News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County Commissioner Bob Adrian, left, presents Commissioner Cam Habermehl a resolution of tribute during Tuesday’s board meeting. Habermehl has served 14 years on the board, including 12 as chairman, but will leave after the first of the year after he was defeated by Kevin Burr during the primary election in August. Habermehl has played a key role in many projects in the county during his time as commissioner.

ALPENA — There was little on the Alpena Board of Commissioners’ meeting agenda Tuesday. In fact, most of the meeting was dedicated to longtime Commissioner Cam Habermehl, who served in his last meeting on Tuesday.

Habermehl, who was defeated in the August primary election by Kevin Burr in the county’s District 7, was presented a resolution of tribute and several people spoke during public comment, commending the job Habermehl did while in office.

Habermehl has been a commissioner for 14 years and was chairman in 1994 and again from 2008 though the end of 2018. He played a pivotal role in helping to get a local drone project at the county airport off the ground, selling the county hospital to MidMichigan Health, and stabilizing finances at the Montmorency-Oscoda-Alpena landfill.

He also was a leader in the new jail and airport terminal projects now underway.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Alpena County Sheriff Steve Kieliszewski commended the dedication Habermehl displayed while in office, and complimented his many accomplishments.

“It has been an honor to work with you, and I have a great deal of respect for you,” Kieliszewski said. “The biggest reason I have a great deal of respect for you is because you are the type of person who has something on your mind, you’re not afraid to share it. That’s good. You’ve been the longest-serving chair that I’ve had to work with, and I don’t say it lightly when I say it has been a pleasure working with you.”

Commissioner Bob Adrian, who will become the longest-serving commissioner after Habermehl’s departure, read off the tribute. It stated that Habermehl has sat on each of the county or intergovernmental boards at one time or another during his tenure.

Before the meeting wrapped up, Habermehl addressed the crowd at the meeting, which was larger than normal.

“It has been an interesting 14 years, and it has been fun,” he said. “I will probably miss it, and I didn’t realize there was that much that we accomplished. I appreciate the support from everyone in the county. The boards have been great, and we have accomplished a lot. We have great employees, we couldn’t ask for anybody better. The people that are here work very hard and do a great job for the county. I think it has been a good run.”

Executive Manager Tammy Bates has worked side-by-side with Habermehl for many years. She said not having him in the office every day will be a big change, but she considers him a close friend and she will stay in touch after he leaves office. Bates said she intended to read the resolution of tribute at Tuesday’s meeting, but couldn’t do it because she was sure she would become too emotional while doing so.

“When you work with the commissioners, it doesn’t just start at 8 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. We are like a family,” Bates said. “Cam has a confident, common-sense approach to everything that I’m going to miss. He has been instrumental in a lot of things and we are losing a large reference for projects we have done over the years. I’m going to miss him.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpeanews.com.