The Michigan Association of Counties (MAC) elected board officers for its 2017-18 term and added two new board members at the MAC Annual Conference, held Sept. 24-26 at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

Matthew Bierlein, a Tuscola County commissioner, was sworn in as MAC’s 110^th president since the organization’s founding on Feb. 1, 1898. During his first address as president to the association, Bierlein called for greater engagement with all of Michigan’s 622 county commissioners.

Joining Bierlein on the board’s executive team are: First Vice President Ken Borton, an Otsego County commissioner; Second Vice President Veronica Klinefelt of Macomb County; and Immediate Past President Shelley Taub, an Oakland County commissioner.

“Our new leadership team brings a great variety of skills and experiences to our board,” said Stephan W. Currie, MAC’s executive director. “We have a great team in place as we begin to implement our strategic plan adopted by the board at the Annual Conference.”

In board elections held at the conference, MAC members in attendance elected three new board members:

• Joe Bonovetz of Gogebic County
• Richard Schmidt of Manistee County
• Jim Storey of Allegan County

Also serving as directors on the board for the 2017-18 term are:

• Donald Disselkoen (Ottawa County)
• Philip Kuyers (Ottawa County)
• Christian Marcus (Antrim County)
• Joseph Palamara (Wayne County)
• Robert Showers (Clinton County)
• Joe Stevens (Dickinson County)
• Hugh Crawford (Oakland County)
• Vaughn Begick (Bay County)
• Stan Ponstein (Kent County)

For more information on MAC, visit www.micounties.org.

Demographer Richard Florida notes new research on the relationship between serving your community and personal well-being: “Older Americans (65 and above) who reported engaging in community service had the highest levels of well-being. This is also not surprising, since older people in general have higher levels of happiness overall. But, interestingly, younger Americans ages 18 to 29 who reported community service recognition had the second highest levels of overall well-being (70.3), beating both those in the 30 to 45 and 46 to 64 age groups, who reported slightly lower levels.” Across Michigan county governments always are in need of citizen volunteers to serve on boards, commissions or in a variety of other roles. For example, here’s Kent County’s information on volunteer opportunities. Check with your county to see what’s available and get involved.