Manistee City Manager Thad Taylor announced his retirement tentatively scheduled for July 2, 2021, back in January allowing for a relaxed search for his replacement.  That procedure amounted to a $17,000 search by the Michigan Municipal League (MML), the same group that found Taylor a spot managing Manistee back in late 2015, and that recently found Mitch Foster and Courtney Magaluk for managing Ludington and Scottville respectively.  

The 2015 search for Manistee featured some rather weak candidates that the Manistee City Council seemed unusually attracted too.  They offered the job originally to Kevin Bookout, a man with excessive baggage from Missouri.  Rather than observe the low-hanging poisonous fruit that could be seen with any type of background check on Bookout, the MML and city council overlooked the issues, avoiding a full-fledged disaster only by an unexplained breakdown of negotiations.  They eventually took Taylor as a second choice even though he had his own collection of red flags, and he has been truly a Faylor at the Manistee position, as chronicled in the Ludington Torch and Real Manistee over the last six years.  

The MML has appeared to get better candidates this time, or at least ones whose inadequacies haven't been explored regularly on internet news sites.  The city council once again looked at applications and resumes in a closed session and came out with a declaration yesterday naming five men to interview for the job, those interviews will take place the next two nights at the Ramsdell Theater with this schedule:

On Wednesday, May 12, Josh Owens will be interviewed at 6 p.m., Fred P. Schnook at 7:15 p.m. and David J. Haag at 8:30 p.m.  On May 13, Gregory M. Elliott will be interviewed at 6 p.m., and William N. Gambill at 7:15 p.m.   There will be a public comment period at the beginning and the end of both meetings.

At this stage we can only offer a preview of the candidates, with an overview of their resume, courtesy of the Manistee New Advocate and a summary look at their past history, courtesy of internet search engines. 

Josh Owens

Owens, of Kalamazoo, currently serves as assistant supervisor for Oshtemo Township (pop: 23,000) in Kalamazoo County. He oversees the fire department, Ordinance Enforcement Department, IT Department and the police protection agreement with Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office; Owens has been in this position since since 2019. .

He previously worked from 2017-19 as an administrative analyst and administrative aide for the Mobile GR Department for the City of Grand Rapids and as the downtown development authority director for the City of Otsego from 2015-17.

Owens received a Master of Public Administration from Grand Valley State University in 2018 and a Bachelor of Arts in public policy from Western Michigan University in 2013.

A cursory internet search shows nothing bad about Owens throughout his career.

Fred Schnook

Schnook (pictured above), of Kewaunee, Wisconsin (pop. 3000), is currently the city administrator in Kewaunee where he supervises "approximately 100 full-time and part-time staff located in 13 departments." He has served in this role since 2017. 

From 2014-16, Schnook was the executive director for the Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin. He was the regional director for the Labor, Education and Training Center Milwaukee Madison & Kenosha from 2012-14. Prior to that, Schnook was a public administration consultant for Foth Infrastructure & Environment LLC from 2006-11.

Schnook is earning a PhD in Urban Affairs from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; he earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1998 and a Bachelor of Science in community education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1991 as well as an Associate in Arts from Milwaukee Area Technical College in Milwaukee in 1985.

Despite the small city he manages and the short term he's been running it, Schnook has the richest cache of 'bad press'.  Wisconsin Spotlight in February in a story titled "Kewaunee's Transparency Troubles" relates Schnook's part which included mischaracterizing FOIA requests and apparently avoiding a response to what seems a simple request dealing with discussions amongst officials regarding the existing city marina and a proposal for effectively giving up on that marina and buying a private marina using state grants and other public money.  

Empower Wisconsin , Wisconsin’s self-identified premiere conservative information hub, has a host of articles dealing with Schnook all in the last year.  Kewaunee’s controversial marina scheme tells more about the marina deal, Kewaunee’s $10,000 public records bill tells of the unreasonable fee they would charge EW for the above request, four other articles show a remarkable disdain by the Kewaunee leaders to divulge their secrets that are public records subject to disclosure on lawful and reasonable terms.  Thad Taylor had similar issues, but the Manistee City Council supported him in his illegal endeavors, so look at them to consider this controversy a plus when determining whether Schnook is the man.

David Haag

Haag, of Sterling, is currently serving as the city administrator for the City of Auburn (pop. 2000), a position he's held since 2018.  According to his resume, Haag performs "oversight of all city administration, budgets, personnel, community development, projects, tax administration, marketing and promotions, zoning and planning, streets administration and code enforcement."

Most recently, Haag was city treasurer, chief financial officer and office manager for the City of Gladwin from 2014-18. He served as vice president and principal owner of Saginaw Bay Underwriters from 2006-12.

Haag holds a Master of Business Administration (management/marketing) and International Business Certification from Saginaw Valley State University; a Bachelor of Science in business administration, Associate of Science in marketing and Associate of Science Insurance from Ferris State University; and is a certified public manager from Saginaw Valley State University.

