GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY: Officials mull changes to road commission

Feb. 7—TRAVERSE CITY — The agency that maintains more than 1,000 miles of local roads may be in for major changes if a new governance model is selected by the Grand Traverse County Commission.

Currently, the Road Commission is governed by a five-member board that is appointed by the county commission. Although it is technically part of county government, the agency operates separately and is not a county department. It employs 56 people and has an annual budget of about $22 million.

Two other options are now under consideration, following an ad hoc county board meeting Tuesday morning:

—Change the road commission's structure from an appointed board to an elected board;

—Or eliminate the road commission board entirely and make it a county department directly under the control of the county commission.

Michigan is the only state that has county road commissions, a system established in 1909. Out of the state's 83 counties, only seven counties have dissolved their independent road commissions and made them a department of county government: Berrien, Calhoun, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Macomb and Wayne. (The last two of these operate under a special charter provision for counties with more than 750,000 residents.)

Of the remaining 76 Michigan counties, 42 have appointed road commission boards and 34 have elected boards.

Determining which model is best for Grand Traverse County is now underway.

"I called for the ad hoc meeting [on Jan. 17] to discuss our options after we had some trouble [at the Road Commission] last year," said County Commissioner Scott Sieffert. "We had to ask the questions and tell our constituents what we recommend ..."

"I'm a big believer in less government and less expensive government," he added. "If we change the [road commission's] governance model, does it fit that model — or just shift the work somewhere else? We've seen some other entities with appointed [boards] that have engaged in fiduciary foolishness."

Asked what specific agencies he was referring to as far as fiduciary problems, Sieffert mentioned Northern Lakes Community Mental Health Authority, which is now under forensic investigation.

County board member Brad Jewett said the current road commission discussion began about eight months ago when the agency missed a deadline for an audit.

However, "in the last few months, things have drastically improved," he said. "I don't view this as a referendum on the road commission board."

Road maintenance is a perennial hot-button issue in Michigan, starting more than a decade ago. In 2018, gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, ran on a platform to "fix the damn roads!"

Six years earlier, then-Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, signed legislation to allow county commissions to absorb road commissions, ostensibly to streamline government, boost accountability and increase efficiency to local government agencies.

Yet, even after billions of dollars of investment, Michigan roads still get poor marks from independent examiners. In 2023, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Michigan a D for roads, a D+ for bridges and a C- overall.

Engineers use the "Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating" (PASER) system to grade road quality on a scale of 1 to 10. Roads rated 8-10 earn a "good rating," road rated 5-7 are labeled "fair" and roads rated 1-4 are considered "poor."

All roads that are maintained using federal aid money, in full or in part, are required to be evaluated every two years.

Statewide, 20 percent of local roads were rated in good condition in 2022, according to the state's Transportation Asset Management Council. The group said 35 percent were rated fair and 45 percent poor.

Locally, the picture was somewhat brighter.

In the most recent PASER report for 2021-2022, Grand Traverse County earned a mix of good, fair and poor ratings. Not surprisingly, some heavily trafficked thoroughfares such as West Grandview Parkway, were rated "poor," while others with less traffic, such as Five Mile Road, were rated "good."

Responsibility for maintaining area roads is a state, county and/or city matter, depending on location.

At Tuesday's meeting, all three county board members praised Dan Watkins, the road commission's new managing director, and expressed confidence in the current management team.

But many questions remain.

For example, does the county board have the capacity to "take on a full other entity [if we take over the road commission]?" asked Jewett. "We already have a full plate."

Commissioner T.J. Andrews asked other pointed questions, such as: How would a governance change impact service levels and operational efficiency? How does our existing road commission compare to other counties in terms of dollars spent per mile of road and number of complaints?

"We really need to gather some information and get some useful metrics before we make a recommendation [to the full county board]," she said.

Other members of the ad hoc committee agreed with her assessment.

County Administrator Nate Alger suggested that his staff could work directly with road commission staff to gather needed information and answer key questions.

As the ad hoc committee moves forward, it will be important to communicate with road commission employees who may be worried about the future, Alger added: "[Road Commission Manager] Dan [Watkins] has already worked with our HR staff and I think he's very amenable to further discussions."

Joe Underwood, vice chairman of the current road commission, said the agency welcomes ideas from the county board. "Any input is 100-percent welcome," he said. "Our relationship with the county board is the best it has been in two years, in my opinion."

No matter what the final decision, going through the process of evaluating various governance models for the road commission is a good idea, said Denise Donohue, CEO of the County Road Association of Michigan.

"Road commissioners [typically] serve for six years — the longest term of any elected or appointed official in Michigan," she said. "It's a very complicated job involving a wide variety of funding sources and complex projects. For instance, a bridge project may have a 3-5 year time horizon."

"How money is managed is also critical," she added. "You can't put federal road money into a county's general fund. And the reporting requirements are quite detailed."

Asked why some counties, such as Ionia and Jackson, decided to eliminate their independent road commissions, Donohue said reasons vary.

"I haven't seen any egregious criminal behavior or things of that nature as the impetus for that kind of decision. You'd really have to talk to those counties individually."

The Grand Traverse County Road Commission was established by state law in 1909 as an elected body, with its original offices on 13th Street across from Thirlby Field. It later changed to an appointed board structure and, in 2001, moved to its current headquarters to 1881 LaFranier Road.

In addition to the 1,000 miles of county roads, the agency provides routine maintenance for about 100 miles of state trunklines (highways) under an agreement with the Michigan Department of Transportation.