Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The Livingston County Board of Commissioners has appointed its newest member – one who shares in its values.

The Board met Monday night to conduct interviews of five candidates - ultimately appointing James Dettling to the District 2 seat left open with the retirement of longtime Commissioner Dave Domas.

The vote was 6-1 with Commissioner Roger Deaton opposed, who earlier stated he favored candidate Frank Ervin for the position. Ervin was also endorsed by Domas.

Commissioner Jay Gross was absent.

The District 2 seat represents all of Deerfield and Tyrone Townships, and Oceola Township Precincts 1 and 5.

Dettling was said to bring a corporate background and was a chief financial officer before retiring. After retirement, Dettling said he started getting more involved with politics and elections. He said he’s worked with Election Integrity canvassing homes, was involved with Stand Up Michigan and served as treasurer for Stand Up Livingston, and became treasurer for the Livingston County Republican Party.

Interview questions for all candidates centered on electability and preparedness to run for the seat in two years, experience with county budgets, taxes, the use of flock cameras, data centers, what they would bring to the board if elected, growth and development, and volunteer commitments.

Dettling stated “I’m not here for political ambition, I’m not here for a desire to drastically change our community, and I’m not here to feed my ago”. As he’s gotten older and since his retirement, Dettling said “I’ve made it a point to find ways to balance the scale by giving back to my community”.

All candidates echoed the board’s conservative values and anti-abortion stances – which were again included in interview questioning. Commissioner Doug Helzerman cited the “right to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…and protections for the unborn”. Dettling asserted he is pro-life – “and life begins at conception and ends at death”.

Abortion-related matters were part of the line of candidate questioning not long ago when newcomer Norris Hardeman was appointed to the District 3 seat left vacant with the unexpected passing of Commissioner and local businessman Frank Sample.

Some spoke out during call to the public at the beginning and end of the meeting.

At the beginning, Resident Holly Taylor-Stebbins requested that the board keep the interviews “appropriate, professional, and business-like. She said “The amount of inappropriate questions that you devised when selecting the District 3 candidate was absolutely embarrassing and inappropriate. The questions were misogynistic, racist, and quite frankly, what does abortion have to do with this position. Please try to keep this as a business and professional – I would hope that you would all pride yourselves on being professional people up here. And the questions that I received were really, really, really embarrassing as a community of this county…Please keep it professional tonight".

Stephanie Booth is a City of Howell resident and local government watchdog who regularly attends County meetings. She commented “I have nothing personal with the candidate you selected – however he admitted up here he has no experience in the county and no veteran experience - it’s very questionable you’re just going to ram through this person, as I said before this started, you’ve pre-selected what the GOP has pushed through. I stand by my opinion and I find you a disgrace - other than the one who didn’t vote for the shoo-in”.

There was no real discussion following the vote, except Commissioners thanked everyone who applied and agreed it was a difficult decision based on the talent presented.