Sumpter raises financial director salary from $85,200 to $94,500

On a 6-1 vote the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees raised the annual salary of Financial Director Scott Holtz from $85,200 to $94,500 as of the beginning of his new contract on April 1. This was at the board’s regular meeting on March 26.
Trustee Peggy Morgan cast the only no vote, saying she thinks he should have a raise, but, “That’s a bit much of a raise.”
Treasurer Bart Patterson said they had given 30-40 hours of discussion to his pay and this is believed to be fairer, looking at what other communities pay for that position.
“Call it employee retention,” said Trustee Tim Rush. “Headhunters are out and around.” He also noted Holtz had been very “loyal.”
Trustee Morgan said Holtz was rehired by the board in January 2022 at $80,000 and then immediately got the 4% raise that other employees got on April 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
She said in 2023 his salary was $85,200 plus the 4% and now it’s $94,500. She asked if the 4% raise was included in this figure and she was told it was.
At the Jan. 11, 2022 regular meeting of the Sumpter board, Holtz was rehired and was scheduled to begin work the next day. The board directed township attorney Rob Young to draw up a one-year contract.
Trustee Morgan also voted against the motion to rehire Holtz at that time. Holtz had resigned with one week’s notice in April 2019 to take a job with Lenawee County at an office a few blocks from his home in Adrian.
At the time of his resignation, Trustee Morgan, who was former treasurer, said she was so happy Holtz was leaving. She said he messed up her retirement benefits and he kept postponing things that needed to be done.
In 2022, Holtz replaced Michelle Cole, who resigned Nov. 29, 2021 with one week’s notice. When he first was hired on Oct. 16, 2017 he replaced the retiring Jim Glahn, CPA.
The hiring was not on the Jan. 11, 2022 agenda and was discussed at the workshop and then added to the agenda at the regular meeting that followed.
Clerk Esther Hurst said Holtz was no longer at his previous job and maybe he could be financial director for Sumpter.
Trustee Morgan was surprised because this had never been discussed publicly. Then she said she realizes everyone else on the board knew, but they didn’t tell her.
She suggested having Plante Moran handle that position and Clerk Hurst said she would prefer having someone inside the office being finance director.
Trustee Matt Oddy said they discussed it at the committee level and raised the salary to attract a candidate.
In other business at the one-hour-and-23-minute combined workshop and regular meeting on March 26, the board:
• Approved the 2024-25 operating budget plan presented by Holtz during the March 12 public hearing. Also approved were the Quarter 4 budget amendments for fiscal year 2023-24, with a slight amendment;
• Approved the planning commission recommendation for special exception use at 51356 Willis Rd. for used auto sales and reconditioned batteries;
• Approved, with regrets, the resignation of fire fighter Allison Reed, effective March 31;
• Approved Burnham & Flower MTPP Liability-Related Insurance Coverage effective April 1 at an annual cost of $152,498, including terrorism and cyber coverage;
• Approved the Constellation Energy 24-month renewal rate of $3.77/dth effective in April;
• Approved hiring a temporary, part-time employee for the clerk’s office for up to 29 hours a week through November, with the acknowledgement of the AFSCME union. In November, the board could decide to make it a full-time position, which Clerk Hurst said she would like;
• Heard Township Manager Anthony Burdick say he will bring a request for posting of a DPW position to the April 9 board meeting. He said they have a new temporary who is working out well, but one worker is out on long-term medical and one just went out for a shoulder injury and that would take three to four months if surgery is required;
• Reaffirmed the bids for demolition of township-owned property at 24995 Sumpter Rd. and committed to the March 2022 motion for demolition of the blight problem, as recommended by Burdick;
• Heard Burdick say they have had problems with the Parks and Recreation Committee and he will keep the board posted on a re-envisioning of community events. He said he’d like to have two events this year, “to get us off the stall-off”;
• Witnessed Treasurer Patterson pin a veteran’s pin on Burdick’s lapel, since it didn’t get pinned on during the recent Vietnam Veterans’ Commemoration at Belleville High School. He said the township manager served in the armed forces and army for some years and the pin should be formally pinned on;
• Heard Burdick say the township got an independent audit in 2021, completed in 2022, of Carleton Farms landfill and the landfill owes the township some feedback by April 1;
• Heard Clerk Hurst say Deputy Clerk Karen Armatis won’t be coming back to work full time until she can walk, following her foot injury;
• Learned residents are complaining about heavy pixillation on the Comcast cablecast, primarily the bulletins. Burdick said adjustments are being made and they don’t know if it’s being sent out that way or is a Comcast issue; and
• Heard Trustee Matthew Oddy report from the planning commission that there is some concern about the proposed self-serve car wash at Bemis and Sumpter roads. He said the water and sewer department questions if that amount of water can be taken up by the pressurized system and whether the system handle that type of flow.