Liimatta, Dennis

MARQUETTE — The search for a new manager in Marquette Township has started anew, and officials are speculating the situation might not be resolved until the end of June.

Trustees of the Marquette Township Board received an update from current Marquette Township Manager Randy Girard during a recent meeting about steps that could be taken after Dennis Liimatta declined the position.

“As you all know, the candidate that you were speaking with ultimately ended up not being available for other reasons about a week ago,” Girard said. “In the meantime, Supervisor (Lyn) Durant and I have had several conversations and I have gone forward on your behalf and initiated some initial actions.”

Township staff made contact with the Michigan Townships Association and the Michigan Municipal League to list the position on each organization’s website prior to the township board’s March 3 meeting, Girard said.

Those avenues will continue to be pursued until the board’s March 18 meeting, at which time Girard will present options to obtain direct recruitment services for the position from either the MML or a private consultant unless candidates for the position are found prior to that date.

“So, we are in the process basically,” Girard said. “I have reached out to several regional managers with the retirement system that I work with to canvass the townships and communities that they work with. And I sent (it) out to a managers, superintendent(s) and supervisors group. That’s where we are; we’ve gotten information out to people again, and it’s basically on your plate to determine what you want to do with it. What kind of a process do you want to follow? Do you want to continue going in this direction until your next meeting and what would you like to do?”

He said consulting services could cost anywhere from $12,000 to $27,000.

Members interviewed three candidates on Nov. 23, but declined to extend any of those individuals an offer of employment. Liimatta, a former Marquette Township supervisor, had reached out to the board that day to remove his name from consideration for personal reasons. Liimatta was contacted by the board on Nov. 25 asking if he would consider interviewing for the position at a later date, and he was subsequently interviewed on Jan. 3. The board then tendered a conditional offer of employment on Jan. 9.

Trustee Dave Wiegand, who voted against a November decision to delay Liimatta’s initial interview until January and also cast a nay vote on the motion to tender an offer of employment following the candidate’s interview, said the process was “an embarrassment to the board.”

“We have gone two different directions. We have put our notices out in the paper, and we got everybody in here for interviews and then we decided to wait six weeks for this guy to come up. And then we had to hurry up and make a decision so we could give him time to make a decision. And then, bottom line, nothing came of this,” Wiegand said. “And, to date, we look like a board that doesn’t really know what they’re doing right now.”

Several members of the board disagreed with Wiegand about the process.

Township Supervisor Lyn Durant said the search was completed on a quick timeline in order to ensure that other avenues could be pursued if initial efforts to find a replacement didn’t work out.

“I think we followed the steps that we had planned and a lot of that was out of our control,” Durant said. “I don’t think it reflects bad(ly) on us at all.”

Girard’s contract was set to expire on Dec. 31, but the board voted to extend it until June 1 during a previous meeting.

He will stay until the end of June if necessary to facilitate a smooth transition, Girard said.

During the meeting, the board also voted 5-1 to put a two-year millage renewal for the Peter White Public Library on the November ballot. Township staff and legal counsel will craft ballot language and a two-year contract renewal for library services for approval at a future board meeting.

“We have to have the contract before the millage can be put on the ballot,” Township Clerk Randy Ritari said. “And, unlike other millage that can be requested by residents by referendum, this one cannot be requested by a referendum. The township board’s role is just to put this on the ballot. We do have the ability in the contract to name the millage, the length and what election it’s put on. It’s pretty much spelled out in the contract that we are requesting a renewal for what we would like.”

Township taxpayers currently pay 1 mill, or $1 per $1,000 in taxable property value, which is reduced to .9061 mills by a Headlee Amendment rollback.

According to the PWPL website, millages provide the majority of funding for the library. “Over 70% of the general operating budget is received from personal and real property taxes,” the website states.

Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. Her email address is lbowers@miningjournal.net.