Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 board of commissioners meeting to order. At this time, we'll have the pledge of allegiance and then the invocation led by Commissioner Phil Duckham. All rise, please. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Please bow your heads. Lord, tonight we ask uh for good judgment, politeness, and debate, and the ability to do the job of the people for Jackson County. Also asked to bring our nation together after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And uh we are probably as divided as we ever been. Lord, we pray in your name that we may come together. Amen.

Madame clerk, could you please call the role? Yes, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Bayer, present. Commissioner Walls here. Commissioner Kennedy here. Commissioner Duckham here. Commissioner Pleski here. Commissioner Willis here. Commissioner Williams present. Commissioner Snell here. Chairman Chhatwell here. We have a quorum. Thank you. Entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So move. Support. We have a motion and support. Any items for to be added. Hearing none. All in favor of the agenda, please say I. I. I. Those opposed, same sign.

Duly carried. We have no awards and recognition this evening. If there's any communications or petitions, please give them to the clerk at this time. Seeing none, we have no special orders, no public hearings. We've arrived at public comment. Public comment guidelines. Each individual will state their name and have three minutes to address the board. You may only address the board once under this public comment opportunity and may not yield your time to others. Board members will not debate nor answer questions at this time. First opportunity for public comment. Good evening, uh, commissioners. Russ Jennings, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Committee. Um, I come here today because I've had the honor along with the, uh, I suspect the chairman of the Democratic Party to

Oh, I'm sorry. Good. Nice. Nice stuff out here in the county. um uh uh to choose uh three candidates to serve on the uh Jackson County Board of Commissioners. Um we've had I was able to choose three wonderful candidates for that. Uh Karen Wooten, um Karen Holddridge, and Sharon Hastings. Um Sharon Hastings I don't know very well. Um I heard great words from about her from the clerk and another member of the uh board of canvasers. Um she is the current uh person who serves. Karen Hordridge is new to the Jackson County Republican Party and so far she's been a rock star. She would be great to serve on that committee. Um and then Karen Karen Wooten who has been a member of the Jackson County Republican Party for a very long time and um serves the community well and has for many many years. And so my recommendation to you if you please would consider Karen Wooten as your choice for the uh Jackson County Board of uh canvasers. Thank you. Hello, my name is Sharon Hastings and I am one that's currently on the board of county canvasers and um I have served one full term and I started in 2020 um when I finished out a partial term for someone who was running for an office. And so I' I've enjoyed very much working with the board of canvasers and with Sierra and Jenny Cruz. Um they do just a wonderful job and I've learned so much about the process behind the election. It's just amazing. And I feel that um the knowledge that I have gained that I

can continue to use that in future um elections coming up. And so I would be happy if you would reconsider me for um another term. Thank you very much. Good evening. My name is Susan Smallley. I live in Liberty Township. I'm one of the Democratic uh names put forward for the board of canvasers. I've served for two terms now, so eight years. Um as all of the canvasers, I've learned a lot. I think we've uh done our job e efficiently and effectively. We've gone through recounts and uh I think all of that has gone very well. I know that the other people put forward are also good candidates and you can't make a wrong decision when you make a selection. Um it's been a great pleasure to serve. I look forward to serving in the future if not on that board in some other way. Thank you very much. Any other public comment? Any other public comment? Public comment is now closed. We have no special meetings or standing committee. Entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the July 22nd, 2025 meeting and the approval of the minutes of the August 19th, 2025 meeting.

So moved. Support. I have a motion and support. Any items for correction, deletion, or addition. Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, same sign. We have arrived at the consent agenda. the consent agenda. I need would like a motion, please.

I have a motion and support. Any items for removal from the consent agenda? Commissioner Bear. Thank Thank you, Chairman. I would like to remove 9 C, 10 A, 11 A, and 11 B. Go over that again. 9 C

11 A 11 10 A correct and 10 10 A. Yeah. 9 C 10 A 11 A 11 B 9 C Madame Clerk will become 13B. One more time, please. You state that

9 C will become 13 B. 10 A will become 14A. And the two items from the human services 11 A and B shall become 15 A and B.

Thank you. Any other items for removal for discussion later? Seeing nor hearing none, Madam Clerk, could you please call the role? Yes, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Walls, yes. Commissioner Kennedy, yes. Commissioner Duckham, yes. Commissioner Pleski, yes. Commissioner Willis, yes. Commissioner Williams, yes. Commissioner Snell, yes. Commissioner Bayer, yes. Chairman Chhatwell, yes. Motion passes.

Thank you. We've arrived at 13 standing committee public safety and transportation chaired by vice chairman Corey Kennedy. Commissioner Kennedy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We'll have two items of business tonight. The first will be the board of canvasers, which I will pass off to the clerk shortly here. First, I'll state what happened in the committee meetings for the Republican seat. The current member is Sharon Hastings. We had three applicants. Sharon Hastings, Karine Holddridge, Karen Wooten. The committee was split two to two on Sharon Hastings and Karen Wooten as the committee recommendation. For the Democrat seat, the current member is Susan Smallley. Susan Smallley has reapplied along with applicants Lauren Campbell and Mary Gibbons. The committee recommendation was Mary Gibbons. At this time, I'll pass it on to Madame Clerk. Thank you. According to MCL168.24C section 3, the county board of commissioners within 10 days of their annual meeting, which is today, shall elect by ballot to each position one of the three nominees for this position. I will now hand out the ballots for the commissioners to fill out and return back to me. Thank you. It's actually

I have received all ballots. I will calculate them now. Commissioner Kennedy, are you ready for the results?

