Village manager needed, new councilman OK’d

By David Fleet
Editor
Ortonville-On Monday night the village council voted 6-0 to appoint Mark Robinson to fill the seat on the council vacated in October by Keith Dylus.
Dylus was appointed in December 2015 to fill the seat that Liz Waters had left. Robinson was the only candidate. The partial term ends in November of 2018.

Following a closed session meeting also on Monday night, the village council agreed with current interim village manger John Lyons to serve as a consultant for daily operations.
Lyons was hired as village manager in August 2011 and stepped down in May 2016. Prior, he had worked for 17 years as the DPW director for Lapeer, spent four years as the Inkster DPW director, and also served in the same capacity in Tawas City as well as in Texas, where he managed sewer and water operations for several municipal utility districts.
On July 5, village council voted 4-2 to terminate village manger David Trent. Since that time the job has been posted and candidates have come forward, however, no replacement has been selected. Since then Lyons has served as interim manager until a replacement can be found.
“No one really fit the mold,” said Wayne Wills, village president. “We have formed a committee to find a new village manager and we’ve made one offer, however, that individual declined the job.”
As a result, Wills along with Lyons will take over the day-to-day operations while the job is reposted. Lyons will work from a remote location.
“So its back to square one,” he said. “The job will stay open until the right person come along.”
Some of the duties include setting a village budget, meeting with citizens, applying for grants and ordinances.
“We have a few big paving jobs coming up in the village,” he said. “Cedar and Schoolhouse streets will be worked on this next spring.”

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