The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners is officially kicking off the search for a new county administrator and chief financial officer (CFO). At a marathon five-hour-and-40-minute executive board meeting Tuesday, commissioners heard from consultant (and former Leelanau County administrator) Chet Janik about next steps. The board also settled on a salary for the newly-expanded administrator/CFO position and scheduled a special meeting for next Tuesday to interview interim administrator candidates, draft a job description, and set the wheels in motion for hiring a permanent replacement by late spring.

A month ago, the Leelanau Ticker broke the news that Deb Allen, Leelanau’s current administrator, would be stepping down after less than a year and a half. The move was prompted by a change to Leelanau County’s administrative structure, which commissioners have undertaken in an attempt to solve the county’s ongoing troubles in establishing standalone finance and human resources departments. Under the new structure, Leelanau will have a joint administrator/CFO and the finance department will report to that individual. Allen, who has administrative and leadership experience but no background in finance, is stepping down to make way for a county leader with both skillsets. Allen’s last day will be April 12.

County commissioners have hired Janik – Allen’s predecessor in the administrator role, and now a consultant with the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI) – to lead the search for an administrator and CFO. 

Janik told commissioners they had two “critical” things to do before the search could begin: drafting a job description and setting a salary range. From there, Janik said he hopes to follow an “aggressive schedule” for the administrator search, starting with a job posting the week of March 25, with all applications due by April 30. Based on that schedule, commissioners would receive applications for all candidates by Friday May, 3 and review and rate applications during the week of May 6-10. The week of May 13 would be reserved for a first round of interviews – likely with 6-7 top candidates – with a second round of longer, more in-depth interviews penciled in for the week of May 20. Janik’s goal, he told commissioners, to help them make a final hiring decision by the end of May.

When asked if he had a recommended salary range, Janik said that, since the county is asking its next leader “to have the administrative skills and the leadership skills [of an administrator] as well as the financial skills [of CFO],” they are likely looking at a higher salary than what Leelanau County has typically paid in the past. (When Allen was hired at the end of 2022, she signed a one-year contract with a $96,641 salary.) Janik noted that BATA recently hired a CFO and advertised a salary range of $110,000 to $130,000, and that the City of Traverse City has an opening for an assistant city manager with that same salary range.

“So, if you want to be competitive, I would say you have to be in that range,” he said. “I would say, if you want to have someone strong in administrative and financial skills, list the pay as $110,000 to $140,000.”

Commissioners ultimately agreed and passed a motion setting that salary range.

Commissioners are set to discuss the job description at a special meeting next Tuesday at 4pm. A regular board meeting will follow at 7pm, when commissioners would likely approve the job description and give Janik the green light to post the job and proceed with the search.

Also on the docket for that special meeting: interviews for an interim administrator. Since Allen will leave the county in one month, Janik stressed the importance of finding an interim soon. He also noted he has received calls from at least four candidates who would be interested in the temporary role. Commissioners will seek a part-time, three-days-a-week interim administrator, with plans of a pay rate of “approximately $700 per day.”

Also at Tuesday’s executive board meeting…

Commissioners approved resolutions to place millage renewal proposals from both the Leelanau County Road Commission (LCRC) and the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department (BLDHD) on the August 2024 primary ballot. While there will be some additional conversation around these proposals at next week’s regular meeting – such as the setting of a specific millage rate for the BLDHD proposal – voters can expect to see both on the ballot this summer.

The LCRC proposal is the department’s typical Roads and Highways Maintenance and Repair Millage Renewal, which voters have approved every two years since 1986. The BLDHD proposal, meanwhile, would renew the 2019 Early Childhood Services millage and would continue to fund the department’s Parenting Communities program.