Narrowing it down

Commission remains undecided on city manager selection; 2 finalists to advance to 2nd round of interviews

MARQUETTE -- The Marquette City Commission was hoping to select the city’s next manager at a special meeting on Tuesday night, but the matter remains undecided.

The pool of six finalists was narrowed down to two, Karen Kovacs and John Kramer, who will participate a second interview via Zoom on a date yet to be determined.

After the commission discussed whether it should make a final vote at the meeting, it motioned 7-0 to advance to a second interview phase.

At the beginning of the meeting, each commissioner was asked to name up to two finalists for consideration. Those votes are as follows:

≤ Commissioner Fred Stonehouse: Gary Simpson, chief financial officer for the city of Marquette; Richard Downey, village administrator for the village of Kronenwetter, Wisconsin.

≤ Commissioner Evan Bonsall: Karen Kovacs, city administrator for the downstate city of Milan; John Kramer, director of operations for the Fox Valley Park District in Aurora, Illinois.

≤ Commissioner Sally Davis: Kramer.

≤ Commissioner Jessica Hanley: Kovacs; Kramer.

≤ Mayor Pro Tem Jenn Hill: Kovacs; Dan Stoltman, town manager for the town of Kremmling, Colorado.

≤ Commissioner Cody Mayer: Downey; Sean Hobbins, assistant city manager for the city of Marquette.

≤ Mayor Jenna Smith: Kramer; Kovacs.

A second vote was held, with each commissioner agreeing upon Kovacs and Kramer.

Kovacs has been the city administrator of downstate Milan since July 2019. Before that role, she spent almost four years as the finance director and treasurer for the city.

Prior to that, she was a governmental accounting professional consultant for Plante & Moran PLLC. Kovacs graduated with an accounting degree and a minor in applied technology in business from Oakland University.

Kramer has worked as the director of operations for the Fox Valley Park District since 2016, and was previously employed by the Chicago Zoological Society and the city of Wood Dale, Illinois. He's a graduate of Northern Michigan University, as well as Aurora University in Illinois, where he earned his master's of business administration degree.

While commissioner­s Hanley, Stonehouse and Mayer said they would have been comfortable taking a final vote Tuesday, the commission came to a consensus that a second round of interviews with the two finalists is necessary to help the commission make a more clear-cut choice.

The dates and times of the second interviews will be announced once scheduled.

The city is seeking a successor for current Marquette City Manager Mike Angeli, who is set to retire at the end of this month.

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