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Interviews with news makers and discussion of topics important to Southwest Michigan. Subscribe to the podcast through Apple itunes and Google. Segments of interview are heard in WestSouthwest Brief during Morning Edition and All Things Considered

WSW: County Commission Experience, Primaries And Politics

WMUK

There will be at least three new members on the Kalamazoo County Commission after the November election. Two years ago six incumbents decided not to run for another term. 

There are three contested primaries for Kalamazoo County board on the August ballot. WMUK’s Local Government and Education reporter Sehvilla Mann joined Gordon Evans to preview the primary election for the county board.

Mann says the biggest issue facing the next county board will be finding a new county administrator. That’s the same issue that has been at the forefront for most of the current board’s two year term. After Peter Battani resigned in the fall of 2014, the board began looking for a new administrator. After two finalists pulled out from an initial search, the board started the process again, and hired Terrence Neuzil from Iowa.

But Neuzil was put on leave after only a few months on the job during an investigation into allegations of inappropriate comments to staff. Neuzil resigned before the findings of the investigation were released. Deputy Administrator John Faul is currently serving as interim administrator.

Mann says there are also issues of buildings and space for several county departments. The Michigan Avenue Courthouse needs improvements, and the county’s Health Department and Animal Services need more space.

Two of the three commissioners not running for the board again are seeking other county offices. Board chairman John Taylor is running for County Clerk, while Commissioner Jeff Heppler is running for Sheriff. Heppler’s decision has created a three-way Republican primary in the county’s sixth district. Commissioner Larry Provancher has decided not to seek another term in the 10th district.

Former administrator Peter Battani, who also served as a county commissioner in the 2000’s told Sehvilla Mann that experience is important for a board:

“I think the popular thinking, popular notion is the longer you’re there the less effective you are and that’s exactly the opposite is true, the longer you’re there the more effective, more you know, more you know about self, your other commissioners, your – about the issues.”

The other two primaries are challenges to incumbent commissioners. Democrat Mike Seals faces a challenge in the fourth district from former Commissioner Frank Thompson. Thompson told Mann:

“I think with my knowledge and vast experiences, I would do a good job, I won’t say any better than Mike or the other candidates but I’ve got all my records that will back up my statement.”

Seals says it’s true that Franklin has experience as a commissioner, but he says it may not help him be an effective member of the board now:

“But a lot has changed since he left, not as easy as it used to be, a lot easier when we had 17 than 11, that’s because we’ve got 11 different opinions but having difficulty meeting in middle but when we had 17 seemed like we could get through stuff”

Republican Dale Shugars also faces a primary challenge from Brian Kovacik. While it’s his first term on the county commission, Shugars has served on the Portage City Council and in the state House and Senate. He told Sehvilla Mann:

“I was kind of drafted, I thought I was done running for office and there was a large turnover of the 11 commissioners, there were six that were leaving and so there was going to be six new individuals so they felt with some experience I had that it would be helpful and beneficial so they convinced me to run and I did and I think it was a good thing”

Mann also tried to contact Kovacik, Shugars’ opponent in the primary, but he did not respond to requests for an interview. And she says Shugars doesn’t “seem to be sweating this race too much.”

Former county Administrator and Commissioner Peter Battani says the primary challenges to two incumbent commissioners are a sign of a contentious political climate.

“Frankly that’s not a good sign. It means that – and I think you see it on both sides, you see it on the local level and you see it at the national level, right? I mean you have the parties sort of, between the Republican Party and Democratic party you have the right pulling to the right and on the Democratic side the left pulling to the left, and there’s lot of anger fueled on both sides because - they want, everyone wants their way, everybody’s the good guy and the other person’s always the bad guy and if you compromise, the point of view is if you compromise you’re corrupt. And no, that’s the way the American system was set up. The system functions on compromise.”

All 11 seats on the county board are up for election this year. Republicans have fielded candidates in 10 of the 11 districts, the one exception being the fourth, where Michael Seals and Frank Thompson are facing off in a Democratic primary. Two of the county districts don’t have a Democratic candidate. In the 6th District there are three Republicans running for the seat currently held by Jeff Heppler, but no Democrat on the ballot. In the eighth district John Gisler is running unopposed for another term on the county board. There is at least one third party candidate for county commission, and more could be announced before the fall.

Gordon Evans became WMUK's Content Director in 2019 after more than 20 years as an anchor, host and reporter. A 1990 graduate of Michigan State, he began work at WMUK in 1996.
Sehvilla Mann joined WMUK’s news team in 2014 as a reporter on the local government and education beats. She covered those topics and more in eight years of reporting for the Station, before becoming news director in 2022.
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