Antrim County Commissioner Race: District #4 Elk Rapids Boettcher vs Cooper
Two Republican candidates have filed for Antrim County Commissioner in District #4, which includes Elk Rapids. Incumbent Ed Boettcher is running. Vincent Cooper is challenging Boettcher. Click here to see Cooper’s Facebook page. We sent both parties a questionnaire regarding their views on the new jail. Responses for both candidates are below.
1. Do you agree that all meetings should be held in the evening? This would encourage participation from working community members and would open up the field of Commissioners to working people. Feel free to explain.
Answers:
Boettcher: I’m open to input and will listen to discussions as always. Please keep in mind that a meeting time which doesn’t work for you may be best for others. There is no perfect time. Also it needs to be taken into account; employee OT, employee availability and presenters availability. In general I voted against evening meetings. We haven’t seen any increase in attendance from morning to evening, OT is costly, at times it is helpful to be able to summon a department head during the meeting and the attention of the Commissioners seem to lessen in the evening. A 10PM finish time means a 14 to 15 hour day for some of us.
Cooper: I am a big fan of giving the community a chance at involvement and believe that it plays a very important part in our local government. The Board of Commissioners currently meets twice a month, one meeting in the am and one meeting in the evening. I think this serves, or at least attempts to serve, all the people of Antrim County. This is with the understanding that some people work during the evening/night. With two meetings a month it at least gives everyone a opportunity to try and attend some meetings. That being said if the BOC where to meet only once a month, then I would totally agree that it should be in the evening as the majority of the people I feel work during the day and this would give the greatest benefit for community involvement.
2. Do you or your family have any special interests or connections to any company that will bid on the project or be involved in any way? If so, please explain. 2b. Will you earn money from any part of the jail building project? If so, please explain. 2c. Do you have any personal connections or previous work with the consultants Byce? If so, please explain.
Answers:
Boettcher: As I stated previously, I, my wife or my children have no ownership in any construction Company. I do have a lot of experience in building jails. I am a graduate engineer and feel I have a good understanding of jail construction. I have never worked with Byce, our consultant. My one son works for a mason contractor in TC, he has no ownership, and my three stepsons are all painters, primarily residential. I can’t imagine that this project would have any impact on their income. Of course I wouldn’t profit from a new jail. I would never make a decision as a commissioner for me personally. My concerns are my taxes, our quality of life and the future well-being of our county government. A more efficient county government, meaning lower costs, maybe we would all profit from a new jail.
Cooper: no, no, and no
3. Do you support the Stepping Up Program to reduce jail population? Do you feel that the Sheriff should make this one of his priorities? Please explain.
Answers:
Boettcher: Stepping up is a good program that I support. This is just another step towards attempting to divert incarceration. There is no silver bullet. This program will help towards our mental heath issues but it wont solve them. Given our current infrastructure some of the Stepping up program would be challenging to totally implement.
Cooper: I am not very familiar with the Stepping Up Program, but, after an initial glance, I believe this could be a beneficial program that could help people with mental and/or drug and alcohol illnesses to get the proper treatment and hopefully help keep them out of jail. If after more research it proves to be a feasible and successful program. I would think the Sheriff would want to take a closer look at and possibly implement the program.
4. Which of the options do you believe the board should pursue as far as renovating or building a new jail? Please explain.
Answers:
Boettcher: Currently I believe a new jail is the most cost-effective solution toward improving our current issues. Again, I remain open minded and will continue to listen to all good ideas which address these issues.
Cooper: I have not had a chance to see any analysis or had a chance to look at a cost to benefit on doing one over the other. That being said tax payer money must be spent carefully and wisely, whether it be on a renovation or a new building.
5. Should the Board hire a Structural Engineer to evaluate the current jail for an addition, since it was built to accommodate two stories?
Answers:
Boettcher: A second story would not be cost effective.
Cooper: With the size and scope of this possible project, all avenues should be carefully looked at and if it is feasible, investigated
6. Do you believe that the citizens should be able to vote on this project? Or do you think a board that is split 5-4 should have the $76 million decision?
Answers:
Boettcher: I think that the citizens should vote for good educated pragmatic and common sense Commissioners. The specifics should be addressed by the Commissioners. We are a representative republic for a reason. When I hear all the misinformation, and uninformed comments out there I’m not comfortable with having the public vote on whether or not we need to build a new jail. Further, we still need a lot of questions answered before we make any decision. Having said that, of course if it is determined that a millage will be required, a vote would be necessary.
Cooper: On a project of this size and magnitude, it should be at a minimum a majority vote (6-3). With a majority vote required if the board is split 5-4 then the project motion should fail, or it should be moved and be allowed to be put to a vote of the people.
7. How do you think the project should be funded? Fund balance / millage vote / bonding our children’s future?
Answers:
Boettcher: If we decide a new jail is our best solution we would then need to define where, what and how much this would actually cost. Then we need to decide how we move forward.
Cooper: While all three have a place and a time to be used, I am not a fan of bonding projects. As a dad of three young children, I do not like the idea of burdening them with the responsibility of paying for things that I did. To me that is the easy way out. I am a big supporter of saving for projects or things that are needed and paying for them with as little borrowing as possible. I realize with everything going on today that this is hard to do, but I have found the hard path is normally the right path.