Two new Hillsdale County road commissioners appointed
HILLSDALE COUNTY — The Hillsdale County Road Commission has officially expanded from a board of three to a board of five.
The Hillsdale County Board of Commissioners appointed Kathy Schmitt and Mark Cline to the road commission board after interviewing four candidates on Tuesday, Jan. 10, during their regular business meeting.
A week prior, the commissioners had narrowed the search from 10 applicants to five they were interested in interviewing, but Bruce Sharp of Hillsdale withdrew his name from the pool since Jan. 3.
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During the Jan. 10 interviews, the board of commissioners sequestered each of the four remaining candidates and called them into the board room one by one where each of them were asked the same four questions related to policy and procedure of the road commission which also serves as the county’s parks commission.
Mark Cline, who previously worked for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said he has engaged in conversations with road commission employees and his greatest desire is to establish a training program for new hires so that “everyone is working on the same page.”
Kathy Schmitt, who served on the board of commissioners through Dec. 31, 2022, said her 40 years experience as a CPA will be beneficial to the road commission and that she found it interesting the road commission pays out more in benefits then it does for the cost of employees.
“It’s an eye opening piece of information,” Schmitt said.
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Commissioner Steve Lanius, who ran against and won a primary race for Schmitt’s former commissioner district, questioned Schmitt on why she voted no to expand the road commission board when she sat on the board of commissioners.
Schmitt said she believed at the time, and still does, the compensation for the two additional road commissioners — around $50,000 annually — would be better invested in the roads, but that she was eager to help resolve the issues plaguing the road commission.
Both Schmitt and Cline were sworn in shortly after their appointments Jan. 10 so that they could attend the Jan. 12 road commission meeting and get to work.
In 2022, the board of commissioners held a series of public meetings to solicit input on how to best proceed with addressing a number of issues with the road commission that ultimately led to the resignation of now former Road Commission Manager John Sanders.
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The discussion at the time centered around dissolving the road commission and having the county commissioners assume those responsibilities or adding two more road commission positions in order to expand the board from a three person board to a five person board.
Ultimately, the commissioners opted to leave the road commission in place and expand the board to allow for committees and conversation between the road commissioners outside of meetings that would have otherwise violated the open meetings act with a board of three.
The board of commissioners will meet next at 9 a.m. Jan. 24 in the Commissioners Room of the County Offices Building located at 66 McCollum Street in Hillsdale. Meetings can also be watched on the commissioners’ YouTube site.
— Corey Murray is the Public Safety Reporter for The Hillsdale Daily News, Sturgis Journal and The Daily Reporter. Contact him by email at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Two new Hillsdale County road commissioners appointed
