Ilsa Minor | Daily Press The new Delta County Board of Commissioners settled into their roles during Tuesdays reorganizational meeting. From left are commissioners Patrick Johnson, Christine Williams, Kelli van Ginhoven, John Malnar, Matt Jensen and County Clerk Nancy Przewrocki. Johnson returned to the board Tuesday after not seeking reelection for the 2020-2024 term. Williams also joined the board Tuesday as a fresh face.

ESCANABA — The new Delta County Board of Commissioners held its first meeting Tuesday, with much of the discussion revolving around who will represent the county on subcommittees, boards, and other commissions in the coming year.

After voting unanimously to keep Commissioner John Malnar as the board’s chair and Commissioner Kelli van Ginhoven as the vice chair, the commissioners settled in to see what boards and commissions they were placed on by Malnar. Most of the 58 individual appointments made by Malnar were accepted by the commissioners, but they were given an opportunity to trade appointments if specific boards or committees were more in line with their interests or promises they made during their campaigns.

While the majority of the trades were based on interests, some of the discussion revolved around the nature of specific boards and how — or if — the county should have representation on them.

One major topic of discussion was whether or not to continue having a county liaison to the Delta Conservation District, which is a separate governmental entity. Until the end of 2023, the district managed the county’s parks, making a liaison an important part of the county’s oversight, but with the end of that agreement, some wondered if the county still should have a place at the district’s table.

“It kind of makes sense to me that the parks are no longer there, so we really don’t have a dog in that fight,” said Commissioner Patrick Johnson, who previously was on the board of commissioners and served as the district’s liaison but was freshly-seated on the commission Tuesday after not seeking election for the 2020-2024 term.

Johnson’s statement echoed a similar point made by Commissioner Matt Jensen, however, Jensen argued that it was the appropriations made to the district related to the parks that made the liaison necessary and not necessarily the parks themselves.

Commissioner Chris Williams, who was also newly-seated Tuesday and is the wife of Conservation District Board Member Joe Kaplan, argued that the county still had a reason to be involved in the district because the county parks are still enrolled in the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) administered by the district.

“We have thousands of acres of land in conservation district programs right now, so it seems like we should still have a liaison,” she said.

No real consensus was reached as to whether or not the county should have a liaison to the district, but van Ginhoven was given the position at her request.

Van Ginhoven also requested that the negotiations committee appointments be given to the commissioners serving as the chairs of the personnel and finance committees. The negotiations committee was not listed on the 2025 board assignments worksheet included in the board packet and multiple commissioners indicated they had no knowledge of the board, but it was stated that Jensen has been seated on it since before Tuesday’s meeting.

There was no objection to van Ginhoven’s request. It was determined that she would join Jensen on the committee, as she is the finance committee chair and Jensen is the personell committee chair.

Also during the meeting, Williams raised questions about which boards and committees were given additional compensation, noting that the Michigan Associations of Counties (MAC) Workers Compensation Board appointment is paid an additional $6,000 a year for their service to that board.

“If there are other committees on here, I want to know what other financial incentives there are on these committees,” she said.

While it was noted that some boards have additional perks, such as tickets to events, no other boards offer additional pay.

The position on the workers compensation board was given to Malnar, who also selected the initial appointments. Johnson noted that, to his knowledge, the position has been held by the board chair for the past 15 years.

“The board chair is compensated additionally for being board chair,” said Williams. “So if there were someone on the commission that had workers compensation experience they should be considered, and I just think we should be clear about what this board is and that there’s extra compensation with it. I just want to be transparent about that.”