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Chairman
of the Board
He Served in Germany with Elvis Presley and on the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners for 18 Years - Now He Oversees County Government at a Critical Tim
By Mike Thompson
Who is Michael O’Hare of Chesaning, the newly elected Chairman of the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners? He’s definitely a familiar figure to constituents in the county’s southwest region, who sometimes feel isolated in a county in which the main population centers are to the northeast. But the divide works both ways, and people in metro Saginaw (other than the most ardent county government watchers, of which there are few) may ask, “Who is Michael O’Hare?” To start, O’Hare is a 74-year-old retired autoworker and has served 18 years on the county board, but never was considered as chairman material until the past go-round... He says everyone on the board should take turns and so he only intends a one-year tenure, unlike past chairs that strived to keep the seat. In the Review Magazine forum that follows, O’Hare states that he worked “several years with General Motors,” but this is an example of his often-dry sense of humor, because that was his career and it was more like several decades. He’s a Democrat but he hails from Mike Goschka territory, which means in national parlance he might be considered somewhat of a Blue Dog Democrat who will buck the inner circle. Otherwise, his normally Republican constituents might not have re-elected him eight times. The Blue Dog aspect emerged in O’Hare’s selection as chairman. Democrats (including “so-called Democrats,” say some Dems now frustrated with O’Hare’s victory) have an 11-4 edge on the county board. However, when the time came to pick a chair, the 11 Democrats split three ways: (1) O’Hare had backing from Bregitte Braddock, Tim Novak and Jim Graham. (2) Mike Hanley’s backers were Cheryl Hadsall, Judi Lincoln and John McColgan.. (3) Eddie Foxx’s supporters were Moe Woods and Carl Ruth. We don’t want to go into too much Inside Baseball at this point, because it would take a thousand words to explain to casual citizens why the Foxx group would oppose the Hanley group, and vice-versa. For starters, citizens who pay moderate or closer attention to local political history can think “Al Holiday” (whom Hanley defeated during the ‘90s to become a state rep) and “Ren-View” (foes of a controversial old Fairgrounds housing project for which Hanley represented the developers). The picture emerges. This conflict allowed O’Hare’s oddly assembled Democratic quartet to draw the Republican quartet – Pat Wurtzel, Ann Doyle, Dennis Krafft and Ron Scholz – for the required octet majority that elected O’Hare. In other words, four united Republicans decided for 11 divided Democrats. Does this sound sort of like national politics at this point? All we can say is that if President Obama and the national Democratic Party establishment believe renegades are causing troubles on issues such as health care reform, they ought to try their hand in Saginaw County. We feel that all this needed to be explained. Still, now that the Inside Baseball is finished and Michael O’Hare has hit his home run, we posed our questions in the future order of importance, starting with an admitted pair of softballs. Chairman O’Hare deserves a chance to express himself and he took time to respond in detail, several times acknowledging that he has evolved from more rigid past viewpoints, such as TheDow Event Center tax.
Review: What are the top goals for the County Board in 2010?
O’Hare: The top goal of 2010 is the building of the 2011 budget. The 2011 budget takes affect this October 1, 2010, the same as the State of Michigan, and runs to September 30, 2011. Our current 2010 budget uses over $2.3 million in reserves to balance. We used reserves to fill the $2 million gap for the current year. We will not be able to do that for 2011, as our reserves are below minimum requirements to carry. Additionally, we expect another reduction in State of Michigan funding of over $1 million. This is on top of the $1 million they reduced us this year. Also we expect a reduction in property taxes of another $1.2 million for 2011. This is on top of the $1 million reduction we saw this year. Obviously the two largest sources of revenue to the county are from the State of Michigan and our own property tax base. Both went down significantly this year and will go down further next year. While we have frozen wages in labor agreements for up to 7 out of 9 years; and we’ve cut over 100 jobs, and we’ve received concessions on benefits, we still are facing the largest budget hurdle in our county’s history. Our Controller (Marc McGill) tells us it will be in the $5 to $6 million range. With the average cost of an employee being about $60,000, wages and benefits included, a $6 million cut could equate to about 100 of our 660 employees. There will be some difficult choices to make. Unlike the last 100 employees we laid off, these next 100 employees will be seen and felt by the public. Our Controller is to send us the first draft of the 2011 budget May 24th, after the State of Michigan’s May Revenue Estimating Conference.
Review: Please tell us a little bit about your background, such as your former employment and how you got involved in county politics.
O’Hare: I was born here in Michigan, in New Lothrop. Went to school in Maple Grove at St. Michael’s; it was not named after me. I loved sports and played every sport they had in school: football, basketball & baseball. I still like sports today but am limited to fishing and hunting now. I served time in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany with Elvis Presley. I’m very proud to have served, and every day honor our troops who are serving us Americans. I worked for several years with General Motors and retired in 1984. After retirement I kept busy with bees and honey. That did not take up all my time and I was drawn to serving the people again, such as in my military days. I then served 2 years as Chesaning Township Supervisor. That was rewarding and so I took the step to be a County Commissioner and won. And won every election since. It’s been a lot of years (since 1992) and I’m very glad to be able to represent my constituents from the southern region of the county, on the Board of Commissioners.
Review: What is your opinion on the proposal to ask voters to continue a tax for TheDow Event Center, but at a smaller rate of no more than 0.25 mill, instead of the existing 0.45 mill?
