ESCANABA — Months later, the hiring of Escanaba’s new city clerk, Lisa Glish, is continuing to make waves.

Resident Jim Berthiaume spoke for 10 minutes at Thursday’s Escanaba City Council meeting on the way Glish’s hiring was handled by Mayor Marc Tall, Council Member Peggy Shumann, and Glish herself. Much of Berthiaume’s prepared statement was fundamentally similar to a Letter to the Editor published Thursday on page 4A of the Daily Press, but he expanded on his claims, and after finishing with his prepared remarks continued with criticisms of Glish’s job performance.

Berthiaume, who stated he had attended the interview meetings for the clerk candidates and had, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, found that the city’s human resources department had drafted and posted the clerk’s position without bringing it to council.

“We still at this point don’t know who drafted the qualifications and experience sections of the job posting,” he said, noting he was still trying to find out.

He also questioned whether Tall and Schumann had read the applications for the position, accused Tall of intentionally withholding documents from the council to fit an agenda, and claimed Schumann contributed little as a council member.

“Is (Schumann) basing this on, her vote on, experience and qualifications or is she basing it on who she knows?” Berthiaume asked during his remarks.

Berthiaume criticized how Glish had been responsible for handling applications for the position while she was working in the human resources department, noting while she had seen the resumes of her competition, the other applicants were not allowed to witness each other’s interviews.

He also criticized how as clerk she moved the lunchtime of another city employee to fit her schedule.

When he was stopped by Tall for going past his allotted public comment period — five minutes by the council’s rules — Berthiaume stated he would be back at the next meeting.

Schumann did not respond directly to Berthiaume’s statements during her time to comment near the end of the meeting, but expressed that she would in the future.

“I will of course be addressing the incredible misquotes and items addressed here tonight, because as we have learned in the past I am not a quiet person and I will not allow the city to go through tough times without rebuttals,” she said.