Further interviews set
At the start of the week, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners had narrowed down the pool of applicants for the new combined county administrator/ chief financial offi-cer (CFO) position to four candidates.
And after the latest round of interviews Monday, the board reduced it further to just two people: Michael Belsky and Kipling Belcher.
Belsky and Belcher were invited for additional interviews starting at 10 a.m. Friday, pending a background check by the county board chairman and county consultant Chet Janik.
The administrator/CFO will be tasked with implementing directives from the county board, have authority over all county departments, and be directly responsible for the finance and human resources (HR) departments, making it possibly the most important non-elected position in county government.
Because of all these duties and responsibilities, and the finance department getting off to a publicly rocky start since 2022, several county board members have voiced their desire to “get it right this time” by finding the best person for the job. They hired former Administrator Janik in March to find someone with the financial knowledge and people skills needed for this role.
Janik found 39 applicants for the position. Seven of these candidates were invited to the first round of interviews May 30-31, and four advanced to a second round June 10. Janik conducted a straw poll of commissioners after the first round of interviews, asking commissioners to identify the applicants they want- ed to advance to the next round.
In the May 31 straw poll, the top-scoring candidates weren’t Belsky and Belcher, but former Gladwin County Administrator Mark Justin and current Oceana County Administrator Tracy Byard. However, Justin and Byard were both ruled out as candidates by the end of the day Monday.
The second round of interviews saw the commissioners allotting more time to each candidate and using a somewhat more conversational approach compared to the first round. The board also invited county staff and department heads to meet and talk with the applicants in the lower level of the government center between interviews.
Some common topics that emerged during the interviews included the candidate’s unique skills and qualifications, how they would resolve disputes between employees, and their thoughts on a September 2023 Rehmann report regarding best practices for the county’s finance department.
Belsky already established in an earlier interview that he attended Leelanau School in Glen Arbor. He also has about 40 years of experience in finance and was mayor of Highland Park, Illinois, from 2003 to 2011. On Monday, he emphasized his expertise in government finance.
“You’re not going to find anybody better on suggesting policy,” Belsky said. “While it’s ultimately up to you – the administrator is not a legislator – I’m going to bring you ideas. Ideas about management, procurement, a whole host of things. That’s the difference between choosing me and someone else.”
There seemed to be some disagreement among commissioners on whether Belsky’s ideas are what the county needs. Although County Commissioner Gwenne Allgaier praised him for bringing a fresh perspective, her fellow Commissioner Jim O’Rourke questioned whether exploring them was a worthy use of their time.
While some commissioner comments seem to suggest that Belsky was overly focused on the finer details of finance, Belcher could have the opposite problem. Belcher is currently a Michigan State Police multijurisdictional task force commander in Gaylord who has signifi cant budgetary experience, according to his resume.
Although Belcher seems to have convinced some commissioners that he is “more than just a top-notch cop” and has real administrative talent, there appeared to be some lingering doubts on his ability to implement the recommendations in the Rehmann report and introduce new accounting systems to the finance department.
“I wish he (Kip Belcher) had interviewed a year ago, but we changed this position to include CFO, and I don’t see how we could justify changing the position if we’re not going to look for somebody with different credentials,” Allgaier said.
Although Belcher and Belsky emerged as the leading candidates Monday, it’s possible that the county board will choose neither of them for the administrator/ CFO role. County Commissioner Doug Rexroat said that he still had reservations about all four candidates, an opinion that a few others seemed to share.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to offer the job to either of the two people I mentioned,” Rexroat said. “You (Janik) asked us to give two names, but I can’t tell you I’m comfortable with either of them right now. We got to get this right, and if it doesn’t feel like things are firing on all cylinders, I’d rather do it again than do it wrong.”
“I cannot see proceeding without at least one more opportunity to meet with the finalists,” board Chairman Ty Wessell agreed. “We got to get seven people (i.e. the whole board of commissioners) excited about whoever we hire.”
Janik said that he will continue assisting the board of commissioners with the search for their next administrator/ CFO if neither Belcher nor Belsky get the position, and he will present additional applicants and facilitate interviews with them if necessary. If the search is extended, the board will likely need to extend their contract with former Traverse City Mayor Richard Lewis or search for a new interim administrator.
