Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Confidential comments made as part of a Livingston County employee survey will not be made public.

The Livingston County Board of Commissioners met Monday night and voted to uphold the partial denial of a Freedom of Information Act appeal related to the survey, which is conducted by an outside firm.

Attorney Tara Black Pearson is running as a Republican for the District 6 seat against incumbent Republican Roger Deaton in the August Primary. Democrat Matthew McClanahan is also running.

Pearson submitted a FOIA request for the 2023 county employee survey including all commentary feedback as to departments and the board. She said she received a copy of an executive summary, that was described as a compilation of data points and generalization of questions. The request for commentary feedback was denied and she was before the board to appeal.

Pearson maintained the survey was funded by taxpayers and they have a right to know what employees think of the efficiency and effective functioning of departments, as well as the government.

County Administrator Nathan Burd said Pearson was given a summary presentation that was provided to the personal committee and not the comments. He said comments are anonymous and confidential, and that was reinforced when they announced the survey last November. He said the exception is that comments are provided to department heads so they can look at their results and determine where to make improvements or find out what’s going well.

Burd said confidentiality is stressed so employees feel comfortable being honest; noting he felt like it would limit and likely end any frank communication if they aren’t allowed to exempt the information from disclosure. He added they don’t share the information across departments internally, “let alone public disclosure”.

Burd said the survey has been done for seven years and they’ve made massive improvements to their workforce. He said the survey has been used to develop policies and actions, such as the remote work policy, and individual management styles have also been altered based on it.

Burd added he believes forced disclosure of comments would have a chilling effect on future survey participation, and he would argue it would be rendered largely meaningless if comments are subject to public release.

Pearson rebutted that the results are not confidential as they have been disclosed to others and questioned the transparency, saying everyone should know how their government is functioning. She further argued that taxpayers have a right to the information and feedback, adding that information could easily be redacted as to what department the employee is from.

Commissioner Jay Gross questioned the motivation for the request, saying employees are given the assurance of confidentiality and there shouldn’t be any fear factor.

Commissioner Wes Nakagiri said the request is “clearly politically motivated” and “fishing for negative comments” – noting the county has achieved a top workplace award for the last two years and he finds the allegations off-base. Nakagiri added he finds it appalling to draw employees into the middle of a political battle and he will protect their confidentiality to enable them to give honest feedback in future surveys.

Commissioner Dave Domas agreed it was nothing more than a political attempt to defame an outstanding organization and their outstanding employees.

Commissioner Frank Sample made the motion to uphold the partial denial, which was seconded by Commissioner Martin Smith. It was approved unanimously 9-0.

A link to the meeting video is provided. The FOIA hearing is at the beginning, along with comments made during call to the public.