PER DIEM RECKONING: Grand Traverse policy prompts Leelanau review

Jun. 4—SUTTONS BAY — After reading about Grand Traverse County's per diem controversy, the Leelanau County board took steps to ensure its commissioners aren't being overpaid.

Board Chair Ty Wessell raised the issue at a recent meeting.

"I just wanted to make sure that we were being consistent with our policy and we could assure our residents that we were being responsible," Wessell said. "It was prompted by the Grand Traverse County issue ... Nobody is getting two per per diems per day."

Grand Traverse County records show that some commissioners routinely charge for two township board meetings that take place at the same time in different locations and for back-to-back meetings in the same building that together take less than a couple of hours. Some have been paid three per diems for one day.

Commissioners voted in December to increase their per diem rate to $65 for a half day, or $110 for a full day. They had been paid a per diem of $35 since 1991.

In Leelanau County, the commissioners' per diem rate is $40.

Along with its per diem policy, Leelanau maintains a list of which committees and board appointments are eligible for compensation and which ones aren't, said Deborah Allen, county administrator.

Allen said she submitted the list for review to the county attorney, who found a couple of discrepancies. The county has always paid a per diem for a commissioner's attendance at Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank Fast Track Authority meetings.

But according to Public Act 381 of 1996, which authorized establishment of brownfields, "members of the board shall serve without compensation." Another, P.A. 258 of 2003 that authorized land bank authorities, states that its board members also shall serve without compensation.

As a result, those two meetings have been removed from the list, Allen said.

"This has been a process — and who knew there were so many nuances," Allen said. "It's more intensive than anybody thought."

The policy also allows Leelanau County commissioners to collect per diems if they attend a conference, although it needs to be approved ahead of time by the board.

Wessell said he disagrees with the policy on that point — that those who are appointed to attend a conference to represent the county board should be paid a per diem, but if other commissioners choose to go, they should not.

"The county pays our expenses, they pay for us to go there and I don't think we should also collect a per diem," Wessell said.

The policy and an updated list of approved meetings will be discussed at the commissioners' June 13 executive session and it will come up for possible approval at their June 20 regular session.

Meanwhile, in Grand Traverse County, an ad hoc committee formed in April to look at the board's per diem policy. Its first meeting is set for 11 a.m. June 26 at the county government center.

Commissioner Ashlea Walter said scheduling conflicts with some committee members delayed the meeting. Vice Chair Brad Jewett chairs the committee, which includes Commissioner Scott Sieffert and Walter.

"I look forward to having a discussion on the gray areas, in particular," said Walter, adding that she is still getting emails from people who object to the amount of per diems collected by some commissioners.

The Grand Traverse County policy also states that a per diem will be paid if it is deemed appropriate by an individual commissioner who is seeking that compensation.

"There are a lot of people who want clarity and transparency around this issue and that's a positive thing," Walter said.

Gray areas include being paid for one-on-one phone calls and meetings with constituents — which is against the policy — other commissioners and county staff, which Walter says is work that is covered by their salary.

Other commissioners have pushed back, saying those meetings and phone calls take away from time spent at their regular jobs and that they should be compensated for it.

Up until about a year ago, Leelanau County Clerk Michelle Crocker was responsible for approving per diem requests in Leelanau. As it is with the Grand Traverse County policy, per diems are not to be paid for meetings with constituents. Neither are they paid for meetings with a staff member or with another commissioner.

"I've never had anyone ever try to submit for something like that," Crocker said. "Those are absolute 'nos.'"

If they did pay for those kinds of contacts, it would blow their budget, she said.

Leelanau County commissioners are not eligible for per diem pay for attendance at city, village or township meetings within their district, Crocker said, as that is a part of their job.

In Grand Traverse County, "it would be good, in my opinion, to disallow (per diems for) concurrent meetings," Walter said. "When they're starting at the same time and you pop in for five minutes, that should not be allowable."

County records show, thus far, the highest per diem pay in Grand Traverse has been collected by Commissioner Daryl V. Nelson, Chairman Rob Hentschel, and Jewett.

When commissioners were deciding how much of a raise in per diems the board should give itself, comparisons were made to the per diem rates for commissioners in Leelanau, Midland, Lenawee, Eaton and Jackson counties, all of whom are paid between $35 and $45.

In East Bay, Garfield, Long Lake and Blair townships — all in Grand Traverse County — trustees are paid between $75 and $125 per meeting. Traverse City commissioners do not receive per diems.

In 2020, Grand Traverse County commissioners voted to increase their annual pay by $5,000 each to $12,000 — a 70-percent jump — with $12,500 for the vice chair and $13,000 for the chair.

In an opinion column by Hentschel, published April 23 in the Record-Eagle, he wrote that, according to ZipRecruiter, the average annual salary for county commissioners in Michigan is $45,214.

But Derek Melot, communications director for the Michigan Association of Counties, said the average is actually $10,742.

Melot said his association keeps track of commissioner salaries for each of the state's 83 counties.

The vast majority of counties pay less than $15,000 per year, he said, while about a dozen are above that $15,000 mark.

Generally, commissioners in larger counties are paid more, Melot said. For example, Wayne County commissioners, at $62,592, receive the highest salary in the state. That county also has the highest population at about 1.8 million.

Grand Traverse County has a population of less than 100,000.

In Grand Traverse, commissioners and their families also have been eligible since 2021 for health care benefits from the county after they were deemed full-time employees. Prior to that, they were eligible for single coverage.

Like other full-time employees, they pay 20 percent of the premium.