Politics & Government

City Manager Finalist Interview: Jim Creech

Troy City Council and city administrators interviewed Oakland Township Manager Jim Creech Wednesday morning.

In the first of , Troy City Council and administrators interviewed Oakland Township Manager Jim Creech. .

Creech is one of five candidates for the position of Troy City Manager, which has been held by  following the departure of  earlier this year. The other four candidates are: , Marine City Manager; , Tittabawassee Township Manager; , Troy Director of Economic and Community Development; and , Farmington City Manager.

5 questions for Jim Creech

Troy City Council members and Interim City Manager Mike Culpepper took turns asking questions for nearly 90 minutes Monday morning. Here are five questions and their answers from Creech.

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Q: Mayor Pro Tem Maureen McGinnis asked: What are your strategic planning processes and methods?

A: “You want to identify … what the city wants to accomplish. The answers are all out there. It’s just making the choices, at this point. ... Identify the objectives and how you’re going to accomplish that. ... The methodology is just a logical progression, in my mind.” 

Find out what's happening in Troywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Q: Councilman Dane Slater asked: What actions have you taken in the past to establish sound relationship with council, city staff and the community?

A: “What I commonly do is, I’ve written letters every week or couple weeks of what’s going on, what I’m doing, what staff is involved with, what they should be aware of. ... (Staff) gets the same letter I send out to the board, so they’re aware of what’s going on. ... I meet regularly with HOA’s and (give) presentations on things."

Q: Councilman Doug Tietz asked: Imagine that City Council is severly split among every issue, and the situation worsens. You can’t get anything accomplished. How would you handle the situation, and what is your methodology?

A: “I think you really have to rise above the fray and look at the merit of the situation. ... You want to make sure the issue is identified and the merits are as quantifiable as possible so it’s very apparent what the decision would be. Obviously, there’s an odd number, so … there will be a vote.”

Q: Interim City Manager Mike Culpepper asked: “If a trend that we’re in or moving toward is uncertainty, what impact would you see upon the city ... if the state has reduced their support or maybe has not fulfilled their obligations to return money to the cities or fulfill their obligations to support the cities in the way it was originally prescribed? ... Is there anything there that you see that the city can do?”

A: “I think that you have to be cognizant, and you have to not count on it. ... Obviously, you have to take it on a year-by-year basis. ... You have to be cognizant of what reality is and adjust to that. The uncertainty is obviously going to affect projections.” 

Q: What most interests you about Troy?

A: “Just the opportunity here. It’s been a terrific city. I’ve been in Oakland County for 17 of 25 years. It’s a terrific population. My son goes to high school here in Troy, and I’ve been involved in the robotics team. ... I think it’s a terrific community. It really shows the investment an the emphasis on infrastructure, on keeping things here ... rebuilding roads and just keeping things up do date. It’s just a good-looking city. It’s got history, and the amenities are fantastic. I don’t think I could say enough good things about it.”

City Manager finalist interview schedule

Five interviews are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. The interviews are televised live on the government channel WTRY (Channel 10 for WOW customers and Channel 17 for Comcast customers) and streamed commercial-free on the city's website. Here is the schedule:

Wednesday, August 29

  • 9-11 a.m.:  James Creech
  • 1-3 p.m.: Vincent Pastue 
  • 3:30-5:30 p.m.: John Gabor

Thursday, August 30

  • 9-11 a.m.: Brian Kischnick
  • 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Mark Miller
  • 3 p.m.: City Council Deliberations followed by Public Comment

More candidate information is available on the City of Troy website

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