Dorr Township Treasurer Jim Martin will be getting some help with work in his office with a deputy, but won’t have the added help of a BS & A software cash receipting program.
Martin told the Township Board Tuesday night he was appointing Diane Martin, the widow of his brother, to the deputy’s post for a couple of days a week. She succeeds Vicki Fifelski, who only filled in at the job when necessary because she also is the office manager.
Diane Martin is retired from her most recent job as deputy treasurer for the City of Kentwood. She is familiar with BS & A software, but won’t have the privilege or running the cash receipting program because it wasn’t approved by the board in a 3-3 deadlock.
Martin acknowledged his sister-in-law will be a big help in the office, but, “The thing I needed most was what we voted down today… We are way behind where we want to be with a working system.”
The treasurer said there is too much paper work in the current system and not enough electronic means to process material at a much faster rate. Checks need to be disbursed and deposited in a more timely manner.
Martin, who started as treasurer about 16 months ago after the resignation of Janice Saunders, said he deliberately avoided hiring a deputy treasurer for a year to save enough money to buy the software this year. He said the current budget for deputy treasurer was cut from $15,000 to $10,000 in order to fund the software, which came in at a cost of just under $5,000.
Clerk Brian Boot, who joined Trustees Patty Senneker and John Tuinstra in voting against the software purchase, said he wasn’t convinced it would solve the problem.
“We’re falling behind in several areas,” he noted.
Tuinstra said, “Maybe hiring the new deputy will take care of things,” and the issue could be revisited later.
But Supervisor Jeff Miling, who joined Martin and Trustee Dan Weber in voting in the affirmative, said, “It’s hard to advance if you don’t have the tools to do the job. I’m having a hard time with this.”
Noting that Martin spends more than 40 hours per week on his job, the supervisor said, “I believe the software will be a time saver.”
Boot replied, “I don’t believe it’s the root cause of the problem.”
He said former Treasurer Janice Saunders dealt with the job adequately without the software program.
“You need some organization skills,” he told Martin.
The treasurer said some of the problems date back to 2013 before he ever came on board.
PHOTO: Jim Martin
