By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland Township Board is taking steps toward restructuring the responsibilities of the township clerk’s office as it prepares to seek a replacement for outgoing Clerk Kate Kraak.
The board is expected next Tuesday to accept Kraak’s resignation as township clerk after 10 years in that position, effective at the end of the year.
The board is also expected at its Dec. 16 meeting to approve a restructuring of the clerk’s responsibilities, moving functions such as maintaining the township’s general ledger and overseeing elections to township employees, leaving the elected clerk’s main responsibility being a voting member of the board.
To go along with the reduced responsibilities of the clerk’s position, the board is also expected to approve a reduction in the position’s salary, which can only be done while Kraak is still in office and with her consent. Under state law, the salary of an elected official cannot be cut unless that office’s responsibilities have been reduced and that official agrees to the reduction.
Kraak, who had been receiving an annual salary of $42,000, has agreed to the cut. The new salary for the clerk is $15,540, according to the township website.
The board at its Dec. 2 meeting agreed by consensus to pursue the new structure. Township Manager Josh Eggleston will prepare a resolution for the board to take a vote next Tuesday to formalize the move. That would allow the township to seek a full-time administrative/financial assistant who would take on some of the clerk’s responsibilities and a seasonal part-time employee who would oversee elections and records management.
“The clerk is still statutorily responsible, but there’s functions in the office that can be done by staff-level (employees),” Township Manager Josh Eggleston said.
The board has been discussing a possible restructuring of both the clerk and treasurer offices for the past couple of months. The situation with the clerk’s office became more urgent when Kraak said she would resign her seat, and her deputy clerk, Katy Steenwyk, stepped down from her position.
Under state law, the clerk’s statutory responsibilities include maintaining all township records, recording and maintaining minutes of township meetings, administering elections, keeping the voter registration file, writing checks on behalf of the township and preparing financial reports for the Township Board.
Eggleston said there are certain responsibilities that the clerk cannot delegate to a township employee – such as serving as a voting member of the board, administering oaths of office, signing checks and preparing and maintaining board meeting minutes.
“Those are the core functions of the clerk that you cannot make staff-level. Everything else could be done at staff-level under the purview of the clerk,” Eggleston said.
Kraak offered her own thoughts on how her position should be restructured.
“I think you need to concentrate on somebody who wants to be a policy maker,” she said. “I think I was too bogged down in the details quite often, especially right before elections, that I wasn’t able to prioritize the board activity as much as I wanted to.
“To have somebody who can mostly (focus on) that, I think would be really good for policy management. Then, (I would support) having potentially a full-time front desk person who wants to take on the accounting portion and another part-time variable employee that would be doing the elections/record management.”
Kraak was appointed township clerk in 2015 after the resignation of long-time Clerk Marilyn Evink. She has since run unopposed for election three times, including the November 2024 general election.
The township is seeking applicants for the clerk’s position. The selected applicant can run for a two-year term in this year’s election and then again in 2028 for a four-year term, when the term is reset to the normal candidate schedule for township offices.
Applicants for the clerk’s position must be residents of Zeeland Charter Township. Interested parties are asked to submit a completed board and commission application – the link to the application can be found on the township website at zeel andtwp.org. They can also forward a resume to the attention of Eggleston at 6582 Byron Rd., Zeeland MI 49464, or by email at josh.eggleston@zeelandtwp.org.
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland Township Board is taking steps toward restructuring the responsibilities of the township clerk’s office as it prepares to seek a replacement for outgoing Clerk Kate Kraak.
The board is expected next Tuesday to accept Kraak’s resignation as township clerk after 10 years in that position, effective at the end of the year.
The board is also expected at its Dec. 16 meeting to approve a restructuring of the clerk’s responsibilities, moving functions such as maintaining the township’s general ledger and overseeing elections to township employees, leaving the elected clerk’s main responsibility being a voting member of the board.
To go along with the reduced responsibilities of the clerk’s position, the board is also expected to approve a reduction in the position’s salary, which can only be done while Kraak is still in office and with her consent. Under state law, the salary of an elected official cannot be cut unless that office’s responsibilities have been reduced and that official agrees to the reduction.
Kraak, who had been receiving an annual salary of $42,000, has agreed to the cut. The new salary for the clerk is $15,540, according to the township website.
The board at its Dec. 2 meeting agreed by consensus to pursue the new structure. Township Manager Josh Eggleston will prepare a resolution for the board to take a vote next Tuesday to formalize the move. That would allow the township to seek a full-time administrative/financial assistant who would take on some of the clerk’s responsibilities and a seasonal part-time employee who would oversee elections and records management.
“The clerk is still statutorily responsible, but there’s functions in the office that can be done by staff-level (employees),” Township Manager Josh Eggleston said.
The board has been discussing a possible restructuring of both the clerk and treasurer offices for the past couple of months. The situation with the clerk’s office became more urgent when Kraak said she would resign her seat, and her deputy clerk, Katy Steenwyk, stepped down from her position.
Under state law, the clerk’s statutory responsibilities include maintaining all township records, recording and maintaining minutes of township meetings, administering elections, keeping the voter registration file, writing checks on behalf of the township and preparing financial reports for the Township Board.
Eggleston said there are certain responsibilities that the clerk cannot delegate to a township employee – such as serving as a voting member of the board, administering oaths of office, signing checks and preparing and maintaining board meeting minutes.
“Those are the core functions of the clerk that you cannot make staff-level. Everything else could be done at staff-level under the purview of the clerk,” Eggleston said.
Kraak offered her own thoughts on how her position should be restructured.
“I think you need to concentrate on somebody who wants to be a policy maker,” she said. “I think I was too bogged down in the details quite often, especially right before elections, that I wasn’t able to prioritize the board activity as much as I wanted to.
“To have somebody who can mostly (focus on) that, I think would be really good for policy management. Then, (I would support) having potentially a full-time front desk person who wants to take on the accounting portion and another part-time variable employee that would be doing the elections/record management.”
Kraak was appointed township clerk in 2015 after the resignation of long-time Clerk Marilyn Evink. She has since run unopposed for election three times, including the November 2024 general election.
The township is seeking applicants for the clerk’s position. The selected applicant can run for a two-year term in this year’s election and then again in 2028 for a four-year term, when the term is reset to the normal candidate schedule for township offices.
Applicants for the clerk’s position must be residents of Zeeland Charter Township. Interested parties are asked to submit a completed board and commission application – the link to the application can be found on the township website at zeel andtwp.org. They can also forward a resume to the attention of Eggleston at 6582 Byron Rd., Zeeland MI 49464, or by email at josh.eggleston@zeelandtwp.org.
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