Clare County BOC 11/18/09
By Mary Kindig
Review Correspondent
Two agenda items – both involving personnel, job titles and duties — became major discussions at Wednesday’s Clare County Board of Commissioners meeting.
The first item – whether or not to replace the payroll clerk in the Administrator/Controller’s Office – had been a topic of discussion during the last two Commission meetings. While it was decided at the last meeting to not hire out the work to an outside firm, Commissioners could not agree on whether the position should be part-time or full-time, union or non-union, payroll-only or expanded duties, or on whether to keep the current job title or change it.
“The reality is, the person who is currently in the position was full-time. At her request, we agreed to let her go to part-time,” Administrator/Controller Bill Newkirk told the Board. “The result was her coming to me and saying, ‘This is not going to work. There’s too much responsibility; there’s too much time involved,’” Newkirk said.
“This is an opportunity to hire somebody that’s out of the union,” Commissioner Don David remarked, “I just think making a decision on it right now is ill-advised and untimely.” “Are you volunteering to go do payroll next week?” asked Chairperson Karen Lipovsky. “No, I’m not volunteering,” David replied.
“I need to be honest with you, it’s a little frustrating that this has been a discussion point for a month now. And we are facing a situation where the current payroll person is processing the last payroll she’ll be processing before she leaves us, and we’re nowhere. We’ve been given plenty of time by the current individual to have her be here for training. At this point in time, she will be out of state, out of the area, so the training will not be a possibility after she leaves as of next Wednesday,” Newkirk commented.
“There is a person I have had a second conversation with. She’s a very capable individual,” Newkirk told the Board, “[a] Business Expense Analyst for a large downstate company, with a seasonal residence up here and wanting to get out of the city and move north.”
In the end, a job title or specific duties were not agreed upon, but it was agreed that a person needed to be hired. Commissioners changed the motion on the agenda, and eventually voted unanimously to hire “a full-time employee for the Administrator/Controller’s Office.”
The second agenda item that prompted a lengthy discussion during the Committee of the Whole meeting was the restructuring of the Administrator/Controller’s Office. Commissioner David presented his own plan to the Board for the restructuring, which offered Administrative Assistant Tracy Byard less pay than Newkirk’s proposal and would have Newkirk retain the title of Controller.
“It isn’t about Tracy or Bill; it’s about what’s best for Clare County,” David remarked. David continued by questioning Byard’s experience, education and ability to perform the job. He cited previous qualifications for the Administrator’s job, such as a Masters in Public Administration or equivalent experience. David further contended that Byard had never prepared a budget, and he objected to Newkirk’s proposal that would pay Byard $55,000 by the end of fiscal year 2010. “That’s a lot of money for somebody that doesn’t have a degree, is inexperienced, hasn’t really made a budget yet and we don’t know how it’s going to go. I just think that’s not a realistic figure,” David said.
David continued, “You make her Controller, it takes a two-thirds majority to get her out of that job. And with the friends she has on the Board, it would only take two people – it wouldn’t matter how bad a job she was doing – they wouldn’t vote to put her out of that office for nothin’. And you could be stuck with Tracy for the next six years because you couldn’t get a two-thirds majority vote to get her out of that office, so making her Controller is just flat unwise, at least at this point, and I don’t think we should do that.”
Several Commissioners objected to the concept that their work-related association with Byard would prevent them from looking out for the County’s best interest. Byard replied, “As for your comment about never putting a budget together – we were without a County Administrator for seven months [prior to hiring Randy Terronez], and I did put that budget together.”
Newkirk commented, “I would dare say that in the budget development process, Tracy is doing 75 or 80 percent of it or more already,” and added that she not only inputs 100 percent of the budget, but troubleshoots problems with it as well. Commissioner Grim commented that when she took the County Administrator’s job, she had neither a Bachelor’s nor a Master’s degree, although she did have over 16 years experience as a Commissioner.
Referring to his previous points, Commissioner David stated, “I’m sorry, but those are facts and those are things we have to deal with.”
