Familiar Faces Come and Go as City of East Lansing Tries to Stabilize Workforce
The City of East Lansing is working on filling vacancies in its workforce even as some degree of turmoil continues to persist. As Interim City Manager Randy Talifarro and his team have been working to fill vacated positions, current employees have been stepping up and former employees like Talifarro (who was East Lansing’s fire chief) have been stepping in to help deal with temporary gaps.
“We recognize that, similar to many other government agencies across Michigan, we are experiencing issues with retaining staff in a highly competitive job market where employees have options,” Talifarro told ELi by email Tuesday. “We also recognize this time of transition at the City of East Lansing has caused feelings of uncertainty for some employees. We are looking at strategies to address the retention concerns and we are hoping to roll those strategies out in the near future.”
Meanwhile, results of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seem to confirm what Talifarro has been saying about the wave of resignations in the city’s workforce – that the reasons people are leaving are varied.
And, at Council Tuesday night, Talifarro announced another head-of department resignation: Mikell Frey, who has been serving as the city’s communications director, is leaving. Communications Specialist Carrie Sampson will be stepping in to serve on an interim basis in what has been Frey’s role.
Talifarro called Frey’s work “phenomenal, stellar, and exceptional” and said that she and outgoing Acting Director of Public Works Nicole McPherson will be “dearly missed.”

The Planning Department’s former director has become its director again.
The city announced on March 31 that former director of planning, building, and development Tim Dempsey is stepping back into that role as “interim director.” This is an appointment ELi reported on March 6 was expected to happen following the departure of Peter Menser, who became interim director just after Tom Fehrenbach left the directorship.
After years of service to East Lansing, Dempsey left the city’s employ back in 2019 to become a vice president at Public Sector Consultants, “a position in which he served until returning to the City,” according to the city’s press release.
Asked if this wording means Dempsey is going to be staying with the city, the communications department told ELi that Dempsey “has not shared what his plans are at the end of his [six-month] contract term” with the city.
The bringing back of Dempsey parallels the return of Marie Wicks to the role of city clerk, a position she left in 2018 when Jennifer Shuster was appointed clerk. ELi reported in February that Shuster and Deputy Clerk Kathryn Gardner were both leaving the city. Wicks subsequently stepped in to help out as interim city clerk.

Scott House is expected to return to his role as East Lansing’s Director of the Department of Public Works in July of this year. House has been away for almost two years on military assignment. Nicole McPherson had been serving as DPW acting director but tendered her resignation last month. Infrastructure Administrator Ron Lacasse will now head DPW until House returns.
FOIA shows varied reasons for lower-level employees leaving.
Under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), on March 6, ELi requested from the city all records of exit interviews for employees who have left since Oct. 1, 2022. The request turned up only three documents, all interviews with lower-level employees. (ELi is electing not to name the individuals to avoid causing them difficulty in their new positions.)
A budget and accounting analyst said in her exit interview she was disappointed in the work she was given.
“I was actually doing work that I felt my 13-year-old could do. And I feel like I have lost skills. I was given a lot of busy work.”
She named her primary reason for leaving as, “My direct supervisor is a micromanager. She takes credit for my work, and she gives me busy work.”
This former employee has now taken a job as finance director and treasurer for a city with a population about one-tenth the size of East Lansing.
A police officer said in his exit interview he had come to work for East Lansing due to “the reputation of the department” at the time of his hiring, but he was leaving “due to the anti-police politics and agenda corrupting the very department,” which he said had “a direct effect on my position.” He said he felt supported until Police Chief Kim Johnson took the helm.
Asked to describe the morale in the department, he described it as, “The worst it could probably ever be. I don’t know if it could go any lower. That is due to the direct effects of the police oversight commission, council, and lack of ability for our top administrators to protect and promote our good work.” He named as his least favorite aspect of working for the City of East Lansing, “Treatment of our employees by city council.”

