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New director Michael Wiesner brings 33 years of local government experience to the position. He was city manager for the city of Charlevoix for 23 of those years.

Former director of public works, Denny Jason, retired in early May after 17 years with the city.

The department of public works manages streets, parks and the motor pool. In reporting the hiring of Wiesner to city commissioners on May 22, city manager Michael Cain said that Wiesner's knowledge is important to the city, especially at this time.

"Mike (Wiesner's) experience, É his strong engineering background, development of infrastructure improvement programs for streets and other utilities, marina development and city hall restoration experiences, will be of immediate assistance to us as we deal with very similar issues," Cain said.

These are great skills to have as we seriously consider how we may wish to implement our new facilities study É "

Wiesner, who is just over two weeks on the job, said a major focus at this time is deciding with others the method for running the 10-employee department.

"My philosophy is the public sector are leaders in the community," Wiesner said. When streets and curbs are improved, the surrounding private areas tend to also improve.

"I think the public sector does better than the private sector, because the public sector thinks 15-20 years ahead."

The community has room for growth and the city manager is giving the community fine direction, Wiesner said.

The city and Wiesner set a one-year term for the position.