by P.D. Lesko

Former Ypsilanti Twp. trustee Monica Ross-Williams attended the Mar. 20, 2024 meeting of the Washtenaw County Commissioners for one reason: she wanted to register her shock and displeasure at the County Commissioners’ lax oversight of profligate credit card usage by a County employee first reported on Mar. 20 in The Ann Arbor Independent. Ross-Williams, who sat on the Ypsilanti Twp. Board of Trustees for seven years, went to the meeting to discuss the A2Indy’s investigative article: “Alize Asberry Payne Slept (Ate And Ubered) Here: County DEI Dir. Charged $115K To County Credit Card.”

After public comment time ended, District 2 Commissioner Crystal Lyte defended Asberry Payne and called Ross-Williams a racist for objecting to Asberry Payne’s spending on luxury hotels, first class travel, Ubers, Uber Eats, on a large number of trips, and “possibly first-class” plane travel. County Administrator Greg Dill and Asberry Payne are Black.

In her bio. on the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce page, Asberry Payne states that she lives in Detroit with her husband and son. The A2Indy’s article pointed out that while on a seven-day trip, Asberry Payne sent an email to elected officials in which she said she could not meet them in the evening. She preferred, she said, to spent time with her family. As well as calling Ross-Williams racist, Lyte complained that Ross-Williams and the article had “attacked” Asberry Payne’s family.

In a 24-month period (2022-2023), county checkbook and credit card records revealed DEI Dir. Alize Asberry Payne had taken 18 trips, including first class travel, all paid for by taxpayers.

Asberry Payne’s credit card records also showed that in 2023 she had paid thousands of dollars in travel and hotel expenses for a small group of County Commissioners (Caroline Sanders, Crystal Lyte, Justin Hodge and Annie Somerville) to attend the Mackinac Conference. Lyte, Hodge and Somerville had all been elected in 2022.

Washtenaw County Commissioners are given $7,000 per year in “Flex Funds.” They may use those funds for almost any expense, including travel and lodging. However, when the Flex Funds have been exhausted, they are not replenished until the next fiscal year.

Asberry Payne’s use of her county-provided credit card to pay $2,954 for a Metrocar to take her, one of her staffers and the four County Commissioners named above from Ann Arbor to St. Ignace (Shepler’s Dock) was highly problematic. Asberry Payne also used her credit card to pay for thousands of dollars of luxury hotel rooms for herself, Lyte, Hodge, and Sanders. Asberry Payne paid $990 for a 1-bedroom Airbnb. The Airbnb reservation showed that two people slept there. County Commissioner Annie Somerville was asked about the Airbnb and with whom she’d shared the condo.

Commissioner Lyte, who was recruited to run in 2022 by District 4 Commissioner Caroline Sanders, won the contested Aug. primary and the Nov. general elections. She is a public employee who holds an undergraduate degree in English from Eastern Michigan University. Monica Ross-Williams is a business owner who earned a BBA in Business Management and an MBA in Organizational Leadership, both from Cleary.

Ross-Williams said, laughing, “Crystal called me a racist. A. Racist. Does she even know what the word means?”

While Ross-Williams did not pose the rhetorical question as a dig at Lyte, when Lyte’s 2022 campaign website went up, the content, in places, was unintelligible at worst, and an English grad’s most embarrassing writing, at best.

After 14 months in office, meeting videos show Commissioner Lyte’s understanding of how public meetings are conducted is spotty, at best; she demonstrates little understanding of Robert’s Rules.

During a meeting of the Board of Commissioners, there was a heated discussion about whether Commissioners should give themselves a raise and how bonus funds should be distributed to County high-level staff. Commissioner Somerville commented that the bonus funds should go to the lowest paid employees. Shortly thereafter, in the middle of a discussion of an amendment to a resolution, Lyte raised her hand and announced, “I object to Commissioner Somerville’s comment.”

Monica Ross-Williams said that the out-of-date credit card usage policy which was last updated in Feb. 2011, and the County Administrator’s lax oversight of credit card use by his direct reports (including Asberry Payne) has made her angry. She pointed out that over 25 percent of people in Washtenaw County live in poverty.

“This has to stop. Greg Dill, Crystal Lyte, Justin Hodge, Caroline Sanders and Annie Somerville are looting the County for their own financial and personal benefit. This is corruption,” said Ross-Williams.

In 2021, County records revealed that Greg Dill had charged around $3,500 to his county-issued credit card. Alize Asberry Payne had charged around $4,500 to her credit card.

In 2022, Crystal Lyte, Justin Hodge and Annie Somerville were elected to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners. In 2023, Greg Dill charged over $33,000 to his credit card and Alize Asberry Payne charged over $85,000 to hers. in 2022, County employees charged a total of $2,174,419 to their County-provided credits cards. In 2023, that amount jumped a whopping 43 percent to $3,066,185.

Asberry Payne’s credit card spending almost tripled between 2022 and 2023, the year after Lyte, Hodge and Somerville were elected and (along with Greg Dill and Caroline Sanders) the trio of newly-elected commissioners began to benefit directly from Asberry Payne’s county credit card use and spending on the Commissioners.

Commissioners Sanders, Hodge, Lyte and Somerville are all running for re-election in 2024. It is expected that each of them will face at least one opponent.