Long-time staffers to fill Green's role for the time being

With Orchard Lake City Clerk Janet Green’s retirement coming June 30, the City Council, along with city administration, most likely will divvy out her duties among two long-time staff members.

Assistant City Clerk Rhonda McClellan and Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Gerry McCallum have been tapped to take on Green’s daily tasks. McClellan has been employed by the city for 21 years, while McCallum has been there for 11 years.

According to Green, each of these staff members brings something unique to the table.

“Both of them have a lot of experience and background,” she said. “Both are interested in stepping up and taking on additional responsibilities, but it depends on finding a plan that works.”

McCallum already wears a number of different hats around City Hall. Not only is he the DPW director, but the city building official and code enforcement officer, as well.

“Obviously there will be a lot of restructuring,” McCallum said. “We have a complicated zoning ordinance so to fill that gap takes a lot of know-how and time.”

McClellan too works in a number of different areas. She has duties during elections and handles all the bookkeeping and accounting chores.

To alleviate some of their administrative burdens, one or two clerical personnel will be hired to share the load.

“Both have their plates full so we want to ensure they have support staff,” Green said.

Under the city’s charter, there must be one city clerk, but discussions are still in the infancy stages on how these changes will be facilitated.

“We haven’t determined titles nor a final division of duties,” Green said.

The council is also mulling over whether a wage increase will be justified.

“There will be compensation on both parts — we just don’t know what that is yet,” McCallum said.

Regardless, the restructuring will not be easy given how long Green has been doing her job.

“It will be a tough transition because of Jan’s know-how and work ethic,” McCallum said. “This is a unique community so it’s going to be a fluid situation and, if need be, we’ll make changes as we go along.”