Retiring Marquette City Manager Mike Angeli is shown in his office at Marquette City Hall on May 20. Angeli is retiring today after 45 years of employment with the city. (Journal photo by Ryan Spitza)

MARQUETTE — Retiring Marquette City Manager Mike Angeli didn’t start his 45-year-long career with the city with the intent of becoming its manager.

“I’m here as just a matter of circumstance, good circumstance for me,” he said.

Before taking the city manager role, Angeli was serving as chief of police for the Marquette Police Department, a position he had held since 2008.

“In 2015, the manager at the time (Bill Vajda) decided to leave,” Angeli said. “I’d been very close to him, working with him on a lot of things. I was very aware of the business of the city at the time, which at that time involved the relocation of the hospital, the relocation of our (municipal) service center, and there were a lot of moving parts. The (city) commission felt, and I agreed, that it would have been detrimental to both projects if we were to go for a manager search and bring someone in cold to try and deal with this.

“I was offered the job of an interim manager to take over while a new manager was being sought, something I’d done once before. Within a few days of doing the interim job, the commission decided to offer me the job permanently and I agreed to take it and I’ve been here ever since.”

After six years on the job, Angeli is set to retire today. While his role as city manager gives him much to reflect on, those six years represent only a fraction of his career with the city, which spanned more than four decades.

Angeli, who graduated from Marquette Senior High School in 1973, earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in business management from Northern Michigan University. He’s also a graduate of NMU’s Regional Police Academy, the FBI National Academy, Central Michigan University’s Law Enforcement Executive Leadership Institute and the Lake Superior Leadership Academy.

Angeli joined Marquette’s police force in 1976, spending his first 10 years as a patrol officer before obtaining the rank of detective captain, and then chief of police.

“George Johnson was the police chief in 1976 when I joined the police department,” Angeli said. “He was the person that hired me as basically an unskilled officer. I was a paraprofessional, I was a support officer, I really didn’t act as a police officer. He supported me as I went through the police academy, and then I became an officer after that.”

Angeli was grateful to serve the city’s residents as a law enforcement officer.

“… To be a community servant in the community where I grew up was what I wanted to do,” he said. “My parents instilled in me the necessity of giving back to your community, of being involved in your community, and that’s transpired in many ways. But it seemed to me that being a police officer was one of the ways I could really do that. That’s the best I think I could say about doing that job.

“There’s a lot of ‘worsts.’ I mean you see the ugly side of society, and Marquette, even though it’s a small community, has its ugly side. You spend time dealing with things that maybe you don’t want to. You kind of develop thick skin and maybe even a sarcastic attitude because of it, which isn’t always conducive to getting along with other people.

“There were times when I really enjoyed the job and there were times when I really didn’t care for it. The things that probably stay in your mind the most are the death notifications, or the death of a child or a young person, which as a police officer you have to be involved in whether it be through a traffic accident, a drowning or some other kind of accidental death. Those are the low points.”

One of the major duties of being a police officer is to pull people over for traffic violations. Angeli, who has heard nearly every trick in the book for getting out of a ticket, offered a tip.

“If I have to offer anybody advice about how to deal with a police officer: It’s always be polite, be courteous, be cooperative and you’ll be just fine.”

After 39 years on the police force, stepping into an administrative role with the city was a major change for Angeli.

“Yeah, I was nervous,” he said. “This is something I had done on an interim basis, but I really didn’t want to fail. I prided myself on not failing. I came into the job, I had the full support of the commission, which was very helpful, and I was able to feel my way through the projects so to speak, apply what I had already known about managing people and managing projects, and it all worked out, it all fit.

“It was very hectic in the beginning. We had multiple projects that were either in progress or needed to be put into progress or put into motion, all of them somewhat critical to the operations of the city, the premier project being the location of the new hospital in the city. If it wasn’t for the help and the coordination of my staff, and anybody else from the outside that might have been involved in any particular project, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I mean, it was that busy.

