Village will hire new deputy clerk/finance director

By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION — On the heels of the announced retirement of village Clerk Susan Galeczka, the Village of Lake Orion is looking to shift office positions and combine the clerk and treasurer positions.
Currently, Sonja Stout is fulfilling the duties as finance director/treasurer, but ultimately, the goal is to also create a full-time deputy clerk/finance director position, village Manager Darwin McClary said.
During its meeting on Nov. 27, council was asked to approve the combination of these positions and to increase the salary grade of the clerk/treasurer position to be commensurate with the public works director and to place the new deputy clerk/treasurer position in the current finance director salary grade.
“As council is aware, village Clerk (Susan) Galeczka will be retiring effective Jan. 5, 2024. The utility billing clerk will be leaving at the end of December. Administration believes that combining the clerk and finance director/treasurer positions, creating a deputy position and eliminating the part-time utility billing clerk position will improve efficiencies in administrative operations and provide stability to administrative functions by having two positions with the same skill sets, knowledge, abilities and training to perform the clerical and financial functions of the village,” said McClary. “The full-time office coordinator and part-time payroll clerk positions will remain unchanged.”
Previously, council members Nancy Moshier and Michael Lamb expressed concerns with combining the duties, stating that the two positions alone create an abundance of work, and that putting them together would put even more work on someone who is already doing a good deal of work.
Stout also expressed her concerns of being unable to fulfill the duties to council.
“I am fearful of how much work this could be,” Stout said. “I am still learning my treasurer duties and I am still learning clerk duties. I’ve only been training with Susan (Galeczka) for the past couple of months and I feel like most positions it takes you a full year to understand how to do things. I do think it is important to cross-train in multiple departments, especially in this day and age. I think that’s a great thing. However, I am fearful of failing to be honest.”
Council President Jerry Narsh asked Stout that if the village combined the positions, that it would alleviate some of her concerns if the village also sought someone to fill the clerk/finance director position who had a stronger emphasis on clerk duties. Stout said that it would.
However, McClary stayed firm that the hiring of the position is up to him and that while Stout has expressed concern, he feels confident in her abilities and anticipates her being a large part in deciding who is hired for the position.
“Sonja (Stout) and I have had a number of discussions and we will continue to have discussions. She’s going to be very much involved in the recruitment process for the deputy position. So, we will be looking at qualifications that best fit her department. But, I don’t think that’s something that council needs to put in the motion,” McClary said.
Despite McClary’s assurances, the council still had concerns.
“I feel that there is pressure being put on Sonja and I don’t want that,” Moshier said. “I feel that combining these jobs is not acceptable at this time. I feel that Susan (Galeczka) did more than she should have been. She did the minutes for the DDA, which she didn’t need to do. She did other stuff she didn’t need to do. So, I feel that Sonja’s job should be very clear and clarified as to what her responsibilities will be and I do not agree to combine the two (positions).”
Lamb made a motion to deny the recommendation from administration to combine the two positions.
“The reason I made the motion is because the clerk position – although many of the duties of the village clerk have been given over to the township with regard to elections – the majority of the village documentation, our ordinance structure, our laws, our charter, are vested in the hands of the clerk and not really in the hands of the manager,” Lamb said. “Our particular ordinance structure is a mess. The files are a mess. The code of ordinance is a mess. We’ve utterly failed in the last two years to redo the code. I know it’s in process. I do not believe that Sonja is qualified to take on the duties of the clerk at this time. I believe she is well-intentioned, I believe she’s very ethical, but to me she doesn’t seem confident and if I was a new hire and my boss wanted me to take on additional responsibilities, I would seriously consider doing so because that’s what employees do. They try their best to live up to the expectations of their superiors. I would like to see our charter straightened out, our ordinances straightened out, our files straightened out before we throw this on this employee and combine more functions.”
Other council members disagreed with Lamb, stating that they were confident in McClary’s recommendation especially considering that before the council received Galeczka’s resignation, she had offered to help aid in the transition even after her last day.
“I know that Sonja has questions about different aspects of the clerk duties. If we were to recruit for a new clerk, chances are you’re not going to get someone with experience as a municipal clerk. It isn’t going to happen in all likelihood. You’re going to get someone who has no experience as a municipal clerk, who is going to have to learn the job. The benefit we have right now is that Sonja has been in training for the past few months with Susan to take on that role and I think Sonja has done an absolutely wonderful job in stepping into that role,” McClary said. “She is afraid and anybody taking on new responsibilities should be afraid, I would expect that. But I want her to step outside her comfort zone because I think she is someone who has the ability to learn new things and learn them quickly. She has shown such a great initiative where she has identified things and taken the ball and run with them without us having to tell her to. She’s exactly the type of person that I would love to see in that role.”
President Pro-Tem Teresa Rutt said she was very conflicted about joining the positions before coming to the meeting, but that the discussion during the meeting made her feel more confident in doing so.
Councilmember Ken Van Portfliet echoed Rutt’s remarks, stating that he trusted McClary and administration to do what works best.
Moshier noted that she had full faith in Stout but was only concerned that she may take on additional work because she felt like she had to.
Council voted down the motion made by Lamb by a vote of 5-2 with Lamb and Moshier casting the two yes votes.
Narsh then made the motion to authorize administration to combine the village clerk and finance director/treasurer positions into a new position of clerk/treasurer with a fiscal year 2023-24 salary range of $66,000 – $83,000.
Narsh also made a motion for administration to present to council a job description for approval for the new position and revised employment agreement for current Finance Director/Treasurer Sonja Stout to be appointed to the position, as well as to authorize administration to create a new position of deputy clerk/treasurer with a fiscal year 2023-24 salary range of $59,000 – $76,000; and to authorize administration to proceed to recruit for the position, with administration to present to council for approval a job description for the new position and employment agreement.
Both motions passed 5-2 with Lamb and Moshier casting the two no votes.