ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – The City of Escanaba must soon begin the process of finding its next manager.
On Thursday, current City Manager Jim McNeil passed out a letter to the City Council. He then told council members that he “will be moving on” from his position.
“I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to serve you and the City and its residents and staff,” McNeil said. “[There are] a ton of special people involved, and I think that’s why we’ve accomplished a great deal in not a long time here.”
City Council members expressed their disappointment about McNeil’s announcement and praised him for his work.
“All I can say is that you’re going to be hard to replace,” council member Karen Moore told McNeil. “You’ve set us up for success in the future with the grants available for MDOT. You have been part of multi-million dollar grants that we’ve already gotten for infrastructure. I can’t say enough about your accomplishments, and we’re going to miss you.”
“We’ve got big shoes to fill,” said Mayor Pro Tem Tyler DuBord. “You’ve done an excellent job. When you started as an interim city manager, taking over a lot of chaos, I think you proved it to us. That’s why we put you in the position… You’ve done a great job. I can’t say much more about that. I appreciate the notice and that you’ve given us enough notice to be prepared and look at some options for it, but we commend you. I definitely do.”
McNeil stated the target date for his transition as May 15. He recommended that City staff propose a job posting and hiring plan proposal at the next City Council meeting.
