Illuminating Lawson's Contract Renewal and Pay Increase

I had an illuminating moment this week. It was not one of those cartoonish idea bulbs flashing above my head. It was the single 60-watt incandescent ceiling bulb in one bathroom. After years of selfless service, on and off, day or night, that bulb decided to go out with a bang and a flash in a true Kodak moment. Thinking a 100-watt bulb might cast a little more light on the mirror and facilitate shaving; I removed the fixture globe, screwed in the bulb, reinstalled the globe and flipped the switch. None of that 38-watt CFL pretender stuff that passes now as electric light. Twice as many lumens do not flatter a bachelor’s bathroom. Dirt now has nowhere to hide and it is very hard to overlook.

A county government is much like this single guy’s bathroom. I am happy that it functions when I need it. A closer look with a brighter bulb, like the new brighter orb shining in my bathroom, may uncover more dirt than I really want to see. Cheboygan County government is no better or worse than many other counties. That is not saying a lot. Cheboygan has avoided the trap of Grand Traverse’s underfunded pensions or Emmet County’s millions of dollars of bond debt funding Emmet County EMS and Headland’s Park. Several northern Michigan counties have also had tumultuous personnel issues.

I will not excuse faults that have occurred with our prior Board of Commissioners or the current Board. Those seven Commissioners, a changing group over the past few years, are always answerable to the people who elected them. The twice-monthly Board of Commissioners meetings are open to the public. The county conducts business before the Board in an open and relatively formal manner following a published and approved agenda. The Board hired the current County Administrator Jeff Lawson in 2011. His job is to implement Board policies, to supervise all functions that report to the Board of Commissioners, and to oversee the daily activities of the County. The County Administrator and support staff provide professional support, project management, and policy recommendations for the Board of Commissioners. Mr Lawson had his last 3-year term of employment approved July of 2014 and that contract expired last year on July 10, 2017. It is a very typical government contract with some nice perks and benefits. The news at the time reported Mr Lawson’s base salary as $97,000 and the benefits’ cost add about 27% to the total compensation. 

The Board evaluates Mr Lawson’s performance as a professional on an annual basis. His 2017 evaluation, compiled to protect the anonymity of the Board member’s comments was generally favorable. Mr Lawson exercised his right under the Open Meeting Act to request a closed session for his evaluation on March 14, 2017. When the Board of Commissioners exited that closed session, the Board took advantage of a rare situation when the public was not watching. On a motion by Chris Brown, and with support by Bob Bolinger, the full Board voted to extend Mr Lawson’s contract by one (1) year and to destroy the copies of the evaluation. None of this conduct after the closed session seemed pre-planned or on any approved agenda.

Apparently, and perhaps taking advantage of a rare time when the public and other Board members were not watching, Commissioner Chris Brown as Vice-Chair signed a new contract with Jeff Lawson the next day. This was not the one (1) year contract extension approved and documented in the minutes for the Board of Commissioners. The contract signed on March 15, 2017 added two (2) years and four (4) months to the existing contract. It also added more money. Much of the fiscal responsibility exercised by Mr Lawson since 2011 has been a denial of raises for union employees. Meanwhile, Mr Lawson lobbied the Board of Commissioners and gained thousands of dollars in “retention” raises to keep salaried staff. Both of those salaried staff has since left. Raises for salaried employees and denials for the hourly employees has been a contentious subject in the county building. I suspect an annual evaluation by many employees in the building would not be generally favorable to Mr Lawson.     

You already know the one (1) year contract extension approved on March 14, 2017 grew overnight to a secretively signed two year and four-month contract. That new contract increased the annual base salary to $99,929.40 plus benefits. I have not seen and Mr Lawson offered no explanation where or when the Board of Commissioners approved this contract in an open public meeting. The bright light is shining on Mr Lawson and the public deserve some answers. 

The information contained in this post is believed accurate at date of publication. Monetary amounts and actions reported are based solely on documents supplied by Cheboygan County Administrator Jeff Lawson in a March 6, 2018 FOIA response seeking documentation of his current Cheboygan County employment contract.   

