People still ask, do you
think Cheboygan will eventually see the growth and prosperity that our
neighboring counties and communities enjoy? It will never occur until Cheboygan
recognizes and acknowledges that a community culture based on multi-generational
familial relationships bordering on tribalism, and the products of that
culture, unreasonable and indefensible biases and prejudices must end.
Cheboygan’s vocabulary
does not seem to recognize the words nepotism and cronyism. The same people
elect the same people and those people then appoint the same people generation
after generation. It becomes an incestuous relationship unmatched since the
centuries of Royal inbreeding and political alliances in Europe. The Inverness
Township Board’s failures under Clerk Beethem’s leadership to deliver water,
the Tuscarora Township Board and Tuscarora DDA’s inability to create a business
friendly environment, and the Cheboygan County government’s decades of
laisser-faire County Commissioners looking inward and allowing the staff to run
the show, all contribute to the ongoing malaise.
What does looking inward mean? County staff reportedly met with the Cheboygan County Waterways
Commission, a group of appointees made by the County, in late 2015. They met to
discuss the future of the County Marina. They acknowledged that revenues had
been dropping for five or six years. Curt Chambers, then serving as Harbor
Master, would retire in December 2016 from his $43,542 per year job after 26
years of employment. In a news article on his retirement, Chambers said the
perks of the harbormaster position were wonderful. County Administrator Jeff
Lawson then proposed to restructure, not to save money, by hiring two or three
seasonal Harbor Managers who would report to him. By April of 2017, the Waterways
Commission was discussing dropping fuel sales, 18 years of Marina income
insufficient to maintain the facility, and the proposed “Harbor Managers” had
become a singular Harbor Master.
That Harbor Master, whose 2018 pay was
$16.59 an hour, has taken a position with one of the State run harbors at the
Straits. County Administrator Jeff Lawson facing recent public complaints on basic
maintenance of the County Marina, then looked not inward, but backward and
rehired former Cheboygan County Harbor Master Curt Chambers, a County retiree
and pensioner. Did Lawson even post the job? Apparently unwilling to work for
the existing wage, the County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a 20%
increase in pay to $20 per hour. I hope the recent Harbor Master did not resign
a $16.59 an hour job and move for better pay. He or she could have had $20 an
hour. I suspect he or she instead left for a better boss or better career
opportunities.
Reported on the
Tribune’s front page, Lawson said, “Because he’s coming back from retirement,
he (Chambers) can’t work over 1,000 hours for the county. There would be a
pension issue if he did. It’s just a summer position.” It
will be a full time position for this fall and all of next summer paying up to $20,000
if Chambers works those 1,000 hours per year. Lawson reported Chambers would
not be receiving any retirement or other fringe benefits from the county as
their employee. That is because he is
already enjoying a defined benefit pension and full health care benefits as a Cheboygan
County retiree.
That was Lawson
talking around the subject of civil servant double dipping, a pensioned off person
returning to the same job with the same government unit. Most communities would
find fault with that practice. It denies a $20 per hour job to a younger person
who actually needs a job. Vice-Chair Commissioner Sangster reportedly wants to
make sure the county stays attentive to the improvements needed at the
facility. Are those the same deferred maintenance needs identified at more than
$4 million dollars over a decade ago? The same improvements overlooked for more
than two decades. The same people, doing the same job, will usually produce the
same results. Until every person in Cheboygan County stands up and demands
better, we will continue to see people serving only their own best interests
and our communities will continue to suffer.
