The number of departments in Isabella County could be cut by about 60 percent under a plan proposed last week.

County Administrator Tim Dolehanty took “a first stab” at accommodating an expected $750,000 to $1 million budget shortfall in the next fiscal year. His suggestion would cut a total of $500,800 and reduce the number of county departments to five from 13. The five departments would include Equalization, Administration, Commission on Aging, Community Development and Central Dispatch.

“We need to prepare ourselves for where we need to go,” Dolehanty said. “This is going to be a moving target for several months.”

Under this plan, the departments would see a 12.6 percent budget reduction and roughly a 15 percent reduction in employee positions. Dolehanty reminded the county’s Board of Commissioners on March 8 these are just launching points, and discussion still is necessary with all departments, courts and executives in the county.

Some of the positions Dolehanty told the board to examine include the Park Supervisor and the Community Development Director. Both positions could absorb other jobs to eliminate other positions if the proposal is approved.

David Ling, board of commissioners chairman, said the board also should look at educational programs and memberships the departments are involved in.

“Education, meals and lodging could be brought down to a zero budget,” he said. “I don’t think things like this are necessary, especially with the advanced media that is available to us now.”

Dolehanty said until they know the exact amount the county will receive from state revenue sharing, all the proposed figures are subject to change.

The budget does not have to be approved until September. Ling said he knows there are going to be some very unhappy people, but the decisions are not easy to make.

“The reality is that we are going to be asked to do a lot more than what we’re used to be doing,” Dolehanty said.

Despite the administrator’s suggestion, more suggestions could arise as the board is expected to meet with county employees over the next month.

Commissioner Roger Trudell has a philosophy to approach the situation.

“I think we have to look at this like there are no sacred cows,” he said. “We have to look at everything because I don’t think we have a two-year problem. We have a several-year problem.”

For Edmond Wu, the best thing about living in downtown Mount Pleasant is the peace and quiet.

“It’s not always the same crowd as there is on campus,” the New York senior said. “It’s not that it is not busy, but it is just quieter here because it is not all students. There’s a good mixture.”

Wu lives near the corner of University Avenue and Michigan Street. He said living downtown has the added advantage of nearby eateries and shops.

“We like to walk to Stan’s for breakfast on the weekends, and we also go to Jimmy John’s a lot too,” he said.  “Both of those places are just down the street.”

Gross Point Park senior Justin Sparkman is roommates with Wu and said his favorite part of living downtown is a given.

“We are really close to all of the bars down here,” he said. “I can walk to the Bird and the Blackstone.”

The location of Sparkman and Wu’s apartment still is close to campus, which both said is an added advantage.

“It’s only about a 20 minute walk to campus from here so I try to do that as much as I can, even when it snows,” Wu said. “It’s nice to have all of what the downtown offers around you, but at the same time you are right next to CMU.”

Wu and Sparkman said there is one clear disadvantage to living downtown. Parking.

The two have assigned spots but, often, they are taken by others.

“It seems like there is always people parking in our spots, and it gets annoying,” Sparkman said.

A business perspective

Tim Brockman, owner of Max and Emily’s, 125 E. Broadway, said being downtown has a lot of advantages as a business owner.

“I think the downtown offers a unique perspective,” he said. “It is out of the hustle of Mission Street.”

Being close to other businesses is also an advantage, Brockman said.

“It makes it really nice because of all the places are so close together which makes it really easy for people to walk from place to place,” he said.

Downtown Development Director Michelle Sponseller said downtown offers things no other place in Mount Pleasant can.

Sponseller said the downtown caters to CMU students and residents living in the area. But she would like to see more student housing.

“We would like to see a high density of students come live here,” she said. “We are a college town. We’re not a town with a college in it.”

Although Wu said he likes the quiet of downtown Mount Pleasant, he said he does not know why more students don’t move downtown.

“I can’t really think of too many things that are bad about living there because it is close to everything, and it is cheap,” he said. “It’s really cheap actually, and that is always a good thing.”

Isabella County officials will meet Monday afternoon to address cuts to the county’s 2010 fiscal year budget and a deficit in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

David Ling, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, said County Administrator Tim Dolehanty will have a number of different options on hand for the board to examine. He said officials will give “priority to things we feel are necessary.”

The goal for a set budget is March 31, although Ling said it isn’t a priority because the right decisions need to be made.

“I’m hopeful, but it’s not critical we meet that deadline,” he said.  “We have to have a budget set by September, but we have to have some direction at the end of March.”

The board decided Tuesday to stop making monthly payments of $200,000 to its self insurance fund.

