The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners interviewed five candidates to fill the role of interim county administrator between current Administrator Deb Allen’s departure on April 12 and the approval of a permanent replacement, which the county’s consultant Chet Janik hopes to complete by the week of May 27.
Richard Lewis, former city manager, commissioner, and mayor of Traverse City, used his impressive resume and southern charms to earn the majority of the board’s support. The county board agreed to enter into contract negotiations with Lewis for the position by a 5-2 vote, with commissioners Kama Ross and Jim O’Rourke voting no.
The commissioners spoke with the candidates for about half an hour each before their regular session Tuesday night. Janik conducted a straw poll of the commissioners after the interviews were over, asking them to write down the names of the candidates that they felt were suited for the job, with no limit on candidates.
Lewis came out on top of the straw poll with five votes. The second most popular candidate with four votes by his own admission didn’t have the years of administrative experience to rival the others but was already a regular at the county government center – Leelanau County Undersheriff James Kiessel.
The other candidates – Robert Clingenpeel, former county administrator/ controller for Montcalm County in West Michigan; Jean Derenzy, former Traverse City Downtown Development Authority director; and Mark Justin, former county administrator for Gladwin County – earned three, two, and zero votes respectively.
Lewis got his start in county government in Daviess County, Kentucky, in 1979, before moving to Traverse City in 1991 and serving as city manager for 17 years. After working for civil engineering company CH2M Hill and as city manager for the city of St. Joseph in southwest Michigan from 2008 to 2015, Lewis returned to Traverse City and served as city commissioner for four years and mayor for two years. He opted to not run for re-election after his term expired in 2023 and is now retired.
“I’m not here for your money. If I really wanted to have money, I could go someplace else, I would think – eh, no one may want me, or my wife may not allow me to leave,” Lewis said in his twangy accent, eliciting laughs from the commissioners. “I’m here to help you keep the ship straight and narrow.”
If hired as interim administrator following negotiations, Lewis said that he would be flexible in his scheduling so he could work extra hours at the government center when needed, keep an open-door policy, and provide written updates to the board on a weekly or biweekly basis.
After Lewis, the candidate that rallied the most votes from the commissioners was Undersheriff Kiessel. Kiessel has worked in the county sheriff ’s office since 1999 and is the only candidate to live in the county in Leland Township. Before that, Kiessel served in the U.S. Army from 1989-1991, fighting in the Gulf War; graduated the Northwestern Michigan Policy Academy in 1997; and served in the Manistee Police Department.
Kiessel regularly attends county board sessions and was one of two employees, along with former Planning and Community Development Director Trudy Galla, to suggest the board carry out an organizational culture survey after the resignation of the last finance director, Sean Cowan.
“I felt I had something I had to offer to the county that maybe was unique and different,” Kiessel said. “In two weeks, I’ll hit 25 years with the county, so I’ll be eligible to retire. As I told the sheriff, that is not my intention. I don’t plan on leaving, but on the same token, I want to keep my options open for opportunities that could come in the future, and obviously, this position, I feel, could be one of those opportunities.”
Kiessel modestly said the idea to apply for interim administrator “wasn’t original” – current Grand Traverse County Administrator Nate Alger was county undersheriff himself before becoming interim administrator, and former Leelanau County Administrator Dave Gill was also county undersheriff at one time. Ultimately, however, he fell short of Lewis by one vote.
The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners agreed to meet again at 1 p.m. on March 22 to approve the hours and pay for the interim position.