You Have Power- Change The Inverness Township Board

Howard Beale was the news anchor in the 70’s movie Network who ranted and raved. His ravings, “I’m mad as hell” gained viewers and some think little else. Spoiler alert, if you have never viewed the movie, news anchor Beale directs his viewers to open their windows and call out, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore”. The ensuing call of frustration voiced by thousands is a memorable movie moment because it embodies the daily and varied frustrations we all deal with.   

Like Howard Beale’s viewers, many of us in Cheboygan County are mad, angry or simply frustrated beyond words. Many things frustrated Beale’s viewers and we all have daily frustrations in life. Pastor, theologian, and government critic Reinhold Niebuhr penned the oft-quoted Serenity Prayer. Said simply, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

Most of us do not look to the government to solve all of our problems. As often as not, the government is the problem.  Politicians and the bureaucrats we employ to supply those government services society has determined are essential to our well being are our employees. We, the people they serve, pay their salaries, wages, and benefits.

The elected County Commissioners, Cheboygan City Council, and Township Boards work for each of us. It is not a simple job. We all have different needs, priorities, political positions, and we each place different demands on our local government bodies. Cheboygan County residents have a wide diversity of incomes, housing, education, and perceived needs. I know some young and even older people who struggle every day to keep a roof over their own or their family’s head. Retirees who have located here may have different needs but higher expectations. Some retirees look forward to a utopian and not utilitarian retirement. One group knows a pile of firewood or a few tires in the yard is an asset worth saving, while the other group sees anything except a neatly manicured lawn as blight requiring an ordinance. 

Many of our Cheboygan County wage earners now commute every day to Gaylord, Petoskey, or other communities that have experienced more growth in retail, healthcare, and the coveted manufacturing and industrial jobs that pay a living wage. Some of those driving a 60, 70, or 80-mile round-trip daily to that end of the rainbow job will eventually pull up roots and move closer to that place of employment.  I have lived in boom and bust one-industry towns where the inevitable downturn occurs and some pundit posts a roadside sign-Will the last person out please shut off the lights. Cheboygan County has too many natural assets to have the lights turned off. That does not mean we can continue to allow a regressive Inverness Township Board, to dim the lights, pull the shades, and hide from outside developers willing to invest millions of dollars here and create hundreds of new of jobs. 

Cheboygan County approved the Meijer site plan in February 2015. Inverness Township Supervisor Ron Neuman was then quoted, “The township wants the project to happen and was working diligently to get water to the site”. If three years of virtual inactivity is Mr Neuman’s definition of “working diligently”, what is his definition of a slacker? It only requires three board members to approve any motion before the board. Five apathetic people in Inverness Township have thwarted needed growth in this county for three years and they should equally share the blame.

Click on this link for the step-by-step procedure to implement a recall election. 

Recall the Inverness Five-NOW!

Meijers has since invested millions of dollars opening stores in Alpena, Sault Ste. Marie, Escanaba, Marquette, and other progressive communities offering new shopping and employment opportunities. The time for Inverness residents to accept apathy and practice serenity is over. Your fellow Cheboygan County residents cannot carry your water. As an Inverness resident, only you can exercise your right to recall the “Inverness Five” and elect some new and progressive board members. The law excludes the first and last year of a 4 year-term, allowing only calendar years 2018 and 2019 to exercise a recall election. Are there enough people in Inverness Township with the “wisdom to know the difference?” Exercising that wisdom to do something new will take courage. 

Inverness Voters Are Nailing Shut The Cheboygan Coffin

Almost two full years after Meijer received Cheboygan County site plan approval, by a 3-2 vote, the Inverness Township Board voted in February 2017 to approve moving forward with negotiations of a 425 agreement between the township and the City of Cheboygan for the Meijer property.

Crisman Jones, Properties and Real Estate Manager for Meijer, stated in an email it is Meijer’s preference to go with the 425 agreement.

