Ballot proposal could open door to Orchard Lake’s first-ever city manager

ORCHARD LAKE — If a ballot proposal is approved by Orchard Lake voters Nov. 5, a first will occur in the city’s history.

The person who is primarily responsible for handling city operations in many cities has the title of “city manager,” but that has never been the case in Orchard Lake.

Instead, the director of city services position  was created many years ago, according to Gerry McCallum, who currently serves in that role for Orchard Lake.

A ballot proposal on the general election ballot could lead to Orchard Lake aligning with many other cities, with the ballot language asking: “Shall the City of Orchard Lake Village be authorized to change the name and responsibilities of a Director of City Services to a City Manager authorizing duties and responsibilities per ordinance.”

Orchard Lake City Council members unanimously approved having the proposal placed on ballots at a meeting in June.

McCallum explained the rationale for the decision.

“What really brought this to a head is that there’s been some documents for the state of Michigan, treasury documents, that I can’t sign because I’m not designated as a city manager, even though I act like one (and) operate like one,” McCallum said. “I could not sign the documents because, legally, my title is not city manager; so, therefore, it required the highest elected official, the mayor, to sign, and we just felt it’d be more appropriate to have a manager’s position versus a director. But more importantly, a lot of organizations, like leadership organizations, don’t understand what a director of city services does, whereas a city manager’s pretty straightforward.”

Orchard Lake Mayor Norm Finkelstein said that director of city services is an “unusual title.”

He explained the potential benefits of making a change.

“The advantage of having a city manager is they have more responsibility for overall management of the city, including perhaps the Police Department, which is not included now,” Finkelstein said. “And often they need to enter into certain agreements or sign documents that (require) a city manager, and we don’t have one. And in the future – I hope it’s the distant future – that Gerry McCallum decides to retire and we need to include a replacement – it would be much easier to recruit a city manager than something that people are not accustomed to seeing as a title.”

McCallum is also of the opinion that if and when he decides to retire, recruitment prospects would be improved by changing the title of his current position.

“Some people say, ‘What does a director do?’ I say, ‘I act as a city manager; I just don’t have the title as a city manager.’”

Finkelstein said that the position of director of city services was in place long before his involvement with the city, which has been for approximately 20 years.

“It arose because prior to that, our longtime city clerk, Janet Green, was in charge of everything, and as the city grew a little bit more sophisticated and she was going to retire, it became obvious that somebody would have to take on some of her responsibilities for managing the DPW and other aspects of the city, and that we’d have a separate person to be the city clerk to manage the financial affairs,” Finkelstein said. “Since the charter did not allow for a city manager without a vote of the council, they decided to create the title of director of city services.”

According to McCallum, who stated that he has been in his current role for 13 years, he and the chief of the city’s Police Department are currently lateral in their positions. However, if the proposal is adopted, the chief would be under the direction of the city manager.

“Not that the intent was to have me over the chief,” McCallum said. “It’s just that’s how city managers are structured and how they function throughout other municipalities. Chief still runs his department. … I’m not (an) elected official. I am the chief administrator as a city manager.”

McCallum’s current duties include handling the administrative functions of the city, including the Department of Public Works, the Building Department, code enforcement and administration staffing.

If the ballot measure is approved, according to McCallum, it does not change anything from a financial perspective, in regard to city taxes or his salary.

Given that he already functions like a city manager, McCallum said that trying to make it official was a pretty easy decision to make, and from his perspective, “I don’t think there’s any drawbacks whatsoever.”

He gave the current health of the city a solid report.

“We’re in great shape,” McCallum said. “We are fiscally responsible. … (The) city’s running on all cylinders.”

The idea of having an official city manager in place is not a new idea in Orchard Lake.

“We’ve wrestled with it for more than a few years and talked about it, and it’s time to just get it done,” Finkelstein said. “So I hope the voters will approve it and then we will change the ordinance to allow it.”