Newaygo County Board of Commissioners: the MVAA Grant and the Burial Marker Allotment

The record. The Board's Agendas, Minutes & Videos page posts each meeting's agenda and minutes PDFs born-digital; the window's August 12 through October 21, 2026 Board of Commissioners sets were read whole. The board sits Paul Mellema, Lori Tubbergen Clark, James Maike, Mike Kruithoff, Charles Trapp, Bryan Kolk and Brenda Bird; the Finance Committee chair is Commissioner Tubbergen Clark. The money. September 8, 2026, Motion 26-327-1, "Motion by Lori Tubbergen Clark, second by Charles Trapp, to ratify the application of the FY 2027 Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA) County Veterans Service Fund grant in an amount not to exceed $65,799.00 and authorize the Board Chair to sign any and all necessary documents. ... Motion carried." (6 ayes, Commissioner Bird absent.) The same day, Motion 26-328-1: "Motion by Lori Tubbergen Clark, second by James Maike, to approve the increase of the headstone, plaque, and marker allotment for Newaygo County veteran burials from $75.00 to $250.00 per application. ... Motion carried." The marker allotment is the county's own burial benefit - the county's share of the veterans burial duty Michigan counties carry under MCL 35.801 (see the Michigan entry on veterans burial expenses), paid through the Department of Veterans Affairs' applications. The appointment. The Board's August 12, 2026 agenda carried, among the interviews and appointments, "Veterans' Affairs Committee - One (1) Partial Term Expiring June 30, 2030", and the minutes record the board's "unanimous ballot for appointment to the Veterans' Affairs Committee - one (1) partial [term]" - the committee that meets first and third Mondays beside the department (see the veterans-affairs entry). No other veteran item. The window's agendas and minutes carry no proclamation, no further veteran budget line, and no treatment-court action - the SCAO list (updated May 7, 2026) names no Newaygo court. No veteran benefit was adopted, narrowed or repealed; the grant ratifies the office's existing funding and the marker increase raises the county's own burial allotment.