By Tom Gilchrist
For The Advertiser
CARO — Tuscola County Commissioners said they aren’t trying to run the county Road Commission, but do plan to start small-group meetings with members of a Road Board whose financial decisions are under scrutiny.
“We really need that (Road) Board to work on their own issues,” said Commissioner Thom Bardwell, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners that met Monday with Road Commission leaders.
The five elected members of the Road Board overseeing the Road Commission — Jack Laurie, Gary Parsell, Mike Zwerk, Pat Sheridan and Julie Matuszak — were among an audience of about 25 people at a county commissioners’ Committee of the Whole meeting.
County commissioners’ Finance Committee — Commissioners Craig Kirkpatrick and Christine Trisch — agreed to meet with two Road Commission officials that will be chosen by the Road Board.
When Kirkpatrick ask the road commission if they would have full access to the road commission’s financial records, Laurie and the road commission’s Finance Director Mike Tuckey nodded yes.
Bardwell told the audience that county commissioners are seen as a “last resort” for members of the public.
“They come to us when they believe there is injustice or allegations, or something wrong, no matter what it is, but in this case, it’s the Road Commission,” Bardwell said. “I’m not saying there is something wrong at this point, but at least from our perspective, we think that from the public view, the Road Commission … is now much aware of the issues that were brought to us.”
Articles in the April 26 and April 19 editions of the Advertiser addressed money paid to certain Road Commission employees based on longevity, use of county vehicles by six Road Commission workers who take the vehicles to and from home and work, and a workers’ pension program underfunded by about $1.5 million.
During recent weeks, Millington Township Trustee Robert “Bob” Worth has questioned the Road Board about paying out “over $44,000 in ‘longevity bonuses’” annually — in December — to a number of Road Commission salaried employees.
Laurie emphasized Monday that the longevity payments are not bonuses, but “step” increases based on an employee’s length of seniority.
“That (money) is a part of their annual salary that is held back from the salary until their salary payment before Christmas,” Laurie said. “Can we change that? Yes. Will we? Yes. The (Road) Board has not talked about this yet, but because it’s so misleading, I think we’re going to talk about just incorporating that money into the salary and making that a part of their ongoing salary, which it really is.”
County Commissioner Roger Allen — the commissioners’ liaison to the Road Commission — was absent from Monday’s meeting. Though the Road Board is an autonomous (self-governing) board running the Road Commission, county commissioners could take over the Road Commission’s operation if county voters approved such a proposal.
Worth told Laurie on Monday that “in regard to your longevity pay … when someone is giving a lump sum paycheck on or near the first part of December, culture and perception would look at that as a Christmas bonus, because a lot of people receive Christmas bonuses.”
After Worth left the podium Monday, Almer Township resident Wayne Koper thanked the county Road Board and the Road Commission’s administrative staff and workers who maintain and improve roads.
“I’ve been here for 44 years and when I first moved here, my roads were cleared every day … first thing in the morning,” Koper said. “But due to lack of funding — demands on the part of the people that the state and the federal government cut the monies that they send us … we have smaller government, we have less money that we work with — now I have my neighbors at each other’s throats about their salaries.
“They want to take money out of my neighbor’s pockets. Forty-four thousand dollars is going to build how many miles of roads? Twenty? Thirty? It’s not what I’m hearing these days. I’m finding myself a little bit disgusted at this, at this point in time.”
The Road Commission’s pension plan is underfunded by about $1.5 million, according to Tuckey.
Bardwell noted that “Where I get concerned — and this board is concerned — is the pension plan, because it’s a financial liability … that will probably come
back to the county if all else failed,” Bardwell said.
“That’s going to be the nightmare that you have in the future,” Bardwell said.
Mike Tuckey, however, said that “As far as municipalities go … I think we’re in the middle of the road,” adding “We’re certainly not the most underfunded (pension plan).”
County Commissioner Trisch asked about allowing Road Commission employees to take county vehicles to and from work and home. Laurie said the six employees who do that don’t use them for personal matters, and “are on call 24/7 and we want them to have that vehicle available.” In an emergency, Laurie said, Road Board members don’t want workers driving from home to a Road Commission garage or office just to get a vehicle with the proper communication system in it.
“How often do (workers) actually get called out that would substantiate them taking a vehicle home every single day that they work?” Trisch asked.
“If you could tell me the next time a tanker’s gonna explode and I get called out at 3 a.m., I could give you a better answer,” replied Jay Tuckey, the Road Commission’s superintendent/manager.
A driver was killed in a tanker explosion earlier this month along Vassar Road south of M-81.