Update on city manager hiring effort

By Lisa Brody

Current Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus recently gave an update on the recruitment process for a new city manager, noting they currently have six strong candidates to interview, which will then be narrowed down to three or four.

“The city manager recruitment has closed, securing six candidates that meet the desired qualifications and will be provided to the commission in a separate confidential message. It is the recommendation of Human Resources that first-round interviews be conducted in-house, with a list of three to four candidates narrowed down for a public Meet & Greet with the city commission,” Markus wrote in his December city manager report.

At the December 19 city commission meeting, Markus said after speaking with city attorney Mary Kucharek, it is recommended that they interview those six candidates by Zoom, “because some candidates have to travel, and then we can reduce that number to three or four, and have a public forum for a meet and greet. We would send them to different parts of the room and let the public chat with them about their experiences and may ask questions of them. We'd solicit feedback from the public. The commission would then have the final interviews, and the commission would make an offer to a candidate that would enter into negotiations as to an agreement.”

While a time line was not specified, some time in January was referred to for the Zoom interviews.

Markus’ current stint with the city is expected to end in June of this year.

Mehalski said the township a decade ago repaired a portion of sanitary sewer adjacent to Forest Lake on the Forest Lake Country Club property, near the tennis courts. The inspection showed a pipe upstream from the original repair is now failing. The repair, which replaces a portion of sewer originally constructed in 1978, will cost about $1.2 million.

“This sewer is rated as highest priority for replacement due to the location adjacent to the lake and the impact to upstream properties should the sewer ultimately fail,” he said. “It is likely that the Forest Lake Country Club will request that the construction be performed during the off-season as the work is also adjacent to the tennis courts, pool and lake access.” not only public notification but notification to persons within so many feet of the subject property, public hearings, in front of the planning board again, and public hearings at [the commission’s] table for rezoning. It’s an ordinance. Only the commission can pass the ordinances,” Markus said.

On Club Drive, the inspection showed a portion of sewer constructed in 1972 needs to be repaired and replaced. The work will cause Club Drive to be closed. The work is expected to cost about $1.5 million.

On top of Host spreading misinformation about the plan, he has attended the meetings of other boards and committees. On December 6, 2021, city attorney Mary Kucharek provided a report to commissioners that advised against any of them attending these meetings to avoid the appearance of potentially violating the Open Meetings Act (OMA).

While Markus had said at a previous meeting that he was considering which options to proceed with if Host continued to spread false information, it’s still unclear whether Host will receive any disciplinary action or if he will go before the Ethics Board.