Scio Township is taking a deeper look inside township hall

Not all townships have township managers, but some of the busiest and growing ones do, and typically they oversee and direct a lot of the day to day duties inside township hall.

This was the case for Scio Township, but since former township manager Bryce Kelley retired the township hasn’t been able to fill that supervisory role.

From listening to residents’ concerns and answering their questions to helping to hire the right person to be the township fire chief or utilities director, township managers have some important responsibilities.

To begin addressing this situation, Scio Township recently did a couple of things, including having a special meeting to discuss the township’s administrative structure as well as exploring the idea of conducting a search and hire of a Deputy Supervisor, who would assist in carrying out the work of the Supervisor and such other tasks as may be assigned in agreement with the Board of Trustees.

During the special meeting, the topics discussed were current administrative roles and responsibilities; administrative roles and responsibilities in the past; unmet administrative needs and next steps / action plan.

In giving some background, township supervisor Will Hathaway said the township conducted a search for a new township manager starting in fall 2019, but unfortunately, that search did not result in a hire.

“The position has been vacant for over a year. During this time members of the board of trustees stepped up to handle various administrative duties that had been responsibilities of the manager,” Hathaway said. “This was not intended to be a long term plan.”

The board is now conducting a needs assessment to determine what managerial gaps exist.

“That way we can craft a job description and search for candidates who are best qualified to meet those challenges,” Hathaway said. “We want to define the problem first then recruit the person who can solve it.”

Hathaway had announced his intent to hire a deputy supervisor because this is a position that is designated by statute (MCL 41.61).

“When I learned about this, it seemed that it might be a means for quickly addressing some immediate needs while we go through the longer search process,” said Hathaway. “I'm not sure yet whether I will pursue the deputy supervisor option.”