ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Wednesday, candidates in the only two contested races for the Delta County Board of Commissioners addressed the public at Escanaba City Hall.
The Delta County League of Women Voters hosted a forum with segments for four major races. The County Commission segment included Districts 3 and 4.
District 3 incumbent Myra Croasdell won her position in May’s recall election, unseating Bob Barron. Croasdell, running again with no party affiliation, faces Republican candidate Christine Williams, a former member of the Escanaba Planning Commission.
Croasdell said she has shown that she works well with her fellow commissioners in accomplishing goals.
“We network together,” said Croasdell. “Kelli [Van Ginhoven] may call me; I may call Mr. [John] Malnar. This is a teamwork for Delta County, to bring all of them together. We’re just not segmented between District 4, District 3, District 1. We are Delta County.”
Williams previously worked as the Vice President of Operations at Bay College. She said that role equipped her with expertise in various administrative fields that could help the board make critical decisions.
“Not only do I understand facilities and understand grounds, buildings, understand information technology, accreditation processes, I have a whole host of skills and experience that I think I could offer to the county which would be very beneficial,” said Williams. “I’m excited to be able to provide those resources and those skills.”
District 4 Democratic incumbent Kelli Van Ginhoven also became a commissioner in the May recall election, taking the seat of Republican David Moyle. Van Ginhoven attended the forum, while Moyle did not.
Van Ginhoven said since the recall vote, the board has made improvements to the county’s operations and resources. She hopes to continue that work as a commissioner.
“I feel myself to be a person who shows up, puts up great ideas, knows how to fight for what I think is right,” she said. “Our commission is a great collaborative and cohesive unit right now. We don’t always agree, but we respectfully disagree.”
One of several audience questions concerned whether it is important to attend city and township meetings as a county commissioner. Van Ginhoven started her answer with an emphatic, “Yes.”
“What I find I can bring to the city and what the city can do for us is irreplaceable almost,” she said. “A perfect example was with our new administrator’s review. We took that directly from the City of Escanaba. I saw their new 360 evaluation template they used a few years ago. I felt that our administrator’s review was archaic… I contacted Jim McNeil at the City… and we’ve used it to develop our new administrator’s review. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I didn’t have a great working relationship with city employees.”
Croasdell, whose district spans multiple townships, agreed.
“They are the ones that put you in the seat,” she said. “You are their representative. They need to see that you care about their townships, their concerns… You need to be there.”
Williams, a regular attendee at local meetings, said township board meetings are a “critical time” to gather information.
“You’re taking information from the county and informing their board,” she said. “They don’t have necessarily the time to attend county meetings, so you are that conduit to what’s going on at the county level. I think it’s incredibly important.”
The candidates also told voters what they hope to accomplish if elected. As a commissioner, Williams said she would work to address housing issues and find ways to save the County money.
“I do believe that there is data within our townships and cities in their planning documents that will help to highlight where our needs actually are,” she said. “I also hope to provide some services that I can give to the County through process mapping or looking at a process very detailed to determine where we have redundancy of services.”
Croasdell said Delta County is doing very well, and she intends to keep the board “moving forward” if reelected.
“Keep our board transparent, keep ethical leadership in there, hold people accountable when need to be,” Croasdell said.
Van Ginhoven’s top priority would be to expand the Delta County Airport. She said she would also work to increase wages for County employees and establish a mental health court.
“A mental health court… would be along the same lines as our drug and sobriety court,” said Van Ginhoven. “I think it could open up a lot of potentially excellent interworkings with our court system if we were able to move that forward.”
To hear more voter questions and answers from Croasdell, Williams, and Van Ginhoven, watch the full forum on the City of Escanaba’s YouTube channel. For information on David Moyle’s candidacy, click here.
On Thursday, WZMQ 19 will have more from the forum on the races for Gladstone City Commissioner and the State House of Representatives 108th District seat.