Yes, Madam Clerk. For the Republican canvaser vote, we have five votes for Sharon Hastings, four votes for Karen Wuten. Democratic canvaser vote. We have six for Susan Smallley, two for Mary Gibbons, and one for Lauren Campell. Thank you, Commissioner Kennedy. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That split vote will go to the majority holder there on the Democrat. Just for clarification,

the the rules are that a person who receives a majority vote five or more automatically is the winner of the vote. Sir,

thank you for the clarity on that. That'll take us to item 13B. That is a request from the director of the 911 Jackson County Central Dispatch. He is seeking a new assistant director position at a cost of approximately $117,000 including benefits. I believe Commissioner Bear had that pulled. Um, I've looked

motion staff recommendation support. I hear support. Comments. Comments. Yes. Starting with Commissioner Duckham and then Commissioner Baird. $119,000 we've done without this. As long as the radio dispatch system has been working, why do we need it now? You want to answer? Yes.

Thank you. Uh I would first say that um Jason has done an admirable job. It's uh unreasonable to expect him to work 247. He's the only person over there who's uh he takes calls in the middle of the night, all that sort of thing. Uh anytime there's something that really hits the fan, it's on Jason uh to do it. And uh a lot of everybody can do that for a while, especially people or quality like Jason, hard worker. Uh but after a time it starts to take its toll and we have no um redundancy over there. If something happened to Jason, we'd be hardressed. Um, but I would add um, uh, ask Deborah to speak directly to it a little more because Jason is a direct report of hers and she works with it much more closely than I do. As Mike indicated, um, Jason gets called on a regular basis, including vacations. He's not able to take PTO and have a full day off without getting interrupted or questions or emergencies or IT issues or those types of things. we have been operating this way. Um but it's been for a bit that we needed to to resolve this issue. Um the other item that we need to think about as Mike um suggested is Jason is it Jason is eligible for retirement next year. I'm not saying he is retiring. We don't know that. But he's eligible for retirement next year. If he chose to retire, we would have no one that would be able to oversee 911. So, we need to have some succession planning. That's not the only reason that we should adopt this position. And my um recommendation is to adopt this position, but um this position is proposed to work an afternoon shift or

an odd shift of Jason. So, that would permit Jason to have some off time where he isn't being interrupted. Um right now he doesn't have a work life balance. And so, um, he's, as Mike indicated, he's interrupted at all times of the day and night and comes in and he's been doing this for many years now. And it's, as Mike indicated, it's not reasonable to expect someone to continue to do that.

Commissioner Bear,

thank you. I'm in agreement with this motion. To me, it's just the wrong time. We're 75% of the way through our fiscal year and we're adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to our budget. When I looked through the budget materials presented, I could not find where this position is indicated in the budget. So, I don't know I don't know where this is going. Um, we don't need to do this today. Um, I would like to make a motion to amend if this is the appropriate time.

Okay. I move that in compliance with state law and county policy that the board of commissioners approve the budget for the Jackson County Health Department and Friend of the Court in September as their fiscal years begin on October 1, 2025 and delayed decisions on all other funds until December 2025 because the other fiscal funds fiscal year begins January 1, 2026. I have copies of this for the clerk.

Is this a statement or is this a motion? Because 2025 is over with. We're September. 2025 doesn't end for three more months. Correct. But we already passed the budget for 2025 last year. You asked us to wait to do the budgets for 2025. I asked that we approve the budgets for the Jackson County Health Department and Friend of the Court. Now, for what year? Their fiscal year begins October 1, 2025. For what year?

They start 2026 October 1st of this year. Yes. Well, you said 2025. I did. Thank you for correcting my mistake. I appreciate that. So my motion to amend is to to approve the budgets for health department and front of the court now because their fiscal year begins October their fiscal year become begins October 1, 2025. No sir 2026 starts October 1. So they have no budget for the next 12 months.

Who? The health department and friend of No, you're passing their budget for 2026 right now. That starts October 1st. September 30th, their 2025 ends. It ends three months early, Commissioner Bear. No, that's not what was stated even in other motions to come to us tonight. Mr. Chair, point of order. I let let me work through this, please, sir. Thank you. To place a point of order, someone needs to put their hand up. Point of order doesn't mean I get to interrupt you and you have to stop talking. That's not what point of order means.

Commissioner Bear, I'm Commissioner Bear, I'm letting you talk. I'm not letting anyone interrupt you, sir. I'm waiting for you to actually make an amendment. Are you telling me that the health department and friend of the court's fiscal year doesn't begin October 1, 2025? Yes, it does for 2026. Well, it's their 2025 2026 budget. Correct. Okay. It's their 2026 budget. Starts October 1st of 2025. Correct.

Okay. It has for 30 years.

Okay. So that's what I stated. Approve the health department in front of the court's budget for the fiscal year. Their fiscal year begins October 1, 2025 and goes through October September 30th, 2026. So yes, we have to approve those tonight, but delay all other funds until December 2025 because the other fiscal funds don't begin until January 1, 2026. So they don't need to be approved tonight. And let's see, let me refer to just let it go. It's not in that one. It's not in that one. Let me see here.

Just wait. No, it should be got too many documents tonight. Beg your pardon. Commissioner Bear, you have an amended motion on the floor. Correct. I hope so. Is there support for the amendment? Seeing none, we'll move on. Commissioner Kennedy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I acknowledge that there's multiple departments in the county where it would be useful to have extra employees. I'm sure a lot of people in the private sector and the business world feel the same. However, there's other pressing needs whether that's in the private sector or in the public sector. In our case, it's in the public sector. When I talk to residents, their top concerns are poor roads, the fact that we can't fund a jail situation that we have downtown and they want crime reduced, violent crime in Jackson County. to me until we address those core issues, I don't think we should be adding on other long-term costs. Um, so I won't be in support of this or really any new long-term costs until we address those situations. And we're a long ways from it. Thank you.

