Dorr Township Assessor Patti Sampley Thursday night asked the Township Board to fix a clerical mistake in her contract that she said resulted in her being underpaid, but she won’t get an answer until next month.
The township a couple of years ago failed on 11 of the 13 new state regulations in an audit, but this year passed on nine. Township Treasurer Jim Martin indicated most of the 1,000 townships in Michigan failed to meet the new regulations, in fact, only about a dozen passed. The new regulations were the result of the state’s desire to have all municipalities doing things in the same way.
Sampley in 2015 was granted permission to put in more hours and receive higher wages for her services because of the extra work load. She had been working for an annual salary of $68,000, but was to get $150,000 over three years for the extra duties in updating the township’s assessing practices.
Then-Clerk Brian Boot said in 2014 that he didn’t like the added expense, but if the assessing wasn’t upgraded, the state would come in and do work on 3,200 parcels at even more added cost.
Supervisor Jeff Miling Thursday night moved to have the contracted amended to accommodate Sampley’s request, but Clerk Debbie Sewers said she was uncomfortable with making the move without an attorney first going over the wording of the new amended pact.
Miling said that would only cost the township more money.
“We’re going to spend a lot of money just to have him (the township attorney) change a lit bit of the wording,” Miling argued.
Sewers said she has spent a lot of time and absorbed a lot of stress over this issue and wants it to be resolved correctly.
Trustee Terri Rios said, “We wouldn’t be having this discussion is everything was all right.”
