Sumpter officials set interviews for township manager candidates
Members of the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees continue the process of selecting a new township manager, setting out a scoring system to decide which of seven applicants will be interviewed.
At a special meeting Sept. 30, trustees agreed that each board member would complete an evaluation survey for every candidate, giving each a score of 1 to 20 in several categories. The categories include municipal government background, grant writing experience, personnel and human resources management, career tenure and overall professionalism of the completed application.
Township Treasurer Bart Patterson said he preferred the 20-point scale to the previous 1-to-5 model because the wider range allows for more nuanced scoring.
Trustees were asked to submit their completed scorecards to Township Administrative Coordinator Karen Armatis by the end of the day Oct. 5. The board members then met again last week to review the results and select top scoring candidates for personal interviews.
The township has been without a permanent manager since Ken Martens, who also appears in some records as Ken Marten, left the job. The board approved a $5,600 final payout to Martens at the July 14 regular meeting. Meeting records describe the payment as compensation for accrued paid time off and vacation. The reasons for his departure have not been publicly detailed in open board sessions.
Martens’ exit came during a period of friction on the board, including public disagreements over the appointment of a deputy supervisor and a temporary freeze on department spending. Under the restrictions, out-of-budget or non-routine expenditures must be approved by the elected board rather than cleared by individual departments. The measures came amid budget tensions and ongoing structural deficits in the township budget following a failed public safety millage, which will appear again on the Nov. 3 ballot with language trustees believe is clearer and more understandable to voters. Trustees said the August ballot language confused some voters into believing the approval would be a significant millage increase while the actual question is for only an additional 2 mills more than the current millages which are expiring.
The township has made progress in other staffing areas. At the Sept. 8 regular meeting, the board hired Lisa Stanfield as finance director, ending a vacancy that dated to the spring, when the township went through a series of short-tenured directors. Stanfield previously worked as a deputy clerk and accounting clerk for Ypsilanti Township. Her base salary is $90,000 a year, and she is eligible for standard staff benefits and a defined contribution pension.
