Proposed Policy

Local Resolutions

Civil Infractions

Isabella County Commissioners have discussed a general civil infraction ordinance to give the county departments another choice besides misdemeanor to enforce their respective ordinances. While civil infraction is the enforcement mechanism of choice of by most local governing bodies and does not result in a permanent criminal record, unlike misdemeanor enforcement, the public has expressed concern on how it will be implemented.

Therefore, Isabella County Farm Bureau supports a general civil infraction ordinance on two conditions:

1) Any county department that moves to change its enforcement system hold a public review of its ordinance to ensure that it is current and what the community wants.

2) Enforcement remains complaint driven through the township government.

County Ordinance Review

The Isabella County Zoning Ordinance was reformatted in 2007. After the reformatting was completed the Isabella County Planning Commission began reviewing each section of the ordinance via subcommittee. This includes the agricultural sections.

Therefore, Isabella County Farm Bureau Board should participate in the review of the county ordinance and provide input on agricultural related sections to the county planning commission and Farm Bureau members.

State Resolutions

State and Local Roads

Our state and local roads and infrastructure continue to degrade. Yet the federal government has several matching programs for road improvement. At the same time new projects continue throughout the state and local area.

We believe that road repair and maintenance should take a higher priority over new building projects at this time.

Therefore, be it resolved that all local, county and state governments, along with Michigan Department of Transportation put a high priority on using all available resources to match the federal programs for the purpose of maintaining and repairing current roads and transportation infrastructure.

Farm Bill

The 2008 Farm bill has finally been passed. While it is considered an improvement over the last farm bill, it still is a very, large and complex program to understand.

Therefore, we believe Michigan Farm Bureau should take a leading role in informing and educating the agricultural community on the changes and new programs available through 2008 Farm Bill.

Right to Farm and Local Government

At times it is unclear where Right to Farm protection ends and local government control begins.  Michigan Department of Agriculture needs to communicate more effectively with local units of government on all matters concerning Right to Farm and the Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practices.

Therefore, we urge MDA to develop strong on-going communication with local government organizations to better define Right to Farm protection and local control and enforcement.

We urge MDA to take a strong proactive stance to preserve the integrity of Right to Farm.

County Road Commission Elections

We urge our legislation to consider an amendment to the law the controls the election of the county road commission so that counties could establish districts if they so desire.