Questions Arise about East Lansing City Manager Semi-Finalists, Vetting Process
As East Lansing’s City Council is poised to interview five semi-finalists for the position of City Manager on Monday (Aug. 7), research by ELi into the candidates’ backgrounds is raising questions about the candidates and about the process used to choose them.
Council decided in early March to hire the Michigan Municipal League (MML) to run the search, which brought forward a total of 14 applications.
But Council decided against looking at the applicants’ submissions themselves. Instead, they asked MML to do the initial vetting without showing Council the submitted applications or even giving them a list of applicants’ names.
The logic was to protect those who didn’t make it to the public interview round from having their names become known, lest they be at risk of their current employers finding out they were looking for work elsewhere. (If Council had obtained documents showing names and applications, the public could then obtain them via the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.)
According to the MML, “we closely guard the identity of confidential applicants to ensure your search process yields the strongest pool of candidates.”
As a consequence of this process, on July 19, Council made its decision about who to bring in as the five interviewees – and who to choose as first and second alternates – based entirely on nine anonymized summary biographies and recommendations provided by the MML recruiters. They still had no names.
At that point, Council did not release the nine anonymized bios, requiring ELi to file a FOIA request to obtain them for review. (See them here.)
ELi was also required to use FOIA to obtain the applications of the five semi-finalists. That material was released Thursday afternoon (Aug. 3), less than two business days before the interviews are set to take place.
This process has delayed public scrutiny of applicants for the job and has limited that scrutiny to five of the 14 applicants. Council appears to still have no non-anonymized information on nine of the applications.
Research conducted since the semi-finalists’ names and application materials were released raises questions about them.
Shortly after obtaining the semi-finalists’ names, ELi reported on Aug. 2 that semi-finalist Robert Belleman was fired from his job as Saginaw County controller amid claims of a “toxic work environment.”
Belleman’s application for the East Lansing job was dated the day before he was fired but the firing took place a full month before the MML recruiter included Belleman among nine individuals presented for East Lansing’s top job. In the anonymized summary, the MML recruiter wrote, “The candidate’s contract employment with the county was recently terminated without cause.” No description of the circumstances of the termination was provided, although it was by that point in the news.
Video from a Saginaw-area news station includes footage of current and former Saginaw County employees, including County Clerk Vanessa Guerra, denouncing Belleman at the meeting where the county board voted to fire him. Claims made against him include bullying, harassment, undermining employees and more.
“I don’t wish to talk about it,” Belleman told MLive late last week. “It was what it was. The board did not want me to be there, and that’s how it played out.”
Belleman also told MLive “he will make the case he’s the best candidate for the city manager post in East Lansing.”
But that may be a tough pitch as East Lansing’s Council is under much scrutiny. The city finds itself embroiled in an ongoing municipal management employment crisis involving complaints about problematic leadership.
Meanwhile, two other semi-finalists for the city manager position are in their early 30s, both with resumes that show histories of frequent job changes – a potential concern as the Council seeks a stable manager with appropriate professional experience who will be respected by the remaining workforce.
In 2019, then age 28, semi-finalist Collin Mays was named by Crain’s Detroit Business one of the “20 [people] in their 20’s to watch.” This makes Mays about 32 years old now. Crain’s described Mays as “an activist” with experience as the business development director of the Southeast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA).
According to his submitted resume, Mays has moved through four jobs in just five years. He left his SEMCA job in December 2019 to become Economic Development Director for the City of Center Line, a job he stayed in for only a year. He then moved on to become Community and Economic Development Director for Delta Charter Township.
Just over a year later, Mays had moved on to become Director of Economic Inclusion for the City of Cincinnati, a job he has held since April 2022. The longest he’s held a job, according to his resume, is two and a half years. (That was his job at SEMCA.)
Semi-finalist Michael Silverman also comes with a rapidly-shifting job history.
Also apparently in his early-30s, Silverman submitted a resume that states he earned a B.A. in History from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington in just two years (2012-2014), then went on to earn a master’s in public administration in 2019. Silverman’s resume states he was a “summer law clerk” in 2015 although his resume does not list any time in law school.
