The Orion Township Board voted last week to hire Lori Exel on a part-time basis as Clerk/Typist ? Voter Registration.
The decision came after some discussion on both the need and timing of the new employee.
Clerk Jill Bastian said filling the position was a huge priority given the possibility of four elections in 2008, adding that her staff has been shorthanded for seven months.
Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk said the timing of the hire was not ideal.
‘Why should we give the clerk’s office preferential treatment at a time when we’re trying to protect our budgets?? Dywasuk said, noting that his preference would be to instead move someone from another department to fill the position. ‘Sometimes we have to be a little more flexible.?
‘My understanding is that the position was posted inside this township and no one applied for the job,? Treasurer Alice Young replied, adding that the position is built into the budget. ‘To consider not making (the clerk’s) staff full for next year, a huge election year, is not reasonable.?
Bastian noted that moving an employee might not be as easy as it sounds.
‘My concern is that are you going to tell a union employee that they are going to get reclassified to work temporarily or part-time in the clerk’s office,? she said.
The board voted 4-2 to hire Exel.
‘She’s trying to compromise here,? Trustee Neal Porter said. ‘She’s replacing a full-time employee with a part-time employee. I think the clerk is trying to do her job and trying to keep the costs down.?
Dywasuk and Trustee John Garlicki voted against the hire.
‘Every time the clerk wants something, she gets it,? Dywasuk said.
Bastian said she waited as long as she could to fill the position.
‘I don’t come to this board except with what our needs are, when we need them,? she said. ‘I’m trying to serve the township in the only way that I know, and that is to do the best job that we can do.?
The board directed the clerk and township personnel attorney to work with the clerical union to finalize the working arrangement for Exel.