Any further commissioner comments? Commissioner Walls. Thank you. Um, having been on hazmat, an emergency room nurse, working in trauma, working in all of those things, I will be in support simply because if tomorrow the current director were to be hospitalized and there was a situation, we have no one to step in. Is that correct? That is correct.

Okay. So, in the event of a true emergency in the county of Jackson, what if Jason is one of at ground zero, one of the patients? Then what will we do? Then it becomes a triage situation and it becomes it could be a hazmat situation and we have to pick the worst over the best. And I'm here to tell you, having been a nurse in that situation, having gone through all of those classes and studied for many, many years, that is not some place we want to be. I am in support of this particular position.

Commissioner Williams. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions were the same as Commissioner Waltz, so I'll withdraw.

Administrator Overton. Thank you. Um, to be clear, I I don't want to mislead anyone. You know, if something happened to Jason, we would continue to have dispatch. We would just not have the the leadership and the experience that Jason brings to the table there. We have uh frontline supervisors and all that stuff and they would do the best they can to keep things and moving forward and uh and the sheriff's department, I'm sure, would step up and things like that. So, I don't want anybody to think that we would totally just fall apart. But at the same time, it does remain that uh we would struggle at that time without Jason. There's no doubt about that. I want to be clear. Uh but at the same time, we uh we're more than one person. You know, uh any one of us could not be here and the county would still perform. Uh you know, we would make it work. So, I don't want to overstate it, but I do appreciate your comments and clearly you have experience in that area and uh know what kind of challenges we would face, but uh you get enough of us together and we will figure it out. But it wouldn't be easy. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Further question to what you said or Well, now with what was just said, I now do have a question. Go ahead. If I may. Yeah. So, with with that being said, uh Mr. Overton, do we have a course of action in writing? No, I don't believe we do. As far as uh

Yes, we do. Our our current policy is that Jason has trained subordinate staff that cover a shift. There is not a hierarchy within that system though to pick one to be the boss. Okay. What there is is if an incident were to occur and Jason was at an indisposed position, it would fall then to the administrator controllers's office to identify and mitigate the situation. And with that, he the people that are the shift supervisors would work with the administrator controllers's office to mitigate whatever the situation is.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Anything further? Yes, sir. There's a question for me, Mr. Chair. Coming that way. Hold on. Commissioner Duncan would be next with this next question. This is his second time to speak. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Using your explanation, then next month we can expect a assistant director for department of emergency emergency management being they have nobody else there. The objective fill is to fill the position. If it can be done in 30 days, then yeah, you would see it that way. Normally, it takes 60 to 90 days to get things.

No, I'm talking about one person director. Now, emergency management has one director. No, it doesn't. It has Jason Brining there as a backup. Who is the former director, but any department? Then we're going to add a second layer of No, not No, Phil. Not any department. Don't trivialize this situation.

You have a You have an opportunity and a need for someone at 911. We are creating a 911 system that is going to have much greater technology use and have a situation where our 911 operators are going to be visualizing as well as listening to situations and have to prioritize things. We need a second person there as Commissioner Walls has stated to take care of stuff like this. If you don't think it's important, then I think maybe you would be given the opportunity to go there and visit 911 and spend a shift so you can see what actually goes on.

We can always use one more person. Always everywhere. We don't have the budget for one more person. Always everywhere. I won't be supporting it. Thank you. Commissioner Kennedy, I have two questions for the administrator. Would you like both at once or one at a time? One at a time. Okay. We have operated in the current structure for approximately how many years? So when did we we took over what 2018 was it? Mhm. Yeah. 1819. So seven years.

Okay. And currently how many employees do we have? That wasn't in the documents that we had. I'm I'm sorry. I should have asked for this sooner. It's just coming to my mind now. specifically first of all total amount and then supervisors in 911. Yes ma'am.

So just for clarification um a couple years ago when we went for the 911 increase search charge increase this was part of the plan. So we've been talking about this for a while. So there was a comment earlier that we've gotten along without this for a while but we've been trying to get this approved in different ways for a while. So, I just want to make that clear that we've been working on this for a bit. I believe dispatch has um four or five people per shift. They have about 20. I think there's somewhere around 18 or 20. Don't quote me on those numbers to be exact. Um but they have 20 dispatchers, four of which are supervisors. There's one supervisor per shift. Part of the problem is um they're all unionized. So union staff are not able to perform management functions which includes IT related issues, contracts, all those types of things that Jason does his own that nobody else can do and wouldn't be familiar with on how to manage some of those things. So um

Okay. Thank you very much. I really just wanted the total number and the amount of supervisors. I appreciate the clarification that they're union and they're non-management. Thank you very much. You had a second question. No, I he answered both. How many years has it operated in its current function capacity? I believe that's seven years was the answer I received. Correct.

Yeah. And I have the number. It's in our uh organizational staffing in the budget on that's on the agenda there. I went and looked it up just now. emergency dispatch. We have uh and 25. We have 20. We have Well, we have 25 and we're proposing it go to 26 uh with a new person total. Thanks for the answers. I appreciate it.

Madame Clerk, could you call the role? Yes, Mr. Chair. The motion. The motion that I have on the floor is approval of the proposed new full-time position. Motion by Earl Pleski, second by John Willis. Does everybody understand the question? The motion. I will now take roll call. Commissioner Kennedy, no. Commissioner Duckham, no. Is that a no, sir? Yes. Thank you. Commissioner Pleski, yes. Commissioner Willis, yes. Commissioner Williams, yes. Commissioner Snell, yes.

Commissioner Bayer, no. Commissioner Walls, yes. And Chairman Shhatwell, yes. 63 is what I have. Thank you. Motion car. Motion carries 63. Commissioner Kennedy. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe that concludes business for public safety and transportation tonight. Thank you, sir.

Standing committee, General Government, chaired by Commissioner Duckham. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have uh one item for business tonight and that will be the consent agenda item uh from 14 or from 10 A. No, it was a one-off consent. It isn't 10 A.

