Ashleigh Young

ESCANABA — During a particularly heated meeting where one commissioner called the board corrupt and another threatened to leave mid-meeting, the Delta County Board of Commissioners voted to officially hire Ashleigh Young as the county’s permanent administrator this week.

“This I believe is a true illustration — and I do mean this in my heart — of deception intentional, presumably to provide one more commissioner higher level of persuasion and control in regards to getting their way and continue with (contemptuous) motivations when somebody doesn’t agree with them. Call it what you may, I believe this board is on the line of deceit and corruption,” said Commissioner Steve Viau during Tuesday’s special board meeting.

Tempers began to flare Tuesday after Bob Petersen, who was the first commissioner asked to speak about his picks, attempted to nominate Young during his statement. Viau called Petersen’s nomination “ridiculous” and his “worst fear.”

“There’s been a lot of effort by everyone here, and I did not expect any commissioner to come and make their first comment and support someone,” said Viau, who noted many of the candidates were present at the meeting.

Much of Tuesday’s conflict revolved around Viau’s claims of corruption within the board, at least some of which was suggested to be related to the support of Young.

“If I can prove you were corrupt, and corrupt means doing things behind the scenes, would you resign?” Viau asked Petersen during the meeting.

Petersen did not say he would resign, but pressed Viau to tell him what he had done behind the scenes. Viau did not make any direct accusations at that point in the meeting, but had previously said he had “proof on some stuff” and other things were a “gut feeling.”

Viau’s account of what happened in the week leading up to Young’s hire differed slightly from that of some of the other commissioners, however most of the timeline was uncontested by the board.

After posting the job for a county administrator and controller, the county received eight applicants and interviewed four of those applicants during a special open meeting on May 3. All of the commissioners were then directed to rank and submit their top two candidates to Delta County Clerk Nancy Przewrocki by the end of the day.

According to Viau, one commissioner, Bob Petersen, submitted his choices late and unranked. While Petersen did not deny he sent his choices late, Commissioner Bob Barron stated during Tuesday’s meeting that his picks were also late, as they were submitted the following day.

Viau said Tuesday that the results of the commissioner’s picks were sent out to the commission as a whole, but after Petersen was asked by Przewrocki to rank his choices, the results changed to make Young the top pick of three commissioners. Petersen said Tuesday he did not understand he was supposed to rank his choices prior to their initial submission.

Not long after being asked by Viau if he would resign — which took place much later in the meeting than Viau’s account of the last week’s events — Petersen said he was ready to leave the meeting. He was encouraged to stay by Board Chair Dave Moyle.

Moyle reached out to the Daily Press following Tuesday’s meeting, reiterating statements he made during the meeting that the board was not engaged in corrupt activities.

“Nobody, nobody did anything corrupt, and nobody violated any action whatsoever. We all voted for what we thought was the best candidate, and I believe Mr. Viau is pandering (to) someone that — I’m not sure why, but he has no basis to say that we were corrupt. I promise you, if you can prove to me that I am corrupt I will resign on the spot. I might be a blowhard, I might be motivated politically, but I’ve never been and never will be corrupt,” Moyle told the Daily Press.

Viau and Commissioner John Malnar fought against Young’s hire Tuesday by nominating the other candidates who were interviewed one-by-one. Nominated were Jean Ammel Healy, the current Delta County District Court administrator and magistrate; Jacqueline Arnold, the current interim administrator and former chief financial officer for Lapeer County; and Eric Bessonen, who has extensive experience with local financial institutions including Embers Credit Union, Delta County Credit Union, First Bank, and U.P. State Bank. In each case, the candidates failed in 3-2 split votes, with commissioners Petersen, Barron and Moyle opposing their hire.

“Anybody but Ashleigh. It sounds to me, it sounds to me like it’s starting to get to be a personal vendetta, is actually what I’m starting to hear here,” said Petersen of the Viau and Malnar’s nominations.

Despite rejecting the candidates, the three commissioners had positive things to say about the applicants, particularly Healy and Arnold. Both Moyle and Petersen said Arnold was their first choice, but was too expensive and was also being considered for Lapeer County’s administrator. Moyle repeatedly said he would be interested in hiring Healy as a “junior administrator,” but did not elaborate on what the position would entail.

“I’m not even considering a junior administrator. I don’t know what they do outside of what the administrator can’t do,” said Viau.

It was Petersen who made the motion to hire Young. The motion was supported by Barron, and passed in a 3-2 split vote with Petersen, Barron, and Moyle voting in favor of Young’s hire.

Despite not agreeing with the decision, both Viau and Malnar told Young they would support her “100 percent” in her new role as the county’s administrator.