07/30/2026
More turnover in Worth Township
Varty submits resignation, Wilson walks out
BY MIKE GALLAGHER
[email protected]
WORTH TWP. – Changes with the Worth Township board of trustees continued this month with the resignation of two of its members, including one who was appointed just months ago.
In the past year, the board has seen the resignations of clerk Jennifer Marshall and treasurer Jennifer Woodruff, following recall efforts from the public.
Steven Kovac, who was appointed as a trustee in July of 2025 to replace Gary Huevare, who passed away in June of 2025, moved into the clerk position following Marshall’s resignation this past March.
Woodruff, meanwhile, was replaced by John Shea in April.
Kovac’s move to the clerk position opened up a trustee position, which was filled by Byron Wilson at a special board meeting on April 22.
Wilson’s tenure was short-lived, though, as he resigned and walked out of the July 15 board meeting.
At that same meeting, trustee Doug Varty announced to the board that he would be resigning as well, providing the clerk’s office with a letter of resignation on July 22, effective August 31.
Only one member of the board remains from June of last year, supervisor Walt Badgerow.
Wilson’s resignation was accepted by the board at a special meeting on July 20 and at that same meeting, his position was filled by Roger Combs.
“It has nothing to do with the township,” Varty told the Sanilac County News, of his resignation. “It was a personal decision in my life. I have seven properties here and I have sold five of them. I am the only family member left here and most of my family is down south. It’s time to move on. I told myself I would stay until we completely had this township cleaned up and back on the right track. We’ve done that.”
Varty, along with Huevare, were elected to the board in November of 2024, with Varty running on the platform of bringing transparency to the board, while exposing alleged corruption within the board.
In June of 2025, Varty and Huevare ran a two-page advertisement in the Jeffersonian, providing the public with a six-month report of their time on the board, while alleging neglect of duty by the other officials on the board.
Following the report, participation at Worth Township meetings increased, and after the board was unable to approve its 2025-26 budget in July of 2025, members of the public called for the resignation of Badgerow.
Shortly after, demands for the resignations of Woodruff and Marshall began, with recall petitions for both filed in March of 2026.
Now, with a nearly entire new board, Varty feels like Worth Township is back to where it needs to be.
“We cleaned it up,” Varty said. “We’re back in good standing with the state. We have our monies secured and they’re invested now. We cleaned house and I feel fantastic about that. We repaired roads, culverts and beaches. We got it all done. Myself, Gary Huvaere, Steve Kovac and Mr. Shea, we did in 18 months what the other boards couldn’t get done in 15 years. We were public servants and they were in it for self-service.”
Wilson’s resignation, meanwhile, wasn’t as clean of a separation with the board as Varty’s.
According to the board’s proposed minutes for the July 15 meeting, “Wilson also shared with the audience passages from the MTA handbook that state retro-active pay is not legal for public officials in Michigan, and Wilson criticized Supervisor Badgerow for voting to approve some instances of retro-active pay in the past. Wilson highlighted some other concerns he had about the job performance of Supervisor Badgerow. Wilson then announced he was resigning and walked out of the meeting.”
“Byron, like several people in the township, is truly upset with Mr. Badgerow, which I understand,” Varty said. “He’s been on the board in one capacity or another for 14 years and all of this happened when he was on this board.”
At the June 25 meeting, the board rescinded a resolution from 2022 which authorized retroactive back pay going back 72 months for both the clerk (Marshall) and treasurer (Woodruff), in the amount of $39,060 each.
That same resolution authorized retroactive pay for both the deputy clerk and deputy treasures in the amount of $7,812 each.
The resolution was rescinded after the resolution was determined by the current board to run contrary to Article XI Section 3 of the Constitution of Michigan, which states, “Neither the legislature nor any political subdivision of this state shall grant or authorize extra compensation to any public officer agent, or contractor after the service has been rendered of the contract entered into.”
The board, at the same meeting, would go on to rescind a motion from 2018, which reads in relevant part, “Motion to pay retroactive to July 1, 2017, $10,920.00 to the Treasurer and $2,520.00 to the Clerk for sewer work performed.”
The board then approved a motion to “pursue the legal steps necessary to recoup for the taxpayers the improperly issued funds pursuant to guidance issued by this board.”
The 2022 resolution and the 2018 motion were both approved unanimously by the previous boards, of which Badgerow was a member of both, serving as trustee in 2018 and supervisor in 2022.
This fact drew the criticism of Badgerow, from Wilson.
“You can’t lead by apathy,” Varty said. “And that is what happened. Nobody paid attention, whether it was Walt or another trustee, nobody asked any questions. Nobody raised a flag. They just didn’t do their jobs and there was no oversight.”
Varty added: “Byron has very good reasons for being upset and I get it. A lot of people in the township feel that way and I get it. What it boils down to is, if people don’t stay informed and stay engaged, it is going to go right back to the way it was.”
According to the proposed minutes from the July meeting, after Wilson criticized Badgerow and walked out, Kovac commented that, “nothing has been found to indicate that Mr. Badgerow benefited financially from any of these instances, and that during this past year, Mr. Badgerow has voted with the reformers 100 percent of the time.”
The Worth Township Board of Trustees are scheduled to meet again at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 19, at the Worth Township Hall.
“There is no more digging or exposing to do,” Varty said. “Now, it is just keep it going and recover the funds that were taken from the township. Things are on a good track and we have good people in place.”
