Staffing Issues Come Before County Board
Treasurer's Office
By Karen Gould

County commissioners said they could not entertain a seven-month leave of absence request by Nora Massey from her deputy treasurer position. The leave, which Mrs. Massey sought, would have run from May 1 through January 1, and would cover the period Mrs. Massey serves as the county's appointed interim treasurer. The commission's decision was made based on advice from its attorney.

The position is a union post, said county attorney Richard McNulty, and without negotiating with the union on the issue since it is not covered in the contract, granting the leave would be an unfair labor practice. Mr. McNulty of the law firm Cohl, Stoker, Toskey, and McGlinchey of Lansing, attended the Thursday, April 24, commission meeting.

Also, as interim treasurer, Mrs. Massey technically would become the employer of her former union position, which creates a conflict, said Mr. McNulty. Even if the union came to the county with the request for the leave, the county would be faced with the conflict of Mrs. Massey being the boss over her own position.

Commissioners placed a hiring freeze on filling the deputy treasurer post, which Mrs. Massey was to vacate May 1, until after the November election, in spite of her pleas that the department needs more help. The county leaders finally did agree to move Joan Therrian, who holds a floating union position with the county, into the department on a temporary basis.

During the meeting, Mrs. Massey also gave an update on the department's operations, one of only a few such reports given by the department, said Commissioner Carl Frazier, that he has heard in the eight years he has served on the board. Commissioners noted their appreciation for the briefing, which focused on foreclosures in the county.

On May 1, the deputy treasurer position will become vacant when Mrs. Massey becomes the interim treasurer. She was appointed to replace Treasurer Jane Hampton, who resigned before the end of her term. The treasurer's seat, a partisan elected post, will be determined by voters in the November 4 general election.

Mrs. Massey had sought the leave from her deputy position so she could move back into it and to maintain her union seniority, if she did not win the treasurer's post in November.

Mr. McNulty told commissioners a leave from a union position only can be granted by the commission if the union contract allows it, or if the union presents commissioners with a letter of understanding. Some union contracts offer a provision that allows members to return to a union position, if a move up to a management job does not work out. The county's union contract does not offer that provision.

The union did not support Mrs. Massey's request, said union chair Sheri Oja, since the issue is not addressed in the contract. Also, she said, the union did not have time to change the contract before May 1.

"If it was a personal issue, she would have had everyone's support," said Mrs. Oja, "but it's a contract issue."

The department, say commissioners, has operated for years without the treasurer being in the office daily, and they questioned whether the deputy treasurer position could be part-time. Leaving the job vacant until after the election, commissioners reasoned, would allow time to review the department's workload.

Mrs. Massey and Sue Dionne have staffed the office alone in Mrs. Fenlon's frequent absences in past years, a situation rarely discussed at commission meetings, until now.

"The office," argued Mrs. Massey, "has not been performing to the best of its ability with just the two of us.

"We are at job burnout. We've had too much to do for too long and there are things that are not being addressed that really need to be addressed. We need a full time treasurer, we need a full time deputy, and we need a bookkeeper," she said.

Not filling the deputy position, commissioners noted, also could make it possible for Mrs. Massey to return to the job, if she is not voted in as treasurer. Mr. McNulty said that is a possibility if the union contract offered a provision that a union employee retains seniority for a period of time after leaving the union. The job would have to be posted.

Commissioners asked County Prosecutor Fred Feleppa to look into payments approved by the treasurer's office. The issue came up Thursday when commissioners reviewed county bills and found payments totaling $185,855.58 were approved by Sue Dionne to pay personal property taxes, from an appeal lost by several townships in the county with Enbridge Energy. The company successfully argued the state's formula for assessing pipelines was too high.

The county funds were used to pay the townships' bill with the power company. The county eventually will be repaid, said commissioners, although the payment should have been made by the entities in the lawsuit, including Moran Township. Commissioners say they should have been consulted before the check was issued and that the county now will lose interest on the money.

A similar check was issued last year.

Commissioners also asked Mr. Feleppa about the status of his opinion on the conflict of office held by Ms. Dionne, who is the Moran Township treasurer and who also works in the county treasurer's office. Mr. Fleppa was asked in November to render an opinion on the situation, and says his workload has not allowed him to get to the issue. Ms. Dionne's job title has been changed by Mrs. Hampton from chief deputy treasurer to bookkeeper in an effort to avoid the conflict issue. The change has not been addressed by the wage and classification committee.

In an update to the commission, Mrs. Massey said over the next two weeks a series of notices will be mailed out to property owners who are delinquent in tax payments. Current tax bills became delinquent March 1. This year, 217 parcels are delinquent for one year on tax payments. A lien now has been placed on those properties, which is recorded with the register of deeds. Delinquent statements will be sent to the property owners May 1. If not paid, the county will foreclose on them next year.

On March 31, the county foreclosed on 16 parcels and two of them contained abandoned dwellings. The parcels will be offered for sale in July, she said, although the Department of Natural Resources, respective townships and cities, and the county have right of first refusal.

Around May 15, the treasurer's office will send out about 2,400 notices relating to 2007 delinquent taxes.