Leelanau County government may be overseen by a new administrator very soon.
Three candidates for the position – Jim Dyer, Kipling Belcher, and Mark Brown – have been invited back for follow ups after clearing their first round of interviews Monday and Tuesday.
Dyer seems to be favored, as when administrator search consultant Chet Janik conducted a straw poll of the county board Tuesday, he received the most votes, with five out of six commissioners saying he should be included in the second round Dec. 12. Dyer is an attorney and Northport Village manager.
The current county commissioners delayed the administrator search partly because they wanted the new board members elected Nov. 5 to have a say in the process. The new administrator will be charged with implementing the directives of the new commissioners over their four-year terms, which start in January.
Three commissioners-elect attended the interviews in person: Will Bunek, Alan Campbell, and Steve Yoder. A fourth commissioner-elect, Rick Robbins, phoned Janik with his thoughts. Their impressions of the candidates were generally aligned with those of the sitting commissioners, with Dyer and Brown leading in their own straw poll.
Commissioner Jim O’Rourke even suggested they give the position to Dyer on the spot, since he called a second round “wasting our time” and said he thought that Dyer getting the position is a foregone conclusion. But the other commissioners weren’t quite as enthusiastic, heeding Janik’s suggestion that they see how the candidates perform in the second round.
Janik said the second round of interviews will be “more of a dialogue” between the commissioners, commis- sioners-elect, and the candidates, compared to the question- and-answer format of the first round. The three candidates will be interviewed for 90 minutes each at a Dec. 12 special session.
Dyer’s resume says he has 30 years of experience as a municipal lawyer and was mayor of Marshal, Michigan, from 20112014. It also says he also implemented the transition of the administrative authority in the Village of Northport into the position of manager, in which he currently serves. He says his mediative experiences make him well-suited for the administrator role.
“I liked what Mr. Dyer brings with his experience and his background, and what I know he’s done in the places he’s been. So, my top two are Dyer and Brown, and if we’re going to do three, I’d include Belcher,” Chairman Ty Wessell said.
Belcher is a Michigan State Police multi-jurisdictional task force commander. He also earned a Master of Business Administration at Spring Arbor University in Gaylord. He was previously interviewed for a combined county administrator/ chief financial officer (CFO) position in June.
For at least some commissioners, the only thing that held Belcher back from the administrator/ CFO role was his lack of financial experience. But this is now a moot point, as the county board agreed to drop the “CFO” part of the job title in August.
The county board redefined the administrator search process because they felt it would be too hard to find someone with both administrative talent and financial background. But ironically, Brown seems to have the qualifications for such a position. “I can’t help wonder, where was he when we were looking for a CFO?” Commissioner Melinda Lautner asked.
Brown’s resume says he worked 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 in Ann Arbor.
But on the other hand, several county commissioners voiced concerns about Brown’s lack of county government experience.
The county board approved inviting back Belcher, Brown, and Dyer by a 4-2 vote, with commissioners O’Rourke and Kama Ross voting “no.” O’Rourke said he dissented because he wanted to offer Dyer the position, while Ross wanted to include a fourth candidate in the second round of interviews.
In addition to the seven candidates who were interviewed inperson, an eighth applicant attended via Zoom. This was Brandon Fewis, the United States Department of Agriculture rural development director in Michigan, who could not attend in person because he was out of the country. Ross argued that Fewis should have the chance for another interview in person, but she was outvoted.