Yes, it is, sir. And I have got is approval of the agenda. Oh, wait. Wrong. Okay. This is another position uh reinstatement of a administrator controller assistant at the in the sixth floor office. Move to adopt the staff recommendations. We have a motion in support. Commissioners, Commissioner Bear, Commissioner Kennedy.

Thank you, Chairman. Um, first, Michael, I'm curious. You represent a lot of staff, a lot of departments. You do wage evaluations and employee needs for many, many departments and staff. So, were you just sitting around one day thinking maybe I should just pick out this one department and this one staff and make a change here? What motivated you to bring this? No. Uh Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I as I asked him to uh this is a position we've had for years. We um

uh we uh it was vacant last year when we were making cuts. So, I said, "Okay, it's vacant now." uh we'll suck it up and do what we got to do and uh and hopefully in the future that we would have the resources to bring this position back. Given it's a position it uh a direct report to me in my office. I asked the HR director to evaluate uh the workload of the existing u um assistant there and determine what her workload is because she's drowning and is it really uh I need a third party expert like Michael to look at it and instead of me just saying oh I need this I wanted him to look at it because he evaluates positions all across the county uh and that's his uh expertise with that I'll leave it to you if May I ask him to explain what he did, sir?

Okay, if you'll let me finish. Um, it was at the December 3rd, 2024 meeting that this cut was made to your department. I have the approved meeting minutes from that December 3rd meeting and the it was on the approved minutes reduce administrative budget by $50,000. Uh it passed not unanimously. So during the December 3rd, 2024 budget session, this board was faced with a budget shortfall and undertook a budget balancing initiative that included the following motions. Reduce administrator's budget by 50,000. Reduce drain commissioners budget by 100,000. Reduce enterprise group budget by 50,000. Reduce facilities and IT budget by 135,000. reduce court's annual budget by 300,000, 615,000 be reduced from the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. If we are now proposing uh multiple budget increases for reinstatement of one administrative staff, one 911 staff, two medical examiner staff in the middle of year budget year 2025. Then we should inquire with the drain commissioner, facilities, IT, courts, sheriff if they would also like some of their cuts reimbursed. There was a lot of cuts made and the cut to the administrator's office is only one of many. So if we if we now have monies uh the monies are coming from somewhere

to pay for four requests. Let's find the monies necessary to make the drain commissioner facilities it courts and sheriff's budgets whole. If we're going to do this for one of the entities that received a cut in se in December 3rd, 2024, then we need to bring this to the other entities within our county that also received cuts. I'm sure the drain commissioner could use some of his $100,000 back. Enterprise Group might want their $50,000 back. the sheriff might want part of his $615,000 back. Um, so it's not fair to the other departments and I would like to see some commitment here from this board that we're going to extend this invitation to get staff back to all the other entities that had their staff cut. Second question, Mike, if you can answer this. Uh, your proposal is for $83,215.85. The cut that was made December 2024 was $50,000. So, if we're reinstating a $50,000 cut, why does it take $83,200 to do that? This the cut was for a individual that reduced from a full-time position to a part-time position. So that was reflective of the $50,000 cut. The proposal in front of you is for a full-time position with benefits. That's the difference in the cost

already. The difference is the difference is the cut. It it doesn't say the motion doesn't say what person is being cut. It just says reduce administrator's budget by 50,000. So I don't I still don't understand if we reduced it by 50, why are we bumping it up 83,000? Got an answer for that?

I I will answer it. The position that we reduced last year was part-time. We had already reduced her position to part-time and because of budget and things like that. And then what we did was the position became vacant. So we're like, "Okay, let's cut the rest of the 15 thou the whole position out completely because we have a need." And uh and that's why you've got the $50,000. That's what it was. Okay. I follow that explanation. Thank you. Um I'm certainly going to bring up again and I I some of the persons are here. If we found a magic money tree, other people can step up and pick some fruit off of it, too. Welcome. Come on and ask for your money back.

Commissioner Kennedy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, a lot of the points I was going to bring up have been brought out that number one, the cut that was made, and I happened to be the commissioner that made that proposed cut along with others in an effort to save as much of the sheriff's budget that we could, was this. So, for me, I'm not saying that the individual that is currently up in the office, we're not going to name that individual, but they they are they have a huge workload and and I'm sure you were up here to speak to it. Um, however, I could walk around lots of places in the county where I could probably get the same story. And again, to me, it is about priorities. And my priority places law enforcement over additional administrative costs. That's just my feel on it. In addition, it's not just reinstating the 50k. It's 83,21588. So, we're actually taking an additional $33,215.88 to bring a full-time position on instead of a part-time. I don't see how any fiscal conservative in their right mind could go along with this when we we cut it for the sheriff's budget and the sheriff's budget still took a cut. Um, I just can't support it. So, those are my comments. Thank you. Commissioner Duckham.

Well, Commissioner Kennedy and Commissioner Bear spoke a lot of what I was thinking too. I I basically I feel we got used. The sheriff was in a very tight position. He needed more money. We're looking everywhere to cut money and we come up with ideas that uh we gave the sheriff three or four more people because we took hits throughout the county so he could have people on the street. Now I'm feeling that like we really did have the money. It was like a dog and pony show. We got kind of thrown out there to make cuts. Now we're coming back with the money we had and we're going to put the people back in place. I just feel kind of used. I mean, why did we go through that very aggravating and hardpressed thought process eliminating jobs so the sheriff could have people when we still had the money? Thank you,

Madame Clerk. Could you call the vote, please? Yes. The motion on the floor just to restate, approve and reinstate the executive assistant position for the administrative controllers's office. Motion by Earl Pleski and seconded by Darius Williams. I will prepare roll call. Thank you. Commissioner Duckham, no. Commissioner Pleski, yes. Commissioner Willis, yes. Commissioner Williams, yes. Commissioner Snell, yes. Commissioner Bayer, no. Commissioner Walls, no. Commissioner Kennedy, no. Chairman Shhatwell, yes.

