Commissioners To Offer County Admin Job To Second Candidate

Grand Traverse County commissioners voted 4-3 Wednesday to offer the position of county administrator to their runner-up pick from their executive search process.

Chair Carol Crawford and Commissioners Sonny Wheelock, Cheryl Gore Follette and Tom Mair voted to hire Washington County Administrator Vicki Uppal of Mississippi for the position. Commissioners made the move after the board's first-choice candidate, Oak Park City Manager Erik Tungate, declined the county's offer last week.

Commissioners Bob Johnson, Ron Clous and Dan Lathrop opposed the motion, expressing concerns about Uppal's level of experience and a desire to reboot the search process. "I think she'd be in way over her head," said Johnson. "I cannot support this motion. I believe we need to start the process all over. I think you're just settling now at this point to get someone in place to get the current administrator out of here...you are setting her up to fail."

Lathrop agreed, saying Uppal only had a few years' experience as a county administrator "over a poor county of only 30,000 people." He said commissioners were "looking for a puppet, and you'll have one in her."

But Gore Follette fired back against the comments, noting commissioners hadn't brought up any of those criticisms about Uppal in the interview stage. The board had specifically cited her as their second choice and called her a strong candidate, Gore Follette said. She pointed out current County Administrator Tom Menzel had "zero" experience in county administration prior to his hiring. "I think (Uppal) has very strong credentials, she's a hard worker, likable," said Gore Follette. "It's just surprising to me you would have such a negative response to her now. I'm sure it has nothing to do with her gender." 

Crawford also backed Uppal, saying she possessed a "good mix of some government and some private (industry experience)." Crawford said Uppal's demeanor would also be a benefit to the county. "I think she will be quietly effective," Crawford said. "I think it will cut down on the drama a little bit, having someone who is quieter, who is nicer, who is able to deal with things...in a common sense manner. I just get that feeling from her. And I would be very, very happy with her as our county administrator."

According to Uppal's resume, she's served as Washington County's administrator since March 2015. She was previously a senior financial analyst and assistant to the chief financial officer at TI Automotive in Auburn Hills from 2011 to 2014 and worked at Troy's Delphi Corporation for 13 years, including as a program business manager and sales account manager. She has a Bachelor of Science in organization administration from Central Michigan University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

County commissioners Wednesday also voted 4-3 to establish a county pension stabilization trust outside of the Municipal Employees Retirement System (MERS). Investments in the fund – which would focus on treasury bills, fixed assets and other low-risk investments – would help protect the county against market volatility for future pension payments, according to Menzel. Commissioners also approved using more than $240,000 in proceeds from the recent sale of 160 acres of Whitewater Township property to make a payment to MERS to reduce the county's pension liability.