Ontonagon names permanent clerk

ONTONAGON — The village of Ontonagon has a permanent clerk. At its recent meeting, the council selected Kori Weisinger to return as village clerk. Weisinger was hired as clerk in May 2018, but in October 2020 left the position. When the village dismissed village manager Joe Erickson, Weisinger was hired as acting clerk.

The council has praised Weisinger for her work in tracing incomplete grants and working on re-instating them. The council interviewed three of five applicants for the post and selected Weisinger.

Auditor Joe Verlin and the council discussed village finances and in particular the three funds that are in deficit — Marina, Local Street and General.

Village manager William DuPont said the Marina Fund deficit resulted when a grant for dredging the river was not followed up on. He said the village is working with the state and other entities to complete the grant and that is vital to resolving the issue. 

DuPont said the Local Street Fund deficit will be resolved, but the General Fund budget is still an issue because of a deficit to the Michigan Employee Retirement Service. 

“The MERS issue affects all the other funds,” DuPont said. He added when the General Fund is in deficit it leaves no funds to use for other needs such as parks.

The manager said the village already has completed a deficit elimination plan for the Marina and Local Streets funds, as required by the state, and is now working on the debt reduction plan for the General Fund. In conjunction with that, the village council will revisit the previously approved budget. According to a letter from the state Department of the Treasury, those plans must be done or the state will withhold payments.

Concerning the financial situation, DuPont said, “We are going in the right direction, but we are not out of the woods yet.”

In other matters, the council heard the village dump area for leaves and small brush is still closed to the public.

—Jan Tucker