54. 54 carries. Passes 54. Commissioner Duckham. That's all we have tonight, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Standing Committee Human Services chaired by Commissioner Earl Pleski. Commissioner Pleski. Mr. Chair, we have two items that were pulled from the consent agenda. Items 11 A and 11B. They are now 15A and 15B. The first item is a medical examiner's office. A request for a new lead medical examiner investigator. Recommendation of the committee is to adopt the staff recommendation. So move.

We have a motion and support on the floor. Commissioners, any questions? Commissioner Bear.

Thank you, chairman. This will add an additional $42,360 to our budget plus fringe benefits. Uh this is at a time where we we got 25% of our fiscal year to go yet to pay bills and I think it's premature to authorize this at this point. So that because of a motion like this, it's locked in. And I don't want to get us into a situation like we had last year where in December we're struggling to find ways to cut our budget because we have don't have enough funds. We have a deficit shortfall like last year. this would contribute to a potential deficit shortfall and we may be in the situation again to be cutting um I think it's the wrong time to be approving this. I think we we can and we should wait until the December meeting and along with that let me Let me quote from the finance department on the budget approval that's on the agenda upcoming goes through and then if you follow that at all on article four alternates alternative to the motion that was preferred alternate the two funds where the fiscal year begins on October 1, 2025 5 is required to be approved in September. The board could opt to delay

the decision on all other funds until December 2025, which will still comply with county and state policy. So that is in the uh finance director's budget that we're going to be looking at 17B. So, even the finance director has laid out the option to not take action on this until December, and that would be my preference. Thank you, Commissioner Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a quick question uh to the motion. Um if you could remind me, um this position is the cost of this is being split between two other counties. Three other counties. No, two two a total of three of three counties. Okay. Thank you. And then have the other counties made any commitment of verbal or

um well by by our contract our agreement that uh they would pay their share of uh remember our way it works is um we split the cost with the morg with so there's three counties based on I hate to be morbid but the number of bodies that come through the morg by from each county. So if we have 60% of the activity, we'll have 60% of the cost. That sort of thing. And there's a little bit of factor in there for we own the asset, so there's some fixed costs there. But for the variable cost, that's how it works. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing further. Yes, Commissioner Kennedy.

For clarity, did did Commissioner Bear only pull 11A or did he pull A and B? Because there's two positions. He called he called he pulled A and B, sir. We're going to talk about A and B. We're handing them one at a time. Yes, sir. That's what the motion that came from the floor and and the chair of the committee said that.

Just wanted clarity. I'm sorry. Okay. So, I'll speak to this particular one. Um the total cost is going to be I'm missing it. 117,000 is what I remember. I just want to state it correctly. No, excuse me. This is a This is the part-time one. We're speaking of the assistant. Metal examiner's request for new lead examiner investigator. That's full

11A. Yeah, that's where you'll find the information. Thank you. Want me to tell you? Yeah. Yeah. uh under the financial report of the analysis there it's an additional $92,93,000 $92,955.77 exactly all I want is the breakdown of what Hillsdale and Wenway would pay and you can see Jackson's finance finance notes share will be approximately 40% of the expense so our share is about 40% of the expense

okay So, a little under 40k would be accurate. Thanks. Are we ready to vote? Madam clerk, could you call the role? I will call the role. Commissioner Pleski, yes. Commissioner Willis, yes. Commissioner Williams, yes. Commissioner Snell, yes. Commissioner Bayer, no. Commissioner Walls, no. Commissioner Kennedy, no. Commissioner Duckham, no.

No. Understood. Chairman Chhatwell. Yes. 54. Commissioner Pleski. Thank you, Mr. Chair. On to the next item, which is uh was on the consent agenda as 11B, now 15B. It is the approval of a proposed new part-time position of lead pathology assistant for the medical examiner's office. The recommendation of the committee is approval of the staff recommendation.

We have a motion in support. Questions? Commissioner Bear? Same issue here. We got 25% of our fiscal year to finish out. Not knowing what expenses are going to be coming up. I can't support making this type of a commitment. This can and I believe should be postponed till December. Thank you.

Any other commissioner comment? Commissioner Kennedy? Yep. Just so it's on record, the expense to our county for this second position that'll be going to this office would be $16,943.90. Is that correct, Mr. Administrator? I believe your math is probably accurate there, 40%. Thanks. My position is the same. The money could be spent better elsewhere. Madame Clerk, are you ready to call the vote? I will call the vote. Thank you. Commissioner Willis, yes. Commissioner Williams, yes. Commissioner Snell, yes. Commissioner Bayer,

no. Commissioner Walls, no. Commissioner Kennedy, no. Commissioner Duckham, no. Commissioner Pleski, yes. Chairman Chatwell, yes. I have five. Four. It carries. Thank you, Commissioner Pleski. That concludes our work, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. We have no unfinished business to come before the board. We arrive at new business. Item 17A, uh, the McGill Road landfill expansion. The director for the administrator controllers's office is also the director of board of public works. He will address this at this time.

Actually, I would ask the chair of the board to come up. uh drink commissioner. Oh, he drafted this resolution, I believe. I didn't see. Welcome, drain. Commissioner Schneider, thank you for attending.

