OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich — The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday did not take up a resolution to increase board members' pay by 60% starting next year, as the board chair says that resolution is invalid.
While consideration of the Ottawa County Officers' Compensation Commission's resolution to establish increased salaries for commissioners in 2025 and 2026 had been on the agenda until Tuesday morning, it was removed before it could be considered.
Board Chairman Joe Moss said that was because the resolution was invalid, and therefore couldn't be considered by the board.
The resolution, signed by the compensation commission's chair on May 2, would have given commissioners a 60% pay increase beginning in 2025.
The salary increases for the board of commissioners include:
- Raising the chairperson's salary from $27,127 to $43,403.
- Raising the vice chair's salary from $21,523 to $34,436.
- Raising commissioners' salaries from $20,844 to $33,350.
The new salaries would've also included a $1,000 monthly stipend.
The resolution to increase the commissioners' pay would not have needed to be approved by the board, and only needed approval from the compensation commission. The board would have had the option of voting it down with a two-thirds vote, however.
In the end, though, the Board of Commissioners did not take up the resolution because, when the vote was taken to approve the pay increase, with only four members of the seven-member compensation commission were present, three voted in favor and one voted against.
MCL 45.474, which Board Chair Joe Moss cited when explaining this reasoning, states, "(2) A majority of the members of the compensation commission constitutes a quorum for conducting the business of the commission. The commission shall not take action or make a determination without a concurrence of a majority of the members appointed and serving on the commission."
This stipulation, Moss said, made the resolution invalid, as a majority of the full seven-member commission had not voted in favor.
"The part about the 60% raise for the Board of Commissioners is invalid," Moss said. "It was not voted on by a majority of the compensation commission to approve it. And so, because of that, and because of Michigan law, the Board of Commissioners in Ottawa County will receive no raises in 2025 or 2026."
In the lead up to Tuesday, multiple commissioners had commented publicly via blogs and social media about the prospect of such a raise.
Jacob Bonnema, the commissioner representing District 4 in Ottawa County, pushed back against the approval on his Facebook page.
"One of the easiest 'NO' votes of the year. District 4 will be voting against this abuse of our tax dollars," Bonnema wrote.
Moss shared an article on May 3, claiming that he had to hear about the proposed pay increase from the news and not from the Compensation Committee.
Moss posed many questions about the proposed pay raise in his article, including asking if the pay decision was leaked to the media.
Ottawa County Commissioner Allison Miedema didn't directly share whether or not she was in support of the proposal, but did share some thoughts about it in a Facebook post.
"Personally speaking, I am not serving in the role of county commissioner for the money. With that said, currently, the amount of money offered to county commissioners is a bit above the poverty rate. I have wondered at times if the rate offered to commissioners prevents individuals with a lower or single household income from being able to consider running for local office. I wonder what the thoughts are from the community on that," Miedema wrote in part.
But, as the resolution has now been found invalid, some commissioners raised concerns over the item having been on the May 14 agenda prior to Tuesday morning.
"Because something was put on the agenda that was out of legal compliance, certain commissioners commented in support or against of something that, in the end, wasn't even compliant to vote on, from what I'm hearing today," Commissioner Jacob Bonnema said. "That's concerning, that's counterproductive, creates an atmosphere of distrust and chaos. I don't like those things. I'd like to know that, when something ends up on my agenda for me to consider, it's factual and it's legal."
The compensation commission had also approved pay raises for the county prosecutor, sheriff, treasurer, clerk, register of deeds and water resources commissioner.
The positions whose salary adjustments were voted on in the April 11 meeting and had received a unanimous vote from the four present compensation commissioners, Moss clarified, would still receive their adjusted compensation for next year, as the majority of the entire seven-member board had approved of them.
13 ON YOUR SIDE reached out to Compensation Commission Chair Larry Jackson for comment.
In response, Jackson released a statement Wednesday saying, in part, that he acknowledged Moss's input on the state law in question.
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