“Working government, things kind of take time as it is — and we didn’t have a lot of time in the beginning — so with the help of my staff and the commission, we were able to do a lot of things very quickly, which made it hectic but also made it very rewarding.”

Angeli highlighted some of his favorite projects over the years.

“There’s a few,” he said. “I was able to finish the hospital project, relocate the (municipal) service center, I’m very proud of the fact that we were finally able to finally move on the relocation of Lakeshore Boulevard, which has been on the books for at least 20 years. We closed out the development aspect of Founders Landing, another project that’s been on the books for about 20 years. I’ve implemented much of the Heartwood property use plan. There’s been a lot of things that we just moved forward with that had been around for a while that just kind of worked out for me and with the help of the staff here.”

Angeli also encountered some challenging situations as city manager.

“As far as projects go, I can’t say that there’s a least favorite one,” he said. “But things that were probably disappointing were things like losing the We Energies plant in north Marquette, and that’s from the aspect of they were a serious tax revenue source for us. To overcome that loss in revenue was a challenge, and it was a motivator to do some other things.

“We had tax challenges that came along that really put some strain on our revenue sources, and those kind of things are disappointing. I mean, we managed to work through all of them, but those are the kind of things I’d rather not deal with.”

Asked what the biggest change is that he’s seen in the city over the years, Angeli commented on the transition from Marquette’s industrial age to its tourism heyday.

“The leaders of Marquette over the years — probably for the last 30 years — have been very progressive in the fact that they recognized the need for Marquette to grow from the previous business model or lifestyle of relying on mining,” he said. “Which is what (Marquette) was basically created or developed on. They recognized that the mining industry was not going to be around forever, and if it was, it would be at a smaller rate than it has been. Our forefathers recognized that we needed to change our way of doing things and base our economy on services, either through tourism, providing an environment for a new hospital (or) supporting the university. Those are the kind of things where decisions were made long before I came along to kind of set things up for what they are today.

“Obviously, I think the biggest change I’ve seen is probably the same thing everybody else has seen, and that’s the growth in tourism that we see during the summer. The fact we’ve been recognized by a lot of people as a place to visit, I think it’s good for us that is happening, but I also think it needs to happen in measured amounts. We can handle a certain amount in a very productive way, but if we become overwhelmed, than it isn’t always positive.”

Another change that Angeli has seen over the years is the composition of city government. For example, the Marquette City Commission is made up of a female majority for the first time in history and is led by Mayor Jenna Smith, the city’s first female mayor since 1980.

This is a major step forward, as the number of women serving in municipal governments in the United States has been small over the years. According to the website RepresentWomen.org, only 30% of statewide elected executives are female.

Angeli’s successor, Karen Kovacs, will take the reins on Monday. Angeli said he’s proud to see increased representation of women within the city government.

“The commission functions very well in my opinion, no matter how it’s made up,” he said. “Here in Marquette, we’ve had one female city manager while I was here and she did a wonderful job. I think it’s great. All of these people that are involved, whether they’re men or women, they’re all individuals and they all contribute individually, maybe at different levels. I don’t see anything but positive outcomes for the whole thing.”

Angeli has had the opportunity to meet with Kovacs briefly throughout the transition phase. When Kovacs was selected as the city’s next manager at the May 10 commission meeting, Angeli’s advise to Kovacs was simple: “Don’t screw this up.”

Asked about that remark, Angeli said it was all in good fun, and that he’s excited for her to get started.

“I was joking when I said that,” he said. “But I have talked to her, I like what I hear, I think she will do a great job. She seems to be the kind of person that would step into this role very easily and just kind of hit the ground running. I haven’t had a lot of time with her, but I do plan on spending some time (next week) with her here in Marquette to kind of show her around a little bit.”

Angeli’s retirement comes later than he originally planned, as he felt it was important to stick around when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March 2020.

