Avery believes he was unfairly suspended and that the board failed to follow policy during the suspension process.

“I formally request an independent review of my job performance, my body of work composition, grievances, and board accusations,” Avery told the Commission on Aging board. “This review should have all evidence presented, not hearsay, produced for formal review. I also request that the independent review team be the Alcona County Board of Commissioners. This group has knowledge of ACCOA and a fiduciary understanding of the Commission on Aging. If it is found that the Board of Directors did not have cause to terminate, suspend, or violate its employee agreement with Lenny Avery, it is hereby requested that this board be dissolved and a new board of directors is formed with the help and support of the Board of Commissioners.”

Messages left with Alcona County commissioners seeking comment were not returned.

On Tuesday, four members on the Commission on Aging board resigned and Avery was suspended during a six-hour meeting that stirred debate among board members and those in the audience over Avery’s job performance and a proposed project to construct a community center as well as housing.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Lenny Avery, executive director for the Alcona County Commission on Aging, who is suspended without pay, reads a statement to the ACCOA board at a meeting on Thursday. Avery is demanding a review of his suspension done by the Alcona County board of Commissioners.

The state awarded the Commission on Aging a $12.5 million grant through its Economic Development and Workforce Grants program. The Commission on Aging had previously proposed plans to use the grant to construct a community center that would also serve as a senior center and include senior and public housing, but a new plan and ideas have been proposed that could scale back the project.

The new plan would focus entirely on senior citizen amenities, with public portions of the plan removed.

The Commission on Aging is not required to pay a match to the grant, and the money for the project must be used by the end of 2024.

Avery said that, depending on the progress of the construction, an extension could be granted.

Avery attended Thursday’s Commission on Aging meeting to defend himself and monitor the board’s decisions. He sat with supporters and was calm and quiet, except when it was his turn to give public comment.

Despite that, the police were called to have him removed from the open meeting. Deputies from the Alcona County Sheriff’s Office spoke to Avery, but he was allowed to continue attending the meeting, as it was open to the public.

The police were also called after the meeting while Avery was doing an interview with local media outside his office.

“This time, three responding officers came,” Avery said. “They came up to me to notify me that the police were called again about a disgruntled employee going into offices. I did not go into any office, nor did I have keys to go into any offices. I asked the officers to write a formal complaint of harassment against the Alcona County (Commission on Aging) Board of Directors.”

Since Avery’s suspension, the majority of the Commission on Aging’s remaining board members have allegedly met at the Lincoln Senior Center on two occasions — something experts say potentially violates the state’s Open Meetings Act.

Michigan Press Association Deputy General Counsel Joe Richotte said that, if business was discussed while the board members were in one place together, it could violate the Open Meetings Act.

Richotte said even simple discussion about who the new president could be, or what policy or operational changes need to be, likely would involve deliberations.

LeRoy Perrin was elected the new board president, Dolores Schlicker was elected vice president, and Bob Turek was elected secretary at the start of Thursday’s meeting.

After each nomination, there was no discussion before unanimous votes were recorded.

“You absolutely should be doing that in an open meeting, because it is essential for the public to see and hear the discussion, because it allows them to see if the board members are adequate to have been appointed,” Richotte said. “Having discussions that are not held in the public, whether there was an Open Meetings Act violation or not, guts transparency.”

Richotte said that, even if there was a violation, the board could simply correct the mistake at a future meeting with discussion and a vote in an open meeting. He said that, if a violation is confirmed, a fine could be imposed on the violating board members.

Perrin admitted the majority of the board may have been at the Senior Center, but, he said, there were no deliberations.

He said what is happening on the board and with the project is something past Commission on Aging board members have never experienced. Perrin said everyone — including the staff at the Senior Center — are trying to do what is right, with as much transparency as possible.

“We are doing the best that we can and doing what our attorney tells us to do,” he said. “Right now, we are trying to get a full board together and an executive director, no matter who that is.”

On Thursday, the board attempted to go into closed session, despite the fact doing so wasn’t on the approved meeting agenda. It also tried to end the meeting without a public comment session.

Knowing that was a potential violation of the Open Meetings Act, Avery spoke up and read his statement. Others followed and either expressed their support for the board, Avery, or different aspects of the project.

Many people voiced their concerns about the recent behavior and actions of the board, Avery, and those who live in Alcona County, and hoped everyone could come together and move forward with the project some residents say is much needed.

“I’m saddened by all of this,” one woman told the board.