A more than plausible argument could be made that the most invisible man in Barry County government over the last dozen years has been Administrator Michael Brown.
Ever since Brown was hired as a sort of “Whiz Kid” in his mid-twenties during the mid-1990s, he’s been forced to take a back seat to the bloated egos of a bad string of chairpersons of the Barry County Board of Commissioners. He had to sit in the back of the government bus during the awful reigns of Jim Bailey (1995-2001), Jeff MacKenzie (2001-2005) and Clare Tripp (2005-2007) and may even have had to sit through some time during the brief, but equally unimpressive leadership of Orvin Moore (1993-1995).
All four of these chairs eventually were retired at the ballot box, and deservedly so. Moore was thrashed by Tim Burd in his re-election bid in the August 1994 GOP primary. Bailey got his comeuppance when he left the board to run for state representative, losing in Republican primaries to Gary Newell in 2000 and once again to Brian Calley in 2006. MacKenzie was sent packing in his re-election bid by Michael Callton in the 2004 GOP primary and Tripp’s reign was mercifully ended this past August by Mark Englerth.
So what we have here is a failure of leadership in this county over 14 years. What we have here actually is the history of hubris of elected public officials who have tried to micro-manage nearly every aspect of county government, all the while they should have turned to their professionally trained and well compensated expert, Michael Brown.
Word on the street is that the new Board of Commissioners that will be seated on Jan. 2 may finally adopt a very different philosophy of governance. It seems from what I'm told that the likely new chairman, Mike Callton, plans to lean on Brown’s expertise and experience, and that he will get plenty of support from newcomers Jeff VanNortwick, Mark Englerth and Keith Ferris, along with holdovers Hoot Gibson and Don Nevins.
What I’ve been hearing is that Callton and Company plan to use Brown the same way a city uses a city manager, the same way a school district uses a superintendent. That’s the way it always should have been. It’s incredible that Barry County citizens have allowed laypersons to make the important decisions about budget, property and personnel, all while lacking the necessary expertise (and in some cases basic common sense). A lot of the pre-decision work and eventual recommendations should be done by the hired professional.
Brown for too long has been paid good money to be a glorified office manager. It’s way past time to let him get down to the business of being the manager of day-to-day affairs of Barry County government. Commissioners, meanwhile, should spend far less time in committee meetings and much more time in setting policies, taking Brown’s expertise and recommendations and collectively being “the deciders.”
This shift in responsibility may be somewhat dangerous for "The Invisible Michael Brown," who has been able to survive nicely for more than a dozen years as this figure in the background who does all the research and then gets little if any credit, much less respect. Brown now may have to make recommendations and decisions that may be unpopular and he may have to take on much more serious work.
People tell me that he’s looking forward to the challenge and to being given a chance to see what he can do. I’m looking forward to a changeover that should result in more effective local government. I’m sure there will be some growing pains, but it certainly ought to be better than Barry County’s past 14 years of bad governance.
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46 comments:
Pol,
Your interesting perspective on county history and the idea that the County Administrator should recommend policy decisions for the Commissioners to blindly follow pretty much reflects what has been going on for the aformentioned 14 years.
Perhaps you could list the written policies of the County Commission in your next post. Begin with the Personnel Policy and then add a huge blank space.
If policy originates in the Administrator´s office, then after 14 years I would expect your hero to have accomplished more. I contend that the lack of policy leadership will be solved by leadership of the Commissioners or will continue to be a huge vacuum.
There is no comparison between a County Administrator and a City Manager. You might expect some comparison if Michael had roads and pipes to repair.
The issue of County Administration has nothing to do with Michael Brown, and the demonization or aggrandizement of an individual merely distracts from the discussion. Michael has merely jumped in to rescue a succession of Commissioners who had a vacuum of leadership. Hopefully, this will change after New Years.
