Rookies head up Ingham County Commission

FRIDAY, Jan. 2 —Three first-term Ingham County commissioners are climbing the ranks this year after newly reinstated Board Chairman Bryan Crenshaw selected them to help lead top board committees yesterday evening.

Crenshaw, who was unanimously elected as chairman for another year, named Thomas Morgan, Derrell Slaughter and Chris Trubac, all elected in 2018,  and second-termer Ryan Sebolt to head the board’s four committees.

Crenshaw was elected unanimously as chairman, along with Carol Koenig as vice chairwoman and Robin Naeyaert as vice chairwoman pro tem.

Morgan will chair the Finance Committee, taking the reins from Mark Grebner. Sebolt replaces Vic Celentino as chairman of the County Services Committee. Slaughter takes over for Koenig on the Law and Courts Committee. Trubac replaces Todd Tennis as chairman of the County Services Committee.

The finance committee reviews and recommends the annual budget appropriations (and amendments) to the full board and serves as the county’s funnel for all things money — including the handling of millages, bonds, investments, insurance, contracts and more.

Morgan was chairman of the Ingham County Economic Development Corp., vice chairman of the county’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and secretary-treasurer of the county’s Equal Opportunity Committee. He also carries experience in communications, marketing and journalism.

The County Services Committee works to ensure adequate implementation of board policies affecting various county offices and agencies, such as building construction and maintenance, energy conservation, wages and other employee benefits. It also acts as a liaison to dozens of individual departments within Ingham County.

Recently, that committee eyed improvements to the county’s health insurance offerings after commissioners discovered employees weren’t covered for things like name-brand HIV treatment and transgender therapy drugs. Sebolt has been an advocate for the LGBTQ community and plans to continue to address that issue in 2020.

The Law and Courts Committee handles all matters pertaining to law enforcement and judicial administration. Slaughter is an analyst for the Michigan Public Service Commission and represents southwest Lansing — near the same neighborhood where a combative teenager was repeatedly hit by a Lansing Police officer earlier last year. 

Slaughter previously said he was “disgusted” by what was shown in that video and sought departmental reform.

The Human Services Committee reviews budgets for each department and handles anything dealing with solid waste issues. It also serves as a liaison to the county Health Department, Fair Board, Parks Department, Community Mental Health Board, the Capital Area District Library and other organizations tied to Ingham County.

Trubac previously worked for the county’s Register of Deeds, where he helped residents avoid property fraud and better plan for the future. He has also been a board member for Building TwentyOne, a program benefitting 7th thru 12th graders, and worked as a teacher and policy analyst and in constituent services for the state legislature.

“Bryan is a terrific leader who is fair, diligent, responsive and runs a right meeting,” Morgan said after the vote. “I know some folks subscribe to the philosophy of rotating legislative leadership, but I’m of the opinion that if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. County residents are well served with Bryan Crenshaw at the helm.”