News Photo by Crystal Nelson The Alcona County Board of Commissioners meets Wednesday at the Alcona County Building in Harrisville for one of their regularly scheduled monthly meetings.

ALPENA — Elected officials serving on eight government boards and councils in Northeast Michigan received a collective $393,882 in compensation last year, according to records provided to The News by those governments.

And most of the elected officials on boards, commissions and councils seem to be earning their compensation, at least in terms of the number of meetings they attend, the records show.

The data, reviewed by The News as part of an annual, nationwide celebration of public records laws called Sunshine Week, provides the public important information that can help residents determine if elected officials are doing their jobs.

Compensation is important, government officials say, because it helps attract talented individuals to work on behalf of the people in their communities.

“You need to pay them fairly so you have competent people running for those types of positions,” said Steve Currie, executive director of the Michigan Association of Counties.

ALPENA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Members of the Alpena Municipal Council meet twice a month and are paid an annual salary, regardless of how many meetings they attend: $8,000 for the mayor and $5,500 for others. The only meeting for which members are paid beyond their salary is the Board of Review meeting held once a year. They also are reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses for mileage, hotel stays and other miscelleaneous items while they were conducting city business out of town.

In total, council members were paid $30,660 in 2018.

More often than not, the full Municipal Council was present for meetings last year, with zero meetings at which at least a quorum wasn’t present, records show.

Alpena Mayor Matt Waligora, who earned a total of $7,499 in 2018, had perfect attendance, as did Councilwoman Amber Hess, who was paid $5,680. Councilwoman Susan Nielsen’s earnings were $5,710 and she missed one meeting. Councilman Mike Nowak missed a pair of meetings and made $5,830, and Councilwoman Cindy Johnson missed four regular meetings because of a family health emergency and was paid $5,750.

Council members’ wages are determined by the city’s Compensation Committee, which reviews salaries every two years. The five-member committee is made up residents appointed by the mayor and considers a number of variables when determining what pay should be.

Committee Chairwoman Joanne Gallagher said residents in Alpena have a council made up of individuals who are dependable, punctual, and who aren’t afraid to take action on sometimes controversial issues. She said council’s wages are determined based on information forwarded to the committee from staff.

Gallagher said the committee reviews attendance, how many outside activities in which council members participate, and how their wages stack up against councils in similar cities. Having a committee made up of residents who make a recommendation to council on compensation is a good way to be sure elected officials are paid fairly, she said.

“The committee is made of individuals who are out in the community, working in the real world, who may have a different pulse of it than the council has,” Gallagher said. “We also realize being on council is a lot of work, and they should be compensated fairly, but more so we want them to serve out of love for the community, not the money.”

ALPENA COUNTY BOARD

For the Alpena County Board of Commissioners, regular meeting attendance was not an issue in 2018.

Commissioners Bob Adrian, Nick Modrzynski, Brenda Founier, Ron McDonald and John Kozlowski all had perfect attendance for the 12 regular monthly meetings. Commissioner Cam Habermehl, who was defeated in the 2018 election, missed one meeting, while Commissioners Brad McRoberts and Bill Peterson each had a pair of excused absences.

Wage-wise, the commissioners make more money than other municipal boards in Northeast Michigan, but that is because there is more travel and many more meetings, officials said.

In total the commissioners were paid a combined $118,125 in 2018.

Alpena County doesn’t have a county coordinator acting as a chief executive, as other counties do, so much of the work is done by the board and its limited staff.

Habermehl was by far the highest earner last year, taking home a total of $24,906 for his board work. He was paid a salary of $9,574, plus received an additional $8,555 in per diems, $4,800 in cash in lieu of insurace , $1,977 in taxable mileage, and $1,262 in non-taxable mileage. Being chairman and representing the county on many other boards and committees both in and out of Alpena, he was often on the road throughout the state for meetings and conferences.

Adrian and Kozlowski also received cash-in-lieu-of payments instead of having the county pay for insurance for them. Peterson received $2,400 for cash-in-lieu, but then turned 65 and was ineligible to receive more because of a law that forbids payments to persons eligible for Medicaid.

The lowest paid was Modrzynski, who stepped down from the county board on March 4 to focus on a new job and family. He was paid $10,067.

