County Board Fails to Eliminate Per Diem

At the Nov. 17, 2010 Washtenaw County board of commissioners meeting, a resolution was defeated that would have eliminated per diem, travel and mileage reimbursement for commissioners. A debate on the resolution, which was proposed by Leah Gunn, lasted more than an hour, with unsuccessful attempts to table it, and moments of confusion that resulted at one point in a vote reversal by commissioner Ronnie Peterson.

Three issues within the resolution were considered separately. Commissioners first voted unanimously to eliminate consideration of mileage from the resolution. A later vote to eliminate per diem payments initially passed, but Peterson then said he had intended to vote the opposite way, and the board agreed to change his vote – causing it to fail. Voting against it were Peterson, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Jessica Ping, Wes Prater, Kristin Judge and Ken Schwartz. A vote on eliminating travel expenses also failed – getting support only from Gunn, Barbara Bergman and Mark Ouimet. The resolution also included a provision to pay for newly elected commissioners to take a “Commissioner 101″ course, but Gunn withdrew that part of the resolution when it emerged that this was already standard practice.

This brief was filed immediately after the adjournment of the board meeting. A more detailed report will follow: [link]