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Ionia County Sheriff Charlie Noll’s request to have Sgt. Jacob Sommer appointed as the county’s Emergency Manager was approved by the Board of Commissioners at their May 16 regular meeting. — DN Photo | Tim McAllister
IONIA — Ionia County Sheriff Charlie Noll successfully petitioned the Ionia County Board of Commissioners to appoint Sgt. Jacob Sommer as the county’s Emergency Manager at the Board’s meeting on May 16.
“Sgt. Sommer has military experience and has been with the office quite a while,” Noll explained. “He is very interested in the position, and it will be an easy flip-flop.”
Noll reported that the former Emergency Manager, Sgt. Jason Pattok, is stepping down from those duties because “he wants to go back to the road.”
Although a sheriff’s deputy is filling the Emergency Manager role, approval from the Board of Commissioners is required, according to state law.
There were no questions or comments from board members, and the request passed 7-0.
The next regular meeting of the county board will take place at 7 p.m. on May 23.
In Other Matters …
During its May 16 meeting, the Ionia County Board of Commissioners also:
• Continued from a previous meeting the discussion of a Civil War-era flag that has been on display in the Ionia County Courthouse for several decades. Matthew VanAcker of the Michigan State Capitol Commission asked the board to consider donating the flag to the state, where it would be taken to Lansing, restored and placed with the rest of their collection of Civil War flags. A reproduction would be created and displayed at the courthouse in its place. Discussion on this item will return at a future meeting after commissioners confer with various military and history groups.
• Approved 7-0 a request from Road Department Managing Director John Niemela to place a renewal of the six year, 1 mill levy for roads and bridges on the Aug. 8 primary ballot. In the first year, the tax will generate approximately $2,000,000, to be split between Ionia County ($1,600,000) and the cites and villages ($400,000).
• Approved 7-0 a request from Road Department Managing Director John Niemela to accept a contract between the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Road Department for a project on Potters Road. The project calls for “asphalt base crushing, shaping and resurfacing” along Potters Road from Hawley Highway east to McKing Drive, including trenching aggregate base, aggregate shoulders, permanent signage and pavement markings. Of the estimated $375,500 cost, $298,742 will come from Federal Highway Administration funds and $76,755 from the Road Department budget.
• Held a closed session from 5:34 p.m. until 6:06 p.m. for “discussion with attorney about labor agreements with dispatch group” but took no action other to adjourn upon returning to the open session.
