Released Records Show City of East Lansing’s Employment Losses Have Been Management-Heavy

Records released by the City of East Lansing to ELi under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that, in the year starting June 1, 2022, the City lost a net of only about 14 regular employees. According to the released material, 56 left the City’s employ while 42 were hired.

But drilling down into that turnover, looking at who has chosen to retire or resign since June 2022, shows some departments have been much harder hit than others.

It also shows the city has lost a large number of management-level employees in a short space of time. In many cases, those managers had many years of experience working in East Lansing’s municipal service.

Some units have experienced significant losses.

The City’s Human Resources (HR) Department – which plays a critical role in filling vacant positions – is one of the departments particularly hard hit. Longtime HR Director Shelli Neumann, who worked for the city since 1997, left this past year. Her interim replacement, Ben Dawson, quit just a few months later.

Currently, the HR department’s directory has just two members, an HR “administrator” and an HR “specialist.” The administrator, Emily Kenney, has been named interim director. Another HR administrator has been hired and is expected to start work later this month, according to the city’s Communications Department lead, Carrie Sampson.

East Lansing’s Department of Planning, Building and Development has also been hard hit by the wave of resignations.

In all, 10 employees quit that department in a year, including the department’s Director Tom Fehrenbach and his successor, Interim Director Peter Menser, who had been serving as East Lansing’s Planning and Zoning Administrator (a key position) before being named Fehrenbach’s temporary replacement. Fehrenbach took a job with the State of Michigan and Menser with Delta Township.

At this point, Planning & Zoning (a division of the Department of Planning, Building and Development) has no employees beyond an administrative secretary. Interim Director of Planning, Building and Development Tim Dempsey (who is now a semi-finalist for the City Manager position) has been managing the work of that key division along with a hired consultant, Lynée Wells of Aligned Planning.

Released records show East Lansing’s 54B District Court has also been hard hit, particularly in terms of the Probation Department, which lost its entire staff – four probation officers and the division’s office manager – in just a few months’ time. The Deputy Court Administrator, who was with the court since 2011, also quit.

The court’s directory shows no replacement yet for the Deputy Court Administrator and shows that Nicole Evans, who as Court Administrator is the top staff member for the court, is now serving also as the administrator for the Probation Department. Three probation officers are currently shown on staff. 54B District Court Chief Judge Molly Hennessey Greenwalt has declined to respond to recent questions about the staffing situation, and Evans’ auto-reply indicated she is away.

The City’s Communications Department had been run by two women, Mikell Frey and Carrie Sampson, but Frey quit this year after 17 years with the City. Sampson has been carrying the substantial workload that used to be shared by two.

Sampson tells ELi the city’s graphic designer position had been part-time but is now full-time. Archie Foote is in that position and now helping with website updates and photography.

Other departments have also seen management turnover in the last year.

The past year also saw the departure of Clyde Dugan, the top manager of the East Lansing Meridian Water & Sewer Authority (ELMSWA), which is run out of the City of East Lansing. Laboratory Supervisor James Houska, who had been in that job since 1987, also left. These jobs have been filled by Joel Martinez and Forrest Herald, respectively.

In March, ELi reported that Acting Director of Public Works Nichole McPherson gave notice she would be leaving after working for the city for seven years. She now works as an engineer for the City of Lansing. Ron Lacasse has been running that department but told ELi in a recent interview he expects to look for another position as he reaches 25 years of service with the City.

Scott House is the officially-named Director of Public Works, but has been away on a two-year military assignment. He had been expected to return this month, but now Sampson tells ELi, “His military orders have been extended into September.”

The City Clerk’s office – which manages elections, public noticing, public records, FOIA requests, and more – is also currently being run by an interim. Former City Clerk Marie Wicks stepped back in to serve as Interim City Clerk after the twin resignations of City Clerk Jennifer Schuster (with the city since 2018) and Deputy City Clerk Kathryn Gardener (with the city since 2005).

Wicks hired Amy Gordon as Chief Deputy City Clerk of East Lansing, and Wicks plans to stay on through at least the November election.

In Wicks and Dempsey, the city has interim leaders who bring significant prior experience from their prior employment at the city.

The police department is struggling with staffing, but the fire department is fully staffed.

The police department has been working to hire new people to cover staff losses and to “right-size” the department in terms of staffing. Early this year, Deputy Police Chief Chad Connelly quit, citing “unethical leadership and personnel decisions” in the city. He never elaborated publicly on these claims and there’s still no one in that second-in-command spot.

