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The city of Ferndale hired James Krizan as its new assistant city manager. He comes to the city after four years in Lincoln Park as its city manager.
Photo provided by James Krizan
FERNDALE — Ferndale’s new assistant city manager is excited to get to work in the city.
James Krizan began his first day on the job Jan. 16. He came over from Lincoln Park, where he served as its city manager for close to four years.
“I was ready to move on and face new challenges, and the opportunity in Ferndale arrived and, honestly, it was the community that I was interested in coming to work for,” he said.
Krizan also spent time working in Royal Oak, where he was the assistant to the city manager. It was there where he was able to collaborate with Ferndale on some projects and get a feel for the community.
“As I was looking into the opportunity, learning more about the culture, it just seemed like the kind of opportunity that would be a good fit,” he said.
Ferndale has been searching for a new assistant city manager after Kyle Pollet retired last August. The city has undergone a recruitment process since that time.
City Manager Joe Gacioch said Krizan brings a lot of experience and knowledge to Ferndale from his time working in Lincoln Park, which had issues with resource scarcity.
“He brings the right values that fit Ferndale’s culture,” he said. “I’m really happy about that depth of experience coming back into City Hall.”
Gacioch said one of the first projects they’re going to throw at Krizan is to oversee the city’s programs for priority-based budgeting and the design request for proposal for the city’s future Martin Road Park recreation facility.
“I think he’s gonna bring a good mindset around project management efficiencies, and he brings a passion for the arts and culture,” he said. “There’s a lot of areas he’s going to affect.”
On the Martin Road Park facility project, which is estimated to be a nearly 10,000-square-foot community center, Krizan said Ferndale will be looking at doing public engagements with the community during the design phase.
“This is going to be really exciting to see from the ground level to the design and then hopefully be able to get the project off the ground,” he said. “We’ve actually been lucky enough to receive some grant funding to start getting this going. We have an RFP in the field now for firms to help us put together the conceptual design.”
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