Relocating to Leelanau County full-time has always been a dream for Jim Dyer and his wife, Jeanette, but they finally made that dream come true and found a home in 2023. Dyer also accepted the Village of Northport manager position last year and started as a full time employee in October. Since then, he’s been settling into the new home and job and embracing all that the county has to offer.
“We love being here and appreciate all the people we’ve met and the places we’ve gone to,” Dyer said. “Early in our relationship, I’d ask her (Jeanette) ‘what do you want to do this weekend?’ And she’d say ‘let’s go to Lake Michigan,’ and that was absolutely consistent. So it was always a dream to come here, to be honest, I don’t think we ever thought we would manage it full time… We also brought the kids up here a couple times (when they were younger) so we really enjoyed the area generally.”
Both Dyer and Jeanette grew up in Ann Arbor. Dyer attended Michigan State University and majored in political science, which would lead to him pursuing an almost 44 years-long career working in law. He spent a good part of his career representing municipal clients all across the state, however, for the last five years, he served as the corporation council/chief civil legal officer for Calhoun County.
