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Boyne City creates full‑time parks and harbor supervisor after months of debate over duties and cost
Summary
The commission approved creating a full‑time parks and harbor supervisor to provide year‑round oversight of parks and the marina; commissioners debated scope, overlaps with DPW responsibilities and the budget impact before voting to create the position and include costs in future budgets.
The Boyne City Commission voted to create a full‑time parks and harbor supervisor position to oversee parks operations and the marina, after a lengthy discussion about job scope, staffing costs and whether some duties should instead revert to a reinstated Department of Public Works (DPW) director.
City Manager Sam said the new role would consolidate oversight of parks and the marina, replace the seasonal harbor master role and allow the city to pursue grants and better coordinate summer staffing. Staff indicated that the change would require an increase in personnel costs to be reflected in upcoming budget documents; during deliberations staff said the near‑term incremental cost would be built into the current year as a budget adjustment and the full cost budgeted in the next fiscal year.
Commissioner Hower and several colleagues supported the position, emphasizing Boyne City’s extensive parkland and the need for year‑round coordination: "Our town has so much green space ... we have no one that can oversee it year round," Hower said. Supporters argued a dedicated supervisor would improve maintenance, enable better grant pursuit and increase potential revenue from user groups.
Commissioner Pritchard and others pushed back, arguing that the city already relies on DPW resources and that adding a separate supervisor could create overlapping responsibilities. Pritchard said reinstating a DPW director might better address workload and maintenance continuity: "The best use of our taxpayer dollars is to reinstate a DPW director, not create a new light position," he said. Other commissioners noted that a job description and reporting lines will be finalized by staff if the position is authorized.
The motion to acknowledge the organizational restructuring and create the parks/harbor supervisor position passed on a roll call vote; the commission directed staff to quantify the budget impact for inclusion in the next fiscal year budget and to post a job description and recruitment timeline.
Next steps: staff will prepare a job description, post the position and return to the commission with the anticipated budget adjustment and proposed reporting structure.
