McLaren and Plowman fail again

Except that the commissioners aren’t begging…just taking…

Check out the article that ran in the Durand Independent this weekend.  What you’ll see are two career politicians trying to keep their welfare checks:

Let’s look at a few quotes in the article:

Commissioner Aue says the following:

I don’t understand how part-time employees deserve full-time benefits

We are public servants.  I think this is a good faith effort to show the community that we are willing to share in the sacrifices to move forward”

Thank you commissioner Aue!  This is EXACTLY correct.  Folks-this is one of the four commissioners who are working to fix this mess.  The others are Holzhausen, Root, and Schneider.

Now, let’s look at a quote from commissioner Plowman:

Though people consider this to be a part time job, this job is every day

I think elected official works better.

Commissioner Plowman.  On behalf of the people of Shiawassee county I would have to ask you, as an elected official what makes you feel that you are entitled to ANYTHING?  If that’s why you’re running for office, and I think we all suspect that it is, then you’re in it for the wrong reasons!

As as citizen/taxpayer of Shiawassee County, do you know what I feel entitled to?  PUBLIC SAFETY!  Yet you’ve chosen to prioritize your pension and healthcare over that fundamental government obligation.  That is inexcusable.

The best thing that you could do at this point is to make this as part time of a position as possible.  Stop interfering with those who are trying to fix this county!

Moving on to former commissioner Bob McLaren’s comment:

During citizens comments, a past county commissioner, Bob McLaren of Shiawassee Township, strongly disagreed with the move, saying elimination of the commissioners from the county pension program as of 2017, will save the county about $100 a month.

Here’s what the 2015 approved budget (page 21)  has to say about that:

Let’s see here.  $3033 /  12 months in a year = $253/month.

So Mr. McLaren’s number was only off by 253%.  On the bright side at least we weren’t relying on him for anything important in 2014-like approving our county budget!  Mr. McLaren voted to eliminate our road patrol along with Plowman, Bartz, Nordbeck, and Horvath.

This is exactly the type of misinformation that the people of Shiawassee County received in 2014.  It will happen no more.  Every time that you lie, I will be here to correct it.  Even better yet, when election time rolls around I will be here to make sure that you face each one of those lies.

Mr. McLaren let me tell you that it is completely obvious to everyone reading this article that you are trying to preserve this entitlement in the hopes that you will be collect it after next election.  Good luck with that!

While we’re on the topic of “it’s just $100/month”, let me ask the following:  “When a county can’t manage to put cops on the road unlike almost every other county in the state, is $100/month too much?”  I would say yes!  Every dime that this county can muster should be saved to get cops back on the road!  How many “just a $100/months” are tucked into our current budget?  It seems that Montcalm County can run public safety and courts for 2.6 million dollars less per year that we can.  The big difference-they actually have a road patrol!

Since we’re on the topic of numbers, let’s dig a bit deeper the commissioners pay and benefits:

According to the 2015 budget Health, Dental, and Vision insurance costs the citizens of this county  $40583/year, or $3381/month!  (There’s a half of cop!)

According to the 2015 budget Commissioner Pay, including Per Diem, Other Meeting, Base Pay, and Social Security consume $60,096/year, or $5008/month!

All told the total amount of money spent on commissioners adds up to $112,358 per year!  That’s a little more than $16,000/commissioner…all for a part time job.  Time for that to change.

Email Me Anytime

The Naughty List [Updated]

As I start this article I want you to know that we now have 4 very good commissioners who are fighting everyday to try to fix the issues within our county and get cops back on the road.  Unfortunately, they seem to face constant obstruction from a few other commissioners and elected officials.  Everything that you are about to read has been posted at some point or another on this site.  I’ve just compiled it in one place for the first time!

I’ve been fighting hard to save our road patrol for more than 4 months now, and have been slowly forming opinions about each individual commissioner.  Whenever possible I’ve tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they prove me right.  Instead the three folks below have, in my opinion, done everything that they can to obstruct our efforts to get cops back on the road.  This week, the three of them voted to keep their pensions, even though we can’t afford to put cops on the road.  Let’s meet them, shall we…

John Plowman

Represents: Perry and Woodhull Townships and Perry City

Phone Number: 517-625-4545

Accomplishments:

• Was the chair of the 2014 Board Finance Committee which decided our best budget move would be to cut our road patrol.
• Voted to keep his pension.
• Has verbally attacked multiple community members.  Usually those who are offering solutions.
• Refused to disclose our Budget Deficit at the 2014 Budget meeting despite multiple requests.
• Never responded to my correspondence requesting copies of the budget, yet claimed on camera to be willing to share “anything on his desk”.
• Faced a vote of no confidence from his fellow commissioners.
• Had the audacity to tell me, on camera, that all that I had to do “was ask” for a copy of the budget knowing that he and the rest of the board had ignored my email requesting the budget.  When I called him out on it, he had no response.

Jeff Bartz

Represents: Bennington, Owosso Pct. III, Sciota Townships, City of Laingsburg and City of Owosso Pct. 6-1

Phone Number: 517-625-5554

Accomplishments:

• Was chairman of the board in 2014, the year they voted to eliminate our road patrol.
• Voted to eliminate our road patrol.
• Voted to keep his pension.
• Has verbally attacked multiple community members.  Usually those who are offering solutions.
• Faced a vote of no confidence from his fellow commissioners.
• Actually thinks it’s better to put no cops on the road than some!

John Horvath

To be honest John almost didn’t make this list-Until he voted to keep his pension.

Represents: City of Owosso

Phone: 989-627-1962

Accomplishments:

• Was the only commissioner to refuse to comment when I asked him if he would be willing to re-open the budget to get cops on the road.
• Voted to eliminate our road patrol.
• Voted to keep his pension, while we continue to go without a road patrol.

As you can see, if you’d like to run for county commission, I’ve just written your “why you should vote for me instead of him” speech.  Now I ask all of you to spread the word, tell your friends what their commissioners are doing.  Encourage anyone that you know in these areas to run for county commission!  We have a year and a half to do this, so let’s start now!

If you are a commissioner that’s made the Naughty List-it’s not to late to change!  Give up your pension, open up the budget and get cops on the road.  If you do that, I’ll be happy to remove you from the naughty list.  Remember-even the Grinch can grow a heart!

If your commissioner isn’t on this list, please know that they are doing a good job representing you and trying to fix the dysfunction that has overtaken this county.  To everyone reading this: I need your help-ignoring the issues going on in the county will only lead to more cuts to services and higher taxes for you!  To quote Dr. Seuss one more time:

Email Me Anytime

Click the follow button in the bottom right to get an email whenever I post something new!