisors and treasurers spoke out during public comment at the commission board meeting. They all say they need to know the actual costs of the contracts—not just allocated costs from the county and pointed out that commissioners had passed a resolution in 2024 requiring the release of the actual costs.
After asking for a meeting for more than a year, Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett says he was forced to file a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA). When part of the FOIA was denied by Coulter, Barnett says he was forced to sue the county to release the remaining public documents.
The 7 Investigators have learned that instead of using county staff lawyers, the county hired outside counsel for Orion Township’s FOIA lawsuit. According to campaign records, attorneys from that law firm (including the two attorneys listed on the case on the court docket) have given County Executive Coulter at least $22,795.32 in campaign contributions in the last few years.
The taxpayers are now paying two of those outside lawyers $235 an hour to fight Orion’s attempts to get their public records on the actual sheriff’s contract costs.
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“Oakland County regularly and appropriately utilizes outside legal counsel in a variety of matters, which is a common and responsible practice for large public entities. Given the broad scope of work handled by Oakland County’s Corporation Counsel and the limited size of its in-house staff, outside counsel provides valuable specialized expertise and additional capacity when needed,” said Oakland County Public Information Officer Bill Mullan.
“Over the last several weeks, Oakland County’s fiscal team has provided detailed information to communities who have contacted the county with questions about their Sheriff contracts. We will continue to do so for any community who requests information from us. The county has also responded to questions from Supervisor Barnett over the past several months. Oakland County is currently reviewing the complaint the supervisor filed… in Oakland County Circuit Court and will respond through the appropriate legal channels,” said Mullan in a separate statement to the 7 Investigators about the sheriff’s contract issue.
Barnett says the county has not responded to his questions or his emails. As the 7 Investigators first reported, Coulter even canceled a meeting that had been scheduled with Barnett and his budget director when Barnett refused to rescind his FOIA for the financial records.
Today, several commissioners agreed the county needs to resolve the growing controversy over the sheriff’s contracts.
If you have a story for Heather Catallo, please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com
