Listen to my positions on important issues in the upcoming election for District 2 Commissioner in Roscommon (Gerrish-Higgins Township)
I’m a candidate for District 2 Commissioner (Gerrish & Higgins Township) and I mean business for Roscommon. I presume that my opponents are both fine men but I am the only candidate that has a degree in business and extensive business experience. I’ve owned and run a successful business since 1996. I’m the only candidate that has signed the fronts of paychecks, not just the back. My experience will bring new, fresh ideas to Roscommon County. I won’t go along to get along. I won’t be a “good old boy” Commissioner. I’ll fight for the people of Roscommon. Those who know me know I’ll make a great Commissioner.
I’ll break a few eggs to shake things up. I’ll work towards making Roscommon a better place to live and visit. We have one of the highest unemployment rates in Michigan and that is inexcusable. Unemployment is consistently over 10%. Click here to see Roscommon’s current unemployment rate. It’s a tragedy.
We have the natural resources and talent in this community to improve everyone’s life but the current Board has done nothing. I’m a great researcher and I’ll go to Lansing to find out what needs to be done to attract businesses and jobs to our community.
I have a Business Degree from Northwood University that I received that was partially paid for as a result of a football scholarship. I am also a Certified Assessor and have been over 5 years. I understand the law regarding property taxes and I'll bring a lot of experience and knowledge to the Board.
I was a boxer in my youth and I am not afraid to fight for what's right. I was a Golden Gloves Champion in 1976 & 1977 and in 1979 I fought and won the very first Tough Man Boxing Tournament, reigning over a field of 32 fighters. I was also a professional Boxer.
For those of you that don’t know me, I’ll be a fighter for Roscommon. Back in 2011, the property assessments in Gerrish Township were well over-assessed. After appealing to the Board of Review concerning hundreds of properties in Gerrish Township and getting nowhere, I filed a Complaint with the Michigan State Tax Commission regarding improper assessments. That Complaint resulted in an investigation into how our local assessor was computing our assessments and she was brought before the Tax Commission for a disciplinary review. 3 days before that review was to take place, she resigned. When a new assessor was brought in and properties were reassessed, property assessments and taxable values were dramatically reduced saving the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars that year and every year thereafter.
Since then, I obtained my Assessors license (see above) because I wanted to understand how property taxes are calculated in Roscommon and if our assessors were properly fulfilling their duties resulting in additional oversight claims.
Click "Complaint to Michigan State Tax Commission" above to view the full Complaint.
Check out this great video of Merganser ducklings we captured and translocated to Lake Huron
I was very active in helping reduce Swimmer’s Itch on Higgins Lake. I supported the Higgins Lake Swimmer’s Itch Organization and worked closely with Dr. Curtis Blankespoor of Swimmer's Itch Solutions (see photos below) in capturing and relocating Merganser ducklings off Higgins Lake that were spreading Swimmer’s Itch all over Higgins. They were humanely taken to an area and released where the snail that spreads the parasite to humans doesn’t exist.
SWIMMER’S ITCH USED TO BE A BIG PROBLEM – NOW IT ISN’T
Gerrish Township and Northpoint Fisheries installed Merganser nest boxes on Higgins to attract them here. Does that make sense? They illegally shot, captured and killed Merganser hens in those same boxes. I notified and followed up with the US Fish and Wildlife Service of the illegal activity and they stepped in and stopped them.
I REMOVED MOST ALL THE NEST BOXES ON HIGGINS
I proceeded to make sure that all the next boxes were removed from our shorelines which has practically eliminated Mergansers nesting on Higgins. We've been fortunate that SI has dramatically reduced on Higgins for the past few years because of that. In Dr. Blankespoor’s last report he stated the following: “We are convinced that the removal of the Gerrish Township common merganser nest boxes, first erected in 2017, have played a significant role in the observed decrease in common merganser broods on Higgins Lake. Had Eric Ostergren not spear-headed this removal effort, it’s reasonable to assume that a half-dozen (or more) common merganser hens would have produced broods this summer.”
