Saline City Manager Hiring Process Sparks Community Discussion

As Saline closes in on filling its city manager position, concerns have been raised by some regarding potential bias in the hiring process against Acting City Manager Elle Cole due to internal investigations she is in the process of conducting and alleged discussions of her performance without her present.

At Saline City Council’s May 19 meeting, councilmember Dean Girbach raised multiple concerns about the hiring committee in charge of filling the City Manager position. Girbach requested “to move to request the hiring committee to report to City Council to address potential bias or tainted hiring process, pausing final selection pending review and legal opinion,” according to the meeting minutes.

Previous City Manager Colleen O’Toole departed earlier this year, and Deputy City Manager Elle Cole was appointed Acting City Manager until a hiring decision was made. Out of 47 applicants, four finalists were selected: Todd Saums, Jason Smith, Michael Trembly and Dan Swallow, who were interviewed in an open meeting May 21.

Hiring Process

Council began the hiring process soon after O’Toole’s departure, which included bringing in Double Haul Consulting, a city management consultant, to assist screening applicants. In addition, a hiring committee was established to make the final decision using the information Double Hall put together. This committee included three council members, two city staff members and three individuals from Saline representing “key stakeholders” in the community according to Mayor Marl, who is a member of the committee.

“I think that the hiring committee now, at this juncture, has probably met five or six times,” Marl said. “Initially, we met to review a draft of the community profile and job description, and then, of course, we subsequently met to evaluate and review candidates. And I should note as well, when Council established the hiring committee, they charged them with recommending no fewer than two finalists for the full council to review, and no more than four. And so, there were four that were recommended.”

Concerns Raised at Meeting

At the May 19 meeting, Girbach alleged potential bias in the committee. His concerns revolved around discussions about Elle Cole’s performance as Acting City Manager without her presence and potential violations of the Michigan Open Meetings Act, which requires meetings by government bodies to be easily accessible to the public. He also mentioned internal investigations and audits currently being conducted by Cole.

“From my perspective, right now, there’s five either investigations, evaluations or audits occurring at this time to basically make a determination that there weren’t any problems in the past,” Girbach said.

According to Mayor Marl, these concerns were not brought forward to him, nor anyone else on the hiring committee that he is aware of, before the agenda item was submitted for the May 19 meeting. Marl says that the investigations currently taking place are expected to conclude before a new City Manager is in place.

“I suspect that the issues that he is referring to are processes that can be wrapped up in the not-too-distant future,” Marl said. “So, if they required the future permanent City Manager to be involved in that work, absolutely they would, but again, I think what he’s referring to will probably be wrapped up in the next 2-3 weeks.”

According to Cole, this information had not been given to her, nor a timeline on the hiring decision. She also commented on Girbach’s statement that the closed session discussion of applicants was in violation of Michigan’s Open Meetings Act.

“It’s not for me to make legal determinations, but I do believe the public has a right to expect full compliance with the Open Meetings Act,” Cole said. “Any potential violation should be reviewed independently to ensure accountability and restore public trust.”

Cole, who had not requested the meeting be closed, received a call on the day of the meeting due to requests from other applicants for a closed session. 

“I got a call from the hiring consultant asking me if I understood that that would cause the hiring committee to have to go in and out of session to discuss me separately,” Cole said. “So, in order to make it more effective and efficient for the hiring committee, I did give them permission to include me in the closed session.”

While the motion to begin an inquiry into the hiring committee failed at the May 19 meeting 4-3, Girbach has stated an intent to continue discussions on the topic. The next Saline council meeting will be June 9.