LISA RICHARDS

IRON MOUNTAIN — Dickinson County Prosecuting Attorney Lisa Richards plans to retire effective July 31, County Controller Brian Bousley said Monday.

Richards, a Republican, was reelected without opposition to a four-year term in November. She was first elected to the position in November 2012.

By Michigan statute, Richards’ successor will be appointed by the judges of the county’s judicial circuit.

The news of Richards’ planned retirement came during Monday’s county board meeting as the board faced a decision on whether to seek outside private counsel for ongoing litigation. The board agreed to have the prosecutor’s office continue to represent the county.

Richards was not at Monday’s meeting.

Litigation involving the county includes a complaint filed in February by Jason Gibbs of Iron Mountain. Gibbs contends the board’s decision to deny $81,000 allocated to Michigan State University Extension in the 2025 budget violates Michigan law because no budget amendment was proposed or passed.

A pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for July 9 before Judge Brittany Bulleit of Michigan’s 12th Circuit. Online court records show Bulleit last week approved a motion to withdraw as counsel, presumably from Richards.

The board meanwhile plans to meet as a committee, possibly in July or August, with Paul Putman, district director for the MSU Extension. Putnam had proposed three dates for a meeting in June, but none of them was workable.

Putnam has said MSU Extension is in no way is involved in Gibbs’ lawsuit. His proposed meeting with the board is to discuss the 4-H youth program and other Extension services.

The county had ended Extension funding after millage defeats in 2015 and 2016, but resumed it in 2022. The county provided $75,000 in both 2023 and 2024.

Besides providing for a full-time 4-H coordinator with an office at Bay College’s Iron Mountain campus, the Extension funding has expanded offerings from regional educators in other areas such as agriculture, health and nutrition, natural resources, community and family. Jessica Ice is the current 4-H coordinator, while community educator Libby Hansen began working on nutrition initiatives in Dickinson and Iron counties in May 2024.

County Board Chairman Dan Harrington, newly elected to the board in November, called in January for the elimination of Extension funding. Commissioner Joe Stevens, the only returning board member, cast the only vote in favor of granting the $81,000 allocation that had been approved by the previous board in December.