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Pictured from left to right. Back Row: Paul
Liss, Clark Bates, Allan Bentz, Kenneth Glasser, Lee Olsen.
Front Row: Paul Beachnau, Erma Backenstose, J. Michael Hyde, Douglas C.
Johnson.
The chief legislative and policy-making body of Otsego
County Government is the 9-member Board of Commissioners.
Commissioners are elected to 2-year terms from districts
that are roughly equal in population. A chair and vice-chair are elected
at the first meeting of each new year by the Commissioners. The Chair
may exercise appointment of a parliamentarian. The Board has no standing
committees at this time.
Among the Commissioners' duties are:
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Approving a mission statement for the County.
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Adopting the annual County budget, which for 2008 is a
total of $44 million. This includes approving the annual budgets of
other, independently elected, County officials: the County Clerk,
the Drain Commissioner, Judges of the 46th Circuit Trial Court, the Prosecutor, and the Treasurer, and all other
departmental and agency budgets.
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Raising the money to fund the County's operations by
levying property taxes, setting fees, selling bonds or borrowing.
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Appointing citizen members to County boards,
commissions and committees, which provide oversight for significant
County services. These include the Parks and Recreation Board,
Planning Commission, Housing Commission, Jury Board, Zoning Board of
Appeals, Library Board, Board of Public Works, Commission on Aging,
and the Building Authority, among others.
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Selecting a County Administrator to implement Board
policies and supervise the day-to-day operations of County
departments.
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Determining the sites of County buildings, and
purchasing or disposing of County-owned property and facilities.
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Representing the County, and managing its property and
business by adopting rules, regulations, ordinances and policies.
Board Meetings
Regular, public meetings of the Board of Commissioners are scheduled at
9:30 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month in the Board of
Commissioners' Multi-Purpose Room at the J. Richard Yuill Alpine
Center, Gaylord, Michigan.
The Board welcomes residents to express their ideas or concerns about
issues affecting Otsego County Government. This may be accomplished by
contacting the Office of the County Administrator to request permission
to offer a special presentation to the Board of Commissioners by
submitting a Request for Special Presentation. Informal comments are
also welcome near the end of the meeting agenda called "Agenda
Items."
Speakers are requested to state their name and address, with individual
comments being limited to three minutes or less, according to Board
Rules.
Copies of Board agendas are available electronically on
this web-site or by calling the
Office of the County Administrator at
(989) 731-7520. Minutes of past meetings are also available
electronically or by calling the County Clerk's office at (989)
731-7500.
For a complete list of upcoming meetings, see the Otsego County Event
Calendar.
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