A week ago, it looked as if the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners would put an end to a policy that has paid out more than $50,000 in extra pay to the county clerk’s office since late 2022. At a meeting this Tuesday, though, amidst high emotions and flaring tempers, the board voted to reverse course, extending the stipends for at least another four months – and another $4,400 in county expenditures.

The stipends have been commissioners’ way of stabilizing the county’s finance department, which has floundered more or less since it was formed in 2021. In May of that year, District 1 commissioner Rick Robbins put forth a motion to split finance and human resources responsibilities off from the county clerk’s office, where both functions had long been housed. Robbins cited the county’s growth as the reason behind his motion, which passed 4-3 with limited discussion and no formal research.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Finance Director Cathy Hartesvelt – who previously worked in the clerk’s office – criticized that May 2021 decision as the native wound that has continued to plague the county ever since. Taking those responsibilities away from the clerk’s office, Hartesvelt argued, was done without “a planned rollout” and should still be looked at “as an experiment so far, with false starts and missteps…”

“What the county has experienced since 2022 is nothing short of chaotic,” Hartesvelt said. “The county is coming up on its fourth administrator. It’s experiencing its third human resources manager, fourth executive assistant, fifth and sixth account clerks, fifth finance director, and second assistant finance director.”

Hartesvelt addressed the board after Interim County Administrator Richard Lewis put the topic of stipends back on the agenda for Tuesday. Commissioners had seemed to settle the subject at an executive board session last week, when they revisited a decision made by the previous board to eliminate all stipend payments to the clerk's office by February 21. Since late 2021, both County Clerk Michelle Crocker and Chief Deputy Clerk Jennifer Zywicki have been collecting weekly $250 stipends on top of their regular paychecks, in return for providing training and support to the finance department. Those payments are in the midst of a taper process, with both clerks currently earning $125 per week for their support services.

Last week, a motion from District 6 commissioner Gwenne Allgaier to consider further extension of the stipends died without support. This week, though, Lewis reintroduced the possibility with an impassioned speech, noting that he had done “some major soul-searching” and come to the conclusion that an extension was necessary to keep the finance department afloat.

“Last October, we were finally able to fully staff the finance department and the human resources department…and in my lack of understanding at the time, I thought ‘Great, they’re all here, we can do this, and we don’t need any more assistance from the county clerk and the deputy county clerk,’” Lewis told commissioners. “Never mind that [Crocker and Zywicki] had over two decades of experience in all finances and human resources, and that that experience was going to have to somehow get transferred over to the folks that just came in.”

Lewis said he “failed” Hartesvelt by not understanding the full complexity of the department, and that he would be doing “a strong disservice” to incoming County Administrator James Dyer if he let his successor inherit the “small nightmare” of an unstable department. He ultimately put forth a proposal for the board to continue paying $125-per-week stipends to Crocker and Zywicki until May 30, even offering to foot the bill.

“Because it’s my mistake, it’s my responsibility,” Lewis said. “[The extension] is going to run about $4,383.20, give or take a couple pennies. I’m funding it. I have not received a paycheck for this two-week pay period, which will be more than $4,400, and I’m covering it.”

The board voted to support Lewis’s proposal 5-2 – albeit, with an amendment to cover the cost of the stipends out of the county budget rather than out of Lewis’s paycheck. Despite the affirmative vote, though, the matter stirred up emotional responses from stakeholders on all sides.

A visibly upset Robbins criticized Lewis and the previous board for scheduling the February 21 cutoff without making sure the finance department would be prepared to function on its own by that date. Robbins, who lost his District 1 seat to Democrat Jamie Kramer in 2022 but won a bid to return to the commission this past November, was not on the board when the February kill date was set. In preparation for this week's discussion, Robbins said he rewatched the November 9 meeting where commissioners made that decision, and was struck by the fact that Hartesvelt expressed doubts about having her team ready in time. 

“Did anyone on the board, did anybody – you [Lewis], as the administrator; she’s your employee – did you go to [Hartesvelt] and ask her what we need to train?” Robbins asked. “That was almost 90 days ago.” Robbins went on to liken the board’s finance department strategy to a “broken record,” arguing that extending the stipends to May wouldn’t fix the issue unless the board had a frank discussion with the finance department about specific goals, objectives, and needs.

“You’re asking for something long-term to be switched, and you’re asking someone to try to pick this up in 12 months; it is too much,” Crocker countered, adding that she’s currently working 25 hours per week on finance responsibilities, even though she’s only being paid for five hours. “I am not just checking work; we are physically doing work. It is that time of year. The speed at which we work, and the volume of work that is put out, if I can say I have any faults in any of this, it is that me and my chief deputy made what we do look way too easy.”

Hartesvelt and Crocker agreed that Hartesvelt’s finance department team “will get there” eventually, but aren’t ready to lose the support of the clerk’s office just yet.

“We need to continue this resource, I feel, for the next 12 months,” Hartesvelt said of the stipends. “What finance needs is continued access to the unique knowledge possessed by the clerk and the chief deputy clerk, which has been accumulated and honed over decades.”

Per the requests from Robbins, as well as Board Chair Steve Yoder and Vice-Chair Ty Wessell, the finance department will likely be back on the agenda at next month’s commission meeting to outline specific needs and goals for weaning the department off the support of the clerk’s office by the end of May.