News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Alpena County Commission on Aging board members Rolland Lynch, Dolores Schlicker, Mike Szczepanowski, and Kelly VonFintel are pictured at their regular meeting in the Sunrise Center on Tuesday.

ALPENA — A total of 87.5% of the yet to be paid contractors that worked on the Sunrise Center in Alcona County have now been paid or have established a payment plan, according to the Alcona County Commission on Aging (ACCOA) Treasurer Ken Kosal.

The ACCOA board held their regular meeting Tuesday, where the matter was discussed.

The meeting was held at the Alcona County Sunrise Center, which was built thanks to a nearly $13 million grant ACCOA received and was opened in July after several setbacks and controversy around the project.

The grant also funded eight bungalow-style homes for senior living at the location.

There were 16 contractors that had not been paid as of October, Kosal said. Now, 14 of those contractors have been paid or have payment plans in place. The other two claimants have failed to provide the requested information to facilitate payment and are still in the holding pattern.

This information comes after a Dec. 16 meeting which became heated when two of the unpaid contractors, Andy Shaw of Andy Shaw Development and Construction, and Brad Smith of Smith

Electric gave public comments expressing their concerns. Smith’s attorney Michael Lamble also spoke at the meeting. The police were called at some point during the meeting and two sheriff’s officers were in the hallway when the meeting concluded.

Smith told The News on Monday that he and Shaw have still not been paid for the work they have done. Smith said ACCOA owes him about $250,000 and Shaw much more than that.

At that meeting, it appeared that those 16 contractors were not yet paid. Shaw made comments saying that ACCOA’s attorney, Attorney Matt Herstein, was going around to the contractors and attempting to negotiate down what they were owed.

Lamble had filed a lien against ACCOA on behalf of Smith.

A lien is a legal claim against one’s property or assets that is used as collateral to satisfy a debt. Courts often issue liens when a debtor fails to pay a loan or other debt agreement.

“I didn’t expect to hear it today, but I wanted to thank the board for their leadership,” Ty Damon, a former ACCOA board member, said during public comment. “It’s amazing that in 90 days you’ve gotten 16 unpaid vendors down to two. That’s unbelievable…I know that was not easy and you guys stepped into a big mess.”