Grebner first ran for commissioner in 1974 at the age of 21. At 65 years old, he is running for re-election after having served four times as chair of the Board of Commissioners. His campaign issues include the county's limited tax base and ethical conduct in office.

Limited tax base

Grebner is concerned with the limited tax base and a seemingly unlimited need for services. He said county governments only have one taxing power, which is to levy property taxes.

Another reason for the shrinking tax base is the Legislature's continuation of inventing “new exemptions for various types of real estate,” he said.

“The result of that is that the property that we tax is shrinking over time as a percentage of people's wealth,” he said.

Ethical conduct

A major problem within every unit of government is ethical conduct, he said. For example, board staff cannot do campaign work during paid businesses hours. They have to work on campaigns during their own time.

Grebner believes the code of conduct for county commissioners is more stringent than the norm for other elected officials.

“Our ethics policy is not a normal policy ... and nobody really wants to follow (them) because they're just surprisingly strict,” Grebner said.

District 10: Thomas Morgan

Morgan is a former chairman of the Ingham County Economic Development Corporation and reporter for Lansing City Pulse. The 38-year-old also owns a political consulting firm. His main campaign issues include healthcare, road maintenance and transparent government.

Healthcare

Morgan is interested in protecting health care for county residents, he said, because the Ingham County Health Department serves many low-income residents. Given his own experiences growing up near the poverty line, he said he wants to give back to the county.

“The county plays a critical role in people's lives," he said. "I was the first person in my family to go to college. Growing up, I needed a lot of help from society. Now that I've made it, I want to give back as much as I can.”

He said he plans to give back by serving the county government and protecting life-saving health care for residents who depend on it.

Road maintenance

Poor roads can prevent businesses from moving into Ingham County, he said. Improvements to critical infrastructure are the kinds of investments he wants to see.

“I'm really working on increasing road funding and improving coordination between the county, other local governments and the state, to make road repairs more efficient and get our roads back up to par,” he said.

Transparent government

Local corporations and wealthy developers should pay their fair share of taxes, he said. He wants the county to stop giving away "massive" tax incentives and breaks without holding companies accountable for continued investment in the county.

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct a quote by Morgan. He said "the county," not "accounting."