It is a sign of the deep dysfunction of the Livingston County Commission that even the simple act of giving a certificate of appreciation to a retiring judge was spoiled by controversy.
The skunk at the picnic was the usual one – Wes Nakagiri.
The commission had planned to present the certificate at its March 25 meeting to the Hon. Michael P. Hatty, who is retiring as chief judge of the 44th Circuit Court.
Judge Hatty, however, was called to Lansing for an emergency meeting and couldn’t attend.
Still, Nakagiri couldn’t pass up the opportunity to grind his axe against the courts without anyone present to defend them.
He read aloud a letter to Judge Hatty in which he claimed his nitpicking of the courts the entire time he has been on the county commission was not personal, just an effort to make county government more efficient.
Citing a study by the National Center for State Courts from 14 years ago, Nakagiri claimed the courts are overstaffed and could get by without more than 6 members of its staff. He has cited this same study more than once since he first joined the county commission in 2018.
Then he went on to reveal that the county is being sued – by the judges – over the classification and pay of court employees.
“I am disappointed that you, your colleagues, and the board of commissioners have not been able to collaboratively resolve this overstaffing,” he wrote.
“Additionally, it is perplexing that we were not able to resolve our differences in mediation. I thought it was eminently reasonable for the county to fund your request to implement the results of the recent classification and compensation study in return for allowing NCSC to conduct another workload study.
“It is dismaying that the courts have now sued the board of commissioners. I look forward to a forum where the entire truth will come out, both in the court of law and in the court of public opinion.”
(You can see Nakagiri reading his letter at about the 16-1/2 minute mark.)
The Michigan Supreme Court already is in the midst of another NCSC workload study for Michigan courts. It’s ridiculous to think they would order a separate one just for Livingston County to satisfy Nakagiri.
Underlying the dispute is Nakagiri’s insistence on treating the courts as just a department of county government. He refuses to acknowledge the courts as a separate and equal branch of government accountable to the Michigan Supreme Court through the State Court Administrator’s Office and not the county board.
Nakagiri’s letter is the first public acknowledgement of the dispute and of the commission’s failure to resolve it. The case filed by the 44th Circuit Court, the 53rd District Court, and the Livingston County Probate Court, was filed March 11 in the Michigan Court of Appeals against Livingston County and the board of commissioners.
It’s embarrassing that it came to this, and an example of Nakagiri’s extreme pettiness that he would try to spoil a judge’s retirement to spread the word.
