Council, residents interview city manager candidates

Home City News Council, residents interview city manager candidates

The Hillsdale City Council held a special session at noon on Saturday to publicly interview two candidates for the Hillsdale City Manager position and receive questions from the public, even though the council did not make a final decision on a new city manager.

“These interviews serve as a date of sorts,” acting City Manager Doug Terry said. “It’s not an engagement, or a wedding. It is the beginning introduction to a process where the council and public will be acquainted with these candidates. Our goal is to provide the citizens with a manager who wants to thrive here.”

The council first interviewed William J. Cooper, who served as city manager in Hamtramck and Mount Clemens, Michigan and also as deputy mayor in Riverdale, Illinois. The council discussed Cooper’s experience and plan for Hillsdale if he is appointed city manager.

“I have a walk-around management style,” Cooper said. “I’ll be in the office when I need to be there, but I like to talk to all members of the community and it is important to be in personal contact with the department heads and employees to understand what’s going on and understand the concerns of the citizens.”

The council questioned Cooper extensively on his time as city manager of Hamtramck, where his employment was terminated in March 2012.The state of Michigan appointed an emergency city manager to Hamtramck after Cooper’s termination, due to the high levels of the city’s financial debt.

“Things had spiraled out of control because of declining property values,” Cooper said, “We saw it coming and we couldn’t really prevent it.”

The second candidate David Mackie, who is the current Deputy City Manager of Taylor, Michigan, emphasized his plan for HIllsdale’s economic growth.

“I have a passion for economic development,” Mackie said. “I’m not the kind of guy who likes to be told it can’t be done, I like to figure out a way to do it. I like to see positive things happen.”

The council asked Mackie about several felonies found in his background report, because Mackie was a team member on a Taylor development program engaging in illicit financial activities. All the charges were dropped because of Mackie’s lack of involvement, but Mackie became visibly emotional while describing the incident.

“There were 13 felony charges with a minimum of four years for each charge,” Mackie said. “I have three kids, and when you add up all those years, I was devastated. They were dropped, but those charges still haunt me.”

Mackie revealed strategies he used as Taylor’s city manager during public questioning, which he hopes to bring to Hillsdale if he is chosen by the council. These include projects such as a quarterly city magazine and an app where citizens can take pictures of potholes to report them to maintenance crews who will add them to a list of potholes to fix.

Mayor Sessions approved adding a session of public comment to the agenda at the request of the public, after the council interviewed Cooper and Mackie.

Airport Advisory Committee chairman Jeff King cited concern for the over-due appointment process of Hillsdale city manager.

“Linda Brown resigned around February 2, which means technically the clock has run out either already or now,” King said. “We need the council to be transparent and follow the rules that exist for these situations.”

After public comment, the council encouraged Hillsdale residents to attend the next city council meeting and participate in specific discussion regarding the candidates.