Silverman’s resume lists six jobs in the last eight years.
He moved from being a management analyst for the Lee County Government in North Carolina to being the city manager of Caro, Michigan (near the thumb), in 2018, after the man in that position “resigned unexpectedly.”
Silverman took the helm of Caro in July 2018. A little over a year later, he had sought and been offered a new job in Delta County (up north). But, unhappy with the salary offered, he backed out of that job.
Instead, he took the job of city manager in Pascagoula, Mississippi, just a year and a half after taking charge of Caro.
Another year and a half later, he had been named the new town manager for Nags Head, North Carolina. Silverman said he was moving there to be closer to his family.
Nonetheless, a few weeks later, he withdrew from the Nags Head appointment, leaving Nags Head in the lurch.
Silverman told the town officials, “Upon further reflection…I believe that I am not a good fit for your community. I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet everyone during the interview process and appreciate your dedication to your community. Thank you for your time.”
“We are deeply disappointed by this turn of events,” the Nags Head mayor told The Coastland Times.
Despite having by that point resigned his position in Pascagoula – just 17 months into the job – the Mississippi city accepted Silverman’s rescinding of his resignation.
The fourth and fifth semi-finalists for East Lansing’s top job have had relatively more stable employment histories. But their histories, too, raise some questions.
The application of Adam Kline notes he’s spent most of his career in policing, not municipal management. That said, Council did indicate in a prior discussion they would like a city manager with experience in public safety.
Kline served on the White Lake Township police force for 29 years, including as chief from 2014-2016. He then moved on to become Lansing Charter Township’s Chief of Police through 2019. (Lansing Charter Township, with a population of about 8,000, is a separate municipal entity from the City of Lansing.)
For the last four years, Kline has worked in municipal management. During that time, he’s been the manager of the Charter Township of Oakland, just east of White Lake, on the northern outskirts of Metro Detroit. (The Charter Township of Oakland has a population of about 20,000.)
On his submitted resume, Kline left off the date he graduated from college, but he appears to be in his 60s. This raises the question of how long he would stay in a new city manager position.
Kline has been looking for jobs elsewhere including in Florida and in Michigan since at least last year.
The application of Tim Dempsey notes he was East Lansing’s Director of Planning, Building and Development and Deputy City Manager from 2012-2019, before leaving to work as a consultant to municipalities. He’s been back as Interim Director of Planning, Building and Development since March of this year.
His tenure in the city was marked with a radical revision of East Lansing’s downtown skyline, as multiple new high-rise projects took shape.
Dempsey’s history with the city is not controversy-free.
As former city manager George Lahanas’ right-hand man, Dempsey was deeply involved in the troubled construction process at St. Anne Lofts. The project was wracked with controversy, including having a fifth floor “penthouse” built illegally (with no prior approval), the use of millions of dollars in tax assistance for construction of a student apartment building, the collapse of a floor during construction, and the admission of tenants before the Certificate of Occupancy was signed.
The Lansing State Journal deemed the St. Anne Lofts scene a case of “bureaucratic collapse.”
“City administrators in East Lansing, from the chief building official to the city manager, knew for weeks – if not months – that an unauthorized fifth floor was under construction at the downtown St. Anne Lofts development project,” the LSJ reported. “They knew the developer and his contractor were violating state law by building there without a permit. And, even after the fourth floor of the building collapsed – casting greater attention and scrutiny on its progress – they did not stop the project taking shape about a block from City Hall.”
Lahanas’s response was to combine the then-separate building, planning and development departments into one and to put Dempsey in charge of them all.
But that administrative change didn’t stop a history of problems in the East Lansing building department under Dempsey.
Those problems included inspection errors in the build of a county medical facility that cost Ingham County hundreds of thousands of dollars. In that case, East Lansing building department personnel failed to catch that a contractor wasn’t properly licensed to be installing medical gas equipment – equipment that carries risks of fire and explosions.
