News photo by Kayla Wikaryasz Bonnie Altman gives her public comment behind Alpena County Commissioner William LaHaie and Commissioner Dan Ludlow at an Alpena County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday.

ALPENA — Alpena County residents packed the Howard Male Conference Room Tuesday afternoon for the monthly Alpena County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Attendees who are against the potential Alpena County Fairgrounds lease with Blackwaters NE LLC, a development company, gave public comment in opposition to the proposed project.

Board Chairman John Kozlowski told The News that discussion regarding the fairgrounds was previously on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, but the county chose to pull that item since commissioners had just received an updated copy of the county contract with Blackwaters on Saturday, over Memorial Day weekend.

He added that the board was concerned that the short time frame would not give the commissioners enough time to read the contract in full.

“It was taken off because we got an updated document Saturday night,” he said. “Because we received it after the agenda was put out and the fact it was a holiday weekend … we just decided to remove it.”

Those who gave public comment cited concerns such as the speed at which the project proposal was presented to the public, questions were raised regarding transparency, and concerns were brought forth regarding the future of the fair and 4-H.

During public comment, a member of the public, Bonnie Altman, chose to give her public comment from behind the commissioners, stating her comments would be better received by commissioners if she were to speak behind and closer to them.

“I’m going to speak from back here, because when we speak from the podium, nobody seems to hear us,” she said.

At the end of the meeting, after the final public comment, Kozlowski addressed certain comments made by the public that he said were not accurate.

He said that assumptions that commissioners were receiving kickbacks as part of the deal with Blackwaters was “comical.”

“Look at what a commissioner makes, then go out and look at what we have in our bank account,” he said. “I would be more than willing to show you my bank account. I’m getting no kickback from this … none of the other commissioners are getting a kickback.”

Kozlowski explained that the idea that the deal with Blackwaters is already finalized, is also false.

“For anyone to say that this decision has already been made, the contract is signed, is not true,” he said.

He added that the contract that the commissioners had previously voted on is now null and void because it was dependent on the Alpena County Fair Board to approve its own contract. The fair board chose to cease negotiations with Blackwaters NE on May 5.

Kozlowski noted that the claim that the fairgrounds property had been gifted to the county is false. He said that the county paid for the property in 1901 for $2,581, and the only stipulation was that a week out of the year would be allocated to the fair.

He said that some smaller sections of the property had been donated, but the largest section, “Section 5,” was purchased by the county.

“I have all the contracts or rather deeds on that,” he added.

Next, he explained that he had taken the suggestion by some members of the public to reach out to the Florida Federation for Fairs and Livestock in regards to Jason Atwell, the former Blackwaters NE head of production and events. He said he also reached out to commissioners from Florida who Atwell had previously approached about a development project at its county fairgrounds. Kozlowski said that was a month ago and the commissioners had yet to respond to his inquiries.

“I still have not heard back from anybody in Florida,” Kozlowski said. “To say that none of us are doing any research is false.”

Kozlowski also commented and said that Facebook is “absolutely the worst place to go to get your information because you can’t believe 90% of it.”

“You know where the best place to get your information is one of these board of commissioners here,” he added.

He stated that he is “always willing” to sit down with people and discuss their concerns and address questions they may have.

It is still unknown when the commissioners will discuss the latest proposed contract with Blackwater and vote in it.

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