The Village of Northport will most likely be starting the search for a new manager in the months ahead after the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners extended an administrator position to Jim Dyer last Thursday. Dyer and the county came to a contract agreement Tuesday at the Leelanau County Board of Commissioner regular meeting, and is expected to begin in his new role March 31.
Dyer, who has more than 30 years of experience as a municipal management professional, has served as the village manager for over a year now. Part of Dyer’s contract with the village is he has to give a 90 day notice to vacate the position, so there will also likely be a transition period to allot Northport enough time to hire someone to replace him. Northport Village Council President Chris McCann said they will have to look at using the same Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI) process implemented over a year ago when former interim manager Chet Janik helped the municipality search for potential manager candidates.
“It’s certainly a little bittersweet, but knowing what I’ve seen Jim do in Northport, if he can take that to that county level, we’re all going to be better for it… I’m very optimistic about what it will mean for Leelanau and all the other communities, not just Northport,” McCann said. “I think that’s what we’ve tried to tell people in Northport is that the things that we’re going to do for this community — the things that we wanted Jim to come in and do — were not to benefit anyone individual or group or party, but I think we’ve seen an effort to improve the community in multiple levels, our water, our sewer, our parks, we’re talking about housing… Jim has set the standard for what we’re looking for.”
When Dyer was first hired on by the Northport Village Council last year, he also had a transition period between his previous job. He was serving as Corporation Counsel for Calhoun County at the time, and while he was offered the village manager role in Aug. 2023, he did not begin full-time until a couple months later on Oct. 1.
McCann said over the last year, Dyer has been a great asset in finalizing and bringing a lot of the village ordinances, policies, and procedures up to date, which in turn helps to make the transition for the next manager easier. As Northport’s first full-time manager, Dyer has been the point person for council trustees and has essentially helped lead the village to where it is today.
“I will certainly miss having him in the office everyday, but knowing that the county is a small place and that Jim will never be far from Northport, I do hope to see him back up in the community,” McCann added. “We all have, but he has certainly helped point the village of Northport in a more positive direction and it just helped to smooth things over a little bit.”
While it depends on how quickly the village identifies a new manager, Dyer said he intends to honor the 90 day provision notice in his contract, and expects the transition process to go smoothly. Dyer said in over his year of serving as manager, the job has helped make him a better government manager, which is something he thought he always could do, but his time in Northport has proven that.
“Whoever takes my place will have the ability to contact me anytime for any reason,” Dyer said. “I’ve had a wonderful time with the village of Northport. It’s a great place to work, it’s a great place to do a lot of things. I’ve enjoyed it immensely and will be looking for every way that I possibly can to stay involved in Northport.”
