ALPENA — Alpena County has decided to not appoint commissioners to several committees and boards that operate outside of county government.

The move is a way to save money and the county is only forgoing representation on boards on which the decision-making process is out of the county’s hands.

At Thursday’s county board meeting, Commissioner John Kozlowski explained that the committees he didn’t assign commissioners to often failed to inform commissioners when the meetings were scheduled or if a date was changed.

He said the committees and boards in question are not statutorily required for the county.

The committees and boards include the Huron Undercover Narcotics Team board, the United Way board, the Veterans Affairs board, the Alpena County Fair board, and the Alpena County Road Commission.

Kozlowski said commissioners can still be kept up to speed on developments with the various boards and their actions without paying someone to attend meetings.

“Why are we going to them when they can come to us?” he said. “We should get updates and not have to go to them to find out what’s going on.”

Many of the boards that won’t have county appointments provide periodic updates each year to the full Board of Commissioners already.

Kozlowski said not having appointments on the committees will save on the amount of per diems paid to commissioners. He said some commissioners don’t fill out per diem sheets each month and go to meetings unpaid because they choose to.

“It won’t be a large savings to the county, but it is still a savings,” Kozlowski said. “It should also allow the commissioners to focus more on county business and the issues that come up at its committee meetings and not some subcommittee meeting.”

Commissioners can be paid $30 each time they attend a meeting that lasts up to three hours. If the meeting exceeds four hours, the commissioners are paid $60, plus a meal.

County Administrator Jesse Osmer said commissioners, staff, and himself will continue to find other ways to reduce costs to help ease the county’s financial turmoil.

“The board continues to find ways to save taxpayer dollars and ensure we are putting ourselves on a path toward good fiscal health,” Osmer said. “The changes made by the chairman this year will result in members being able to dedicate more time toward the various committees that depend on their participation, while also promoting efficiency.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.