The Isabella County Board of Commissioners addressed updates about the administration building construction and how they are moving forward with bids at their meeting on Nov. 4. The board also gave updates about the opioid committee and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appeal.

Administration Building

The board motioned to approve bids to start taking place for contractors on the remodeling of the old administration building. Bids would be placed through a Request for Proposals (RFP) for contractors to create design costs to present to the board.

By approving bids, the county administrator, Brian Smith, can send out RFPs to get estimates for the administration building. It will take time until the board chooses which bid they are going with for cost estimates and contractors to be established.

“A lot of people tell us what it is, but this will help get us a solid firm cost and what it actually is to go forward,” Frank Engler, chairperson and district four representative of the board, said.

The board discussed various plans for the location of the administration building. They were building options next to the jail and the old sheriff’s office. However, these options were dismissed because it would be cheaper to renovate the old administration building, commissioner Tobin Hope said.

Hope gave some estimates if they went through a bid with the Spence Brothers, a construction company from Saginaw. Through the Spence Brothers, a 38,000 square foot building would be $444 per square foot. However, refurbishing the administration building came back to $251 per square foot.

It has been a couple of years and wants to plan the first few steps to let employees know it is being worked on, Hope said. There will still be bumps they have to face and employees have been patient working in an inadequate space.

The old administration building was left empty after asbestos was discovered. Afterwards departments had to move to alternative locations. The remodeling of the old building would relieve stress and the hassle of different locations, commissioner Jim Moreno said.

Jerry Jaloszynski, district three of the board commissioners, acknowledged the time it has taken to move forward with plans for the administration building.

"We need to get our employees back into decent housing," Jaloszynski said. "I know not everybody uses the services of everybody in the county building, but everybody benefits. We need to do it in the most efficient and effective possible, so I'm ready to move on with it.”

Opioid Committee

At the board meeting, Jaloszynski also addressed the status of the Isabella County Opioid Committee. The committee is still set to formalize the beginning of next year to give out $70,000 worth of grants to people and organizations to treat opioid addiction in Isabella County.

“We're looking two weeks down the road before we can get the next three or four people appointed,” Jaloszynski said.

The committee currently has seven members. Jaloszynski said they are working on getting someone from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe to help fill at least one of the thirteen seats.

Once they get around ten members, they will start creating request proposals for people to submit their ideas on what they plan to do with the grants.

“We probably won't even solicit till December the earliest,” Jaloszynski said. “So it'll be next year. We'll have a few more dollars, probably to add to the initial dollars. I'm thinking the funding is not going to go out until 2026.”

FOIA Appeal

The board also addressed a FOIA appeal by Greg Schmidt. Schmidt requested a FOIA for a "General fund statement of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balance budget to actual for the year ended 9/30/25," but was denied.

It is required for the county that revenues and expenditures be recognized within 60 days after the close of the fiscal year. Even though the fiscal year ended on September 30, the document could not be given because it has been prepared yet.

Chris Witmer, Isabella County finance director, said the document Schmidt was requesting is prepared by auditors, and not the administration.

"So therefore, that particular request for that document would definitely be available as soon as our annual audit is wrapped up and provided to us by our auditors," Witmer said.

Whiter said their annual audit ends on March 31 and would expect the document to be available by the beginning of March. Due to this, the board kept their denial of the FOIA until the document is ready.