BOC Hears of Fraud, Frugality, Finance

By DIANNE ALWARD-BIERY

Cleaver Staff Writer

HARRISON – In her Dec. 17 Clerk’s Report to Clare County Commissioners, Lori Mott said her office had received notification of an investigation of property fraud in the county. Thus, she asked commissioners to spread the word that the Clerk’s Office does offer Property Fraud Alerts in the county, adding that literature was available for them to hand out to their constituents or townships.

“I won’t discuss the case, but it was in our county, so it is out there,” she said. “It isn’t prevalent in our county like it is in bigger counties, it does happen everywhere. So, we do have protections in place for our constituents, which is great.”

Mott said her office has already begun work on the 2026 elections, and that the filing deadline for county and township proposals to be placed on the August ballot is 4 p.m. Feb. 10.

It was also note that changes made by Judges Ambrozaitis and Hovey would result in the Clerk’s Office 1,500-2,000 less jurors in the coming year.

“That’s a good thing,” Mott said. “We usually call 6,000 jurors each year, and we’re able to reduce that by procedures they put in place. A lot of people don’t show up for jury duty, and when it’s a capital offense or a CSC charge for example – we have a lot of those in this county – they have to call a lot of extra jurors in. They put procedures in place where they’re going to require people to come in when they’re summoned for jury duty … that will make a lot of citizens happy because we get a lot of backlash regarding jury duty. People don’t like to give up their time to do jury duty. And it will take time off my staff and the Jury Board.”

Mott then spoke of the Ax My Tax initiative, noting that in her last conference attended in early December the lobbyist had reported feeling strongly that it would fail due to the unlikelihood of procuring the necessary number of signatures in time to be placed on the ballot.

She also informed that her office is constantly striving for cost-saving avenues, and noted some of the cost savings measures used in her office:

-Employees agreeing, not only to work overtime to prevent hiring additional staff, and also agreeing to work comp-time which is a further cost saving.

-Paying for everything possible from dedicated funds, rather than using General Fund dollars.

-Utilizing all tools available, i.e., printing on both sides of paper when possible; paper printed in error is cut up to be used for scrap paper notes rather than using purchased steno or memo pads; printing in black and white instead of color; saving scrap paper to use for proof printing of birth certificates, death certificates and elections data to ensure the final print is correct and doesn’t become another unusable scrap.

Mott said her staff will even bring in items from home rather than purchasing them through the county; even taking office breakroom rag towels home to launder rather than using paper towels.

“I just want you to know the staff and elected officials, at least Jenny [Beemer-Fritzinger, treasurer] and I, I know are constantly looking at cost-saving measures,” Mott said. “And even the smallest, little things in order to save money for the taxpayers.”

Clare County Treasurer Jenny Beemer-Fritizinger then offered her report, beginning by noting having provided commissioners with copies of the county’s cash and investment reports. She also reiterated that her office was in the middle of the annual audit, as well as tax collection being on its way along with disbursement of some of the county funds.

“Where our big quarter is July through September for the county, theirs starts now for the Animal Shelter, 9-1-1 as well as the Road Commission fund which get collected by the townships, then disbursed through the county,” she said. “They’re going to start getting their money new this year. We’re finding ourselves coming into internal procedures, as we had 50 drains that are on the winter tax roll this year, and six lake levels; that makes it a little bit challenging. Usually, we have a few of those at a time, not necessarily 50. Then there’s lake level improvements, and that doesn’t include that.”

It was later noted that the new lake levels/drain special assessments would be recurring for a couple of years.

“After a couple years, it should dwindle back to normal,” she said. “We’ve had 10 on there at one time, but 50 is quite a challenge, plus the stated lake levels. That doesn’t include lake level improvements, and it’s over 76 when you include the improvements with it. We’ve gotten a lot of calls, and the Drain Commission has been great in answering.”

Beemer-Fritizinger also said the licensing deadline is Feb. 28 for those needing to get their dogs licensed, and added there would be a One-Stop Shop rabies/licensing clinic in February. That event is held at the Clare County Animal Shelter, and a veterinarian comes in to administer discounted rabies and distemper vaccinations at the same time.

“And we’re out there selling dog licenses for anybody who wants or needs those,” she said.

Beemer-Fritzinger also noted her office is short on staffing, and employees are entitled to their vacation hours. Thus in order not to leave a single person manning the office, occasionally it will be closed during the lunch hour.

“We try to stay open 99% of the time, but we are trying to keep the county’s expenses as low as we can.”