The Nov. 5 election will determine which party controls the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners (BOC), and which policies and initiatives they pursue next year. The Commission is currently deadlocked between three Democrats and three Republicans, with one seat vacant. In District 3, which serves Suttons Bay and the area east of Lake Leelanau, Democrat Lois Bahle faces Republican Will Bunek. Incumbent Doug Rexroat, a Republican, is not seeking reelection. Bahle previously served on the BOC after defeating Bunek in a special recall election against him. That May 2022 recall election was precipitated by controversial statements Bunek made in September 2021, during a board committee meeting, when he pushed to zero out funding for Early Childhood Services which Leelanau voters had narrowly approved in a 2019 millage. When asked what he learned from the 2022 recall effort against him, Bunek doubled down on his push to zero out voter-approved funding. “It is astonishing that someone can be recalled for lowering unnecessary taxes,” Bunek said. “The BOC continues to lower the early childhood millage, this year by $200,000. It always takes four votes to accomplish anything at the BOC.” Prior to the 2022 recall election, Bahle had narrowly lost two previous County Commissioner elections to Bunek, in 2020 and in 2018. Bahle lost to Rexroat in the November 2022 general election.
