URGENT!

If the job climate and business creation incentive wasn’t already threatened enough by the Governor and the Mark Schauer led Michigan Legislature, the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners may take up a resolution that will make it harder to do business in Calhoun County than most other places in Michigan.

The Resolution reads:

“Resolve, that the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners amend County Policy No. 405 – Purchasing as presented, decreasing the amount on all construction projects to $50,000 from $250,000 under Section IV.B.1 – Employment of local labor and D.1 –Payment of Prevailing Wage.”

What this means is that for any project paid for by Calhoun County, we would have to pay not the market rate for the labor, but a higher, prevailing wage. The last time I checked, I wasn’t aware that the County was so awash in money that we could afford to pay more than we had to to get a project completed.

But what is worse is that this Resolution would require that all contractors doing business worth over $50,000 for Calhoun County must “enter into a project labor agreement with the Southwest Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, and its affiliated unions…”

Questions that pop in my mind:

Who are the supporters of this Resolution most interested in, the taxpayers of Calhoun County or the providers of their union campaign support?

What of the local contractors who have not signed such agreements with the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions? They would not be eligible to do this work. Local contractors would be passed over in support of other AFL-CIO associated contractors.

I ask you to please contact your County Commissioners and ask them not to take this Resolution up and if it is brought up to not support it. Contact them RIGHT NOW! Here is how you can contact them:

Kate Segal (Chair) katesegal@hotmail.com
Terris Todd ttodd@battle-creek.k12.mi.us
Betty Arnquist barnquist@aol.com
Mike Rae raelawoffices@yahoo.com
Greg Moore gmoore247@comcast.com
Jase Bolger jase@iserv.net
Eusebio Solis esj_law@hotmail.com