Five candidates applied for the job of Montcalm County Register of Deeds this month, including the county’s own chief deputy Register of Deeds, who applied three days after her boss rescinded her resignation.
Lori Wilson-Mazzola, who has been the Register of Deeds since 1996, announced in late 2022 that she would be resigning with two years remaining on her elected term, with her final day scheduled for Feb. 10. However, after the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 23 discussed the possibility of combining the Register of Deeds Office with the Clerk’s Office, Wilson sent out an email that same night rescinding her resignation and saying she would remain in office until the end of her term, which is Dec. 31, 2024.
In an effort to give constituents a more convenient option for participating in their county government, the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners will begin offering one evening meeting per month.
County board meetings have been held in the afternoons on second and fourth Mondays in recent years. Commissioners tried moving meetings to 6 p.m. on fourth Mondays in 2019 but attendance didn’t noticeably increase, so they reverted to afternoon meetings in 2021.
The Montcalm County Board of Commissioners this week took the first step toward drafting a blight ordinance template for local townships to consider using.
Commissioners voted 7-0 on Monday to direct Controller-Administrator Brenda Taeter to ask the county’s attorney how much it would cost to draft a blight ordinance template which could be adopted by individual townships, thus providing more consistency for blight enforcement by the county sheriff, prosecutor and judge.
The Montcalm County Register of Deeds abruptly rescinded her resignation after the Board of Commissioners voted to look into combining her office with the Clerk’s Office.
Lori Wilson-Mazzola, who has been the Register of Deeds since 1996, announced earlier this month that she would be resigning with two years remaining on her elected term, with her final day scheduled for Feb. 10. The Register of Deeds position has already been advertised by the county in the Daily News and on the Michigan Association of Counties website.
The Central Michigan Local Planning Body, a community partnership whose mission is to end local homelessness, will be participating in the national Point-in-Time (PIT) Count of the homeless population on Wednesday.
The annual survey will include a count of the sheltered and unsheltered homeless population within the counties of Montcalm, Ionia, Gratiot, and Isabella counties. We ask that the public please assist us with the unsheltered homeless count by sharing the PIT Survey accessibility information with anyone who may be living in a place not meant for human habitation such as: a car, a park, a camper or tent, an abandoned building, etc.
The Montcalm County Planning Commission met on Tuesday to organize for the new year with new leaders at the helm, and an ongoing search for someone to help update the county’s general plan.
Chuck Hill, who works for EightCAP Inc., was elected the new chairman by his colleagues on Tuesday — succeeding S. Michael Scott, the longtime chairman who retired last year. Lakeview Village Manager/Police Chief Darin Dood was elected vice chairman at his first meeting and Daniel Brant, who works for the Montcalm Area Intermediate School District, was elected secretary.
Ever since Autumn Pumford resigned, the last few months have been tumultuous ones for Montcalm County Animal Control.
Pumford resigned as Animal Control officer last October after Controller-Administrator Brenda Taeter recommended that Pumford be promoted to director of Animal Control, but then rescinded that recommendation due to “a personnel issue.”
A study is now underway for a major transmission line infrastructure project which will run through multiple local counties — from Montcalm County’s Carson City south past Ionia County’s Portland and into Eaton County’s Grand Ledge, as well as east into the western portion of Clinton County.
Montcalm County Controller-Administrator Brenda Taeter updated the Board of Commissioners last Tuesday about a Dec. 14 letter she received from ITC Holdings Corp. in Novi — the nation’s largest independent electricity transmission company — and its subsidiary, Michigan Electric Transmission Co. LLC (METC), announcing a study of the project.