Welcome. Also with us tonight is Supervisor uh Dan Wymer from Napoleon. Uh Dan served on the committee uh that I chaired to amend the solid waste management plan uh five or six years ago. is that plan that was in review by the state uh department of used to be DEEQ now WGLE the permit application was filed by waste management uh Paul Masnik is here uh representing waste management what's before you is a letter of clarification that we're asking you authorize the chairman to sign. When we went through the process of the solid waste management plan, it was decided by the committee that um the space for a landfill uh should not be carved out and identified elsewhere in the county, but that a vertical expansion of the landfill there at McGill Road would be acceptable and and uh achieve uh a type two landfill for the county uh when enough it became necessary became necessary as we have less than a year left of the landfill life presently. The waste management uh filed an application for construction of a vertical landfill.

That vertical landfill would take place between the three existing cells that are separated right now only by service roads. The plan was to fill that area between those three cells and then once filled uh cap the whole thing so you'll end up with one big hill. That would require filling the spaces over the service roads which the state looked at as being a lateral expansion of the landfill. uh Dan Waste Management and uh my office took a position that the state was lacking a little bit of common sense in that you can't have achieve a vertical expansion of the landfill without filling the spaces between the existing cells. It was decided by uh waste management to follow the rules of the uh state which provides for an appeal through the deputy director. Uh Dan made that presentation. Uh waste management made that presentation. uh I participated uh also uh uh remotely. In any event, the deputy director took the testimony and and apparently

applied some reason and contact Waste Management last Thursday. uh indicated that if the county would prod produce a letter that indicated that it was indeed their position that that minimal dimminimous space between the cells was indeed going to be filled to achieve that vertical expansion, they would issue the permit. It was brought to chairman's attention last Friday and we're here today. I would encourage a motion to authorize the chairman of the board to uh sign the letter and make it available uh to waste management.

Go ahead. Questions from commissioners? Jeff, thanks for your explanation. I'll be in support of it. But what exactly you want? You're wanting us to write up our own resolution or No, sir. We've been given a letter that I'm to sign that qualifies and exemplifies the what we want to do that we want to go vertically higher and that we will not be doing any lateral expansion other than correct other than that that is incidental to stacking it higher. Got it. Okay. So, it's just approving the letter and with his getting getting your endorsement. I got you. Okay. Commissioner Baird,

is this letter of endorsement with your signature on? Is it the appropriate time to make a motion to approve this? That's what we're waiting for. I so move that the this letter signed by James E. Shotwell be approved by the board of commissioners. We have a motion in support at this time. Are there any further questions? Kennedy supported. Thank you. Any further comments from commissioners? Please. I'll call the role. Commissioner Williams, yes. Commissioner Snell, yes. Commissioner Bayer, yes. Commissioner Walls, yes. Commissioner Kennedy, yes. Commissioner Duckham, yes.

Commissioner Pleski, yes. Commissioner Willis, yes. Chairman Chhatwell, yes. Motion passes. Motion carried. Thank you. Uh thank you sir. What you just achieved tonight is a expansion of the landfill's existence from period of one year to 13. Well done. Thank you. I'd like to thank you Jeff for uh writing the letter to the state and straightening out this mess. Thank you.

Thank everybody involved. We have now arrived at 17B 2026 budget approval. Administrator controller Overton. This uh before you is the budget for 2026 starting January 1st. It includes all the positions and all the changes in our budget uh that you've seen thus to date. the budget hearing we had what two weeks ago and it's nothing's changed since that time. Um and we're seeking pro approval uh as the motion requested. There's I think what four four resolutions there.

Thank you chairman administrator. Can you show me where on these revenues and expenses our reserve account shows up

at the very end? I'll let the finance director address that question. the reserves we we are not reusing reserves for this 2026 budget. So there are they are not in the budget. So the bud the budget is balanced without us using reserves. The budget is balanced without anything to revenue without using reserves. Exactly. Okay. How are the reserves determined each year?

The reserves are determined. Okay. said the reserves is a is a liability is in the balance sheet. Okay? And so it's kind of like a savings account if you think of it that way that it increases or decreases at the end of the year depending on how you end up whether or not your revenues are high higher than your expenditures increases reserves. If your expense expenses are higher it decreases reserves. Okay. These revenues you're speaking of are general fund dollars. Yes sir.

So if the general fund dollars that are budgeted for 2025 at the end of 2025 any amounts that are left remaining that becomes our reserves. Yeah. If your if your revenues are higher than your expenditures that is an increase in your reserves. Okay. And where are those reserves held? In the balance sheet. Just in the balance sheet. It's in the balance sheet. Mhm.

Okay. Um, we have had reserves for several years. Fortunately, that's good for us. We've had a need for a jail for many years. So I would like to people to consider if we have reserves at the end of the year if we have money left over put the invest that money into a I guess I'll call it a short-term investment fouryear sixyear that we can draw interest on it and put that money in investment where it's not touched for anything else. So, if we put $10,000 in from or 10 million from the 2025 budget, if we're lucky enough, have 10 million in 2026, 27, 28, by 2029, we can fund a jail and not go back to the taxpayers and ask them for a millillage. How can we go about setting up an exclusive fund, an exclusive investment that is strictly for jail construction?

Don't laugh at me, Mike. It's not

I'm not laughing at you. We we've uh Tony, we've been down this road. Reserves, you know, so we have say 10 12 13 million in there. The reason we have a reserve policy of 18 to 24% is because we need the cash flow otherwise because remember when you get like a paycheck once a year and you spend that money es and flows on your cash flow. So we have to have a healthy reserve balance to meet our obligations. Come spring for instance um I don't anticipate having enough money to meet the spring obligation because we have to pay all the townships all the taxes owed to the townships. we have to pay them and then we collect. So you can see millions go out. We may or may not have the money. It it's there's a whole cash flow ladder that runs in there and reserves. If you take the 10 million say and put it into an account, we don't have the reserve then to be able to use. And I would also add all of our money that is not being used is managed by the treasur and it is invested in investments and she gets a good return. good as a return she can get, which isn't very good by standards because the government is very restricted and I understand why. We can't we need to be very conservative in our investing. We can't just, you know, invest, you know, high stake stuff. So, there's a whole lot more going on here than than um perhaps you understand. Now, I do understand. I have talked to all of my township clerks and they've shown me their books. The only monies that the county, the only checks the county makes out and gives to the townships is when somebody defaults on their taxes. We take the property over. And when we sell that property, the

difference between what it sells for and what the delinquent taxes were in that township, the only check we give the townships is that delinquent tax to make them whole again. It's not like we're needing millions of dollars to pay the townships back. I've heard that story before and and when I talk to my five township clerks, I get a totally different story. The only check that I've been been told by the county clerk or township clerks is the delinquent tax refund.