To fully understand the issue you need to fully grasp the difference between “Strategy” and “Tactics”. This leads to the difference between “Policy” and “Administration” or Management. This is pretty basic stuff for most of us. Michael is a capable and creative manager and administrator, a sort of “General” in the field. Once “policy” has been articulated and written down, Michael is very capable of presenting options of how these goals can be accomplished. The only problem is, I hope, that there is almost no written policy to follow. The policy of the previous Boards has been to not write policy down on paper and to rely on secrecy and private opinions. It is past time for that to change.
Examples are;
What is the policy of the Board regarding the acquisition and disposal of real estate? Surely it isn't to avoid maintaining County-owned property, or is it? Who is responsible for the County-owned trail properties? Who is maintaining the unused County properties outside the City?
What is the policy regarding oversight of Budget expenditures, particularly the hidden activities in the Special Revenue Funds? Should land be purchased in secret with operating expenditure funds?
What is the policy regarding millage proposals and operating expenditures? Why should some activities get special millage support while others have to survive with accountable General Fund funding?
What is the policy regarding Parks and Recreation? Should we continue to ignore the spirit of the law? Is Charlton Park the only recreation important in Barry County?
What is the County policy regarding education? How many kids are outside the Hastings system? Are they getting the same services as kids in the Hastings system? What about adults? Are we supporting KCC Fehsenfeld in the best way? What about Vocational Education?
What is the County policy regarding Incarceration? Can Michael develop this policy without any outside help? What is the role of the County Board on Adult Drug Court and rehabilitation? What is being done about Prevention?
These are only a few of the policies that need to be written and need to have representative input. To expect an Administrator to do this while the County Board continues to posture and avoid responsibility would be unfair.
Too tired to wade through alot of this bull. I hope there are more out of the Hastings School System than in it. Not the County Board's responsibility anyway, they have enough to do. Incarceration is the responsibility of the Police, Prosecutor, Statewide Court/Probation/Parole System (sentencing guidelines, etc), again not the responsibility of the Board or Mr Brown. Setting a policy on incarceration borders on Obstruction of Justice, or at least circumventing State Authority.
I have faith the New Board and Mr Brown can get things done in a fair and impartial way without spending endless hours/days making written policy and no time to enforce or enact them. Get Real Ellie! You confuse the issues, with a smattering of good points here and there! Getting more difficult to find them though. Looks like the Sheriff needs to form a posse and search Charlton Park and all the trails for you. Any clothing description?
yada yada yada yada
An administrator does not/ should not make policy. For a board to allow the administrator to make policy, would be an abrogation of duties.
Well, Ag3, you can bet I'm not prowling around in my camos carrying a bazooka.
Consider for a moment the current development at Charlton Park. Doc Forsberg was fired by the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission. There wasn't then, and isn't now, a “Charlton Park Board”. George was hired by the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission and has turned in his resignation to the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission. George was treated like a Department Head of the County government who answers directly to Michael Brown and who does not report to any Standing Committee of Commissioners and who couldn't report to a Charlton Park Board, because there isn't any. What other “Department” receives operating funds from a special millage? If this sounds like an Administrative headache, it is.
Let's not even ask who has been responsible for allowing this Administrative headache to continue.
Who solves Administrative headaches? Not the County Board.
If we were to continue to do things “the way they have always been done”, the next Director of Charlton Park will be recruited, screened and selected by the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission, which consists of Road Commission, Drain Commission, Planning, etc people who have no particular expertise in running a profitable theme park and live primarily on public funds. Which of these people are securing grants? Which of these people have food service backgrounds? Which of these people are influential in the education community?
The new County Board should immediately appoint people to the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission who realize the need to select a new “Charlton Park Board” of people who understand what kind of person will be capable of tripling the attendance at the Park immediately. We don't need the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission to hire another archaeologist or landscape maintenance expert.
It seems to me that it is up to Michael to make these obvious recommendations to the new County Board long before he starts to interview replacements for the non-existent Department he has created. It also seems to me that there are a lot of folks reporting directly to Michael that need to be held accountable to a Standing Committee of representatives of the people. It is not Michael's job to be the Manager of every function of County government. He has enough Administrative headaches to cure to keep him fully employed.
Having an actual written policy regarding Parks & Recreation might be a worthy goal of the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission. There might be more involved than micromanaging Charlton Park.
