Robert Belleman Easing into His Role as City Manager

Robert Belleman looks relaxed, sipping his black coffee at Foster Coffee on Sept. 29. He wears a sports coat and khakis on the Friday, which was the last day of his first week as the City Manager of East Lansing. 

ELi spoke with the community’s new top administrator to learn more about the man, the abrupt end to his tenure in Saginaw and the priorities he has for his new post.

“I grew up in Detroit on the east side,” Belleman, 57, said. “My dad worked for the Archdiocese of Detroit. He was an organist, teacher, choir director.”

Did the musical ability rub off on Belleman, the eighth of 10 children?

“Absolutely not,” he replies, laughing. “He had a baby grand in the living room and never taught any of us how to play.”

Belleman set out to be a teacher but ended up in public administration.

The Detroiter attended Eastern Michigan University, intending to become a teacher.

“When I got there, they were like, ‘We don’t need teachers. Can you pick something else?’” he said.

Belleman’s dorm mate was working on his masters degree in Public Administration.

“That’s what piqued my interest,” he said. “If I can’t become a history teacher, I’ll go into this.”

He graduated with a degree in Political Science and Public Administration, minoring in Communications. The following decades would take him to several Michigan communities, serving in their city governments and gaining the experience and skills that would eventually earn him the top job in East Lansing.

The new city manager gave his perspective on being fired by Saginaw County.

It’s his most recent posting, however, and it’s confusing conclusion that brought consternation to some citizens of an already embattled City of East Lansing. Belleman’s 10-year stint as the Controller for Saginaw County ended in June when the Saginaw Country Board of Commissioners opted to end his employment after accusations of bullying and creating a hostile work environment came to light.

Belleman was eager to give his perspective on the situation.

“So what happened in Saginaw was a surprise to me,” he began. “I was on vacation. Nothing was wrong. No complaints. No issues. My last day of vacation I get a call from a commissioner saying, ‘The chairman’s trying to align the votes to terminate your employment.’

“So I get back on a Tuesday [and on] Wednesday I start calling my commissioners,” he said. “Some return my calls, some didn’t. So the some that talked to me said, ‘Well, there’s allegations with your management style, some claim there were problems from years ago,’ and I said, ‘What are they’ and they’re like, ‘Oh we’re not sure, we just hear it’s your management style.’

“One of the first persons I call was the chair and the vice chair, and they never called me back, and then we scheduled a meeting [for] the Friday I return, which was the Friday before the board meeting,” Belleman said. “And I met with them, and I come in and they say, ‘You know, we’ve gotten complaints…so we thought it would be best if we just offered you an opportunity to resign. We’ll pay your severance and give you a neutral recommendation.’ I said, ‘No, I want to know what are the complaints?” and he said, ‘Well I’m not at liberty to tell you.”

Belleman said he first heard the complaints at the public meeting at which he would ultimately be fired. Four individuals – the county government’s IT director, the county prosecutor, register of deeds and clerk – were the primary complainants, he said.

“It was Josh, who was my IT director, saying ‘You know, he’s just a bully,’” Belleman said. “He had all these audio recordings, and I’m like, OK, I don’t recall, but I’m putting you under [a] performance improvement plan [and] you’ve got union representation at those meetings.’ My personnel director was there, my attorney was there and nobody’s ever pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, you were out of line.’ It was a big surprise. I think it was more of a distraction from the real issue [which] is you’re not performing.

“It really comes down, in my opinion, to I’m the guy who had to say no,” Belleman said concerning the other three individuals. “Especially with the budget. The clerk, the prosecutor, and the register of deeds, they don’t work for me. Their employees don’t work for me. They’re elected. They’re independent. They know that.”

Belleman went on to say he believed commissioners, including five who were newly elected and seated in 2023, disagreed with him on issues including the leasing of an office building outside of the city limits.

“And so, when they did the first vote to fire me, it failed,” he said. “Then they suspended me to investigate and by the time I got home, they had terminated me. I found out through MLive [an online news service] that they had terminated me and they did it without cause. So the narrative that’s being played out is somewhat confusing in the sense, was it cause or no cause, because you created the environment for cause and then you voted to do it for [no] cause.

“I was flabbergasted. Never saw it coming.”