Under Dempsey, the city also continued to refer to a seriously outdated fire code in its laws even as new high-rises were being constructed. ELi’s investigation into that showed that, shockingly (and against the law), records were not being kept of fire marshal inspections in cases of new construction, including the new Landmark apartments.
City administrators dug in their heels in that instance, claiming nothing was amiss, including in the portion of the city’s zoning code regulating fire inspections. But, after long-time city attorney Tom Yeadon was fired by a majority of Council, at the very first Council meeting under newly-appointed City Attorney Mike Homier, the law in East Lansing was finally brought up to date. (By that point, Dempsey had left the city.)
Then there was the case of the unannounced sale of city-owned land on eBay. Investigation by ELi showed Dempsey managed the auction and selectively told only a handful of people about it, potentially depressing the ultimate sale price and limiting who could have a shot at developing the land.
Arguably equally controversial was a strange little case in which the city threatened to arrest a man over an allegedly improper residential driveway construction, a kerfuffle that fell squarely under Dempsey’s departmental oversight. Council ended up voting to settle a lawsuit brought over the matter.
In his time, Dempsey led a stable department in terms of staffing, something that has radically changed since Council decided to terminate Lahanas’ contract. Now, the Division of Planning has no one in it except an administrative secretary. A consultant has been hired to keep the site plan application system moving, and Dempsey is functioning as its administrative head.
What if Council isn’t happy with any of these candidates?
Before Council agreed to hire MML as its recruiter, Councilmember George Brookover asked that the contract require MML to bring in more candidates at no additional charge if none of the semi-finalists are satisfactory.
Brookover also asked that if the hire doesn’t last more than two years, the MML redo the search at no additional charge.
Here’s what the final contract said:
“In the unlikely event that the City is unsatisfied with the candidates presented, the League will work with the City to revisit the existing short-list and/or full matrix of applicants and invite one or more of these candidates for an interview and/or readvertise the position. In the unlikely event that an offer is withdrawn from the finalist, the finalist withdrawals [sic] from the search, or if negotiations fall through, the League will work with the city to determine what additional steps should be taken. There are generally a few different options available to address these situations and your search facilitator will work with the City to determine the best option for your community. Under certain circumstances, however, additional fees may apply. In the highly unlikely event that the incumbent voluntarily vacates the position within two years of placement, the League will offer another search with direct advertising costs being the only cost to the community.”
It’s not an easy time to find someone to take charge of East Lansing.
Of the 14 applications for the job of East Lansing’s city manager, only six came from within Michigan, a fact that may reflect the city’s current turmoil being known around the state.
Besides the loss of a large number of managers in the last seven months – with broader staffing problems that have led to effects like the city having to walk away from a million-dollar grant – East Lansing’s City Council is currently under the lens of an independent investigator hired to look into complaints about possible violations of the law by Council members.
In terms of finances, the Council recently had to refinance bond debt to keep the Downtown Development Authority from facing what its financial advisor deemed a potential “catastrophe.”
And, while the institution of a 12-year municipal income tax has been helping with the city’s pension debt, the next pension fund valuation is expected to show another large dip in the pension system’s health. East Lansing continues to be under the scrutiny of the state because of its $200+ million debt to retirees and the city’s financial situation remains challenging.
Add to this tensions over policing, aging infrastructure, the fact that a majority of Council seats could turn over in this fall’s election, and it’s not an easy city to lead.
ELi has made available the applications of Adam Kline, Collin Mays, Michael Silverman, Robert Belleman and Tim Dempsey. (Again, these are the only applications that have been released publicly.)
Monday’s Council agenda is available here. Public comment will be accepted at the end of the meeting but can also be communicated to Council by emailing council@cityofeastlansing.com.
Correction, Aug. 5, 3 p.m.: When this article was published, it said there had been no mention by the recruiter of Belleman being fired. A reader pointed out that the anonymized bio provided to Council included the line, “The candidate’s contract employment with the county was recently terminated without cause.” The article was consequently corrected to reflect this.
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