City approves manager’s contract for Hefele
by Angie Asam–Staff Writer
Rogers City and Onaway will officially be sharing a city manager next week. The Rogers City Council approved the shared manager option by a 3-2 vote Tuesday evening, with a contract starting date of April 1. The Onaway City Commission voted last week to approve the contract contingent upon Rogers City’s approval, that vote was unanimous with one commissioner missing.
Tuesday a workshop meeting was held at 6 p.m. to go over the contract for Joe Hefele, current Onaway city manager. During the workshop the council learned of some changes made to the contract. These changes were to the amount of personal time and vacation time Hefele would receive in the event the shared option does not work and he becomes a full-time employee in Rogers City.
An issue with Hefele’s pension was also resolved. Hefele will have a defined contribution plan in Rogers City, similar to the plan that former manager Mark Slown had, which will not affect the plan Hefele has through Onaway. This way his contract will save Rogers City an additional $4,700 and it will not increase the city’s total unfunded liability. Unfunded liability is the amount of money the city employees’ total pension costs are minus how much is actually funded at the current time.
City Council member Gary Nowak had questions regarding holidays defined in the contract as non-workdays for Hefele and how those would be shared. The defined holidays are New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Christmas Eve Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Nowak’s concern was that if those holidays’s all fell on days he was supposed to be in Rogers City that would not be fair as Onaway wouldn’t be paying for any of the holidays.
The truth is that it is a salaried position and Hefele ensured the council that in the event of a holiday he plans to adjust the schedule to keep the ratio of his time the same, one more day in Rogers City than in Onaway. Hefele plans to work in Rogers City three days per week and spend the other two in Onaway. He will have a schedule posted biweekly or monthly so that residents of each community know when they can come in and talk to him.
FOLLOWING THE workshop meeting, a special meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. with the only item on the agenda being the approval of the city manager contract. Council member Scott McLennan made a motion to enter into the contract with Hefele for a shared manager. A.J. Przybyla supported that motion.
“Joe you know I think you are great. In fact I made the motion to offer yo
“Taking time to work with Onaway is very exciting. It is a synergistic type activity, working with each other is the way to go. I think it is a positive move and it will provide a gateway for us to work together on other things through Joe. It is a win-win situation,” said McLennan.
Mayor Tom Sobeck echoed the thoughts of McLennan and told Nowak he could understand his thoughts but felt that giving this a shot, to save both communities some money, was worth trying before calling for a roll call vote.
The vote passed as Przybyla, McLennan and Sobeck voted yes, while Nowak and Ken Bielas voted no.