The saga of the county finance department continues this week without director Cathy Hartesvelt, who was placed on administrative leave Jan. 9.
This is just the most recent twist in a page-turner of a story that many have read before.
One constant through all this has been Clerk Michelle Crocker, the longest serving county clerk in the state. Crocker also handled the county’s finance and human resources (HR) before the county board agreed to explore establishing separate department for these roles as a late agenda item to its May 2021 monthly meeting.
The following month Crocker said that she saw the stripping of duties from her department as a political ploy. At the same meeting, she also strongly encouraged the board to immediately give interim Richard Lewis the freedom to start hiring personnel or else the county would start “going backwards” and have “even more bedlam.”
The county’s first finance director was Chief Deputy County Clerk Jennifer Zywicki in January 2022, appointed by then administrator Chet Janik, who left county employment in December 2022.
His successor Deborah Allen, resigned in April of 2024.
In the time since, the finance director position has evolved quickly with five directors: Darcy Weaver, Jared Prince, Zywicki, Sean Cowan and Hartesvelt.
Of these, only Hartesvelt and Zywicki remain on the county payroll.
Hartesvelt was hired as Leelanau County’s permanent finance director in July 2024 after serving as the interim finance director for about nine months.
She had previously served under the county clerk as an accounting and payroll specialist.
Former Traverse City Mayor Richard Lewis was hired to serve on an interim administrator after the February 2024 resignation of Allen, to make way for a combined administrator/ chief financial officer. However, afterward commissioners opted to separate the finance department head and administrator positions again with the finance department operating under the direction of the county administrator.
The job went to Jim Dyer, the former Northport village administrator, who began his post April 1, 2025.
In the time since, Dyer and Hartesvelt’s public relationship has been rough. Their offices are directly next to one another on the first floor of the county building.
Last fall, the finance director filed a grievance against her boss, which lead to commissioners to question a standing policy that identifies Dyer, the subject of the complaint, as the person to adjudicate the grievance.
After Cowan resigned the county board in October 2023, commissioners hired a third party to conduct an employee climate/culture survey.
According to the survey, 54 out of 85 respondents said that the clerk was refusing to give the finance and HR directors access to personnel records, computer systems, and other documents. Twenty-five respondents said finance directors were leaving because of Crocker, Hartesvelt and Zywicki.
Although the consultant tallied up the number of employees who identified these issues, at least two commissioners felt they were never provided the full raw data from the survey.
Nonetheless, county Prosecutor Joseph Hubbell, then Probate Court Judge Marian Kromkowski; Register of Deeds Jennifer Grant, Sheriff Michael Borkovich, and Treasurer John Gallagher said the findings were accurate.
In a Jan. 16, 2024 letter signed by these five department heads they (commit(ted) to the prior board approved decision to move forward with the separation of finance and human resources from the responsibility of the county clerk’s office.
Meanawhile, Dyer had anticipated a severance package for commissioner approval at the Jan. 20 commissioner meeting. But this never came to pass.
In Hartesvelt’s absence, the finance department is being served by account clerk Elizabeth Gray. Assistant finance director Mike Birkmeier resigned in November.
A year ago, an article in the Enterprise foreshadowed future events.
“Whether the interdepartmental cooperation between will continue under the next full-time administrator remains to be seen.”
