Sometimes the hardest job you can face is to fill a job that has been performed in an exemplary manner knowing full well it will be hard to match the talents you are about to lose. That’s the task that faces St. Joseph City Commissioners Jeff Richards and Peggy Getty, as they form a search committee with city staff members and others to find a replacement for Finance Director and City Clerk Sara McCallum.
At Monday night’s city commission meeting City Manager John Hodgson told the commission that McCallum has received a job offer in Ann Arbor which was irresistible for the hard-working team member because “it would bring her closer to her family, and is an opportunity she simply cannot turn down.”
Hodgson adds, “We are sad to be losing Sara, appreciate her work for the community over the last 2-1/2 years, and wish her all the best. Her last day is not yet decided; although her new employer is understandably anxious to see her.”
Nevertheless, McCallum is working diligently on the city’s budget, which is due to the City Commission by the end of April, and Hodgson says, “We very much appreciate her efforts.”
Due to the near term of her departure, Hodgson asked the commission to move with a sense of urgency in the process of seeking her replacement, especially in light of of the fact that she serves in the dual role of Finance Director and City Clerk. The City Clerk role is a City Commission appointed position, and that is why Richards and Getty will serve on the search committee to help guide the search process. The commission also appointed Laura Goos as an alternate member of that committee.
McCallum promised city staff that she would not simply provide the budget document and walk away, that she would return during hearings to answer questions that might arise.
The two jobs of Finance Director and City Clerk were separate positions in St. Joseph until 2008 when they were combined as a cost-cutting consideration. McCallum replaced veteran Clerk and Finance Director Deb Koroch who retired in the summer of 2016.
McCallum herself is a veteran government employee, having logged some 13 years in various roles of increasing responsibility for 13 years in Pere Marquette Township near Ludington, leading up to her position as Treasurer there. Prior to that she was in the private sector also in financial roles.
