New Belleville city manager is current Litchfield manager

At a special meeting of the Belleville City Council on Aug. 28, the council voted 3-2 to offer the position of city manager to Jason Smith, currently serving as city manager in the city of Litchfield. The city attorney will negotiate the contract with him.
Council members Ken Voigt and Jeremiah Beebe voted against the motion to hire Smith, explaining that they had nothing again Smith, but that they wanted the current city project manager Steve Jones to move up to city manager.
But Council members Kelly Bates and Tom Fielder voted for Smith and Mayor Kerreen Conley broke the two-two tie to cast the deciding vote for Smith.
Mayor Conley explained the situation at the beginning of the meeting, noting the city manager position was vacated June 1 after David Robinson resigned to take a much-higher-paying position as city manager of the city of Monroe.
Belleville posted the vacancy. She said there were seven or eight rounds of applications reviewed by the council. There were several rounds of interviews and then some candidates were chosen for a second round of interviews and each one of those filled out a lengthy questionnaire.
Project Manager Steve Jones submitted his application with the fifth group of candidates being considered. He did not have the college credentials or experience required for a candidate according to the city charter, but he was granted what amounted to a “second” interview with the council and he submitted the questionnaire. It was called a “courtesy interview for an internal candidate.”
The final four candidates announced by the council for consideration at the Aug. 28 meeting were: James Krizan, Lincoln Park city manager; Jason Smith, Litchfield city manager; Ryan Madis, Ortonville village manager; and Jones.
“The questionnaire we had was quite extensive,” said Mayor Pro Tem Ken Voight. “The mayor came up with that and it was excellent.”
Councilman Beebe said all of the candidates had their own strengths. And, Voigt agreed all four were really good choices. Mayor Conley said in the past when they were selecting a city manager they had one candidate and then that one didn’t take it and then they had none.
“I was impressed with the number of applicants and the quality,” said Councilman Fielder. “I saw excitement. This was a more happening place than where they were coming from.”
“I knew Steve [Jones] from school and was impressed with his ability to take charge of things,” Fielder said. “But the charter does have specific credentials for a reason.
“I didn’t support him as one of my top two choices because I don’t think he meets the qualifications of a city manager as expressed in the charter,” Fielder said.
Beebe said he spent a lot of time thinking about his choice. He said Jones has the opportunity to improve and continue the flow here in the city. He said Jones had been a part of the city for a long time and was taught by the former city manager.
He said there are bigger issues coming up, like bonding.
Councilwoman Bates said they have four really good candidates and Smith was her top candidate. She said his interview was strong.
Voigt said he thought Jones ought to be given a shot at the job with a six-month contract. He said everyone on the council wanted to go out for external candidates and the council has spent extensive hours on the hiring process and got a really good talent pool.
“I’ve worked with him for 16 years,” Voigt said of Jones, referring to the Music Lakeside concerts. “I named him my top candidate. I knew his strengths and weaknesses.
“I like Jason a lot, but with Steve the positives outweight the negatives,” Voigt said. “It gives me a little heartburn that he doesn’t have a degree. This is a multi-million-dollar corporation, but he is a quick study. You only need to tell him something once. He has a big heart. For me it’s Steve #1, Jason #2. Jason had the strongest interview and his resume was the strongest.”
Mayor Conley said she had done the job of city manager and knows what it takes. She said there was a lot of learning for the former city manager who started out as police chief and then became chief/manager in one position. The deputy city manager Robinson hired didn’t work out so a project manager was hired. The council isn’t eliminating that position and the budget was passed with that position in place, along with city manager, she said.
She said Jones was not her top selection and there is a much bigger learning curve than is suggested. She said the city has someone in the project manager position and if that person was moved then there would have to be training for the new project manager, having two getting to know their jobs at once.
She said she liked Smith and Krizan. She said Lincoln Park doesn’t have a downtown, but Krizan also was in Royak Oak that does. Mayor Conley said she was on vacation, but she heard Krizan’s interview.
She said the council has to evaluate all the candidates fairly and Jones had one of the weaker interviews. Krizan’s interview was good and Smith’s was very good.
Paper ballots were filled out by the council members naming their top two candidates and Acting Police Chief Kris Faull tallied the scores.
James Krizan and Ryan Madis were eliminated, leaving Smith and Jones.
