ESCANABA — The Delta County Board of Commissioners held a committee of the whole meeting this week to discuss the goals for recently-rehired Delta County Administrator Emily DeSalvo. While the commissioners gave input on their goals for DeSalvo, many of the goals — and the strategies to meet them — were set by DeSalvo herself.

“It gives you a road map of where I’m going, what I’m concentrating on, and things that I want to accomplish outside of the normal scope of business that we have in the day-to-day for the administration office and for myself in my position,” said DeSalvo of a document she presented to the commissioners outlining her goals.

DeSalvo said she developed the document by combining goals she received from a couple commissioners with goals she felt were necessary moving into the 2026-27 fiscal year. Based on the time of her hire, her first annual evaluation will take place at roughly the start of the next fiscal year, and DeSalvo said she tried to make the majority of the goals attainable in a year’s time.

Some of the goals were multifaceted, such as the goal to “reduce paper usage and increase usage of digital technology.” That goal included not just paper reduction and the use of technology, but the expansion of access to policy documents for the county in a digital format, a goal requested by Commissioner Christine Williams. It also included getting the county’s accounts payable set up for automated clearing house (ACH) digital payments.

“If we can use them (technology) to their full potential, that may reduce paper,” said DeSalvo.

Another goal included on the list was “maximizing county revenue and fiscal efficiency.” That goal included increasing grant funding — the hire of a grant specialist is planned for the next fiscal year — and, at the request of Commissioner Matt Jensen, reducing the “use-it-or-lose-it” mentality that plagues departments with annual budgets.

DeSalvo said that fighting the urge of department heads to spend large amounts of money at the end of the budget cycle to avoid potential cuts in the next fiscal year is possible if employees are made aware of how budgets are formulated so they are on the same page as the county as a whole.

Another goal on DeSalvo’s list of priorities was to improve the county’s work environment and employee retention.

“Retention. That’s the biggest one. Retention, because we have good employees that we want to keep, and retention because it costs money every time we have to train a new employee and every time we have to pay out an outgoing employee,” said DeSalvo.

While wages are frequently cited as a cause of retention issues in the county, DeSalvo aims to look at other ways to increase retention as well. Some of her goals are to allow flexibility in schedules, ensure a safe working environment and provide appropriate equipment.

While some of the goals are less tangible than others, DeSalvo had a plan of how to give evidence that her goals were being met.

“What I’ve done in the past when I’ve set goals for myself is I keep a log of different things that are new and have been brought to the county. Changes in processes, procedures, increase in things such as revenue that are tangible that I can bring forth to the board — to say these were my goals and this is the outcome of the goal for the coming year,” said DeSalvo, referencing her time as the county’s administrator between 2017 and February of 2023.

As Tuesday’s meeting was winding down, Commissioner Kelli van Ginhoven asked DeSalvo if she had any wants of the commissioners.

“I think really just the autonomy to have that open dialogue with my department heads. So if there are issues or things that come up and commissioners are made aware of to make sure to have the conversation with me too so that I can help facilitate that to the department heads,” she said. “Really, it’s just the communication for me that I need. If there are things that you feel I’m going down a wrong path or I’m doing incorrectly, or you’d like to see it done differently, by all means, have the conversation with me.”