I have to disagree with Pol's premise on this thread. I don't think Brown has been invisible, but to paraphrase the slogan of Northwestern Mutual, he's "the quiet administrator." His hand has been in nearly every county policy since he started, just the rhetoric and tit for tat the accompanied those policy changes have all focused on the personalities of the eight men and women elected to set those policies.
Brown has been wise to ignore the spotlight given the acrimony and personalities of past boards. I do not think Mike Callton's "new philosophy" of leaning on Brown is all that different from what was done in the past, just maybe now the leaning is done more openly.
However, the commissioners should not lean so much that Brown becomes a crutch or a gatekeeper to the emerald city. All you have to look at are neighboring counties/school districts who let their administrators run a muck, who later were racked with $200,000+ lawsuits and contract buyouts.
The buck stops with the lay people, our commissioners. We elected them, that is how the system is set up. Mr. Brown does not face the electorate every two years, the commissioners do. It may be a positive move for Mr. Brown to take a more prominent stage after years of acrimony, but Callton and company should be ready with the crook if the featured performance starts to go sour.
Jay,
you are right on target, with one exception. The "policy" of the County Board is limited to one. It is the Personnel Policy. There are no others. Policy has always been a secret unwritten agreement between five Commissioners who have felt the rest of the world could not be trusted. If one or two additional Commissioners joined in it was out of fear or the desire to "go along to get along". Hopefully, the new Commissioners will be strong enough individuals to actually do some homework for themselves and stick to their own judgements.
Again I must emphasize...There is a danger that the commissioners can put their faith too much in a paid professional. Allegan County did it with a spate of administrators, only to pay over a million dollars in compensation and legal fees to three of their recent hires.
The commissioners there used the "we pay him this much money...he ought to know what he is doing" as justification to rubber stamp bad policies and poorly devised construction projects. They then used the same line as a scapegoat for firing each of them.
In the end it's the commissioners behinds in the fire, not Mr. Brown's. Mike Callton and company should be well advised not to get burned by taking this "new philosophy" to the opposite end of the pendulum.
Ag3 said:
"Incarceration is the responsibility of the Police, Prosecutor, Statewide Court/Probation/Parole System"
Perhaps somebody else could explain to him/her that law enforcers carry out policy that is set by other people. They are not policy makers.
However, the County Board (you wrote) does not set that policy or have the authority to do so. The Judge/Prosecutor follow sentencing guidelines promulgated by the State Government! The County Board, along with the Sheriff, could get involved in how incarceration is carried out, i.e. TV/No TV, Tent City and 50 cent meals like in Phoenix, AR , etc. You left off "sentencing guidelines" in your quote. That implies, Sir, they are following some governing authority. But, not the County as you so indicated .
misquote
Ag3:
For some reason I accidentally clicked on an old link to your old blog. There I found a woman in a scantily clad Santa suit. What outfit are you running Ag??? ;)
As long as she had some "clad."
Wouldn't it be nice if the county-wide Reminder showed up tonight for the non-controversial swearing in of the new County Board members? Perhaps the electorate would become better informed if they saw who was elected for their district. On the other hand, the City of Hastings Banner will cover it if it seems controversial.
I heard that the so-called farmers in the AR rural residential development areas want some free pork as a going away gift. I suppose $10,000 is compensation for being told that their millage defeat was a message.
Farmers in the AA zones are few and far between. They don't have plans to build any houses in the near future. They are real farmers.
My first reaction was outrage. Imagine the blatant gall of the old County Board in dispersing $10,000 to a group that has been told “No!” at the polls. This makes the corruption and bribery of the Barbary Coast look like a Sunday School picnic. Only farmers who have been on the public dole for years could appreciate this kind of pork without even giggling.
My second reaction was to wonder what the incumbent “good ol’ boys” will be thinking during the next term. Are they going to continue to stumble along and drag our potential into further embarrassment? If Adams, French, and Nevins are this corrupt, the other five will have to drag them forward on every issue. This will leave no room for debate among those who are still capable of human thought.