Fielder said there’s a reason the charter requires equivalency of experience or a degree because the job requirements go beyond managing an office. He said if someone is just using the job for a stepping stone and moves on to somewhere else, “It happens.”
“Everyone up here has their heart in the right place,” Voigt said of the council members. “I have great respect for your ideas,” he said to Fielder.
“His predecessor recommended him for the job,” Voigt said of former city manager Robinson recommending Jones. Voigt said the council could put the names of all four finalists in a hat and pick one out and the one chosen would be good.
Fielder said Jones could become qualified in the future while training on the job.
Beebe said he picked Smith first and Krizan as his second choice, but any one of the four would be good.
Mayor Conley said they could drop Madis because he didn’t have the depth of experience. Voigt said Krizan and Smith were quite close and Krizan has experience with downriver.
Voigt said the city is going to have to deal with a large road project and Smith is the most well-rounded. He said Smith had experience with high-level proposals and when asked for the worst mistake he ever made he was the most straight-forward.
“I like people with all their foibles,” he said, noting James came close behind.
Mayor Conley said she would hire someone who is using this job as a stepping stone because they will give their all for a resume. She pointed out the last city manager, who left for a better job, said this was the last place in his career and, “You have to take what they say with a grain of salt.”
Voigt said the city has made a lot of progress in the last four years, but there is more to go.
Fielder suggested making Jones’ position into assistant city manager and he could step in as necessary.
Mayor Conley said the council lowered the job description for Jones’ position. She said there was only one item on the evening’s agenda and that was to name a city manager. If they wanted to change Jones’ title to assistant city manager it would have to be at another meeting.
Beebe asked if it is fair to the new city manager to change the Jones title, since two council members running for reelection prefer Jones for the position?
Mayor Conley said there could be two formats: for the council to change the title to assistant city manager or for the new city manager ask for Jones to be the assistant, and do it in the future.
“He’s somebody who knows all the names in town,” Fielder said of Jones.
“If we go for an external candidate, Steve [Jones] could be groomed for the city manager position in the future,” Voigt said.
Mayor Conley said she thinks the council has waited too long to select a city manager and it should take a vote. She said if they waited too much longer they would lose their candidates.
A motion was made by Fielder and seconded by Bates to hire Jason Smith and when he is hired let him make the decision on an assistant.
Beebe and Voigt voted no, leaving a 2-2 tie, which was broken by Mayor Conley’s vote for Smith.
Smith had been observing the meeting by zoom and so Mayor Conley addressed him, saying the city is extending a contract to him.
“I’m listening to the conversation and I’m happy to work with that line of succession worked out,” Smith said.
When the mayor asked how soon he could be in the position, he said his contract with Litchfield needed 60 days for him to get all the benefits he had earned.
After the adjournment of the meeting and zoom was turned off, the council discussed possible details of the contract, including requested salary of $85,000, paid-time-off days, possible $5,000 moving expenses, length of contract (possibly two years), and a background check. The attorney will present the proposed contract to the council for consideration.
Smith has been city manager of the city of Litchfield since 2021 and currently has 11 full-time and four part-time employees under his supervision.
Prior to that, from 2019-21, he was executive director for the Eaton Rapids Downtown Development Authority. He was mayor of the City of Jackson for 2013-15.
On the candidate questionnaire, Smith replied to a question about a background check: “The social media check will come back with no issues. My social media is very tame and is usually just pictures of my kids and/or me on our adventures. Checking my background will find stories about my time as mayor and articles about the City of Litchfield’s activities. Additionally, you will find my divorce, as well as a dismissed claim filed by a former landlord in 2014. There are also traffic tickets from years past, all of which have been paid.”
As far as his contract, he requested six months of severance if terminated without cause and none if terminated with cause and “protection from removal during the 60 days following a change on the City Council, in order to have an opportunity to work with any new council. This portion of the terms are open to negotiation.”
During his first interview on July 22, Smith said he is a Rotary member and he is visible in the community and promotes the community. He said transparency was important and residents don’t see what goes on in the office and why decisions are made, so you have to keep them informed.
At his first interview, Smith, who lives in Jackson, presented his education as a bachelor of arts in public administration in September 2019 from the University of Arizona Global Campus and a master of public administration in May 2021 from the University of Arizona Global Campus. He was elected mayor of the City of Jackson and he worked on Jackson Radio Works as on-air talent 2016-21 and currently serves as play-by-play announcer for local high school sports.