O’Hare: Well I hope it’s down to 0.225 mill, which is even smaller and half of the current 0.45 mill. This less-than-a-quarter-of-1 mill is still a tax. It will cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $11 a year. I guess about $1 a month. I can’t think of anyone anywhere who has asked voters to cut a tax in half, but I think we will. The Event Center has turned out better than I first anticipated. At first I didn’t think many in my district would use it. But they do. Some attend concerts, some see comedians, and some go to plays, some go to monster trucks or Professional Bull Riding, some go to the circus and some hockey games. Some folks tell me we need a facility like this to attract business that bring with them jobs. If that’s all true and we are cutting the tax in half, I feel much better about it than I did in 2001 (when voters first approved the tax). We also have two other similar size tax renewals up this year, being the Parks and Recreation millage which is about $8 a year on a $100,000 home, and the Historical Society/Castle Museum millage, which is about $10 a year on a $100,000 home. So now that the Event Center is going to be in the range of the Parks and the Historical millage rates, I’m more comfortable with it. I wish we didn’t have to have any tax for any of the programs, though. I do want as many people as possible to get out and vote one way or the other on all three millages. We need to hear your desires at the ballot box.
Review: In the budget, the prosecutor and the sheriff often say that they should receive the first budget priority because they provide public safety, which is the county’s first need. Do you agree?
O’Hare: First need, no. Highly important need, yes. Public safety is very important, and while the Board has cut over 100 jobs in the past 8 years, we have on a percentage basis cut both the Prosecutor and Sheriff less than several other departments. However, public safety goes beyond these two departments. We have Circuit Court, District Court, Probate Court, and Juvenile Court. We have Probation Departments in the Circuit, District and Juvenile Courts. We do community corrections programs and run a Jail and Juvenile Detention Center also. Other departments support these departments, as they do the Sheriff and Prosecutor. So in summary, I can’t rate them 1 and 2. I can, however, rate them high and important. In the building of the 2011 budget they will be impacted. It’s unfortunate but these are the times we live in and must face up to.
Review: How do you feel that Bill Federspiel is performing as Sheriff, in comparison to his predecessor, Charles Brown?
O’Hare: Sheriff Federspiel is doing a fantastic job. I have heard nothing but positive feedback from folks in the county. He’s very apt to incorporate technology where he can, which is a good thing. He’s installed some community cameras and is using an “America’s Most Wanted” visual program on monitors at the jail. He’s streamlined the jail visitation process and re-opened substations throughout the county. Morale at the department appears high despite the pending 2011 budget considerations we may have to make. Sheriff Federspiel seems to have brought a high level of professionalism to the department. I know he had to make some changes when he and Undersheriff Robert Karl arrived, but after a year things seem to be working well. Christian ideals and a heavy emphasis on training from his team have things running as best we can hope for.
Review: What should be the County Board’s role in the future of HealthSource? Would you be willing to give up some of the county’s control?
O’Hare: HealthSource has had some tough times the past 4 years. I attribute some of it to our renovation and expansion project, which is now virtually complete. It’s difficult to operate when you’re building, tearing down and renovating all at the same time. We seem to be past that now. The facility itself is fantastic. We have been receiving nothing but rave reviews from our patients. Additionally, the doctors and staff are finding it much easier to care for our patients in this new state-of-the-art facility. Unfortunately, HealthSource faces the same financial dilemma as do schools, cities and our county. That is, a reduction in funding from the State of Michigan via the Medicaid reimbursement rate. I think it’s close to a $1 million hit with the latest reduction of 8 percent in the Medicaid rate. We are addressing it and will do our best to overcome it. In the meantime, it’s a great facility with a great staff of doctors and nurses. I see no change in operation or county involvement in the near future.
Review: When you were elected chairman, there was a three-way split among the 11 Democrats. Did you cut a deal with the 4 Republicans?
O’Hare: I’ll answer it this way: There are 15 County Commissioners. They have a big job. They oversee 50 different businesses and a total countywide budget of $150,000,000, with 660 employees in several facilities. Now their job is bigger as they must wrestle out $6,000,000 from the $44,000,000 General Fund Budget. It will be extremely difficult at best. This is the time to study, decide and act on behalf of the County as a whole. There is no time for party politics. I seriously doubt our taxpayers want us on their dime, sitting around playing party politics. I think on their dime, they would rather have us work for them. Having said that, you know the Democratic Party is a very fine piece of our governing system in America. End.
Review: How do you respond to critics who say the commissioners receive too much pay and benefits, for a part-time position. Do you plan to pursue your 2007 proposal for a reduction to 7 Commissioners, estimated to save $200,000 per year?
O’Hare: First, we’ve already addressed the “too much pay” issue. Commissioners elected 4 years ago could expect to receive up to $30,000 in pay and benefits. We’ve eliminated about 2/3 of the pay and benefits total. If you run today you can expect about $10,000 in pay and benefits. (Editor’s Note: Commissioners elected prior to 2008, including O’Hare, have voted to maintain the higher pay for themselves.) Secondly, I did mention going from 15 commissioners to 7 at one time. I think that’s unrealistic; perhaps too much of drop. However, I support reducing the number. If you look at counties our size in the state they have 11 not 15 commissioners. If it were up to me I’d reduce it below 11 toward 7, but it’s not up to me. It’s up to the Reapportionment Commission. This commission of the Clerk, Treasurer, Prosecutor and appointees of the Republican and Democratic parties will draw up new districts after the 2010 census is complete. Actually, this 2010-year I believe is the last time you’ll see 15 commissioner spots on the ballot. In 2012 when the Reapportionment Commission is done, I think it will be 11 or less.
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