After checking multiple sources on the internet, Haag appears to have no red flags in his past of concern.

Gregory Elliott

Elliott, of Ypsilanti, is currently the city administrator for the City of Adrian (pop: 20,000). He was appointed to this position in July 2020 as interim city administrator, and it was made permanent in September.

In addition to serving as the city administrator, Elliott has been the director of community development City of Adrian since September 2019.  He has been a principal planner for McKenna Associates in Northville, working in consulting and professional planning, since 2015.

Elliott earned a Juris Doctor from Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University, a Master of Public Administration from Eastern Michigan University and a Bachelor of Arts in business administration from Alma College.

Elliott has no strikes in his background following an internet screening, however, one hopes the council asks Gregory about why he wants to move and likely take a pay cut to do the same job he is doing in a college town three times as large as Manistee.

William Gambill

Gambill (pictured above), of Warren, currently serves as the assistant city manager for the City of St. Clair Shores (pop: 59,000). He's held the position since 2015.

Other recent employment includes serving as the associate director of transportation and public spaces for the City of Detroit, Office of Grants Management from 2014-2015. For six months in 2014, Gambill was the associate director of MI Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing TAACCCT Grant at Macomb Community College. He also served as the neighborhood services and grant coordinator for the City of Warren from 2008-14.

Gambill received a Masters in Public Administration from Wayne State University in 2007 and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Wayne State University in 2004.

The internet search engines like Bill Gambill, he seems to have the most positive mentions than the other candidates when researched, no controversy.

Once all interviews have taken place at the end of the May 13th meeting, it is expected the council will engage in public discussion with the goal to select one of the candidates for conditional offer of employment, though they are under no compulsion to do so that night.  

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Thanks for the information X. What do these candidates have to gain. They seem to be over qualified and move around quite a bit. Why get all that education just to be hired by a small town. What happened to the tried and true Mayor run cities? No wonder taxes are sky rocketing. Look at the small burg of Kewaunee Wisconsin with a population of 3000, it has 13 departments and 100 employees plus they are paying for a City Manager. 

Those are great questions to ask, but they likely will not be asked by the current Manistee city councilors.  If they don't question why it's cost effective to spend $17,000 on an MML search that gave them the sad failure Thad Taylor just a handful of years ago, why would they ask any other relevant questions.  Any of these mercenaries under consideration seem to have the qualifications to run a city, but we really need to know why they aren't sticking with the city/township that currently employs them.  Once they narrow the field, I can use my limited resources to start a deeper probe.

Good points, Willy and thanks X for the article. I agree we are overpaying city managers all over Michigan and way too many employees. It's a fiefdom once they get in office, plundering from the people who pay their wages. The big salaries go to many of their heads and thus they seem to think that they "are better than the poor citizenry." Mr. Foster came in with a somewhat humble attitude to serve the people, but it doesnt take long to jump on the municipal yacht and cruise the good life superior to the people.

It's hard to sell department reductions when stimulus packages from the Feds of $800,000 are coming in with stipulations that do not encourage conservative money policies.  City Manager Foster failed to bring the hiring of a full-time city building inspector to the attention of the council and the public, that was a failure on his part.  He has a chance to atone for that faux pas by doing something creative and conservative with the retirement of Carol Ann Foote.  We are looking closely at whether that will be done cost-effectively and whether it will streamline the efficiency of what many consider as a bloated city hall.  

Good point, X. I don't know details of what you speak about Ludington's share of the fat stimulus, but I can only imagine it is infused with money from a money-making machine that is and will only continue to put our nation in a debt we have never known. Inflation is up, gas is rising, lumber and steel prices have tripled, even commodities--and no one wants to work because they get paid more to stay home. Any conservative city manager and council would understand that not having a city debt is what will sustain the city in hard times. But that kind of conservative thinking has been tossed down the sewer. Laugh it up all you cities in debt, pat yourselves on the back thinking that only you can do the best job. Enjoy your fling at the marina and fancy plazas because "oh woe is me" will soon hit harder than ever. It is inevitable. Our nation cannot keep printing money and think our debtors will not demand payment.

On Thursday night, the Manistee City Council chose Gregory Elliott as the next city manager of Manistee with four votes for him, one vote for Gambill, and two wanting to look at more candidates.  Elliott is 58 years old and a former resident of Manistee up until 1980.  The councilors appear to be looking at a short term solution as they likely won't see him last any longer than sad failure Thad Taylor.

Elliot is something else. He just took the Adrian job of city administrator last July, now he's on the move again, in just 10 months? I would have passed on this man just because of this alone. His roots and intentions are questionable at best. How can he be trusted to remain in good stead and be reliable for future years if this is how he moves from job to job?

Riddle:

Who are the gypsies in the Government administrative World?

Answer:

City Manager's !

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