The third reaction was that the intelligent five could still reverse this stupidity at the next meeting when they officially take office. Assuming that the Banner showed up for this Special Meeting of the County Board, and took notes, the shame will be broadcast to the electorate next Thursday. Perhaps the article could be alongside a report that the new Board moved to erase this fecal material from the restroom wall.
My fourth reaction was that this crew of secrecy-loving Commissioners may have held another illegal meeting and passed this work of pork at a meeting that was not a regular meeting at all. The purpose of the gathering in the Courtroom was for swearing in the new Commissioners who took an oath to work for the electorate. This gift to the farm lobby was a violation of that oath by the departing gang of thieves.
I hope the new guys can fix this embarrassment quickly. I can understand the comfort that French and Adams may have from their constituents not reading the Banner, but Nevins needs to smell some tar boiling and hear some mourning doves being plucked.
ML.
The budget is constantly being adjusted at the recommendation and preparation of the Administrator as a matter of process.
The excess or increased revenue of inflationary taxation becomes a discretionary increase in spending and is calculated at the same time as the budget is being prepared in June. The Finance and Administration Committee has a number to work with from the Equalization Department anytime they ask for it. It can never be exact, but must be adjusted as time goes by. There is generally about $200,000 of slop in the calculations.
Hey, pol,
How about a new post.
Maybe you could cover Michael's position on Farmland Preservation Policy.
Another topic might be Michael's Plan for the Scattered Remnants of Real Estate Policy.
Of course, if your are too busy, just bring out the old bag of dirty laundry regarding the Airport Policy.
Pol,
Just back from the wbch.com site. Noticed that the tiny City of Hastings has once again secured a grant to get a half million dollars worth of work done without a millage welfare check. Perhaps you could broadcast a list of grants secured by the County Administrator and staff. Perhaps a review of the highly motivated millage welfare check recipients efforts to acquire funds from sources other than the County tax trough. Of course, the trough needs to be deep enough to feed the pork producers of the last County Board.
Don't misunderstand me. I am pissing on your shoes. It isn't raining.
New Blogger?
el:
Give Pol some slack on posts since we just had our holiday season. He's whipped out from all of those Christmas deliveries ;). Pol must have a real job and can't jaunt to Latin America on a whim 24/7.
You have a blog here, why don't you raise those issues?
Taking a look at your blog, you have not posted a new article since pre-Thanksgiving. Look after your own corner of cyberspance why don't you?
Hey elGrillo, welfare from the State is somehow different than milleage? Come on now....one pocket or the other.
The truth is that the County has an obsession with a unwarranted fund balance.
As for the State of Michigan, we need not only fill the gap of the SBT but come to our senses and raise taxes across the board. During the Engler disaster we sold off capital assets to create a "balanced budget". These crap shovelers have been bleating so long about high taxes in Michigan some of them believe it.
It is time to begin to tax banks, insurance companies et al...and far beyond time.
Only a idiot would fail to see that the so called 'high tax states are doing fine. As a matter of fact there is cash flow in many parts of Michigan who are not trying to outdo Mississippi for the bottom rung in the effective government ladder.
I can complain about State-wide welfare but I get a direct personal vote on millage. If I can convince you that I am right, I get two votes, etc.
I am not in Central America on a whim. I am here by intent.
I'm pleased that you found my blog, but you should read more deeply than the dates. I covered most of this stuff back in August and it hasn't gathered dust. I suspect it is being used regularly as reference material without comment.
By the way...
Congratulations to Dr. Mike Callton, who has already made more positive structural changes to the County Board than were made in the last 14 years.
Attaboy, Mike!
J.,
Thumb down through my blog until you get to Law Enforcement and Courts Standing Committee. The new name for the old "Central Services" committee is now "Law Enforcement, Public Safety and Courts". Ag3 will be pleased that Mark Englerth has an additional $1,000,000 in 2007 to keep us safe and secure, and that doesn't even include 9-1-1 Central Dispatch millage money! The rest of the details have been there for your examination since last summer. That's why Pol refers to the site as "101". It's pretty basic stuff.
pura vida!