The state requires a minimum of $435,000 to be in this account at all times. Currently, the county has approximately $1.7 million. The payments will stop being made starting this month and continuing through June.

Last month, Dolehanty reported the county would fall short nearly $2 million for its expenditures between January and July this year. He said the new figure has dropped to between $750,000 and $1 million.

Holding back the $800,000 from the self insurance fund, Dolehanty said, should be a temporary fix.

“That could be the patch that we need for now,” he said. “If we stop putting $200,000 in this fund between now and July, we could theoretically hold enough to cover that gap.”

After this four month time period, the board can decide to either put money back into the self insurance fund or it can continue to hold money back because the minimum requirements will still be met. The $1.7 million, which Dolehanty calls “a healthy number” in the fund presently will go untouched until that time.

The county originally didn’t have enough to cover expenses from January to July, Dolehanty said, because it has no large-scale solid revenue stream coming in.

“There is a big gap between when we collect tax revenues and the current expenditures that we are making,” he said.

Ling attested to the subject, calling it a complicated issue.

The county has been experiencing financial woes due to decreases in revenue from the state, traffic violations, and inspection fees.

A new program slated for Central Michigan University’s curriculum next fall will address diversity awareness in Isabella County.

Intergroup Dialogue will focus primarily on race and ethnicity, but other topics such as class, gender, or religion also will be discussed for students of different backgrounds to interact.

The core of the program will be COM 255: Special Topics in Communication.

“There is really not much opportunity for people to sit down and interact with each other,” said Ulana Klymyshyn, director of Multicultural Education. “The skills that we gain from experiences with people from other backgrounds carry over with us.”

Some say a lack of cultural skills is evident within the area’s student population, but also in Isabella County at large.

Carole Richardson, vice chairwoman of the county’s Human Rights Committee, said the county is doing its best to educate.

“I think every member of the HRC recognizes that there is a problem,” she said. “We are continuing with the educational services that we provide and the feedback has been really positive.”

Recently, 521 county residents were surveyed by a project team that explored racial and ethnic diversity. Sociology professor Mary Senter was a part of the team.

She said two things were found to be evident with non-white members of the community.

“People who identify as members of those groups have negative experiences more than white people,” Senter said. “The second thing is that faculty and staff have had many of the same negative experiences that the students were having.”

New way to interact

More than 35 percent of the minorities surveyed said they have heard a derogatory comment made in Mount Pleasant. Approximately 23 percent of white participants said the same thing.

More than 7 percent of participants also said they have had a negative experience because of their own race, compared to just more than 1 percent of white participants.

Senter said the program next fall will help students learn about these issues.

“It will be an opportunity to help interaction between different groups of people,” she said.

A 500-level course is being offered this semester for graduate students who want to facilitate the fall program. Klymyshyn said the course is designed to have students talk in small groups.

“In small groups, students can really interact with one another,” she said.

But for issues and programs to get attention, Senter said help needs to come from the top at Central Michigan University.

“There needs to be leadership from the senior levels at CMU,” she said. “There needs to be an ongoing support for everybody, and everybody is over 20,000 people.”

Service groups and organizations throughout Isabella County have seen a decrease in funds because of the struggling economy.

It was just one topic of concern at a recent presentation of the county’s Safety Net, a concept which encompasses several entities that help people in need.

Dee Obrecht, a member of the Child and Family Enrichment Council, said CARE — like most safety net programs — faced funding cuts.

“Funding is a huge issue with everyone right now,” she said. “Anytime there is a budget cut to services, that means we are being cut, too.”

County Commissioner James Moreno gave the Feb. 4 presentation, highlighting the increase in need and decrease in resources to such organizations.

Groups included in the county’s “Safety Net” are Big Brothers Big Sisters of Isabella County, Central Michigan Health Department and Child Advocacy 4C Services.

“We wanted to show the work of service organizations in Isabella County,” Moreno said.

Mary Barz of Central Michigan Pregnancy Services, another part of the Safety Net, said the county is doing a good job of providing a net for citizens, but it is always in need.

“I think they are trying, but there is a higher need than any other time,” she said. “It’s going to require a lot of people and volunteers because there are no quick fixes.”

Pregnancy Services started in 1983 and is designed to educate men and women on various issues, including parenthood, sexually transmitted diseases and other things pertaining to pregnancy. It also provides ways for both mothers and fathers to earn “baby bucks” to purchase items necessary for raising children.

Obrecht also is co-chairwoman of the Isabella County Community Collaborative, which was a point of focus in the presentation. The collaborative groups area service organizations together.

She said CARE, however, primarily deals with child safety.

