Mitch Foster of Double Haul Solutions introduced himself and his company to Hart City Council at its June 22 meeting. Double Haul has been contracted to recruit a replacement for the city manager position, from which Rob Splane recently resigned. Foster is a former manager for the City of Ludington and currently works with Double Haul alongside his responsibilities as VP of Administrative Services at West Shore Community College. He was largely responsible for the successful recent hirings of Rachel Witherspoon as the village manager of Pentwater and Kaitlyn Aldrich as the city manager of Ludington.
Foster’s presentation mainly revolved around providing an expectant timeline for their recruitment of a new manager, as well as a general query to the council of what they were looking for in prospective candidates.
The tentative timeline, which is contingent on the cooperation of city officials to provide swift and thorough feedback to Double Haul, is to have the job posted by mid-August with applications due about a month later. The end of September would see the first round of interviews conducted by Double Haul and their shortlist of 8-12 candidates presented to council during closed session, where ideally the list would be reduced to 3-5. The interview process would, hopefully, conclude Oct. 3, with an open house and thorough interviews spread over two days. Ideally, Foster indicated that the City of Hart will hopefully see a new city manager by the end of October.
Foster acknowledged that the process sounds exhausting, but that they’ve made it their mission at Double Haul to streamline it and make it as painless for the city and prospective candidates as possible.
Foster inquired about certain items of the council, such as whether the city had a working master plan, any changes necessary for the job description provided by Splane, if the council would like Double Haul to provide a salary survey adequate for the community, and if there were Finance and Personnel committees to which he could present the drafted “brochure.” He also asked if there was anything the council wished to make transparent about the City of Hart and its management. “Let’s get it out in the open now because the candidates will do their research, just like you all will for them. They’re looking for a place they want to call home.”
The council assured that they had no skeletons in the city’s closets and provided the relevant information regarding committees, master plans, salary and job descriptions. Foster also made it known that Double Haul provided contract assistance free of charge and could possibly provide an interim manager for a fee.
He then proceeded with his survey of baseline questions and topics for the council to think about. What locations in the community are high priority for candidates to tour - “You’re selling an area, you’re selling a community beyond the City of Hart.” - and what community members, business and non-profit leaders candidates should meet.
Most importantly, Foster asked the council “what are you looking for?” Council Member Karen Thomson wishes to see someone who’s “even-keeled” and can get along with the various supervisors in the city. Mayor Amanda Klotz is interested in someone with “brand new eyes, maybe some real vision… Just looking at our community, what can they add to it, what ideas they may have going forward?” Council Member Andrew Mullen admits to having a “long list” but primarily wants someone with a “keen eye towards economic development.” Council Member Jim Cunningham wishes to see someone who will promote the city and work well with encouraging events and activities. “Getting us more on the map, I guess you’d say.”
When asking about qualifications and whether government experience is a must, Foster described a hypothetical candidate who might not have a government background, but may be a business owner. The council also agrees that, while fresh eyes are always appreciated, they’d like someone with some background or prior experience in local government. As Council Member Betty Root explained, “Here we’re responsible to the people in the area, and in a business, they do their own thing.”
Partway through the inquiry, the council was diverted by a misunderstanding on the part of Council Member Cat Burillo. “My understanding at our last meeting, and I say this because it's a public meeting, is that we were going to pause [on Double Haul’s search]. Some ideas and suggestions had been put forward for an interim city manager.”
This sentiment was shared by Council Member Dean Hodges. Klotz explained that, while other options in the interim may have been in the works, they still needed someone to look for a permanent manager, with Mullen agreeing , adding “with a process like this that’s going to take four months, is it not possible to do them in parallel?”
Foster went on to explain that they are not a “post-and-pray organization” but would actively search and even cold-call in the pursuit of finding a manager. However, he is “at the pleasure of the council” and is happy to come back at another time should the perfect candidate for Hart walk in on their own accord.
Finally, Foster asked if there were any “hard no’s” besides the expected “no felons.” Otherwise, Burillo and Klotz recommended that the question would be better asked of department supervisors. Foster concluded by asking the council where the best place in Hart to get pizza was, which was perhaps the most contentious question of the evening.
Moving on, the council was informed that the city received a notice from their internet provider, Spectrum, that the free WiFi offered at the Hart Commons was recently used by someone trying to pirate and illegally download a movie. Following this discovery, it was quoted that the cost for the city to protect itself from this liability in the future was around $4,000. This led to the question as to whether the City of Hart still has a duty to provide this amenity for their community.
Mullen, who works in IT, had much to say on the topic. He recounted how this service removed the burden of providing free and open WiFi from local businesses, and that one business owner had already received an angry letter from their internet provider when a guest used their WiFi to illegally download a Disney movie (it is unknown whether this is the same person as at the Hart Commons.) He considers the continuation of the Commons WiFi with protection a reasonable investment, and that $4,000 is a reasonable price for the service. Root and Cunningham agreed with Mullen, the latter saying that “it’s a service we’ve been providing for the last 10 years. I would hate to see that service taken away.”
During the discussion, a concerned citizen was allowed to interject to ask if the council was sure this letter was not a scam, especially if other businesses had been on a similar receiving end. They were assured that the letter was legitimate and marked with the city’s Spectrum account number.
After these considerations, the council agreed to pay for the protection service and continue to provide WiFi at Hart Commons.
Finally, City Manager Splane wanted to refresh the council on the work-in-progress plans for the Safe Routes to School project, as the discussion had come up previously and some current council members were not serving in 2018 when the project was introduced. The project was proposed by the Pentwater-Hart Trail Committee, who asked for the city’s collaboration in applying for the Safe Routes to School grant to fund a project to provide an extension of the Hart-Montague Rail Trail through the Hart Public School District.
This extension would provide a safe walking and biking route starting at the Hart terminus of the Rail Trail on Water Street, leading down Johnson Street, passing between the school bus yard and skate park, connecting to South Plum Street, and proceeding down West Main Street until ending at the trailer park on the corner of Tyler Road and 72nd Avenue.
At this point the planned route is tentatively approved by MDOT - which has been a “sticking point” in the past - provided their archeological team approves the construction along cemetery and church property.
As several years have passed since the project was first introduced to the community, the council asked if adequate information could be provided to residents who live on the projected path. Splane agreed that this would be necessary, even if the initial feedback from 2018 was positive, and the city would need to engage the community once more before the “trigger is pulled.”
Mullen concluded that, despite the already hefty project list slated for Hart’s infrastructure in the coming years, this project would be well utilized by adults, families and students alike. The project will continue as planned.
