HART — Rob Splane has turned over his role as Hart city manager to an interim manager. Nichole Kleiner, Hart’s economic development coordinator, was unanimously approved by the Hart City Council Tuesday to work as the interim city manager part-time until Sept. 8, when she will be available to perform the role full-time until a permanent city manager is hired.
Double Haul Solutions, the contracted recruitment company, estimates the role will be filled permanently by late October or early November at the latest.
Kleiner will be leaving her coordinator position vacant while acting as city manager, and the council took some time to discuss how that vacancy will be handled, deciding to refer to the Hart Economic and Redevelopment Board’s opinion following their upcoming meeting. The council agreed that someone should take on the role for some time, Council Member Andrew Mullen pointing out the salary is already budgeted and not wanting to waste funds on an empty position. Following her approval, Kleiner was immediately sworn in by clerk Karla Swihart in front of the council.
It did not take long for Kleiner to jump into her role as interim manager, as she was able to provide context and offer opinion on the handling of four ordinances brought before the council for their second readings. Following the second reading, the ordinances would then move to a public hearing before finally being approved. The first readings took place in April.
Ordinances 25-01 and 25-02 were made for Hart to be in compliance with the requirements for the Redevelopment Ready Community certification, which the city lost in February. Ordinance 25-01 was reviewed with no issue, but 25-02 caused a point of contention. Ordinance 25-02 would see the minimum square footage of residential buildings lowered from 720 to 400 square feet for a one-story building, and 600 to 500 square feet for the ground floor of a two-story building.
Council member Dean Hodges took issue with the one-story building square foot minimum being less than the two-story ground floor minimum, which he called atypical of what he’s seen in other municipalities’ ordinances and what Hart had before. Many others on the council did not see any issue with this and explained that these numbers were the minimum. As council member Betty Root said, “you don’t have to make them that small.”
Kleiner explained the numbers were the way they are so these potential homes would fit in the category of a “tiny house.” One of the reasons Hart lost its Redevelopment Ready certification is that the State of Michigan wants communities to provide more variety in the types of residential developments available. Currently, the city has options for single-family homes, duplexes, multi-family apartment complexes, and mixed-use apartments downtown with ground-floor businesses and upper-floor apartment units. Ordinance 25-02 would allow for the development of another variety of residential options, tiny homes, which council member Jim Cunningham explained would be intended for single-occupant, first-time homeowners as an affordable alternative to renting. The current square-foot minimums are too large for a home to be categorized as “tiny.”
Dean Hodges went on to explain he does not mind the minimum square footage, but that the single-floor square footage is smaller than that of the 2-story ground-floor, and that he’d taken issue with that at the first reading back in April.
“I think I’d be more okay with it if you flip those two to be more consistent with what other cities do and what we’ve done in the past,” Hodges said.
The Council proposed sending Ordinances 25-01 and 25-02 back to the planning commission to review, which was approved 6-1, Mullen being the dissenting vote. Ordinance 25-03, which pertained to tree-cutting and property maintenance, passed the second reading without issue. Ordinance 25-04, pertaining to food truck permits, also drew concern from Cunningham for vague language and confusion surrounding what was permissible and what was not, and was likewise sent back with unanimous council approval. However, 25-03 will be given a public hearing alongside the other three ordinances, once they are re-evaluated and pass second reading.
In this decision, the council deferred to Kleiner’s advice. While the Redevelopment Ready certification is not critical, she said it should be completed within this current five-year period and the city should be careful to stay on top of any other requirements that are introduced. The main downside is the city would not be eligible for any grants where the certification is required. Overall, Kleiner recommended sending 25-01, 02, and 04 back for re-evaluation.
Despite there not being any forward momentum with ordinances, Resolution 2025-26 was approved unanimously. As Mullen described, this resolution was drawn up by the Hart Economic Redevelopment team as they worked to identify places to “reduce red tape and burden on developers and businesses” to encourage businesses to develop in the city, specifically in the industrial park. Mullen went on to explain how the current covenants for industrial park building requirements were very restrictive and had not been updated since the 1990s.
“To some degree, those restrictions seemed to make sense, but in other places, they deviated pretty far from what the rest of what Hart code was," Mullen said.
Economic Redevelopment found all the places in the Industrial Park covenants which could be trimmed or be referred back to city municipal codes - which are more recently and frequently updated - which would, in turn, update the covenants. Mullen assured the industrial park would stay industrial - no “call centers” or “restaurants” - but this would hopefully allow easier development for new businesses, such as Dark Water Coffee Roasters, which was approved to develop in the Industrial Park earlier this summer.
Resolution 2025-26 will now be brought forward to the existing business and lot owners at the industrial park for their sign-off. There needs to be a three-quarters approval in order to institute the resolution.
When it came time on the agenda for the city manager’s report, many on the council and audience were relieved there was no report and the meeting could end sooner than expected, but Kleiner was prepared with a priority list she had, detailing items she is planning to pick up following Splane’s departure, which she shared with the council and press.
The first item is to hold meetings with staff and supervisors to “understand what current projects [they’re] working on and if there are any outstanding issues that need addressing.” There are also employee insurance premium payments in need of adjustments, cybersecurity improvements for the city’s WiFi, the Streetscape and Safe Routes to School projects to continue developing, the Ready Redevelopment certification to reinstate, ongoing financial work, a Community Excellence application to pitch at the upcoming Michigan Municipal League conference, and of course a resolution for the water tower property.
Finally, mayor Amanda Klotz shared her thanks with the city’s staff, department heads, supervisors and council members for their work during the change in personnel.
“I know there’s been a lot going on… I just appreciate everybody’s willingness to roll with the punches right now… I certainly appreciate your hard work and efforts and keeping the City of Hart rolling down the road in the right directions,” Klotz said.