Inverness Township Supervisor Ron Neuman, “With that being said, I would entertain a motion to go ahead and start negotiations with the city on a 425 agreement and move forward with this project.”

Another year has passed and the Meijer project has moved farther away. 

Five dysfunctional people, the Inverness Township Board, have by their actions created a defacto moratorium on a big box developer. The Inverness Five have prevented an investment of millions of dollars in Cheboygan County and the several hundred new jobs that a Meijer store would create.

Do the electors of Inverness Township have the courage to exercise their rights by recalling the entire township board, each equally guilty, and vote into office new officers who will act expediently to reach an agreement with the City of Cheboygan? 

The decision is yours. The failure of this big box store development will negatively impact the future of Cheboygan County far into the future. It is another nail in the coffin. 

Inverness Township Five

Ronald Neuman

Supervisor

1473 Riggsville Rd.

Cheboygan MI 49721 Phone: (231) 627-3455

Jean Beethem

Clerk

5167 Riggsville Rd.

Cheboygan MI 497219038 Phone: (231) 627-3337

Kathy Spray

Treasurer

7990 South Extension Rd

PO Box 620

Cheboygan MI 49721 Phone: (231) 420-5518 FAX: (231) 627-5517

Tim Borowicz

Trustee

6760 Baier Rd.

Cheboygan MI 497219087 Phone: (231) 627-5925

Bernard Schramm

Trustee

2836 Indian Trail Rd.

Cheboygan MI 497219636 Phone: (231) 627-6977

Click on this link for the step-by-step procedure to implement a recall election. 

Recall the Inverness Five-NOW!

Are Your Tax Dollars Working For You Or Your Leaders?

I have been amused over the years as well compensated part-time elected officials make political hay and congratulate themselves on a few dollars saved while alternately wasting or socking away tens of thousands of dollars annually. Paying winter property taxes in Cheboygan County makes me nostalgic for places and times where a home, business, or property increased in value every year. 

The smallest local tax bite is about 17.5 mills and Tuscarora Township, trying hard to become a failing city, has the biggest bite with 24 mills (A mill is $1 tax per $1,000 taxable value). The Village residents of Wolverine, Mackinaw, and the City of Cheboygan all pay higher taxes with the City at just over 39 mills. Your house with a taxable value of $100,000 in most townships will see an annual tax bill around $2,000 and in the City of Cheboygan with all those city services about $3,900. If you own resort property here, enjoying that cottage a few months a year, you have the pleasure of paying 12 months of property taxes and an additional 18 mills to fund our local schools. No children enrolled and no right to vote. Our educators in Michigan love taxpayers who pay for schools and cannot exercise their right to say no more taxes.      

The City of Cheboygan, Cheboygan County, the County Road Commission, Tuscarora Township, and it seems every local government that has employee pension plans has substantial amounts of unfunded pensions. Some units may have more pensioners than active employees. The big three automotive manufacturers could not compete as fewer employees had to both earn a profit and pay for all those retirees already pensioned out. Government employees never earn a profit. As pension costs and the number of retirees increase, the funding crisis will grow. All of the existing retirees and many of the government employees counting the days to their retirement will enjoy the same defined benefit plans that bankrupted some private industry pension plans. 

While national and cable news fills our heads with allocations and budgets of millions, billions, and trillions; our local townships, villages, cities, and counties are sometimes scrounging now to maintain the status quo when deficits in the thousands create a crisis. Those legacy costs, neglected infrastructure including water, sewer, and roads coupled with inadequate funding to serve developments that could bring new jobs is bad. Mix in an aging population on fixed incomes, add singles and young families working seasonal or multiple part-time jobs and we go from bad to worse. Shrinking student populations, closed schools, and fewer local opportunities for grads will drive more out-migration.

