Interim Manager Contract, Senior Center, Sixth/Spruce Intersection on City Agenda

Traverse City could have a new interim city manager in place as soon as tonight (Monday) – with commissioners set to approve a six-month contract with Nate Geinzer that would go into effect immediately. Commissioners tonight will also vote to formally accept $7 million in state funding for the reconstruction of the Traverse City Senior Center and will consider removing an all-way stop at the intersection of Sixth and Spruce streets.

Interim Manager Contract
After unanimously voting last week to select former Brighton City Manager Nate Geinzer (pictured) to serve as Traverse City’s interim city manager, commissioners tonight will vote to approve his contract terms – with Geinzer to begin in his role effective immediately.

The proposed contract will go through Double Haul Solutions, Geinzer’s municipal and organizational consulting services firm. The contract stipulates Geinzer will be the only one who will perform work for the city, with no duties assigned to anyone else in his company. Geinzer will be contracted at a rate of $130 per hour for up to 40 hours per week, or a maximum $5,200 weekly. That rate is inclusive of all travel, housing, and expenses, with no additional benefits provided.

Geinzer and the city will enter a six-month agreement, good from May 1 through November 1. The contract can be terminated at any time, but if it’s terminated by the city prior to September 1, the contract “will be paid out through that date at a rate of 32 hours per week,” according to City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht. If a permanent city manager hasn’t been hired by November 1, Geinzer’s agreement will continue on a month-to-month basis.

Commissioners are expected to approve a request-for-proposals (RFP) later this month to find a firm to lead a candidate search for the permanent city manager. Geinzer previously told commissioners he’d ideally stay no longer than six months – citing the importance of getting a permanent manager in place in a timely manner – but that he also wouldn’t leave the city in a lurch. “I will make sure I'm here until you're comfortable with your selection,” he said.

Geinzer said in his interview that he plans to have an open-door policy and wants to create an environment of trust and collaboration with city staff. He also said it was important to heal the commission’s relationship with the community after former City Manager Marty Colburn abruptly left the city in April, a departure that was never fully explained publicly outside of hints that some commissioners were dissatisfied with his performance. “That’s going to take a little bit of time...but I'm going to do my darndest to do what I can in the time that I'm here,” Geinzer told commissioners.

Senior Center
Commissioners will vote tonight to formally accept $7 million in state funding for the reconstruction of the Traverse City Senior Center. The city will officially enter into an agreement with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to accept the grant, which was announced last summer. Half of the funds would be immediately released to the city following the execution of the grant agreement.

The grant will cover a sizable portion of the project to redesign and expand the Senior Center on East Front Street, though the total project cost could be upwards of $10 million. Commissioners agreed in the fall to use $500,000 in city American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the project. Design and engineering work is being completed on the redesign now. The city may need to identifiy additional funding sources – either public or private – to close the funding gap before construction can begin later this year.

Sixth/Spruce Intersection
Commissioners will vote tonight on a recommendation from the city traffic committee to remove an all-way stop at the intersection of Sixth and Spruce streets, which was installed on a test basis last fall. According to a memo from Assistant City Manager Penny Hill, data gathered both before and during the all-way stop’s installation indicates the intersection does not meet the criteria for having an all-way stop.

One criterion for an all-way stop is at least five crashes occurring in the past 12 months that could have been prevented with a stop. As of July 2022, only two crashes had occurred at Sixth and Spruce in the previous year; as of October 2022, only one crash had occurred in the previous year. Another criterion is a minimum of 300 vehicles going through the intersection per hour for any eight hours of an average day. Vehicle volume averaged 148 per hour in July and 132 per hour in October. The average speed of cars going through the intersection also didn’t justify the stop, according to the staff report.

Despite those findings, City Commissioner Tim Werner opposed the removal in a Facebook post, saying neighbors “worked for 12 years” to get the all-way stop installed. “Too often the city divides and conquers small neighborhood concerns,” he wrote. “We’re all neighbors, so please consider speaking up to support Kids Creek Neighborhood.” Werner added he believes the city engineer was originally opposed to installing the all-way stop and “is still opposed, so (he) sees an opportunity to have it removed.”

A staff memo acknowledges that residents “who originally requested the all-way stop reported they were satisfied with the installation.” Representatives from Munson Medical Center did not respond to requests for feedback from the city on how the intersection was working. Representatives from the Grand Traverse Commons “reported no noticeable changes in traffic characteristics on or around their properties since the installation was placed,” according to the staff report.