Week in Review: The Mental Elite
“Our County with regards to mental health is number one”
Week in Review
County Commissioners, Tuesday, February 25
ISD Superintendent Update
Interim ISD Superintendent Bruce North described what it is the ISD does here (and for how much).
On confusion about the ISD, which is a different entity from public schools and yet still receives public funding: “A lot of times people are confused as to what an ISD is, what it does, and what it provides. . . [ISD]s are not a school district. . . They don’t grant students credit; they don’t graduate students.”
On the ISD’s activities: “The ISD has three branches: there’s general education; there’s special education; and there’s vocational education. And of those three, the total budget at the ISD is $28.5 million, roughly. Most of that—over half—is special education.” On the special education budget: “$15 million—$5.6 million comes from a millage in the county.” (For comparison, the County’s entire annual budget is $15.7 million.)
On the general bloat: “ISD has 142 employees. . . They provide a lot of professional development among the [local schools].”
On the aims of education in general: “General education. . . is primarily in the areas of literacy and school mental health.”
We did it!: “Our County with regards to mental health is number one in the state in sessions held with students.”1
On the ISD as a publicly-funded social work institution glommed on to the public schools: “The ISD is here to help. . . it would be way too expensive for all the schools to hire their own social workers.”
Sheriff Update
Sheriff Scott Hodshire—Coughing and unmasked? At this dangerous time? What would JJ say?—told the Commissioners about his new dog. He also spoke about the jail:
Scoring points: “We can build water parks in Ann Arbor, but we can’t fund a jail for criminals.”2
A reversal: “LifeWays is [at the jail], and I’m going to brag on them a little bit: they’re doing a great job for us. . . LifeWays is a great partner to have.”3 With all the “bragging on” LifeWays they’ve done in recent weeks, one begins to suspect that our own Mental Elite has undertaken a campaign on their behalf—
Ambulance Service Update
Commissioner Benzing moved to have the Board sign a letter terminating the County’s contract with the Hudson Area Ambulance Service. A lengthy debate ensued.
Benzing, reading the letter: “Termination will be effective 90 days from the date this notice is delivered and signed for by you.” On the budgetary excess that would result from the contract’s termination: “Next year we could reduce the millage amount.”
Commissioner Wiley, wanting to discuss with the Hudson City Council: “I’m sure the City Council would not be happy with losing $150,000.”
Commissioner Leininger, opposed: “We’re stepping into something that I believe is truly not our decision to be involved in. This is a dispute between Reading Emergency Unit and Hudson.”
Benzing, in response to Leininger: “The ambulance providers asked us to place the [ambulance funding millage] before the voters to collect that money, and the voters have said, ‘we want to have that service.’ So that is the reason for our involvement. And because of that involvement, we have to have a contract to pass that money along.”
Commissioner Ingles, in response to Leininger: “We have a letter—and I don’t know if anyone from the public has seen or heard this letter—that we have been sent in Hudson Area Ambulance letterhead, dated January 22nd, 2025 written to Reading Emergency. . . The letter states: ‘It is the intent of this letter to inform you that Hudson Area Ambulance is terminating its current intercept mutual aid agreement with your service area as of midnight, February 9th, 2025.’” The letter proceeds to lay out a new fee schedule for a per-call basis. Ingles: “Hudson began this process.”
Leininger, flushed with rage: “The Hudson Emergency Unit is asking for the same agreement with [Reading Emergency Unit that it has with Wright-Waldon and others]. The citizens of those two townships that have paid their taxes and will continue to pay their taxes. . . they anticipate those funds going back to Hudson for that service, so I will not be supporting the resolution to sign this letter.”
Commissioner Collins: “The biggest complaint I heard about. . . was them getting dispatched and not getting paid, and that was happening way too many times, and that they were losing money for sending an ambulance into our County. And I don’t think. . . it’s right that we terminate them.”
Leininger motioned to table the issue until the next meeting; second by Collins. That motion passed, with Wiley, Collins, and Leininger in favor; Benzing and Ingles, who appeared to want to sign the letter ending the contract effective immediately, opposed.
