A Barry County Compensation Committee, approved by county commissioners last May, held its first meeting Jan. 9. An introduction and presentation of the responsibilities of a compensation commission was given by Commissioner Ben Geiger, County Administrator Michael Brown gave commission members a review of the Open Meetings Act, discussed the county’s 2015 classification and compensation study and reviewed data on commissioners from several other counties.
Compensation Commission members approved for four year terms by county commissioners in June, 2017 are:
Teri Enrietti, Delton; retired enrollment consultant, Delton Schools
Chris Lapins, Hastings; owner of Beauland, Inc.
Steve Buehler, Freeport; president of Munn Manufacturing
Kim Dufrense, Hastings; retired Michigan forest fire officer
Tom Enslen, Middleville, superintendent of Thornapple Kellogg Schools
Karen Zuver, Woodland; field agronomist at Dupont Pioneer
Brenda Schild, Hastings; human resources generalist at Spectrum Health Pennock.
Enslen and Zuver were absent.
Enrietti was elected chair of the new seven member board, Lapins was elected vice-chair.
Also, a meeting schedule was set for Jan. 28, Feb. 1, 15 and 22, all at 6:30 p.m., in the Barry County Courthouse Mezzanine.
John Amrhein, Michigan State University Extension, said the book, Guide to Michigan County Government written by Ken Verburg, MSU professor emeritus, is a great source of detailed information about counties in the state.
What follows comes from a post where Amrhein used Verburg's guide to explain county officer’s compensation commissions:
A compensation commission’s only responsibility is to set the rate of compensation for county commissioners, the board chair, and other elected county officers. (Compensation for judges is not included.) The statute requires the compensation commission to meet in even-numbered years for not more than 15 “session” days, and complete its work within 45 days of its first session.
A majority of the members must approve any action. The final decision on any decisions remains a county board responsibility because it has the authority to overturn a compensation board’s action by a two-thirds vote. The county board only considers the compensation commission actions upon a motion to reject.
If the county board takes no action, the pay board’s decision takes effect with the beginning of the next odd-numbered year. If the county commission rejects the action, the previous compensation remains in effect. A person employed by any level of government or a member of that person’s immediate family is ineligible to serve on the commission.
