BROOKINGS – Assistant City Manager Kevin Catlin has taken a new job as city manager for Springfield, Michigan. His last day in Brookings will be May 9.
He’s served the City of Brookings since February 2016.
“Good position and good people there and I’m just from that area anyway,” he said.
“I’m gonna miss him. He’s done a great job for us, but I understand and I’m happy for him,” City Manager Jeff Weldon said.
Springfield, Michigan, has a population around 5,200, Catlin said, but it’s nestled between Battle Creek and the Kalamazoo/Portage metropolitan area, which has a population around 330,000.
“It’s a pretty big area. There’s a lot going on there,” Catlin said.
“Just right for a first-time city manager. It’s a good career move for him,” Weldon said. “He’s been with us two years, a little over two years, and that’s about all I expected because I knew his overall goal was to be a city manager someday.”
Catlin said he’ll only be three hours away from Elgin, Illinois, which is his hometown and part of the Chicago metroplex.
That was one of his reasons for taking the job.
“Their transparency and efficiency initiatives that they’ve implemented in the past and that they want to continue to implement in the future. For me, that’s what really drew me there,” Catlin said. “And obviously, the opportunity to progress in my career.”
A reception is planned for May 8.
Weldon, who’s retiring June 30, said he will not fill the assistant city manager position.
“I’m gonna let the new city manager do that,” he said.
Weldon said it’s the city manager’s job to hire people for positions, but it’s the city council’s job to decide how many positions there are.
“The authority to have a position in terms of expanding or contracting the total positions in the workforce is the city council’s decision,” Weldon said, but he expects that they will keep the position. “It’s an established position in our organization. The city council would probably have to take some action to dissolve the position and remove it from the organizational charts … I really don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
City of Brookings photo
