Torch E-Forum 2012: County Treasurer, Surveyor and District 1 Commissioner

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This is the second in a series of three articles on the candidates who will have their contests decided on the August 7 primary, this amounts to almost all races in the County as everyone running in contested races are Republicans.  The following link shows how to contact each candidate running for office if you have other questions, providing phone, E-mail and addresses of each candidate  Mason Co. Candidates August Primary

Here was the first:  District 5-7

 

The three positions in the title are contested by two Republicans, all were contacted by E-mail twice, on July 5 and 13 with a set of distinct questions.

 

County Treasurer

 

This race features Shirley Smith against Sherry Wyman.  Sherry refused to answer our questionaire, Shirley was the quickest to reply of all candidates, responding within a day on July 6.  

                                                               Shirley Smith

1. What qualifications do you possess that makes you the best candidate for Mason County Treasurer? 
1. I've been in the Treasurer's office for 12 years the last 6 years as the Chief Deputy Treasurer 
2. If you are elected to this position, what will be the first three things you would like to do as the new Treasurer? 
2-1. Continue providing the integrety and honesty and compassion this office is known for.
2-2. Continue finding ways to maximize the earning of interst on the County taxpayers money; i.e Every dollar earning earning interest every day.
2-3 Continue to educate and assist taxpayers with Property tax issues.

3. Do you feel that the County is headed in the right direction? Why or why not? 
3: This is an administrative position that does not set County policy and from a fiscal standpoint the county is headed in the right direction 
4. Would you have ran for this position if Tim Hansen didn't retire? What is your opinion of Current Treasurer Tim Hansen and his service to the community? 
4: No, I would not be running for this position if Tim was. I have a great admiration for the work Tim has done in the Treasure's job. I know the time he has spent with Tax payer to help them and educate them on the property tax matters. I know the time he takes to continue to provide the financial information and have available the finances for the counties expenses and maximizing the earnings on the counties money.

 

County Surveyor

 

Both County Surveyors were contacted, yet neither responded.  At the candidate's forum, only Noah Penn showed up.  He seemed nervous and nerdish enough to be a good surveyor.  I really wanted to ask him a question:  "Is that a pencil you're holding?"  Because then he might have responded, "No, a pen." 

I really should have been running his campaign.  County surveyors don't generally get much respect, and I will continue that tradition, particularly when the one candidate, that's you Mr. Schulke, doesn't participate in anything.

County Commissioner District 1

 

This is one I am most interested in as a member of the district.  If you are in Ludington's 1st, 2nd or 3rd ward, you also should take notice.  This pits two incumbents against each other Susan Boes vs. Mike Lenich.  Lenich, like all other male incumbents in commissioner seats, failed to get back with me.  A review of his votes on issues shows he also followed the same leads as those other male incumbents.  This is what many call the Good Ol' Boys network, I call it repugnant. 

Susan wasn't a whole lot better, she sent me the following E-mail message:  "Thank you for your interest...I will be attending the LDN Forum on July 31 and will try to address some of these quesstions then.  Susan" 

I could generously say that she had likely answered/danced around about half of my six questions at the WMOM/MCP forum.  Lenich answered less, with less analysis and more abstractions.  I know who I am voting for, even though I am not totally OK with either.  Myself.  I could bring integrity, transparency and irreverency to the office.  And propose to cut more fluff off the County budget than Sheriff Fiers can only dream about.  So, if these two incumbents do not motivate you, follow my lead, or vote for yourself.  Make a statement.

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Noah Penn, who wishes to be your next surveyor for the county finally got his answers back.  Sorry about that earlier joke, Noah.

1)  What best qualifies you to be the County's new surveyor?

I have over 12 years experience in the field of land surveying.

I hold a bachelors of science from Michigan State University in Geological Science (2001) and

I received a bachelors of science in Surveying Engineering from Ferris State in 2007.

I have worked for Nordlund & Associates since 2003 as a part time employee in Newaygo and Hesperia and joined

them full time in Ludington in 2007.  I also moved to Ludington in 2007.

I have participated in the Mason County Remonumentation program since 2007 and

I have been involved in the Remonumentation program in Manistee County since 2007 as well.

Prior to attending Ferris State, I worked for a surveying firm in Haslett Michigan where I worked in the field on

the Ingham County Remonumenation project in White Oak Township (near Stockbridge).

As a Professional Surveyor (P.S.) I conctracted with Kalamazoo County to research and retrace section corners

which fell in a road construction area.  I conducted excavations and found original County Surveyor set stones prior to

the reconstruction of the road.  I presented my recovered positions and had them ratified by the Kalamazoo County Remonumentation Peer Group and they have been recorded with the State.  I have also come up with good evidence of original corner positions and early 20th century County Surveyor positions in Marilla Township in Manistee County, and I have

been credited with the field work on numerous Land Corner Recordation Certificates which have been passed through the Manistee County Peer Group.

2)  What services would you offer to the people of Mason County that your opponent may not be able to provide?

Nordlund and Associates currently offers GPS capable surveying which includes both Real Time Kinematic (RTK) which

involves a base receiver and the Rover (man with the stick)  This is the most common form of GPS surveying.

We are also capable of Static GPS observations which involves letting the receiver log satellite data to a removable disk, and then post processing the log file in order to create a precise longitude/latitude known point with a known elevation.

In 2009 I taught myself how to use the GPS software to create and adjust a network of points.  The network adjustment

involves leap-frogging two GPS receivers through unknown and known NGS points to create and adjust vectors.

In 2011, I was contracted by the current County Surveyor, Ted Weinert to adjust his network for Manistee County,

and produce a report which satisfied The State Office of Land Survey and Remonumentation for the Manistee County GPS contract.  The contract required a least squares adjustment, and his crew or equipment could not produce the report.

I explained how the network had to be run, and his crew spent a day leap-frogging Nordlund's GPS and I processed the data.

3)  What is the biggest challenge facing the County's Surveying Department over the next few years, and how do you feel that should be addressed, by the County and by you?

In my opinion the biggest problem which I must deal with is the previous ratification of bad corner positions

throughout Mason County. 

When Michigan first created the plan for section corner Remonumentation, surveyors

were unsure what the level of expectation was for a good corner.  Many times the County Surveyor would assign a small

dollar amount per corner which afforded the contracting surveyor barely enough time to drive out and find whatever corner was in the area, and the peer review group did not demand that a corner position have some type of chain of history or evidence by measurement to justify the ratification of that particular corner.

A found 1/2" rebar in a gravel road was accepted and remonumented with a county monument, even if nobody knew how hit got there, and nobody looked for evidence pointing to a better location.  (including record witnesses or fitting to fence lines put in based on old petition surveys conducted around the turn of the 20th century and prior era)

More recently the Federal Forest Service has been conducting more thorough investigations and field retracement,

and now many of the previously ratified corners are being screwtinized, and or tossed out based on the actual evidence.

As County Surveyor I will need to deal with old corners which turn out to be in conflict with actual evidence, and will

need to hold myself to a higher standard of care than what has been par for the course in the past.

I feel that I am the best person for the job since I have been able to remain on good terms and earn the respect of

both the older generation of surveyors and the new professionals.

I also have the wholehearted support of both the Manistee County Surveyor and The President of the Michigan Society of Professional Surveyors, Patrick G. Bentley.