Delta County MI Board Meeting: A Few Changes but Mostly New Board Adjustments (Jan. 17th, 2023)

January 17th, 2023 the Board of Commissioners meeting discussion. I'm not going to rehash the details because I didn't actually get to attend or see it online. This is kind of why I would like them to be put up the videos on a YouTube page like Escanaba does (Go Esky!). I was informed they will do that, and of course I bow in reverence for the most gracious opportunity to engage as an informed citizen in our democracy (Go Democracy!). No seriously, thank you. 🙇 (The board minutes and agenda items are at Delta County Agenda and Minutes Page.)

(First of all, I met a lot of people from all over the world and people have differ perceptions of democracy.  From an philosophical perspective each system has some advantages and disadvantages. I am an advocate of the democratic system because I have read extensively on sociology, business, philosophy and many other things so I know some of the root assumptions that lead to a line of thinking that influence social development. That social development influences our institutions. When institutions are open and share information, people can ask questions, so on and so forth they are more adaptable than those that are not open and withhold information. Increases openness relates to general health and prosperity as long as power and wealth maintain a reasonable level of decentralization through concepts called "opportunity" and being responsible to "the citizens". This is one of the reasons why our democracy has been relatively stable thus far. More information to the public is generally better. Democracy is a process and trust me not everyone in official positions works on the behalf of a healthy democracy. If you don't get those people representative you or taking up an official position, which they often do, then be thankful.)

I did watch the January 3rd 2023 Board of Commissioners Meeting and that was informative. Much of the activity revolved around getting comfortable with some of the roles commissioners will need to play. Once everyone sort of finds a comfy spot in the social order of things the commissioner team will likely move forward to accomplishing more important things! While I recognize some of the personalities, I think by and large they have people's best interest at heart and seem to be willing to work together to accomplish something (Time really answers that question and lots of other questions. However, what I see is people trying to help their community and bringing to the table their perception of how to improve. Everything else will be a negotiation between the members, between the members and other local institutions, and all of them with the community. In the mix of this mess of interactivity is the need to keep the local community and its interests primary to all decision making. I encourage people to judge performance not on political party or kinship but simply on how well you think they are serving the local community. That is good advice here and that is good advice anywhere.). 

What goal (s) they would like to accomplish the board has not yet revealed. Something each one of them are likely starting to think about now that a new board has come to session. For example some may want to keep things the same and some may want to grow the area. Go back to neuroeconomic choices on the prior discussion. Each person comes with something unique, histories, backgrounds, ideas, values and beliefs. All of that will make its way into the decision making process to create a group approach.

You should also read the article below in our beloved Daily Press (The nostalgia of it all! I really want this paper to keep pumping out good stories. It would be interesting if they found a niche of appeal to readers beyond town. Good news with a little branded hallmark appeal for others. In the digital world, newspapers can report local news but be characterized to have a broader appeal online if they find a niche theme. That includes marketing opportunities not only for locals but also those who have an interest in this kind of lifestyle and/or the investments they have here. The paper might want to encourage visitors to stay connected through some type of digital format subscription designed to specifically appeal to the "Outside Esky" crowd that come to vacation, summer homes, camps, fish, hunt, invest, etc... Articles like "Top 5 Fishing Destinations in Esky", "Ships Visiting Esky and Where They Going", "5 Undervalued Commercial Properties for Start Ups", "Where to find the nicest flowers" etc. Unvetted thoughts sorry.)

I digress......

County board makes changes to correct errors

One of the things any governing team wants to create is Social Capital. Social capital is trust in government and civic participation. Consider a study below on social capital and how that social capital predicted socio economic growth and in turn how government capacity and education level impact that performance. Now I would like to make an argument that the term used in the study "education" should be seen as knowledge based. Often they don't use a complex constructs such as "knowledge" in a study because it becomes difficult to measure and the tools to measure it would increase the risks for confounding variables. So education might mean formal education in the study but I think in applied research it would also include experience and/or general knowledge. You have to read in detail to sort of determine how they define it as a term.

Here is the study.....

Place matters: government capacity,community characteristics, and social capital across United States counties