ADRIAN — A divided Adrian City Commission voted on June 29 against hiring any of the candidates for city administrator, opting to do another search in six months and leave utilities director Will Sadler as acting administrator until then.

One week earlier, the commission had interviewed four finalists:

• Jeremiah Davies, the Hudson city manager and former Adrian parks and recreation director.
• Ali Awadi, the facilities and emergency management director for the city of Westland.
• Shannon Sirpilla, the city manager in Beaverton.
• Jason Smith, the former city manager of Litchfield and Belleville.

A fifth finalist, Joel Mazur — the former city administrator of Oregon, Ohio — withdrew his candidacy before the interviews.

The interviews can be seen on the city’s YouTube channel.

Voting to reject all of the candidates and post the position again in six months were Mayor Angela Sword Heath and commissioners Bob Behnke, Aaron Chesher, Mary Roberts, and Tiffany Zych. Voting against that proposal were commissioners Chip Moore and Matt Schwartz, both of whom spoke in favor of offering the job to Davies.

The decision generated sharp criticism during the public comment portion of the meeting, with a former mayor, a retired city administrator, a retired police chief, and a former city commissioner all voicing their objections. In addition, one of the other finalists spoke during public comment to say she thought Davies would have been a good choice.

During the discussion at the beginning of the meeting, Moore gave his endorsement to Davies, saying: “He lives here, he knows what needs to be done here. The business community that I represent thinks he’s the right guy for the job.”

Schwartz said he heard strong public support for Davies when talking to city residents over the past week. He also said that although he appreciates what Sadler was doing, he was concerned about the impact of going six months with one person trying to cover the responsibilities of both city administrator and utilities director, especially with complaints about Adrian’s water system running high.

Chesher said the results of search firm Yeo & Yeo’s interviews with city staff led him to feel that it would be better to keep Sadler in place for now. He said the timeframe of the search was “way too short.” 

Chesher also said that the Adrian utilities budget Sadler manages is larger than Davies’ entire budget at the city of Hudson. Schwartz replied that Davies has experience as an Adrian department head too.

Behnke pointed to the Addison school district as a place where a board is opting to take its time with a search. Addison has an acting superintendent in place who is willing to serve until a permanent replacement is found.

Heath alluded to Davies’ short time in Hudson, saying: “Do I really think we might have had the right candidate? Yes. But was it the right time? No.”

A motion to extend Sadler’s appointment as acting administrator and not hire any of the candidates was made by Chesher and seconded by Roberts.

“I think we’re doing a disservice to the citizens and taxpayers of this city,” Moore replied.

Zych disagreed, saying it’s good that the commission is willing to “make sure that we have the best possible fit moving forward.”

Schwartz opposed the idea of a delay, saying, “the people elected us to make decisions, not to procrastinate.” In a back-and-forth with Behnke, he asked, “so you think there’s going to be a better candidate coming up next time than what we have?”

“Yes,” Behnke said.

“I don’t,” Schwartz replied, adding that he doubts any of the four finalists from this time will reapply. 

Following the 5-2 vote, several members of the public spoke to criticize the decision. Carrie Smith, who had spoken at the beginning of the meeting to advocate for Davies, objected to the idea of having one person in two roles, noting that there are already several key positions in City Hall being doubled-up.

“Matt Tomaszewski, he’s amazing, but just how many jobs can Matt do?” she said. Tomaszewski is the director of engineering services, but has also been the interim parks and recreation director since Davies left for Hudson.

Dane Nelson, who served as city administrator from 2006 to 2013, said the commission was making “a huge, huge mistake.” He said the only stability in that job in the past 25 years has been with administrators who were from Adrian.

“I’m not sure you’re ever going to be happy,” he said.

Former mayor Gary McDowell opened his comments by saying, “I’m appalled.”

“You’ve kicked the can six months down the road, but not only that, you’ve given Adrian another black eye,” McDowell said.

Retired police chief Terry Collins, who is also a county commissioner, said the decision to wait six months comes from the same commission that previously asked Yeo & Yeo for an expedited process. 

“What are you telling the people of Adrian? We can’t make our minds up. We don’t know what we want,” he said.

Former commissioner Kelly Castleberry, who left the commission in 2025 after opting not to run for re-election, said Sadler has been a dedicated long-term employee and that commissioners need to think about the demands they are placing on him.

“Your job is to set policy and make hard decisions, and you blew it today,” she said.

In an unusual occurrence, one of the finalists for the position also spoke during public comment to give a vote of confidence to another candidate. Sirpilla, the Beaverton city manager, said she actually considered withdrawing her application when she saw there was a local candidate in the running. After the interviews and the public open house with candidates that followed, she said, “I feel like Jeremiah Davies would do an excellent job for you.”