Rosemary Horvath
Herald Correspondent
A crack appeared as Gratiot County Commissioners presented a solid wall when assigning duties for the new year.
District 1 Commissioner Dave Owens of Seville Township voted along with three other commissioners to retain the seat as chair.
A single dissenting vote for Owens came from District 3 Commissioner Tim Gay of Arcada Township who had nominated District 2 Commissioner Jan Bunting of St. Louis, the longest serving commissioner of nearly 30 years.
Only Gay and Bunting favored her nomination.
Instead, the full board endorsed her to carry on as vice chair, a title she’s maintained for several cycles.
Owens, who was newly elected at the time, first moved into the chair position mid-year 2023 after Sam Smith of Fulton Township resigned from the position and commission seat.
That’s when the four remaining commissioners chose Steve Sopocy, the county’s retired undersheriff, as Smith’s successor.
During the meeting, Sopocy, of Elba Township, recognized the commission’s camaraderie that he expects to continue into their new 4-year terms.
“Over the last few months,” he said, “I felt we had good communication, good dialogue, and good results.”
He envisions one day becoming chairman himself. At age 53, he’s the youngest among the commissioners. He suggested the position of chair rotate among commissioners now that state lawmakers extended terms of office for county commissioners from two to four years.
District 5 Commissioner George Bailey of Ithaca, who previously served as chair for several cycles, declined to ever take on the position again.
Gay noted he nominated Bunting to begin revolving the chairmanship.
Although Bunting echoed Sopocy’s description of a unified board, she nevertheless decided to “point out an issue. There have been times you have not been fair and you know what I’m talking about,” she said.
Bunting intends to invite an attorney to meetings. “I will pay for it myself because I think that we are getting along well but we need to be fair about everything.”
This glitch was carried over from last year when Gay was miffed over having only a few committee assignments while Bailey had six although a few groups he was assigned meet infrequently.
Bailey was again elected as chair of the finance committee for another term.
Sopocy and Bunting urged commissioners on their own to attend meetings from the airport advisory to the health department to the conservation distrct to learn more about the county.
“We need to be educated,” Bunting surmised, stressing visits to county offices also are in order.
Below lists committee assignments for commissioners:
• Brownfield Redevelopment: George Bailey, Dave Owens.
• Michigan Works!: Jan Bunting, Tim Gay.
• Commission on Aging: George Bailey.
• Mental Health: Tim Gay.
• Economic Development: George Bailey, Dave Owens.
• EightCAP: Tim Gay, Jan Bunting.
• Greater Gratiot: Dave Owens.
• Northern Michigan Counties: Tim Gay, Steve Sopocy.
• Health Department: Steve Sopocy, George Bailey.
• MSU Extension: Jan Bunting.
• MMR: Jan Bunting, Tim Gay.
• Parks & Recreation: Steve Sopocy.
• Airport Advisory: George Bailey.
In other business, the commission:
Named delegates to the EightCAP board: Michelle Ringle on behalf of Bunting, and Jen Cook on behalf of Gay.
Met in closed session for union negotiations. No action was taken back in open session.
Learned from County Administrator Chris Oosterhoff that the audit was underway. Unlike past years when the process slowed, Oosterhoff noted hiring an outside firm to reorganize procedures in the treasurer’s office has been successful.
Named Emily Rayburn to the Mid Michigan Health Network.