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Escanaba Public Safety head is interim city manager

ESCANABA — The Escanaba City Council took action Thursday to avoid leaving the city without leadership after current City Manager Patrick Jordan leaves the city on Dec. 1 by appointing Escanaba Public Safety Directory Robert LaMarche as the city’s interim manager.

“Because we know the situation with our city manager and looking at the calendar, I thought it prudent to look at ideas or possibilities for someone to serve as an interim city manager. I’ve approached our public safety director, Rob LaMarche, and asked him. He’s willing to do the job,” said Mayor Marc Tall.

The council — which included both Ron Beauchamp and Mike Sattem, who were participating in their last meetings on the council after failing to secure re-election Tuesday — unanimously approved appointing LaMarche to the position. LaMarche will serve until the position is filled.

“This shouldn’t be taken as a reflection of the quality of candidates we’ve received, by any means, it’s just that by the time we do something, interview or select a candidate, have the background check and all that stuff done, it would be December at the earliest I would imagine,” said Beauchamp.

Tall added that even if a new manager was selected by early December, there still could be a gap between Jordan’s departure and the new manager taking over if that candidate needed to give proper notice to their current employer.

Jordan announced on Oct. 3 that he would be leaving the city after two years of managing the city’s day-to-day operations. Following the announcement, the council began advertising the position through a number of channels including newspapers, direct emails to Upper Peninsula city managers, municipal and government job boards, and social media. The application period will end Nov. 15, and so far, more than a dozen applicants have applied for the position.

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