Committee to handle manager candidates, interviews

Special meetings set up to find a replacement for Al Meshkin.

The Laketown Township Board of Trustees. Front from left: Treasurer Jim Johnson and Supervisor Linda Howell. Back from left: Trustee Patrick Dietrich, Clerk Amber Davis and Trustee Jim Delaney.

Laketown Township has set up a special search committee to handle applications for a new township manager. The township board on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, also approved three special meetings to choose candidates to interview and conduct those interviews.

“You’re going to find somebody good,” current Manager Al Meshkin told the board at its Oct. 2 workshop meeting. The township has received 38 applications.

The deadline to submit applications was Oct. 9.

The Manager Search Committee was established at the Oct. 9 meeting and consists of the entire five-member township board plus three residents who won positions in the Republican primary on Aug. 6. Those three will go on to the Nov. 5 General Election but face no competition.

They are Steven Ringelberg who is running unopposed in November for the position of supervisor, and Michael Koeman and Mark Timmerman who are running unopposed in November for two trustee positions.

Linda Howell, current supervisor who did not seek re-election, will act as chairperson for the Manager Search Committee.

Meetings

The board approved a special search committee meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the township hall, 4338 Beeline Road, to review candidates and select people to be interviewed. The board will likely go into closed session to review the candidates to protect their confidentiality.

The search committee will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, at the township hall, to conduct the first round of interviews of candidates. The interviews will be open to the public.

The search committee will also meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the township hall, to conduct the second round of interviews. The interviews will be open to the public.

Meshkin announced in July his plans to retire Jan. 3, 2025. He has been manager for 35 years.

The board hired the firm MGT in August for a cost of about $25,000 to conduct the search.

The final decision on a new manager is expected to fall to the newly elected township board following the Nov. 5 election.