Okay. So, at the end by um I wish Karen was here to share the process, but from what I understand and how it works is by March, we we start collecting this the taxes in September. And then by March, what whoever whatever they're short, whatever the township hasn't collected from their taxpayer, we buy that from them and we give them that money or buying their taxes and we put it on our books as delinquent and then we start collecting from the taxpayers.

What's the the best guess? I don't expect an exact number. Those delinquent tax dollars that you say we buy, is that in the range of $500,000? Million dollars, Tony. It's millions. Five, seven million, 10 million some. It's in It's in the millions. It's in this happens every year. Every year. And year after year after year, we can't figure out how to save some of our general fund to put it in an exclusive account held only for building a jail. Nope.

You going to speak? The truth is, Tony, we don't have a whole lot of excess revenue at all. I mean, we live from year to year on the taxes and the state revenue sharing. In fact, right now, they don't even have a state budget. So, we're going to be we're going to need a probably a million and a half next month that we would normally receive from the state, but we're going to use our reserves to keep everything in motion knowing full well that eventually they'll get a budget and re reimburse us.

Uh we hope uh we believe but but it's not quite that simple. No, we do not have excess money. Uh and we are never going to save our way to a $60 million jail. It's just not going to happen. if we save the money, it'll be 40 million because we won't have to pay interest on a loan.

I'm just just telling you it's not going to happen that way. Uh and I can make a whole lot of argument either way. For instance, if you if you uh say we wanted to increase our taxes substantially and we're going to save our way to a new jail, that means for the next say we'll say 10 years, 15 years, say we'll go with 10. 10 years we we double everyone's taxes. They pay a whole lot of money and they aren't receiving any value for their money. They're paying in taxes today. Now, their heirs or their children will see it when we buy a new jail. The other way to look at that is you borrow the money, build a new jail, the people will pay the debt and they get the benefit today of the new jail that they're spending money on. So, there's a lot of ways that you can look at that which is more fair or not fair. Uh in fact most voters in my experience has been if you're charging them so much in tax that you're accumulating huge uh reserves. They go why am I paying all this? You're taking too much of my money. I want my money to be spent today so I can use it today. I'm not guaranteed tomorrow. I may not live here 2 years 5 years 10 years from now but you're taking all my money today and I'm getting nothing in return. So that's a whole philosophical argument. Uh, but I'm just saying we're not going to save our way to a 60 50 60 70 million jail because it's not going down in price, it's going up.

Okay. I will give you this at the end of the meeting. This is the form that I was talking to you about at the study session. This is the document that I would like to see again. We we haven't seen this yet this year. Yeah. I I never received it to be able to answer your question before before.

So, last year the revenues from various funds. We added $2.2 million into the public improvement building fund transferin general fund and we put $1.3 million into the public improvement building fund transferend America rescue fund. So, we had over six million left over last year and it was put into various funds. I don't I would have to look, Tony. I don't believe that we had six million. I'd have to see what you're looking at. Okay. Way too high twice.

It's too high. I would need to look at it. It I'd be happy to stay after the meeting and take a look at that with you. Yes. I brought two I brought a copy for you. Perfect. So, you know what it is I'm referring to. Perfect. Well, Commissioner Kennedy, thanks. Is there a motion on the floor? No, sir. No, no, no. We've got a we've got five we got to do. So, no, we're going to get all the questions out of the way from commissioners seeing how we were doing it and Okay, so I'm going to go with a couple questions. Um, I do know we set aside some money to Commissioner Barer's point in our through our capital to the jail this year. Am I correct, Mr. Administrator?

Yeah, we had uh $500,000 last year set aside and uh I believe uh well, I've had numerous discussions with the sheriff and he has some thoughts and uh uh how we can utilize that money to it won't get us a new jail, but it'll get us a start.

Right. I you know, I don't believe either that through reserves we may come upon it, it's going to be enough to build it all in one. However, to Commissioner Bear's point, it's the 18 to 24% range we like to keep because the funds fluctuate. I totally get the process. Um, I would like to know each year um when we're above 22% and the dollar amount, if that's possible. What's your question? I'm sorry. When the reserves are over 22% and what that dollar amount would be yeartoear, if that's possible, if Commissioners, I don't have it in front of me right now.

No, no, no. I'm not asking right now. I'm just saying in the future each year. Yeah, we know once a year, right? Once a year. At the end of the year once everything's closed. I can tell you in the middle of the year we're negative. I know. You know what I mean? We have we have negative cash. We don't get cash until September. I to I totally understand. At the end of the year, so that's when we really know where we're at with our fund balance.

I'd just like to know when we're above 22% at end of the year. Okay. Um and then, you know, then we can have discussions of whether those funds could be used to to do upgrades cuz if we don't bond it or we don't pass a millage, we don't have the money to fund a jail. That's just the blunt reality of it. So then your only other options are are to kind of peacemail it year-to-year with with other funds to get through this because the Wesley Street jail is not going to get any better. And it's not going to the problems aren't going to go away every time a millillage gets voted down. You can't just ignore it. We have to be responsible and address it. And this isn't directed towards you Cecilia. It's direct directed to my fellow colleagues and myself. So I'd like to see that. Um the next question is specifically to the budget. I think I know the answer, but all the positions that we added tonight um are in that budget that we're going to vote on.

