KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners is weighing its options on whether to also suspend its relationship with Southwest Michigan First.
That development follows Monday night’s decision by the Kalamazoo City Commissioners to place a pause on their Council of 100 membership with the economic development organization.
The decision was made by the City Commission after it was confirmed that Former Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield had been hired for its CEO position. That announcement drew backlash from some Commissioners, including Erin Knott, who said that Lee’s stances on LGBTQ rights were not in line with the values of the city.
Earlier on Tuesday, Southwest Michigan First released a statement on the matter, saying they had updated their own policies to “more clearly articulate” their stances on prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Although the City Commission is a separate entity than the County Board of Commissioners, the County Board began similar discussions during a virtual meeting Tuesday night.
Former Michigan Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield. (Photo courtesy of Michigan House GOP).
“We allocate each year $75,000 to Southwest Michigan First in our budget,” Board Chair Tracy Hall said. “We have made a commitment not to rush things through. I would like us to consider, in two weeks, suspending our contribution for 2021 to Southwest Michigan First.”
Vice Chair Tami Rey asked for further clarification on what the implications of a suspension with Southwest Michigan First would be. County Administrator Tracie Moored provided an explanation.
“Their work plan outlines that come before the board outline what they would consider as our county-wide work plan for economic development,” Moored said. “That is their charge and mission on behalf of the County to bring in additional economic tools for us, and then to report that to us once a year in person, and through documentation.”
Commissioner Zach Bauer was one of the first to weigh in on the decision to hire Chatfield. He said he was “nonplussed” about the decision, as well as the statement Tuesday from Southwest Michigan First.
“This community has struggled for the past 15 years on how to be a more welcoming place for folks, and not just gay people, for the residents that have lived here, Black, White, Latino, and to understand how we build out our community and be more inclusive,” Bauer said. “That really has a unique special place in economic development, because guess what isn’t a great business model? Discriminating against people.”
Bauer, who is gay, said that the decision to make a suspension would be a symbolic one.
“I think that this sends a message, it sends a very clear message to people, who’s part of the decision-making body and who isn’t,” Bauer said. “All we have to do is look for [Chatfield’s] comments as a legislator. His comments about members of my community as being swingers, polygamists, all sorts of great things. It’s unnecessary.”
Bauer clarified that he wasn’t speaking against Chatfield’s religious rights or opinions.
“You can have a deeply held religious belief against recognizing the dignity and respect of gay people if that’s the way you want to live, you have that constitutional right, but it doesn’t mean that we think it’s a good idea to put you in charge of the economic development organization in our community or our region,” Bauer said.
He said he wouldn’t discuss Chatfield’s qualifications, but pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic while Kalamazoo County was struggling to manage.
“The reality is that while COVID-19 was raging through our state, while the county was wrangling with ideas of how to keep our people alive, how to pay our employees, and how to manage the situation, Mr. Chatfield and his friends in the legislature were screwing around going to protests, not wearing masks, inviting Rudy Guilianni who had the disease at the time, and infected people in his own house,” Bauer said. “I do support this, I hope we support the $75,000 taken away from him.”
Commissioner Dale Shugars raised questions as to what would happen should the Board vote to suspend its membership, saying he was concerned about county business relationships.
“When you look at all the people that participate with Southwest Michigan First, they represent a tremendous amount of job creators, and those relationships aren’t made overnight,” Shugars said. “There’s a lot of people that don’t have jobs or good-paying jobs, and at least Southwest Michigan First was recruiting job providers, bringing in new opportunities.”
Shugars said that it might be a bad business decision to place a suspension on the relationship with the organization, especially under the pandemic.
“Our number one economic development organization, we’re gonna just do this? I think we’re focusing on the wrong thing,” Shugars said.
Commissioner Jen Strebs said that while Shugars raised good points about business relationships, she was still in disagreement over the decision to hire Chatfield.
“Our participation with Southwest Michigan First has been one of the tools used by this community to work on economic development,” Strebs said. “Our participation does not make or break its existence, our voice about how and when and who we participate with in activities for the betterment of this community is a statement of our values. Southwest Michigan First has made a choice that I find extremely concerning in its leadership, and one that is hurtful and potentially threatening to members of this community that are valuable to us.”
She said that the decision to participate or not participate would be a statement on where the county stands on such topics.
“I don’t minimize economic work is going to be crucial in the time ahead, without a doubt,” Strebs said. “But I think it would be a sad statement if we trade in honoring one another at the expense of that, it doesn’t have to be all one or the other, it can be both. When we consider what value we receive from Southwest Michigan First and what statement we want to make about where we’ll spend our economic dollars, the relationships we have with corporations don’t dissolve because we end a membership with one organization in our community.”
The discussion of this topic was just the beginning of those that are expected to follow. There will be a decision on whether or not to suspend the relationship with Southwest Michigan First at the next County meeting.
That meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 2.
Further Viewing –
- Read about the decision by the Kalamazoo City Board of Commissioners here.
- Read the statement released Tuesday by Southwest Michigan First here.
- Lee Chatfield spoke with one of our partner stations, WTVB in Coldwater, on his new position Tuesday morning. His full interview can be heard at this link.
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