It is a downhill slide and too many Cheboygan County leaders have sat on the speeding toboggan for the last decade as much of the country climbed back from a recession. Our neighbors, Emmet and Otsego County have climbed back up the hill with their February peak unemployment rates now about half of Cheboygan’s 18 to 19%. That is proof of a growing diversity in employment. Many Cheboygan County residents already commute to Gaylord or Petoskey to gain steady year-round work while others have just moved away. 

    

Our local governments have been content to continue that downhill ride.  Our elected leaders and their bureaucracy enjoy the area’s best pay and benefits serving a diminishing number of residents. Government employees starting compensation now exceeds the area’s median income. Elected Township Boards, putting in a few hours or less a month while accomplishing nothing, receive salaries that some residents work all year to earn.  Witness the failed Inverness Township Board that has cost the entire community hundreds of jobs.  These illustrious leaders need to become industrious and actually earn their pay. 

Who is at the Helm of the Cheboygan County Ship?

I made no personal New Year’s resolutions for 2018. I was tempted though to resolve to join the thousands of Cheboygan County residents who find any activity is better than attending a local government meeting. I was one of only three citizens in the audience of the County Board of Commissioners on January 9, 2018. A sports team could not survive with more people on the floor or field than in the stands and Cheboygan County suffers from the same apathy.

Cheboygan County’s primary role in the hierarchy of governance is acting as the home of the Circuit and District Courts, Sherriff’s Department and jail, deliverance and enforcement of Michigan’s criminal and civil laws, and the dissemination of a plethora of state programs to local residents. The vast majority of business that comes before the County Commissioners is rote rubberstamping of an agenda mandated by others. You err if you think the County Commissioners are lawmakers. One of the few areas where they can exert a local influence over our daily life, freedoms or infringements on our freedoms is in the area of planning of land uses and zoning regulations.

The County Commissioners have now failed that by over-thinking, micro managing, and partially approving Amendment #144 to the County’s Ordinance #200. Amendment #144 principally clarified or confused a multiplicity of restaurant definitions. The law will now identify as separate or maybe combined uses a Bar, Drive-through, Restaurant, Restaurant-carry out, Restaurant-drive in, and a Restaurant-fast food. Amendment #144 also included an attempt by the Planning Commission to correct the error of omission that occurred when former Community Development Director Steve Schnell was forced by public pressure to backtrack on his attempt ban short-term or vacation rentals.

Mr Schnell had redefined the biblical definition of family to read “two or more individuals, whether related or unrelated”. That wording excluded more than thirty percent of county residents who reside in one person households protected by Federal Fair Housing Act. The act specifically states a family, regardless of Mr Schnell’s ideal, includes a “single individual”.

We have all seen the flack lawmakers attract when they vote on bills or legislation without reading or understanding what they are voting yea or nay on. The inclusion of a correction within Amendment #144, to be inserted into Section 2.2 of the Cheboygan County Zoning Ordinance No. 200 is hereby amended to change the following definition which shall read in its entirety as follows: Family An individual or a group of individuals, whether related or unrelated, who are occupying a dwelling. It was that simple. Then the stupidity started. Commissioner Sangster asked, “What does a definition of family have to do with bars or restaurants?” If you read the cover sheet explanation, the answer is there: nothing.  Adding to the confusion, Cheboygan Legal Counsel Bryan Graham interjects that in his opinion, if this is the county’s attempt to control short-term rentals, it is “not good policy”. The wording amendment would return the family definition to a standard that meets the FFHA. The citizens of Cheboygan County endorsed short-term rentals and to this date, there has not been any demonstrated need for the controls Mr Schnell envisioned.    

If the Cheboygan County Commissioners want to micro manage, Administrator Jeff Lawson is currently at the helm of a ship that seems adrift with people taking to the lifeboats. Despite a big retention raise a few years ago, his friend, Community Development Director Steve Schnell, is gone. The newly created lesser position of Planning and Zoning Director remains unfilled with Scott McNeil’s end of February retirement fast approaching. Finance Director Kari Kortz received an $11,342.95 raise just less than three years ago with an additional title Assistant County Administrator. 