Correct. Okay. I won't be in support. Thank you. Any other commissioner questions? Okay, then we shall begin. The first resolution is number 09-25.22 22 compensation of of non-union employees for fiscal year 2026. Entertain a motion. I heard a motion from Commissioner Snell. Support from Commissioner Willis. Any comments to the motion? Hearing none. Madam Clerk, could you post the vote?

Yes, I will post it. Thank you. Is this resolution 09-25.25 that two going to do them in numeric order 22 09-25.22 has been posted.

Thank you. I have it printed. Voting is now closed. 8 yay, one nay. Motion carries. Next is uh resolution 09-25.23 establishing the general and non-general capital fund budgets. We have a motion in support. Any discussion? Madam clerk, could you post the vote?

09-25.23 has been posted. Voting is now closed. We have seven yay, two nay. Motion carries. motion or resolution 09-25.24 24 annual statement of compliance with public act 152.

I have a motion in support questions. Seeing none, madam clerk, could you post the vote?

09-25.24 has been posted. Voting is now closed. We have eight yay, one nay. Motion carries. Resolution 09-25.25, General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026.

Any qu further questions? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, would you post the vote? 09-25.25 has been posted. Voting is now closed. Seven yay, two nay. Motion carries.

We return to public comment. Public comment guidelines. Each individual will state their name and have two minutes to address the board. You may only address the board once under this public comment opportunity and may not yield your time to others. Board members will not debate or answer questions at this time. Open to public comment. Russ Jennings, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Committee. I just want to congratulate Sharon Hastings on being appointed to the Jackson County Board of Canvasers. You guys had uh some wonderful persons to choose from there and I thank you for your due diligence in doing that. Any other public comment? Any other public comment? Public comment is now closed. We've arrived at commissioner comments. Any commissioner comments? Commissioner Bear. I remember a couple weeks a couple months ago during discussion on a motion on an issue that was brought up, I indicated how I was going to vote. I'm going to go look up that meeting and look at the video so I can refer you to it. I just remember you unloading on me that how inappropriate it was for me to during discussion to state how I intended to vote and on so many issues tonight various persons spoke. I'm going to vote yes, I'm going to vote no. And because there was other persons instead of me, you let them get by with that. When I did it, you really jumped on my case. You really don't treat all commissioners fairly. You really should. That's part of your duty. And if you

don't like me, that's okay. Do your duty. You don't have to like me to treat me fairly. So, if you're not going to treat every commissioner equally, then resign from the chair position. and let somebody else be chair that will treat every commissioner the same. Also, when somebody wants to make a point of order, you don't get just to yell out point of order. You put your hand up and you have to be called upon by the chair. Point of order is to ask clarification about what the procedures are going on. Unfortunately, some commissioners use point of order to make the person who's currently speaking stop speaking. And so what they really say instead of point of order, they should just say, "Shut up, Tony. I don't want to hear you." So you're not doing that fairly. That's another thing you don't do consistently and fairly. So resign. Any other commissioner comments? Commissioner Pleski.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll draw the attention of the board to the fact that at Lifeways um Mary Beth Leonard, its CEO for many years is planning to retire early next year. And um as the result of a succession planning process that's been going on at Lifeways for some time now, uh candidates were identified and interviewed and at the most recent board meeting. Cassandra Watson was named by the board as the CEO nominee uh who will uh take over the reigns at some future point. wanted to make sure that um commissioners are aware that um progress is being made in the CEO's succession at Lifeways. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other commissioner comments? Commissioner Kennedy.

I'd just like to congratulate both of the canvasers that were elected tonight and also thank all the applicants. It's very important to have community involvement and I've been seeing that with all of our committees as well. So, it's great to see from the public. I feel uh community involvement is important. Thank you. Any other commissioner comments? I need to entertain a motion at this time in accordance with MCL 15.268. [Music] A collective bargaining agreement will be discussed. Support. I have a I have support. Madam clerk, could you call the role? Commissioner Snell. Commissioner Bayer, yes.

Commissioner Walls, yes. Commissioner Kennedy, yes. Commissioner Duckham, yes. Commissioner Pleski, yes. Commissioner Willis, yes. Commissioner Williams, yes. Chair Shhatwell, yes. We have a motion passes. Thank you. We will adjourn to the sixth floor.

I vice chairman Kennedy. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have two motions to make. I'll make them separately. The first is a motion to ratify the tenative agreement reached with comb cam road sergeants unit for the new collective bargaining agreement for the period of January 1st 2025 through December 31st of 2027 and authorized the board chair to sign the successor collective bargaining agreement upon approval as to form by the county's legal council.

Support Yes, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Bear. Yes. Commissioner Walls. Yes. Commissioner Kennedy. Yes. Commissioner Duckham. Yes. Commissioner Pilleski. Yes. Commissioner Willis. Yes. Commissioner Williams. Yes. Commissioner Snell. Yes. Chairman Chhatwell. Yes. Motion passes. Commissioner Kennedy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The second motion is I make a motion to ratify the tenative agreement reached with comb correction sergeants unit for the new collective bargaining agreement for the period of January 1st, 2025 through December 31st, 2027 and authorize the board chair to sign this successor collective bargaining agreement upon approval as to formed by the county's legal council. We have a motion and support. Any questions? Madame clerk, could you call the role? Yes, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Walls? Yes. Commissioner Kennedy? Yes. Commissioner Duckham? Yes. Commissioner Pleski? Yes. Commissioner Willis?

Yes. Commissioner Williams? Yes. Commissioner Snell? Yes. Commissioner Bayer? Yes. Chairman Shwell? Yes. Motion passes. Entertain a motion to adjurnn. All in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed? Billy carried.