Mike,
Good to have you still doing research on timely issues. When I was a kid, each county had roadside picnic tables and little picnic areas. That caused the Road Commission to have an important role in parks and recreation. In Barry County they still have a mandated seat on the "statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission". It is their current job to maintain parts of Charlton Park and to sit on the policy board that will eventually create a "Charlton Park Board" as a branch of that Commission. Hopefully, some of the people who were accidentally appointed to the BCP&R Commission by the old County Boards will be recognized for their dedication and will be transferred to the new CP Board from their seats on the BCP&R Commission so they can be replaced by bigger thinkers.
Laws that refer to the "Boards of Supervisors" are probably replaced by more current statutes.
Did anybody attend last Friday's Charlton Park discussion at Dem Hall?
How was the chilly reception?
According to wbch.com
"ONE OF THE MOST PRESSING ISSUES FACING THE NEW BOARD IS THE FUTURE OF CHARLTON PARK. TUESDAY THE BOARD SET THE WHEELS IN MOTION TO HOLD A JOINT MEETING WITH THE CHARLTON PARK BOARD POSSIBLY AS EARLY AS JANUARY 11th."
It is this type of local media misinformation that perpetuates the myth that such a "CP Board" actually exists and promotes the stagnation of County government.
Hopefully a few Commissioners didn't hear this false report and will attend the meeting of the "BCP&R Commission" and get the park preservationists into suitable jobs so some new management can get it back in motion before it dies of inertia and bad judgement. The Park won't close. That is a lie perpetuated by the former archeologist. If the doors close it will be because the Park fails to offer anything of interest to the paying public.
WBCH had no rep at the friday forum, so I am not sure at what point it became a "pressing issue" to them. Commissioner Englerth was noticeably missing. Lots of the old power brokers were there, a full house numbering over 60. Some good examples of success were presented, but all face a challenge of fickle customers, weather, innovative ideas to attract customers, etc. One theme came through loud and clear and that was the importance of connecting hiking & biking trails to their park facilities. Reconstituting Barry's old rail trail will be difficult and contentious for us.
sent,
Thanks for the update. Step #1 will be to separate Charlton Park management from County-wide policy.
The contentiousness of the trail issue has to do with the approach to the solution being flawed. The Thornapple Trail Association did a marvelous job in and around Middleville, but when they attempted to swallow the full length of the County the task became overwhelming.
There are some people who will have to be dealt with that are going to try to be difficult. That is an issue for a later time, not now.
The City of Hastings has recognized its responsibility and has secured grant money to improve and maintain the segment that is their responsibility. Barry County has failed to step up to the plate and take care of the segments they own. This is a legitimate policy issue for the mandated statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission, but only after they have created a separate and distinct ”Irving Charlton Park Board”. For the guzzilienth time, there is no such Board! The people on this fictitious board are one of the biggest barriers to what needs to get done.
Barry County owns trail segments behind Central Dispatch /Thornapple Manor, and from Morgan Crossing to Nashville that are a disgrace. Until the County Board insists that these segments are cared for in a responsible manner they will have no credibility for support of trails. One of the barriers has been expecting Dr. George Shannon to lead the County-wide recreation effort. He had no support or authority to carry out this program, and didn’t try to do it. He would have been a reasonably good Park Director if everything had been thought out for him in advance. A Park Director is not a Trail Director and the next person should have this explained to them.
The success of the trail effort depends on it being approached in segments, with local folks getting involved in each segment. The rest then falls into place.
Back to the issue of the County Administrator. Who decided to make George a Department Head? Who is in charge of Trail Policy? How much does Michael know about trails? Why should an Administrator know anything about trails and trail policy? His job ends when he has untangled the misinformation that has caused this administrative bungle. When the new “Irving Charlton Park Board” gets out of the trail issue, it will move ahead.
Happygarbled.
