Following a 4-1 vote by the Belleville City Council, Brady Peck officially stepped into the role of City Manager on July 20, after serving as Washtenaw County’s Director of Operations.
The Independent sat down with Peck at Crafted Beanery after his first few weeks on the job to talk about his background, his transition into municipal leadership, and his administrative priorities for Belleville. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
Independent: What initially drew you to public service? And for residents who haven’t met you, how would you describe your leadership style?
Peck: What drew me to public service is the ability to give back and make a difference in the community. I’ve always wanted to work for public entities and I pretty much have. I don’t know too much about the private sector world, which I’m okay with.
Seeing a lot of the different sides of government and public service has helped me and my leadership style. Understanding what a lot of the departments need, and helping them get that, and knowing when to say “Okay, this department has this, so why aren’t we working together?”
A lot of departments will be very siloed in public service, so [I want] to break down silos and work together a little bit better; cross-train, utilize some of the same services or equipment instead of having multiples of the same thing.
[I try] to empower staff to do their job and come up with ideas and bring those ideas forward to the top of the organization, not have them filtered through department heads all the time. Everyone [in Belleville] has been great and really supportive of that kind of style. Anyone and everyone’s able to come to me in the city and say, “Hey, I have this idea!”Independent: What is one major priority on your radar?
Peck: I’d say infrastructure, like Liberty Street. If you’ve driven down Liberty Street, it’s brand new, and that was largely because the water main was replaced.
The roads are in okay shape, but there’s a lot of places that do need to be redone or improved. [In our] Department of Public Works, we have four full-time people and they manage the cemetery, all the water, sewer, stormwater, roads; I’m not touching on everything, it’s a lot.
[On Aug. 6] we had a resident email that a storm sewer collapsed, so we sent someone out to make sure that we didn’t have people falling in the storm sewer overnight. It’s little things like that that can have a big impact. If we don’t maintain and improve the infrastructure, it causes a lot of issues.We need to get a lot better understanding of our assets and plan around upgrading and maintaining them, so that we can do that long-term instead of stopgap measures.
Independent: What does earning the trust of the community look like to you over your first year on the job?
Peck: It’s meeting with community organizations, meeting with the school district, making sure that we’re treating everyone fairly and equitably, so people understand that the city might make a decision that they don’t like or agree with, but can [also] understand that they were treated fairly and equitably throughout the entire process.
Also making sure people understand the correct process, so they don’t just call city hall to complain about issues. If it’s a safety hazard, call dispatch so that we can get someone out there sooner.
Independent: Some residents publicly questioned the choice to offer you the City Manager contract. What would you say to community members who still have doubts?
Peck: I said in my interview, I’m happy to be here as long as council is happy to have me.
My job titles may not have matched the other candidates’, but my experience when you look at it is aggregate. I worked all the way from a temporary employee, to running summer camps, aquatics coordinator, budget analyst, finance administrator, director of operations, and there’s something to take from every level of that.
It transfers over no matter where you fit in the municipal world because it makes you stop and think, “Yes, it’s different, but how do we approach it?”
Part of the interview process was a meet-and-greet with staff before the public interview and I asked what the major issues were. There were a lot of issues where I thought, “Okay I can actually make a difference, and this is how I can make a difference because I’ve dealt with similar things.”
I might not have been a city manager before, but I would say that my experience is very similar to someone that has been a city manager.
Independent: How do you approach working alongside the townships of Van Buren and Sumpter?
Peck: By making sure that we are all talking, all working together. We might not all have the same ideas or goals on everything, but we all do need to work together. They’re partners and we really can’t go-it alone.
If we succeed together, it can almost feel like we’re not part of the big urbanization of Wayne County, we’re not quite Ann Arbor, we’re not quite Wayne County proper, we’re our own little slice in between and I’d like to keep it that way.
Independent: Is there anything you’d like Belleville residents to know as you settle into the role?
Peck: Don’t be shy. Give me a call, shoot an email. Come on down to City Hall (but call first because sometimes I’m in meetings off-site.) I’m happy to meet with people and really understand what residents have as their top issues.
Independent: You mentioned you were a fan of NBC’s Parks and Recreation. As a City Manager, are you more of a hands-on motivator like Chris Traeger or a pragmatic, ride-or-die-by-spreadsheets guy like Ben Wyatt?
Peck: You know, I think it’s a balance. There are some things that spreadsheets are needed for, but you can’t translate a lot of city work into spreadsheets. Sitting in an office all day doesn’t move the needle on a lot of things for me because I can’t describe to council like what’s actually happening.
Not that I need to go out and micro-manage, but I like to see what happened and why it happened. I can also really recognize the hard work of all of our employees because I see that they’re out there working their butts off every day.
I could be either Chris or Ben. I’m a little bit of Ron too.
Quick-Fire Questions:
First Job: Newspaper Delivery in 6th grade
Pets: Pitbulls Romeo and Dolly
Latest Binge-Watch: Criminal Minds and The Mandalorian
Favorite Food Spots in Belleville: The Bait Shop and Rusted Crow (but open to suggestions)
Go-To Coffee Order: Iced Latte, usually large!
Alternate-Universe Job Choice: Air Traffic Controller