Delta County Board of Commissioners Meeting (7/18/2023): Solar, Annexation, Growth, DEI

Benjamin Franklin Drawing

Electricity from the Sky.

Benjamin West, 1805

The town is discussing 

the place for solar panels within 

their community.

This was an interesting meeting to say the least. Good stuff going on in Delta County and that is likely to impact our future opportunities through diligence in clearing issues out and then moving to solve problems. Someday, I hope this will be a place that attracts consistent investments so as to reverse the trend of decline for many U.P. locations and show others how a community can come together to overcome market challenges.

 (In many ways it shows how democracy works on a grass roots level. Democracy is a conversation and shared decision making. It doesn't necessarily apply only here, but in all politics. We should always think critically about any information presented by politicians, leaders, etc. so as to make sure we understand them and their essential points. Many times we sort of just accept things on face value. Politics is the art of negotiation and building conversational that leads to shared understanding. The type of personality will determine how we use politics. If you are more of a good soul you will solve problems and bring people together. If you are sort of a darker soul, you might misuse politics to manipulate votes. The political party should not matter in that as it is a human condition. The environment will determine acceptance or rejection of truth or manipulation through rewarding or not rewarding certain behaviors. Politics should be secondary to good decision making. Politics should also be secondary to the needs of the community and good decision making. Parties should represent the people and be a voice for their needs. People should not be the voice for the parties. When conversation is drawn in reverse order from top to bottom we see greater distortion in decision making and behaviors. Conversation upward into party decision making keeps democracy focused on the people's needs so we grow as a society. Coming out and sharing your concerns is a conversation upward. The locals here have become very interested in the topics. Community Engagement: the innovations changing how its done). 

They have come so far attracting investment, interest, and opportunities. There were some issues that are still being worked out such as the annexation of Escanaba Township into Cornell Township. This was attempted in order to create one large solar farm in benefit of one of the commissioners. The issue of solar farms will continue to be debated for some time, but the issue of annexation is complete at the moment. Many are happy about that!

As a side note, if we do have solar farms in the area, I believe part of the deal should be feeding Escanaba first before the main grid and at a lower price parity point when compared to the open market. It would be one of the better ways of redistributing some of the benefits of local renewable energy and mitigate some of the cost to the community. That doesn't mean they would or could do that, but it would be something to consider if solar farms do go in somewhere (There may be the ability to use smaller farms instead of one/few large farms. i.e. the ability to remove relatively easily if they become obsolete. Concerns of pollution may be lessened using above ground metal structures to secure the panels and less deep anchoring.)

Like much of the country we are debating DEI and its benefit. Whether we call it DEI, or something else, we have a commitment to ensure everyone in the country is treated fairly, inclusively, and part of the same indivisible people. If the board decided they didn't want DEI, then I would have hoped they would have passed their measure with a statement on respect for the diversity of life. I didn't necessarily see a desire to maintain diversity even though they may disagree with DEI. 

(I don't want to get particularly religious as I'm more spiritual than anything. I do know a few things about different religions. I would say that most of the religious philosophers advocated peace and togetherness. They advocated trusting each other. Other then a few examples, the vast majority had some shade of color so I'm pretty sure the Big Guy/Gal/It/Being/One/Energy or however one wants to form it would not be happy if we are damaging his creatures and judging each other on shallow surface issues. Even when we disagree, we can have empathy. Don't listen to me, my beliefs are more in the middle and likely more accurate historically. Everyone is welcome!)

Let us see how these issues are resolved. Right now it would appear that a majority of the community have high political engagement in democratic society and want to ensure their town/area stays open to new comers and other people.