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The Unexplained Resignation of Manistee's County Administrator

In February of 2018, David A. Kieft Jr. was appointed to the position of Manistee County Administrator, replacing Tom Kaminski, who had been in the position for three decades. Early in his tenure, the following was revealed in a Manistee News Advocate article:

Manistee County Administrator David A Kieft with wife, Janice in December 2018

"My wife and I have spent a lot of time here in the summers over the past five years. We absolutely love the area, and the plan was to some day retire up here, when we got to the point where we could do that."

"When this opportunity opened up, I thought, 'You know what, I'm going to apply for the job and see how it goes,'" Kieft recalled. "And as it turned out, I was lucky enough to be selected."

Now in his "dream job," as he's referred to it, Kieft is settling in... "I'm very excited about the opportunity," he added. "This is where I want to be."

The dream ended Tuesday. From a Wednesday MNA article:

"The Manistee County Board of Commissioners accepted the resignation of county controller/administrator David A. Kieft Jr., during an emergency meeting on Tuesday. Kieft resigned to pursue other career goals, according to documents provided by county officials. He was not present for Tuesday’s meeting.

The article further indicates that his interim replacement will be assisted by the retired Tom Kaminski paid as and acting as a consultant.

Something happened here which isn't being explained. Kieft wanted to live in and retire in Manistee County, he has had no reported problems during his tenure with commissioners or the public, this was his dream job. One would have to believe retiring at his job with a list of accomplishments was his 'career goal' not some career move left unexplained. His resignation was done immediately, he is not sticking around long enough to instruct his replacement, rather they hire the person Kieft replaced.

It all provides the appearance that David Kieft has caught doing something wrong, and rather than taint the already tainted reputation of Manistee further, they decided to write off the cost of the infraction. get out the band-aids, and make believe that nothing bad happened. How easy to get away with it during a time when everything is shut down and the governor has relaxed the FOIA to the point where the county government could wait until June to reply to your request for public records.

The last article also points out that: "During last month’s emergency meeting, the county board of commissioners granted the controller/administrator authorization to approve payments of up to $2 million in order to guarantee monthly obligations are paid during the declared state of emergency."

Makes one wonder if that was done timely and properly...

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Permalink Reply by Willy on April 17, 2020 at 5:16pm

It's possible he or is wife have medical issue and wanted them to remain confidential. Leaving right away could be explained if medical care was needed immediately. I'm sure rumors would be flying if any wrong doing was involved with his departure. Another Manistee mystery.

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Permalink Reply by XLFD on April 18, 2020 at 11:25am

Willy, I have ran down the various permutations of what may have happened here, your guess would mean that him saying that pursuing other career goals was an unnecessary lie as he could have said for personal reasons, or similar cause. The facts in this case does not reflect a move to another career, at least willingly. I humbly ask for anybody to make the case for what really has happened here using the facts presented without coming to the conclusion that he was released by the county commission for some 'problem' in his work that they decided to not make public. The only alternative I see is that he was unwilling to go along with some corrupt scheme that he was being forced into, but lacked the cojones to publicly expose it.

It's a lot easier for me to come to these conclusions than most, since my interactions with the County of Manistee in prosecuting a couple of FOIA cases has led me to believe that corruption is running rampant throughout their county building as it is at their city hall and transparency means nothing to them. It's a shame because the county has so much promise and good people in it; they do not deserve officials that won't represent them faithfully.