Retired MSP Soldier Appointed Montcalm County District 2 Commissioner

STANTON – Of the four candidates who were interviewed for the Montcalm County District 2 commissioner seat on Monday, the one chosen was the only one not present.

The Montcalm County Committee of the Whole voted 5-3 to recommend that the board appoint Scott Painter to fill the seat vacated by Commissioner Brendan Mahar. Mahar and Commissioners Ron Baker, Mike Beach, Chris Johnston and Jeremy Miller voted “yes” while Patrick Q. Carr, Phil Kohn and Adam Petersen voted “no”.

The motion was passed 9-0 at the full county board meeting later Monday afternoon. The painter will begin his new duties as of September 1.

Commissioner Brandon Stowell was absent from interviews with District 2 commissioners. on budget and board meetings later Monday afternoon).

The Commissioner’s absences – including Stowell’s absence – were a topic in Monday’s talks, and were also a concern among some about whether to appoint Painter, who works 40 hours and 40 hours of security office for the Ionia County Courthouse. Painter’s job was the reason he wasn’t physically present for Monday’s interviews as he couldn’t get away from work. He was interviewed via Zoom audio.

Painter’s family moved from Illinois to Montcalm County when he was in his second grade. He graduated from Lakeview High School and served in the US Army from 1991 to 1994. He worked for the Michigan State Police Lakeview Post from 1995 to last July, retiring as a sergeant.

Painter described himself as a “conservative Republican”.

“Unfortunately, or fortunately, for most of my career as a state soldier, I have been shielded from the political arena,” he said. “I believe the voters in the region are very similar to who I am. The riding of Montcalm is very pro-police, for example.

Painter said his goals as commissioner would be “to work as a team, to make the county run better and to make improvements.” Serve the community even more than I have ever done. To make sure that I represent the people I represent on the board of directors and to make their voices heard.

“Sometimes someone won’t like what you’re doing, and that’s part of the process,” he added. “I understand that I’m not going to make everyone happy, I have to do what’s best for the group as a whole.”

The other three candidates interviewed – and physically present on Monday – were

• Leslie “Les” Lillie, a graduate of Greenville High School. He worked as a truck driver for the Montcalm County Roads Commission from 2003 to 2014. He was a director on the Eureka Township Council from 2000 to 2004, when he became Township Supervisor for four years. He also sat on the Township Planning Commission and worked as an independent contractor responsible for enforcing the City of Greenville code from 2010 to March. He is a self-employed hobbyist farmer in Eureka Township.

• Rodney “Rod” Roy, graduate of Greenville High School. He served in the US Army from 1965 to 1967 and worked as a tooling engineer for Nicholas Plastics in Allendale from 1990 to 2006 and as an inspector for Mersen in Greenville from 2007 to 2012. Roy was an administrator and then supervisor of the Eureka. Township Council from 1986 to 2020. He also sat on the Township Planning Commission.

• William “Mark” Wilkin, graduate of Springfield High School in Ohio. Wilkin worked as a supervisor for Printco in Greenville from 1999 to 2004 and as a service engineer for Goss International from 2004 to 2006. He also worked as a zoning administrator for the Township of Eureka from 2012 to 2020, where Roy was his supervisor. .

COMMISSIONER’S DISCUSSION

Commissioners agreed the four candidates would likely do a good job, but they were divided over who to appoint.

Carr was in favor of Wilkin’s nomination, noting that Wilkin had previously run as a Democrat against Mahar, a Republican, for the District 2 seat in 2018.

“I’m going to vote for Mark Wilkin because of the fact that he showed up last time,” Carr said. “It’s something that has been on his radar for quite some time. I’m just looking for something to break the bond between the four and that’s where I landed.

Beach, Mahar and Miller have all expressed their support for Painter, with Mahar noting that Painter is a Republican, which Mahar says will best represent District 2.

Kohn and Petersen both spoke on behalf of Lillie.

“I will congratulate Les,” Kohn said. “He applied the code. It sounds like a terrible job to have. And he wants to be a commissioner after going through it all. He still wants to participate in government after being called by every name in the book. “

Johnston said he believes Roy got the highest score in the interviews. Johnston also expressed concern about Painter’s work and whether it would prevent him from attending county board meetings.

“In my mind, the key has to be attendance,” Carr agreed. “We had a terrible crowd this year.

Carr noted that the county’s collective bargaining committee was not even able to achieve quorum last week due to the absence of several commissioners.

“We have to have presences,” Carr said. “We have had absences from commissioners, we have had absences from committees, we need to have someone who is committed to attending meetings. “

Carr gestured to Stowell’s empty chair saying this.

Baker was neutral on the matter and declined to specify his support for any of the four candidates.