Ms Kortz has given her notice and is not leaving for more money or a better pension, but a position in private industry that offers employees more respect. Any one person will not fulfill her existing duties despite the caveat: Performs additional duties as may be assigned by the Administrator.

Newly appointed Commissioner Karen Johnson has publicly recognized the County building has no dedicated Human Resource staff. People don’t quit jobs, they quit managers. Cheboygan County has a finite labor pool of professional and management people. Many of the current and future openings that will occur will be very hard to fill. 

Opportunity Knocks and Cheboygan Doesn't Answer

Last week there was a joint meeting of the Cheboygan County Commissioners and the Cheboygan County Planning Commission. There was some frank discussion about the Cheboygan County Master Plan, zoning, and land uses. Will it lead to a future that better serves Cheboygan County?

The County Commissioners and Planning Staff, a diminishing number of people, shared a letter with the Planning Commission members. Someone had stamped the envelopes in red, “Confidential”. The County’s legal counsel allegedly penned the confidential letter. No one offered to read the letter to the public in attendance.  In the realm of land use and planning by our local government, secrecy should not exist. Master Plans and zoning decisions, approvals or denials; cannot be tried in some secret court. The future use of your land must not be determined with deliberations, decisions, and a planning ordinance rooted in closed sessions or driven by hidden agendas.

Planning and zoning is a process as exciting as watching paint dry. When it works, and it has not worked well here, it can still be an unpopular subject. Griswold Mountain and Heritage Cove were contentious projects and Meijer has now become contentious. The applicant withdrew the proposal for the Griswold Mountain racetrack. The Planning Commission approved the Heritage Cove project. The Heritage Cove neighbors subsequently filed suit and the case goes to a State Court of Appeals in January 2018. 

The Planning Commission approved the Meijer project in February of 2015. Inverness Township Supervisor Neuman promised to work diligently to deliver the needed water in a timely manner. Meijer was prepared to pay all the up-front costs for the needed waterline. With the Meijer store already approved at the county level, the Inverness Township Board has effectively placed a moratorium on commercial growth within the south M-27 corridor. There are five people on that board and despite recent comments by one or two members, they have effectively worked together to stall the Meijer water issue for almost three years.

The Planning and Enabling Act allows a development process effectively used in other communities to plan, research, and approve or not approve complex projects: the Planned Unit Development (PUD). Cheboygan County has an existing PUD ordinance on the books. Quietly acknowledged as tried once and failed, the Planning Commission and County Commissioners have spent several years kicking the PUD ball around. A deflated ball may have worked for the Patriots, but Cheboygan deserves better. A PUD should be a methodical series of well-defined steps starting with pre-application conference(s), determinations of suitability, and importantly getting all of the needed infrastructure; water, sewer, and roads; approved before proceeding to final approvals. 

The PUD process should not be a short cut. I am amazed when Cheboygan County ignores the better practices proven with the economic growth and development our neighbors have enjoyed. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Emmet County states, “on the basis of findings at the Public Hearing, specific site conditions, community land use plans, and the applicant's intent in establishing nonresidential uses, the Planning Commission may reject a PUD District as not being in accord with the land use goals of the community, and/or as not being appropriate for the specific property under consideration. In a PUD District, the County Board of Commissioners may reject the PUD plan for the reasons stated in this paragraph. “No Preliminary or Final PUD shall be approved unless the proposed project, the plan for the project and the land uses(s) are mutually agreeable to the applicant, the municipality and County of Emmet.”

The “Confidential” letter? Cheboygan’s legal counsel is allegedly “suggesting that this decision be made by the Planning Commission based on standards and the Board of Commissioners would not be involved. This option would also provide for a much more streamlined decision-making process. 

“The Zoning Enabling Act allows a procedure for approval of a PUD by the Planning Commission only. Legal counsel has expressed concern with the additional exposure to risk by requiring approval of a PUD by both the Planning Commission and the Board of Commissioners.”  I question the true reasoning for the legal argument. We need to adopt a proven PUD process that protects our existing land uses and values while encouraging economic growth. 

