Thanks to FOIA, You Can Now See the Application Letters of the EL City Manager Candidates
As ELi reported Wednesday (Aug. 2), ELi’s City Desk Editor Luke Day requested the City of East Lansing release the application packages of the semi-finalists for the city manager position. The interviews and a public reception will be held Monday (Aug. 7) and release would allow the public to see the applications before then.
Luke was told he would have to make a formal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which he did Wednesday.
We just got back the results – an unusually fast turnaround for FOIA – including the five semi-finalists’ cover letters and resumes. They are lightly redacted to hide personal information like phone numbers, but most of the material is visible.
You can now view the packages for Adam Kline, Collin Mays, Michael Silverman, Robert Belleman and Tim Dempsey.
ELi will be doing research on these candidates in advance of Monday’s interviews and we welcome readers to share any tips or leads with us. You can send an email directly to Luke at luke@eastlansinginfo.news and you can also submit anonymous tips to our contact page. (Sources will be protected.)
Luke reported Wednesday that an initial review indicates at least one of the semi-finalists, Robert Belleman, comes with a recent history of controversy.
MLive reported Belleman was removed from his job as Saginaw County controller on June 20 during a “wild” Board of Commissioners meeting amid claims of a “toxic work environment.” WNEM-TV has video from the meeting in which he was ousted. According to WNEM, over a dozen speakers “described instances of bullying behavior, low employee morale…and harassment.”
Council elected earlier this year to hire the Michigan Municipal League (MML) to handle the search for a new city manager. Fourteen applications in total were received, including six from individuals in Michigan.
MML conducted the initial interviews. Council was then provided with anonymous bios (including educational backgrounds and professional experience) and the recruiter’s recommendations. ELi was required to use FOIA to obtain that information as well.
Supplied by MML only with the anonymized information and no information about Belleman having been removed from his controller job, Council decided on July 19 to bring in these five candidates. They also chose two candidates as “alternates” in case one of the five semi-finalists is eliminated or eliminates himself from the process. The alternates were identified as candidates #14 (first choice alternate) and #1 (second alternate). Information on those alternates has not been released beyond the anonymized bios.
On Monday (Aug. 7), the five semi-finalist candidates will be interviewed individually by members of City Council and staff and then will together attend a reception that will be open to the public.
The interviews with Council will be open to the public under the Open Meetings Act. Those are expected to begin at 10 a.m. Monday at the Hannah Community Center.
The reception will be from 6-8 p.m. also at the Hannah Community Center. Those who would like to attend the reception are asked to RSVP to Assistant to City Council Tammy Verchereau at tvercher@cityofeastlansing.com by Friday (Aug. 4).
After candidates go through the initial interview process, Council is expected to reconvene Sunday, Aug. 13, to narrow down candidates and potentially bring back finalists for another round of interviews.
City Desk Editor Lucas Day contributed reporting.
NOTE: This article was updated on Aug. 3, 2023, at 9:20 p.m. to clarify what Council did and didn’t know when they voted on the five semi-finalists and two alternates. The phrase “Supplied by MML only with the anonymized information and no information about Belleman having been removed from his controller job,” was added to the sentence that says, “Council decided on July 19 to bring in these five candidates.”