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Shiawassee County Board votes to join lawsuit over solar-farm rules, limits legal spending to $10,000
Summary
The Shiawassee County Board of Commissioners voted Oct. 23 to authorize the county coordinator to join a lawsuit with Foster & Swift challenging Public Service Commission rules related to solar farms, amending the motion to cap county legal spending at $10,000. The motion passed on a roll call of 6–0 with one commissioner recorded as present.
The Shiawassee County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 23 authorized County Coordinator Dr. Boggs to join a lawsuit with Foster & Swift Law Firm challenging Public Service Commission promulgated rules affecting solar farms, and amended the authorization to cap county legal spending at $10,000.
Dr. Boggs told the board Foster & Swift had approached the county about the matter; the board then considered a motion to allow the county coordinator to join the suit. Commissioner Howard moved the original motion and Commissioner Emery seconded; the board later amended the motion, and the amended motion carried on a roll call vote of six yeas: Commissioners Webster, Johnson, Garber, Howard, Emery and Chairman Brodeur. Commissioner Holzhausen was recorded as present. The transcript records no recorded nays.
Board members did not provide extended debate in the public record during the motion; the record shows the item was introduced following Dr. Boggs’s report that Foster & Swift had contacted the county. The motion as amended limits the county’s commitment to legal costs to not more than $10,000.
The action authorizes the county coordinator to participate in the legal action; the transcript does not specify the exact legal claims, the status of any existing filings, or whether county funds would be used to pay Foster & Swift directly. The transcript identifies the target of the legal action only as “Public Service Commission promulgated rules” related to solar farms; no statutes, docket numbers, or further legal briefs were cited in the meeting record.
Procedural next steps were not listed in the meeting minutes. The board did not vote on any additional appropriations for legal work beyond the $10,000 cap noted in the motion.
