Leelanau County’s interim administrator, Richard Lewis, said Tuesday that Cathy Hartesvelt has been hired as permanent finance director, after she served as interim finance director for almost nine months. She has been department head since the last permanent director, Sean Cowan, left the county in October 2023.
Lewis requested that the board grant him power to appoint Hartesvelt finance director at the board’s July 9 executive session. Board Chairman Ty Wessell said at last week’s meeting that he thought they should “officially approve this next Tuesday” at the regular board meeting, but ultimately, Lewis offered Hartesvelt position the same week, which she accepted.
“I’ve been here through all of this – since 2021 – in one capacity or another,” Hartesvelt said at the executive session. “I realize that a finance department has been established, and a staffing level to handle the county finances. I remember hearing, ‘Let’s not recreate the wheel, we’re just putting new people in charge.’” Hartesvelt is referring to the previous county board’s controversial 4-3 vote to remove finance and human resources duties from the county clerk’s office as a late addition to their May 2021 meeting agenda. Before a separate finance department was created, the county’s finances were managed by the clerk’s office for over 25 years.
