With the announcement last week that Royal Oak Interim City Manager Todd Fenton is leaving next month for a job in the private sector, the City Commission is moving to find a new interim manager before selecting a new manager.
Fenton began working for the city about 10 years ago as Royal Oak’s economic development manager, and served recently as deputy city manager under former City Manager Paul Brake, who resigned about five months ago.
With Brake’s departure, Fenton became interim manager.
Mayor Michael Fournier said city officials paused their immediate plans to hire a new manager to see whether Fenton would be interested in assuming the manager’s job if the City Commission thought he was a good fit for the position.
Fournier said he was unsurprised that Fenton ultimately chose to pursue a position in the private sector.
“It’s hard for cities to compete with the private sector,” Fournier said, “especially given the state of divisive politics we have today and having to put up with that guff.”
Fournier added that municipalities can seldom match salaries paid in the private sector.
“Todd is at the pinnacle of his career in terms of experience and how he can best use his talents,” Fournier said.
There has been movement among some of the city’s upper ranks over the past few years.
Former manager Brake left after 3.5 years. Royal Oak’s Finance Director Debra Lichtenberg, hired in 2022, is leaving this month for a job in Livonia. Former City Attorney Aaron Leal left for another job in Kalamazoo in 2023 after two years in Royal Oak.
Royal Oak city commissioners in August 2023 approved a contract with newly appointed City Attorney Niccolas Grochowski, an assistant city attorney in Royal Oak who briefly served as interim city attorney after Leal departed.
Fournier said movement among city managers is quite common, adding that Berkley’s City Manager announced he was leaving his job in March, and that Troy recently hired a new city manager.
Fenton’s resignation is officially set for May 17, and was announced at the end of last week’s City Commission meeting.
Fournier introduced Fenton’s impending departure, which wasn’t listed on the commission’s agenda.
He highlighted Fenton’s economic development work for the city, which he said attracted over a half-billion dollars of new investment in Royal Oak in a 10-year period. Those efforts included attracting downtown office spaces, the new Baker College on Lafayette Avenue, as well as work on the city’s Civic Center project with a new police station, City Hall, downtown park and parking deck.
“Being here has been the highlight of my career,” said Fenton, who formerly worked in development in Wayne County. “I’ve wanted to transition back into the private sector … and that is what I am doing.”
Fenton said he was staying on in Royal Oak until next month to help smooth the transition for Royal Oak’s next interim city manager.
He said he had no complaints about his time working for the city.
“It’s been a great experience all around,” Fenton said. “No regrets and I would do it all again presented with the opportunity.”
City commissioners last week unanimously approved a motion from Commissioner Sharlan Douglas to have city staff put together a request for city executive search firms to submit their qualifications for filling city manager positions in a competitive field.
“There are multiple city manager openings in Michigan,” Douglas said, and “there’s a dearth of talent.”
