Eke, an English professor, was recently added to the HRC after applying earlier this semester and being accepted by the County Board of Commissioners.

She said diversity has always been an area of interest for her and looks forward to helping solve issues.

“It is important to have voices from the university, and I am acting as a liaison between the HRC and CMU,” Eke said. “Hopefully, I can bring the Human Rights Committee the issues from CMU.”

Eke is a Nigeria native who serves as president of the African Literature Association.

She said many people view CMU and the Mount Pleasant community as separate things. Eke would like to see a closer relationship between the two.

“The reality is that CMU is part of the community,” she said. “I would like to see a more cohesive relationship between CMU and Mount Pleasant.”

One issue Eke hopes to figure out is why students decide to come to CMU based on community factors.

“It is important for us to understand how the community affects students’ decisions to come here,” she said.

HRC Vice Chairperson Carole Richardson said Eke brings experience and a great knowledge of CMU issues.

“Dr. Eke has been a faculty member at CMU for over 15 years and, therefore, brings a deep understanding of the university to the HRC,” Richardson said.

Richardson said Eke brings a vast knowledge of African culture and understanding which is important to the committee.

“Dr. Eke’s understanding of issues surrounding gender, particularly within the African Diaspora, will help ensure the HRC is sensitive to and understands challenges in this area,” she said. “Also, because she has demonstrated strong commitment to human rights and equity, we look forward to her making valuable contributions to the work of the HRC.”

Eke said diversity is an important element in any community whether it be a university or town such as Mount Pleasant.

“Diversity shows community,” she said. “We want to establish a linkage between CMU and the community.”

The HRC is still going through some early stages of development.

Richardson said the committee is always trying to listen to issues of not only CMU, but the whole community to establish a beneficiary environment.

“We look forward to working with CMU on issues that jointly benefit the citizens of the greater Isabella County area and the members of the university community who live, work and study within its boundaries,” she said.

Jeannie Jackson, director in the Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity at CMU and member of the HRC, said her goals for HRC are focused on the community.

“My HRC goals for the community are different than those for CMU,” she said. “I’m not acting, necessarily, as a CMU representative, but as a community person.”

The county Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved the Chippewa River District Library’s request for a proposed 1.75 mills over the next eight years to aid out-of-district library branches. This marks the second millage request approved for the Aug. 3 ballot within the last few weeks.

Also on the ballot will be a two-mill increase for the Isabella County Road Commission to be earmarked for maintenance of county roads.

Commissioner George Green, who voted against putting the library’s request on the ballot, said he has not heard residents back it up.

“I haven’t got any support for this in my district,” Green said. “We are in really hard times right now.”

Green and Commissioner John Haupt were the only two who voted against putting the request on the August ballot.

Haupt agreed times were tough and referred to a story he heard of a man losing his job recently.

“I don’t want to be responsible for passing the millage and kicking someone out of their home,” Haupt said.

Commissioner James Moreno said he did not see any problem with placing the library millage request on the ballot.

“I’m willing to respect the will of the people on this and at least place it on the ballot,” Moreno said. “I realize it’s tough times, but I also realize that people have to pay for things.”

If the millage request is approved by voters in August, it would cost taxpayers about $150 to $200 each year.

Commissioner Roger Trudell said he received 20 phone calls — 18 of which were from people supporting placement of the request on a ballot.

“At least let the voters get a shot at it,” he said.

Some residents during the public hearing held Tuesday night said the library’s request was not advertised enough.

Board Chairman David Ling said those who do know about this are partly responsible for telling others.

“It will be up to those who are on one side or the other to inform the constituents,” he said.

The board said it is in no way supporting the request one way or the other.

“All we have is indicate the willingness to put this on the ballot,” Ling said. “This allows people to voice an opinion.”

Community Mental Health is used to provide mental health care for inmates and, since CMH is a state organization funded by counties, Mioduszewski said the county is taking on new costs.

“In the past, Community Mental Health paid the entire bill,” he said. “We have never had to deal with paying these types of bills before.”

Frank Cloutier, public relations director for the tribe, said he is unable to talk about the sheriff’s request pending a review of all necessary information.