Earned Sick Time Act Adjustments
Elected and appointed department heads will be required to attend a mandatory Earned Sick Time Act training session on March 5th at 10 AM. Leininger opposed.
Benzing: “Under ESTA, we have to track [the hours of salaried employees].”
Miscellaneous
Wiley: “There’s quite a few experts on social media that know how to take care of the roads.”
Benzing, embittered: “And everything else about the County government!”
Wiley: “LifeWays did close on the property on the corner of Industrial [and Beck].”
External Links
“Take precautions. Two staunch conservatives right here telling you that it’s necessary at times to mask up. It’s important to mask up to protect you and those around you and the most vulnerable.” JJ Hodshire, back for more.
“I can’t do anything about it right now.” Hillsdale County Sheriff Scott Hodshire.4
“We’re not trying to create a tourist destination. We’re trying to create a good place for people to live, to work, to worship, to raise families, to educate themselves and their children.” Joshua Paladino.
“[The state of Michigan] need to fully fund things they require of municipalities.” Paladino on Dial-A-Ride rate hikes.
“It seems that every step of the way, those running the city government are intent upon securing these monies in spite of every protest from the street’s residents.” Przemyslaw Grzesiak.
“There still may be unexpected challenges to come.” CL Real Estate’s Nick Fox.
“The Hillsdale Municipal Airport received more than $147,000 for similar repairs and the purchase of a John Deere 5095M utility tractor for snow removal.” WKHM.
“It is the Trump administration’s America First agenda that can restore some balance to the European continent.” Dominick Sansone.
“We are also receiving support for this concert from local business Hillsdale Renaissance, owned by Hillsdale grad Luke Robson ’17.” Mary Wolfram on Greg Whalen’s Feb. 28 concert at the Dawn.
“Joe Cella is a splendid man, citizen, husband, father, and Republican. He will be a faithful and effective state chairman.” Larry Arnn.
“The vision of legal marijuana that advocates promised has proved to be a dangerous illusion.” City Journal.
“The founders of America were explicitly anti-Catholic.” Ben Crenshaw.
“Germany will become the first country to be ruled by a former BlackRock official.” UnHerd.
“The bottom line is that, for 20 years or more, including the months prior to the election, voter perception was more reflective of reality than the incumbent statistics.” Politico.
“Under no circumstances should the federal government promote medical practices that result in the intentional or negligent destruction of human life at any stage of development.” Carter Snead and Yuval Levin.5
Fauxglin is struggling to imagine a more dubious metric.
Classic Hillsdale rhetoric: We’re all in this together against the State! Those who say this, naturally, tend to be cozy enough with the State.
When did people—when did men—start speaking this way? Like the nounification of the word “ask,” “brag on” is the podium-lingo of the interdepartmental meeting, where waves ought not to be made: what you have to say doesn’t matter, those to whom you speak don’t matter, you don’t matter; so, as long as the meeting will have taken place and the money will have continued to flow to the various departments, the way you will have spoken is best not remembered. [“Podium-lingo”? Dude, have some self-awareness. The AI can’t come soon enough!]
Articles at the Daily News now feature “AI-assisted” summaries. (What would our little city do without Gannett?) Poor Fauxglin is moping around town worrying that his unique ability to provide incisive quotations can no longer provide value to the great hordes of Review readers. If you see him, buy him a drink so he can drown his sorrows!
The American Mind has published a worthwhile podcast on the problems of IVF. And Jude Russo has a good report on the current state of affairs for social conservatives within the Republican Party.
Curious to know how many email addresses you've gained. I also wonder about the frequent use of summary initials of the nature, ABC. Like ISD and ESTA. Not everyone will have instant recall. Finally, on this "Comment" site, once you're there you can't return to the Review itself. You can't scroll back up to it. If you're commenting and want to go back and check a fact you first have to copy what you've written to that point so you can re-paste. Otherwise it's gone. Finally, finally, I'm not Catholic, but I wonder about the Ben Crenshaw quote's value. It might have some or not relative to your cause. I don't know. A first-time reader might wonder about it.