Leelanau County’s chief deputy treasurer and chief deputy register of deeds had their salaries raised by over 10% by the county board of commissioners last week.
Board Chairman Ty Wessell said that the previous board of commissioners intended to bring the pay for chief deputies into alignment with each other in May 2022. They planned to do this by reducing the wages of Chief Deputy Clerk Jennifer Zywicki.
Zywicki was paid $68,050.36 in 2021, which was significantly more than the chief deputy treasurer or chief deputy register of deeds, who earned $47,282.41 and $38,364.77 respectively. At the time, Clerk Michelle Crocker claimed Zywicki earned the extra pay by working overtime. Crocker said she worked extra hours partially because the board declined her request to add another deputy clerk.
Since the law states that total compensation for elected officials and their chief deputies cannot be reduced during their terms, the county board ultimately could not take any such action. In fact, they decided they needed to continue paying Zywicki over $68,000 per year.
Since then, the gap between the positions has closed somewhat, but Zywicki is still paid more. On the 2024 non-union wage scale, the chief deputy clerk is listed as receiving $74,722.58 compared to $62,523.38 for both the other chief deputies. In July, the board directed Interim Administrator Richard Lewis to meet with the department heads and chief deputies to reach a “compromise.”
“Every chief deputy position is different, but it’s the responsibility of the chief deputy to fill in for elected official if they’re out or absent or resign or whatever,” said Chairman Wessell. “I don’t see how we can justify paying different salaries to the same level of the job. If I read the Fair Employment Act, it does say that you ought to pay the same amount of money for the same job.”
“The factor is not so much as it relates to how much they work. It’s trying to make sure we have equity with other staff that we have in place,” Lewis said.
Per Lewis’s recommendation, the two chief deputy treasurer and chief deputy register of deeds had their salaries increased to $69,283.85, effective at the pay period beginning after approval on Sept. 17. The board voted 5-1 to approve these raises, with just Commissioner Melinda Lautner voting no.
“I think we made a gigantic error tonight on these wages. I am still very unclear even to why this came up midyear, other than I heard ‘promises were made,’” Lautner said.
“I think this goes a long way at resolving … a contentious issue in this building, with the treasurer, the register of deeds, and pressure on the clerk, and pressure on the administrator,” Wessell commented.
Commissioner Gwenne Allgaier added that “there are adjustments that still need to be made,” again pointing out that the starting salary for the county’s senior services director is less than county’s chief deputies. Other commissioner comments have hinted at conducting another wage scale study to address seeming discrepancies like these.
In the other business, the county board approved the following at their Sept. 17 regular session:
• A one-year extension with Spinniken Lawn & Irrigation for county campus lawn mowing at $520 per mow, adding optional spring cleanup at $84 per hour and updating the optional dethatching rate to $1,500.
• Waiving its bid policy and entering into an independent contract agreement with Jarboe & Pfeil as the Indigent Defensemanaged assigned counsel coordinator for Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025, in the amount of $57,500, funds to come from a Michigan Indigent Defense Commission/Licensing and Regulatory Affairs grant. Leelanau County also utilized Jarboe & Pfeil for the previous two grant cycles.
• A proposal from Rehmann Robson for a one-year extension of the current agreement for auditing services in the amount of $84,000.
• A revised county administrator job description “identify(ing) the role with general administration, oversight of the finance department, and oversight of the human resources manager,” and set a salary range for the position at $110,000-140,000.
• Allowing the county’s legal counsel Cohl, Stoker, & Toskey to draft a proposal to renew a contract with Grand Traverse County veteran services to have an officer work in the government center one day per week.
• Setting a joint special meeting with Grand Traverse County board of commissioners to review a terminal expansion project and bonding at Cherry Capital Airport, to be held Oct. 14 at 3 p.m.
