Emily DeSalvo

ESCANABA — The Delta County Board of Commissioners’ top pick to be the county’s administrator is a familiar face — Former Administrator Emily DeSalvo. The commissioners will vote on offering her the position at tonight’s regular board of commissioners meeting.

Fourteen people applied for the position and interviews were offered to five of the applicants, but only DeSalvo and one other applicant actually interviewed for the position. A second round of interviews was also planned, but after four of the five commissioners ranked DeSalvo as their first pick for the position, the commissioners decided during a special committee of the whole meeting Monday to scrap the second round and move forward with hiring DeSalvo.

Committee of the whole meetings are typically used for things like work sessions and are unique in that the commissioners cannot take any binding action during the meetings because the commissioners are essentially acting as a separate advisory board. Monday’s unanimous committee of the whole vote to recommend the board of commissioners offer the position to DeSalvo will trigger a second vote of the commissioners to actually offer the position during the regular board of commissioners meeting tonight. Since both the recommendation and the final vote are all made by the same people, it is exceptionally rare for a committee of the whole recommendation not to pass at a board meeting.

DeSalvo’s pick as the top candidate for the position may not be surprising, but will likely raise a few eyebrows. The former administrator was terminated in February of 2023 after making a public statement alleging “self-serving” and “unethical” conduct by then-commissioners Dave Moyle, Bob Barron and Bob Petersen. Her termination led to a recall effort that ultimately removed the three commissioners in May of 2024.

The three recalled commissioners repeatedly pointed to the statement as the reason for DeSalvo’s termination. They argued it amounted to insubordination, that a suggestion made during the statement that the board only communicate with her “in writing, through email to serve as a public record” showed an unwillingness to work with the commissioners, and that repeated references in the statement to her working “at pleasure of the board” suggested she wanted to be terminated.

Those arguments failed to resonate with the public. Multiple public protests were had over DeSalvo’s firing, and — while other issues may have contributed to the commissioners being recalled — the recall petitions signed by thousands of residents only noted DeSalvo’s termination as the reason the commissioners’ names should appear on the ballot.

Two of the currently-seated commissioners were placed on the board as a result of the recall effort, Commissioner Kelli van Ginhoven (D) and Commissioner Matt Jensen (R). A third individual was also placed on the commission as a result of the recall, Former Commissioner Myra Croasdell (I), however Croasdell failed to retain her seat last November and was replaced by Commissioner Christine Williams (R).

Commission Chair John Malnar (R) and van Ginhoven have been the subject of a significant amount of political buzz related to DeSalvo since DeSalvo’s termination. Malnar was the commissioner who placed DeSalvo’s presentation on the agenda in 2023 and is the only commissioner who was on the board at the time of DeSalvo’s firing. He was also one of the two votes against her termination, the other being from Former Commissioner Steve Viau (R).

Van Ginhoven has been a long-time supporter of DeSalvo’s, and was one of a small group of residents who exited during DeSalvo’s public statement in February of 2023 in protest of the board’s treatment of the former administrator. Prior to exiting the room she yelled out “Shame on you, Mr. Petersen. Shame on you,” after DeSalvo recalled a conversation where Petersen allegedly said “that he had been thinking what would happen to the county if (DeSalvo) got hit by a car.”

Despite becoming a far more political figure than is typically the case for an administrator, DeSalvo has continued to have ties with the county. In September of 2023, the same board of commissioners she had challenged as being unethical unanimously hired her to serve as a district court consultant.

Prior to her hire as the county’s administrator in 2019, DeSalvo had worked for the county’s court system as a district court administrator, magistrate and probation director since 2013. Between 2012 and 2013 she was an adult probation officer in the county’s district court.

DeSalvo has a master of arts in sociology – criminology from Northern Illinois University and a bachelor of science in criminal justice/psychology from Northern Michigan University.