The Village of Northport gave the green light last week to start the hiring process to fill two new positions among its staff.
Northport Village Council trustees voted 6-1 to approve two separate and new job descriptions for a full-time treasurer and part-time administrative assistant at a special meeting held Friday morning. The full-time treasurer projected salary which includes benefits would total up to $75,000, while the part-time administrative assistant pay would be up to $30,000. The proposed positions comes as the village aims to implement staffing changes after years of employees wearing multiple hats and serving in different capacities. In 2022, former community liaison Cindy Edmondson had to fill the role of treasurer and deputy clerk to the council, whereas longtime village employee Joni Scott has served in previous years as both zoning administrator and clerk. When village manager Jim Dyer was hired on last year, he assumed the new role as well as the zoning administrator position.
Dyer presented the detailed employee budget proposal to council members, noting how it would transform the current part-time Northport treasurer position to a full-time one with administrative duties included. Having the position at full-time versus part-time would help streamline operations and enhance efficiency and help provide more cohesive and comprehensive financial oversight.
The village would hire an additional person to fill a parttime administrative assistant position, something Dyer said is also very much needed to offset the workload of other village office staff. According to the employee budget proposal, Dyer has started discussion with Leelanau Township regarding a potential contribution of $10,000 to $20,000 towards the part-time administration position. The contribution would make it possible to support both township and village activities, extending the service hours available to township residents.
“One thing I definitely noticed being here in the last three months is that we’re definitely short staffed, and particularly on the administrative side,” Dyer said at the special meeting. “We also think with this staffing level we will be able to provide full administrative support to all the commissions and committees of the village…” Dyer said he wanted to hold a special meeting because he has two well qualified candidates in mind that he’d want to offer the positions to. While an applicant for treasurer, which the village manager would finalize, has not been publicly named, Dyer shared on Tuesday at the Northport Leelanau Township Utility Authority (NLTUA) meeting that he recently offered the position to a potential candidate. If the applicant accepts the job, they would start as soon as February 19.
The change is proposed in light of the organization’s expanded responsibilities and budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, and is poised to significantly improve the village’s financial management. Some of the benefits include enhanced budgeting efficiency, better financial oversight, improved segregation of duties, and “is expected to stimulate greater revenue through effective fiscal strategies.”
“Jim (Dyer) has been here for three months now, and beyond what our employee relations committee has recommended in ways of improving or increasing the staffing at the office, I think he’s identified what we really need,” said village council president Chris McCann. “There’s been a lot of demand on the village staff in ways of wanting things and reports, the timeliness of things and updating this and that — if we’re going to do that it’s clear we need more help rather than putting more work load on our clerk and treasurer…” Although the majority of village council members approved of Dyer’s presentation of two separate job descriptions for treasurer and a part-time administrative assistant, some trustees questioned whether the process was rushed. Trustee Laura Cavendish said at the meeting that while she supports the decision to form these positions, the village has had a lot of turnovers and issues not just in the office, but on committees and on the commission, with much of that being due to a lack of administrative support.
“I do wish there was more time for the public, but I also understand the urgency and that we don’t want to lose candidates that are very well qualifi ed for the position with a delay,” Cavendish said.
“Thinking about these people being in place gives me a good sense of a strong foundation for our village. I do believe our village is the up and coming village of the county,” said trustee Susan Ager at Friday’s meeting. “We are changing, we are growing, we are improving, we are thinking of all sorts of ways about how to be the best possible place for people to live and to visit and I strongly support this investment as a keystone in our future.”