Hola, el grillo. Freddy went after the commisioners in his editorial today for the 10k give a way to Paul Wing's ag board. Hoot had a moment of empowerment and tried to stop it. Keith Murphy of Hastings Twp was selected for parks & rec board. Not sure who he is. David youngs had a half page summary of Charlton pk first friday. Calley's picture getting sworn in looks better than the one the banner has been running with his column. Hope he does better than newell. wouldnt take much. I think the paper said there was to be a joint park/commissioner meeting tonight. Too many other things pulling at me to take the time.
I hope the Banner has representation at the meeting. Rumor has it that amputation may be in the wings. The devil will be in the details, as usual.
I have always been impressed with the quality of the people who volunteer to serve on our boards and commissions. There is no reason to not replace people, including myself, when they lose the vision.
Happilygarbled,
As to "getting it right", you could stand to do some reading after you sober up.
Your weird statement ...("There is a Parks & Rec. Board. Not a Charlton Park Board please get it right.")...ignores at least five months of consistent information based on accurate reading of the State Law.
There is a statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission, only. There never has been a Parks & Rec. Board or a Charlton Park Board, or for that matter a Parks & Rec. Department as referred to in the County administrative documents endlessly.
el, you are forcing me to take interest in local issues against common sense and will. Maybe its the history and drama associated with Charlton Park that intrigues me. Now i wish I had attended the meeting to get the scoop. The problem is, there is no end to the issue or meeting a concerned citizen can attend. One twp super complained to me that about the only time anyone attends a twp meeting is when there is a problem. My response was that up until the problem arose, there was no need to attend. In essence, they were doing their job. Leave them alone. Obviously, the park commission has not been doing their job.
Sent,
Does it occur to you that you should be able to "get the scoop" in some way other than personally attending the meetings? We refer to this as "transparency", but even with full disclosure you have to have a news reporter around to get the word out. I have heard that Dave did a good job of covering the meeting. This was not a "closed session" like the ones involving $300,000 worth of real estate.
I would imagine as an editor, its hard to decide where to put your reporting/investigative resources. The commissioners have been pretty spontaneous in decision making and I'm not sure how cost effective it would be from a biz standpoint to park a reporters butt in the gallery waiting for a significant morsel. J-Ad used to do it. I think what happens is that once its assigned as a routine beat,it turns into something like the white house press corps where over time, they lose their objectivity. It would be nice if WBCH broadcast meetings on their AM station and the meetings should appear on public access Cable (maybe they already do). I'm not otherwise sure how/what decisions are made by J-ad in covering the commissioner's and related meetings. And, let's not forget the day meeting schedule of the commissioners which precludes attendance by a working stiff such as myself. Though, I'm not so sure if that would make a difference. Most Barry County residents are too indifferent to spend time at any government meeting.
sent,
You nailed it with "indifferent". As a "working stiff" on second shift, I was able to attend many meetings of the day-time hours and as a retiree I prefer to not drive after dark, but this isn't about me.
Mike Callton has plans to get some media system in place, soon I hope, like the system used in City Hall. This probably could have been done already if it wasn't so important to add more $12,000 parking spaces and $10,000 farmer fattening pork.
I chuckle at your defense of the Banner. Secondary to selling advertising and papers, the purpose of the Banner is to inform the public. If the indifference of the public allows the Banner to neglect full coverage of the whole truth it becomes a rag. At least WBCH has a web presence.
My comments about the Banner are neither support nor condemnation. It is a business with the primary purpose of making money. Like almost every other media outlet in America, the Banner now has a greater emphasis on sports than news. This is indeed sad, but it might be a good business decision. With every parent's grimmacing child's face on the sports pages, they might actually pony up the 50 cents or more to buy the paper. For news junkies like us, if we are lucky, maybe those parents and kids will acutualy read some news before getting to the sports pages. They might be actually become curious about an issue and attend some meeting to become an informed citizen. Oh well, I can dream.
This was a day of celebration of dreams, so hang on to yours.
I would hope that when the few informed citizens vote they will have the correct information to vote with. Perhaps the Banner could actually save money by putting the sports section in front and putting the news online. More kids get their news from the Internet than from local papers.