Click here to view the entire Swimmer’s Itch Control Program Report ending in 2021.
Be wery, wery quiet... We're hunting mergansers.
I was a Poll Challenger this past election and was illegally removed from my oversight responsibilities while I was overseeing the counting of mail-in-ballots in Oakland County. It is a long story but a concerning one. It was a prime example of why our electoral process needs to be cleaned up. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, changed the rules regarding how close we could be to observe the processing of the mail-in ballots a month before the election, something they knew was illegal. 5 days before the election they stipulated to change the rules back in Court so we could observe what was going on in counting the mail-in ballots but they didn’t tell the county clerks running the election.
Oakland County had consolidated 500,000 mail-in ballots into 4 counting places (125,000 per facility). That concerned the Presidents attorneys because it would be impossible to observe processing that many ballots on election day. Additionally, the chain of custody would be impossible to track as the mail-in-ballots were not under observation. Then, they were dispersed to four different counting locations. The lawsuit was drawn up several days before the election to stop the counting but the President's attorneys never filed it. When I went to Oakland County to observe the counting on election day, I was illegally removed while trying to observe how election workers were processing them under the rules the Secretary of State agreed to. That is when the lawsuit was filed but it was too late. Please click the audio link below to listen to my interview with Guy Gordon at 760 WJR Radio the following day for the whole story.
When I ran for Trustee back in 2016, I received a copy of the registered voters in Gerrish Township and when I started visiting the addresses, at least 20% were inaccurate. Either the addresses didn't exist or the people were not living there. Our voting rolls need to be cleaned up. I’ll work to get that done.
Click here to view President Trump and my lawsuit against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
My complaint against the improper handling of ballots in the 2020 election led to a lawsuit with President Donald J. Trump and I against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and an interview with Guy Gordon two days after the election.
Since 2012, I’ve spearheaded the efforts to have the Commissioners fulfill their legal responsibilities in maintaining the legal levels on Higgins Lake. Over a thousand petitions were presented and surveys were shown to the Commissioners who ignored our pleas. Then, in 2019, the Commissioners passed an illegal resolution requiring 2/3rds of lake front property owners petitioning them and paying $10,000, before they would ask EGLE for a permit modification that would help them maintain the legal levels. All that happened despite the fact that they had paid the Spicer Group over $30,000 to make recommendations help them control the levels closer to the legal level. They ignored the recommendations and everyone else. I formed a non-profit organization called “Citizens for Higgins Lake Legal Levels” and we sued the Commissioners for not doing their job. The local court ruled against us, but the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned that decision in a landmark case and sent the case back to the local court with instructions that the Commissioners had to maintain the legal levels. So far, the Commissioners have spent over $22,000 on attorneys fees defending a case they lost. Now, they have voted to appeal that case to the Michigan Supreme Court. We are confident that the Supreme Court will not take the case up and if they do, we expect we will win. It defies logic to understand how the Commissioners could ignore the law and not face the fact that they need to do their job. Click here to view the Court of Appeals decision. Click here to see TV 9&10 News interview with me and report about our case.
Recently the Commissioners reduced the amount of time the public could make comments. I will work to repeal that change. I could understand that change if the amount of public comment lasted a long time but it doesn’t. The reasons for making the change was to diminish anyone who disagreed with their actions. I will never do that and I will always be available to communicate with you if you have questions or concerns.
On Tuesday, August 2, the Republican Primary will be held and the winner will run virtually "unopposed" in the General Election. If you can put up a yard sign, click the "CONTACT US FOR A YARD SIGN" link above and let us know. If you can contribute to our campaign click the "DONATE NOW" button below to pay with credit card or you can send a check to:
Committee to Elect Eric Ostergren
2779 West Higgins Lake Drive
Roscommon, MI 48653
Copyright © 2022 Eric Ostergren for Commissioner - All Rights Reserved.
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