Letter to the Editor-County Commissioners

On Jan. 18, 2023, the Clare County Board of Commissioners held their first meeting. There are now nine county commissioners instead of seven due to re-districting. Normally, this would cost the taxpayers of our County an additional $16,000 plus mileage and any per diem costs. This is bad enough.

Dale Majewski made a motion to raise the Commissioners wages an extra $4,000 per person ($36,000) per year and do away with the per diem charges. His motion passed.

I take issue with this. The people of our County are hurting financially and can barely afford what they are paying now. The argument that this will equal out in the long run as per diem costs would probably add up to $36,000 is suspect. Jack Kleinhardt for one never charged the county one penny in per diem costs all of the years he has been commissioner.

Another argument is that it is difficult for our county personnel to compute the per diem charges as some commissioners do not turn their work sheets in on time and others do not calculate the charges correctly. Why not set a time limit for Commissioners to turn in their per diem sheets? Why not look at accepting a lower raise in commissioner's wages (i.e., $2,000 instead of $4,000)?

Dale Majewski as Fire Chief of Lincoln Township recently asked for and received an additional $300 a month because he has to do more paperwork. I have not spoken to any other fire chief in our county who has received an additional $300 per month because they have to do more paperwork.

Come on now...let’s put our citizens first. This is not the time to take more money from our taxpayers.

Bronwyn Asplund

Harrison