At the Oct. 21, 2025, Isabella County Board of Commissioners meeting, commissioners discussed concerns about three Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests denied, and the Humane Animal Treatment Society (HATS) annual report.

Bree Moeggenberg, an Isabella County resident, talked to the board during public comments about three FOIA requests being denied.

The FOIA requests were related to Spicer Group, a company in Saginaw that does engineering, architectural services and more. The FOIA contained information about a previous plan for a new administration building adjacent to the new jail to be built in Mount Pleasant, according to David Marr, architect at Spicer Group. It also had costs for building design, the original contract and an updated contract.

The board has confirmed that those were old plans, and they are going to renovate the old administration building downtown near the courthouse. The previous administration building was left vacant after asbestos was discovered in 2023.

Moeggenberg had concerns about the board not providing different building options to the public. She said the public should have a say in where taxpayer money is going and how much is spent.

“When I requested my FOIA for the new build, the next day they decided to put a proposal just to renovate the old building,” Moeggenberg said. “They lied to me and said it was going out to bid.”

After Moeggenberg's first FOIA was denied, she said she addressed her concerns to the board through emails and calls. She proceeded by reaching out to the county FOIA coordinator for a FOIA appeal and eventually got it reversed.

“Miss Moeggenberg had three various items she had appeal on,” Brian Smith, county administrator, said. “The first I will take responsibility for. I was incorrect on the determination on denying it based on the one fact of it not being available. I looked at it not being available to the public body which I had incorrectly interpreted at that point.”

Smith explained that he had the information about the new building, but did not realize that it was considered a public body while it was in his possession.

Frank Engler, chairperson of the Board of Commissioners, followed up about the FOIA. He said that last month, there were five meetings where the new building was discussed and provided an opportunity for the public to reach out. There was no problem with releasing the design even though they were not going to proceed with the new building in the end, he said.

“My only real concern is that it puts numbers out there that aren’t real numbers,” Engler said. “The estimates, we always estimate high, so I don’t know if that’ll affect if we go with it or not.”

HATS report

Additionally, at the meeting, Sera Henry, the executive director at the Humane Animal Treatment Society (HATS), an animal shelter in Mount Pleasant, presented their annual report.

Henry started by expressing the success they’ve had. Henry said, 859 animals came through HATS this year in Isabella County only, and they had 660 adoptions. The shelter has a 95% save rate, which makes it a no-kill shelter.

Henry also explained some of the services HATS does for the community.

"We do offer a free food pet pantry," Henry said. "As well as, probably our biggest program, is going to be the track and return for feral cats. Up to four a year, if you can trap it, we will spay/neuter it for free per address in Isabella County."

HATS is currently working to decrease the feral cat population. HATS has people monitor blocks around the city with a cat population of over 15. Henry said that by monitoring the cats and tagging them, they can hopefully reduce the feral cat population.

The program also did over 1,800 spays and neuters in the last fiscal year, which has helped reduce the homeless pet population in the county.

Their budget for HATS as of August is $650,000: $457,000 goes to labor expenses, $151,000 goes to animal care and $41,000 goes to operational expenses. HATS works to maintain lifesaving animal programs in the county.

Henry said that 30% comes from general donations, 24% from the county contract, 20% from adoptions, 16% through grants and 10% from events.

“We’ve really been unable to take animals outside of our county because there is such a need in Isabella," Henry said.