Hello everyone, and welcome to this episode of Ignition Time.
State officials used federal stimulus
money to pay themselves bonuses and actually disguise this as hazard pay.
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Here's a headline of an article on your screen from NBC News.
Michigan County officials used federal stimulus money for bonuses.
Yes, folks, that's what they did.
This money was described, I would say,
disguised as hazard pay, including $25,000
for Jeremy Root, who's the chairman of the Shiawassee County Board of Commissioners.
Yes, folks, this is true.
And this is as shocking as it can possibly get.
Before I go any further, I want you to know that you'll get a link
to this article in the description section below.
So make sure you check it out.
Election officials in a Michigan county
gave themselves a total of $65,000 in bonuses from federal
relief money that was related to the pandemic.
This money was disguised as hazard pay,
including $25,000 for Jeremy Root, like I mentioned earlier.
Now, this county is a mostly rural county between Lansing and Flint,
and this county has a population of 68,000 people.
Now, the commissioners in this county,
all Republicans last week voted to award this money to county employees.
This was federal stimulus money, everyone.
This is money that is essentially taxpayer funded money.
This is money that puts us further into debt.
And what did this county do?
Well, this county handed out money ranging from $25,000
for administrators to $2,000 for cleaning staff.
All workers got at least $1,000.
Now, I want our viewers or subscribers
to know that commissioners in this county are paid $10,000 a year
for their part time job, plus a stipend for meetings.
So besides Root, Commissioners John Plowman and Brandon Marks each received
$10,000 in extra cash and the other four commissioners got
$5,000 each, according to reporting.
Here's a quote from Commissioner Cindy Garber.
She said this,
I think that I earned it.
I work really hard at this job.
I was here in person all through this crazy year. Commissioner Marlene Webster said
she was mortified when money appeared in her bank account.
She said she didn't know she voted to reward herself.
Yes, folks, that is what she said.
I want to know what you think about this.
This is what Webster told WILX-TV.
She said, I'm giving the money back.
That's exactly what she said.
She said, I think one commissioner is giving it to a nonprofit.
So those actions indicate that we truly did not know this money was coming to us.
Here's another headline on your screen from WRAL x10.
She was a county board of commissioners.
Assign themselves has a B?
Yes, folks, they assign themselves.
Has it been county commissioners
insurance, a county receiving bonus checks.
The County Board of Commissioners voted to pay two hundred and fifty county
employees a one time payment using federal stimulus money.
Now, this money I want our viewers and subscribers to know was meant to help
businesses and local governments deal with the effects of the pandemic.
The average payment to each employee was twenty one hundred dollars,
but at least one commissioner received twenty five thousand dollars.
Right now, it's not known by some county employees were paid more than others.
Now they allowed the county to pay
employees and elected officials anywhere from one thousand and twenty five thousand
dollars, according to the Michigan Department of the Treasury.
The Michigan Association of Counties released a statement regarding
the controversial decision, saying it is up to the county's board
of commissioners and each county to decide how to use the money.
Here's a quote from Stephan Curry, the Massey executive director.
We have been consistently advising our
members to focus on making strategic investments in their services
to the public through documents, through regular briefings
for commissioners and administrators, and through webinars put on by such
partners as the state of Michigan and the National Association of Counties.
We are not aware of any other counties considering payments to elected officials,
and Mack has not provided any guidance or advice to do so.
So Commissioner Marlene Webster said when she voted for the bonuses,
she didn't realize it would go to commissioners as well.
She said, and like I mentioned earlier, she said, I'm giving the money back.
I think one commissioner is giving it to a nonprofit.
So those actions indicate that we truly did not know this money was coming to us.
In fact, let's roll the tape and watch
this shocking the shocking reporting from WAAX 10.
Let's roll the tape and watch
economic stimulus payments to our elected officials, to our employees.
It's just a tiny, tiny piece of it.
That was a Shiozaki County commissioner explaining why the board of commissioners
voted to give county employees bonus checks using covid-19 relief dollars,
that includes thousands of dollars for themselves as newstands.
Khan tells us some people feel the money could be better spent elsewhere.
Some Shalosky county residents are unhappy with the board's decision to give
themselves a bonus, but some board members say they've earned it.
They saw some money laying on the table
when they grabbed it by buying the ten dollar bill laying on the sidewalk.
And I reached out to my grandma.
There are so many businesses that struggle
that my business is close to my heart in Nebraska and gone.
So we manage through it.
But
just a lot of people that use that money to.
The Michigan Association of Counties
executive director says the agency isn't advising counties to do this and they
don't know of any other counties considering payments to elected officials.
Still, it is allowed under the American
rescue plan, the money can be used for what's known as premium payments.
That could be as much as 25000 dollars
a person, but most commissioners got five thousand.
I'm giving the money back.
I think another commissioner may be giving it to a nonprofit.
So those actions, I think, indicate that we truly not my name is coming to us.
Commissioner Marlene Webster says when she voted to give bonuses to county employees,
she didn't think that included commissioners.
I want people to know that I think they deserve better governance than this.
And we're going to keep
pushing forward and trying to have a more transparent county government.
It's just unacceptable.
Commissioner Cindy Garber, who made fourteen thousand dollars through
her position last year, also got 5000 dollars that she plans to spend.
She says the point of the American rescue
plan is to put the money back into the economy.
I think that I earned it.
I work really hard at this job.
I was here in person
all through this crazy year.
And I'll tell you, this is a crappy job. It stinks.
You know, everybody's got the answers,
everybody's got the answers, but they don't want to do the work.
And now this isn't all the money
that Shiozaki County got from the American rescue plan.
There's still about 13 and a half million
dollars to be spent recording in Shalosky county finally continues to use 10,
reached out to all of the county commissioners.
As of right now, Garber and Webster are the only ones who responded.
That was interesting, wasn't it?
Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
Now, a message seeking comment from Root
and some of the commissioners was not written.
In fact, Garber said the large payment for root was justified because, I quote,
he bears the burden of all emergency orders.
So, folks, this is an extremely, extremely interesting information.
Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
I want to emphasize again the statement from Stephan Carey, the executive director
of the Michigan Association of Counties, also known as Mac.
We are not aware of any other counties considering payments to elected officials
and many has not provided any guidance or advice to do so.
Decisions, however,
ultimately rest with the county's board of commissioners in each county.
Now, I can tell you that this is not an isolated incident.
In fact, if new stations, if concerned citizens dig deeper,
you are likely to find evidence of this kind of use of funds in different counties
all over the country, including your state, including potentially your county.
Let me know what you think of this reporting.
Why was why was this done?
Why why does someone need to get a twenty
five thousand dollar payment when this was federal stimulus money?
Could that money have gone to individuals
who needed help the most? And more importantly,
how was the money distributed? What was the mechanism
by which some people got twenty five thousand dollars, others got a thousand
dollars? And who voted for this? Did commissioners vote for this measure
knowing that they were sending themselves money which would create an immediate
conflict of interest? This is going to open up a can of worms,
and this is the kind of news you can expect on ignition time.
This is a scoop on ignition time.
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My name is Dr. Nithin.
Showed up with the ignition time.
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Thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you.
I'm looking forward to seeing you in the next episode of Ignition Time.
Take care. Bye.