Clerk/Register Finds Path to Fairer Compensation

By DIANNE ALWARD-BIERY

Cleaver Senior Staff Writer

HARRISON – At the Aug. 21 meeting of the Clare County Board of Commissioners, the agenda item Clerk Discussion was presented by Lori Mott. Her presentation centered on increased duties in her office and a request for more appropriate compensation – something Mott said she hadn’t done in her eight years as County Clerk, Register of Deeds and Abstractor.

She pointed out that three years prior, the commissioners had given the sheriff and undersheriff a substantial raise and had assembled a committee to evaluate wages of other elected officials. She said that required her office to put in time and effort doing wage studies with data from around the state. Mott said those studies were provided to the committee and county prosecutor – who she said was the unofficial spokesperson for the three women who did not receive a raise – and followed up on for about a year, seeking progress updates. Mott said the committee never provided a report or recommendation, and that no increase was ever offered to Treasurer Beemer-Fritzinger, Prosecutor Ambrozaitis or Clerk/Register/Abstractor Mott.

Mott went on to say that when the current commissioners took office, they voted to eliminate per diem and travel expense from the County Commissioner Budget and increase their own wages by 50%. Mott pointed out that an elected official’s wage cannot be decreased during their term, and that for any commissioner who attends only the BOC meetings and no other township or committee meetings, that is equal to $200 per hour.

The wage increase request by Mott also included her offering the Board a way to pay for it. She started by describing her 60-hour (minimum) weeks and her increased job duties and the potential costs to the county. She also described her office’s performance of many non-statutory duties and her commitment to ensuring that Clare County elections are 100% secure. Mott said she believes they are, because she does that work herself rather than outsourcing it to ElectionSource as is done by the majority of county clerks.

She outlined that election cost savings due to her office doing the work for 2024 [a three-election year] as 1) Ballot programming $117,434.86; 2) Testing equipment and program cards $52,636; and 3) Additional savings to the county for postcard mailing and electronic voting savings $72,265.

Mott further noted that she, Treasurer Beemer-Fritzinger and Judge Klaus do not take the per diem to which they are entitled for Election Commission meetings. Additionally, Mott said that during early voting alone she and her chief deputy had worked an additional 39 days equaling 2,925 hours (10-hour days and weeks included) – none of which is additionally compensated as they are salaried employees.

Speaking of how difficult it has been to keep an election employee, she noted how difficult/stressful the work is as even the smallest mistake can have extensive consequences. Mott said that job vacancy is one of the reasons she, her chief deputy and staff had to work additional hours.

She then proffered suggestions for how a raise could be achieved while saving the county some money. Mott tallied up the vacant election position wages, benefit package (totally savings of $102,000), and if the county charges for early voting to townships, the total savings would be $170,000. From that total, she proposed an increase of $13,000 to the Clerk/Register of Deeds/Abstractor salary, and $7,000 to the Chief Deputy salary. Alternately, she suggested the county pay a per diem/stipend for programming per election of $9,000 to the Clerk/Register of Deeds/Abstractor, and $5,000 to the Chief Deputy Clerk/Register of Deeds/Abstractor.

Mott explained that the per diem/stipend would apply only to herself and her chief deputy, and that if a new clerk/register of deeds/abstractor were to come in, they would not receive it if the duties were not performed, or if she stopped performing them herself. It was further explained that the amounts could range from zero dollars for no elections to $56,000 for four elections – adding that in her 11 years with the county, she has not seen a year with four elections, and that a typical one to two elections year would range from $14,000 to $28,000.

Mott summed up by requesting that using the savings from her office alone, there would be enough in the $102,000 saved in wages plus revenue from early voting to pay for a raise not only for her office, but also for Treasurer Beemer-Fritzinger and Prosecutor Ambrozaitis.

Editor’s note: The information in this story is cited largely from the printout distributed by Mott at the BOC meeting.