Thousands of dollars collected in per diems

Steve Neavling, formerly of The Bay City Times, reviewed records to show that Bay County paid more than $350,000 to citizens and politicians for serving on its boards in the past four-and-a-half years. Many of these meeting lasted less than 15 minutes and dozens lasted less than five minutes. "A bulk of the per-diem payments — $260,000 — came from boards and committees for three agencies: The Bay Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Bay-Arenac Behavioral Health Authority and Region VII Area Agency on Aging. " Often times per diems went beyond meeting payments, with some board members getting paid for signing checks, visiting with employees and attending luncheons, conferences and meetings of other boards.