By By MARCIA STEFFENS / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS – In Cassopolis Village Council work session Wednesday, all the members agreed finding a new village manager soon is a priority.
"Whatever we do – let's do something," Trustee Robert Yoder said.
Clerk Paula Beauchamp had downloaded a few resumes from the Michigan Municipal League's Web site of possible interim candidates.
Some of these men were retired, but have helped out communities for a time.
Two candidates seemed very promising, Yoder said.
Trustee Leon Gilliam expressed concern that the two lived quite far with bad weather coming.
Beauchamp also made copies available of the recent search by the Village of Marcellus to use when interviewing candidates.
Council members agreed newspaper ads might be the way to go. Marcellus received 40 responses, Yoder added.
Gilliam questioned, "Why do we keep dancing away from John Murphy, who is right at our back door?"
Murphy, a former finance director for Cass County, attended the first part of the meeting, which discussed amendments to line items in the 2006-07 budget. He volunteered to help the clerk and department heads in properly making these adjustments.
"I would like to get back into it," Murphy said. "I like municipal budgeting. I would like to be considered" for the open village manager position.
As no decisions can be made at a work session, the council plans to hold a special meeting soon to approve a newspaper ad, so hopefully resumes would be received before the next council meeting on Nov. 13.