By William Meiners
Herald Staff Writer
[private]In a busy, well-attended meeting on Monday night, the Fulton Township Board of Trustees appointed a new supervisor and made a move to change law firms to represent the township in litigation brought on by the Heartland Farms Wind Project.
Doug Antes was appointed supervisor. Foster Swift, out of Grand Rapids, will be the new legal counsel in the continued defense of keeping wind turbines out of the township.
Antes was one of two men, along with Harold Defever, who interviewed for the supervisor position before the meeting. Approved unanimously by the board, Antes, who was sworn in quickly thereafter, began running through the agenda.
On the legal front, Fulton is looking to defend itself on an alleged violation of the Michigan Open Meeting Act. Lawyers from Invenergy, the Chicago-based company behind the wind project, have appealed the township’s April decision to deny special use permits on 12 wind turbines in the area.
The appeal was filed in June in the 29th Circuit Court of Gratiot County, and a court date has been set for Sept. 27.
To date, Fulton is the lone township out of six to opt out of the Heartland Farms Wind Project. Washington was the last to approve the plan “with conditions” in June. They joined Newark, New Haven, North Shade, and North Star townships in a project that could still break ground late this year. Originally slated to build 72 wind turbines, this would be the county’s sixth and final wind farm.
Kathleen Defever, a San Francisco attorney who has returned home frequently in 2022 to help rally efforts to keep a dozen turbines out of Fulton, led off the public comment portion of the meeting by speaking about the township’s legal representation.
Defever said she “understands the qualifications needed” to stand up against the large wind company’s team of lawyers, and recommended Mike Homier, the man sitting next to her, of Foster Swift, to step in.
Some discussion among board members focused on the practicality of switching law firms in the appending case. “I’ve obviously not sat in this chair very long, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for the township to play ‘musical lawyers,’ depending on what’s going on,” Antes said.
Both Kathleen Defever and Homier acknowledged their legitimate concern. Though Defever said it’s “not even close to being too far along.” A simple form, she suggested, which can be completed in about an hour, would allow the township to switch counsel.
Homier later stated that the initial hearing in late September is “light years away in attorney time.” Under his leadership within a “municipal practice group,” Homier has helped other Michigan townships fight “big wind.” In 2018, an 18-month long lawsuit against Almer and Ellington Townships, brought by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Another man in the audience, a self-described “engineer for over 45 years,” weighed in on the subject. “I don’t hire a civil engineer to do an electrical job. And I don’t hire a mechanical engineer to do a civil project,” he said. “It’s the same thing. If our present lawyers have not shown proof of having expertise in defending litigation, they shouldn’t be in the running.”
Harold Defever pitched the need for “tougher, harder lawyers” in this new world. “This lawsuit is well over 2,000 pages,” he said. “If we lose this, we’re going to have tons and tons of other lawsuits to follow.”
Further discussion followed on the use of two different law firms, and Homier explained that the township can retain their current counsel, the Lansing-based Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes, PLC, for any projects they like. They could also hire Foster Swift on a case-by-case basis. When it comes to large “land-use” cases, however, Homier said these are routine for his firm, relying on up to 10 lawyers on his team with different areas of expertise, “because we do it all the time.”
A motion made to engage with and hire Foster Swift was approved and greeted by applause in the Township Hall.
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