News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz Tents are seen on Thursday at the Alpena County Fairgrounds.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Facilities, Capital, and Strategic Planning Committee voted to take steps in removing third-party payments for campsites at the Alpena County Fairgrounds; not to bar homeless individuals.

According to Jesse Osmer, county administrator, the committee voted on Wednesday to draft a letter that would be sent to individuals whom the county receives third-party payments from for campsites.

Often, these third-party payments are to rent campsites for those experiencing homelessness.

Osmer told The News on Thursday that the letter is pending the full board’s review and legal counsel.

“I could very well go to our attorney and they say ‘You can’t do that,’ and then it’s dead in the water,” Osmer said. “So they have me looking into whether or not that’s possible.”

Osmer explained that this action follows an increasing track record of various vandalism incidents at the Alpena County Fairgrounds since he’s been county administrator. Fairgrounds management staff has been increasingly having to hire third-party maintenance to clean up instances of vandalism.

According to Osmer, there have been instances of food, fecal matter, and blood being smeared on the bathroom walls. He said that soap containers are also frequently emptied and the county has had to replace damaged property.

Osmer stated that just this week there was an instance of car theft from a campsite. He said the individual sped from the fairgrounds parking lot and caused a two-vehicle crash on Ripley in Alpena.

“It’s not like this is an isolated incident,” Osmer said. “It’s constant … we’re supposed to be there for camping.”

Osmer said that these instances have been increasing in the time since he’s been involved with the fairgrounds.

“There’s been an increase every year for at least three years … of damage or incidents to the property that are increasing the cost for us to maintain the properties,” Osmer said.

Osmer said that his job and the job of commissioners is to be stewards of taxpayer money, of which a portion goes towards the maintenance of the Alpena County Fairgrounds.

“The fairgrounds belong to the taxpayers, so we need to make sure that that’s maintained and respected,” Osmer said. “We’re just concerned that we won’t be able to keep up with the cost.”

He explained that the issue at hand is to not prohibit homeless individuals, but rather to eliminate third-party payments.

“It’s important that people understand the motion was not to bar homeless people from camping there,” Osmer said. “It was simply to stop taking third-party payments, because when there’s no investment by the individual … that’s when they’re abandoning things. They’re mistreating the property.”

Osmer explained that not all homeless individuals are to blame for the increase in vandalism at the fairgrounds.

“We absolutely have homeless people who come there, and they are fantastic people,” Osmer said. “They take good care of the property. They’re kind … they follow the rules.There’s no issues at all.”

The motion is to ensure that homeless individuals go directly to the county when seeking shelter. Osmer said that oftentimes, the fairgrounds management does not meet the individuals for whom the third-party payments were made.

“It was simply to just say, ‘Listen, we’ve tried working with third-parties’ … it’s quite different than when somebody actually comes to the door and says, ‘Hey, I need a place to stay,’ and you actually have a conversation with them,” Osmer said.

Osmer explained that the board is committed to addressing the homelessness issue in Alpena and discussing potential solutions.

“We do understand we have an issue with homelessness that does need to be addressed,” Osmer said.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.