No Criminal Charges for Northport Trustee; Legal Questions Linger

A Northport Village Council trustee won’t face criminal charges for what some allege was a falsification of election paperwork, and for now he’s joined the council for business as usual while the village awaits its attorney’s opinion on the matter.

Edwin Dean was the focus of much attention late last year leading up to and after the November general election, in which he won a seat on the council as a write-in candidate.

He used an address attached to the village marina on his declaration of intent (application to run for election), and many people suspected he did not actually live there full time, as required by law. Dean told people he lived on a boat in the bay.

Questions about his residency and potential falsification of the declaration of intent led to a Michigan State Police investigation. A memo from the Leelanau County Prosecutor's Office obtained by The Ticker says that the state police gathered “sufficient evidence” that Dean did in fact live on a boat near the marina at least some of the time, and that his state driver’s license uses the marina address.

The memo, which details the decision to not charge Dean with a crime, says it’s “not clear whether the statement (of residence) is false. He used a marina with a boat launch, which is on his driver’s license. His decision to use that address was a logical decision, whether or not it was correct.”

Ultimately, the memo – signed by Chief Asssitant Prosecutor Tristan Chamberlain – infers there’s not enough hard evidence of criminal intent.

“This is a complex issue with no clear direction from the legislature. The Prosecutor's Office aims to only charge suspects with crimes if they believe the crime can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the memo reads. “At this time, with all of the issues pertaining to the residency of Mr. Dean, it does not appear this case be proven to the required standard.”

Meanwhile, at last Thursday's council meeting (the first since Dean was set to take office; December’s meeting was cancelled due to weather), Dean and fellow new trustee Joe Ruble were ceremoniously sworn in.

Immediately after that, the council unanimously approved a motion (with Dean himself voting in the affirmative) directing village manager Jim Dyer to “contact the village attorney, Ross Hammersley, for an opinion on whether there are any civil remedies available to the village or this council concerning trustee Dean’s eligibility to continue to sit as a village trustee.”

“I think that given the amount of interest that this has generated in the community that we owe it to the constituents to make sure that we’re proceeding correctly,” Trustee Will Harper said before the motion was approved. “It’s a very gray area of the law….It doesn’t mean we’re going to do anything, but we owe it to do our due diligence to make sure we’re doing the right thing.”

Dyer expressed similar sentiments when contacted by The Ticker after the meeting.

“I would characterize (the council’s motion) as us looking for our options. If it’s not appropriate for him to sit, what steps do we need to take? And if it is appropriate for him to sit, are there any other additional steps we need to take?”

Ultimately, Dyer says, Dean not being charged with a crime is a “pretty low standard” to clear, and he says plenty of people in the village want to make sure that Dean’s seat on the council is legally legitimate, especially since it's very unlikely he lived on the boat year round.

"I very much doubt he was living at that location on Oct. 22 when he signed and filed his write-in candidate declaration of intent," Dyer says. 

Dean did not respond to a text message seeking comment for this story, and his voicemail box was full and could not accept messages. Dyer says Dean recently began renting an apartment in the village and appears to live there full time. 

Image: The January 9 Northport Village Council meeting (from YouTube). Dean is at far left.