ESCANABA — The Delta County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to remove two individuals appointed to the recently-formed parks and recreation commission by the county commissioners recalled on May 7. Those individuals were Former Delta Conservation District CEO Rory Mattson and Allen “Snuffy” Ettenhoffer, a prominent member of the U.P. Whitetails Association.

“What’s the procedure? We just don’t like somebody so we make a motion to get rid of them?” Commissioner Steve Viau, who was the only commissioner to vote against both removals, asked Tuesday.

Prior to Jan. 1, the county’s parks were managed by the Delta Conservation District, under Mattson’s leadership. Last year, Mattson resigned from his position with the district and the county and the district ended their arrangement for parks management. The three-way split was sometimes messy and often heated, resulting in what Viau once described as a “feud” between the county and conservation district that cooled only after the May 7 recall.

As part of the split, the commission approved the creation of a parks and recreation advisory committee. That committee was sworn in before being scrapped by the commissioners in favor of reinstating the statutory parks and recreation commission that had been put in place when the parks were last under the county’s management. That commission is made of appointments by each county commissioner from their respective districts. Mattson was appointed to represent District 4 by Then-Commissioner Dave Moyle and Ettenhoffer was appointed to represent District 3 by Then-Commissioner Bob Barron on April 2.

It was Commissioner Kelli Van Ginhoven, who was elected to replace Moyle on May 7, who made the first motion related to removing a members of the new parks and recreation board. Specifically, the motion was “to remove Rory Mattson as the District 4 appointee to the parks and recreation commission by rescinding that motion made to appoint him.”

Viau strongly opposed the move, saying it was a bad prescient to pull someone off of a board they had just been appointed to without allowing that individual to even attend a meeting. He also noted that the commission did not yet have any bylaws or rules of procedure by which to remove a member.

Van Ginhoven, however, repeatedly pointed to a clause in the May 7, 2007 resolution creating the parks and recreation commission that stated “all members of the Delta County Parks and Recreation Commission shall serve at the pleasure of the board.”

Following the meeting, some who had been in attendance that disapproved of the commissions decision to remove both Mattson and Ettenhoffer could be heard drawing comparisons to the firing of Former Delta County Administrator Emily DeSalvo, which was the catalyst of the recall movement that removed Moyle, Barron, and Commissioner Bob Petersen. A similar clause stating the administrator worked at the “pleasure of the board” was used as the justification for DeSalvo’s termination.

Commissioner Matt Jensen, however, pointed to investigations into Mattson’s activities while serving the conservation district as reason for his removal. Following the election of a new board to the conservation district — which played heavily into the dispute between the conservation district and the county — the new board asked for assistance from the Michigan Attorney General’s Office to look into Mattson’s activities. The request resulted in a letter from the AG’s office indicating that Mattson potentially violated state law repeatedly with the knowledge of the district’s prior board.

No charges have been filed against Mattson related to the alleged violations, but officials have repeatedly stated other issues are still under investigation related to Mattson’s tenure.

“There is an investigation, so if you look at it from that standpoint, an individual that is being investigated is appointed to the position while under investigation, is that the best interest of the county? Does that give the best light going forward?” said Jensen, adding that some businesses and governmental entities remove individuals under criminal investigations outright.

When it came to a vote, only Viau opposed the removal of Mattson, but when the conversation turned to Ettenhoffer Jensen said he would need more information.

“There is, there was another person who was very qualified for this spot and was looked over, and the appointment went to Mr. Ettenhoffer,” said Commissioner Myra Jensen, who did not elaborate further as to the reasoning for her motion to remove Ettenhoffer from the position on the parks board representing her district.

Ettenhoffer did not speak at Tuesday’s meeting, but he spoke at the last board of commissioners meeting on May 21, expressing he was “ready to go” and was willing to work with the new commissioners.

“I just want to reconfirm my commitment as far as parks and recreation for the commission. I was sworn in before youse, some of youse, took office as far as on the advisory board, and I would like to work with (Delta County Parks Director) Mr. Wery and to continue on,” he said.

Ettenhoffer’s comments on May 21 included a bit of his past work with the parks, including being one of the people who secured financing for the purchase of the 1,400-acre county forest and being the grantee for more than $53,000 used for tree plantings and wildlife habitation. He said he made a commitment to Department of Natural Resources Director Keith Creagh to keep an eye on the project and wanted to work for both people and wildlife to ensure its management for hunting, trapping, wildlife viewing, and other recreation.

When it came to a vote, Jensen split from commissioners Croasdell, Van Ginhoven, and John Malnar to join Viau in opposing Ettenhoffer’s removal. He said he would need to compare the qualifications for Ettenhoffer and the individual referenced by Croasdell before he would be able to vote for Ettenhoffer’s removal from the parks board.