The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners chose nine candidates from a pool of 37 applicants to interview for the county administrator position. Seven of them agreed to attend interviews starting 9:30 a.m. Monday and continuing 9:15 a.m. Tuesday.
The full-time county administrator position has been vacant since former Administrator Deb Allen stepped down in April. Former Traverse City Mayor Richard Lewis has been serving as interim administrator since then. Lewis’s contract expires May 31, 2025, or when a new administrator is hired.
The board hired another former county administrator, Chet Janik, to lead the search for Allen’s replacement. Janik is now working as a consultant with the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI). Initially the search was targeted at finding a combined administrator/chief financial officer (CFO), but since this was fruitless, the board dropped the CFO from the job title.
Janik said he brought back a “strong pool” of 37 applicants this time. The board went into closed session during a Tuesday afternoon special session to winnow that list down, and they announced their nine top picks after returning to open session.
The first candidate scheduled for Monday is Matthew Marske. According to Marske’s cover letter, he earned a Master of Public Administration at West Virginia University in 2002 and recently retired as warden of the Federal Correction Institution in Oxford, Wisconsin. He relocated to Suttons Bay and currently works and volunteers in the county. Marske’s interview starts at 9:30 a.m.
At 10:30, the board will start interviewing Eric Ceci. Ceci’s cover letter and resume say he has 10 years of experience in local government in Iroquois County, Illinois, including their public health department and emergency management agency. He graduated from Carthage College in Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Then the board will interview Mark Brown at 11:30. Brown’s resume touts his financial background, including his work as CFO for MediaNews Group’s Michigan/Ohio groups and various positions in Gannett Company’s Michigan “umbrella entity,” which includes the Detroit Free Press. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan.
The last candidate to be interviewed Monday at 12:30 will be James Kiessel, who is the current county undersheriff. Kiessel previously interviewed for the interim administrator and administrator/ CFO positions. According to Kiessel, his assets include 25 years of experience in county government. He completed a certifi cate in the school of staff and command at Michigan State University.
Interviews resume Tuesday at 9:15 a.m. with Kipling Belcher, who also interviewed for the administrator/CFO position earlier this year. Belcher is a Michigan State Police multijurisdictional task force commander in Gaylord. He also earned a Master of Business Administration in Gaylord at Spring Arbor University, according to his resume.
After interviewing Belcher, the board will see Jeffrey Thorton at 10:15. Thorton currently serves as village manager and clerk in Caledonia, Michigan, which is in Kent County. Before that, Thorton was city manager in Negaunee in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and Chief Administrative Officer in Alpena County. His educational background includes Michigan State University.
The final interview scheduled is with James Dyer, the Northport Village manager, at 11:15. Dyer has been Northport Village manager since October 2023. Also listed in his employment history is time as attorney and stakeholder at Rosati, Schultz, Joppich, and Amstbuechler, PC, and corporation counsel in Calhoun County, and he says his mediative experiences make him suited for the administrator role.
The board also invited Robert Reinshuttle, a deputy county administrator in Manatee County, Florida, and Brandon Fewis, the United States Department of Agriculture rural development director in Michigan. They could not attend, however, with Reinshuttle citing prohibitive travel costs and Fewis being out of the country until Nov. 21.
The administrator search was postponed in August, partly because the current board wanted the newly elected commissioners to have a say in the search process. Janik said that the candidates will have the chance to “meet and greet” the candidates after their interviews Monday and Tuesday and give feedback to the current commissioners.
“Assuming the election is certifi ed this week … I can reach out to the candidates and give them an update, invite them to the meetings, and also give them copies of the resumes. I’ll encourage them to come to the interviews and contact their commissioner with their inputs,” Janik said.
Candidates may be invited back for a second round of interviews tentatively scheduled for Dec. 12 and 13. Janik said that although the first round will have a question-and-answer format, the second round will be more conversational and last approximately 90 minutes each.
Also at their Nov. 12 special session, the board appointed a new road commissioner: Mel Black. Black previously ran for road commissioner in 2022 but did not secure his party’s nomination in the primary. Black will serve the remainder of John Popa’s term, which ends Dec. 31, 2026. Popa passed away Sept. 5 due to complications from a UTV accident the previous month.
The board interviewed Black and Tim Lodge, a city engineer in the City of Traverse City, for the position. Although all board members expressed the sentiment that both Black and Lodge were qualified, the board ultimately chose Black by a 4-1 vote with Commissioner Kama Ross opposed.
“We have two excellent candidates, there’s no two ways about it. Trying to figure out which way to go here is not easy. Since we’re replacing John Popa, I’m thinking about what he brought … and I’m probably leaning towards Black,” Commissioner Doug Rexroat said.