The city’s “job opportunities” page shows ELPD is currently looking to hire a deputy police chief to replace Connelly, a police social worker, a part-time jail service officer, a part-time PACE officer, a police cadet and more police officers.

ELPD’s struggle in this regard is not unique; Bridge Michigan recently reported Michigan’s statewide police officer shortage is “becoming dire.”

The East Lansing Fire Department is in much better shape in terms of staffing, with Chief Dawn Carson telling ELi by email, “We are at full staff. We have a new position for an additional Fire Inspector and we have someone ready to fill the firefighter position once a firefighter is promoted. We have a Cadet program here at the Fire Department which has assisted us in our hiring pool.”

There’s been management turnover, too, at the library, the seniors’ program, and Parks & Rec.

This summer, East Lansing Public Library’s Director Kristin Shelley and Assistant Director Brice Bush both quit.

At the July 25 meeting, the Library’s Board of Directors voted to name Angelo Moreno as the Interim Director. An interim assistant director has not been named. The trustees will be seeking a permanent replacement for the top position in the coming months. The director has the job of naming an assistant director. ELi reported this week that the absence of a director has been causing staffing stress at the library.

Kelly Arndt recently retired as Director of the City’s Prime Time Seniors Program after 31 years with the city and Lisa Richey is now serving as Interim Director for that program.

Since Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation & Arts Wendy Wilmers Longpre quit earlier this year, no one has been named to that position.

Director of Parks, Recreation & Arts Cathy DeShambo told ELi by email, “We have not named anyone to this position, nor have we phased out the position. Wendy was invaluable in this position for two decades. We are simply taking some time to evaluate our needs as a department and will be moving forward with a plan shortly.”

In contrast to the situation in numerous departments, leadership of the Finance Department has now been stabilized, with Penny Wright hired as Finance Director and Audrey Kincade now serving as Deputy Finance Director. Kincade had been leading the department as acting director for about a year after Finance Director Jill Feldpausch left to take a job with MSUFCU.

The management turmoil goes all the way to the top.

When Tom Fehrenbach quit in January, he was serving not only as Director of Planning, Building and Development but also Deputy City Manager to City Manager George Lahanas. His decision to leave came at about the same time the City Council decided to “separate” with Lahanas. That meant the city’s top two positions were vacated at about the same time.

Council hired former fire chief Randy Talifarro as Interim City Manager and now the City Council is seeking a new City Manager. Talifarro confirmed to ELi there is presently no one appointed as Deputy City Manager.

The bottom line?

At present, all of the following positions in the City of East Lansing currently have an interim in the role: City Manager; Director of Human Resources; City Clerk; Director of Public Works; Director of Planning, Building and Development; Director of Prime Time Seniors Program; and Library Director.

The Division of Planning & Zoning is being run by the Director of Planning and a hired consultant. There are no other staff in that unit beyond an administrative secretary.

The following deputy and assistant director positions are currently vacant: Deputy Police Chief; Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation & Arts; Deputy Court Administrator; Assistant Library Director; and Deputy City Manager.

Council voted unanimously in June to dedicate up to $1.275 million for retention bonuses to try to stem the tide of departures.

The reasons for the departures appear to be varied but, as a whole, the impact is large.

Some former employees say they simply found better jobs and others (who have spoken with ELi on the condition of anonymity) say they grew too concerned over leadership to stay.

An anonymous complaint released in April blamed bad leadership for staff resignations. Even as Talifarro and Mayor Ron Bacon decried the complaint as racist in motivation, Bacon and the rest of Council decided unanimously to pay an external lawyer up to $30,000 to investigate it. Council has to date revealed nothing about the progress of that investigation.

Even if the anonymous letter’s claims explain some of the departures, it does not explain all.

Following the library directors’ resignations, Bacon called Library Director Shelley “one of the closest people to me in the city” as he wished her well in remarks made at City Council. Shelley has said she’s leaving for a preferred job.

And the 54B Court’s loss of the entire probation department within a few months’ time appears to relate to concerns about the Court’s own leadership, according to  what ELi has been told by a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Judge Hennessey Greenwalt has declined to respond to the claim.

Regardless of the reasons for the departures, employees in the city tell ELi the low staffing and having so much interim management makes it even harder for them to do their jobs, making their jobs less attractive at the present time. Whoever is named the next City Manager will have as a primary task dealing with this situation.