Wesley Prater
District 4 «
Democrat
Washtenaw County Commissioner
A Conversation with Wesley
Tell us about yourself, Commissioner
Prater – your time on the Board of Commissioners, and before that?
I was first elected to the Board of Commissioners in the year 2000.
Prior to that, I had spent 22 years on the Ypsilanti Township Board
as Trustee and as Supervisor there for two terms, which is eight
years. I spent about 12 years in a skilled trade – as a
bricklayer, a mason by trade. From there I went to the Ann Arbor
Fire Department as a firefighter where I worked for 25 and-a-half
years. During my time there, I served as the president of the
Firefighters Association for 15 years. I took an early retirement
when I was elected Ypsilanti Township Supervisor, because the
Supervisors position is a full-time job. In addition to my
elected positions, I have participated in several civil
organizations. I am still involved with two organizations which I
have served with over the years. One is the American Legions Post
282 which sponsors the Independence Day (4th of July) parade. As a
member of the Parade Committee, I have served as both Chair and
Co-Chair over the years.
That takes a serious work ethic!
I come from farm people. My Dad was very active in the school
district and some local politics in eastern Kentucky, Floyd County.
And I think that’s the basis for my involvement in the community.
There were six boys in our family, and three of us have actually
served our communities in elected positions over the years.
You’ve been on the Board of Commissioners long enough to
see the before, and after of redistricting. How do you think the
change from 15 to 11 commissioners has gone?
I wanted to continue with 15 commissioners. I do believe that each
individual brings a unique perspective. But the transition has gone
very smoothly, and this current Board operates very well together.
It works well with County Administration, and seems to work well
with the public. The reduction in the number of commissioners has
increased the workload of each current commissioner I think that this Board, well, we’re a little more in tune than the
past Board regarding customer service, public service and related
issues. This Board seems not to get so involved in personality
issues. I believe that every board member has the right to their own
opinion –whether it’s different from mine or not. And as long as we
view those opinions with respect, it’s fine. You know, you deal with
issues, you get over them and then you go on to the next issue.
That’s no small accomplishment…
It’s really unfortunate what’s happened in politics from this local
level all the way up to the federal level. For the last fifteen to twenty years, the League of Women Voters
conducted studies on the fall-off in participation in government –
especially in elections. What I’ve understood those studies tell us
is that people are becoming disenfranchised with government. It
starts at the federal level when people promise everything and don’t
deliver – in fact, there are some who have actually lied to
constituents, and it really seems to have worked its way down to the
local level. It’s not a good thing. If it’s a democracy, you have to have people
participate and you have to try to create consensus.
If people tried to define your role on the Board, the type of
Commissioner you are or what you care about, what would they say?
I would hope that they would say that I’m a people person - a
citizen constituent advocate. And that could be on any number of
issues. At least that’s the role I think I should have.
You’ve become pretty familiar with the operations of the County, is
there anything that strikes you as special about this organization?
I give County Administration and former Commissioners credit for
putting together what I believe are some high quality programs – and
staffing from top to bottom – to really serve this community. And I think that quality is owed to the continuing education,
professional development, that’s offered to employees throughout
this organization. I think that’s really important and something we absolutely have to
give if we’re going to continue to provide world-class service to
this County.
What personal accomplishment as Commissioner makes you most proud?
One of the things that I feel was most important was our change
from the Metropolitan Planning Commission to an Advisory Board that
is responsible to County Administration.
We were trying to get that Advisory Board working with communities
throughout Washtenaw County – as they’re supposed to. Overall,
that’s probably the most important thing that I’ve been part of.
And I’ve heard some very positive feedback from communities that
really had been in opposition to that change, which is a good
feeling to know that we had the right idea – and that it’s working.
What about any disappointments you’ve had as Commissioner?
Well, the law enforcement contracts with the local units have been
extremely difficult. I don’t know if I’d call them a disappointment,
but it has been very hard. It’s been hard to get accurate costs for
law enforcement services. And frankly, I hope we’re there with the
numbers now – but I’m not sure.
Any future project you’re excited about?
Well, Commissioner Armentrout and I approached County Administration
regarding local jobs that are being taken offshore – to other
countries. Even though this County might not be able to make a significant
impact on losing local jobs this way, I certainly think we should be
taking a look at it and, at least, making a statement concerning it. To me right now the biggest challenge we have is jobs, and finding
a way to maintain our quality of life and standard of living. Here
in the United States, I think it’s going to be a real challenge in
the future. You know, in my opinion, if we’re going to have free trade, we’ve
got to come up with a way to have fair trade. It just seems to me
that you cannot have a global economy without global democratic
ideas and global environmental & labor standards.
According to the Health Department, we’ve got more than 35,000
people in this County who have little or absolutely no health
insurance. Now that’s over 10% of our population which tells me that
the quality of the jobs we have, the compensation people get just
isn’t there to provide health insurance – which goes directly to our
standard of living in this County. You know, health insurance is a very basic need that we all have,
and this problem is real and right here. We have to pay attention to
the loss of jobs, and we have to pay attention to what’s happening
in the world, as well as to what’s happening here.