During a closed session held under questionable circumstances, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners apparently decided this week that the county will accept a federal mediator's determination regarding a fired Leelanau County sheriff's deputy.

In an opinion issued Feb. 23, the mediator determined that Deputy Bruce Beeker was fired last year by Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf without "just cause."

In upholding Beeker's police union grievance following his April 2006 firing, the mediator also determined that Beeker must undergo and pass a psychological evaluation before he is returned to duty. In addition, the county must pay the deputy more than $40,000 in back wages and benefits. If he is reinstated, the deputy must also undergo continued psychological counseling and must help pay for the counseling, according to the arbitrator’s determination.

As required by the state Open Meetings Act, the county board held a roll call vote during its executive committee meeting on Tuesday morning and decided 6-0, with District No. 5 commissioner David “Chauncey” Shiflett absent, to go into closed session to discuss the Beeker case.

The rationale for going into closed session expressed by county administrator David Gill was “to discuss a letter subject to attorney-client privilege regarding the Beeker arbitration.”

The county board met in closed session for more than an hour with Oltersdorf, undersheriff Scott Wooters, and jail commander Cheryl King.

During a break earlier in the board’s open session, Oltersdorf told a reporter that he believed the county board would need to decide “whether to appeal the arbitrator’s decision or embrace it.”

Immediately following the closed session, the sheriff and his staff departed the meeting room. After the board reconvened in open session, it moved through several routine items unrelated to the Beeker case – and then adjourned.

Immediately following adjournment, County Board chairman and District No. 6 commissioner Robert W. Hawley initially declined to answer a newspaper reporter’s questions about the closed session and why no decision was made in open session. Hawley said that the board had only “discussed a letter subject to attorney-client privilege regarding the Beeker arbitration.”

Pressed further about what decision, if any, might be made relative to the Beeker case – and when – Hawley responded: “We decided to comply with the arbitrator’s order.”

Under the state Open Meetings Act, any decisions made by a public body such as the county board must be made in open session.

Asked to explain why the county board had made a decision in closed session, Hawley said, “It wasn’t really a decision. We are in receipt of the arbitrator’s determination and we will comply with it as a matter of course. There was no need for any action by the county board.”

It could not be immediately determined what other decisions the county board might have made regarding public employees and the public’s money during the board’s closed session on Tuesday morning.

Contacted by phone later Tuesday, the sheriff indicated he intended to comply with the decisions of the county board and the federal arbitrator.

“The next step is for (Beeker) to undergo a psychological evaluation,” Oltersdorf said. “If he passes that evaluation, he will receive all of his back pay and will be returned to duty.”

The sheriff said he expected the evaluation to be conducted “in relatively short order” and that Beeker could be reinstated as a deputy and returned to duty “within a few days.”

Oltersdorf said that he had not yet determined what duties might be assigned to Beeker, assuming he is reinstated as a deputy. The sheriff also noted that the Sheriff’s Department will be “overstaffed” if Beeker is reinstated.

“If he is (reinstated), we will need to lay someone off,” Oltersdorf said, “but I have not yet determined how that will be handled.”

If Beeker does not pass his psychological evaluation, the Sheriff added, “I’m really not sure what happens next. This is the first time in 10 years that I’ve ever dismissed anyone. And I’m finding that it’s a really hard thing to do.”