“When I took this job, I agreed to take it for a year,” he said. “And then I agreed to take it for two more years, or maybe it was three years, I mean there were different intervals that I accepted for the job. I actually was considering retiring last year. But when COVID hit, it became kind of necessary for me to stick around to kind of keep a lid on things and to keep everybody focused on getting over that hurdle, which I’m sure everybody has done to some extent. I think for me to leave at that time would have been counterproductive for the staff here and for the community. I decided to stay for another year, and I agreed to the contract extension (in October) with the understanding that I would really like to retire in 2021. The commission knew that at the time, I hadn’t decided when in 2021, but as it got closer to December of last year, I think we were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines and it seemed like at least a good time to plan to retire.”

Has Angeli had any second thoughts? Of course. But at 66 years young, he said it’s time for a new chapter.

“There’s always second thoughts,” he said. “This has been my life for 45 of my 66 years. It’s going to be different, it’s going to be good. The second thoughts are … I want to leave the city in a good place. I want it to continue to be a good place to live and visit, and I think that will happen, but I’ve taken some ownership here and I’m hoping that things continue to grow for everybody. If I have a second thought, it’s just because I want Marquette to keep on prospering.”

As City Commissioner Fred Stonehouse put it at Angeli’s final commission meeting on May 24, “starting June 1, every day is Saturday.” Angeli will spend his free time spending time with family, traveling and more.

“My wife and I like to travel,” he said. “We like to fly fish together and we travel a lot out west into Wyoming, Montana and Utah and we plan on doing that again soon. After that, like a lot of other people, it’s grandchildren. We have four grandchildren that we’re very proud of and we want to spend as much time as we can with them. And they’re all local, so we’re probably going to be staying around here.”

Asked if he has any regrets and if he believes he’s leaving the city in good hands, his response was simple.

“It’s funny but I have no regrets,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been very fortunate that things have worked out for me. I’ve had the support of a great family, a wife and two children that put up with my odd hours as a police officer and the longer hours now. It’s not always easy for them to be related to someone who’s in the public eye a lot. I really have no regrets, I don’t want to jinx myself, but I don’t think I could ask for anything better.

“I am. I’m very confident that it’s (the city) in good hands. I’m happy it is, and I’m happy to leave at a time I think we’re doing very well.”

Angeli finished by thanking his wife Kay, his children Mike III and Catherine, his son-in-law Jake and daughter-in-law Lauren, and his four grandchildren, Camryn, Griffin, Mattie and Maren, along with city staff, the commission, the public and everyone else he’s had the privilege of working with over the years.

“I have to thank my family. My wife Kay, we’ve been married 38 years, so she’s been with me a good chunk of this career and very supportive. She had her own career as a schoolteacher here in Marquette, yet managed to raise two children successfully which has been very rewarding as well. They turned out to be two very fine people. Now I have four grandchildren who are also in the area, two from each of my children. Without their support, I wouldn’t have been able to do this.

“I’ve had the support of leadership here in the city since I first started with the police chief (George Johnson). I had continuous support over the years with all of the chiefs that have been down there. I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for me to help me with my career.

“And then there’s the staff. You come into an office like this and I’m here, but out there (in city hall), are the people that really run the place. My office staff here, my executive assistant Wendy (Larson) and assistant city manager Sean (Hobbins), I mean they’ve been godsends as far as ability and helping me accomplish a lot of things.”

Asked how he would rate his job performance on a scale of 1 to 10 if he were a regular resident of Marquette, Angeli would like to believe he’d give himself a perfect score.

“I’d like to believe I did a 10,” he said. “I certainly put a 10-level effort into it. But again, the results aren’t just because of me. The input and help from the staff which has been great, and the commission which has been very supportive over the years and has kept the focus on what’s best for Marquette and the citizens of Marquette. The people who live here are great people. You have your complainers and your issues now and then, but nothing that’s overwhelming. Most people, I think, enjoy living here, and I’m happy with that result.”

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