A retired engineer from Kimball Township is looking to unseat the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners’ longtime chairman in next month’s Republican primary election — each seeing big-picture needs of constituents through a vastly different lens.
On Aug. 6, Jeff Bohm, the county board’s longest-serving commissioner at 20 years and its chairman of 14, will face Robert Fielitz, who first took a major step into the public sphere in late 2023 as residents poured into county and Kimball meetings with concerns about the strong hydrogen sulfide smell emanating from the Smiths Creek Landfill.
Since then, the county has dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars on quick and long-term fixes to address the odor, alleviating issues with excess gas produced from a breakdown of waste and monitoring the area along with state environmental officials. Fielitz said he believes he caught an early whiff of the issue at the landfill several years ago and has more recently been involved with other residents requesting documents from the county and state to scrutinize the facility.
However, he said he didn’t decide to run for office until reflection amid a quiet walk at Goodells County Park last Earth Day pushed him to do more.
“My interest in the county past the landfill is that people in our community have been telling me for quite a few years that the county doesn’t seem to represent them, specifically our district,” Fielitz said during an interview July 12. “My opponent has been chairman of the board for so long, he’s spread over the county and doesn’t pay a lot of attention to the district, according to my observation and the voters in my district.”
Bohm, an East China resident, has often described himself as a brick-and-mortar, economic development guy who likes to help usher in developments, job-creators, and new tax bases for the county.
Although the proprietor of local Viking Fitness gyms, he also serves on the board for the Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County and has spent the last several summers organizing hundreds of free public concerts held weekly at Riverview Plaza in downtown St. Clair.
“I just still see tremendous potential in this area,” Bohm said on Monday. “I’ve seen the growth. I mean, St. Clair this weekend, we’re busting out at the seams. There had to be 500 people down there on Friday. And (not to) pat myself on the back, but I am going to pat myself on the back. Like the music, nobody would have ever done that. I like tackling stuff like that.”
District 5 for the county board includes the city of St. Clair, East China and St. Clair townships, and precincts 2, 3, and 4 in Kimball.
Whoever wins in August will so far go on to the November general election unchallenged with no listed Democratic candidate.
How do the candidates' big-picture views differ?
During an interview earlier this month, Fielitz called Bohm “the number one government official in the county.” Part of that is because he’s been chairman of the board for seven terms.
But win or lose the election, he saw getting involved a win.
“Everybody that runs and comes close, shakes the system up,” Fielitz said. “… I can still see being an advocate for the people once you start this.”
For Bohm, serving as a commissioner has been more than just running meetings and representing one of seven votes on the decision-making dais, more than their statutory duties. Rather, the relationships the role helps develop, he said, have been a motivating factor to continue to seek re-election in hopes of serving as an advocate for projects he thinks will benefit the community.
“It really gives me a thick rolodex,” Bohm said. “A lot of times to put these deals together, you have to have been around. You have to be able to pick up the phone and get people in the room. And those types of things, that doesn’t happen overnight. That takes a long time.”
Particularly through his involvement with the EDA, the biggest example in recent years was the development of Magna Electrical Vehicle Structures in the city of St. Clair’s old industrial park. That project, now with the original Magna facility expanded, required a massive state incentive package, as well as collaboration at the local level to build up new infrastructure to support it.
Still, the board chairman said he does listen to constituents who may bristle at big change and growth that comes with development. And in the wake of much of the 26 Mile Road discussions, which has largely been dropped from commissioners’ talks in use of COVID stimulus dollars, he said he thought it was about finding a happy medium.
“I’m not advocating for St. Clair County to be Macomb County,” Bohm said.
Believing it’s important to move opportunities forward for the positive impact they can have, he added, “I was sitting with these four kids — and when I say kids, they were 31 to 34 years old — and they work at Magna. Like a third generation, robotics kid (whose) grandpa was in the industry, he said, ‘When I got out of high school, I never thought I would have a job being able to work this close at home. I can put my six-year-old, three-year-old, and one-year-old to bed every night now.’ … I’m just getting goosebumps telling the story right now. Here’s (an) opportunity that really changes a young guy’s life. He was traveling on the road pre-Magna.”
Fielitz said Magna was “a good company” but also questioned its long-term status in the area — and in turn, the support it received. It was a thread he followed in concerns for other developments and county support of assets like the landfill, airport, or Blue Water Convention Center.
“A big company like that moves where they can get the best financial advantage,” he said. “Now, they may be here four, five years, until the next recession hits. They may wait until their abatement’s over and say, ‘We want more.’ My point is when you lure a company in, that’s not a great deal. You go look at Magna, it’s like a shoe that’s too big.”
In conversation, Fielitz also looked at it like he did 26 Mile Road and said he understood people moved away from more populated areas like Macomb County to District 5 and St. Clair County because they want to live in a less developed place. Still, Fielitz said he wasn’t entirely against development. Rather, he said his concerns lay in how the county financed them, and he thought the “shoe” should fit the area.
Scrutinizing landfill numbers, he’s alleged the facility’s bioreactor — something that converts gas into sellable energy and that Bohm has championed — cost more than it generates in revenue when factoring in consulting contracts and associated infrastructure. Bohm and other officials refute the analyses.
“Now, with the excess gas, if you’ve been over there, they’re flaring it off,” he said. “DTE (Energy) is not putting in a third generator. They’re flaring off all that gas that they spent all this money to produce.”
Referencing the county's largely federally funded airport, the convention center and how such assets are financed, Fielitz said, “Now, as commissioner, I would say, ‘OK, we’ve got a convention center here. We’re going to have to support it for a while, perhaps. How about a millage? … And if you don’t want a millage, where can you take it out of the rest of the budget?”
Bohm said it wasn’t too uncommon for the county to shift finances, including in the assets it subsidizes. Things like the airport, he said, helped keep big employers anchored to the area and recruiting new ones.
“You’ve got to ask yourself the question if you like the direction that the county is going,” the commissioner said. “If you think we’re not heading in the right direction, we’re doing horrible things, then vote for the other guy. But if you like what’s happening in the county, I feel that I’ve been largely part of a lot of it.”
Contact reporter Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.
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