Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By PAMELA JANSSON
Bessemer — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners approved on May 22 the hiring of a caseworker to help process indigent residents in need of services in this county.
County administrator Juliane Giackino said that Joel Massie, the local administrator for the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, will hire the new employee.
The expected terms for the new hiree will be 20 hours per week at $30 per hour, said Giackino.
Giackino told commissioners that the person hired will pose no cost to the county because he or she will not be a county employee and will not use county office space or receive county benefits.
“It’s in his defense budget, and the state pays for it,” said Giackino regarding associated hiring costs for Massie, who was a former probate judge for the county.
According to the MIDC website, the commission was “created as a result of efforts to improve legal representation for indigent criminal defendants. An advisory commission was set up in 2011, followed by the MIDC in 2013.
Indigent is defined simply as “poor” or “needy.”
The website further states, “The Michigan Indigent Defense Commission shall develop and oversee the implementation, enforcement and modification of minimum standards, rules and procedures to ensure that indigent criminal defense services providing effective assistance of counsel are delivered to all indigent adults in this state consistent with standards of the U.S. Constitution, the state constitution of 1963 and with the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission Act.”
Giackino told The Globe on May 24 that such a position never before existed in this region.
“I don’t know why it’s occurring now,” she said. “I think it’s because there are so many indigent people needing services.”
Giackino said that Massie does not have time, on his own, to process the number of people needing services.
“In our county,” she said, “we have a lot of indigent people.”
She said that Massie will fund the new position with state funds sent to his MIDC office.
Board Chairman James Lorenson said he appreciated the transparency in relation to the board being informed.
In other news, commissioners learned from county clerk Ramona Collins that the current county fixed millage allocation will expire at the end of the year.
She said the county must create a Tax Limitation Advisory Committee to draft a proposal regarding placement of the matter on the November general election ballot.
In a May 16 related letter to the board, Collins said the committee is comprised of the county treasurer, finance chairman, superintendent of the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District, a probate judge, a township supervisor and a board appointment who is “not officially connected with or employed by any local or county unit.”
Lorenson said he will ask members of the Gogebic County chapter of the Michigan Townships Association to recommend a member.
As part of her report, Collins also provided the following 2021-2024 year county millage of 6.68 mills, with separate, smaller millage amounts for each of the county’s six townships, not to exceed a grand total of 9 mills.
Kathy Jo Koval, the county’s equalization director, also reported that the 2024 tax rate request is 6.6419 mills. She said the millage was reduced by the Headlee Rollback.
Commissioners voted to receive and file the information.
Board members also:
—Voted to receive and file from county treasurer Lisa Hewitt the 2023 delinquent tax settlement summary. The total settlement amount was $1,827,611.85, which Hewitt said was an increase of $64,691.54 from 2022.
—Approved the receipt of $13,019 in facility development tax payments from the state of Michigan, as well as the forwarding of one-half that amount, or $6,509.50, to NorthCare Network, which provides substance abuse support in this region.
All votes were unanimous with Joseph Bonovetz and George Peterson absent.
During the public comment session, Tom Niksich of Ironwood Township asked the board to reconsider its decision to not allow the county fair to be held at the fairgrounds this year. Commissioners voted earlier this year to approve the Pat O’Donnell Civic center as an alternate site for the 2024 fair due to expected construction at the fairgrounds after a 2023 fire.
The board’s next regular meeting will be on June 12 at 5 p.m. in the Gogebic County Courthouse.
