Plans to discard its controversial “parks supervisor” position were discussed last week by the Suttons Bay Township Board.
At its monthly meeting Jan. 10 the township board discussed plans to get rid of its controversial salaried position — a post that has been vacant since former township trustee Bill Drozdalski resigned in November.
“(We’re) not really looking at a parks supervisor, but more ‘township maintenance,’ which would include doing some of the things at all the parks but not necessarily a parks supervisor,” township Trustee Dorothy Petoskey said.
“What Dorothy is saying rings true — as far as I’m concerned, this township has only one supervisor, and his name is Doug Periard, (the township supervisor,) and the notion that the parks supervisor is going to supervise the parks and recreation committee is not a good idea,” Trustee Eric Carlson added.
The “parks supervisor” role did not exist prior to Drozdalski. Given the history of conflict between this staff position and township residents, the board appeared uninterested in maintaining the role in its current form.
After losing his seat on the township board to Debbie Slocombe in 2016, Drozdalski moved into a “parks supervisor” role. Unfortunately, Drozdalski often found himself at odds with the township’s parks and recreation committee, with several committee members stepping down in 2022 over issues with his management style.
Problems continued in summer 2023 when a group that led crowdfunding for improvements at Herman Park publicly accused the parks supervisor of “incompetence and lack of integrity.” The township board appointed a committee to collect information on these accusations and report their findings to the board. This investigation was dropped, however, when Drozdalski resigned.
Periard and Carlson agreed to meet as a personnel committee and come back to the board with a recommendation at a future meeting. Further discussion by the board indicates that some of Drozdalski’s duties and responsibilities may be included in a “building and grounds” or “facilities manager” role.
Also at the January regular meeting, the board:
• Scheduled a joint meeting of the township board and the parks and recreation committee for 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 29 to review the committee’s five-year plan.
• Approved an agreement with Leland Public School for the collection of summer taxes for the district at $2.50 per parcel, which is unchanged from previous years.
