By Tom Gilchrist
For The Advertiser
CARO — There will be no such thing as a free lunch for the supervisors of Tuscola County’s 23 townships if they attend either of two meetings this month with the board overseeing the county Road Commission.
In past years, the Road Board has spent public funds to treat supervisors to lunch as an “incentive” for supervisors to drive to a group meeting at the Road Commission office to discuss policies and developments, and share ideas.
In recent months, however, Road Board financial practices have been questioned by county residents including Millington Township Trustee Robert “Bob” Worth, who — at a Road Board meeting earlier this year — told the board not to buy lunch for supervisors anymore.
“There’s another $700 to $900 you can save by not taking them out to lunch,” Worth said. “Just have some bagels and doughnuts, or a bag of stale chips or something. You know? You don’t need to take the people out to lunch, and that includes your (Road Commission) working foremen and everybody else that goes up to that meeting. … I just think that with the cuts and the way everything’s going, be frugal.”
When Worth made his remarks, the Road Board had been discussing doing away with or reducing a $25,000 annual allowance paid to each township as an incentive to improve roads. The Road Board eventually chose not to lower the allowance.
Township supervisors are invited to either of two meetings with the Road Board on May 22 or May 29. Both meetings start at 10 a.m. at the Road Commission office along M-24 south of Caro. But public money won’t pay for meals at a restaurant this time.
On Thursday, Road Board Vice Chairman Gary Parsell addressed the idea of paying for the meals.
“What’s our total budget — how many millions of dollars?” Parsell asked. “When you get called down on spending $750, it doesn’t make much sense to me.”
“I don’t know if the return on — for every dollar that we spend — is $100, or $500, or what the return is on these meetings, but I guess if that’s going to make headlines, spending 700 or 800 bucks, I guess if that’s what we’ve resorted to, I guess that’s fine,” added Road Board member Pat Sheridan. “But I think the payback on the (meetings with supervisors), no matter how we do it, is astronomical.”
At a meeting earlier this year, Millington Township’s Worth also questioned the Road Board about paying out “over $44,000 in ‘longevity bonuses’” annually to a number of Road Commission employees.
Since then, Laurie has described the longevity payments — which increase as employees gain seniority — as “raises” and not “bonuses.” Employees in public school districts also receive extra salary based on their longevity, Laurie said.
Dayton Township resident Robert Adams revisited the issue at Thursday’s Road Board meeting, though.
“The one thing, I tell you, that really is the icing on the cake, is when people hear that different (Road Commission) executives get bonuses,” Adams said. “People say ‘Wait a minute, I’m riding on a road here that looks like a tank track, and you’re giving this guy a bonus? For what? For coming to work?’”
Laurie said the longevity payments were “misunderstood” following Advertiser articles about Worth’s questions and county commissioners’ concerns about Road Board spending practices.
“I think we made it clear that that was a total misnomer to call that a bonus,” Laurie said. “It was no bonus. It was a step increase in salary, just like the schoolteachers have.”
Through the years, according to Laurie, Road Board leaders “tried to reward the employee by holding that (longevity payment) back out of their salary and giving it to them in one check … before Christmas.”
After Adams raised the issue Thursday, Laurie said “Before we finish today, we’re going to talk a little bit about how we’re going to straighten that out, because i don’t particularly like it — it’s too easily misunderstood.”
The Road Board adjourned, though, without addressing the longevity payments.
Worth also has questioned the Road Board about a workers’ pension program that is underfunded by about $1.5 million, and about allowing use of county vehicles by six Road Commission workers who take the vehicles to and from home and work.
Laurie said last month that the employees don’t use the vehicles 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.
On Thursday, the Road Board appointed Parsell and Mike Zwerk to a new Finance Committee that will meet with the Finance Committee of the Tuscola County Board of Commissioners.
Though the Road Board is an autonomous (self-governing) body running the Road Commission, county commissioners could take over the Road Commission’s operation if county voters approve it. County commissioners haven’t put the question to voters, and are setting up small-group meetings with Road Board members regarding Road Commission finances.