Belleman was not, however, surprised by the reaction by some in East Lansing, worried they might be hiring an embattled city manager.

“I figure when you apply for this kind of work, it is under the magnifying glass,” he said. “As I mentioned during my interview [with City Council], you don’t know me. This is the backstory as I see it. I would have loved to know what the complaints were. It would have helped me grow if there were issues. But all I can do is take it at face value and see how I could have improved, and that’s why I said, when they approved my contract, ‘Give me an opportunity. Get to know me.’ It’s the cornerstone of this community: get to know someone. But yeah, I expected the public scrutiny. I mean, it was one sided, because no one called me to say, ‘Hey, what’s the story?’”

What happened in Saginaw will undoubtedly inform Belleman’s time in East Lansing, he said.

Belleman expects to maintain his leadership style, which, he said, is “I’m always open.”

“I’m here to listen and I’m here to learn,”Belleman said. “The department heads are the experts and I’m here to help them be successful, because if they’re successful, I’m successful. The financial constraints of this city will be driving decisions and, unfortunately, those aren’t always easy decisions and they’re not popular. I’ve never taken this position to be popular. But I am fair and I do listen and I try to do what’s best. Ultimately, it’s up to the City Council. Our decisions are presented to them to bless or reject. And of course they can modify some.

“So that’s one of the things I brought up to the department heads when I’ve done introductions. Give some strategic initiatives when the new City Council is elected,” Belleman said. “Let’s sit back down with them. Let’s review and make sure that those are our strategic initiatives going forward and involve them in helping define those initiatives and then implementing them.”

Belleman was in steady contact with his predecessor, Interim City Manager Randy Talifarro. Talifarro kept him abreast of hirings and happenings in the city government. 

“Randy did a lot,” Belleman said. “He did promote and solidify some of the interims [directors]. I told Randy when I saw a number of the interim managers, that was going to be a question I had, is why haven’t you filled them, and so he solidified that before I came. We talked a couple times and he told me who he was selecting and how he was doing it. And I was good with it because I think if we’re truly talking about stability in the organization, yes, I’ll offer some of that, but having permanent people in those positions. So I know the planning department, the clerk, senior program, may still have some vacancies within the leadership roles that need to be finalized, so I’ll be working on that, but just kind of bringing everyone back here to serve the residents. So take a deep breath, relax, everything’s good. They’ve been doing a great job and they need to recognize that.”

For now, Belleman is commuting between Saginaw and East Lansing.

While Belleman hit the ground running, he hasn’t been in a hurry to move his family here. He and his wife have three children, the oldest is studying at Saginaw Valley State University, and the next two are enrolled at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw.

“Right now I’m commuting,” he said. “I’ll stay in a hotel, looking for an apartment. But eventually the family’s going to come and we’ll look for a house.”

When asked about his life outside of the office, he manages to bring it back to his family, obviously proud of the brood.

“I like working around the house,” he said. “I love outdoors. I also like to read. My children kid me, though, because it takes me forever to finish a book. And it’s because by the time I pick it up, I’m tired, and I doze off after about two or three pages. I finished a book about Madison and his presidency and prior to that was Margaret Thatcher and it was an 800-page volume. It was always, when we went on vacation, ‘Is Margaret coming along,’” he remembered with a laugh.

“I’m a Detroit Lions fan,” he said with a heartier laugh. “But I am definitely now a Spartan fan. I love football. I love watching.”

MSU and EL keeping the lines of communication open is important, he said.

Belleman’s connection to the major university in town will go beyond the gridiron.

“My very first meeting when I got here on Monday,” he said, “was to sit down with the interim president [Teresa Woodruff] and several of her staff members, the mayor [Ron Bacon], and mayor pro tem [Jessy Gregg], and Randy to start the dialogue and relationship. We have liaisons between the city and the university opening those channels of discussion, because we need to know what MSU is thinking and MSU needs to know what we’re thinking so we’re all on the same page. I think that communication, frequently, will be beneficial. 

“I love the idea of the town and gown. The possibilities are endless,” he said, smiling broadly.

“The residents are engaged and you don’t see that in every community, and that’s great. It may not be comfortable at times, but I encourage it. This is their government. I’m their manager and I’m here to serve them through the Council. The more people sitting around the table, the better.”