The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners has narrowed down its choices of a new flag for Leelanau County and will likely make a decision at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m.

THE FOUR finalists for the official county flag were identified as (first row, from left) flag No. 1, No. 2. (second row, from left) No. 3 and No. 4.
The county board’s  “campus completion committee,” which has been tasked with completing interior decoration and outdoor landscaping at the new Leelanau County Government Center in Suttons Bay Township, last year asked anyone interested to submit a proposed design for a county flag.

Since then, the committee has received 26 entries from 14 people and narrowed down their favorite designs to four.  The chairman of the county board and the campus completion committee, District No. 4 commissioner Mary P. Tonneberger, said she did not know the names of those who submitted the designs – but the winning designer will likely be named Tuesday evening when a final decision is made.

Acting during their executive committee meeting this week, five members of the seven-member county board indicated that their favored design was the one labeled No. 3. The design includes a Latin phrase translated as, “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.”  Commissioners questioned whether the design should include a depiction of cherries, however; and suggested other modifications.

District No. 3 commissioner Richard A. Schmuckal said he preferred design No. 2, and District No. 7 commissioner Melinda C. Lautner liked design No. 4.

“I think we all like the Latin on flag No. 3,” Tonneberger said, “But if you have cherries shouldn’t you also have grapes and apples?  Maybe no fruit would be better.”

Commissioners also preferred an outline of the county that includes inland lakes, as on flag No. 2, and that the map should include all four islands that are a part of the county rather than just the two depicted on Design No. 3.

Interim county administrator Georgia Robertson said she would ask the designer of flag No. 3 that the modifications be made and an updated design be submitted in time for next week’s meeting.  She said the designer resides outside of Leelanau County but spent summers here as a child.

The campus completion committee is an outgrowth of the county board’s interior design committee, formed three years ago when plans for the new Government Center were first being drawn up.  The committee last year asked for designs for a county flag after it was noted that three flagpoles had been erected in front of the building as designed – containing the U.S. and state flags – but that the third flagpole was vacant. 

Attempts to search for an official, historic Leelanau County flag were unsuccessful.   Officials did uncover a flag from 1976 containing a national Bicentennial celebration logo unique to Leelanau County – but determined that it was not appropriate for use as a permanent county flag.

Campus completion committee members have also held a series of meetings in the past several weeks to determine how to decorate walls in the Government Center.  They’ve consulted with a number of area photographers and with officials of the Leelanau Historical Museum who may provide some historical images for display in hallways.

In addition, the committee has been tasked with finalizing a landscaping plan for the Government Center campus.  Part of that plan will involve construction of foot paths around the campus and landscaping for a new Veterans Memorial site near the entrance to the campus on the southwest side of Government Center Drive north of M-204.

Tonneberger also serves as a member of  the Veterans Memorial Committee, chaired by Schmuckal.
Schmuckal reported Tuesday morning that an architect will present updated drawings of the new Veterans Memorial site during a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the commissioner’s meeting room at the Government Center, just prior to the board’s regular monthly meeting.