The officer whose exit interview is quoted here said he has opted to leave patrol work to work as a bailiff “to get [a] non-uniform law enforcement-related job” with a “good schedule.” His remarks about feeling unsupported and even undercut echo what ELi reported in terms of the findings of the consultant hired last year to review the state of ELPD and also the comments made by Deputy Chief Chad Connelly when he resigned.
The third exit interview provided was with a member of the planning department who worked on downtown economic development and who found herself spending “20 hours a week on trash. Even to the point of inventorying trash and how much a business creates and how to charge them.”
She said she loved “getting to see the impact I’m making on the community by creating an event or beautifying a space downtown. Or helping a business owner with a problem.” She described it as a joy to work with downtown business owners and East Lansing’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA).
But, after being denied a promotion, a city cell phone and a work-from-home day, she said she felt too frustrated under the directorship of then Planning Department Director Tom Fehrenbach to stay.
“It became apparent that they only saw me as a secretary,” she said, “so I applied for another job.”
She is now the director of a DDA in a Michigan city about one-third the size of East Lansing.
“As a city,” she said in her exit interview, “sometimes we are our own worst enemy and holding off on progress.”
This employee’s exit interview also suggested the low staffing levels in the city could be leading to a domino effect of resignations.
“We were understaffed and overworked,” she said. “I feel like I have been in charge of my own offboarding. I had to reach out to you, and when you told me you hadn’t received my notice or blue sheet [the form indicating departure], that concerned me.”
The city human resources department is currently understaffed. HR Director Shelli Neumann left the city’s employ a few months ago and, subsequently, Interim Director Ben Dawson quit in February. Today, the city’s directory lists two people in the HR department. At Tuesday’s Council meeting, Talifarro said one of them, HR Administrator Emily Kenney, is now interim HR director.
Talifarro has made it clear in his comments to Council that the remaining staff continue to work on interviews and hiring, with recent interviews for people applying to fill the role of finance director, which has been operating under an interim director since last summer.
The long-time director of the Prime Time Seniors Program has also left.
Following 31 years of service to the city, Kelly Arndt has retired from her role as East Lansing Prime Time Seniors Program Director. Prime Time offers enrichment activities and special events for people aged 55 and up in East Lansing.

According to the city’s press release on the retirement, “Under Arndt’s leadership, Prime Time achieved national accreditation through the National Council on Aging, which is granted to less than one percent of the nation’s senior centers.”
Janet Brock, corresponding secretary of the Friends of the East Lansing Seniors’ Program, told ELi that Arndt’s “enthusiasm for and dedication to her work with seniors was apparent,” even on Zoom during the pandemic.
“My conversations with Kelly were always full of laughter and dreams to build on Prime Time’s programming, facilities, and connections with seniors even beyond the edges of East Lansing,” Brock wrote.
“Working with Kelly these past few years has been a delight!” said Julia Freije, secretary of the Friends of East Lansing Seniors, praising Arndt’s “enthusiasm and support for the many classes and activities offered.”
“Kelly will be missed by many!” Freije said.
Prime Time Seniors Program Manager Lisa Richey will be serving as interim director until the post is filled.
The entire probation department of 54-B District Court quit.
Over the course of just a few weeks, all members of the probation department in 54-B District Court, which is housed in East Lansing’s City Hall, quit.

A knowledgeable source who wishes to remain anonymous to avoid retribution told ELi the resignations arose from workplace tensions involving recently-elected Chief Judge Molly Hennessey Greenwalt.
Asked for a response to this claim, Hennessey Greenwalt declined to provide comment, instead referring ELi to Court Administrator Nicole Evans.
“The Court may not comment on personnel matters,” Evans wrote by email. “We take our duty to this community seriously and are working to provide the highest level of service to all court users.”
Hennessey Greenwalt also asked State Court Administrator Tom Boyd to respond to ELi’s question.
“Change can sometimes create stress,” Boyd wrote via his public information officer, “but the end result is a better managed, more inclusive organization with improved service to the public. I have every confidence that Chief Judge Molly Hennessey Greenwalt is leading the East Lansing 54-B district court in the right direction. The community should know that new personnel have been hired in the probation department, the work is getting done, and that their local justice system is on track to be more effective, more data driven, and more focused on best practices to keep neighborhoods safe.”