Northport Nears Decision On Village Manager Hire

An attorney currently employed by the State of Illinois and a former city manager for the City of Traverse City are the two finalists set to be interviewed Friday, March 7 by the Northport Village Council, as part of the search to replace outgoing Village Manager Jim Dyer. Dyer, who accepted the job as Leelanau County’s new county administrator in December, will mark his final day on Friday, March 28.

Northport trustees interviewed five candidates job last Thursday. After one-hour sessions with each candidate, council members deliberated briefly before voting to invite Douglas Dorando and Jered Ottenwess back for a second round of interviews.

Dorando is a self-described “native Michigander” who claims “strong personal connections to Leelanau County, and Northport specifically.” A lawyer admitted to several state bars – including Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Washington, D.C. – Dorando serves as general counsel for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the Illinois Office of Homeland Security; he’s also “chief nuclear safety counsel” for the IEMA.

Ottenwess, meanwhile, is an urban planner by trade, with a cover letter that touts “over 13 years of experience working in local government” and “a strong track record of maintaining fiscal stability.” Ottenwess is employed as a mortgage loan officer in Troy, Michigan, but has previously served stints as city manager for multiple municipalities in both Michigan and Florida, including Keego Harbor (2019-2020), Ishpeming (2010-2013), and Trenton, Florida (2005-2010).

Ottenwess will be best-known to locals as the former city manager of Traverse City, a job he held from July 2013 to March 2015. He resigned after he was arrested and charged over a drunken domestic incident in February 2015. Ottenwess entered a treatment program for alcoholism in the wake of his arrest, and ultimately pleaded no contest to one count each of domestic violence and attempted assault of a police officer. He was sentenced to 730 days of probation and fined $625.

As part of the interview, Northport trustee Hugh Cook asked Ottenwess to address what happened in 2015, prompting a lengthy response about his recovery journey.

“I live a completely different life than what was portrayed in Traverse City Record-Eagle articles,” Ottenwess told the village council. “I have focused on having a very healthy, different lifestyle. And I have ways of dealing with stress now, and the pressures of life. I want to assure you that anything that happened in Traverse City, you would never have to worry about something like that happening again. What people read about me on the internet is a snapshot of one day of my life from 10 years ago; it’s not a representation of who I am as a person today… It’s easy to look at what happened and scratch me off the list, but for me, it’s more of a redemption story. And if you get to know me, you’ll see that what happened in Traverse City helped me be a much better person.”

In the wake of the five interviews, consultant Chet Janik – who is leading trustees through the search – took a straw poll, asking the board to list their top two candidates. Ottenwess and Dorando earned four votes apiece from the five trustees present. Of the other three candidates, two got single votes: Leah Moskovitz, currently the village clerk for the Village of Elk Rapids; and Michael Green, zoning administrator for Garfield Township since 2016. The other applicant, Matthew Marske – who previously interviewed for the county administrator position – garnered no strong support.

Trustee Edwin Dean fought to include Moskovitz in the second round of interviews, praising her as a “fantastic” candidate and citing Durando’s non-local status as a potential mark against him. “He’s obviously highly qualified, but he doesn’t live in Michigan, and he hasn’t his entire life,” Dean reasoned. “I think that there’s other candidates that are more local, and I think that people in Northport want to feel that whoever their next village manager is will be someone who has experience in the role, and feels comfortable [here].”

“I thought she interviewed extremely well,” trustee Will Harper said of Moskovitz, calling her his third choice for the job after Durando and Ottenwess. “But I do think that, seeing where she is in life right now, coming from clerk to manager, this would be a promotion for her, whereas the other two, they’re both almost overqualified. If we can get them, we should take the most qualified people.”

Trustee Laura Cavendish noted the Dyer “also wasn’t local, and came here, and now no one wants him to leave.” Dyer moved to Northport from Marshall, Michigan after he was hired in the fall of 2023.

Councilmembers ultimately voted 4-1 to invite Dorando and Ottenwess back for a second round of interviews, with Dean opposed. Interviews are scheduled for 1pm and 2pm, respectively, with time set aside beforehand for both candidates to converse with village staff.