Behind the Headlines

Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

The county board of commissioners will likely make that determination tonight.

Road problems are one of the most common complaints from residents, regardless of where they live in the county. In south county, it’s: “why are our roads crappy and then I drive two miles over the border and Ohio’s are fine?” In north county, kind of the same countywise, especially when it comes to clearing the roads after a big snow. And everywhere in between - everyone knows of at least one road that could use some work. And the potholes, my god, the potholes.

The road commission (the employees) says it’s numbers plain and simple - they don’t have the dollars to make an impact and they keep trying to shuffle what they do have. That isn’t really a sufficient answer for most people, so when the state passed legislation allowing local communities to elect or appoint their road commissioners - the actual people who approve the budget and the road projects each year - people took notice. Currently the commissioners are appointed by the county board of commissioners.

This will be the hot topic at tonight’s board meeting at 7 p.m. tonight in the commissioner chambers at the Monroe County Courthouse, 125 E. Second St.

Here’s a short breakdown of the issue and what people are saying:

• The road commissioners are opposed to election saying it would take the focus off of qualifications and objective decision making, turning it into something that highlights politics and personal agenda.
• Those who support election over appointment say it would hold the road commissioners accountable for their decisions.
• If there was a move to elected commissioners, the election would be county wide - not segregated into districts. Some fear a county wide election for road commissioners could unfairly stack the deck with representatives from the larger municipalities in the county, leaving the smaller cities and townships to fend for themselves when it comes to funding.
• It’s also not necessarily true that an election would result in better candidates. Votes might go to the best known or most vocal candidates, rather than the most qualified. In contrast, under the appointive process, county commissioners can solicit applications, set educational requirements, review resumes, check references and conduct interviews.
• Some argue that it won’t matter - either way. The most common complaint is that county roads just aren’t getting fixed. Michigan’s fuel tax is one of the lowest in the nation, and Michigan is ranked in the bottom 10 states in per capita funding for roads. Elected officials would face the same tough choices as appointed officials in allocating limited funds.
• Thus far, Commissioners Jerry Oley, LaMar Frederick and Dale Zorn have been very vocal about supporting elected officials.
  
• The board put off making a decision last time - postponing the vote until a later meeting like tonight’s. It should be fairly interesting to hear what the other commissioners have to say about it.
  
• The commissioners also can consider expanding the road commission panel from three to five representatives.