“DDA Staffing” was an agenda item acted on at the Feb. 20 DDA meeting. Due to minimal meeting information, it was difficult to know what the DDA was going to do and whether it would be done properly. It was not stated anywhere in the meeting information that hiring an Executive Director, an Assistant Director, or any specific staffing position would be done.
There was no information about who applied for the undefined positions, their qualifications, and what criteria was used for review.
There was no information about how pay and benefits were determined. This may have been discussed at a previous special meeting, but that information was not provided.
The approved motions stated that DDA Board Chair Debbie Burgess was “to make decisions on behalf of the DDA Board for the hiring process.” This was never defined.
The motions were that Matt Gibb and acting Director Janet Bloom were selected. No information was provided prior to approval about why these two were selected. Both were approved unanimously without comment and the entire agenda item took only two minutes of meeting time.
A motion was approved “To present the candidate and compensation package to the Lake Orion Village Council on March 11, 2024 for review.” What that means and how it impacts the actions of the DDA Board and “hiring process” was not defined.
The motion provided for this meeting was not drafted by a board member or by the “Executive Search Committee” but instead by the acting Director Janet Bloom, who was selected for the position of assistant director and presumably was the person that provided the very limited meeting information.
Perhaps the newly formed Ethics Committee should investigate the legality and ethics of what the DDA does.

Cory Johnston
Village of Lake Orion