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ESCANABA -- Delta County residents had an opportunity to hear from candidates in the two most hotly-contested county races during a voter forum sponsored by the Delta County League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) earlier this week.
District 3 candidates Bob Barron (R) and Theresa Nelson (D), as well as District 4 candidates Dave Moyle (R) and Kelli VanGinhoven (no party affiliation) spent roughly an hour fielding questions on a wide variety of topics submitted by Delta County voters.
Candidates for the remaining open seats on the county board did not present their opinions on the issues Thursday. These races either have a single unopposed candidate running for election, or, in the case of District 2, only one of the two candidates agreed to participate in the forum, running afoul of the LWV’s policy against “empty chair” forums. The District 2 seat is being sought by Casey Schroder (D) and Steven Viau (R).
All but one of the candidates who spoke Thursday is currently seated on the board, the result of redistricting that placed Barron and Nelson within the same district. Barron currently represents District 5, Nelson represents District 3, and Moyle represents District 4. VanGinhoven has not been previously elected to the board.
After brief introductions, each candidate was asked what their top three priorities were if they were to be elected in November.
Nelson failed to name three priorities before the one-minute timer sounded, but indicated tearing down the old jail was her top priority.
Moyle’s priorities included instituting “pay-as-you-go government,” which he described as not spending savings for day-to-day operations and keeping the government out of resident’s pockets. He also highlighted attracting manufacturing by offering “aggressive and targeted tax breaks” to corporations and ensuring that the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET), the U.P.’s multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force, remains fully-funded.
VanGinhoven said her three priorities were to address mental health and drug issues within the county jail, the lack of staffing in the veteran’s service office, and to support the Delta County Airport.
Barron said his “preference is not to give three top issues,” but noted the turnover of county staff and issues with drugs at the jail were concerns for the county.
The candidates were then asked how they would rolemodel professionalism and respect for other’s ideas and beliefs and take an active stand against political bullying. Two of the candidates, Barron and Moyle, took positions that serving on the council was not necessarily the place to model respect for differing viewpoints.
“I don’t think it’s a commissioner’s job to rolemodel civility, because the oath of office -- which I’ve taken six times -- talks specifically about protecting and upholding the Constitution of the United States. The issue of bullying, you just have to be respectful and kind to people, because if this country does not get back to being able to disagree agreeably, we will become a Third-World nation,” said Moyle.
Barron said he was already modeling civility and respect for other’s opinions, but that his core set of beliefs was based on absolutes found in the King James Version of the Bible.
Nelson told the audience that the commission had failed to act civilly as recently as the Sept. 20 board meeting, and that she had worked with the sheriff’s department to add security to future meetings.
VanGinhoven pointed to her lack of party affiliation as evidence that she was willing to work across party lines.
“As an independent candidate, I’m going to try to bridge any divides within the commission and within our county. We’re all citizens of the same county; we all want it to be successful,” she said.
When offered a hypothetical million-dollars to be used for anything, the candidates each offered unique perspectives on how the funding should be used -- if at all.
VanGinhoven spread the money across the veteran’s service office, addressing the city’s homeless problem, and moving the county offices to the area of the service center and new jail. Nelson aimed to finish installing fire markers across the county’s townships. Moyle questioned the source of the money, but expressed it should be given to Pathways Community Mental Health.
Barron said the county already had $1 million sitting in reserve from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a stimulus package used to pump extra money into governmental units in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he preferred to call ARPA the “Fauci Flu Fiasco Funds.”
“I question where it came from to begin with,” said Barron of the hypothetical million dollars. “If it’s the government giving it, they had to take it from someone, from the taxpayers. That concerns me.”
When asked what departments should be sheltered from budget cuts, nearly all of the candidates said they would rather raise revenue than make cuts at all, and if cuts were to be made, those cuts should come from within the departments themselves. However, VanGinhoven was the only candidate who made a clear determination on who should be spared the knife.
“If anything should be shielded from budget cuts, I believe it should be the sheriff’s office and jail,” she said.
How additional revenue should be raised was not touched upon by most of the candidates. Moyle, however, said the answer was in tourism and manufacturing, including power generation.
“We have grown our taxable base without turning to the public and saying, ‘we need money from you.’ We did it with the windfarms in Garden, we’ll do it with the solar utility farms. As we increase our taxable infastruture, the county increases its money without slapping it to the little guy,” he said.
Whether or not the county should continue to supply zoning to the townships within its borders that do not currently zone themselves, has been a hot topic for months, and Thursday was no exception. Moyle -- who made the initial motion for the county to get out of zoning -- argued if the county remained in the zoning business, only the townships receiving the benefit should pay and not all county taxpayers. VanGinhoven agreed with her opponent that those receiving the benefit of county zoning should pay for it.
Barron, who has a long history of opposing zoning based on what he sees as an overreach into personal property rights, did not explicitly say whether or not the county should remain involved in zoning Thursday. Instead, Barron gave a history of the county’s zoning ordinance and how the townships fell under county zoning to begin with.
Nelson was the only candidate who raised concerns about townships who may wish to continue having zoning, but are unable to fund zoning or fill a planning commission with members.
“I am very concerned about this. Be very careful with this. We have some very small townships where those people cannot do the zoning by themselves,” she said, noting a meeting on the issue will be held Oct. 28 at 9 a.m. at the County Service Center.
Two of the questions asked Thursday were directly tied to candidates behavior as seated commissioners.
The first was about the county’s conflict of interest policy and whether or not it was sufficient. While no specifics were stated during the meeting about the nature of conflicts, references to a vote taken on the issue suggest the question was aimed at the actions of Bob Barron, who, while negotiating the county’s solar ordinance, has been working towards the development of a utility solar generation facility on land he owns.
“I definitely found that was a conflict of interest what was going on at our meetings. It was a split vote, 2-3. We lost, but I still say it’s a conflict of interest, and as we move on with everyday meetings it’s still a conflict of interest,” said Nelson, who stated she was the one who contacted the Attorney General’s Office for clarification on the issue.
A vote on Barron’s potential conflict was held during the May 3 board meeting. The vote was actually 2-2, as Barron recused himself. However, as there were only two votes stating there was a conflict -- Nelson and Commissioner John Malnar -- the votes did not constitute a majority of the five-member board present at the meeting.
During Thursday’s forum, Moyle and Barron both argued that alleged conflicts of interest could be “weaponized.”
“It can be weaponized, but only because people don’t understand the facts,” said Barron, who, despite not voting on the issue, has long held he did not have a conflict of interest.
VanGinhoven stated she was not familiar with the county’s policy as she is not currently a county board member.
Moyle was also in the hot seat Thursday as his record of attendance at board meetings and committee appointments came under fire. When asked about the importance of the meetings, Moyle argued he could get the same information by making a phone call following a meeting and noted that the commissioners were paid a per diem for attending meeting he described as “advisory.”
“I’m not going to go to meetings so I can send you, the taxpayer, a bill, because I can stay informed very easily. I’ve proven it with my record,” he said.
The other candidates said the meetings were important to stay informed about the wants and needs of departments and residents.