ADRIAN — The Adrian City Commission voted on Thursday to hire Ted Andrzejewski as interim city administrator.

Andrzejewski’s career in municipal government began in Eastlake, Ohio, where he was elected mayor in 2004 and served in that role for about 10 years. During his interview, he explained that Eastlake has a “strong mayor” form of government in which the mayor acts as the top administrator. He later served as an administrator for two cities and one village before retiring in 2021, and was recently the interim township manager for Cascade Township near Grand Rapids. He was approached by Adrian because he is on a list maintained by the Michigan Municipal Executives organization of people who are available for interim city manager assignments.

The commission also interviewed Bob Behnke, a sitting Adrian city commissioner who recused himself from proceedings while his candidacy was under discussion, and Jae Guetschow, a former Blissfield village president and Brooklyn village administrator.

Andrzejewski and Behnke emerged as the leading candidates, with commissioners stating that Guertschow’s experience was mainly in smaller municipalities. 

Early in their discussion, commissioners Chip Moore and Matt Schwartz said Andrzejewski was their first choice and Behnke their second. Commissioner Aaron Chesher ranked Behnke first and Andrzejewski second. Mayor Angela Sword Heath and commissioners Mary Roberts and Tiffany Zych initially said they were evenly divided between the two, but over the course of the discussion, all three ended up favoring offering the role to Andrzejewski.

During his interview, Andrzejewski compared the interim city administrator’s role to that of a backup quarterback whose role is to fill in, win some games, try to make a difference, and ultimately set the next administrator up for success. He stressed communication, saying that he has an open-door policy.

He also told commissioners that although he’s retired and only seeking a temporary role, he’s willing to stay as long as he’s needed.

“I will stay until you get a permanent administrator,” he said. “I will never leave you hanging.”

Moore said he liked Andrzejewski’s financial background, including the fact that his previous career was in banking and that he took over as Eastlake mayor while the city, which is about the same size as Adrian, was in a fiscal emergency.

“He’s been through this before, he’s a banker, he understands finance, and that’s the No. 1 need in this city,” Moore said.

Chesher argued that Behnke’s familiarity with Adrian made him the right choice. He said that not needing to spend as much time getting a new administrator acclimated to the city “would take a lot of work off of the department heads and the city staff.”

Several commissioners said they liked the 120-day plan that Behnke handed them before his interview, and even discussed the idea of asking Andrzejewski to prepare something similar. But Roberts said it wouldn’t make sense to ask that of somebody who isn’t currently part of city government, and Heath said there are advantages both to hiring somebody who already knows Adrian and to bringing in somebody who can look at things from a fresh perspective.

Heath also said she agreed with residents who were troubled by the idea of removing an elected commissioner from his role and appointing him administrator, then having a vacancy on the commission that would need to be filled either by appointment or by a special election several months from now. She said she feels Behnke can make a bigger contribution to Adrian in his current role, because “he challenges us in a good way on the commission.”

Heath said she liked Andrzejewski’s “experience, attitude, approach, and dedication.”

The vote to hire Andrzejewski was 5-1, with Chesher dissenting.

A contract still needs to be negotiated, but Andrzejewski said because he is retired, he’s available to begin anytime.

Behnke left the commission chambers after his interview, but spoke via Zoom during the public comment period at the end of the meeting to tell his fellow commissioners that 

“I’m going to continue to serve just as passionately, from my seat there, to move the city forward as I can,” he said.