Currie, of the Michigan Association of Counties, said commissioners who work in rural counties often have to do more work than those who govern more populated areas downstate.

“It is important that they are compensated fairly, because it isn’t just one meeting a month they attend, but numerous committee and subcommittee ones, too, and (they) serve on other boards they are appointed to,” Currie said.

ALPENA TOWNSHIP

The Charter Township of Alpena Board of Trustees held one regular meeting a month in 2018. There were various other full board meetings sprinkled throughout the year as trustees tackled issues regarding the budget, the township’s ongoing litigation with City of Alpena over water and sewer rates, and other issues that required a special meeting.

There was only one red flag, in terms of trustees’ attendance: Trustee Matt Dunckel, who earned a gross pay of $3,167 as a trustee in 2018 and missed five of the 12 regular meetings last year, including the first three meetings of the year. There were also several instances where he missed special meetings, according to the records reviewed by The News.

Dunckel did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story.

No other trustee missed more than one meeting.

In terms of pay, Trustee Norm Poli earned the most, taking home $7,553, thanks to his perfect attendance, while Dunckel earned the least. Typically, the township reimburses any trustee who files receipts for mileage or hotel stays for trips out of the area, but township Clerk Michele Palevich said there were no such payments during the last fiscal year, which runs from April 1 through March 31.

In total, the Alpena Township board members were paid $118,125 in 2018, records show.

ACROSS THE REGION

Elected officials in communities surrounding Alpena also attended their meetings regularly and received per diems, records show.

Commissioners in Presque Isle County are compensated with an annual salary, with the chairman earning $3,500 and commissioners earning $2,500. They also are repaid fore mileage and compensated for meetings they attend.

Carl Altman, who served as the board’s chairman last year, was paid $6,238. However, Commissioner Steve Lang and Bob Schell, a former county commissioner and last year’s vice chairman, were compensated $10,350 and $9,385, respectively. County Clerk Ann Marie Main said Lang and Schell had to travel further to attend the meetings, which adds to their mileage reimbursements, and that they may have attended other monthly meetings for which they received per diems.

The Montmorency County Board of Commissioners had the fewest number of absences in the area last year, with only five commissioner absences recorded in 28 regular and special meetings.

In 2018, the City of Onaway had the highest number of absences reported last year, with council members missing a collective 11 of the 26 regular and special meetings.

Former City Councilman Matt Dunn accounted for eight of those absences and submitted his letter of resignation to the council on Aug. 8. City Manager Kelli Stockwell said Dunn resigned because of a conflict with work.

Minutes from the ouncil’s June 4 meeting show Dunn requested that the council change its meetings from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., but council decided not change the meeting time because doing so would inconvenience the city’s employees, according to minutes from council’s June 18 meeting. Dunn was absent from that meeting.

City Councilman Jerome Bischer Jr. was appointed to the board on Aug. 20 and filled the vacancy left by Dunn’s departure.

In addition to Dunn’s absences, Mayor Chuck Abshagen and Councilman Jessie Harrocks missed one meeting each, and Councilman Mike Benson was absent from two meetings.

Elected Officials from Rogers City, Onaway, Harrisville and Lincoln were compensated the least, records show.

Rogers City officials were paid a collective $9,187.50 in salaries and per diems last year. Elected officials in Harrisville and Lincoln were paid $75 for each meeting they attended.

Alcona County Commissioners were compensated a total of $33,751 in 2018, with commissioners earning a salary of $21,986 and per diems of $11,765. Commissioners had few absences in 2018, with a total of six absences recorded out of 23 of their regularly scheduled meetings.

Onaway Clerk Crystal Veal was not able to entirely fulfill a request for documents through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, originally submitted by The News on Feb. 14, because of her part-time schedule. That request asked for details on how much individual city council members were paid last year, along with other information. However, Veal said council members are paid $20 per meeting.

The Village of Hillman pays its trustees $120 for each of its regular, twice-monthly meetings and $30 for any other additional meetings. Trustees are also paid for milage and hotel stays for overnight stays, when out of town for conferences or training.

For the 2018 fiscal year, the village paid a total of $11,520 to the trustees. Hillman’s fiscal year run from April 1 through March 31.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpeanews.com. Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.