Murphy elected to chairman post
Board of Commissioners have new leadership in Alma Public Schools paraprofessional
The Gratiot County Board of Commissioners has new leadership.
District 1 Commissioner Chuck Murphy was elected chairman during the board’s annual organizational meeting earlier this month.
He defeated District 5 Commissioner George Bailey, who had held the post for the past five years, by a 3-2 vote.
In addition to voting for himself, Murphy also received support from District 2 Commissioner Jan Bunting and new District 4 Commissioner John Lemmermann.
District 3 Commissioner Sam Smith and Bailey cast the dissenting votes.
Murphy, a paraprofessional for Alma Public Schools and chairman of the county’s Republican Party, just completed his first two-year term on the board.
Bailey, who previously served 22 years on the Ithaca City Council, including 12 years as mayor, had been board chairman for the past five years.
Commissioners also elected Bunting, who is beginning her 11th term and 21st year on the board, as finance committee chairperson, and Lemmermann, who defeated incumbent Democrat Tim Lambrecht in the November general election as both board and finance committee vice chairman.
The votes for each of those positions was 3-2, with Murphy, Bunting and Lemmermann voting in favor and Bailey and Smith against.
With the defeat of Lambrecht, who was the previous finance committee chairman and had served a total of 10 years as commissioner during two separate stints, the board is now comprised entirely of Republicans.
The organizational meeting was held remotely, however, Murphy, Bunting and Lemmermann attended in-person at the com
mission chambers at the county courthouse in Ithaca, while Bailey and Smith joined via Zoom.
The board did vote to continue holding its meetings during 2021 at 4:30 p.m. the first and third Tuesday of each month.
Currently residents can participate via Zoom or view meetings later on the commissioner’s Youtube channel.