Commissioner Lockmiller replied, “They’re facts because you’re saying they’re facts. Truth by proclamation, and I don’t go along with truth by proclamation. I think Tracy has done a superb job. I don’t think she’ll have any problem. I think we should go along with Bill’s recommendation.”
After extensive discussion and suggestions to revise Newkirk’s original proposal, the Board voted 5-2 to send the matter before the full Board at their next regular meeting. The dissenting votes were cast by Commissioners David and Jack Kleinhardt.
In response to rumors that ill health was why he requested to go to a part-time position, Newkirk responded: “Let me clarify my position. I’m at a point where I would like more time – not because I’m going to keel over on you at any moment – it is not related to my health. It is related to my age and it is related to time with my family. Period. At the same time, if there are things that you as a Board feel that I could continue to offer Clare County, I have indicated a willingness and I would stay until I’m 65 if it’s working and if I’m doing something of value for Clare County.”
Another discussion was generated in the Committee of the Whole meeting regarding whether or not the County should request a cost of living increase for retirees. The Municipal Employees Retirement System requires a Supplemental Valuation for each division being considered for a COLA increase. According to Newkirk, this had previously been a free service from MERS, but would now cost $450 for evaluations of the County’s four divisions.
Commissioner Jordon Lockmiller asked, “Why would we give a cost of living increase if there’s no cost of living increase?”
Chairperson Karen Lipovsky replied, “I think we’ve always done it and we should continue to do it.” Lipovsky cited increasing healthcare costs as an additional burden to retirees, despite the otherwise flat economy.
Newkirk explained that, while the $450 would be an expense to the County, the proposed two percent cost of living adjustment would be funded by the money already in MERS. In the end, Commissioners voted 5-1 to allow Newkirk to order the Supplemental Valuations. Commissioner Lockmiller cast the dissenting vote, and Commissioner Grim abstained because she is a County retiree.
Pending the completion of the audit – which is scheduled to begin on November 30th – Administrator/Controller Newkirk reported that the current figures for the 2009 fiscal year show that the County collected $146,774.63 more in revenues than it spent. Newkirk commented to the Board, “We have to hold the line [on expenditures]. It is my opinion you have fixed what needed to be fixed.”
In other business, the Board of Commissioners:
* approved the hiring of two part-time 911 dispatchers in order to save money on overtime pay.
* approved the request by the Clerk/Register of Deeds to post, advertise and fill an anticipated vacancy.
* heard a presentation from Clare County Enterprise Community Director Jerry Burger with support from MSU Extension Director Michelle Neff regarding the effectiveness of the CCEC, its restructuring to a non-profit and tax-exempt organization, and a request for continued partnership with the County.
* was introduced to the new Chief Assistant Prosecutor, Brandon Curran, who began working in the Prosecutor’s Office on October 1st.
* went into Closed Session at the request of an employee regarding an evaluation and discipline issue, after which they voted to resolve the issue per the opinion of legal counsel.
* was informed by Treasurer Jenny Beemer-Fritzinger that the 2008 delinquent tax records are now available online on the Treasurer’s website.
* appointed Rod Williams to the Clare County Planning Commission for a three-year term to expire on December 31, 2112.
* discussed the issue of mental health services being provided to persons in jail, noting the differences of opinion between the Department of Community Health and the Sheriff’s Association and the Michigan Association of Counties regarding the interpretation of the ruling by Michigan’s Attorney General.
* approved the expenditures for the month of September 2009 in the amount of $1,724,709.40 with the General Fund expenditures totaling $784,193.30.
* gave permission for Administrator/Controller Newkirk to replace a failing boiler in the Sheriff’s Department with a two-year-old used boiler, for a total cost of $2,475.
* agreed to further discuss a proposed agreement between the County and the Enterprise Community after obtaining advice from legal counsel.
* approved the transfer of ownership to the County of two homes previously deeded to the Housing Commission.
* voted unanimously to adopt a Resolution in special tribute to Gary W. Gilbert for his years of service with the Mid Michigan Community Action Agency.