“We are interested in citizens that are addressing needs now,” Obrecht said. “We do focus on programs that deal with child abuse and high risk people.”

Despite the economic setbacks, Obrecht said the collaborative, along with the groups and organizations that make it up, is doing all it can.

She maintains, still, “a lot is getting done in Isabella County.”

“This has been hard to do when everyone, it seems, needs more funding,” Obrecht said.

The Isabella County Human Rights Committee is in the process of approving job descriptions for two potential Central Michigan University student internships.

Since former Diversity Coordinator Blossom Hill left the position last year, Carole Richardson, vice chairperson of the HRC, said it has been hard to move forward.

“Since we have lost our diversity coordinator, there have been some issues that have been sort of at a standstill,” she said. “We are hoping that the interns can help do some of the things the diversity coordinator did.”

Committee member Laura Gonzales said they have already been in contact with CMU for potential interns.

“There are a number of next steps before we can get the interns, but we have contacted Sean Novak at Minority Student Services at CMU to help us find someone,” she said.

The HRC could potentially hire interns as early as this spring semester, but is shooting for the summer.  The subcommittee will send out a draft of what the two internships will entail to the HRC so they can be approved before next month’s meeting.

The organization is in its second year. It was formerly the Disability Advisory Council before expanding two years ago.

Sean Novak, assistant director of MSS and former HRC member, said it is difficult for the committee to make a significant impact in the first year because it has taken time to set things up.

“We spent the whole first developing things,” he said. “We developed the bylaws and had to set goals for the year before we really could get into things.”

The HRC is a part of setting up local agencies that train county and public schools employees.

“These programs have been a great opportunity to discuss the issues,” Richardson said. “They allow these workers to go through diversity training.”

Committee member Patty Csernai said the HRC does a lot of things to work with the people at CMU.

“We try to get involved with things on campus, and we have a couple CMU representatives on the committee,” she said.

County residents can fill out an incident report form if they feel they have been discriminated against. Richardson said they have had to deal with only a few incidents so far.

“We only had a few, but the incidents that we did have were taken care of,” she said.

The position of Isabella County diversity coordinator is once again vacant one year after it was filled.

Blossom Hill, who assumed the position in January 2009, resigned last fall to further her education out-of-state. County officials say they have no concrete plans to fill the void at this time.

The county expected to finance the position through a 2 percent stipend from the Saginaw Indian Chippewa Tribe. But the arrangement is no longer in place.

“When we put in to re-apply for the funding, we were told that it wasn’t a priority,” said David Ling, chairman of the county’s Board of Commissioners.

The tribe did not cut the position, Ling said, but, rather, the funding has gone elsewhere. The county’s Human Rights Committee is covering some of the duties a diversity coordinator would handle.

County Commissioner James Moreno said the committee is looking at other options.

“I heard the Human Rights Committee is trying to hire some interns to do some of those jobs,” he said.

Looking for a replacement

Ling said Central Michigan University students are the likely candidates to help fill those intern positions. Students, he said, are a big help.

“They provide a great deal of assistance to the program,” he said. “At this point, there are discussions under way with the university.”

The county board started the HRC in 2008. According to the Isabella County Web site, it is intended to “serve as a liaison between the county and other local diversity and minority organizations.”

Hill was the third person to hold the county’s diversity coordinator position. She was unavailable for comment Thursday.

The position was in limbo for several months when former Diversity Coordinator Sharon Quinlan resigned in fall 2008 amid the renewal of County Administrator Tim Dolehanty’s contract. Ling said Hill, a Central Michigan University alumna, will be missed.

“She worked very hard and did a very good job for the county,” he said. “She provided a lot of great service.”

The Isabella County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to overturn a Dec. 15 decision to use Sparrow Health Systems for medical examiner services.

Several concerns regarding transportation costs were brought up by area funeral home owners. The board’s action will allow these owners to continue under the same system they have been using for the last four years.

“Sparrow will have a 60 days notice,” Commission Chairman David Ling said.

At its Jan. 5 meeting, the commission originally moved to look into its reconsideration.

Commissioner Bill Dailey said the community really helped them re-evaluate.

“We got a lot more information, and we had the public come in and help,” he said.

Under Sparrow, funeral home owners would have been responsible for the transportation of all bodies to Lansing so they could be examined. These expenses would have been covered by the owners.

Dailey had talked with 10 funeral directors in six counties that were currently using Sparrow.

“None of this is a reflection of the quality of service we get from Sparrow,” Dailey said.

Under the current system, Elmer Shurlow will continue to be the county’s Chief Medical Examiner. He has held that position for 12 years.