New city Civil Service Commission interviews candidates for hire

Belleville’s Civil Service Commission, which hasn’t met since Feb. 20, 2014, met on April 27 to interview five candidates for police officer positions and three candidates for city clerk/treasurer.
Then they turned in their lists of candidates suitable for hire to the police chief and city manager.
Mayor Kerreen Conley, who was not present at the meeting, had tried to get rid of the commission by changing the city charter. That was turned down by voters in the 2014 election. Her failed action to get rid of the group was the result of the commission – made up of Don Bluhm, Roy Acho, and Mike Loria – voting unanimously to support Keith Boc’s appeal regarding the city council’s power to change healthcare benefits for CSC employees without going through the CSC. The CSC said the city should pay 100% of the health care premium for retirees, as stated in the CSC handbook.
After that meeting, two members resigned and Bluhm was not reappointed when his term ran out. There was no longer a Civil Service Commission.
Mayor Conley refused to appoint any members to the commission, even though it was required by the city charter, until late last year. This was their first meeting.
There are three members on the commission, under the city charter, but the mayor has appointed only two, but that is a quorum and the commission can legally meet.
Members of this new commission are Douglas Dalton and Jacqueline Schank-Ulch, who spent most of the day at the interviews. Dalton is chairman.
There originally were eight candidates seeking to be on the hire list for police department positions. Three were hired elsewhere before the interviews, so there were five left to interview.
Chief Hal Berriman said he is able to hire one full-time and two part-time officers, although he would like to hire all five.
Interviewed were:
• Craig Lewis of Wayne, works for the Adrian Police Department full time, and was recently married. He has military experience. He worked for Belleville as a Reserve and tried to get hired last May, but there was a hiring freeze. Chief Berriman said before he became a Reserve, Lewis helped out the department with records. “I’m very loyal. This is where I want to be. I applied here first after the academy,” he said;
• Nathan Collins of Livonia, currently unemployed, of Livonia, who earned a bachelor of arts in criminal justice last August, with a minor in Middle East Studies/Ethics Focus with an Arabic Language component. He is an Eagle Scout and was first place recruit in the Grand Valley State University Police Academy Five Mile Run;
• Sean Templeton of Garden City served four years in the U.S. Marines, with tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He currently works part-time status for 40 hours a week in the Highland Park Police Department. Member of SRT for Highland Park PD. Married with newborn son;
• Chris Herrick of Belleville is married with a 21-month-old son. He was hired by Belleville PD in 2002 after graduating with honors from Schoolcraft police academy. He served in Belleville until recruited by Van Buren Township Public Safety Director Jerry Champagne in 2007. He served in VBT until August 2015 when he resigned. He explained the long situation that led to him resigning. “I regret leaving here,” he said;
• David McKeon of Canton Township has a bachelor of science in public safety administration from Eastern Michigan University and criminal justice and business degrees from Schoolcraft College. He and his wife, a nurse at the University of Michigan, have a 15-month-old son and he currently is home taking care of their son. He has worked at eight different departments, including Sumpter Township. He said he was chasing a kid at Citgo in Sumpter when he fell and dislocated his thumb. A pin was installed and he was off work six months. He was on probation and was asked to resign the second day back from medical. He received a commendation letter in Redford for handling of a sexual assault case.
After a discussion on their qualifications, the CSC authorized all five for the hiring list, without listing them in any order. Chief Berriman can now make his decisions.
Starting at 3:30 p.m. and lasting until after 5:30 p.m., the CSC interviewed three candidates for the position of city clerk/treasurer which will be vacant when Lisa Long retires.
They are:
• Patricia Loder of Milford worked at the city of Novi for 12 years as deputy city clerk, secretary to the city manager, and worked on elections. After leaving Novi, she became a municipal consultant taking minutes and special census, working a lot for the state of Michigan. She became a Regional Technician for the Bureau of Census. After a personal tragedy she became involved with Compassionate Friends and became the national executive director, serving for 15 years. She said she is computer savvy and doesn’t mind driving the 40 minutes from Milford;
• Sherri Scharf, whose family is looking to move back to Michigan, flew in from North Carolina for her interview. She serves as executive assistant to the township manager in Aiken, SC, with a population of 5,000 and double-digit poverty. She has county and state government experience, but the local government is close to the people, without buffers, which she likes. She knows computer programs. She said she had another interview with a municipality the next day and an interview with the state the next week.
• Nada Kattula attended Dorsey Business School and has worked for a CPA firm for 26 years as an executive administrative assistant. She had no experience with public service, elections, or writing reports, but learned how to handle stress during the busy tax season.
The CSC discussed the candidates and gave the hiring list of Scharf and Loder to City Manager Diana Kollmeyer.
Kollmeyer thanked the two CSC members for serving and putting in such a long day, since it was close to 6 p.m. and they had started at 9 a.m. She said she would give them the CSC handbook and wages for them to consider at another meeting.