Proposed changes to county per diem policy fail
Apr. 7—TRAVERSE CITY — A Grand Traverse County board committee will take another look at its per diem policy.
That's after turning down a proposed amendment brought forward by Commissioner Ashlea Walter that would eliminate being paid for having one-on-one calls and meetings with other commissioners or with constituents.
"It seems crazy to me that we're charging the taxpayers $65 to meet with each other," Walter said. "That's part of the work."
Board Chairman Rob Hentschel said that outside of partisan political activists there have been no complaints or concerns by the public.
"The complaints have been made by members of the Democratic party and there has been a lot of mudslinging at the Republicans on this board," Hentschel said. "And it's easy because we are the ones doing the work ... we have the workload."
Walter's proposed amendment also included adding per diem requests from individual commissioners to the consent calendar and board packet of regular county meetings. Walter said the changes would remove some of the gray area in the policy by clarifying what constitutes a per diem. It would also add transparency.
"This clarifies for everybody, including the public, constituents and taxpayers, what constitutes a per diem," Walter said.
Walter said commissioners receive a salary and health benefits if they choose. She feels that salary covers the work they do as commissioners — taking phone calls, meeting with constituents, meeting with nonprofits, doing research, having coffee with a fellow board member, meeting with staff.
"Per diem in my mind is not meant to cover the rest of our time outside of regular meetings," she said. "It's to cover attendance at other appointed board meeting or relevant meetings in our district that might pertain to particular county business."
The proposal failed on a vote of 4-3, with commissioners Hentschel, Brad Jewett, Penny Morris, Scott Sieffert voting against it.
Commissioners Darryl V. Nelson and Brian McAllister were absent.
Before the vote was taken, Sieffert said if individual per diem requests are placed on the agenda, he will have to answer to other commissioners rather than to the people in his district. He proposed creating a database of information on what meetings they each attend, what monies they asked for and what they were paid.
The per diem policy allows commissioners to use their own discretion as to what they charge for.
Sieffert proposed forming an ad hoc committee to talk about changes that could be made to the policy, saying there were some good ideas in the proposal, but it needs to be more solid.
Sieffert, Jewett and Walter were appointed to the committee.
Morris said she agrees the policy needs to be clarified, but said that when she charges for a meeting it includes the time she spent going over the agenda, doing research and talking to people — not just her time at the meeting.
Morris has not charged for one-on-one meetings, documents show.
Documents show that some commissioners have regularly charged for meetings with constituents, even though they are not allowed.
They've also charged for two township meetings that take place at the same time, or those that take place back-to-back in the same building, but together take less than half a day.
Some commissioners routinely charge for two or three meetings in one day and they are sometimes paid for three meetings in one day, an amount that is higher than the $110 that may be charged for a full day.
That would not have changed under the Walter's proposed amendment.
The county per diem policy was last amended in December, changing the pay for a meeting to $65 for a half day, or $110 for a full day. Commissioners had been paid a per diem of $35 since 1991.
Commissioners voted last year to more than double their salaries and in 2021 removed the part-time designation from the elected position, making them and their families eligible for full-time health care benefits. Before that they were eligible for single coverage.