You Are Not In Kansas-Careful What You Wish For Toto

I have always been an advocate of transparent and fiscally responsible government. Essential government services should be the sole beneficiary of our tax dollars. I moved back to northern Michigan, as many of us have been fortunate to do, after decades in other locales. I have seen good, bad, and just plain corrupt local government and all of these behaviors can sometimes co-exist within one town or county. I lived in Pinal County Arizona while the population increased by over 54% from 117,000 in 1990 to 179,000 residents in 2000. That was just the beginning and Pinal County’s population doubled again to more than 375,000 people by 2010.

Pinal County, AZ 1891 Courthouse

Pinal County’s three part-time County Supervisors, not nine County Commissioners, worked with other elected office holders and the county bureaucracy to chase the population increase with growing pains and a little corruption along the way. As recently as 2010, Pinal County, much like Cheboygan County, was still small town, small “g” governance. Delores “Dodie” Doolittle served as elected Treasurer after working in the building for years. Her husband Terry served in half a dozen positions eventually becoming County Manager. 

The state had indicted Terry Doolittle’s predecessor Stan Griffis for stealing more than $400,000 in county transportation funds resulting in a 3 1/2 year prison term. Stan was a good no-nonsense county manager who I knew personally. The courts proved Stan was more than a little crooked as he offered bigger fish than me a smooth road to large subdivision and development approvals. The funds went into special accounts that Stan personally tapped. The Doolittle’s and other elected officials and employees in Pinal have since been embroiled in other conflicts and controversies. People watching their local government asked questions or made allegations. Some concerns proved real and some were not.

Headquarters Bar-Maricopa, AZ

My small town Arizona was Maricopa. It was just a wide spot in the road in the early 1990’s with a single blinking caution light, a school, Post Office, two bars, and a few other locally owned businesses. We all participated in the boom as developers moved in. Open desert, cotton fields, and pecan orchards became new subdivisions, gated golf-course  communities, shopping, and health care services.  Maricopa incorporated as a city in 2003. Between 2000 and 2010, Maricopa’s population grew from 1,040 residents to 43,482, an increase of 4080%. 

Maricopa, AZ-Fastest Growing City in USA

The City of Cheboygan experienced an 8.1% population loss in the same decade. Local governments have little influence on economic booms or busts. The leaders, and it does take leaders, have to respond as populations wax or wane. They can let the belt out as the population and need grows; but must be able to suck their gut in and tighten the belt as tax resources and needs diminish.

We live far-far away from tornado alley, but occasionally, for a moment, I will regain consciousness at some too-long government meeting and think, did I just hear Dorothy say; “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore”. Cheboygan County is not Kansas but every year it does seem to move closer to the imaginary Land of Oz. I seldom see a county meeting where our elected officials do not reach their hand over a shoulder and pat themselves on the back while saying “good job”. They have often done nothing more than what the State of Michigan mandates. They are their own best fans. They are also the best fans of their employees. The county has some great employees and I will argue the employees’ case anytime, but “Good job“is a phrase perhaps used too freely. The malaise currently affecting Cheboygan County occurs when any elected board escapes to some fantasy world. Who is hiding behind the curtain in this River City Oz and can we face the reality of our failures and inadequacies?  

Almost 10 years after the 2008 recession, Cheboygan County, the City of Cheboygan, and many of our Township Boards have been living in Oz. They have labored on bike trails, Trail Towns, Trailheads, failed Streetscapes, failed business parks, a failed Master Plan, and more than 140 amendments to a failed zoning ordinance. 

When real world problems, a bankrupt non-profit community based hospital; or real world opportunities appear, a 250-employee multi-million dollar Meijers store, a Griswold Mountain, a Heritage Cove Farm, or a single proprietor dog grooming business; Cheboygan County was found unprepared to embrace any growth. There is no yellow brick road. We need to identify and prioritize our real world needs and move forward.