Escanaba City Manager James McNeil said at Thursday's council meeting he will be transitioning out of the job, likely leaving in mid-May. This Daily Press file photo is from 2023, when McNeil first became the permanent city manager. (Daily Press, file)

ESCANABA — James McNeil told the Escanaba City Council at the end of Thursday’s meeting he plans to leave as city manager in May.

“I will be moving on. (I am) incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to serve you and the city and its residents and our staff,” McNeil said. “(There are) a ton of special people involved, and I think that’s why we’ve accomplished a great deal in not a long time here.”

McNeil said his last day likely will be about May 15.

“Certainly, that date can move a little bit depending on how the process is going, but that is kind of our target as we kind of set out our transition plan,” he said.

McNeil began working as Escanaba’s interim city manager Nov. 4, 2022, and was made permanent on a unanimous council vote on Feb. 3, 2023. He continued in his role of city assessor, which he started in 2019, when he began his city manager position but Crystal Martin now is the city’s full assessor and Natasha Rosebush as assistant assessor.

McNeil suggested staff bring a proposal to find a new manager to the next council meeting, which would include posting the job, interview dates, drafting a job description and more.

“But certainly, I should have enough time here to ensure a very orderly transition and keep up with a lot of the projects that we’ve had going,” McNeil said.

Reacting to the news, council member Karen Moore said, “All I can say is you’re going to be hard to replace. You’ve set us up for success in the future with the grants available for MDOT. You have been part of multi-million-dollar grants that we’ve already gotten for infrastructure. I can’t say enough about your accomplishments, and we’re going to miss you.”

Council member Tyler Dubord agreed. “You (leave) big shoes to fill. You’ve done an excellent job – when you started as an interim city manager, taking over a lot of chaos, and I think you proved it to us. That’s why we put you in the position, and you’ve done a great job progressively for the city.”

“I think Jim knows how disappointed I am to hear this,” council member Ronald Beauchamp said. “We do appreciate the notice, though. It will carry us through the budget hearings.”

More details on Thursday’s city council meeting will be in Saturday’s Daily Press.