County Board of Commissioners opts not to dissolve Road Commission; instead explores adding members
photo courtesy of the Washtenaw County Road Commission
The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners (BOC) announced last fall that they were reviewing the governance structure of the Washtenaw County Road Commission. One option being considered was dissolving the Road Commission. That BOC has set that option aside, at least for now, and are focusing on other options.
For the past 100 years, the Washtenaw County Road Commission has been governed by three road commissioners, appointed by the BOC to serve 6-year terms. The BOC was considering three possible changes including changing the road commission board member positions from appointed to elected, expanding the road commission board from three to five members, and dissolving the road commission and transferring its duties to the BOC.
As of now, the BOC has not dissolved the Road Commission. Shannon Beeman, Manchester’s County Commissioner, stated “…the board did not dissolve the Washtenaw County Road Commission in 2019. At this time, we are exploring the option of adding new road commissioners to the WCRC.”
The BOC is exploring appointing two more road commissioners to the board, increasing their numbers from three members to five. They are holding a public hearing to receive comment from residents on Wednesday, March 4 at 6:45 pm in the Board Room at the County Administration Building, 220 N. Main Street, Ann Arbor.
However, the option of dissolving the Road Commission is not off the table for the future.
This ability of the BOC to dissolve the road commission and transfer road commission duties to itself was set to expire on Jan. 1, 2020 but the sunset on that legislation was removed when the Governor signed Public Acts 1 and 2 of 2020 into law. Beeman explained, “These acts eliminate the January 1, 2020 sunset on the ability of a county board of commissioners to transfer the powers, duties, and responsibilities of a road commission to a board of commissioners. That ability now belongs to a county commission without any end date.”
In addition to the possible change in the number of Road Commission members, the BOC is working with the Road Commission on a Memorandum of Understanding. This covers subjects like communication and transparency, tree removal and replacement policy, meeting accessibility, and herbicide/pesticide spraying.
Emily Kizer, speaking for the Washtenaw County Road Commission, stated, “We are also working with the BOC and County Administrator on a Memorandum of Understanding that further details the various ways we are going to continue to work together to improve on some of the areas they had concerns around. One example is the Chat with the Road Commissioners event that we will be holding twice a month throughout the year. Another example is that we are working to get the necessary equipment to livestream our board meetings and post to our websites. The MOU should be finalized in the next couple of weeks and will be available to the public.”
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