MARQUETTE — The Marquette City Commission on Monday night completed an important step in its process to hire a new city manager in light of current Marquette City Manager Mike Angeli’s upcoming retirement.

The commission voted 7-0 to approve a professional services contract with Walsh Municipal Services LLC of downstate Okemos to seek out and then narrow down candidates for the position, which will be vacated by Angeli on June 1.

Angeli is set to retire after 45 years of employment with the city, most notably with the Marquette Police Department as a patrol officer and detective captain before being promoted to chief of police in 2008. Angeli has served as the city manager since 2015.

A subcommittee comprised of city commissioners Sally Davis, Cody Mayer and Fred Stonehouse was formed in December to develop a replacement process and approve a firm to guide that process. Davis, Mayer and Stonehouse were appointed by Mayor Jenna Smith to the subcommittee.

The subcommittee put out a request for proposals with a late January deadline in search of a firm specializing in executive recruitment services. After receiving and reviewing six responses, the subcommittee recommended Walsh Municipal Services LLC as the top candidate for its experience with municipal governments across the state.

Stonehouse said the subcommittee sought a consultant that will have an understanding of the city and its people.

“The critical point here is that the (consultant) represents the face of the city of Marquette,” he said. “We were very concerned that they would have an understanding of the city of Marquette, of what the city had, of how we were unique from other communities in the state and the region. That took a little bit of talking through.

“When you think of Marquette and you think of how different we are, I mean we’re a 21st-century city quite literally in the middle of the woods with wonderful nature around us. We’re a center of banking in the Upper Peninsula, we have a regional medical center, we have a medium-sized university and we have literally the best hunk of seacoast anywhere in the Great Lakes when we look at our lakeshore and have the fullest understanding that it’s all publicl owned — virtually — and publicly accessible. Those are attributes that are very important when you represent the city, when you understand the importance we place on recreation. For example, we have 16 miles of multipurpose trails in the city and another 49 out in the Heartwood (Forest). The entrepreneurs we have in the city and how they’re connected to the web and literally live in the 21st-century lifestyle, these are all things that make Marquette special. And we want to make sure that the person we recommended to the commission would be somebody who could carry those attributes forward and understood the city.”

Frank Walsh, president of Walsh Municipal Services LLC, addressed the commission at Monday’s meeting.

“What happens now is I take the next 30 days and I interview — through phone interviews — with the city commission, your key department heads and anybody in the community that you would like me to talk to — chamber (of commerce) director, school superintendent — I gather all of that information. Keep in mind, the profile is all about selling Marquette. It’s not so much the job. The people looking for this job, they’ll know what a city manager does. The profile is to say ‘Look at beautiful Marquette, it’s superior’ and that’s what will draw their attention.

“We do that and then after a period of about 30 days, we begin the next 30 days and that’s recruiting candidates. And I don’t just sit back and wait for them to apply, I go out and I use my connections throughout the state — and in fact, throughout the nation — that I’ve built over the years, to reach out and bring people to Marquette. We work really hard to draw candidates and from there, I bring them to (the commission) and you meet, review them. And if they request confidentiality, that’s done through closed session under the Michigan Open Meetings Act. After that, you announce your finalists.”

Walsh also spoke on the importance of diversity during the search process, with his firm working hard to get more women involved in municipal government.

After Commissioner Jessica Hanley was elected to the commission in November, Marquette had a female-majority city commission for the first time in history, with Hanley joining Smith, Davis and Mayor Pro Tem Jenn Hill.

“Diversity is going to be really important to us,” he said. “There’s not enough women in local government in Michigan. Sixteen percent of managers in Michigan are women, and I’m proud to say in six of the last searches I’ve done, three have been females. We’re really working hard on increasing that.

“We guarantee our work, and I can tell you I will become completely lock-stepped with Marquette as we work to find your next manager. Your current manager (Angeli) has a wonderful reputation in the state of Michigan, so there will be big shoes to fill. But we’re off and running, and I’m excited and humbled by the choice and I’m really going to enjoy working with (the commission).”

Walsh also has recent experience working with another area municipality, Marquette Township.

The township hired Jon Kangas to the township manager position last June under Walsh’s guidance. Kangas took over for Randy Girard, who retired last year.

A tentative timeline provided to the commission showed that community stakeholder meetings and interviews with the city commission will take place throughout the remainder of February. In March, the commission will need to approve the candidate profile before the job is posted online through April.

Deadline to apply for the position will be April 9, with the commission meeting in a closed session on April 17 to review each candidate. Five finalists will then be announced on April 19 before public interviews occur on May 2.

The following week will consist of final background checks before approving a new city manager contract on May 10.

Ryan Spitza can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. His email address is rspitza@miningjournal.net.