ESCANABA — The Escanaba City Council said goodbye to City Manager Patrick Jordan and took final actions to officially hand the reigns over to City Assessor Jim McNeil, who will serve as the city’s interim manager.

“This being my last meeting here, I just want to thank the residents of Escanaba. They’ve been so good to me and my family. I’ve enjoyed living here. I’ve made some good friends here I will miss. But at this time we are going back home, pretty much. We’ll be near our grandkids; near our sons, and we’re looking forward to that. It’s just a time of change,” Jordan told the council Thursday.

Jordan’s official last day will be Nov. 27. He has accepted a position downstate as the administrator of Ionia County.

Both council members Tyler DuBord and Karen Moore thanked Jordan for his service to the city, but Moore’s comments took a more critical turn, chastising her fellow council members for their treatment of Jordan in his last few months.

“Personally, I’ve enjoyed working with him, and I feel Escanaba has made great strides because of his leadership. I am deeply disappointed and, frankly, embarrassed of how his tenure ended in Escanaba. Whether or not you liked him as a person or as a manager, no one deserves to be treated that badly. I deeply apologize on behalf of the city council, however, life goes on and I wish Patrick and his family much happiness and success in this new opportunity,” Moore read from a prepared statement.

Prior to the Ionia County Board of Commissioners moving to hire Jordan on Oct. 18, the council and the city manager were locked in a battled over Jordan’s contract. The council was pushing Jordan to accept a new contract, which would have slashed his salary by a third. Jordan, however, repeatedly told the council he would not accept any changes to his contract, instead saying the council should fire him outright, pay him his contractually required severance and then renegotiate if they still wanted his services.

The stalemate was ultimately broken by Jordan accepting the Ionia County offer. His resignation was announced on Nov. 3.

Regardless of the rocky end to his relationship with the city, Jordan himself said he was happy the council had voted to make McNeil the interim city manager in his absence. McNeil has served with the city since early 2019 and was hired on Jordan’s recommendation.

“I’m thinking succession, for myself, the city manager position at the same time. Because a city manager, as well as the department heads have to always think about succession. Who’s going to be there to step up? And that’s how I saw Jim from the beginning,” said Jordan who said he was happy to see McNeil evolve into the role.

As part of Thursday’s agenda, the council voted to approve a salary stipend for McNeil to compensate him for his added responsibilities. The additional $29,440 McNeil will be paid on top of his existing salary brings him to 90% of an average city manager salary for a comparable city in Michigan. The number was calculated by the city’s controller and human resources departments, and was found to be fair, as the position is not intended to be the permanent.

The council briefly discussed the plan to move forward with finding Jordan’s permanent replacement, but no actions were taken Thursday. It is expected that Mayor Mark Ammel, who was absent from the meeting, will appoint a two-person subcommittee of the council to begin the search for next manager.

In other business, the council

— Heard an update from McNeil on the redevelopment of the former site of the Delta County Jail and approved a purchase agreement with the Terrace Bay Hotel for the city-owned portion of the jail property. Terrace Bay intends to construct a Hilton-branded hotel on the site.

— Approved engineering contracts with C2AE of Escanaba for large-scale lead service line and water main replacement projects. Together the engineering is expected to cost $2,039,050, but the city will have little financial obligation for the projects — if any — as the projects are both fully-funded through grant money.

— Approved the purchase of 800 Itron 100W+ pit endpoint encoders, which are equipped with antennas. The encoders will allow the city to remotely read water meters and will be installed throughout the city as crews work to replace lead service lines.