Grand Traverse County commissioners voted last night to delay outsourcing the county's soil erosion inspections to provide more time to transition from in-house staff to outside contractors. The board also notified a recent appointee to the Grand Traverse County Road Commission her appointment had been voided for legal reasons.

Commissioners voted 4-3 to wait until properly trained soil erosion contractors and other necessary departmental systems were in place to handle a privatization transition before eliminating two part-time soil erosion inspectors from the county's payroll. Commissioners previously voted at a December 1 budget meeting to outsource inspections effective January 1, but were advised by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that the rapid timeline could make the county vulnerable to DEQ violations since the county is required to maintain proper soil erosion staffing to perform plan reviews, inspections and permitting.

Multiple commissioners who opposed last night's motion, including Charlie Renny and Herb Lemcool, said they did so not because they opposed an extended timeline but because they wanted to see the county abandon the outsourcing plan entirely. "I think we're creating a Pandora's Box," said Lemcool, who had originally supported the outsourcing. "We did not have enough information when we voted on this." Commissioner Richard Thomas called the cuts the “biggest mistake I've ever seen on this (commission).” Several developers, contractors and builders also spoke out against the outsourcing, including Home Builders Association of the Grand Traverse Area President Bill Packer.

“This will affect all the builders in the area that have soil erosion permits,” said Packer, who noted the eliminations had the potential to “disrupt the industry quite a bit.” He added: “If we do outsource the inspectors, we'd like to be informed of the process and procedure of how that's going to go forward. We all work with subcontractors, and sometimes they're not readily available.”

Commissioners did not establish a set date of when the transition from in-house staff to contractors would need to be complete. Board discussions indicated the process could stretch until spring.

Commissioners also notified Grand Traverse County Road Commission appointee Cori Nielson her appointment to that board last week had been voided after the county's legal counsel advised Nielson did not receive a required majority vote of commissioners. Nielson was appointed to the road commission by a 3-2 vote, but commissioners at the time did not realize state statute required a majority approval of the entire board – in this case, four affirmative votes – to confirm the appointment. The reappointment of Marc McKellar to the road commission at that same meeting was by a 5-0 vote, so that appointment met the state guidelines.

Commissioners agreed to reinterview all five candidates who applied for the road commission post (minus McKellar) at a special meeting at 3:30pm on December 17. Nielson is eligible to reapply for the position.