Interviews are open to the public

By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council solidified its plans for interviewing candidates for the role of new village manager, during the council meeting on Sept. 12.
Interviews will take place at Village Hall beginning at 4 p.m. on Sept. 30.
Previously, the council had anonymously ranked the applicants, narrowing the pool to the top five candidates.
The invite to interview for the position is expected to be extended to each of the top five candidates, as well as the current interim village manager, D. Wayne O’Neal.
After discussion and advice from O’Neal the originally proposed 20 minutes for each interview was “a little lean,” the council decided to set aside 40 minutes for each candidate.
Interviews will also be televised by Orion Neighborhood Television (ONTV). Go to www.orionontv.org for live streaming and cable channel options.
The interviews were originally expected to take place on Sept. 19 but the council decided that that date would be too soon for members to be prepared for interviews.
During council member discussion on when would be a good date to hold the interviews, Council Member Michael Lamb expressed his concerns with holding the interviews before the November election.
“The current situation in the village — we have so many interesting and difficult plans, processes and reviews going on. I think it might be prudent for us to put off the village manager selection process until after the Nov. 7 election,” Lamb said. “I sure would hate to see someone hired and then have some change in council and have someone fired.”
Council President Ken Van Portfliet, who is up for re-election on the November ballot, disagreed and stated that he would like to move forward with the interviews.
The council ultimately decided to proceed with interviews despite Lamb’s concerns.