Washtenaw County Commissioner Conan Smith, right, chats with visitors in the lobby of the county administration building before the start of Wednesday's county board meeting. Smith, D-Ann Arbor, was named the new board chairman.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

With the county facing a structural deficit estimated at $20 million for the 2012 and 2013 two-year budget cycle, Conan Smith says dollars and cents will be on his mind as he leads the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners.

"I will be very satisfied if we get through this year and this massive budget cut without creating more enemies than friends," he said after being unanimously chosen by his peers Wednesday night as chairman of the board.

"I think the big thing for the county for the coming two years, obviously, is going to be what does county government and county service look like two years from now?" Smith said. 

He recalled the budget process the county went through two years ago in which it cut $30 million for 2010 and 2011, paring down programs and finding new efficiencies.

"But the cuts that we have to make over the coming two years are really to the bone, and it means the elimination of some of our areas of work probably," Smith said. "So whether we are continuing to focus on children and human services, or police services or building services, those are big questions for the next couple of years."

County Administrator Verna McDaniel said Wednesday night she plans to deliver a Financial State of the County report to the board at its next meeting. 

• Click here to download her six-month report to the board from November.

Commissioners are sworn into office Wednesday night. Newly elected Republicans Dan Smith, left, and Alicia Ping, second from left, were appointed to leadership positions on the board.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Four newly elected commissioners and seven returning commissioners were sworn into office at the start of Wednesday's organizational meeting. The makeup of the board for the next two years includes eight Democrats and three Republicans — one more Republican than before.

New members of the board include Rob Turner, R-Chelsea; Dan Smith, R-Northfield Township; Alicia Ping, R-Saline; and Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor.

Ping, who previously served as a Saline City Council member, was unanimously chosen to be the county board's vice chairwoman during the meeting.

Rabhi was unanimously chosen to be the board's working session chairman, while Turner was named the working session vice chairman.

"My heart is racing," said Rabhi, introducing himself at the start of the meeting. A recent University of Michigan graduate, Rabhi is the youngest member of the board at 22.

Commissioner Rolland Sizemore Jr., D-Ypsilanti Township and outgoing board chairman, was unanimously chosen to be the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Dan Smith was tapped to be the vice chairman of that committee.

Conan Smith said the idea behind putting so many newcomers into key leadership positions was to get an even mix of three Republicans and three Democrats in charge.

"I'm really excited about the leadership team," he said. "We tried to echo the state and federal system by having a Democratic chair and a Republican vice chair, so a majority and minority. One of the things that provides us over the coming year is a wide array of diverse opinions and approaches to solving problems. If we really want to think outside the box, it can't just be Conan's liberal ideas. They're going to be counterbalanced by strong Republican voices."

Smith, D-Ann Arbor, said one of his first actions as chairman will be to resurrect the Washtenaw Metro Alliance, a coalition of local government officials that was formed several years ago by Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje and County Commissioner Leah Gunn, D-Ann Arbor.

The alliance, whose mission is intergovernmental cooperation, has included representatives of the county, the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, and surrounding townships. It has been dormant for the last few years, but Hieftje and Smith want to bring it back.

"It led to some really fantastic things," Smith said of the group's previous work. "For example, we have a unified green space plan, and it sparked the conversation about fire districting.

"We let it go over the last few years as we've focused on other issues," he added. "But I think this idea and opportunity of intergovernmental cooperation makes financial sense and, from a governance standpoint, allows us to provide better services and achieve better outcomes."

Smith has served on the county board for the last six years, most recently as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Representing the north and west sides of Ann Arbor, Smith is the third generation of public servants in his family.

He is married to state Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, and is the son of Alma Wheeler Smith, who recently finished her final term in the state House. His aunt, Nancy Francis, is a county judge, and Al Wheeler, his grandfather, was Ann Arbor's mayor in the 1970s.

Commissioners are sworn into office Wednesday. Newly elected Republican Rob Turner, right, was named working session vice chairman.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Smith, who holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing and literature, directed land programs with the Michigan Environmental Council for six years before becoming executive director of the Ferndale-based Michigan Suburbs Alliance, where he works today.

In other action Wednesday night, commissioners voted on new board rules that include changes to how per diems are handled.

A new list of meetings commissioners can collect per diems for attending has been added to the rules. Nearly 30 boards have been stricken from the list, while nearly 60 remain.

Each commissioner will continue to get about $3,500 a year for per diems, mileage and travel expenses. However, the board rules have been changed so that unused allocations no longer will revert to a general flex account fund that other commissioners can tap into once they've exceeded their limit.

An original copy of the new rules stated commissioners no longer can collect $25 payments for attending working sessions or Ways and Means Committee meetings. But the county attorney determined that would constitute revising the board's compensation mid-term and would not be legal, so commissioners still can take those per diems should they choose.

Another new rule that was the subject of a lengthy debate Wednesday night states that individual members of the board no longer have the authority to direct the work of county employees. The rule states that only the board as a collective body can speak for the county and provide policy direction to the county administrator and employees.

Commissioners were addressed at the start of Wednesday's meeting by resident Douglas Smith, who showed up to hand-deliver a letter appealing the county's recent denial of a Freedom of Information Act request he submitted.

He referenced two Taser-related deaths that occurred this year in Livonia and Superior Township, as well as four others in Michigan in 2009. He said he's been trying since last August to get the autopsy report from the death that occurred in Superior Township, but has been denied by the county because the state police apparently are still investigating.

The state's FOIA law exempts certain public records from disclosure in cases when there is an ongoing police investigation. But Douglas Smith argued it's been more than four months now, and it's in the public interest for the autopsy report to be released.

"It concerns me whether or not we're using Tasers appropriately," he said. "There's a strong public interest in Tasers and, in particular, whether or not this death was related to the Taser."

He said he's particularly interested in the matter since it appears there will be a bill introduced in the Legislature to allow private citizens to buy Tasers.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.