More threats and inaction regarding Charlton Pk in Thurs Banner. Its easy to lay blame on weingartz, but what about the other commission reps, such as the county commissioner and other county officials that make up commission? Where have they been and where are they now? How come a meeting has not been called by any of them to deal with a crisis.
The answer is obvious. They don't consider it a crisis. Their expectation is at least five more years of welfare checks.
I don't get the Banner down here until it is over two weeks old, but I seem to still be better informed than the people who buy it on Thursday mornings.
A meeting was called by the County Commission Chairman who has replaced the deadwood you are referring to with Jeff VanNortwick and Hoot Gibson. Both of these Commissioners are capable of a vision of self-sustainability. The appointed deadwood from the former reign of Jeff MacKenzie has yet to turn in their resignations, but must be able to read the same handwriting on the wall as was read by Dr. Shannon.
Weingartz would possibly be a welcome addition to the volunteer staff when an actual "Irving Charlton Park Board" is created by the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission.
The rest of you must be getting tired of the endless repetition of this fact.
I would appreciate corrections to this schedule since my data is not easily kept up to date. My e-mail request for a Banner subscription remains unanswered.
Wednesday, Jan.17th – The janitorial Facilities & Property Committee met under Keith Ferris. Keith is strapped with the Charlton Park issue, and his co-chair is an advocate of the status quo. The committee meets the day after the deadline for the Banner, so anything that happened will be old news by the next issue on Thursday, Jan.25.
Thursday, Jan.18th – The Banner came out. Apparently it has yet to make a clear distinction between the non-existent ”Charlton Park Board” and the statutory Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission.
Thursday, Jan. 18th – Law Enforcement & Courts Committee met under Mark Englerth. By far the largest budget and the most influential policy committee, LE&C was probably not assigned a Banner reporter and may receive an honorable mention, at best. The committee meets 2-days after the deadline for the Banner, so anything that happened will be old news by the next issue on Thursday, Jan.25. Ag3 will have missed this meeting.
Monday, Jan. 22nd – The administrative Finance Committee will meet under Don Nevins. They will approve the welfare check for the pork-barrel spending of $10,000 to subsidize Farmer Preservation. No motion has been offered to reverse this corruption by the lame duck former Commissioners, so there will probably be no objection to this use of last year’s surplus tax collection. This will be the second official meeting of this Committee, so this expenditure may have already slipped through the final cracks. Both Nevins and co-chair Adams voted for this pork.
Tuesday, Jan. 23 – The Banner will assign a reporter to the meeting of the County Board. Every decision will have been made in committee and all in favor will say aye. There will be very little debate on any issue, and what little is mentioned will be ignored in the minutes of the County Clerk, who by law is not required to record any discussion. The minutes will be logged into the County website after the dates have been updated. Cut and paste. Two Commissioners will remain without County e-mail addresses.
Thursday, Jan. 25 – The Banner will report on the occurrence of the First Quarter of the Moon, with a photo. Page 12 will cover the ho-hum Board meeting, next to Obituaries. The headline for the Board meeting will be “Chiropractor Pounds Table With Shoe”. The reports of the last meetings of LE&C and the janitorial F&P committee will be posted after in other business.
Thursday, Feb. 1 – The Banner will come out. By now, the Finance committee meeting will have been forgotten. No money will have been allocated for closed-circuit TV cameras. West Mich. Politics Blog will add a new posting. It will address annual snowfall records.
Tuesday, Feb. 6th – Nothing is scheduled for nearly two weeks. No committees will meet. The only news might come from the County Development & Planning Committee under Jim French. A thank you note might be read aloud from Paul and Tom Wing.
Thursday, Feb. 8 – The Personnel Committee will meet under Wayne Adams. The committee meets 2-days after the deadline for the Banner, so anything that happened will be old news by the next issue on Thursday, Feb. 15th
Since the Personnel Administration of the County and the oversight of Human Services is still strangely linked in our dysfunctional administrative morass, should we assume that the "human services" folks are going to interview for a new "department head" for Michael, or will he just select one by himself from the old list of relatives of members of the BCP&RC?
Lonesome,
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