Featured photo: Joe Massey, who is on the Genesee County Road Commission
By Tanya Terry
Several Flint residents have been talking about racism they feel exists among some Genesee County Road Commission members.
“Where is the integrity among you people with the power?” asked one resident at a September Road Commission meeting.
“If you’ve got an issue with yourself, you need to talk to the Lord-because it’s some reason why we’re at the same place all the time,” the resident added. “I’ve been Black all my life, and you all have been white. But I see racism. I’m not a political person. But y’all push me further and further-because I see it. It hurts my heart.”
The resident said she hopes generation after generation doesn’t suffer because of still being in “Rosa Parks days.”
The board first agreed to hire Randy Dellaposta on September 6 and did not consider any other individuals for the job.
Mt. Morris Township Supervisor Jolena Sims said she was “appalled” the commission didn’t conduct a large search.
“Most boards do an interim,” she said.
At the September 19 meeting, Commission board member Joe Massey made a motion to make Randy Dellaposta the interim managing director, instead of the managing director.
“I just want to personally say I have nothing against the deputy managing director,” said Massey. “I believe he’s a good fit for the organization. But let’s do what the protocol calls for. Let’s go out and do an interim search, and everybody has a fair chance.”
The commission voted to rescind the previous vote concerning Dellaposta at that meeting.
Massey explained he understood that during that vote his understanding was that he was only voting to accept the previous director’s recommendation to make Dellaposta the managing director. He said he did not believe he was voting to actually make him the managing director.
At the September 26 meeting, a Road Commission attorney told the Commission board members that the vote to rescind the appointment violated the commission’s bylaws.
Commissioner Reggie Smith made a motion that another attorney look into what the Road Commission attorney had said to determine if the rescinding was really null and void. Smith is the only other Black person on the Road Commission besides Massey. All the board members agreed to the motion.
The Genesee County Road Commission website currently lists Dellaposta as the managing director. Meanwhile, Massey said he hoped the board would have the second legal opinion by the time of its next board meeting. This board meeting will be held at 10 a.m. November 7 in the Willard P. Harris Auditorium, 1101 Beach St., in Flint, located in the Genesee County Administration building, on the third floor.
