Following the recent resignation of City Manager Liz Vogel, Traverse City commissioners tonight (Monday) will consider appointing City Clerk Benjamin Marentette to serve as interim city manager through January and appointing Deputy City Clerk Sarah Lutz to serve as interim city clerk. Commissioners will also vote to rezone the 300 and 400 blocks of Union Street, accept $550,000 in grant funding to remove and replace a Kids Creek culvert on Eleventh Street, and extend a contract for the city’s strategic planning process.

City Manager/Clerk Appointments
After turning down the position that ultimately went to Liz Vogel in 2023, City Clerk Benjamin Marentette is on the precipice once again of serving as Traverse City’s manager. Commissioners will vote to approve an agreement tonight for Marentette to become interim city manager, filling a vacancy created by Vogel’s recent departure. The contract would extend from July 22 to January 31, allowing time for a new commission to be seated following the November election who will then undertake hiring a new city manager.

The agreement states that either Marentette or the city can terminate the interim relationship with or without cause, though “out of respect to one another, both parties will attempt to give the other party 30 days’ notice before terminating the employment relationship. In that instance, Mr. Marentette shall have the right at his request to return to his previous position as city clerk.” The proposed salary for the interim city manager is $187,464, the same salary Vogel earned before resigning.

Marentette expressed his willingness to take on the role in a letter to commissioners, writing that he will “work carefully and intentionally to create an atmosphere that is firmly rooted in its appreciation for feedback, teambuilding, respect, continued development, and authentic communication. I will strive to be a highly motivated and engaged interim city manager.” Acknowledging his previous rejection of a commission offer to become city manager, Marentette wrote: “At the meeting on Monday, I will share what has changed since then that has me interested, ready, and excited to fulfill the role of interim city manager. I will also at that time share my intentions with respect to seeking the permanent role.”

Mayor Amy Shamroe previously noted that even if Marentette serves successfully as interim city manager and seeks the role permanently, “no matter what this is a position we have to post for and go through that process.” Marentette also can’t serve as both interim city manager and city clerk, so Deputy City Clerk Sarah Lutz is recommended to be appointed tonight as interim city clerk. Marentette said in his letter that he’d spoken to Lutz and that she was “ready and excited to serve as our interim city clerk.”

Also at tonight’s commission meeting...
> Commissioners will consider approving rezoning the 300 and 400 blocks of Union Street between Sixth and Eighth streets from C-2 (Neighborhood Center) to C-4a (Regional Center) as recommended by the city planning commission. While the maximum building height is the same under both zoning designations – 45 feet – C-2 has a key clause that has been restricting growth in Old Town, City Planning Director Shawn Winter previously said. That clause states buildings can only go to 45 feet if one floor is residential – otherwise, the building height is limited to 30 feet. That restriction forced Kuhn Rogers to move out of Old Town to accommodate the firm’s growth after more than 100 years downtown.

Winter noted that most properties in the two blocks are non-conforming with the current C-2 standards, so if the corridor was destroyed for some reason it couldn’t even be rebuilt as it is today. The new C-4a designation will help create consistent standards and bring buildings into zoning compliance, he said. The rezoning will allow a proposed development to move forward at 418 and 420 Union Street – one parcel currently a vacant lot, the other a building that houses a hair salon that would be demolished for the project. The properties are planned to be combined into one site for a mixed-use development with ground-floor commercial units and residential units on the upper floors.

> Commissioners will vote to execute an agreement to receive a $550,000 state grant through the Watershed Center to remove and replace a culvert at the Eleventh Street crossing of Kids Creek between Division and Elmwood. The city will provide $150,000 in matching funds plus $50,000 in in-kind staff time for the project. “The goal of this project is to protect and restore indigenous aquatic life and wildlife in Kids Creek by maintaining proper stream dimensions and sediment transport mechanisms,” according to the grant application. “This will be accomplished by replacing an undersized and misaligned culvert to improve natural stream function where Eleventh Street crosses the main branch of Kids Creek.”

Topographic surveys, engineering, and site work will take place over the coming months in preparation for spring/summer 2026 construction on the new culvert. The city and Watershed Center have partnered on several Kids Creek projects in recent years, including a Cedar Street culvert, a Fourteenth Street drain, and a Kids Creek pedestrian bridge.

> After recently adopting a new city strategic action plan, commissioners tonight will consider extending their contract with consulting firm Future iQ to “translate this strategic action plan to align with city commission objectives and key results,” according to a memo from Assistant City Manager Deb Allen. That process will include facilitated workshops and discussions with city commissioners, collaboration with staff “to identify where budgets and departmental plans can better align with these priorities,” and recommendations “on how to integrate these into future budgets and the CIP (capital improvement plan) and potentially make adjustments to this year’s budget,” Allen wrote. The contract extension is for an amount not to exceed $20,000.