FeedsManager search stretches to new month
It will be at least another two weeks before the Belleville City Council decides on a new city manager.
Mayor Richard Smith said the council probably won’t address the issue until their first meeting in September.
“The reason why we won’t address it sooner is because of the vacation schedule,” he said. “We’re not going to have a full council until then.”
The first meeting of the month is on Sept. 2.
The city has gone without a manager for more than a year now, with clerk/treasurer Diana Kollmeyer filling in on an interim basis. The most recent round of applications—overseen by the Michigan Municipal League—produced four finalists that were interviewed near the end of July.
They are: Steven Aynes, John W. Buzuvis, Patrick R. Burelle and Larry Stoever.
Aynes is currently the executive director of the Central Wayne County Sanitation Authority. Aynes has a master’s degree in public administration and his past city administrator experience includes positions in Garden City; Genoa New York and Ohio; Constantine and Forest Park, OH.
Stoever is currently unemployed but was the city manager in Saline from June 1998- October 2007. He ‘resigned’ from that post with a $57,000 severance package. He also has experience with the City of Greenville from 1985-1998, was the city planner for Charleston, IL from 1973-1983 and was also a planning director in Rock Island, IL. Stoever has a master’s degree in urban planning.
Burelle, is currently the city administrator in Aledo, IL. Prior to that, he was a village manager in Lyons, IL from 2002-2005 and, the building and zoning director from 1999-2002 before he was approached to be the village manager. Burelle also has a master’s degree in public administration.
Buzuvis has worked for the City of Plymouth as the assistant operations director of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). He was also an intern in the Plymouth City Manager’s office prior to that and, managed the Growthworks program in the city, as well. He has a master’s degree in public administration.
Nineteen applicants put in for the job, which will pay between $62,000 and $72,000 annually.
Smith said the issue will come up when the council gets together on Sept. 2.
“Hopefully, we can come up with a resolution,” he said.
