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Kalkaska County approves administrator contract, raises salary to $110,000
Summary
The Board of Commissioners approved a three-year employment agreement for County Administrator David Schaeffer and voted 5-2 to raise his salary to $110,000, then unanimously approved the contract with additional benefit tweaks and a one-year extension.
The Kalkaska County Board of Commissioners voted April 16 to increase County Administrator David Schaeffer's salary to $110,000 and to approve a revised three-year employment agreement.
Commissioner Robert Baldwin moved to raise the administrator's pay to $110,000 (a $10,000 increase). That motion passed 5 yeas, 2 nays. On a subsequent motion by Commissioner Truman Bicum, the board approved the administrator employment agreement as presented by roll call vote, 7-0. The contract extends the agreement one year to April 2028, adjusts an identified 90-day termination/compensation window to 120 days in specified circumstances, and aligns the employer retirement contribution for the administrator to 8.53% to match other employees.
Supporters said the changes recognized the administrator's work and the compensation needed to recruit and retain experienced leadership. Opponents, including Commissioner Jeff Sieting and Commissioner David Comai, expressed concern that some chief financial officer duties had not yet been transferred in-house and questioned whether the board had the comparative wage data it typically uses for other employee reviews.
In public comment after the vote, Sheriff Pat Whiteford and County Clerk Deborah Hill criticized the process for the wage increase, saying a peer-county wage comparison and budgeted funding detail were not provided before the raise. The clerk also reiterated the need for additional preparedness items discussed in earlier meetings.
The contract was to be circulated to counsel for finalization as requested in prior sessions; the board recorded that counsel had reviewed the changes and had no objections to the edited provisions.
