By Pat Maurer
Correspondent
A lawsuit filed June 28, 2023 by Michelle Ambrozaitis, Clare County Prosecuting Attorney against the Clare County Board of Commissioners has been dismissed in 55th Circuit Court, after 39th Circuit Court Judge, the Honorable Judge Kimberly L. Booher signed the order on December 10th.
The dismissal was “Pursuant to the Order of the Michigan Court of Appeals dated November 14th.
Clare County Attorneys Bonnie Toskey and Sarah Osburne had requested a motion for Summary Disposition in the 55th Circuit Court by assigned Judge Kimberly Booher. Booher denied the mo-tion to dismiss, however on November 14th, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed Booher’s deci-sion for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and she signed the order.
Ambrozaitis filed the lawsuit after several requests for more funds for the PA Office and finally a letter citing the County’s attorney shortage and the alleged inability of the office to maintain state-mandated functions (based on a study by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Association of Michigan.
Clare County Administrator Lori Phelps said she spent the time since the lawsuit was filed by “re-searching every county in Michigan and collecting ‘taxable values and county millages’.”
Our consensus (the administrator’s and the board of commissioners) is that, “We have funded the Clare Prosecutor’s Office higher than comparable counties in the state.”
“What that means,” Phelps said, “Is that ‘We can’t pay more (for that department) than we get in’.”
Ambrozaitis said in an earlier interview, “ Because of the staffing shortage, low pay compared to court appointed attorneys, caseloads that often necessitate working weekends and holidays, and difficulties in meeting the courts’ needs and the state requirements, all complicated by the County Commission being unwilling to provide an adequate staff for the county workload, Clare County Prosecutor has filed a lawsuit against the Clare County Board of Commissioners.
Phelps disagreed with the prosecutor’s claim, saying, “The Clare County Commissioners denied the claim maintaining that the level of support (for the office) was not only adequate, but the Clare County Prosecutor’s office maintained a higher number of employees than any other county com-pared.”
She continued, “It became very clear with the research and data collection, that not only does Clare County fund the Prosecutor’s office at a serviceable level, it is funded 35 percent higher than comparable counties. In addition, Clare County has funded a minimum of 2.5 more full-time em-ployees in the prosecutor’s office than any other comparable county.”
Phelps added that her research was “certainly been an eye-opening experience and a lesson…It is truly unfortunate that it came down to tax payer money defending this meritless case, but it was very much needed. The constant meritless demands for more money has got to stop.”
She explained, “I am not saying that increases are out the door, I am saying that we need to be reasonable. Clare County has a comparable package to what other counties in similar positions, with similar job duties and similar ability to pay, have.”
She said Clare County will be filing a Motion seeking the current Prosecutor, Michelle Ambrozai-tis pay the County’s attorney fees.