“I can confirm that we have received the request from Sheriff Mioduszewski,” he said. “However, the deadline for submissions was March 31, 2010, and all requests have not been formatted for (tribal) council review.”

Cloutier said tribal officials plan on announcing a decision at their annual press conference. The time of the press conference has yet to be determined.

Mioduszewski said he would like to see a contract made with Health Professions Limited if funding cannot be provided by the tribe. Health Professions Limited has contracted with correctional facilities since 1995.

“They are going to provide the necessary services that we need in the jail,” Mioduszewski said of HPL. “They can provide the necessary funding that we haven’t had to pay in the past, but are paying now.”

He said the decision to make counties contribute funding to Community Mental Health was a total surprise.

“We had no fair warning that this was even going to happen,” he said. “It’s not that we have a problem with Community Mental Health, but we are dealing with issues that have never been dealt with before.”

The Isabella County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved placement of the millage increase on the August 2010 ballot for votors. If given the go-ahead, the millage would generate $2.3 million toward work and maintenance of county roads over the next eight years.

Isabella County Road Commission Manager Tony Casali told board members at a public hearing Tuesday that even with a $2 million increase in funding, the road commission’s income still would fall short of where it was years ago.

“We currently bring in about $4.4 million which is about $1 million less than we did three years ago,” Casali said. “This means that if this millage is passed, we would still be short by about a million dollars.”

The board had the option of putting the request on either an August or November ballot.

Casali urged board members to act quickly, saying attention to roads is critical. The money, he said, would only be used for certain things.

“It’s not going to fix everything in the county,” he said. “This millage is strictly for repairs to the infrastructure.”

The county also has requests to raise the millage for libraries—an issue which also must go before voters.

Commissioner Francis Lichtman said she would like time for the board to receive feedback from the community.

Only Lichtman and Commission James Moreno voted to amend the request and place it on the November ballot instead of the August ballot.

Commissioner John Haupt said he would like to see it on the August ballot because the roads are used by more people than the libraries. Commissioner George Green agreed.

“The infrastructure of the roads is the heart and soul of this county,” Green said. “I think it should go right to the people.”

Currently, there is a 19 cent gas tax in the state of Michigan. Casali said if the state decides to raise this tax by 10 cents, it would generate the two million it would get from the millage request.

“That is a situation that is going to take time,” he said. “The state tried to raise the gas tax last year but hasn’t accomplished this.”

A public hearing to discuss the library millage request is scheduled for the April 20 Board of Commissioners’ meeting.

On April 6, the Isabella County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to consider the potential increase, which would generate $2.3 million over the next eight years for work and maintenance of county roads. The city of Mount Pleasant would receive approximately $860,000 of that money.

Isabella County Road Commission Manager Tony Casali said county roads are quickly falling apart and, without funding, they will get worse.

“It is still not going to fix everything that we need, but this is going to bring us to a standard of where we need to be,” Casali said.

Since 2004, the Road Commission has lost more than $910,000 from its budget.

County Commissioner George Green said this plan has been really well thought out.

“It is a pretty viable plan that they have come up with,” he said. “It is an aggressive plan.”

Currently, the county has 1,166 miles of road, 495 of which is paved. Board Chairman David Ling said the county might not have a lot of other choices.

“If we are going to address the problems that we have, then I really don’t see any other options for us,” he said. “The revenues are simply not going to be there.”

According to the Road Commission, the county currently has 149 miles of paved road it considers to be in poor condition. This is compared to 65 miles of paved road it considers to be in very good condition.

Out of the 114 bridges in the county, 36 are structurally deficient. Ling said he thinks funding would be good for the county.

“The roads are deteriorating rapidly, so I am personally supportive of this,” he said.

Ling said he does not know if this is likely to be favored by voters if approved by commissioners. But he said the smaller townships could make a difference.

“For those people in smaller townships, a two-mill increase is quite a significant impact on them,” he said.

The state’s primary source of transportation funding comes from the gas tax. Casali said that is a huge reason the Road Commission is losing so much money.

“As long as the gas prices go up, there are going to be people that just don’t go anywhere,” he said. “It looks like it is going to be over three dollars again this summer.”

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.”

“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.”

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.

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.”

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.